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Bertrand Piccard Short Interview
Bertrand Piccard in a short interview for Globalance
… as an entrepreneur
What did you learn from your adventure with Solar Impulse?
The impossible does not exist in reality. Only in the minds of people who cannot free themselves from old beliefs and habits. Never be afraid to fail, otherwise you will never attempt new. Perseverance, because it took much more time, cost much more money than planned and included a lot of setbacks that we had to overcome.
What do you want to achieve with your foundation?
Prove that the protection of the environment is much more profitable than its destruction. Today, our world has to stop wasting if we want to be more profitable. To that end, the Solar Impulse Foundation is now labelling 1000 solutions that can protect the environment in a profitable way in order to bring to governments, corporations and investors the tools needed.
If I were to create a start-up, then it would be …
… a financing company that would help people buy clean technologies.
… personal
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? What do you think the world will look like in 50 years?
I am very optimistic when I see the number of solutions to protect the environment, but very pessimistic about how long it takes to implement them and to change current regulations. Hence, I am realistic, because I want to act now. Two options: Either we don’t do anything, and our quality of life will become a disaster, or we implement all the possible actions, and we will have a much cleaner, more efficient and fairer world.
How do you refill your energy when your personal power level is low?
Ich sage mir: Wenn das, was ich tue, einfach wäre, hätte es ein anderer bereits getan.
What do you learn from your daughters?
Among many other things, that my jokes are completely outdated, and what used to make people laugh when I was young, is clearly different from today.
… when investing
What is important for you, when investing?
Profitability on the long-term. I do not want to invest in stranded assets, such as fossil fuels, because I am absolutely certain that they will collapse.
What would you change if you were king of the financial markets?
The idea developed by Milton Friedman, that a corporate board should focus on nothing else but to maximize shareholder value is nonsense. Any company, if it wants to be prosperous in the future, needs to take into account the interests of all of their respective stakeholders, including society and the environment.
Bertrand Piccard
Piccard, Ambassador of Globalance, is an explorer, psychiatrist and president of the Solar Impulse Foundation, which has collected 1,000 efficient and profitable solutions to protect the environment.
Discover Piccard’s portfolio on Globalance World
