1. You're a graduate of a business school and you've worked for a while in large companies. What motivated you to join the SOS Group?

When I joined a profit-making company, I knew I wasn't going to stay, but I found it interesting to be able to discover their working methods and tools, and to understand what made these structures tick. My aim was then to be able to re-use these methods within structures committed to environmental and social issues.
I've been working for the SOS Group for almost 10 years now, and since then the Group has grown considerably, doubling in size to 23,000 employees, professionalizing skills and increasing the Group's overall budget (i.e. all associations and social enterprises) to 1.3 billion euros.

2. What are the reasons for this professionalization, and is it a trend common to the not-for-profit sector?

I would say that there are three main reasons for this development. The Group has strengthened all its support functions, both in human resources and finance, thanks to the arrival of skilled employees. Secondly, our corporate governance has evolved with the creation of a 9-person Management Board, including our Chairman Jean-Marc Borello. Finally, the Group is also growing from the outside, with the arrival of new associations and the acquisition of social enterprises, adding just as many skills and profiles.

The professionalization of the not-for-profit sector is fairly widespread, albeit to varying degrees, which leads us to face up to a number of caricatures that are harmful to our sector: if we become a large organization we'll lose our values, or if we become profitable we'll turn into a for-profit private player.

"I would like to see the emergence of major new associative groups like Groupe SOS".

3. In this anxious, even catastrophic, context, where do we place the cursor between lucidity, awareness and the ability to re-enchant the world?

Within the Group, we're not afraid to face the truth, because we know that we're going to have to deal with difficult ecological, social and economic changes. We see these times in an entrepreneurial way, building the new models of tomorrow in education, transport and healthcare. So we're not only clear-sighted, we also have a strong capacity to act and succeed.

"A changing world requires us to innovate in a more sustainable way, as with the increasing scarcity of oil and the development of new modes of transport.

4. What should be the place and role of a leader? And despite this climate, how can we still get on board and plan together?

I would say that the responsibility of a manager today lies in two imperatives. Firstly, to tell the story and make it visible: the world is going to change, it's inescapable, but if we always take a punitive and restrictive approach, we'll never get there. So we need to show the benefits of these changes and make ecology a positive thing. Finally, we need to act and be concrete: if we don't propose new services or models, we won't be able to make our new narrative credible and realistic.

Our day-to-day work at Groupe SOS is focused on solving social and environmental problems, and our employees are motivated and convinced to work on projects together. We remain a human organization with all its issues and variables.

5. What type of organization do you think can meet the economic, social and environmental challenges? Should it be capital-intensive or private not-for-profit?

I would say that status does not equal virtue. There are associations with unacceptable practices, and on the other hand, there are magnificent, committed companies being created. The comparison shouldn't be based on status, but rather on the project, the players, the impact and the objectives.

"For several years now, we have been witnessing the emergence of a new movement with mission-driven companies or B-Corp companies, so that players in the classic capitalist world are beginning to move towards more meaning and to make capitalism soluble in the general interest, following the example of Veja or Léa Nature."

On the other hand, we have never been so much in a financialized capitalism, and I would say that the balance of power is in favor of the financialization of capitalism. Some people wonder whether we shouldn't work within these companies to change the model from within, or whether we should go straight to the more virtuous companies... both are necessary. We're facing a real emergency, so let's mutate everything that can be mutated and create new alternatives, especially as capitalism isn't going to disappear. But I'm sure we'll have some surprises in the next 10 years.

At the same time, the SSE world needs to organize itself so that it represents more than 10% of economic activity in France. By structuring itself better, it will have more means of attracting talent or raising funds.

"It's possible to do things differently and replace the model, especially as ecology and social issues become performance and attractiveness factors for talent and investors."

6. How do you attract employees from the for-profit sector? Is there a change in work culture once they've been hired?

Addressing the question of meaning in one's work helps to attract talent, it's not a marginal subject: some people have earned a good living and at some point decide to come and work for us, then others earn well but have a hectic pace of life and finally others find themselves in a form of cognitive dissonance between their work and their values or external opinions.

What's more, at the SOS Group, we offer fair, equitable salaries and enhanced career development.

There are cultural differences between our employees who come from the corporate world and those who have always worked in the associative sector, and this can be seen in the way they manage projects by achieving objectives, respecting deadlines and using digital tools. But here again, these are healthy differences that are helping to create a new alternative model.

7. What constitutes good remuneration, especially for strategic positions? Would you agree to introduce variable pay?

Of course, on a personal level, I don't see any problem with employees' and directors' remuneration including a variable component based on the personal and collective success of each individual. This is one of the tools used in the profit-making world, which should be adopted by our sector to create an alternative, virtuous economic model.

8. What are the qualities of a good leader?

In my opinion, a leader needs to set an example and carry a vision, a project, so that he can then show his project to his teams. He or she must also have the ability to act and react to different situations and, last but not least, show benevolence towards his or her teams.