John – the Last of the Mohicans at the DTC

After 40 years of working for various De Beers companies, the last of the Mohicans is about to retire. John Finlaison has far too much in common with the hero in James Fenimore Cooper’s historic narrative, written in 1826, for comfort. The original historical adventure took place in the forests of North America during the Seven Years War (1756 - 1763) between Great Britain and France. The Mohicans were the original possessors of the country first occupied by the Europeans in this portion of the North American continent. They were, consequently, also the first dispossessed. The Mohicans suffered the seemingly inevitable fate of all these peoples, who disappear before the advances, or it might be termed the inroads, of civilization, “as the verdure of their native forests falls before the nipping frosts, is represented as having already befallen them.”

John Finlaison is like the book’s central character Natty Bumppo “the last uncorrupted white man who prefers the code of the Indian than the nature of the white settlers, who is loyal, courageous and a superb exponent of woodcraft,” to quote the text of almost 200 years ago. John is the last DTC executive whose expertise can be defined in one simple word: diamonds. John joined the DTC in 1965 as a young diamond sorter. In 1969 he was sent into the African bushes as a diamond buyer in places such as Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Burundi. When De Beers, in the wake of the conflict diamonds issue, decided to suspend its buying operation in the alluvial mining areas of west and central Africa, the company basically closed the very best training university at its disposal. In the old De Beers, no career could really take off without some years as a sorter and rough diamond buyer.

In 1978, John became general manager of the Botswana Diamond Valuing Company. After a few years in the team that bought the Russian diamond production, he became the Diamond Manager at the CSO. In 1987 he rose to manager of Diamdel in Israel. This led to his subsequent appointment as head of Diamdel worldwide in 1995 and, in 2000, he became Head of Inventories in London – a kind of bridge between the producers and the sales sides.

As the man from the forests or the bushes, John only had to hold a diamond in his hand to tell you what it was worth, what shape it should be cut, and who was the best dealer or manufacturer to sell it to. He possessed native diamond instincts, if there is such a thing. He felt comfortable with boart and with the largest specials – “John knew diamonds”. In his tribe, he wasn’t alone and not the only Chief. There had been Ian White, Andy Coxen, Peter Somner, Nigel Wisden, Michael Grantham, Alec Barbour – a range of others who possessed an outstanding understanding of diamonds.

As civilization progressed, the DTC fortress started to attract people with outstanding marketing experience, with degrees from the best universities, with McKinsey and other consulting experiences. They are all great people – but from a different tribe, from a different civilization. They never attended the bush university (bush with a small “b” – and no pun intended). John is the last of a dying breed. Secure in the knowledge that in his areas of expertise he is “the best”, he rarely hesitated to say what he thinks – and bush university is anything but the international academy of diplomacy. As an objective observer, I can say that his outspokenness was probably the only factor that prevented him from rising higher and higher in the hierarchy. John wasn’t made for head offices of large organizations. John needs to be close to the rough – wherever it is. Nobody could have managed inventories better than John, no-one could guarantee the consistency of assortment in the sight boxes better than John.

Part of his job will be taken over by … computers. In Supplier of Choice, there is a great reliance on computer output as the human element is gradually becoming superfluous. John was extremely loyal to the organization he worked for all his working life. More than once he expressed irritation with this writer when, in his opinion, we published a too critical position on De Beers. Conversations with John were always fascinating – and off the record. For John Finlaison the only “justification” for talking to me or any journalist was always to set the record straight or explain things – as, of course, I “don’t understand anything on how things really work.” While leaving the DTC at the end of the year, John will have the intense satisfaction of seeing that his prot?g?, Varda Shine, is rising in the new civilization. In terms of diamond knowledge, Varda is certainly equal to John, but she missed the formative years in the bushes. When civilization advances – there is no room anymore for bush university graduates. Let’s leave it as this – as the story isn’t over yet. John will find out that there is life beyond De Beers – a whole industry is waiting for him.