First time at the Exco!

It is a rare and critical milestone in a professional life, one that some remember for a lifetime. For an executive, joining a management committee, an executive committee, or even the Board of a large group naturally constitutes a major step. Whether in terms of responsibilities, internal or external exposure, interface with the CEO or the board of directors... The change is noticeable at all levels, especially in constantly transforming economic environments.

Certainly, this evolution is above all part of a continuity. It is the logical continuation of a career, of sometimes hard-earned results, of leadership developed daily in contact with teams and business. "You don't wake up one morning transformed, wearing the label of a member of the executive committee," jokes a CEO who went through this key stage.

Nevertheless, there is indeed a before and an after. Once a manager among others, the fortunate one becomes a full-fledged number 1, in charge of a dedicated profit and loss account, or embodying a key function at the highest level (HR, finance, communication...). "There are no more safety nets, you're on the front line!" insists one of them. Hence the temptation, due to this new exposure, to focus primarily on the performance of one's perimeter and teams. A reflex that can be understood – no credibility among peers without proven personal results! – but which is far from sufficient.

Because in fact, joining the executive committee shifts the manager into a new collective. His main concern should no longer be his teams and direct results, but his impact on the smooth running of the company as a whole. This is the concept of "Team 1": mental energy is primarily directed towards his new peers – other members of the executive committee and the CEO. Now, decisions must be made based on their impact on the group's dynamics, not just one's own activity. And to move from a leadership representation very focused on individual responsibility to a leadership centered on the company.

This change comes with a level of understanding, adherence, and unwavering representation of the company's decisions towards all employees and stakeholders. Fundamentally, it is about embodying the function at all levels. Both at the level of one's teams and peers, whose individualities, singularities, and culture must be known, spending time one-on-one from the start, both to better understand their activity and current issues, but also to better speak about their topics to external interlocutors (partners, suppliers...). This "cross-functional empathy" naturally requires developing listening and influencing skills, strategic agility, but also political sense to assume one's role without encroaching on each other's responsibilities.

Ultimately, the exercise involves gaining perspective. In an executive committee role, the weight of strategy increases significantly at all levels. Whether it is managing one's own activity, contributing to the smooth running of the group, or growing interaction with external stakeholders, the executive must engage in new topics – CSR, M&A, R&D, HR, Communication... – and thus expand their range of intervention. This brings them into daily contact with new interlocutors, be they investors, rating agencies, public actors, but also directors... This is one of the new responsibilities of an executive committee member, who must now interact with board members in support of their CEO, sharing the news and challenges of their business or getting involved in cross-functional strategic issues.

Of course, this ability to step out of one's own perimeter can depend on the company's culture and the personal style of the CEO at the helm. In traditional companies still very siloed or decentralized, the exercise can be more delicate. Just as when the CEO expects his executives to stay focused on their activity before stimulating their peers.

Whatever the context, the change in posture is imperative. Managing both the long term and the short term, strategy and operations, broadening the scope of responsibilities, understanding the political dimension, knowing how to position oneself correctly by managing the relationship with the CEO and peers as best as possible... The cocktail is strong, and it is better to prepare for it before tasting it, by preparing in advance. The ideal: a tailor-made program conducted at least a year in advance, combining coaching, assessment, but also 360-degree feedback in an ultra-personalized approach. An ultra-personalized "acceleration program" that will allow the new responsibilities to be assumed as naturally as possible. With complete serenity.

English Translation : Michel Tobelem, October 2023, HBR France (link)

Agile enterprise, ExCo first!

The word is out. Agile. Sometimes overused, sometimes criticized, it is a ubiquitous term in business and is supposed to be a guarantee of innovation, attractiveness, and performance. In 2019, PwC stated that the two main reasons for a company to adopt organizational agility were the need for innovation and the economic environment.

Furthermore, according to a 2021 McKinsey study, an agile organization delivers around 30% gain in customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and operational performance. These are three key success factors. While the word is rich in promise, it is important not to forget that the path to achieve agility is still winding. In 2022, the GBS Maturity Assessment conducted by EY, stated that around 46% of companies claimed they were operating in an agile environment. This is encouraging considering the trend and momentum, but it is not yet the majority. The executive committee has undoubtedly a crucial role to play in enabling agility. To demonstrate its commitment, it can adopt an appropriate mode of operation in driving the company's strategy and organization.

