Romain Dezaux, has worked in the luxury industry for close to 15 years, today he holds the position of International Sales Director at Zenith Watches.
1. Describe briefly your childhood.
I would say a fortunate childhood, spent in the south of France, in a region known for its deep culinary roots and cultural heritage, in Bordeaux. A region close to nature and elements, and yet always attractive and buzzing through its worldwide fame through wine and castles.
2. As a child did you have any driving ambition?
Very quickly I had been driven by whatever was foreign…always curious and seeking for adventures, meeting new people, discovering new places, getting to know myself through odds and unexpected situations…It is only towards the end of my high school education that I was able to associate these features to what I hoped back then would be an international career.
3. What is your first significant memory as a child?
The realization that life was precious and short…that every day needed to be valued, cherished and respected. I lost my brother when I was 5 and understood back then that life could go as quickly as it comes.
4. Have you ever had another profession?
I had many…especially at a time when I was participating to the financing of my studies in Singapore, London, Copenhagen, New York…I remember a period in 2001 where I was doing an internship in NYC for a French company retailing gourmet products, I was also a waiter at nights and during week end…
Another time I was harvesting during the “wine harvesting” periods…another time I was building fireplaces…All these jobs allowed me to develop both a sense of hard work, a sense of humility and respect for jobs and people that do not always have the opportunity to have highly regarded position.
5. What made you decide to go in the direction you are currently in?
I would say the thirst for International, and that natural taste for development, combined with a sense and affinity to luxury, exclusivity, craftmanship.
But above all, a natural desire to work with people, to grow from people, to develop people and organization.
6. What’s the worst job you’ve had to do?
It is difficult to name one job that I hated. In fact, I didn’t, they were all different but they all taught me different things, from resilience to perseverance… In general, I would say that I enjoyed “physical” jobs and labour less than positions that could intellectually stimulate me.
7. What’s been the hardest moment in your life so far, and how did you overcome it?
The loss of relatives has always been for me the most difficult moment of my life…and a way to not overcome as I don’t believe that one can ever overcome the loss of a parent or a friend, but more to live with it, is to find ways to remember and pay tribute to these people, through their values, through their beliefs, through the causes they defended…
8. Who has had the strongest influence on you?
The person I share my life with, my partner and the mother of our three children…
A woman that I learn from, get inspired by and live with.
Our children are also a wonderful source of inspiration…they constantly remind me of the importance of the now, the ability to be present, grounded, attentive…
Besides I am always drawn by people, individuals that live through their passion, athletes, adventurer, entrepreneurs…
9. What are you most proud of?
Seeing our children growing and teaching them the importance of our planet, of nature, of living and behaving healthily with consciousness.
10. What advice would you give to a 20 something someone thinking of taking a similar path as you?
Two simple pieces of advice.
The first one is to live…to live life, to grasp life, to look up, to dare and meet, to interact…but mostly to look up, to see and witness.
Technologies, digital is a wonderful medium to accelerate knowledge, communication, access… yet should never take us away from human connection.
The second is to take risks and learn from failures.
11. Name three things on your bucket list.
Swim with some whale sharks in Western Australia.
Complete the Patagonia trail in South America.
Sail on a boat around the pacific with my family for a year.
12. Where do you think the watch industry is going to be in 10 years time?
Time has taught us how resilient the industry has been and is.
As technology accelerates I believe people will seek more and more craft, authenticity and sense.
I believe that the most fundamental evolution will be related to how players within the industry will be able to add the concept of sustainability in their development, along with the notion of sense and purpose that their organization fights for.
To learn more Romain Dezaux