T-shape

I-skill

• What: processes & operations, why: analytical mind

T-skills

• What: team leader, why: social, empathetic & vision-driven

• What: growth, why: tech tools knowledge & data-driven

• What: product & marketing, why: creative, reflective mind

My strengths

• Analytical ability (data & methodology). Identifies problems, rational with metrics and foresight.

• Problem solver.

• Technical. Able to understand a tool and use it appropriately.

• Loyal. I don't give up on people.

• Listener, helpful: in prospecting (I'm interested in people) and in reflection (I don't refuse to help a friend or colleague who asks for it).

• Idealistic, stick to my guts.

• Management skills: Available and attentive, Teacher, Leadership, Knows how to delegate, Raises others (assign responsibilities, and control work in a broader project), Good communication in 1:1.

• Ask for and accept feedback.

• Passionate.

• Thoughtful, logical, and rational.

• Processify: I can identify a logistics chain and create processes and rules to optimize operations.

• Responsible. I take my responsibilities and accept feedback.

• Long-term thinker: effort to do things that are truly useful and long-lasting (often the case at Luckey).

• Open-minded. I don't close myself off and remain available to people and ideas.

• Self-reflection: about myself and projects. I know how to challenge a subject and ask myself deep questions.

• Sense of product and design.

• Community: I like to gather people, through events in particular.

• Big picture: I see beyond just my job. I don't always act on it, I don't give myself the means, but I have a certain vision in the projects I work on.

• I think I’m a "good guy," and that's important to me.

• Curious. Desire and pleasure to learn.

• Marketing. I understand people and sense impactful messages to the right target. Sense of wording.

• Strong team spirit. 

• Skilled in languages and ease of learning them. I speak 6 languages.

My weaknesses

• • Tends to be scattered.

  • I sometimes do not seem professional (very flexible and good atmosphere, sets few personal boundaries), can project a somewhat dilettante image.

  • Comfort zone. I select topics and need to force myself to work on things that interest me less.

  • Indecisive when alone: I'm more comfortable taking decisions when I confront them with others. No worries to move forward when it's a shared decision, I don't want to force my decision on to others

  • Too perfectionist sometimes, at the risk of losing time: I want to make things perfect and I’m not the kind of person who kills a project in a matter of hours- I want to think deeply about the problems and solutions. Depends on the context: to test ideas now, I force myself to commit on a deadline and take a final decision. For long-term strategic initiatives within a company, I won't take a quick decision and will cover all angles to draft a stable plan. 

  • Don't want to work alone. To push myself, I need to be accountable. For example, I couldn't be a solopreneur expect when I already have customers to serve.

  • Hard time when it gets too “political” and when I have to convince management or investors.

  • Difficulty finishing things, closing boxes. Under Pareto’s law, I do 80% and have a hard time doing the remaining 20%. I often start a new project while the previous one isn't fully finished when. Questioning is important but "at some point, you have to go for it."

  • Can't give up. Obsessive. When a problem is there, only that one exists. I don't allow myself the necessary distance to prioritize and work on something else, or to find another solution. 

  • Can sometimes lack self-confidence. Tendency to underestimate myself and what I do, out of humility.

  • Significant need for recognition: whether for small things or more broadly in the representation I have of myself. The image I project to others is very important to me, I want to appear intelligent, I want to be considered. 

  • Difficulty following through, unless something follows (another project, another task).

  • Tend to over commit, and sometimes therefore under-deliver, even when the initial commit didn’t need to be so ambitious.

  • Negotiation: very bad at it. Afraid of putting my interest before others', and although I have legitimate claims, I don’t do it.

What I like

• Team spirit: comrades with a common goal. For example, I need to go to the office to see my colleagues and struggle with too much remote working. More broadly, I enjoy engaging in a collective effort. Building a team and moving forward together in the same boat is very important to me.

• Building long-term machines and processes that will stick.

• Executing things - I enjoy operations because we do concrete things. 

