The best thing I've done in my life is to go far. I have four lives: as a financial analyst, a corporate banker, an investor, and a company manager. I hope to have a fifth life. It's amusing to look at my life path, starting in immediacy, finance, gain, financial advice, investment, then management, and now more on the social side. I have a star guiding me, but I don't know where I'm going; the path is tracing itself, and I'm following it. Was it conceivable that someone from private investment, with 20 years in finance and a certain arrogance, could manage a company in 120 countries with 300,000 people, while I had never managed more than 50? The risk was tiny, and it was the directors who took it when they appointed me.
I thought it was possible, but I didn't think it would be so hard. So it took time. The board trusted me, but the employees didn't at first, probably because I was still young, arrogant, and lacked the right words or presence. After, I traveled, met people, and discovered talents who hadn't been given opportunities. I brought them with me. I made a difficult decision that turned out to be the best. Within three months, I visited 40 countries, met 2,500 people in groups of 25. I wanted to know the group from the inside. They told me the group had no direction, was Franco-centric with expatriates. Fortunately, they loved the brands. Back in Paris, I was so upset that I asked 45 out of 50 executives to leave in a week. A third deserved it long ago, a third might have in 12 months, and a third was unfair, but I needed to remove those resistant to my arrival to avoid bad energy. I replaced them with 45 non-French people I had met in 90 days. This decision changed everything, as people recognized the group valued difference.
For years, I had a priority order: shareholders first, as I was measured on risk and return, then governments, stakeholders, partners, and employees last. But for the past 11 years, after taking about a year and a half, for the last 8.5 years, I put employees far ahead of shareholders. I get criticized for this because without engaging employees, there's no compensation for shareholders. I love my job today because we can hire over 100,000 people a year, two-thirds never went to university or grandes écoles, and two-thirds never had a job before. We take them from Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Chile, and it's extraordinary to give someone a chance. I learned generosity, respect, difference, and acceptance of time. Someone named Joël de Rosnay, a physicist and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences, told me about 'long time' versus 'short time,' but he said I should learn 'broad time.' Broad time is your library, taking hours in Tokyo to visit a museum, meeting unexpected people. The more you give to broad time, the more you master short and long time. I've never forgotten that.
Do I really do it? Do I want broad time? Yes. My life is made of meetings and discoveries, which is why I always want to continue. Now, I've been married to the same woman for 39 years, and I'm delighted. I have family serenity, love my five grandchildren, though I wish there were more. I need this stability; they're my foundations. After that, I need unexpected things, risk, audacity, transformation, movement. If there's no movement, I get bored. But I have no desire for power, social positioning, or recognition. I don't like people who live through others' eyes. I never read what's said about me, never watch my videos, and am not on any social media, not even LinkedIn. This saves me at least 3 hours a day. I'm disconnected from the media world 24/7 because I need to detach. I'd like to go back to more reflection than immediacy.
I run twice a week, and during runs, without music, it's when I think and make big decisions. I have to remember what I thought while running, but it's an important moment of disconnection. Airplanes too: for 10 years, I've lied about Wi-Fi not working on planes because I don't want people in my life there. It's my moment to let my brain wander and think about different things; I need to escape before returning to real time. I'm rarely wrong about people, and I have a clear order in my head: when making decisions, I start with my gut instinct, then my heart about impact on others, and finally my brain for timing. Those who start with the brain often make mistakes. Something that annoys people around me is my confidence. I don't stress about things I can't control. I never fear; I want to move, engage people, rush in, transform, and do different things. My parents gave me confidence; my grandmother always said, 'When you walk in the street, look at the first floor, never your feet.' I try to give this to my children: believe in themselves, and when it fails, say it's not grave and continue. This faith isn't for everyone, but it has never left me. I want to help, spending time on childhood issues. There are too many unhappy people without chances. If you haven't met Céline Greco, a medicine professor in Nancy who came from social work and was abused as a child, meet her, and you'll go to war with her. Over 50% of homeless people were abused as adolescents; no one helped them. So, this will be my architect side: I may not have built something, but perhaps left a trace.
