The Legacy of Leadership

In my soon-to-be 9 years at Capgemini and in particular during the past 6 years with Capgemini University I had the great honor to meet and work with amazing leaders on a variety of programs from consulting and communication courses to middle management and executive education. Having partnered with excellent external facilitators and stellar educational service providers while setting up and running these programs, I was fortunate to be able to integrate those insights within our internal University agenda, to constantly improve the way we learn at Capgemini.

This year's 8-month Game Changers program, along with the 4-month Pace Setters program currently in its second run have been the achievements I am most proud of in 2022.

October 12 to October 14, 2022 marked the end of the program for our 7th generation of Game Changers. This event, which we celebrated at our Serge Kampf Les Fontaines state-of-the-art campus in person, has generated an amount of energy, inspiration and momentum that it I find difficult to contain. I can only hope that by trying to capture the spirit of the Game Changers journey in this article through live impressions, action shots and reflective insights I would do justice to the reality of what we collectively experienced and would like to pass on.

We cannot downplay the pressure of diverse time zone alignment that we experienced and overcame: in a little over 3 days, people from across 4 continents took time to be together and forward their leadership agenda as a Game Changer community. Everyone's resilience over these intense 3 days was fully powered by the energy people gave each other.

The Magic of Coming Together

One may argue that there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. In an evidence-based research project initiated mid-pandemic, the Oxford Review Editor David Wilkinson found well over a hundred leadership styles across the academic literature. The current number on his list is 150, with new styles to be added as they enter reliable peer-reviewed global research.

Looking at the top 25 leadership styles in highest research volume order as of today, I can attest to the fact that our (twice as many) Game Changers are displaying those, along with other flavors in spades.

Collectively, the value of leadership benefits increases at pace. If we add to that the sense of anticipation created virtually over the past months, getting together in person becomes even more gratifying.

Moving from theory to practice, from fruitful solitude and self-directed learning to socializing opportunities and play have been a joy.

This is the magic of coming together and amplifying our strength as leaders.

Coming together as one unified group where everyone feels they truly belong.

Coming together to reflect and play, laugh and experience being present.

Coming together to share. Stories, music, aspirations, inspiration.

Our Common Purpose: A Better Tomorrow

Distinguished guests Benjamin Alleau and Jean-Baptiste Perrin joined our Game Changers on the second day of the event, to reiterate key messages on our sustainability agenda beyond Capgemini, as human beings.

To ensure a better tomorrow, we all need to consciously and consistently engage in living and working more sustainably. To spark innovation in this space, the Game Changers were challenged to come up with new ways to respond to eight sustainability cases spanning upskilling and training, go-to-market, social sustainability, ecosystems and partnerships, environmental sustainability approaches, internal and external marketing, cross-collaboration between Business Units.

One planet, one social impact promise from us.

Refreshing to hear about the progress of a constantly evolving portfolio of initiatives like Invent for Society, the latest Capgemini Research Institute studies, or the quarterly Conversations for Tomorrow which dedicated its first 2021 issue to the topic of "a sustainable future". Even if we have come a long way, the work is yet to start on new initiatives, with new positions in sustainability to be set up across our Group.

A question among many sparked an interesting conversation: "Are our relationships (or can they be) net positive?" Many of us in the plenary, including Benjamin Alleau, were fast to put up our hand for "yes" in response. Indeed, we all - from companies to families and neighborhoods - can thrive by giving more than we take.

Here to Listen and Learn from Each Other

"What topic in your area of expertise would you choose to captivate an audience?"

Each Game Changer answered this question, providing a topic for the others to listen to.

The ten topics that generated the highest interest were chosen for our half-day Unconference on October 13.

With sessions taking place in parallel, we hope to revisit the topics we missed on another occasion. Our Top Talent Game Changers will never run out of ideas to intrigue, disrupt and attract, like the ones below.

We closed the second day with an exercise of imagination: "draft the 2024 story of your 2022 Game-Changing Opportunity."

A return to reflection and the power of owning and sharing a story.

On the last day of the event, our Game Changers connected with Executive Guests and Game Changer alumni for insight exchanges around their Game Changing Opportunities.

