Golf, sailing, mountain climbing, racing, these are hobbies you might expect for CEOs who need a break. Not Swiss CEO Jean-Claude Biver. He is CEO of, what else, a watch company who relaxes by herding cows and making cheese.
Herding Cows Helps Swiss Executives Ease Boardroom Pressure
“I always give priority to my home, to where I come from,” Biver, 62, said in an interview at his farm near Montreux, Switzerland, where his heifers were adorned with a traditional costume of pine boughs, bells and flower bouquets. “From here I get the strength to do my job.”
“The biggest problem of a successful CEO is that sometimes he doesn’t know anymore where he comes from,” Biver said. “This keeps my two feet on earth.”
Mr. Biver gets to travel to places like Monte Carlo on business, but his happiness is to come back home.
What makes Switzerland different is that people always go back. Whatever their position is in the buisness or the finance or the industry, they always go back to simplicity.
Biver says coming home for the cows and the cheese makes him a better person. He says it brings him back to reality.
Okey dokey. Beautiful.
Here’s the full interview if you can make out what he’s saying over the cow bells.
When I was a kid I worked at a neighbors dairy farm. I found it challenging to keep all the cow skeet off the deck constantly. He probably doesn’t do the dirty work. If you don’t have to do the dirty work anything can be relaxing.
Another moo-ving Wednesday post Pat!