“Fixed on the destination, flexible on the journey”

The executive committee defines and drives the strategy, typically broken down into priorities for the next 12 to 24 months, presented in a strategic plan spanning three to five years. Presented to stakeholders, these priorities involve resource allocation and organizational alignment.

In the current geopolitical context (according to a survey conducted by Natixis, 49% of institutional investors see geopolitical conflicts as the biggest economic threat for 2024), Firstly the executive committee seeks to preserve value through short-term arbitrage, at the expense of long-term objectives, which are nonetheless creators of greater value. It is then difficult to explain changes to stakeholders who have endorsed priorities for three or five years. Secondly, leaders’ mandates tend to shorten to the extent that the person who decides on the strategy is no longer the one who sees the results. The embodiment of the strategy can therefore vary over time.

Thus, it would be important to have a vision of the destination while leaving the opportunity to arbitrate more quickly. What are then the best practices to enable an executive committee to have this agility in implementing strategy?

The first one is to meet physically and frequently. It may sound obvious, but it guarantees sharing and a sense of community of interests. The second one is to have proactive and real-time communication with the organization through town hall meetings or media statements. The main pitfall is the loss of information as it progresses all the way down through the organization, which may perceive sideways moves as a lack of direction or even a strategic shift. The same applies to stakeholders who need to be heard and kept informed of developments. Managerial relays must then be perfectly aligned. Lastly, the contribution of economic intelligence lies in mastering the information cycle to understand the changing factors affecting strategy.

Thinking in real-time, rather than in terms of fixed priorities, becomes a key success factor that nevertheless requires a certain agility. Some leaders are better equipped than others. Some need to have all the information before making a decision, while others are satisfied with only parts of the information.

Managing ambiguity, curiosity, and taking measured risks are behavioral preferences unique to each individual, but if mastered, they are positively correlated with agility in navigating such a context.

Two enlightening examples. In the B2B services sector, one company disrupted its strategy and organization during the Covid-19 pandemic to implement a marketplace, despite initial skepticism. It greatly benefited to customers and prospects as it provided them with quicker access to services. Another company, anticipating increasing savings from its customers while competitors focused on marketing and e-commerce, reallocated budgets and resources to its production to increase its stock, which was quickly reduced due to the rebound in demand.

Project governance takes the lead over organizational structures

The second core subject of an executive committee is the overall organization of the company. When we talk about organization, we also refer to hierarchical lines that determine, in turn, the competencies and performance criteria of individuals linked to a higher level.

In a context where the environment is constantly changing, and traditional organizational structures continue to evolve, there is a search for closeness in work relationships as well as commitment from organizations for a greater humanization of connections between individuals.

If one of the purposes of the executive committee is to have an organization that unleashes potentials and possibilities, then it should adopt a mode of work and task distribution that allows everyone to apply their skills, express their potential on increasingly multidimensional subjects. Adopting a project-based work mode is therefore a good indicator of an organization's agility.

English Translation : Article written by Michel Tobelem, June 2024, HBR France (link)

When reindustrialization and feminization go hand in hand with internationalization

The feminization of French corporate management bodies is currently a sensitive topic. Nothing new about that. Thanks to regulations, companies are embracing it more systematically and committedly, with feminization now being part of the succession planning metrics. At the same time, the intention of réindustrialisation remains present.

Feminization of management bodies and reindustrialization are currently in the news and fuel debates. However, it is necessary that we learn to look at them simultaneously. According to a study conducted in 2020 by France Stratégie (an organization under the Prime Minister), France has lost almost half of its workforce (2.2million jobs) since 1980. Among the major industrialized countries, France has experienced the most significant deindustrialization. Faced with such a situation, a question arises: how can we today simultaneously address the challenges of reindustrialization and the feminization of management bodies?

The question is all the more pertinent in light of the goals set by the Rixain law. As of March 1st, 2026, large French companies (more than 1,000 employees) will be required to have at least 30% women and men in executive positions and at least 30% women and men among their management bodies. This quota will increase to 40% in 2029.

By deindustrializing, we have gradually and significantly reduced the pool of industrial leaders, both male and female. There are too few French industrial companies now to serve as pool for our future industrial leaders. The majority of female leaders we have encountered in recent years for roles such as general management of a business unit or region within industrial companies (at the Executive Committee level or reporting to the Executive Committee) have been either non-French, or French but coming from ‘non-French’ companies.

