Louis is going on seven years with the Group. He stayed because around every corner was an opportunity to grow and develop his career. The latest being a move from Hong Kong to Singapore with Maison Van Cleef & Arpels.
How I made my last move
I find it very important to make sure you are clear in setting your career goal and openness in mobility with your manager. So when opportunity comes, you can be sure that it can come to you.
As I already had an existing working relationship with my prospective manager and team members, the interview process was relatively streamlined. This has certainly helped me get the job and I would also consider myself a highly adaptive person to living in a new environment – as long as there’s good food and good coffee!
Valentine's Day is lucky for me
It's the day I joined the Maison Van Cleef & Arpels, in 2012, as Regional PR executive for the Asia Pacific region. I've had many opportunities to grow and develop since.
A highlight was working on the high-profile digital project to launch the WeBoutique for Van Cleef & Arpels. It was truly an eye-opening experience to see the speed of digital evolution in China.
Exponential growth
I see people management and team leadership as a key next step in my career development and this move fits the bill perfectly – with an additional challenge of doing it “away from home”. Compared to Hong Kong, the Southeast Asian market is a young but rapidly growing market which comes with a different set of challenges and opportunities.
One region, a thousand worlds
I'm surprised by how the Southeast Asia & Australia region operates as one team, even if the difference between the cultures and countries can feel like “a thousand worlds”. We still #dreambig and #gotogether in one unified direction, which is truly impressive.
I'll always remember...
Attending my first Watches & Wonders in Hong Kong in 2013. It was the first Haute Horlogerie exhibition of its kind in Hong Kong at that time and I had been entrusted to work on the project despite being relatively new to the Maison. The best training you could ever ask for!
Words I live by
Stay curious and always trust your instincts. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
I'm grateful for...
The trust I receive from my managers and colleagues. (and great food! :P)
The tail of a lion
The Group has a portfolio of Maisons with a combined history of several hundreds of years…If you look at it that way, I’m a very small piece of gear but I would love to think that my dedication and passion has inspired some of my colleagues (other gears) to push the Maison Van Cleef & Arpels forward.
But that is nothing compared to how the Group has impacted me…Being able to travel across the world, working on some of the most spectacular events, witnessing some of the finest jewellery and watch creations in the world, and meeting inspiring people from in and outside of the Group has profoundly defined who I am as a person today.
People don't know
That I’m actually quite shy.
Words of advice
Sometimes move away from your comfort zone can bring feelings of insecurity or uncertainty. The way I look at it is: Don’t think of success and failure as opposites, but as results of “trying”.