ARaymond 150 ans Interview with M.Antoine Raymond

At ARaymond it is above all a human adventure, and everything was possible only thanks to the commitment of the human beings who built this company—the men and women who collaborated in its success: our employees, our customers, our leaders, partners like our bankers or suppliers. So without them, nothing would have been possible, and this site pays tribute to them. The major challenge that our company will have to meet tomorrow, but also today, is the collaborative challenge. This is, I think, the challenge that the entire planet must face, given the very significant changes taking place in the world: climate change, rapid population growth, major technological advances, the depletion of the planet's resources, etc. The human being, I think, everywhere in the world, is confronted with this challenge of collaboration, because I believe that no one can work in isolation anymore. The actions of some impact others and vice versa. So for ARaymond, the challenge is definitively to create a collaborative network. It is also a challenge that, if we succeed, would allow us to have a more agile, more reactive, even more proactive organization in a world that is changing a lot. This is very important. And of course the difficulty to succeed in this challenge is to create a new state of mind, a mindset that truly allows people to collaborate. That is not a given, because we all come from a long global history, a long history in management schools of competition. Now we talk less about competition and more about collaboration, co-creation, true cooperation, solidarity. That is a big difference. To develop a new state of mind, the work first goes through managers. So it starts with work on leadership. We have begun working on a new type of leadership that we call servant leadership. We did not invent this concept; it was created in the 1970s. This type of leadership is supportive, it is a unifying leadership, it is motivating, it puts itself at the service of teams. A phrase that characterizes it well is: 'What can I, as a leader, do for my teams, my colleagues, my collaborators so that they succeed?' rather than 'What can my collaborators, colleagues, teams do for me so that I succeed?' That makes a big difference. This leadership can sometimes be wrongly considered naive or nice, but it is quite the opposite. It is a demanding leadership that liberates talent. And motivated, engaged, liberated talents who collaborate end up doing incredible things, even moving mountains. For me, these 150 years are certainly not the end of a long story; on the contrary, it is the beginning. It is the start of a new adventure. For me, 150 years is a portal to the future, to a new generation, a new type of management and leadership, a completely new company that works in a network in collaboration. It is for me the beginning of an exciting human adventure. I think we are committing to the creation of a better company. Human beings are in search of meaning today, and I think our company must be a carrier of meaning. I warmly thank again the men and women who work within ARaymond to carry out this beautiful adventure, and also all those who support us, who help us, our partners, our associates of course, and our customers whom I must not forget. Without them we are nothing. And I would like to express a big thank you to all these human beings who put their faith, their heart, and engage in this beautiful project.