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Benoit Bazin
Benoit Bazin
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A.
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Masterclass avec Benoit Bazin, PDG de Saint-Gobain

📅 Jul 10, 2026 Public Sénat 27 MIN 325 VIEWS 71 SEGMENTS · 7 SPEAKERS
Defining encounters in a career, positive failures and crisis situations that help develop skills and talent, constructive doubts in how to manage a company, the construction sector's adaptation to climate change and the housing crisis: speaking to young people, Benoît Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain, shares his experience and convictions. Presenters: David Jacquot Year of Production:

What Benoit Bazin said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Benoit Bazin, CEO of Saint-Gobain, described the company as the world leader in sustainable construction, manufacturing in 80 countries. He credited his career to mentors like Jean-Louis Beffa and Pierre-André de Chalendar, emphasizing the importance of working with people who develop you, aiming higher, and embracing collective effort. He recounted refusing a global promotion from Beffa to finish his work in North America, a decision that later led to his CFO appointment. Bazin affirmed that leaders must have doubts and stay empathetic, citing a factory worker in Abu Dhabi. On housing, he linked France's falling birth rate to a housing shortage, criticized the short tenure of housing ministers, and stressed the need for long-term policy. He declined Everest climbing due to commercial exploitation but values mountains for their lessons on trust and long-term effort. He said he would not leave Saint-Gobain for another CAC 40 role and acknowledged being stubborn.

Key takeaways

  1. Saint-Gobain is the world leader in sustainable construction, operating in 80 countries.
  2. Bazin refused a global promotion from Jean-Louis Beffa to finish his North America assignment, later becoming group CFO.
  3. He would not become CEO of another CAC 40 group, saying he has an offer he can't refuse at Saint-Gobain.
  4. Bazin says construction and buildings account for 35-40% of CO2 emissions, making decarbonization essential.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
80 countries where Saint-Gobain manufactures metric 1:41
35-40% share of CO2 from construction and buildings metric 19:47
250 meters glacier retreat on Mer de Glace since 1990 metric 19:47
400,000 craftsmen on account at Saint-Gobain metric 15:55

Chapters

  1. 0:00Introduction and company overview
  2. 4:45Career advice and mentors
  3. 9:54Key career decisions and mistakes
  4. 12:43Doubts and leadership
  5. 14:07Impact on people's lives
  6. 15:30Housing crisis in France
  7. 18:28Mountaineering and climate change
  8. 21:39Loyalty to Saint-Gobain and personal faults
  9. 24:53Question to students about Europe

