{"id":28442,"date":"2020-05-14T11:27:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T09:27:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=28442"},"modified":"2020-08-14T10:19:51","modified_gmt":"2020-08-14T08:19:51","slug":"insights-jean-claude-biver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-jean-claude-biver\/","title":{"rendered":"Insights From Jean-Claude Biver, LVMH Group, Non-Executive President of the Watch Division, Chairman of Hublot &#038; Zenith Watches"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Jean-Claude&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;has&nbsp;been lauded&nbsp;as the savior of the Swiss watch industry.&nbsp;After&nbsp;an hour of energetic,&nbsp;insightful&nbsp;and entertaining conversation&nbsp;at our latest Learning&nbsp;From&nbsp;Leaders conference, it was easy to see why.&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;told stories,&nbsp;re-enacted seminal&nbsp;conversations&nbsp;and shared wisdom&nbsp;from his impressive career,&nbsp;demonstrating&nbsp;the passion that has driven him since he first developed a love for the Swiss mechanical watch.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;deep dive&nbsp;interview of&nbsp;Jean-Claude&nbsp;Biver,&nbsp;LVMH Group, Non-Executive President of the Watch Division, Chairman of Hublot and Zenith watches,&nbsp;by&nbsp;Peter Vanham, author of &#8220;Before I&nbsp;Was CEO&#8221;,&nbsp;was incredibly informative and Biver responded to EU students&#8217; perceptive questions with&nbsp;career-shaping insights and advice.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event can be&nbsp;watched&nbsp;in full&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/info.euruni.edu\/webinars\/?webinar_name=jc-biver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"here (opens in a new tab)\">here<\/a>.&nbsp;We\u2019ve crystalized some of the key themes and ideas that Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;shared&nbsp;below.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Journey to the Top<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>An integral part of understanding how a leader has gotten to where they are is to explore their career journey.&nbsp;For Jean-Claude&nbsp;Biver, this started&nbsp;aged 10&nbsp;when his parents&nbsp;moved&nbsp;from&nbsp;their&nbsp;native&nbsp;Luxembourg&nbsp;to Switzerland&nbsp;so that he could&nbsp;attend&nbsp;boarding&nbsp;school&nbsp;there. And&nbsp;so&nbsp;began a love for the country which&nbsp;has&nbsp;shaped his entire life, not just his passion for watches.&nbsp;Now&nbsp;71,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;has lived in&nbsp;Switzerland&nbsp;for 61 years and considers himself Swiss.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After graduating from&nbsp;a&nbsp;university in the same&nbsp;city&nbsp;as his school, chosen because he did not want to leave a place he\u2019d grown to&nbsp;love so much,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;spent a year with watch manufacturers&nbsp;Audemars&nbsp;Piguet,&nbsp;learning, watching and listening.&nbsp;Having&nbsp;been hired as&nbsp;a&nbsp;sales manager for Europe,&nbsp;he&nbsp;was given no office, no business cards, no assistant and&nbsp;no work.&nbsp;Instead,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;was charged with the sole responsibility of learning. <strong>He&nbsp;spent&nbsp;all&nbsp;his&nbsp;time&nbsp;observing&nbsp;and getting to know the craftsmen at each stage of&nbsp;production&nbsp;so that he could truly understand the process and culture of watchmaking<\/strong>. That year spent in&nbsp;the beautiful but&nbsp;cold&nbsp;Vall\u00e9e de&nbsp;Joux, in a village&nbsp;which didn\u2019t even have a cinema,&nbsp;was perhaps the most formative experience of&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;life. He remarked,&nbsp;it was \u201cthe biggest asset I ever&nbsp;got&nbsp;because I entered the world of making watches.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, with his friend&nbsp;Jacques&nbsp;Piguet,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;bought historic watch brand&nbsp;Blancpain. Now described as the oldest surviving watch brand in the world, the company had been rendered obsolete by the emergence of the quartz watch in the 1970s.&nbsp;Rather than embracing the&nbsp;new&nbsp;quartz&nbsp;technology,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;and&nbsp;Piguet doubled&nbsp;down on the history,&nbsp;timeless&nbsp;craftsmanship and longevity of the traditional Swiss mechanical watch,&nbsp;and in doing so changed&nbsp;the fortune of the brand.