Stéphane Maquaire - "Faisons sauter les verrous : L'échec ? Même pas peur !"

At that point, I had two options: either leave immediately and not waste my time, or stay and do all the calculations by hand. I chose to stay. I asked for many sheets of paper and did all the calculations manually. People thought I was crazy because I kept scratching away at square roots and cube roots. At the end, there was a demonstration, and I had a slight discrepancy: 2.1625 on one side and 2.1627 on the other. I wrote that I considered the demonstration proven even though it wasn't exact, since all calculations were done by hand. The examiner understood and gave me a good grade. It shows there are still enlightened minds in France. All this to say, you mustn't be afraid; you have to take risks. At that time, the former CEO of Sony had a quote that struck me: 'To succeed, you must dare to do what others don't dare to do.'

Yes and no. Beyond failure, what matters is taking risks. My career shows many risk-taking situations. I've changed employers four times, often when people told me it was a bad idea — the ownership was changing, the company was in a delicate situation, it was impossible to work with so-and-so. For example, yesterday there was a wonderful young woman named Anne-Laure Constanza, who founded a great startup called Envie de Fraises. She had failed in one or two previous ventures but was sure she had found a unique business model: an online clothing brand for pregnant women. She said the line is extremely thin, if not invisible, between stubbornness when you're convinced you're right and stupidity in not listening to those around you.

I believe you have to listen to your inner energy. At some point, you know you have to do it. It's hard to explain, but that's how it's been in my different job transitions. You know it's a mountain you have to climb, but you have that energy. If you listen to it, you know you'll climb that mountain. What's important is not only knowing it's difficult, but also that there will be moments when you think you won't make it. But if you listen to yourself and have that certainty of succeeding, or at least of being able to bounce back if it doesn't work, it's almost like a mystical thing — not very rational, but it's a kind of inner drive or rage that makes you go. And once you decide to go, you don't question yourself anymore.

I wasn't afraid, but the teams were. Store managers, who are on their own turf, were told to promote monoprix.fr. They thought it would reduce their sales. It required a lot of explanations, cutting up the pie, and benevolence to foster initiative in the company. Over time, they understood that it creates a complete ecosystem — Monoprix and monoprix.fr enrich each other rather than one impoverishing the other.

I think they feed initiative and risk-taking. Humility means listening to our customers and knowing when we're not in tune with the moment or with changes in consumption. For example, three or four years ago, when iPads and Samsung tablets emerged, we tried to create our own 'Minitel' — a tablet attached in stores for shopping. We arrived too late compared to the surge of tablets, because now you can shop from anywhere without being tethered to a store. It was a completely useless technological midpoint, exactly like France Telecom's Bi-Bop, which was before mobile phones, allowing you to have a phone within a 300-meter range of a charging station. But France Telecom recovered from Bi-Bop, and we recovered from that project too.

I think that's the aspect of cohesion: as long as we cultivate a spirit of listening within the company, teamwork, the will to work together, to implement new ideas and test them — we are big on testing. If it works, we develop; if it doesn't, we stop. That's benevolence, and from there we develop collective energy. It also means that for the leader, it's not always easy to hear, but sometimes you have to be, in quotes, a bit overwhelmed by events. That sounds a bit strange to say, but it's a reality: initiative must be taken without necessarily having seen, validated, understood, analyzed everything. That's how this will to go further is created, and then bring the idea to life in the store.

There's a third important element: constancy. When you take a risk, as I applauded in the introduction, you have to go to the end of things. You can't just stop at the first difficulty. Let me give one last example. Monoprix launched organic products almost 25 years ago. At that time, organic was reserved for a few specialty shops. We wanted to develop it, we were sure of our decision, it was part of the evolution of consumption that we sensed, also inspired by what we saw in the US. It took time, but 25 years later, it has developed.

Constancy obviously evolves with time. You have to return to humility, listen to the market, and amend accordingly. What you must avoid is a sharp turn left or right — saying 'I did that, now I stop.' When a new leader arrives and wants to completely change direction too quickly or without explanation, you end up with completely disoriented companies. What's important is to move gradually, adapting strategy while keeping the fundamentals. How can you make a 180-degree turn? That wastes a lot of time.

There are many ways to succeed in France; you can undertake. There is the status of auto-entrepreneur today. Listening and benevolence must exist in both directions. I am also a parent of three children, partly now adults, and I can say you can be a bit overwhelmed by events and adapt to today's training methods, which have evolved. But once again, if you're sure of yourself and want to create a company, for example, you have to go for it. Don't fear failure. Once you decide, go all the way. Thank you. I'd like to conclude with a fantastic quote by Mark Twain, which I think will resonate: 'They didn't know it was impossible, so they did it.' Thank you very much.