Jean Winter introduced the first clandestine dining experience in Geneva with Jean’s Private Kitchen, which she established in her home. Her primary customer base consisted of UN, WHO, and WTO officials, football players, and VIPs residing in the Geneva region. Without any advertising, she relied solely on referrals, and only those who had a personal connection could make a reservation. Jean’s approach remains unchanged to this day. Initially, she informed seven acquaintances in Geneva, and within two and a half years, she accumulated a customer base of over 700 private clients in Geneva alone.
Below are highlights of the interview between World’s Leaders and Jean Winter:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
I am pretty much the same person inside and outside of work because my values, ethos, and outlook on life remain the same. I love a happy environment all the time and making people feel safe, warm, and comfortable when they are with me.
Laughing is a big component of my life, be it at home with my family, housekeeper and staff in all my companies. I love people. Spending time with people I love and care about, be it inside or outside of work, makes me happy. I am a hugger. I am the crazy employee.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I come from a very humble family. Growing up, her parents taught her that perceived success and material wealth mean absolutely nothing. I recall my parents telling me “The day you pass away, no one will remember all the things you have, but they will remember how much you impacted lives”.
At the ages of 75 and 78, my parents are still very active in the community. I used to get annoyed when my parents brought home “stray people”. Back then, I did not understand why they did it, but growing older and now being involved in the community myself, I understand why giving back to the community is so important. I see my parents as everyday heroes. While I was growing up, my mom was on the board of many charities. On numerous occasions, my mother invited me to attend charity meetings. Attending these meetings changed my perspective on people. I learned that one should never judge someone based on their past mistakes. Everyday life and society have influenced us to focus on the negative aspects of people.
When I was in my twenties, some 25 years ago, my mother, whom I see as a visionary, encouraged me to start a cafe where I would employ recovering drug addicts and ex-inmates. At that time, I felt that I was not ready for that challenge, but the idea did inspire me to view things differently.
I own and run a myriad of businesses, including a business consultancy, a catering company, a private chef for weddings, an events company, and an angel investor. Every company started because of a special story.
This is just one story of one of the other businesses that is so different from Touch:
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
I am an entrepreneur who owns a few different businesses, and over the years, my husband has asked me to look into investing in stocks and shares. I told him that I would invest in people. I sent out an offer to be an angel investor to a woman owned business on a female business page and ended up having 96 women reach out to me. It was during this period that Jessica reached out to me for help looking for sponsors for her children’s books on disability. It struck a chord with me that she had approached several individuals and corporations for sponsorship, but to no avail. That was the beginning of our journey.
I have had the idea of starting a company called ‘Touch’ for 3–4 years with the tagline ‘touching lives, inspiring people,” without an idea of what kind of business it would be. When I decided to sponsor Jess’s books, I decided that was going to be the start of Touch. We were seated at Tom and Serg, and it was over coffee that I told Jess that we would get her books published and she would run the company. I did not want to help her alone but to help a wider community through Touch.
I remember her looking at me with disbelief when I told her that she would run the company, and her words were along the lines of, ‘ I am a swimmer and a motivational speaker… I do not know anything about running a company’. I told her that she just created pillar two of the business: mentorship programs. I will start by helping and mentoring her to run the business, but she will be the face of the business. I believe that this story in itself is so powerful in terms of women supporting women and, for me, in terms of empowering Jess to achieve her dreams. That was the start of Touch.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
I strongly believe in building a strong foundation where every single person involved in any company has the same ethos, drive, and understanding.
Honesty, loyalty, integrity, and kindness are the key values I emphasize. Everyone is treated with the same amount of love, kindness, and respect, so it’s a very happy work environment. You have to live these values and show them by example. Once these values are set, everything else will fall into place easily.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
I have always carved out my own path. I love for my companies to be remembered for quirky, fun ideas that always reflect kindness and love.
That is our USP. Our service always reflects kindness.
Our innovative ideas always stem from kindness and giving back, which reflects our business ethos.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
I can only speak for my own company. I do not believe in individual heroics. Everyone in my team is special with their own special strengths, so I believe that magic happens when everyone comes together with their strengths.
Of course, you will have individuals who stand out in any company. I reward those individuals differently as an act of appreciation, but I will always reward others alongside them for other qualities as well. However, individuals who focus on exalting their own heroics will never survive long in my organization.
Team processes are extremely important, and I have learned the hard way that not everyone has the same expectations as me as a founder. So unless strict SOPs are in place, different visions will come into play and weaken the soul of the company.
If I had to make a choice based on your question above, then I believe that most businesses would choose team processes over individual heroics.
What are your responsibilities as the Founder & CEO? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
Keeping my businesses and people working with me and for me happy. If I can achieve that as founder and CEO, the businesses will run seamlessly by themselves. I have many happy moments during the day, not just one.