&nbsp;Having bought the name for&nbsp;CHF&nbsp;22,000&nbsp;(Swiss&nbsp;francs)&nbsp;in 1981, they sold to&nbsp;The&nbsp;Swatch&nbsp;Group&nbsp;for&nbsp;CHF&nbsp;60&nbsp;million&nbsp;&nbsp;in&nbsp;1992.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biver&nbsp;recognizesin&nbsp;hindsight&nbsp;that&nbsp;the sale of&nbsp;Blancpain&nbsp;was a&nbsp;mistake but&nbsp;does not regret&nbsp;his decision. At the time he was nervous;&nbsp;interest rates in Switzerland has risen steeply&nbsp;jeopardizing&nbsp;the company and he was, in his own words, \u201ctoo young and too weak\u201d.&nbsp;The Swatch Group&nbsp;(then known as SMH Group),&nbsp;set up to ensure the survival of the Swiss watch industry through the quartz watch crisis,&nbsp;made an offer&nbsp;they&nbsp;could not refuse.&nbsp;\u201cIt was a wrong decision, but in this wrong decision many positive elements came.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having sold&nbsp;Blancpain,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;went on to enjoy an incredibly successful career at&nbsp;The Swatch Group;&nbsp;what had been a mistake became an opportunity to learn and grow. He&nbsp;joined&nbsp;the board, with&nbsp;all&nbsp;the&nbsp;attendant learning opportunities,&nbsp;and was given the&nbsp;responsibility&nbsp;of&nbsp;turning around the&nbsp;Omega&nbsp;brand, while remaining as CEO of&nbsp;Blancpain.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, after incredible success with Omega, in 2004&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;left Swatch and joined Hublot as CEO&nbsp;and a member of the&nbsp;board.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"atbs-ceris-responsive-video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jean-Claude Biver on Thinking Outside the Box\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7KJwSnk5JY0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>t<\/strong><strong>o<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Build&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>a&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Brand<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Throughout his&nbsp;career,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;has built up and turned around watchmaking brands that were on the edge of obsoletion. It is no wonder&nbsp;then,&nbsp;that he is credited with saving the industry. At Hublot,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;brought&nbsp;his unique business philosophy together with his&nbsp;experience&nbsp;from&nbsp;Blancpain&nbsp;and Omega to revolutionize the brand\u2019s strategy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At&nbsp;Blancpain, the focus had been on heritage, craftsmanship and tradition that stands the test of time.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Omega,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;had been the first to use influencers before they were called&nbsp;influencers, working with celebrities and carefully considered product placement to increase the prestige and desirability of the brand. Omega watches were seen in Bond films&nbsp;and&nbsp;on the wrists&nbsp;of model Cindy&nbsp;Crawford&nbsp;and&nbsp;Formula&nbsp;One driver Michael Schumacher.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Combining these two approaches at Hublot,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;championed the \u2018art of fusion\u2019, bringing together tradition and innovation to reach his younger target audience<\/strong>. They started making expensive watches from carbon which was previously unheard of; watches of that&nbsp;cost and caliber&nbsp;had&nbsp;previously only&nbsp;been made of gold, platinum or steel.&nbsp;And using new materials&nbsp;enabled them to bring&nbsp;color&nbsp;to their watches.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;new approach required a new sales angle.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;emphatically explained&nbsp;to the audience&nbsp;that, as carbon was the material that went to&nbsp;Mars, while gold was beloved by Egyptian&nbsp;pharaohs, why would&nbsp;young people choose&nbsp;pyramids and history&nbsp;over&nbsp;Mars&nbsp;and the future?&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;was telling a story&nbsp;through the brand decisions he made&nbsp;that would appeal to their chosen&nbsp;target&nbsp;audience. The new material and approach&nbsp;they were taking&nbsp;represented&nbsp;tomorrow, while&nbsp;the precise mechanics and quality of the watches&nbsp;they made&nbsp;represented the&nbsp;very&nbsp;best of yesterday.