The 8th EVE International seminar continued on October 12, 2017 in Evian. A look back on the highlights of this second day.
Dare to climb onto the first rung, with Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière
After a morning session given over to workshops, participants then returned to the Grange au Lac for the first of a series of plenary sessions. Mari-Noëlle Jégo-Laveissière, Senior Executive VP Innovation, Marketing & Technologies at the Orange Group shared her experiences of leadership. Early on in her career, her appetite for science led her to pursue a path that is usually more dominated by men. Her motto is always to push back constraints and self-limitations, and she places great value on simplicity. Her presentation was a real source of inspiration for women (and men) who want to “get a foot on the ladder” while staying true to their own selves.
Encouraging the mixing of cultures, ideas and points of view, with Franck Riboud
As in previous editions, the question and answer session with Franck Riboud, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Danone, was a great success. The director set out his vision for management, which he believes is “90% emotion” and the ability to come eye to eye with those who are different from you. And on the subject of diversity, Franck Riboud explained how important it is to link gender diversity issues to those of social diversity and diversity of training and experience.
Focusing on best & next business practices, with the Wise Committee
The Wise Committee, a representative body of people from EVE’s partner companies, came to present its role and future plans to attendees. Hosted by Virginie Abadie-Dalle, founder of the SNCF women’s network (which EVE directly inspired), the roundtable session was a reminder of the amazing impact that EVE has had within companies (mentoring schemes, diversity networks, etc.) and on inter-company partnerships (cross-mentoring EVE2EVE, the summer after, EVE & Donzel on the quantification of professional equality), etc.
EVE Wise Committee
Sylvie Bernard-Curie, Associate HR Director of Talents at KPMG (President)
Florence Datcharry-Sirven, Director of Université SNCF
Geoffroy Fourgeaud, Director of Orange’s Talent Management Leaders
Noëlle Herpeux-Hourtoulle, Learning for Development Director at L’Oréal’s Consumer Products Division
Alexandra Jolivet, Director of Talent Management for Danone’s Corporate functions
Sophie Serratrice, Director of HR for Innovation, Diversity and Development at the Crédit Agricole Group
Anne-Lise Voisin-Pelliet, Head of Quality of Life at Work and Professional Equality at the Caisse des Dépôts
Negotiating the barriers to cooperation, with Jean-Edouard Grésy
Jean-Edouard Grésy, a founding partner of AlterNego, gave a brilliant presentation on conflict and negotiation. From academic references to irresistible dashes of comedy, from film excerpts to accounts of scientific studies, the legal anthropologist interpreted the ordinary (and inefficient) reactions we experience in situations of conflict: flight, aggressive responses, the temptation to give in, etc. He then suggested an alternative approach, inspired in particular by the martial art of Wing Chun: balance, the ability to go in the other person’s direction and to re-frame the discussion by using questions, all make it possible to remove obstacles to a relationship and to initiate cooperation.
Changing views, with Amina Slaoui
Amina Slaoui closed the plenary session on the second day of EVE with her incredible personal testimony. Amina was involved in an accident that left her in a wheelchair, but since then she has developed Amicale Marocaine des Handicapés, (Moroccan friendship association for people with disabilities) now known as AMH Group, and is a leader in social entrepreneurship in Morocco. It is based on the principle that a charitable approach is not enough to empower or re-empower people with disabilities and/or those who suffer from discrimination, and the organization upholds an entrepreneurial vision of self-support.
Party time !
The evening of October 12 continued with a gala dinner and a networking party: the perfect way to foster the ties that drive the energy of this program.
There are more than 2,800 members in the EVE community.
A mobile app and a webmagazine (a leading media tool focusing on women’s leadership with contributions from more than 70 influencers around the world that draws 40,000 readers each month) are the two gateways to this community.
And the community extends to the social networks: Twitter, to get real time updates on all the latest news about balanced leadership, Facebook, to share experiences, ideas and favourite stories; LinkedIn, to exchange best practices and draw inspiration from partners’ initiatives; Youtube, to find videos and Instagram to see pictures from the seminars.