Reindustrialization and feminization can go hand in hand provided we are willing to train and recruit non-French profiles (or French profiles from non-French companies), whose backgrounds and companies will be less familiar to us. Are we ready? Are we sufficiently aware of this?

 

The illusion of an ‘English’ company

It's obvious: the commitment to gender diversity first requires the ability to integrate female leaders who do not speak - or barely speak- French. The widespread use of English as a working language initially suggests that this obstacle can be easily overcome. However, recruitment projects where we are asked to recruit a leader, regardless of nationality, "but with a good command of French," are frequent...! English has not yet been adopted by all our companies in their Executive Committee and Board of Director meetings. Moreover, it is not unusual for English to prevail at the top of an organization while the level of English proficiency varies widely in the rest of the company. The integration of a female leader with little or no French proficiency can be compromised because much of the organization's "small talk" escapes them.

Thus, integrating a non-French-speaking female leader may be feasible on paper but very difficult in practice without specific safeguards; conducting Executive Committee and Board of Director meetings in English, along with the member’s willingness to make the switch, seem to us to be the first prerequisites.

 

"Key roles" and succession plans

Feminization and reindustrialization will go hand in hand if we are able to recruit industrial leaders whose careers, built in other environments, have followed different dynamics. Must we dare to bet on a candidate whose profile does not exactly match the "typical" profile formally defined for a succession plan? Some recruitments will require a compromise between the various sought-after criteria, necessitating thorough support for the selected candidate. Controlled audacity will be one of the rules of the game, as too big a gamble can pose a risk for both the candidate and the company, but the gamble will be necessary.

We must also accept different career paths and challenge the logic of the "key roles" that have historically enabled access to the organization's key positions. Large industrial groups have managed to develop top-level female leaders through increasing responsibilities in sales & marketing, supply chain, finance, and Research & Development. The sales & marketing function is particularly utilized by some American and German industrial companies, as it attracts more young female engineers or business school graduates than other industrial functions. Over time, promoted to general management roles, these high-potential profiles who have taken on market or customer-related responsibilities have been able to gain an excellent understanding of industrial challenges without having climbed the ranks of industrial responsibilities (plant management, industrial management). Are we prepared to entrust the responsibility of a global industrial activity to a leader whose primary expertise is not industrial (related to the optimization of production tools)?

 

Dare to get off the beaten path

This is the least tangible element of this reflection. It holds a discreet but central place in the feminization of general management positions. Considering female leaders who are not French and issued from non-French companies means confronting companies, industries, organizational models, academic backgrounds, and networks with which we are less familiar. It means accepting a different culture and trusting leaders whose profiles do not match those of the "usual suspects" typically recruited from the well-trodden paths of SBF 120 companies.

Organizational models can be a very concrete expression of this different culture. We know the strong preference some large German and American industrial groups have for highly developed matrix organizational models with multiple reporting lines. We also know the risks associated with these models of overly "diluted" responsibility within the company. Are we ready to recruit a top leader trained in such an environment, even if it means supporting her as she takes on the role? Or, without even wanting to meet her, will we immediately question her "accountability," that is, her ability to assume end-to-end responsibility across the entire value chain? Let us be willing to bet on the potential of a female leader, just as we would for a male leader at the same level of responsibility.

The reindustrialization of France and the feminization of the leadership of French industrial companies can be pursued simultaneously. However, this will only be possible if we accept that reindustrialization and feminization go hand in hand with internationalization. Our ability to modify our benchmarks and demonstrate boldness in succession plans will be crucial. At the same time, we will need to invest more in mechanisms that enable the successful integration of a leader from a different environment (onboarding programs, mentoring, training, etc.). Let's not just see this leader as the one who must adapt to our corporate culture, let's dare to recognize her added value and challenge our corporate cultures to adapt to such leaders. It is under these conditions that feminization and reindustrialization will go hand in hand.

English Translation - Victor de Couessin, Juin 2024, Journal L’Opinion (link)

All-digital : Return to the fundamentals of Human Resources...

One of the most noticeable effects of Covid is that the HR function has undergone a remarkable acceleration in the digitization of processes and talent support. New solutions have emerged: HRIS tools enhancing "employee experience," real-time employee surveys measuring team morale, tools facilitating the remote onboarding of new employees, the list goes on... This is good news for organizations facing the challenges of new ways of working in the post-Covid era and for many employees increasingly seeking a better personal balance.