• Having a real output of what I work on (a product that comes out...). Achieving things.

• Missions and responsibilities. Being recognized as responsible for the things I work on.

• Imagining and creating new things. I have an affinity for product management and artistic professions. Creating, in the sense of innovating, that is to say something designed from scratch that did not exist before, with a significant (real) physical dimension.

• Being multi-tasking. I want to work more around a mission ("what we need to achieve") and then define the tasks to be done, in various fields (technical, marketing, legal...). I don't necessarily want to specialize in a particular job.

• Constantly learning new things, whether technical, cultural, historical, new languages, or new fields/techniques.

• Having fun. Doing a fun mission first, and enjoying it with others. The atmosphere at work on one hand but also outside, making fun of things, not taking oneself too seriously.

What I don't like

• Routine and days scheduled like clockwork. Need to have diverse days, whether in the schedule or with surprises. I also need to move physically during the day, not staying in the same place.

• "Politics" in medium and large companies: a mix of irresponsibility, lack of trust in people, and selfishness, which disengages employees, who then adopt the same behavior through a vicious circle. I tend to think that when communication in companies is too “political”, it’s because of bad and unclear management.

• Lack of efficiency, lack of decision-making in corporations.

• I need to believe strongly in the project and the vision, otherwise I get disengaged. 

• Not being taken seriously.

• Not being useful to others and to society.

• Hypocrisy, double-talk, even when necessary. Being straightforward is very important to me and I'm convinced it always pays off in the end.

• Being alone at work. Not because I'm not capable of delivering, but because I like to get a sentiment of team spirit and being mission driven

People I get along with

• People committed to their team. I place great value on collective engagement, which I believe is fundamental to the success of anything, whether in a company, a group or society in general.

• Humble, simple people.

• Genuinely kind people, benevolent.

• People who have convictions, who deeply care about something.

• People who trust others and won’t hesitate delegating a project and getting their hands off it. 

Industry edge

• Customer experience

• Offline consumer experiences (events management, hospitality, retail shopping…)

• EdTech and learning economy

Passions

• Rugby: I play amateur rugby in a club, for which I’m secretary general. My sister is a professional rugby player (check her! Agathe Sochat).

• Theater: I do amateur theatre and take 2 classes per week. 

• Astronomy: I know the names of the stars.

• Music: I constantly add new tracks to my Spotify account, I really enjoy disco electro, play the piano often, and try to learn how to play guitar.

• Languages: I speak 6 languages (more or less fluently) and really enjoy chatting with a fellow stranger. 

What I want to do

• Truly help a community of people. Be genuinely useful.

• Work on things that will stick long-term (i.e at least 100 years, which is a strong statement noting the current pace of evolution).

• Be proud of what I do every day.

• I’m more into starting a small business than a billion dollar-company. The limit is the number of people in it: 100 seems enough. 

What the world needs

• In the digital era, the world needs to re-learn how to live together. People need natural connections with others, and existing tools or platforms don't develop this enough.

• People need to work on their critical thinking skills.

• The world needs to regain a sense of collective identity as a "society".

• The world needs to laugh and not take itself too seriously.

• The areas that inspire me more:

  • Children's education

  • Social & community (living together)

  • Social: helping small businesses, people who have less

  • Local: preserving cultural specificities

  • Training / learnings.

  • Customer experience

  • Offline businesses (restaurants, retail, event…)

Applicable roles

• Program manager & strategy

• Business operations & chief of staff

• Country manager

• Product management & product strategy

• Growth

• Marketing

How I work

How do your values manifest themselves in your behavior?

I always add a pinch of humor in the downtimes. I really think work shouldn’t be a pain and we should keep having fun even in the darkest moments. This doesn’t prevent us from being performant, committed and serious.

I’m straightforward during conversations. When it gets too chit chatty I try to reframe to the topic. 

I let other people speak. I don’t interrupt people or as less as possible. Listening to understand what’s at stake is super important.

