In this weekend’s Financial Times, the billionaire founder of luxury goods conglomerate PPR shared a few of the precepts behind his success.
When dining with the press, pick a restaurant with only one Michelin Star, lest they think you’re hoity-toity. “Sormani appeals because ‘c’est pas trop snob.’”
Don’t select the art. Let the art select you. “Consultant Philippe Ségalot, for example, recalls accompanying Pinault to see a Carl Andre floor sculpture; after half an hour of silent viewing, Pinault said, ‘I have no choice’ and paid $7m for it.” (Those lacking $7 million may have to consider other options, such as never, ever looking at art.
Don’t drink in the daytime, lest you get confused and end up in the red-light district, or worse, scratching at Marion Cotillard’s door. “I only drink in the evening, otherwise it gets complicated.”
When in doubt, look to the philosophies of Edith Piaf. “Je ne regrette jamais,” he says. “I have no sense of nostalgia. Tomorrow is what interests me.”
And the Lifetime Network for Women. “I live as if I have eternity before me but every morning I say, ‘It could stop here.’”
