Bruce Cleaver
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Bruce Cleaver presents as a quintessential Steward, entrusted with safeguarding a 135-year-old institution and its broader ecosystem of governments, communities, and consumers. Throughout the interview, Cleaver frames De Beers not as a commercial engine but as a custodian of the diamond industry itself, noting that a million-person Indian cutting trade looks to De Beers for leadership in crises.
“I'm glad you took that data with a pinch of salt. Oftentimes it depends on the exact starting point you take when you get this data. Our data would suggest that in that period, diamond prices have grown on average by more than inflation. That's for sure, but I wouldn't say quite as much as that.”
“So if you get engaged to your fiance and your family standing around and then a year later, your brother gets engaged, he feels obliged to get a bigger engagement ring. And so that was quite helpful for us. So we managed to get that market to about 90% by the late 1990s.”
“He is set, never judge one of our watches until you've held it in your hand and felt the quality. And both Will Campion and I have bought a watch and we love them. A tangible love for their mission, resulting in beautiful world-class luxury wristwatches.”
“All the other brands buy from us or from some Of our customers. So if we can tell the story of the diamond from its source to its ultimate end user and all the good it's done along the way, it's a tremendous opportunity for us. So when we think about that and when we ask people what they think about DeBears the Brand, they recognize it.”
Money Maze Podcast: “Are Diamonds Forever? With Bruce Cleaver, Co-Chair of De Beers”
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