Life's a treasure hunt

In the process of grading diamonds, Peter Meuss, CEO of International Diamond Laboratory at the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), has learned the fine art of picking up on the finer nuances of people. He talks to Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary about the art of evaluating the most precious things in his life.

Like the meticulous polishing of an uncut diamond that reveals its true brilliance, the events in Peter Meeus' life have helped chisel his focus and purpose. Meeus, the CEO of the International Diamond Laboratory at the Dubai Multi Commodity Centre (DMCC), thinks of his life as a series of fortunate coincidences that first brought him into the diamond industry and eventually to Dubai.

He began his career as Chief of Staff to the Governor of Antwerp and a chance interaction with the diamond industry in Antwerp inducted him into this trade, where he worked hard and rose to be the head of the Diamond High Council – the highest body representing the Antwerp diamond trade.

In that role, he had initially accepted an invitation to be part of the board of members at the Dubai Diamond Exchange so he could keep a close eye on his competitors in the Middle East. Then, as a string of events unspooled, he realised that it was not possible to resolve the conflicting interests of the diamond trade in Antwerp. So he accepted the invitation of Ahmad Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman of DMCC, to head the International Diamond Laboratory (IDL).

"There comes a time in life when you say, 'I'm not prepared to do this any more'. And that is how I gave up my job in Antwerp," he says.

A man who holds relationships and people in higher regard than the precious stones he deals with daily, Meeus is at peace with the decisions he made because they have given him a sense of equilibrium.

I, ME, MYSELF

I came to Dubai exactly three years ago. I do not believe in destiny, although I think my life has been an interplay of coincidences which has given me the momentum to get to where I am today.

I hold relationships precious, not material things. I don't think a swank car, a big house or a set of glittering diamonds can be anywhere close to what a person's family or friends mean to him. For me, it's my wife Danielle, my son Alexander, my parents and brothers whose presence in my life is absolutely invaluable.

If I were to draw an analogy between humans and diamonds, it would be the manner in which both aspire to perfection.

I recall my first time with a diamond 20 years ago when I'd just joined the business. It was February of 1990 and I'd been asked to visit a De Beers site in London. They put me in a room with a renowned diamondier and he had with him some of the biggest stones I had ever seen. I will never forget that moment, sitting there, holding an 80-carat diamond worth $3 million! There was a sense of thrill that bedazzled me. In that moment I realised why women love diamonds so much. There is an element of aspiration in all of us and a diamond embodies what a woman really wants to be – perfectly chiselled – a dazzling piece of art who will only draw appreciation and gasps from everyone. I think perfection with regard to one's self is something we all secretly aspire to.

If I was asked what it means to be between a rock and a hard place, I'd say it's about making choices that give no room for comfort. However, in the end, if you persevere, you do make room for yourself to grow. When I was a student at the Antwerp University studying law, I had no idea about what I was going to do for a living. But I was a very good student and very active and that gave me a degree of social visibility. It was a twist of events that brought me to where I am.

As soon as I finished my studies, I was involuntarily drafted into the army. Here I was, all of 24 years old, washing dishes in the army for months when I get a call from the vice president of my university saying the Governor of Antwerp was looking for a chief of staff and would I want to take that up? I don't know whether I was between a rock and hard place, because I instantly said yes.

The next day I was at the palace of Mr Kinsenbergen. I still remember being breathless as I took the stairs up to the phenomenally big room of the governor. He warned me that the job would involve a lot of sweat and tears, but after my draft service, this seemed appealing. He recruited me in three minutes flat.

I must say that everything that I hadn't learnt at the university, I learnt by serving Kinsenbergen. He was a remarkable man and he treated me like a son.

The work was very intensive though. I would be in at 7am and would leave at 8pm. My job was to find a solution to any problem that might crop up.

As governor, he was responsible for any emergency. I recall once, when he was visiting Chile, a British Petroleum plant in Belgium exploded. I had to keep my cool, absorb the gravity of the situation, give statements to the press, liaise with different organisations and manage the show until he returned.

I persevered and ultimately I got the opportunity to travel with him for a World Federation of Diamond Bourses conference in Singapore.

I had never travelled out of Belgium and as we stepped out of the Singapore airport, something in my head said, 'this is the business I would like to be in: see the world, experience new cultures and meet exciting people'.

I think diamonds are called rocks because they are ultimately the hardest material found on earth. They are shaped like rocks and come from the heart of the earth because of processes that took place a 100 million years ago. Do you know that the earth stopped producing diamonds and the stones which are left are millions of years old?

I can confidently say that success does not last. I held a very high-profile job in Antwerp and eventually gave it up. You have to be humble all the time and count yourself lucky that it happened to you. There is a Latin saying: Sic transit gloria mundi, which means 'thus passes the glory of the world'. That is how one should look at fame and glamour. It is always important to have your feet on the ground and never lose your head.

I can't live without salt and spices.

