Is “progress” outdated?

My message to HEC Paris graduates at the 2023 Commencement Ceremony

Good afternoon, everyone.

I’m so happy and I feel so honored to be with you for this very important milestone in your lives.

I never thought that one day, I would be speaking here, to such an audience. Let me explain why!

My father Pierre Bellon, the founder of Sodexo, studied here at HEC: it took him four years to be admitted! I can tell you he was very determined.

When I decided to go to a business school too, he was convinced that it had to be HEC. After two years of preparing for entry exams I was so stressed that my face was covered in acne. I told him: “Have you seen my face? Whatever business school accepts me will be the one I’ll go to!” Well, it was not HEC in the end, but I still had a great time and learnt a lot.

Well, congratulations to all those of you in this room who are graduating today. You did it!

I know you are taking a lot away from this year. It’s been intense: you’ve put in lots of time and effort. You’ve learnt. You’ve experienced something different. You’ve met people from across the world.

Why did you do all of this in the first place?

You all have your own personal answers to this question.

But I’m sure that you have one thing in common: fundamentally, you came because you wanted to progress.

This is what I want to talk to you about today: progress. Because I believe spirit of progress is very underrated today. At Sodexo, it’s one of our three company values.

I’ll start with a personal story. Back in 2008, I got a new role. I had been working at Sodexo for over 10 years, mostly in finance and strategy, and I was taking on operational responsibilities. I became CEO of a 500-million-euro business unit in France.

On my first day, I attended a meeting with the 18 members of my leadership team.

When I got into the room, my heart began to race. I felt hot. My body was telling me: “What are you doing here? Get out!”

Well, I stayed! I attended the meeting. I asked questions – on the business of course, but also: “Why am I the only woman in the room?”

I was told that these roles were not for women, because they involved a lot of travel. Just so you have the context in mind: I was coming from a role where I was constantly commuting between France and the US...

Five years later, when I moved on to new responsibilities, there were five women on my leadership team. And they were doing a great job.

This is not a Diversity & Inclusion story that I’m sharing here. This is me learning one of the most important and useful lessons in my life. Challenging the status quo is not about trying to move mountains: it’s just about trying to move the needle. Relentlessly. In the long term, it makes a huge difference – and it also makes you grow.

So, is “progress” outdated? I mean, progress as we knew it has led us where we are today: to climate disruption, geopolitical instability, war, inequality, and food insecurity. 

And still, progress needs to be right at the top of the agenda – and especially right at the top of YOUR agenda. Because business leaders have a critical role to play here.

I’ll tell you a bit more about my experience.

Our Group was created in 1966 by my father. Over the first 50 years, we consistently had very solid growth. For decades, Sodexo kept developing and conquered new markets.

I was not raised to head up the Group. My father had always told my brother, my two sisters and myself that we should not mistake org charts for family trees. And then one day, he brought us together and told us that he wanted one of us to succeed him.

I became Chairwoman of Sodexo in 2016.

In 2020, after 54 years of uninterrupted growth, Covid hit.

We had had challenges before. But Covid turned out to be the most brutal crisis in our entire company history. Overnight, many of our clients stopped their activities. Just like that, we lost a third of our revenue.

I don’t know what your experience of lockdown was. For me, like for many, it meant being in my flat in Paris for weeks. It also meant thinking about the fate of Sodexo. About our teams. About my family. And about my personal responsibility.

I had no options. No options other than looking at this crisis as an opportunity for us to progress…  

And I became absolutely convinced that progress today is not about doing more: it’s about doing better. For us, it’s about taking care of all our stakeholders, leaving no one behind. It’s about redefining what “performance” means, beyond financials. It’s about strengthening our social contribution even more, through social innovation. It's about taking planetary boundaries into account and doing something about it!  

Over the past 2 years, we progressed on that journey, and we reinvented ourselves. After decades of conquest, we decided to grow more selectively and qualitatively. We are working on our commitment to an ambitious target to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2040. This is a first in our industry. It’s a very profound transformation for us: for example, by 2030, in our menus, we want a third of all options to be vegetarian, and 70% of main dishes to be low carbon. It means converting all those we serve to sustainable food: food that’s good for the planet and good for you. And simply good, because pleasure is central here!

It means reviewing our entire value chain, and it’s staggering.  

And it means also continuing to invest heavily in our managers, as we have done over the past two years with our Empathetic Leadership program. The goal is to help them progress on soft skills, on how to recognize their teams, share feedback, and navigate a very complex environment. Because today, everyone is questioning their attitude to work, especially in our service sector – I’m sure you’ve heard about the Great Resignation! And we need inspiring leaders in order to retain our talent. 

What is amazing about progress is that it starts with each and every one of us.

Today, I wish you to keep your growth mindset and continue on your path of progress. It does not stop at the gate of HEC.

Never be paralyzed by the search for perfection: by nature, it is out of reach. Progress, on the contrary, is accessible to all. No matter the issue you’re dealing with, and no matter where you start from.

Don’t be afraid to fail. Mistakes are part of everyone’s growth path.

Surround yourselves with people who are better than you in what they do. Ask to be challenged, so that you don’t get stuck in misconceptions. Environmental activists challenge us hard for instance: it’s not comfortable, but they make us continue to progress!

Be bold: after all, your School’s motto is “Learn to dare”! And more than ever before, we need bold, optimistic business leaders who believe that we can continue to progress towards a better, more sustainable and desirable world.

Let us be the best possible ancestors for the generations that are yet to come!

Thank you! And good luck on your journey!