We were privileged to welcome in person Claire Sauvanaud , Scott Turton , Sarah Thomas Ph.D. , Eric de Saqui de Sannes , Emilie Thebault , Amiya Chand , Vincent Moreau and Game Changers Executive Sponsor Anne Lebel .

On the same day, we welcomed ten more guests online: Caroline Segerstéen Runervik , James Forrest , Radhika Ramesh , Jeannine Peek , Matthew Costelloe , Fabian Schladitz , Arnaud Demesse , Sophie Craviari , Vincent Fokke , and Aashish Sharma आशीष शर्मा .

Game-changing practices permeate all levels of our organization. By bringing together Game Changers, Game Changer alumni and Executive Guests, common struggles as well as common achievements, a wider sense of purpose and a unifying leadership vision were revealed.

Identifying Opportunity Spaces

I borrowed this title from Christopher Baird 's Unconference presentation on asking transformational questions.

We call the Game Changers an acceleration program for our Top Talent.

What generates acceleration and what does this lead to?

In learning program management terms, Talent acceleration is generated during pivotal moments that matter, enabled by well-timed and well-designed learning interventions that open up new horizons and make worlds expand. It is amplified by thought leadership and shared best practices, and it is sustained by communities of diverse people and teams.

Last but not least, it is sustained by a sponsor ecosystem that has an undeniable impact on creating high-energy momentum and forward movement as needed.

We were fortunate to benefit from the support of Game Changers Executive Sponsor Anne Lebel and Game Changers Talent Sponsor Barbara van der Heijden in 2022.

The support of our internal teams as well as our external partners was critical during program delivery, both virtually and in person. Our thanks to Renata Sępek , Poulomi Ghosh , Assia Vignanelli Zichella , Sylvie Paul , Nicolas Boisset , Antonina Kordeusz , Nathalie Marchau , Tomasz Cwiklinski , Mousumi Roy , Richard Newman , Vincent Cornut and Arthur Tran .

They all gave wings to the program and enabled our core design team to create the right environment and learning interventions to develop Top Talent.

And so did this year's program participants.

Mid-event, the Game Changers self-organized and, in the very brief time in between the day's activities, managed to film a video for our team as a "thank you" note.

They insisted that we each take a front seat and experience the view "from the other side."

That was a thoughtful act of kindness that we can take as a sign of mission accomplished. Core team, Amit Kumar , Mandy Chapman , Volodymyr Grymailo , Camille Riom , job well done!

The majority of our 2022 Game Changers attended the program closing event in person, while a few others fought important battles elsewhere and joined us virtually on October 14.

Our congratulations to everyone in the 2022 cohort!

Next mission: identify and elevate the game changers around you.

As Inma Casero advised our Pace Setters, pay it forward by doing for others the best that was done for you.

Delighted to be in your company and work together on a common mission across Game Changer generations

Jennifer Paylor , Abhishek Lakhani , Agata Wichman , Allan Christensen , Andrés de Benito , Arpna Gupta , Ashish Minocha , Ashwini Nadiger , Ashwini Rungta , Bharti Khemani , Camila Fierro , Christopher Baird , Christin Käppler , Christopher Eikanger , Dalbir Sidhu , Daniel Wolff , David Clulow , Dipanjana De , Evy Nerinckx , Felix Middendorf , Frederick Manuel , Giles Cuthbert , Giulio Poletti , Guillaume Molinier , Hans Haugli , Haoran Wang, James B. John Nicholson , Karina Birkeland , Karoline Heidtmann , Kevin Syslo , Kiran Roy , Laurentiu Mandu , Liz Ince , Luciano Bottoni , Luis Falcão Araújo , Manas Tiwari , Marco van Winsen , Marina Rocci , Michelle Perkins , Neerav Vyas , Nicolas Claudon , Padmanabhan Kamesh , Patrick Böttcher , Philippe Bruneteau , Priya Jha Choudhary , Rachel Head , Ronald Kutschke , Sandra Prinsen , Sapna Shah , Sonia Gorjup-Gatti , Stephanie Kleck , Stephen Hall, Surabhi Sunanda , Swapna Suraneni , Swathi Raghunath , Tamara Ravenhill , Tanguy Bressand , Tim Sandkuhler , Vinitha Sunodh , Vishal Narang .