However, despite unearthing new perspectives, the emergence of "all-digital" in talent development also creates new areas of concern. What about the daily listening to employees, the ability to share and embody the company's purpose, its history, and ambitions, to allocate qualitative time for talents - or those considering joining? Paradoxically, these fundamentals of human relationships have never been more critical.

In the current environment, the resurgence of "proximity relationships" is even more favored. Today, regular promotions, the opportunity to build a career within the company, enticing proposals for expatriation and remuneration are no longer the only rules of the game. Leaders are always ready to engage and exceed expectations in collective projects, provided they find meaning and impact, which involves closer, more regular, authentic interactions with their top management. In a highly competitive talent market, cultivating this deep connection will be even more crucial for retaining, developing and attracting talent.

Anyway, companies have no choice. The increasingly proactive ESG regulation obliges them to build more sustainable talent development strategies. In this regard, 2024 is a pivotal year with the implementation of the CSRD directive ("Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive"), which will compel companies to integrate more criteria related to human capital into their strategy. Beyond KPIs, the human factor is central and becomes a differentiating and competitive element.

In this context, the CHROs see their involvement evolve. It is their responsibility, along with their teams, to maintain this close and continuous connection with the company's leaders and create the conditions for regular discussions with key executives of the company.

Making remote working more human

Since 2020, the sense of belonging to the company has been weakened among populations eligible to remote working. A portion of the company’s innate social life has shifted to digital channels, but some situations have become less frequent, particularly after attempting to hastily preserve the identity of companies during lockdowns via Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

Fortuitous encounter in front of the company headquarters or an impromptu one-on-one lunch in the cafeteria is less likely to happen in 2024 than in 2019. Tania Wingfield, Group CHRO of Borgwarner, freely raises a warning in the face of this new challenge: "How do we protect a company culture in the world of remote work and hybrid work?". Tania acknowledges organizing more frequent conversations with her leaders, both individually and in small groups, than before. Regular conversation appears to be an old-fashioned yet fantastically effective tool for supporting company culture.

Thierry Parmentier, Group CHRO of French chemical player Arkema, also emphasizes the necessity of conducting performance evaluations during in-person meetings rather than opting for remote exchanges. He believes that these are the moments that should now be more qualitative and warns against limited interactions in the era of remote work, where sometimes "we no longer see the catastrophe coming," such as depression, illness, exhaustion, and other challenges.

Addressing the Quest for Meaning

The observation is well-known: the relationship between the company and the leader has transcended purely transactional dimensions. This trend existed before 2020 but was significantly strengthened by the Covid crisis. Gonzalo Cajade, EVP & Chief People Officer of automotive supplier BBB Industries, acknowledges that he faced unexpected desires for career changes after the pandemic. He believes that the pandemic has triggered in some individuals a sense of fragility of human life and has disrupted traditional career paths.

Similarly, Thierry Parmentier and Tania Wingfield admit to having dealt with requests for early retirement from some executives, who are grappling with existential questions in the post-Covid era. These questions undermine the retention levers historically used by the company (salary, career development, expatriation). The company must now deal with executives driven by a quest for meaning.

Francesco Tutino, CHRO of Iveco, underscores the expansion of the Human Resources function, whose scope now goes beyond recruitment, monitoring, individual development, succession planning and structuring an HR team. The CHRO must contribute to making "it worthwhile to work in the company" and willing to explain both its mission and history.

The communication skills of the CHRO are therefore fundamental to address this new reality. Feliciano Gonzalez, CHRO of Holcim, emphasizes the increased need to be able to "tell the story" of the company, as the rules for retaining and attracting executives have undergone profound changes. Feliciano points out that "The managers who will survive are those who can communicate clearly and motivate teams", admitting he now places higher emphasis on this characteristic when evaluating his executive teams.

Assuming an Advisory Role

VUCA? Recently revived by geopolitical events, the acronym VUCA - Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity & Ambiguity - has become popular to characterize our era. Uncertainty is multidimensional and compels the CHRO to rethink the rules of team engagement. The electric vehicle revolution provides a glaring example, given the disruptions it represents for many industries: how to best engage an executive in such a revolution when so many geopolitical and technological uncertainties still impact its value chain?

