« Be first, unique and different »: life lesson by Jean-Claude Biver

As part of the mentoring program put into place by the MTE section a few years ago, regular meetings are organized between students and their mentors, high-ranked professionals from the industry (and often EPFL Alumni). The latter share their experiences and their networks while being enriched by these young talents and keeping a link with EPFL. Thanks to this program - pioneer at EPFL - the students can on the other hand be exposed to work opportunities and therefore contribute to the regional economy.

During this last event which took place mid-May, around forty mentors of the industry and MTE Master students, as well as a few Master projects’ supervisors, came to listen to a guest of honor: Jean-Claude Biver, worldwide renowned businessman of the luxury watch industry who came to share his experience.

During his presentation, he described with enthusiasm his path and his way to approach life and the long days of work, without it representing constraints. According to him, in order not to have the impression of working, one needs to develop a passion. Because for those who seek passion, days become too short and the frontier between working and passion doesn’t exist anymore. How is this reachable? By being curious, one can discover the wonders of the world where everything seems possible and achievable: “It is often in our close environment that we find answers and ideas, by observing and listening”.

His entrepreneurial spirit always pushed him to try and think in a disruptive way in order to always be “first, unique and different” and therefore be ahead of the competitors which helped him in his long career within renowned groups (Audemars Piguet, Omega, Blancpain and Hublot). He also admitted that sleeping 4h per night is another way of achieving this, accounting thus more hours of “work” per day than the competitors.

And as an entrepreneurial spirit never concentrates solely on one subject, he also started in a private capacity to be active in cheese production in a passionate, innovative and unique way: in order for his cheese to have a particular and original taste, the cows producing the milk only eat flowers. They are therefore moved at the right altitude during the season to reach that objective.

Whatever field he approaches, Jean-Claude Biver likes to think in a radical different way. “We are not all geniuses; creativity has to be constantly stimulated if one wants to be first, unique and different. This is in essence the message that he wanted to pass on to the young students that evening.