Antoine Raymond at BPI France InnoGeneration

Hello, it's not easy to speak at lunchtime, especially after Gad Elmaleh. The only link I found with him is that my company recently signed a joint venture with a family company from the Dungeon family, and they live in a dungeon, you know, it's not easy. So sorry for that opening, but you probably don't know our company. Yet we are around you every day, all around you when you're in traffic. Earlier when I arrived, I saw lots of cars in the parking lot, probably your cars. If we were to disappear instantly, by a magic wand, our company disappears, then when you go back to the parking lot, you might find them all in pieces. Why? Because our company, a French company, is one of the world leaders in automotive fastening and assembly. I am Antoine Raymond, head of the company A. Raymond. Our company has 7,200 employees in 25 countries across four continents. It's a long history, a long human adventure of 154 years, since the company was founded by my great-great-grandfather in 1865.

So I am happy to be here today with you to share some ingredients of our recipe for longevity and success. Amira, Dieuze, Epais, and Martin are names that mean nothing to you, but to me they are important names. I will be awarding them medals for 40 years of work within our company, 40 years of commitment, and that touches me deeply. It's a ceremony we hold every year, and for decades I have been convinced, we have been convinced, that the first and most fundamental ingredient of the company is the human being at its heart, the heart of the company. Our company strives to be a machine that weaves human bonds, a machine that transforms people to allow them to grow, to realize themselves, as authors, directors, and contributors of this long history we write together. So at this lunch hour, I think of Anne-Sophie Pic, who spoke to us about extraordinary things, cuisine, harmony. It's true that when we are all seated around a meal, a good meal, which I hope you will have the opportunity to enjoy later, it's pleasure. And pleasure is one of our six values, one of the six values that 140 managers of the company chose about ten years ago. We started from the principle of bringing people together because, as I remind you, we have about 25 different cultures. We started from the principle that beliefs can divide people, whereas universal values bring them together. Those 140 managers came to France about ten years ago to choose the values that today we all strive to live by daily, with ups and downs of course, but we strive to live authentically.

And if I say Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, or Donald Trump, would you want them as your boss? Probably not. And if I talk about economic war, price wars, industrial espionage, hostile takeovers, competition, aren't you a bit tired of company life always or too often being immersed in this atmosphere of violence, war, etc.? We believe that peace, especially economic peace, is an extraordinary lever for long-term prosperity. So we decided to change the paradigm about ten years ago and change our type of leadership by opting for servant leadership. Servant leadership is a leadership of listening, attention, care. It is a leadership that provides a framework, support, gives people freedom within that framework, and also knows how to provide security and make decisions when necessary. We have trained over 700 employees worldwide, across all cultures, and it works very well. To also enable dialogue, exchange, communication, and collaboration, we started training in non-violent communication. Non-violent communication is about stopping saying 'you are wrong,' 'you did badly,' 'it's your fault,' 'I disagree with you,' but instead starting from oneself, from one's feelings, to express one's need, and asking the other authentically. Over the past ten years, our revenue has tripled. For a company as old as ours, that is truly... I would say we have transformed into a speedboat over the past ten years with these ingredients, this recipe. Also, our self-financing capacity, we reduced our debt, and that allowed us to be more agile, more collaborative, more cooperative. It brought us together, united us, and gave meaning to everyone. And personally, when I look at the sky in summer, that incredible starry vault, I tell myself that it puts things into perspective. We are not much, that's an understatement, and especially our life is short. In this short life, we want it to be intense, alive. We want to do beautiful things, to write a beautiful story of our life, but not alone, together with others. So it is especially there that the flame that drives me lies. Thank you for your attention.