Francesco Tutino is positive about the widespread use of employee satisfaction surveys. However, what is the risk? These surveys are instrumental to get a solid base of data and KPIs, but the survey alone does not represent the solution to enhance team engagement. "Continuous employees listening" strategies have indeed proliferated since the pandemic and satisfaction surveys have been widely utilized. However, Francesco believes that regular conversation is the only reliable tool to measure and increase team engagement in an era of perpetual crisis.

The multiple crises are even transforming the role of the CHRO. The advisory and supportive role of the CHRO towards the CEO is not new, but according to Julien Veyrier, HRD and General Secretary of Carrefour Spain, the CHRO should adopt the same stance towards broader populations beyond the CEO. The willingness of some leaders to confide has indeed grown; professional and personal issues are more easily shared, given the stronger intertwining of professional and personal life.

More than ever, the CHRO is the sought-after attentive ear, as the HR function appears to many since the Covid crisis as a kind of referee in crisis management. Julien Veyrier believes that the period recalls the very essence of the HR profession: "articulating personal issues with the company's strategy." Armand Sohet, CHRO of Dutch chemical company Akzonobel, confirms the increased impact of the HR function in the post-Covid era and the trend towards wanting more personalized support from HR: 'There is a search for a personalized and human connection”. Armand would however caution against the unconditional belief 'that we are going to do HR with chatbots.'"

The observation is straightforward: there is a growing need for qualitative, human interactions capable of overcoming the general acceleration caused by the digital revolution. It is the responsibility of the CHRO to ensure the continuity of these relationships and to bring them to life in the daily management of the company. According to Linda Knoll, CHRO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) until 2021, "the CHRO will have to understand leadership in a much more complex world." As we have mentioned, complexity is multidimensional and has also emerged from new ways of working enabled by the digital revolution. Xavier Savigny, CHRO of Saur (global water services provider), believes that "the manager's profession is the one that has changed the most and is the most challenging"; it requires the ability to simultaneously manage teams working in remote, at the company's headquarters or in hybrid mode. The complexity of the world will require a revision of leadership models and generate new managerial behaviors. It would be utopian to imagine addressing them solely through a frenzied investment in new HR tools. A reallocation of the CHRO's time will be favored, thanks to the time freed up by the digitization of certain tasks. Long-term perspective, listening, empathy, support and closeness will be essential to decipher new managerial behaviors. The CHRO will be in the front row, going back to the fundamentals of the profession.

A journey behind the tech smokescreen

There has been a recent explosion in the number of executives working on AI, Big Data, IoT Machine Learning, Blockchain… whatever their core expertise is (Marketing, Finance, IT, Human Resources, Supply Chain, Legal), they say they are today « working on AI » (AI is the most fashionable concept).

And no question seems to be permitted to those working on these strategic areas such as AI and Big Data. You would not dare challenge such buzzwords.

As a recruiter, I have to say I sometimes find it difficult to understand precisely what these executives really do in their job. I might dare ask one day: “What are you really doing?"

WeWork and the tech buzzwords

The recent WeWork case is a warning and a relevant picture of what is going on. WeWork attracted prestigious investors and reached an unbelievable valuation as the company managed to use buzzwords.

Let’s quote WeWork website. WeWork helps you « boost productivity and innovation with data-driven design and workplace technology » (innovation is another buzzword these days). What does it precisely mean? Apart from connecting your office to the Wifi, what does WeWork really offer you in terms of technology? The buzzword converted a real estate company into a tech company.

In the technology revolution, there has been a tendency in corporate communication to focus on the new tech-related business versus the core business. Many « traditional » companies pretend they have evolved into technology companies. Behind the tech smokescreen, you may need time to understand what they really do. You might not realize they still have tens of manufacturing plants, shops, hotels… and thousands of employees over 5 continents.

The recent case of GE Digital revealed it is not easy to convert a conglomerate into a software and tech solutions provider. We also saw that Continental and other major automotive suppliers are still making a large part of their revenues with their « traditional » business, versus their connected and autonomous driving business, well reported in the media.

There is an urgent need to be cautious when talking about technology. Big data, AI, Blockchain, IoT… are unbelievable revolutions when applied to concrete use cases. But the awakening will be rude if these revolutions remain fancy words.

