Elite Traveler May-June 2017

elite traveler MAY/JUNE 2017 57

process. So if you have a passion, you love, you respect, you forgive. I am not successful because I am good; I am successful because I have passion.” He also says that sharing is a vital part of that all-important passion, and he shares his successes, failures, hopes and dreams with others, especially those he works with. “If you have a passion for something, it shows. You cannot keep it inside of you. With time, it transfers to other people you work with and then before you know it they get the passion, and then you have a group of passionate people, and they all work for the same goal; they are like bees who come to the honey,” says Biver. “My people are only as good as I treat them. So I treat them with passion, with respect and with forgiveness. This is why I have some people staying with me for decades. This is my management style.” As head of three top brands, Biver says his 41 years of experience aid him in making quicker, smarter decisions. As he juggles three brands, keeping them separate and distinct by adhering to their individual missions, he also takes advantage of the synergies. “The only thing my brands all have in common is that they make watches. But if we have the opportunity to draw on the synergies between the brands, tap the minds of people from one brand to help with another, and share an exchange of ideas, then you have to take advantage of that,” says Biver. “I owe that to every brand I oversee.” Biver says he has never worked so much in his life, but he seems to thrive on juggling three brands. “When you have a passion, you work without even noticing it is work. It is like a mother. She can juggle one child or she can juggle five. It is amazing. You have to devote more time, of course, but I will never complain. I will say ‘thank you’ because it is a privilege that when you are 68 you have more work than when you were 28. Working is learning and learning means you are still young, still able to grow. I wish this for everybody.”