Chief Executive Officer of EMEA, Accenture Plc
Jean-Marc Ollagnier: "Sempre pensei que ser humilde era bom, mas agora acho que é realmente bom"
A pandemia trouxe mais do que nunca incerteza às organizações, mas, para o diretor executivo para a Europa da Accenture, Jean-Marc Ollagnier, o momento é de reconhecer que se desconhece o presente, mas de procurar oportunidades num futuro digital e sustentável.
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#Disrupted
About Jean-marc Ollagnier
In a February 2021 interview, Jean-Marc Ollagnier, the CEO of Accenture for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the opportunities for businesses in a post-crisis world. He stated that while organizations remain focused on the immediate crisis, they are increasingly looking toward what comes next, and he expressed optimism that there will be an end to the crisis and opportunities to shape a new normal. Ollagnier said that business leaders need to set a direction and a vision, as there is hope, and that part of his role is to understand new markets and prepare for the future. Ollagnier argued that companies must fundamentally reinvent how they do business, becoming more digital and more sustainable to address climate change. He said that firms that master digital technology and put sustainability at the heart of their strategy will likely be the winners in the future. He noted that Europe is a leader in sustainability but has struggled with innovation and adoption of new technology compared to China and North America. On artificial intelligence, Ollagnier said it is not a competition between man and machine but complementary, requiring a rethinking of how work is divided. He also said that everyone will have to participate in the necessary changes because the planet must be taken care of, and he cited World Bank figures showing millions of people are being plunged into poverty due to the COVID-19 crisis, adding that the goal is to ensure more people participate in the global economy. Reflecting on the pandemic, Ollagnier said he learned a lot of humility, stating that he always thought being humble was a good thing but now considers it a very good thing.
Transcript (28 segments)
H
Host0:11
As multiple waves of disruption from climate change to global pandemics impact our daily lives, a less visible but transformative digital revolution is also underway. In this episode of Disrupted, I'm speaking to Jean-Marc Ollagnier, the Europe CEO of global consultancy firm Accenture, about the challenges and the potential of unlocking sustainable and positive solutions in what are clearly turbulent times.
Jean-Marc Ollagnier, many thanks for joining us on Disrupted. Everything seems pretty bleak right now, doesn't it? But how do you see the future?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier0:52
You know, in my role, it's obviously a role where you look at what's going on today but also what's next. And that's where I get some optimism around the fact that there will be an end to this crisis, like any crisis, and we need to look at what's next, what the new normal will look like. And we start to learn that there are some good things that will come of this crisis. And I think certainly for a business leader like me, like for any crisis, there are opportunities that we have to shape, understand, and capture.
H
Host1:37
This seems to be quite fueled by your own personal convictions. Do you generally see an opportunity in a crisis?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier1:45
Yes, I think there are two things from a crisis. First, there is a name to it, and we should never forget that, especially when we're in the middle of it. If you position yourself right, you can capture opportunity, and that's very much where we are today.
H
Host2:17
Let's take a big picture view of this. If we see the world as sort of a turning point, as it is, I'm going to put you on the spot here. On a scale of one to ten, ten being the optimum, do you think the world is going to go on the right path from now?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier2:31
Yes, I really believe so. Without being too naive and optimistic, I think we're at a crossroads, as you say. I really believe that for many reasons I can describe, we have to fundamentally reinvent the way we do business in probably the next decade to come. And the reasons are climate change, technology, and the behavior and consumer expectations that challenge the planet have to face, which is climate change.
H
Host3:12
So back to my question, on a scale of one to ten, do you think the world is going to move in that direction?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier3:20
I'm clearly in the eight, nine, to ten type of zone. I clearly believe that the stars are more and more aligned that we have to change. Geopolitics is better aligned than ever with the Biden administration coming back to COP21. Employees and citizens are expecting a change, and frankly, the business leaders as well as government are very aligned to say that the way we do business today, the current linear economic model we are currently knowing, is not going to be sustainable and we have to change it.
H
Host4:12
What are the ingredients required to be successful in this new world?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier4:17
The companies that will master digital technology and the companies that will put sustainability at the heart of their strategy will probably be the winners in this future world. So having a perfect understanding of those two trends and those two technologies is going to be critical.
H
Host4:35
And then where does Europe stand in terms of this kind of deep global transformation? Because Europe in terms of sustainability is a leader, in terms of innovation it tends to struggle more.
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier4:47
I think when I look at it frankly, Europe has been, when you look at the previous wave of change which are very digital-driven, tech-driven, there was a view that Europe was a bit behind, but also compared to North America. When you look at the second wave of change which is more sustainable, here Europe is probably a bit ahead, and that's probably one of the benefits from the European company in terms of awareness first of all, but also in terms of the way they adopt carbon pricing, the way they adopt more sustainable products and services. And that's probably an advantage that the European company should keep leveraging, because today in the global competition scheme, you need both to be successful. So you have to catch up where you are a bit behind, and you have to leverage where you are strong. And I think that's very much what we have to see in the European landscape.
