Jean-Claude Biver’s Three Commandments for Successful Leaders

culled from:wobi.com

The former CEO of Hublot Genève, Jean-Claude Biver led the exclusive Swiss watchmaker through their most successful years of business, reenergizing the brand. How did he get first get started in the watch business? Well, he didn’t really like to work, and the watch reminded him of the grown-up version of a child’s toy. We liked him right away.

Biver joined Hublot as CEO in 2004 and is credited for the watchmaker’s fivefold sales increase from 2004-2007. With almost four decades in the watchmaking industry, Biver has the formula for success down to three commandments. In an exclusive interview with WOBI.com Editor Chris Stanley, Biver describes the three ethic values that leadership must embody in order to create successful organizations. Can you guess what all three are based on? Love.

1.       Thou shalt share.“We must share our experiences, our failures, our knowledge, our doubts, our success,” says Biver. Through the sharing process you make people around you feel confident and a part of the team. When people have this feeling of confidence, it inevitably contributes to their development and talent. Establish a mutual relationship with the people on your team and create a community.

2.       Thou shalt give respect. Biver has made an enduring contribution to the culture of the company thanks to his ability to give respect to every individual. The company allows for women with children to take time off for child care, recognizing the time constraints necessary to raising children.  By instituting policies that respect their people, the customer, and even the suppliers, Hublot has created a company that gains the respect of others and creates long term relationships.

3.       Thou shalt forgive. “We want active people and people can only be active if they make mistakes,” says Biver. He believes in order to learn and grow we must first fail, however as a result business will grow. It is a leader’s job to accept the failure and errors of their people, and be able to forgive them. “Just never let them repeat the same mistake twice!” By doing so, a leader cultivates a culture of courage that is prone to innovation. If you run a company where your employees feel like they must have a good chance of success in order to try something, they are never going to try anything new.