Questions asked in this interview

10
  1. 1:37If I tell them you are the world number one in your sector, am I going too far or not?
  2. 3:15Why is it a pivotal moment in your career?
  3. 9:38My question is, with hindsight of your career, what was the mistake or difficult decision that marked you the most but ultimately taught you in your career, gave you benefits in your career?
  4. 12:33My question is: 'Despite your experiences and responsibilities, do you still have doubts about how to lead today?
  5. 13:55I am a student in a bachelor's degree in modern literature and my question is, when you are at the head of a group like Saint-Gobain, do you still really have awareness of the impact of your decisions on people's lives?
  6. 15:30As a specialist in the transformation and distribution of materials at the base of housing, how do you explain that in France, there are more than 350,000 homeless people for 10 times more vacant housing?
  7. 18:28Yes or no, do you dream of climbing Everest one day?
  8. 21:39Yes or no, could you become the CEO of another CAC 40 group if you were offered an offer you can't refuse?
  9. 22:13You said earlier, he is an excellent violinist. Do you have any faults?
  10. 25:10And why would I say that?
Narrator 0:00 ↗
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Host 0:17 ↗
And what do you accompany them on?
Student 0:19 ↗
Yeah, basically more on the artistic side.
Host 0:21 ↗
OK.
Student 0:21 ↗
I think that allows... too cool.
Host 0:25 ↗
It's not at the state level, it's hello.
Student 0:27 ↗
Hello.
Host 0:27 ↗
Hello.
Student 0:28 ↗
Hello.
Host 0:28 ↗
How are you?
Ah, some faces I recognize.
How are you?
Student 0:33 ↗
How are you? Thank you.
Host 0:34 ↗
Well, you know we have another heavy one today in masterclass, huh.
He is one of our greatest industrial leaders in France. Everyone knows Saint-Gobain?
Student 0:43 ↗
Yes.
Host 0:44 ↗
Raise your hand if you don't know Saint-Gobain. I'm reassured. I'm reassured. That's good. So, do the businesses of Saint-Gobain speak to you?
Student 0:52 ↗
Uh... what do they do, Saint-Gobain? Construction, construction, ceramics, glass, materials, tempered glass, chicken.
Host 1:00 ↗
Very good, I see you've done a little homework. How about revenue?
48 billion.
Student 1:06 ↗
48.
Host 1:08 ↗
I think it's 50, but we're not far.
Student 1:09 ↗
Yeah, no, that's the valuation.
Host 1:12 ↗
Number of employees?
Student 1:13 ↗
160,000.
Host 1:15 ↗
OK, that's good, bravo. And well, he is the big boss, and here he is. Let me welcome him. Voilà. Hello, Benoit. How are you?
Benoit Bazin 1:23 ↗
Very well, thank you. Ready for the masterclass?
Host 1:25 ↗
Ready, very happy. Let me introduce him. Hello, the CEO of Saint-Gobain. We can applaud him.
Benoit Bazin 1:31 ↗
Nice to meet you.
Host 1:37 ↗
If I tell them you are the world number one in your sector, am I going too far or not?
Benoit Bazin 1:41 ↗
It's true, world leader in sustainable construction. We manufacture in 80 countries materials and services. We invent them, we manufacture them, we distribute them for sustainable construction. So, residential, new build, renovation, also non-residential, hospitals, schools, data centers, hotels, and infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, airports. You see, construction is vast and you spend 90% of your time in buildings. So it's important to have good buildings to study well, to sleep well, to heal well. So that's the heart of our lives, construction, housing, buildings. So there you go.
Host 2:17 ↗
Alright, let's go for the masterclass with Benoit Bazin, the CEO of Saint-Gobain. Come on, let's settle in. Come, come.
In real life, of course, they never meet and that's normal. On one side, you students are fully in your training, and on the other, our greatest French economic leaders. Well, here on Public Sénat, that's our ambition. Every month we bring them together to freely exchange on the topics that our youth consider priorities. Benoit Bazin doesn't know your questions. So for him it will be a total surprise, and I remind you that the one who asks the most relevant question will be offered at the end of the show the house of their dreams built by Benoit Bazin. And we can applaud him, I think, for sustainability. Sustainable house, eh. Sustainable house. So, if it's in the depths of Canada, Vietnam, we can do that in 80 countries.
So, Benoit Bazin, look at this photo. It's 2006. You were at the time CFO of Saint-Gobain. Next to you is Jean-Louis Beffa, who was at the time the CEO. Why is this a pivotal moment? You chose this photo. Why is it a pivotal moment in your career?
Benoit Bazin 3:34 ↗
Well, it's a way first of all to pay tribute to Jean-Louis Beffa, who was a great industrial leader and a director of Saint-Gobain for 25 years. So, I could have chosen other photos. I also spent 10 years with Jean-Louis Beffa as group strategy director and then CFO. I spent nearly 15 years with his successor Pierre-André de Chalendar. This photo for me embodies two things. The fact that a company is a human adventure. It is above all a place of collective action where many things happen, and secondly, it is a place of transmission. So there, Jean-Louis Beffa is telling me something. I admit I don't remember exactly. I hope I haven't forgotten the instruction. That's what we want to know [laughter] but he is in the transmission of know-how, experience, and values.
Host 4:23 ↗
Now a question from Cressel Cus.
Cressel Cus 4:28 ↗
Hello Mr. Benoit. Hello. I am a student in Master 1 of sustainable urban planning and my question is to know what is the greatest or most important advice you have received that contributed to building the career you have today.

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APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Bazin, B. (2026, July 10). Masterclass avec Benoit Bazin, PDG de Saint-Gobain [Interview transcript]. Public Sénat. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1077571/

MLA

Benoit Bazin. "Masterclass avec Benoit Bazin, PDG de Saint-Gobain." Public Sénat, 10 Jul. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1077571/.

BibTeX 
@misc{bazin2026_1077571,
  author       = {Benoit Bazin},
  title        = {Masterclass avec Benoit Bazin, PDG de Saint-Gobain},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Public Sénat. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {jul},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/1077571/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}