The event, led by Georges Kern, CEO of Breitling, was also attended by Bertrand Piccard, a passionate advocate of renewable energy and clean technologies who has also been part of the brand’s Explorer Squad since 2018.
In 1999, Piccard achieved something unimaginable to many: he flew non-stop around the world in a hot air balloon. This pioneer and visionary is motivated by the desire to conserve the world for future generations, and in his fight against climate change he created The Solar Impulse Foundationan organization that aims to demonstrate that the protection of the environment can be economically profitable.
Of these topics and some others equally profound and relevant, he spoke during an exclusive interview with life and stylewhich can be read as a road map for those looking for the direction of their next adventure.
Life and Style (L&S): How did your relationship with Breitling come about?
The brand supported me in 1992 to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, something that was a success. But then they supported me in my attempts to fly around the world non-stop. The first two were flops and they still supported me. They said, “You tried, you failed, but we carried on.” And that’s amazing.
After creating The Solar Impulse Project, when Georges Kern became CEO, we flew around the world with a solar plane, a project that aimed to find solutions for the environment, and they also supported me. It is a friendship based on trust, respect, loyalty and mutual admiration. All of that revolves around wonderful watches that are the kind of product that I would buy even if they weren’t my sponsors.
L&S: What are the challenges of working in favor of renewable energies and clean technologies today?
My great challenge today is to show that protecting the environment can be very profitable and to show the solutions that allow us to save energy, natural resources, venture into a circular economy and, basically, support economic development in a clean way. You can create money and jobs and save by using the latest technology solutions to be greener and more efficient.
L&S: During the presentation of the Navitimer 2022 you mentioned that, just like when flying in a hot air balloon, in life we must find the right attitude to move in the direction we want. How is this achieved?
I try to get rid of the beliefs, the paradigms and dogmas of the previous altitudes. Always perceive if there is another way of thinking, another altitude that will take me in a different direction. I navigate life as if I were flying in the sky. That way I find the best altitude, the best direction and the best speed.
What happens in our lives will depend on how we think, our relationship with ourselves, with others, with nature, our way of thinking, what we do, what we say… All this has different consequences and each consequence is a direction in life.
L&S: What is your best advice to see everything with new eyes?
We must begin by understanding that the new things we can learn come from people who think differently from us. We need to listen more to people we disagree with than to those we agree with. This is very counterintuitive, because very often we are friends with people who think the same as us. But if we think alike, there are no challenges to our ideas. We have to make friends with
people who think differently and thus a new type of relationship is established, one in which 1+1=3. It is you with your experience, it is me with my experience and together we give rise to a third experience, in which what we have both learned is integrated.
This is how a new creativity is developed in which each person ends up being a better version thanks to the other. In life it is very important to understand. If we do that, our direction will be much better than if we think we are the only ones who are right.