I never let a friend in need. Never.

Are you more introverted/extroverted and are any behaviors related to this (e.g. you prefer to think tasks through on your own or you prefer big open discussions in groups)

Extroverted, for sure. Nevertheless, it doesn’t translate to my working style that obviously. For example, I prospect ideas and opinions, to make sure we’re all on the same page, but we should come up with a decision very quick and this shouldn’t last too long. Once done, there should be only one individual contributor who executes it and no interference of other co-workers, otherwise it’s not productive. 

I prefer to keep meetings only in the afternoon and work alone in the morning where I’m more efficient. This is when the company is running. During the early time of the company, there’s not really a schedule, we go with the flow, get meetings when I can etc.

What motivates you about work? How can someone else motivate you?

Creativity and productivity. I like when we get to think about a topic out of the box and find other perspectives to tackle a subject. Productivity is about getting something out in the world. It doesn’t have to be a concrete product or an object. A simple feature made in 1 week that is used by people also makes my day.

How do you see the world? Is it black & white for you, shades of grey?

Weird question. I don’t have enough of a paragraph to explain “how I see the world” and even with a 1000 pages document I would just share personal impressions and that wouldn’t be fixed. That being said, I don’t like people who have a strict vision of the world. People who say “I see the world like this” are often a redflag to me, I would tend to think they’re narrow minded and not flexible enough.

Are you more the conceptual thinker, analytic or creative? OR all of them? 

Perhaps the first two, less the last one. I’m definitely a conceptual thinker and I like to challenge things to understand exactly the problem we’re trying to resolve. I’m also very analytic and know how to work with data and get concrete figures to get to a conclusion. I’m perhaps less creative when it gets to make something out of it. Nevertheless, I’m a good executant of a vision and able to tweak and adapt it by doing.

What might be something that is unique about your work style that you would like other people to know about?

I learnt from my mistakes and now I avoid working on things I’m sure bring values. So I would challenge more beforehand in a group, take common decisions, stick to it and go. If we don’t have enough answers yet to take a decision, I’m more a fan of a quick and dirty MVP (even for a sub project), see if it works and get feedback, then build the long term stuff. Iteration is key.

Key values

Honesty

Fun

Commitment

Excellence

Intelligence

How we should collaborate

How can others support you in living your values?

What does “living my values” mean anyway?

How does living your two key values shape the way you give and receive feedback?

Give feedback: 

• Dedicated session to avoid doing that in the hall where it won’t be received, won’t be efficient and will only generate distrust

• Avoid the “shit sandwich”: “you’re good at that, but that is bad, but you’re also good at this”. It’s important that every feedback is heard, the good like the bad. So, I tend to start with a global feedback to ease the discussion like “I’m happy working with you and we will continue” if that’s the case, to re-assure the person, and then continue with what can be improved, and talk more about it. Then finish with what’s good and talk just as much about it, to strengthen even more the good points and the value it brings to the company. 

Receive feedback: I would expect just the same framework? I really value honesty and I’m always happy to receive feedback.

What makes you feel insecure when working with others? 

Silence makes me “insecure”. I prefer receiving feedback instead of projecting an opinion of myself which might not be true. 

Which environment enables you to deliver your best work and be yourself?

A “funny” and social environment is important to me. I’m a lot more productive when I feel relaxed and having a good time with my co-workers.

Are there behaviors or situations that are not good for you?

When it gets too tensed an no-one speaks up. When there’s not a final decision maker. 

What kind of work or behaviors triggers negative emotions for you?

When it gets too political and not productive.

What motivates you to improve?

Feedback I receive.

How should we tackle problems together?

First, think about the problem each of us apart, not for long. Then gather and brainstorm, and accept the other one’s opinion and ideas, under the framework “strong opinion / strong suggestion / light suggestion” depending on how important it is to the person. Then take a common decision and go to execution mode, with a repartition of tasks. Then gather again, and iterate with the same framework.