Impact Leadership by Caroline Renoux

Interview with Caroline RENOUX, CEO of Birdeo & People4Impact, by Yolande GOUZALCH, Executive Coach at Version Originale.

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What is your definition of an impact leader?

“A leader with a positive impact is above all a leader who is able to reinvent the paradigm of success, that is to say who will be able to offer something other than 10% growth or do 10% better than competitors, and who will be able to define social and environmental performance, and to ensure that financial performance, because it remains crucial, is at the service of this performance.

Second, he is someone who is courageous, who is tenacious, because the messages to be conveyed on these subjects are not simple, they are not easy. Everyone agrees on the goal to be reached, but on the means and the time to get there, there are still quite a few disagreements.

After that, he is someone who has an excellent general knowledge of the subject. You can't be an expert on everything on CSR, but in any case, you need to know, for example, the sustainable development goals, the global limits, and understand how that fits into your business model, and then be able to transmit it to others.

And finally, we need a lot of humility because faced with the complexity of the issue, we don't have all the answers. So you always have to be very humble.”

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The latest crises have accelerated the integration of CSR into corporate strategies, what are the impacts on recruitment at the level of decision-makers?

“Among decision-makers, we really feel that in terms of recruitment, we are going to be asked for people who are able to go into these two worlds, to make the transition. That is to say, people who understand business in the way it is done today, who are capable, who know the codes, and then people who are also already able to ensure the transition of what is needed for tomorrow. So there's really this complexity of being between the two worlds.”

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How are ETs adapting to accelerate their transformation towards responsible leadership?

“It's true that SMEs are more recent on the subject, finally that we hear about them on the subject, and that they are interested in the subject, it's been about two years I would say. That said, SMEs, and there are many that are really well established locally, or at the level of family capital, often they are companies that are already doing great things.

So the first point is to look at what has been done, and then to appoint someone, so it is good that it is someone who is at the level of the executive committee, who, on a voluntary basis, because motivation is very important on these subjects, wants to take up these topics anyway. And the idea is to get closer to organizations such as ADEME, such as BPI, which have a lot of toolkits, or professional associations.

There, it already gives a lot of guides on what is done, on what can be done. And then there are a lot of training courses that are also free, which make it possible to raise the awareness of all company employees. And then to complete, possibly take an expert, either a consultant or a freelancer, on a few specific subjects.”

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What advice (s) would you give to someone who wants to develop as an Impact Leader?

“Today, becoming an impact leader is really a great tool for career progression. And I wouldn't necessarily have said that a few years ago.

The first thing to do is really get trained and informed, because the subjects are very complex. You have to approach them with humility, you have to try to understand them. And then you really have to stay connected as much as possible in the networks, with your peers, with your competitors, with associations.

And last but not the least, point about the leader with impact is that he must really know how to work in cooperation and co-opetition, that is to say with his competitors. Because on these subjects, it is crucial to work with its suppliers, with its stakeholders, with its employees in order to make the best progress on the subjects.”