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again,&nbsp;using&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/influencer-marketing-trends-2020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"a strategy that combined influencers (opens in a new tab)\">a strategy that combined influencers<\/a>, sponsorship&nbsp;and&nbsp;careful product placement, Hublot followed their customers&nbsp;wherever they went.&nbsp;They&nbsp;worked&nbsp;with boxers, footballers, musicians and models to ensure that the&nbsp;brand remained&nbsp;relevant&nbsp;to their young customers,&nbsp;and&nbsp;that&nbsp;their watches&nbsp;remained&nbsp;desirable.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;recognized&nbsp;that he could reach&nbsp;new markets&nbsp;through partnerships&nbsp;in boxing, for example, where&nbsp;the cost of&nbsp;ringside&nbsp;seats in Las Vegas&nbsp;reached many&nbsp;thousands of dollars. He went after diversity of partnerships,&nbsp;understanding&nbsp;that his audience could be found&nbsp;among the avid and wealthy fans of&nbsp;a range of&nbsp;activities and&nbsp;lifestyle icons.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/S9A8345.jpg\" alt=\"jean-claude biver hublot\" class=\"wp-image-28444\" width=\"746\" height=\"497\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Following&nbsp;the&nbsp;acquisition&nbsp;of Hublot&nbsp;by&nbsp;the&nbsp;LVMH group in 2008,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;stayed with the company and in 2014&nbsp;was appointed President of the Watches Division of LVMH group, overseeing Hublot, Zenith and TAG&nbsp;Heuer&nbsp;brands.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on&nbsp;an extraordinary&nbsp;career,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;acknowledged that his children had&nbsp;been his biggest teachers.&nbsp;They\u2019d&nbsp;helped&nbsp;him to stay young and relevant, with his son&nbsp;memorably&nbsp;pointing out Cara Delevingne&nbsp;during a family meal at Nobu in London and urging his dad to work with her.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked \u2018what\u2019s next?\u2019&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;response was&nbsp;\u201cto give back. When you have received so much \u2013 I must give back, I cannot leave in keeping all this for me [\u2026] that\u2019s my last mission, it\u2019s not the easiest one,&nbsp;it&#8217;s&nbsp;probably the most difficult one, but I have to succeed at giving back.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This attitude is typical of&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;distinct and fundamentally generous business philosophy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>A<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Philosophy<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>for<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;Success<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 1967 and 1971&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;was a hippy. He&nbsp;read&nbsp;the&nbsp;books&nbsp;being passed around the commune he lived&nbsp;in, including&nbsp;works by&nbsp;Mao and&nbsp;Confucius.&nbsp;What he read and learnt during that time formed his later approach to business.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;teaching&nbsp;\u2018only dead fish swim&nbsp;at the speed and in the direction of&nbsp;the stream\u2019 informed&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;&nbsp;decision to always be first, different and unique.&nbsp;\u201cWhen you are obsessed&nbsp;to never think like others, when you are obsessed&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;different,&nbsp;when you are obsessed&nbsp;to be&nbsp;first,&nbsp;when you are&nbsp;obsessed&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;unique,&nbsp;then,&nbsp;suddenly you think out of the box. And&nbsp;when you are out of the box&nbsp;then the whole world is there, open for you.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a contrarian&nbsp;undoubtedly&nbsp;contributed to&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;astronomic&nbsp;success,&nbsp;first&nbsp;manifesting in his refusal&nbsp;to bow to the pressure of the new quartz&nbsp;technology&nbsp;and to remain steadfastly traditional.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;has celebrated the Swiss mechanical watch above all others, throughout his career.