(Applause)
When I was small,
while my friends dreamed of being police, firefighters, or even astronauts,
I dreamed of being an entrepreneur.
I was saying :
“Head of work, like my dad. “
Indeed, my father was an entrepreneur
and my two grandfathers were entrepreneurs.
And I imagined the company as an extraordinary place,
where we create products and services to improve people’s lives.
My dream goes away with my school career,
which was rather painful.
And I ended up as a productive BEP, destined to be a factory worker.
But at 16, I join the world of work alternately.
Finally, concrete.
I felt much more comfortable.
And when I was 20,
my uncle asks me:
“Do you still dream of becoming an entrepreneur? “
And there, it was the click.
Yes, I always dreamed of it.
At 22, I start my business.
A small industrial marking plant, located in Brioude in the Haute-Loire.
So, like any beginning of activity, it’s as difficult as it is exciting.
But with my team, we already take a lot of fun
in this adventure.
In survival mode, during the first two years,
we go to the essential:
no time for meetings, goals, rules, methods, etc.
Only the desire to do well counted.
Result?
The third year, we are launched.
So well launched
that we will double our turnover
and take a dominant position in the market.
So, we develop,
and we invest in the construction of our first factory
and automatic machines.
At that moment, we change dimension
and everything shifts.
I feel a form of general pressure,
advice that fires from all sides with always the same refrain:
” Warning !
If you want to sustain your business, you have to structure yourself better,
set up working methods. “
So, at the moment, it seems logical to me.
I organize the company with a workshop manager,
rules, methods, processes, controls.
In short, fun.
But only, as we become a “real” company,
the atmosphere is deteriorating,
the magic is lost.
For my part, I take less pleasure to work,
I even begin to stress until I have the ball in my stomach.
I have the strange feeling
to become dependent on the financial results of the company
on which I am now judged,
by my colleagues, by the banks, and even by my team.
And this pressure pushes me to leap forward,
where you always have to do more.
Not surprisingly, it’s a bad year.
At this moment,
I am 25,
and the company does not make me dream anymore.
Now, if my dream of a little boy was good to become head of work,
implicitly, I also aspired to be happy.
And there, we must recognize that this was not the case.
So one morning,
I go to the factory,
decided to explain to them my malaise.
I saw only two alternatives;
sell the business,
to fundamentally overhaul all our operating modes.
So, they were a bit surprised,
but mostly relieved.
I finally understood that it was wrong.
Our structure to look like a real industry
did not have the desired effect,
while our spontaneous benevolence
had been successful in our early years.
So we decided to remove all this complexity.
And our first collective reflections led us to think
that two axes should become priorities.
First, satisfy the basic needs of the collective,
and then rethink the mission of the company.
So, with respect to basic needs,
our decisions focused on the work environment.
What pace of work do we want?
What tools do we want to put in place?
What freedom do we want to have?
We listed all the constraints we could remove,
vis-à-vis the mission of the company.
What do you think is the purpose of a business?
Make more profits,
to have more growth?
Well, for us, it’s not about winning more and more,
nor is it growth at all costs,
but simply to improve our products and the services we offer
improving the way we work
Think in terms of profits, growth, hiring,
it’s putting priority on results,
and this is by no means an objective for us.
We had demonstrated it.
So, not to trust our only intuition,
I still do some research
on companies with different modes of operation.
And I am incredibly surprised to discover
that most companies stand out and make me dream
have atypical modes of operation,
where the entrepreneur does not just play a leadership role,
but brings a deep meaning to his action.
As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said so well:
“If you want to build a boat,
do not gather your men to give them orders,
to explain to them every detail,
to tell them where to find each thing.
If you want to build a boat,
bring forth in the hearts of your men the desire of the sea. “
And that makes sense.
I would now like to share with you
some examples that illustrate our main challenges.
Like the last time I did a recruitment, for example,
I chose a very competent person,
but his integration was not extraordinary.
The team then asks me:
“Can we try to do our own recruitment? “
The difference is that they chose a person
with whom they saw themselves working well.
And suddenly,
they have been much more patient and pedagogical in its integration.
The result was just amazing.
In a few months,
we had a new member of the team in their own right.
I also sometimes tend to think of their place,
to what was good for them.
And I invested myself thoroughly to install a break room
with a little dining area at the Google.
I said to myself: “It will necessarily please them. “
But strangely, I felt little enthusiasm on their part.
So, I insisted without understanding,
and I ask them:
“But what do you really want? “
And here they say to me:
“Want to keep our sofas, and just change the coffee table. “
Wanting to do well, I was going to create frustration.
So, not only did they change the coffee table,
but in addition, they offered it to me.
A beautiful coffee table with the logo of the company forged in the sheet.
As you know, every mistake makes us grow.
And one morning very early,
they loaded into the machine the hard resin
instead of the soft resin.
Result:
two days of non-compliant production,
about 100,000 pieces.
When the team realizes the error,
I’m on week end.
Well, without consulting me,
they took the initiative
to compensate financially the customer for his loss of production,
to cancel their Christmas holidays,
and guarantee a timely delivery
to ensure product launch.
The most incredible,
it is that I have been informed by the customer himself.
He could not believe it,
while for the team it was natural.
And finally, our most important nonconformity
was also our best customer experience.
At the opposite,
it turns out that out of our some 900 customers,
there was one, with whom the exchanges were always complicated.
And who, despite all our efforts, remained dissatisfied.
This customer represented approximately 15% of our turnover.
But 90% of our stress.
Does it speak to you?
So we were looking for a solution again.
And they sent me to explain to the customer our misunderstanding,
find with him how to work better together.
I let you imagine the scene
where I explain to the client our stress problems.
His answer was:
“But work is like that, it’s normal, it’s not my problem. “
So we decided to stop working with him.
So that year, we did less turnover,
and we made less profit,
but what have we been happy!
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Finally,
we have incredibly improved our quality of life.
And that reinforced us on the fact
that health must always remain our priority.
So now,
you may be saying that something important is missing.
The pleasure at work is good,
but when we think “work”,
we also think “compensation”.
And that can be a source of frustration.
So when the period of the annual salary interviews comes up,
as much to tell you
that I am not at all comfortable with this type of face to face,
each defending his cause.
I ask the team:
“What if we talked about it all together? “
And as incredible as it may seem,
they agreed to speak freely and collectively about this taboo subject.
And here we go, for hours and hours,
to imagine a multitude of possible ways to get paid.
Until reaching their solution.
And that remains, no doubt,
our greatest achievement and our greatest proof of confidence.
By the way, do you know who helped me prepare this talk?
My team, of course!
So, at first, they laughed rather.
But they are the ones who chose
what it was important to share with you here.
Together, we tried to create the company
in which everyone wants to work,
one that does not confuse purpose and result,
the one where we forget the tyranny of numbers and profit,
the one where one prefers pleasure, freedom and fulfillment.
And you ?
Which company are you dreaming of?
Thank you !
(Applause)
”
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