H
Host5:49
Angela, this is in many respects the theoretical language. Now for example, when I came in here, I was chatting to my taxi driver and he was saying how unpredictable everything is.
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier6:12
You know, it has been first a huge exercise of humility because we are dealing, as you say, with something we don't know, and it creates a lot of uncertainty. And I call it a bit one foot in today, one foot in tomorrow. So you have to be pretty humble on the one foot in today because the situation is not easy. The pandemic situation is not fully resolved, there is a lot of uncertainty. So in the foot of today, you have to listen first of all to what's going on around you and try to have some empathy with it, because people, you're right, are dealing with tough situations. But just listening and explaining what's going on is not enough. You need to have a vision and you need to get the people with you, because as I say, we need to say there will be an end to this crisis and there will be opportunity at the end of this crisis. My job, like many other leaders, is to understand this new market, this new opportunity, to shape for it, to get prepared for it, and to explain to your team that there are some goodness out there. And yes, we need to continue to deal with the current situation, but we need to start preparing ourselves for that future world.
H
Host7:30
If we look at figures from the World Bank, for example, they show millions of people are going to be plunged into poverty because of the COVID-19 crisis. So if we look at this vision, this hope you're talking about, when will they actually feel the trickle-down change in their lives that will bring them out of this poverty, out of this recession?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier7:52
No, you're right. I think when you look at it from a macroeconomics standpoint, globalization today, it's not perfect by far, but at the end of the day, our job is to ensure more people around the planet participate in the global economy. And I do see with a more sustainable world as well as a more digital economy, this will give opportunity for more people around there. Many of the emerging economies have already emerged and they will benefit from what we see tomorrow. But some economies and some countries will have to emerge. The job is not finished, I will say, in terms of bringing everybody to the global economy. And I think what I can see, which maybe could be unique this time with climate change and the concept of a different type of economy, everybody will have to participate because it's a global challenge.
H
Host9:12
As we look at this future that you can probably see more clearly than many others, artificial intelligence is going to play a key role. But many people fear artificial intelligence. They fear that relationship between man and machine. Is that fear grounded?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier9:31
We call it probably with the wrong word. Artificial intelligence looks like something in competition with men. We're going to have to rethink the way we split the work between men and the machine, because the machine will be able to do more things which are very useful, and mankind will have to do more added-value type of things. But it's not really the man replacing the machine or the machine replacing the man. It's about better value and better outcome for the customer.
H
Host10:15
So then if we look at this post-pandemic world, if we continue in the current trend, where's the world going?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier10:23
I'm not worried about that. The current trend, which is pretty challenging for the planet, I think frankly, but even if you look at it with all the negatives of it, the worst economic crisis, and yes people will lose jobs, all of this is true. But the positive view of that is that for the first time ever, we have been able to find a vaccine in less than 12 months. So when you really challenge humanity sometimes, you get positive things. When we look at this pandemic, I believe human ingenuity will continue to deliver those kinds of extraordinary outcomes on Earth. If you believe so, which is more my view, we're going to have to leverage it because there will be other challenges to face: energy transition, digital. All of this will create a lot of human ingenuity in order to address them.
H
Host11:27
As you have navigated your way through this pandemic, and as you've said it's been a learning process for all of us, what have you learned about yourself?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier11:35
I learned a lot of humility, I think, because when you are dealing with something you don't know, the best thing you can say is to acknowledge that you don't know. I was always thinking that being humble is probably a good thing, but I think now it's really a very good thing. And that's something that many leaders struggle with because listening and empathy was a bit of the winning formula, in my view, for that current period.
H
Host12:16
And then in terms of your own values, Jean-Marc, how have those values changed? You've talked about humility, but pre-pandemic and now as we are one year into it, how different are you as a person?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier12:34
For me, to be perfectly candid around what's happened, this period of lockdown in many countries, you know, have been through lockdown a month or two. For me, it has been like three months. What changed for me is that I spent really three months with my whole family at home, which I think also has been not a leadership experience but certainly a family experience that also brought this kind of human touch. And that you can learn from everybody. You can learn from your daughter, you can learn from your employees. And that's certainly something I don't know if I discovered, but I may be more aware of it now.
H
Host13:30
And so, as we're saying, part of your job in some respects is trying to foresee and shape the future. So if you were to give a piece of advice for people who are looking to this future that does seem very uncertain, what would it be?
J
Jean-Marc Ollagnier13:46
I am an engineer by background, which means that I am curious. And I think curiosity is important because we are in a world where a lot of innovations are happening. Climate not always, but since now less than a decade, very much passionate. And when you look at the energy sector, climate change, sustainability, there's going to be a lot of innovation there. So if you don't have that curiosity, if you don't have that willingness to learn, well, you may miss some of it. And I think this is also probably what leadership is about. Everything I learned at school is no longer really relevant, so you have to keep learning. And you need to have that curiosity and motivation, because otherwise maybe you don't really understand what's going on around you. Be curious, keep learning.
H
Host14:49
Many thanks, Jean-Marc Ollagnier, for joining us on Disrupted.