All You Need is Love
– Lunch with Jean-Claude Biver Tag Heuer
Lunch with Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Tag Heuer was never going to be a boring affair! A charming and enigmatic character, Mr Biver is not your typical CEO by any means. He’s a very gregarious, outgoing and charismatic character and when he invited a group of us to lunch at the Radisson Blu at Zurich Airport we didn’t realise what a treat would be in store!
Passionate about his brand – (as well as being CEO of Tag Heuer he is also CEO of Hublot), you can see from his eyes and his expression the passion he has for his products. We were there to see some of the latest Tag Heuer watches, including TAG’s Smart Watch – the “Connected Watch” and a collection of new watches which would be on show at the forthcoming Baselworld.
The TAG Heuer Connected Watch © TAG Heuer
Over drinks we asked Mr Biver which watch he liked wearing and he showed us the Connected watch which he had on his wrist.
Adorned with a fetching leather strap, he showed us how it works with his iphone, delivers his email, his messages, breaking news, tells him everything he needs to know – and he even has it set up for Whatsapp! His enthusiasm for its capabilities was plain to see – and it made us want one even more! However, it is of course, just one of a great collection of watches that he takes great pride in.
The TAG Heuer Connected Watch © TAG Heuer
Over lunch we discussed everything from the upcoming Baselworld to the price Swiss farmers get for their milk (yes, really!) and Jean-Claude had something to say about everything. He is the most entertaining of hosts as he always has an opinion – sometime surprising – but always interesting. You will never get bored having a conversation with the Tag Heuer CEO!
The new ceramic watches
All You Need Is Love …. He also shared some business tips that he had picked up over the years. He opened by talking about the Beatles and “All You Need is Love”.
He knew all the words as he recited “All you need is love. There’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. Nothing you can sing that can’t be sung. All you need is love ….” He told us the date the Beatles first played the song and told us how much truth in his opinion, lay in the words. You have to love what you’re doing, you have to love things to make them work he belted out, tapping on his hands for emphasis. Life is all about love – we are all here as a result of love and sharing. Sharing was his next theme, giving the analogy of how a mother shares everything with her child. He continued by talking about the importance of help and especially helping others.
and Sharing … and Mistakes …
It’s so important to share he said and to help others. By way of explanation he compared it to how football manager Mourinho helped individual member of his team – by helping (and respecting their differences) and as a result getting better performance. He told us how he holds meetings where all his team bring along “3 recent mistakes” they have made – a “Mistake Meeting” – what a novel concept! He too shares his mistakes at this meeting and maintains that this is how he and his team learn – by sharing their mistakes, and learning from them.
He sets great store by the people who surround him. You must always have a strong team – a team of people who are better than you at the things they do. Again he went back to the theme of love – all you need is love – love what you do and the people around you.
It certainly seems to work for Mr Biver, and all too soon after touching on topics as diverse as watches, pop songs, cheese, football and even politics and football the lunch was over and it was time for Mr Biver to head to his next business appointment.
For more information on the watches please visit the TAG Heuer website.
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