Your people are more sustainable than your data centers

When answering what your company do (I mean really do), I think it has never been so essential to talk about people. I am not only thinking of an HR communication explaining how you value and develop people. It goes beyond that. We should understand you still have a strong link with the physical world and you are proud of it. We have enough of those communications focusing only on the data and technology side of the business.

If you are a manufacturing company, a retail company, a leisure and hospitality company… we should know you still have plants, shops, hotels and people working there! We should also know you are proud of that!

« Traditional » companies and their physical world offer employment opportunities that the pure tech world will never offer. Poorly qualified people with little connections to the labor market may indeed not fit at all with our virtual data and technology culture. A « traditional » hotel company has an ability to develop people Airbnb would never manage to recruit. Here is something you should consider when thinking about your company’s sustainability. Here is also something you should consider when defining the purpose of your company.

Please, next time, be frank. Do not hesitate to tell us what you really do.

Beyond a farewell... dare a « See you soon » !

It is very fashionable to say you are working on innovation (whether you are designing a new engine or launching an app for an umpteenth food delivery service).

To attract the so-called millenials, our time has recently been extremely innovative in the design of new HR processes and tools: induction programme and on-boarding tools; e-learning and m-learning solutions ; continuous feedback scheme etc. Each step of the employee’s life should be revamped and endowed with a tech solution.

But I believe one step of the employee’s life is still poorly addressed: when a key talent decides to leave.

Most of the time, the person leaving is still considered as a traitor, whatever his/her projects are.

THE GOOD REASON TO LEAVE

It is not possible anymore to plan a 30-year career within the same company. We all know it but we have to admit it. And yet, we are being tough with the person who decides to leave. Let’s consider the case of somebody who decides to leave to do something different (not leaving to join a competitor, which is another story).

There could be many good reasons to leave. Today, a young or senior executive can choose between a wide range of options, the horizon is wider than before. One with a career built in a traditional brick and mortar company may be tempted by a position in a tech company. He or she could also be offered to join an entrepreneurial venture, decide to work abroad or undergo trainings to move to a new job.

Could we really blame them and at the same time value agility, promote internal ventures & start ups, expect new leaders to be entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs?

THE GOOD REASON TO COME BACK

I recently met HR executives trying to improve the departure process from the company. They have been working on what they call a return ticket: the person leaving is still part of the extended community.

In the short term, it is of course highly powerful to build a network of alumni outside the company, ready to talk advanteagously about the company.

In the medium to long term – that is precisely what I would like to emphasize -, I believe you could interview those people again because they are ready to come back. They have been exposed to other models and ways of thinking but they are still committed to their original employer and they could consider coming back.

As a headhunter, I have already been dealing with such situations. I had to address my client’s suspicion as to why he/she actually left and why he/she wished to come back.

I indeed met executives ready to come back to a company after a few years in a different geography, industry, type of organization… And I can tell they are very powerful and well rounded executives for both their former and new employer. They both bring in new blood and they understand the legacy.

It takes for a mature organisation to invest in people development and be somewhat comfortable when they leave. Those people may be able to accelerate their development and create value on their return.

In the future, do not focus only on the farewell party. Dare say «see you soon».

"Le nouveau dirigeant est un manager cappuccino"

Michel Tobelem gives French newspaper Le Figaro his views on why senior executives should develop their emotional intelligence.

“Le nouveau dirigeant doit être capable de parler à tous les collaborateurs et capter tous les niveaux de sens. C’est un leader que j’appellerais le “Manager Cappuccino”. Il doit bien entendu avoir une vision, définir une stratégie et fixer des objectifs. C’est le café. Il doit aussi être capable d’emporter l’adhésion de tous les salariés, de leur offrir des perspectives, de les stimuler émotionnellement. C’est la mousse du cappuccino.” (Le Figaro, February 1st, 2016)

Click here to read the full interview.

"Earth on board: il va falloir mettre le climat dans votre business model"

Philippe-Joubert-Point-de-vue-Beyond-Associes.jpg

Executives and administrators have no more excuses not to make the necessary decisions regarding the environmental sustainability of their activities.

Philippe Joubert, Senior Advisor and Special Envoy Energy and Climate at WBCSD, advisor to Beyond Associés, launches the ‘‘Earth on Board’’ initiative which offers to help companies adapt their business model to climate change issues.

Click here to read the full article. (Les Echos, October 26, 2015)