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elaborating on&nbsp;why he had done so,&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;posited&nbsp;that,&nbsp;by making&nbsp;a mechanical watch that lasts&nbsp;hundreds of years (like&nbsp;the iconic&nbsp;and reliable&nbsp;Big Ben),&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;promise&nbsp;your&nbsp;customers eternity. A watch made by hand&nbsp;and&nbsp;with a long heritage has soul, whereas&nbsp;watches made by robots and machines&nbsp;do not. Products of technology&nbsp;will one day become obsolete.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To further illustrate this point,&nbsp;he compared the Apple&nbsp;Watch&nbsp;(of which he is a fan, he owns two) with a&nbsp;cost&nbsp;of&nbsp;several hundreds of dollars, to a Hublot or similar luxury mechanical watch, which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.&nbsp;One, he said, is like owning a Picasso, the other, a replica&nbsp;of the Picasso. The original has history, has soul. The replica is disposable. A Swiss mechanical watch is art whereas a digital watch is a technological product with&nbsp;a&nbsp;limited&nbsp;shelf&nbsp;life.&nbsp;Which&nbsp;is why, he&nbsp;concluded,&nbsp;the Swiss watch industry has been, and will continue to be,&nbsp;so resilient.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final&nbsp;element of&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;philosophy is the fundamental importance of passion. <strong>He recognizes that his energy, ideas and inspiration all flow from the passion which he found and nurtured<\/strong>.&nbsp;\u201cI was not born with a passion for watches I developed it [\u2026] and I wanted to find in the watches my steam machine which I loved when I was a little boy.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What A Leader Looks Like<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Biver&nbsp;is looked up to by many students and professionals as an inspirational model of great leadership.&nbsp;When asked about leaders that he\u2019s admired,&nbsp;<strong>Biver&nbsp;first stated what he believes to be the&nbsp;fundamental&nbsp;attributes of a successful leader: simplicity, authenticity&nbsp;and&nbsp;humility<\/strong>.&nbsp;\u201cThe more you see successful people, in sport, in business, in art, the more you will notice that they are humble, the more you will notice they are always ready listen, the more you will notice they will take time to explain to you, the more you will notice that they need others to help. So, this is the key.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He cited&nbsp;two examples of leaders&nbsp;who have&nbsp;inspired him.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The first was&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Nicolas George Hayek (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nicolas_Hayek\" target=\"_blank\">Nicolas George Hayek<\/a>, founder of the Swatch Group.&nbsp;\u201cThe&nbsp;office would&nbsp;always&nbsp;be&nbsp;open;&nbsp;he was always ready&nbsp;to&nbsp;help.\u201d&nbsp;\u201cYou could call him at 6 a.m.,&nbsp;at&nbsp;midnight&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;he would answer&nbsp;the phone.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li>And he&nbsp;named&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"G\u00e9rald Genta (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/G%C3%A9rald_Genta\" target=\"_blank\">G\u00e9rald Genta<\/a>,&nbsp;a famous watch designer&nbsp;and an influential mentor to&nbsp;Biver. Genta&nbsp;urged him,&nbsp;\u201cevery time you have a question, for anything, ask nature.\u201d&nbsp;And&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;encouraged EU students to&nbsp;do the same.&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Biver&nbsp;also mentioned footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, whose incredible work ethic stemmed from an unswerving passion for football. &#8220;He never wanted to leave the&nbsp;stadium\u201d,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;recalled, from meeting the footballer several years back. It\u2019s an attitude that&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;admires.&nbsp;When he was&nbsp;starting out with Blancpain,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;didn\u2019t draw&nbsp;a salary.&nbsp;Instead, to minimize the risk,&nbsp;he&nbsp;worked&nbsp;nights as a postal worker&nbsp;and&nbsp;during&nbsp;the day&nbsp;rebuilt&nbsp;the brand.