That is how I approach life as well – I need a good challenge to take me ahead. My wife always says, 'Why can't you reach a state of mind where you are calm?' I like being tweaked by challenges to spice up life!

I can't stand dishonesty and hypocrisy in people. These are things you see around a lot when people say one thing and do another and it puts me off. In personal terms too, I like to be able to trust the people who are close to me. I despise cheating.

I think it is good to be competitive because that brings out our creativity. Being competitive is in our genes and in our temperaments. Competition is integral to the human race. In every which way, whether economical, social or so on... when faced with competition, we are our creative best.

I believe what is priceless in life is health and the well-being of your family.

You might have all the wealth and riches, but if you are not in good health to be able to enjoy it, it all becomes meaningless.

I think having fun in life is all about enjoying what your are doing in that moment. Everything new I take up is a challenge for me and I love travelling, experiencing new cultures, exploring new places and having new experiences. That is how I met my wife, Danielle. Both of us were participating in an Asian Diamond and Jewellery fair in Hong Kong.

We met on a famous mountain peak while sightseeing and as we came down the slope in a train, I asked her to marry me on my 40th birthday on Valentine's day.

I believe diamonds are forever because they have a sort of eternal quality to them. They have been there in the bowels of earth for as long as we know and they symbolise the ultimate gift of love.

I am dazzled by the view that I get of the earth from atop a mounatin.

I can recall the times when I was on top of Mont Blanc in Switzerland or Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. When you look down from up there, you realise that our lives are so fragile and so fleeting when compared to these mammoth structures that have been around forever.

I, ME, MYSELF

Me and my tryst with destiny

I don't believe that destiny has a part to play in our lives. It is just a set of events or coincidences that take you forward in life. I do not believe there is a plan for us and that we work according to that.

Me and my real passion

It is the wonder I take in the ordinary and everyday pleasures of life. I feel so happy to return home and be with my family to sit down, talk and dine together. As human beings we are always waiting for the next big thing, and have in the process forgotten the small everyday pleasures of life which really define who we are.

Me and my idea of adventure

I have a great curiosity for the novelty of a place, its people and culture.

That was one of the reasons I took up a job that involved travelling. Every time I visit a new country, it is like embarking on a new adventure. Even if I stopped working tomorrow, I would still visit all the places I want to. Often people ask, 'what is the one thing you would like to do before you die?" For me, it would be to visit all places and do it all.

Me and the love of my life

That's my wife Danielle. She is my anchor and my source of joy and happiness.

I, ME, MYSELF

If you had to draw a direct correlation between the five Cs of a diamond and life's five big lessons, it would be what?

I think it is not life's five big lessons but I would like to focus on the five Cs that make for a fine human being.

The first is clarity. In people, this would translate to a pure heart.

In the US, diamondiers go for the size of a rock – the bigger it is, the higher price it fetches. In the East, in countries such as China and Japan, clarity is more important than size. Here they are absolutely maniacal about flawless diamonds. Pureness in diamonds reflects purity in love.

The second is colour. I think this is all that is relative in human beings. What is white in London on a wintry afternoon is different from what is considered white in different light in the desert, for instance. I think colour is perception and deals with what you can make out about a person.

The third is cut. This has to do with how life's experiences polish you up, smoothening the edges, denting some characteristics and rounding off some traits. All of us get our individual cuts as life chisels away, for better or for worse.

The fourth is for carat. To me, this is the intrinsic value of a human being where your stature is reflected in the collective sum of your personality.

The last is certification. This is the proof of your authenticity that you earn from people around you.

As people, our reputations that we earn at home, in our circle of friends and in the work place go a long way in defining who we are.

Why is it that the most precious things in life come at a certain price? (And I don't use the term 'price' literally here.)

That is correct. What you give to one, you cannot give to another. This applies to money, time and love. We have to make choices all the way through our lives. For every decision, there is always a price to pay somewhere along the line.

Is it a human being's perception or nature's unwritten dictum that carbon is carbon by any other name, be it coal or diamond?

Although it is a human perception, and we could possibly be wearing coal instead of diamonds on our fingers; these things are dictated by the laws of rarity. The rarer a substance, the more valuable it is.

To a large extent, diamonds that were produced millions of years ago have only been discovered in the last 120 years. They are probably the rarest, most precious things on earth.

In an industry that is as hard as the diamonds it deals with, how do you keep hold of tenderness and inner brilliance in yourself?

By always being respectful, whatever the circumstances are. Rudeness does not bring anything.

It is said that is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Is the same true of diamonds (to have had some than never to be able to afford them at all)?

In the end we all lose, so it is better to have experienced than not.

Is every diamond merely waiting to be mined or do you think some diamonds are simply never meant to be discovered?

Beauty that's never discovered is probably more religious than real. Real beauty should be seen by as many people as possible.

Do you believe every human is a rough diamond and it is experience that brings out the best in him?

I do.