{"id":12616,"date":"2024-05-31T00:29:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-31T00:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/jean-christophe-bedos-president-and-ceo-of-maison-birks\/"},"modified":"2024-05-31T14:24:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T14:24:53","slug":"jean-christophe-bedos-president-and-ceo-of-maison-birks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/jean-christophe-bedos-president-and-ceo-of-maison-birks\/","title":{"rendered":"Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos, President and CEO of Maison Birks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Retail<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

When Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos was going to university in Europe, he was very interested in law and intellectually very stimulated by it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But when he finished his law studies in Paris, B\u00e9dos got a part-time job with luxury retail brand Cartier in Paris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI completed my law degree and then they offered me a job. That\u2019s exactly when I thought okay I will probably not be a lawyer, let me try this. <\/span><\/p>\n

And the rest is history because I\u2019ve stayed in the luxury industry ever since,\u201d said B\u00e9dos, President and CEO of Maison Birks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>
Image: Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the head office of Cartier, he was working in product development for luxury watches. <\/span><\/p>\n

It included brand management, merchandising, marketing and communication.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where I made my way through the world of Cartier and luxury goods. Retail came later as I became Managing Director of Cartier in France and then I moved on to become the CEO of Boucheron, another great jeweler in Paris. This is when retail came on my radar.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

B\u00e9dos was born in Morocco but he was raised in France from when he was two years old. <\/span><\/p>\n

His father was a judge, working with the justice ministries in Morocco and France. In France, B\u00e9dos grew up in Toulouse, which is in the southwest part of France.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He has a Sloan MSc in Strategy & Business Management from London Business School. Law degree from Paris Sorbonne University. <\/span><\/p>\n

Business Administration degrees from Nottingham and Toulouse Business Schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

But B\u00e9dos was drawn to the luxury retail side of business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe products were exceptionally beautiful. Very carefully manufactured. High quality. Precious materials. Precious metals. Precious stones. <\/span><\/p>\n

And the history, the heritage of those brands. <\/span><\/p>\n

In retail, the whole point is to translate to the consumer the brand essence and the style and character of the brand so that the brand experience in the store reflects what the brand is about. <\/span><\/p>\n

Its philosophy, its values and retail has to make sense from that point of view. It cannot just be a store. <\/span><\/p>\n

It has to be a store that expresses all the attributes of the brand,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>
Image: Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

B\u00e9dos became President and CEO of Birks in 2012, joining the leading manufacturer and retailer of prestigious jewelry and timepieces since 1879 in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said he wasn\u2019t brought up in luxury as a child but discovered luxury\u00a0with his first job at Cartier.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents were not consumers of luxury brands but my mother was very sensitive to aesthetics because she had a spa in Toulouse with a beauty salon and she used to subscribe to every ladies\u2019 magazine you can think of. <\/span><\/p>\n

So as a kid I grew up watching all those fashion magazines and women magazines. It was part of my family. On the coffee table. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it was Elle or Vogue or many different magazines, I grew up looking at those pages which inspired me a lot because they were magnificent couture and makeup and beauty,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut luxury goods as such like watches and jewelry I discovered later only when I worked with Cartier and then Boucheron. <\/span><\/p>\n

This was an area I got very much inspired. <\/span><\/p>\n

And I\u2019m still working with watches and jewelry today with Birks because in my view there\u2019s a lot of substance in those brands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cQuality is a must for luxury watches and jewelry. But what really inspired me was the history, the essence of the design, the inspiration. <\/span><\/p>\n

The design language for each brand is very specific to every brand. <\/span><\/p>\n

When you look at the culture around those brands, heritage, design language, brand personality, the brand essence, all of this is very coherent when you look at Cartier or Boucheron. <\/span><\/p>\n

Those fabulous brands with immense history have become legends because they have been very coherent in their expressions and in their striving for excellence. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is always, always a distinction. You can identify a Cartier watch or a Cartier piece of jewelry just at a glance. Same as Rolex. <\/span><\/p>\n

All the great brands have that strength in them. It\u2019s not a coincidence. <\/span><\/p>\n

It all comes from a very, very robust and meticulous obsession for expressing the brand, the brand values, and style and character. <\/span><\/p>\n

Brand management in the luxury goods industry is extremely deep and profound.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>
Image: Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

B\u00e9dos said leaders in the luxury space, beyond all the necessary qualifications and experience, also need to have a high sensitivity to history, culture, style and beauty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are indifferent to those things I don\u2019t think you can be successful in the luxury goods industry,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be able to be emotionally moved by those products and it\u2019s not just about managing the PNL (profit and loss), managing the balance sheet and the cash flow statement. It\u2019s not only about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked to describe his leadership style, B\u00e9dos said he is collaborative, especially when he moved to Canada. It\u2019s one of the qualities of Canadian management. <\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s learned that here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve become definitely a team player, consulting my team, listening to my team and as a CEO I sometimes say I work for them rather than them working for me,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>
Image: Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Drawing on an analogy with acupuncture, B\u00e9dos said a needle is put where there is a need for the energy to flow and those spots have been identified by the health practitioner because there is an absence of energy flow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I like to believe that the CEO has that role. I only intervene and I only plant the needles where there is a need for a flow of energy, communication, initiative and in project management I don\u2019t believe that the CEO should be omnipotent and always there with authority. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes the CEO should listen, sometimes the CEO should not necessarily be present. When everything goes well, why interfere?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe Chinese medicine is quite inspiring from that point of view. The CEO is the acupuncture of the company\u2019s energy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span>
Image: Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u200b\u200bB\u00e9dos loves to spend time with his family when he\u2019s not working. <\/span><\/p>\n

He loves simple things like cycling, hiking, gardening, music, dinners with friends, art, going to the cinema and opera and classical music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are foodies. We go to restaurants a lot. So I am busy. I am never bored,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there are phases in life when you can be dedicated to your job and be a workaholic and I\u2019ve had those years especially at the beginning of my career when I would be working 16, 18 hours a day. <\/span><\/p>\n

But those years are gone and I consider that in a job like mine it\u2019s about people, it\u2019s about managing people. You have to interact with people. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn a job like mine also because we deal with luxury brands it\u2019s important to be nourished with culture, with trends and be exposed to what\u2019s happening, going to exhibitions, museums, going to see the latest films in the cinema. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important because we sell culture. Luxury goods are part of our modern culture and you can\u2019t be disconnected from that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Retail<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Jean-Christophe B\u00e9dos was going to university in Europe, he was very interested in law and intellectually very stimulated by it.\u00a0 But when he finished […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[36],"class_list":["post-12616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-jean-christophe-bedos-president-and-ceo-of-maison-birks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12616"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12624,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12616\/revisions\/12624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}