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Passion&nbsp;has&nbsp;enabled&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;to work tirelessly&nbsp;throughout his career,&nbsp;infecting&nbsp;his colleagues and customers with the same enthusiasm for his products,&nbsp;ensuring&nbsp;his&nbsp;success:&nbsp;\u201cthat\u2019s why we were successful, because we transmitted our passion, the way we talked about our watch was totally different from others.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sustain<\/strong><strong>ing the Future<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Advice&nbsp;frequently&nbsp;given by speakers in&nbsp;our&nbsp;Learning From Leaders series&nbsp;is&nbsp;to&nbsp;be adaptable.&nbsp;Similarly,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;emphasized&nbsp;that \u201cthe industry will have to adapt if they want to stay&nbsp;alive.\u201d <strong>The&nbsp;luxury sector must continue to&nbsp;evolve&nbsp;to&nbsp;accommodate&nbsp;shifting consumer priorities and environmental realities<\/strong>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is already a consciousness of ethics within the industry.&nbsp;Standards exist to track the provenance of leather, for example,&nbsp;and&nbsp;to ensure companies are&nbsp;not purchasing blood diamonds. Yet&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;acknowledged that this is not enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe should be leaders because&nbsp;in the luxury industry you can put in&nbsp;your&nbsp;price the&nbsp;cost of sustainability,&nbsp;which you cannot necessarily&nbsp;when&nbsp;you sell a t-shirt for $3. So,&nbsp;we must&nbsp;be an example,&nbsp;we must be at the forefront of sustainability. That is a mission of luxury. And after the virus this mission will become stronger and stronger and we must&nbsp;now, the luxury industry,&nbsp;take the lead.\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"atbs-ceris-responsive-video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jean-Claude Biver on Luxury and Sustainability\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qMSKCcN-XF4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Sage&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Career&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>Advice<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;shared a multitude of tips to inform career success&nbsp;throughout the conference. Here are some of the most&nbsp;pertinent&nbsp;points he made.&nbsp;(And remember,&nbsp;you can find&nbsp;the&nbsp;full event&nbsp;recording&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"here (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/info.euruni.edu\/webinars\/?webinar_name=jc-biver\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.)&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cIf you have no curiosity, if you are not asking questions, your passion will not come.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Biver&nbsp;advised&nbsp;students to find their passion, a goal which felt&nbsp;all the more&nbsp;compelling&nbsp;given his unbelievable energy and&nbsp;enthusiasm&nbsp;for the&nbsp;duration of the event.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p> \u201cFind a way to convert your passion into your job, or your job into your passion. \u201d &nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Biver&nbsp;shared an anecdote about encouraging the&nbsp;watchmakers&nbsp;at Blancpain to embed each screw (of which there are 80) in each watch with positive thoughts about their work&nbsp;such&nbsp;as\u2018I&nbsp;love my job\u2019.&nbsp;He believes&nbsp;that this positivity and passion came through in the finished product as well as ultimately leading to greater job satisfaction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cDon\u2019t go into any field, don\u2019t start anything, without experience.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Experience is key to success, he said, particularly in luxury.&nbsp;Join a brand, listen and grow and then, if you want to start your own company, you will be prepared. Education is important but experience is even more so.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cLearn to learn\u201d. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>After leaving formal education, when no one is giving you \u201cthe drink of knowledge\u201d it is up to you to continue to learn&nbsp;and grow.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201cYou&nbsp;must&nbsp;have the courage to be wrong.&nbsp;And the courage to be wrong is the most important element that an entrepreneur must have.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>It was courage that led him to spend&nbsp;eight&nbsp;years developing a hugely successful ceramic watch in Ferrari red. Have the courage to fail and learn from your failures while you are young, he advised, while there is still time to correct your mistakes!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p> \u201cBefriend doubt;&nbsp;it is your&nbsp;friend and&nbsp;provides that essential&nbsp;double check&nbsp;on your ideas.\u201d &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p> \u201cDevelop partnerships and listen to your partners;&nbsp;you cannot do it alone.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Respon<\/strong><strong>ding to the Crisis<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;also&nbsp;had several valuable insights to offer leaders and businesses trying to navigate the economic fall-out&nbsp;from the&nbsp;global&nbsp;spread of coronavirus.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Be active<\/strong>;&nbsp;\u201cUsually&nbsp;in big crises, people&nbsp;are in&nbsp;panic and&nbsp;when they are in&nbsp;panic,&nbsp;they don\u2019t move. I would be extremely, extremely&nbsp;active. I would be moving like crazy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Be creative<\/strong>; invest&nbsp;in research and development.&nbsp;\u201cWhen you cannot sell,&nbsp;then prepare for the future. And the future is in innovation and creativity.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Be in touch<\/strong>;&nbsp;\u201cYou should never lose contact&nbsp;because&nbsp;when you&nbsp;lose&nbsp;contact you have to recreate&nbsp;contact&nbsp;afterwards.\u201d&nbsp;Don\u2019t&nbsp;lose&nbsp;contact with your customers&nbsp;and&nbsp;your distribution network. People will remember you for being there and thinking of them.&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Promote the fact that the crisis is your friend, not your enemy<\/strong>.&nbsp;\u201cBecause if the crisis is my enemy I have lost.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Accelerate<\/strong>;&nbsp;\u201cIn a crisis there is huge energy.&nbsp;Take the energy and bring it up. It means that in crisis, there are opportunities.\u201d&nbsp;<\/li><li><strong>Sell emotion not technology<\/strong>;&nbsp;&#8220;You must think, how is the psychology of people during a crisis?&nbsp;In crisis people&nbsp;will&nbsp;need love. Love is an antidote&nbsp;to the crisis.&nbsp;Love&nbsp;is emotion,&nbsp;love&nbsp;is&nbsp;color&nbsp;[\u2026]&nbsp;So,&nbsp;I would work on seducing&nbsp;the&nbsp;customer&nbsp;through emotion, not so much through&nbsp;technology.&nbsp;because that\u2019s what people will need after the crisis. People will need dreams&nbsp;again,&nbsp;colors, to see the future.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/MONTAJE2.jpg\" alt=\"jean-claude biver hublot watches\" class=\"wp-image-28446\" width=\"820\" height=\"546\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He also recounted the&nbsp;simple&nbsp;yet effective strategy employed at Hublot&nbsp;to generate business during the pandemic.&nbsp;Limiting supply has always been a key element of&nbsp;Biver\u2019s&nbsp;approach to&nbsp;maintaining&nbsp;desirability, and so, over&nbsp;the course of just&nbsp;one day,&nbsp;they offered&nbsp;luxurious,&nbsp;and importantly safe,&nbsp;personal shopping&nbsp;appointments&nbsp;in store for&nbsp;a&nbsp;customer and their friends or family.&nbsp;They only had ten&nbsp;instead&nbsp;of the usual&nbsp;80 customers&nbsp;they\u2019d&nbsp;see in a day,&nbsp;each of whom stayed in the store for an hour or two.&nbsp;However,&nbsp;those&nbsp;ten&nbsp;customers,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;remarked,&nbsp;will always remember that Hublot gave them the opportunity to \u201cbe served&nbsp;like a king\u201d.&nbsp;And&nbsp;of&nbsp;the sales&nbsp;made that day,&nbsp;one was for a&nbsp;watch&nbsp;that cost&nbsp;$1 million,&nbsp;proof that their simple strategy was incredibly effective.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given his remarkable career and meteoric success, it\u2019s unsurprising that when asked what he would change if he could do it all again,&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;responded,&nbsp;\u201cNothing&nbsp;different!&nbsp;Because all&nbsp;my mistakes, all my failures, all my errors,&nbsp;have&nbsp;heled me to develop myself, have helped me to come further.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Embracing the Future&nbsp;<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Learning&nbsp;From&nbsp;Leaders will continue with&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Helena Hedblom (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/info.euruni.edu\/euhelenahedblom\/\" target=\"_blank\">Helena Hedblom<\/a>,&nbsp;President and CEO of Epiroc on May 28, 2020, who will be discussing women and leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This exclusive conference series is characteristic of the approach EU Business School takes to business education. Students at every level from bachelor\u2019s to MBA are encouraged to learn and understand the fundamental theories&nbsp;and facts of business,&nbsp;while&nbsp;familiarizing&nbsp;themselves with trends and opportunities that exist at the cutting edge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adaptability, as John-Claude&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;noted, is key to business success.&nbsp;Exemplifying this behavior,&nbsp;EU Business School has embraced the challenge presented by the global health crisis&nbsp;and is&nbsp;offering&nbsp;on-campus students a seamless, engaging and interactive digital&nbsp;experience&nbsp;that ensures they continue to progress and learn,&nbsp;despite the worldwide pandemic pressing pause on life as we\u2019ve known it.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"business education (opens in a new tab)\">business education<\/a> that prepares you to recognize opportunities, embrace change and race ahead of the competition, choose EU Business School. Whatever the&nbsp;situation&nbsp;is&nbsp;in&nbsp;October,&nbsp;we&nbsp;have a solution to ensure that you don\u2019t have to put your future on hold.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/Programs\/programs.html?utm_campaign=blog-menu&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_mode=30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/EU_Generic_750x125.gif\" alt=\"eu business school cta\" class=\"wp-image-27702\" width=\"897\" height=\"149\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jean-Claude&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;has&nbsp;been lauded&nbsp;as the savior of the Swiss watch industry.&nbsp;After&nbsp;an hour of energetic,&nbsp;insightful&nbsp;and entertaining conversation&nbsp;at our latest Learning&nbsp;From&nbsp;Leaders conference, it was easy to see why.&nbsp;Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;told stories,&nbsp;re-enacted seminal&nbsp;conversations&nbsp;and shared wisdom&nbsp;from his impressive career,&nbsp;demonstrating&nbsp;the passion that has driven him since he first developed a love for the Swiss mechanical watch.&nbsp;&nbsp; The&nbsp;deep dive&nbsp;interview of&nbsp;Jean-Claude&nbsp;Biver,&nbsp;LVMH Group, Non-Executive President of the Watch Division, Chairman of Hublot and Zenith watches,&nbsp;by&nbsp;Peter Vanham, author of &#8220;Before I&nbsp;Was CEO&#8221;,&nbsp;was incredibly informative and Biver responded to EU students&#8217; perceptive questions with&nbsp;career-shaping insights and advice.&nbsp; The event can be&nbsp;watched&nbsp;in full&nbsp;here.&nbsp;We\u2019ve crystalized some of the key themes and ideas that Mr.&nbsp;Biver&nbsp;shared&nbsp;below.&nbsp; The&nbsp;Journey to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1769],"tags":[1707,4405,630,658],"class_list":["post-28442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learning-from-leaders","tag-business-advice","tag-crisis-management","tag-leadership","tag-learning-from-leaders","post--single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Jean-Claude Biver, LVMH Group - Chairman of Hublot and Zenith watches<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The deep dive interview of Jean-Claude Biver was very informative, treating EU students and guests to career-shaping insights &amp; advice.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-jean-claude-biver\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/insights-jean-claude-biver\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Community\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Learning From Leaders\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/learning-from-leaders\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Insights From Jean-Claude Biver, LVMH Group, Non-Executive President of the Watch Division, Chairman of Hublot &#038; 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