Not so much differently, the current crisis is generating negative sentiments towards those who command companies and banks, who are increasingly seen as selfish and generally uninterested or unaware of the consequences of their actions.

There is one, however – François Barrault, former CEO of BT Global Ser- vices and currently Chairman of the investment and consulting firm FDB Partners who hardly matches this new stereotype. His lucid analysis of the financial collapse, sharp criticisms of the current system and optimistic look to the future deserve attention and show that people in business still have a lot to say about how to run this planet.

A call for change
As he is prone to point out, François Barrault is a “a builder by nature”,  things together, they care about the planet and they have a lot of aspiration,” he says confidently. “There will be a big wave coming from our children, because they grew up in an environment that is very different.”

As many other business leaders, Barrault acknowledges that the transformation will not only be generational but also geographic. “Some countries are focusing on building their own in- frastructure and raising the lifestyle of their inhabitants, whereas other countries are declining,” he observes. Then, taking the example of India, he cites figures about the rise of people with access to the Internet and with degrees in science and engineering, and warns: “Don’t look at India as a back office for brainware or China for hardware!”

“Twenty years ago, we had the manager, who ensured that the processes went right ... then we had the leader, who made everybody feel inspired. Now, since everything is a network, you need to inspire but also to empower. The good CEO is the guy who creates a project and makes the people willing to work on it all together.”

A matter of leadership
Such a changed world surely needs new people in the lead, both in governments and in the private sector. As a former CEO, Barrault has the experi- ence to pass along a few well-learned observations: “Twenty years ago, we had the manager, who ensured that the processes went right,” he explains. “Then we had the leader, who made everybody feel inspired. Now, since everything is a network, you need to inspire but also to empower. The good CEO is the guy who creates a project and makes the people willing to work on it all together.”

He also believes that a CEO must “go outside his comfort zone”. Barrault’s background in sciences and robotics helps him explain his views figuratively: “I compare a CEO to an atom with electrons and different levels of energy. The CEO is at the centre of totally antonymic things. So in a company you have the shareholders, the state, the customers, the vendors, the employees. They all want different things. Then you are asked to be green, to diversify, to have more women. And the guy is alone in the lead,” he says. “One needs to make sure that the guy at the centre has the intellectual and emotional capacity to make this very complex ecosystem and quantic model work together on a sustainable basis.”

Rules and inspiration
In anticipation of the World Eco- nomic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Barrault’s hope is that, “Talks about the next decade should not only focus on frameworks, governance and rules, but should also be about giving hope and spiritual inspiration to people. The last two years have scared the people,” he says. “They have lost faith in the system, they are now looking for sense. This is why the leaders of the next decade should believe in the people rather than believe in the system.”

Making capitalism inclusive, coping with the new interconnected world and inspiring people: it is a rich and challenging agenda, and surely an unusual one for a businessman. But as Barrault remarks: “I am saying this for our safety; it is just a way of protecting our kids.” one who is born to “create new business, companies and activities”. Nonetheless, his fast-paced career never trumped his acumen and analytical mind. His take on the recent financial crisis clearly shows this: “When we look at how capitalism has evolved over the last one hundred years,” he explains, “we moved from the mutualization of savings to build infrastructure that allowed us to have better returns and create value for the community to a different system. What happened in the early 1980s was that all brainpower has been attracted by technology and finance.”

Barrault, who trained at the École Centrale de Nantes and started his career as a researcher for IBM, adds a personal touch to this account: “The smartest of the smartest in my class did not become a scientist but worked on the first models of derivatives. It was a big surprise for me that guys like him started to go to New York and work for companies like Goldman Sachs or Morgan & Stanley. Since these people were so smart, they built a machine that no one understood!” he laments.

Barrault at least understands one thing of it, and he is worried about it: “Behind the numbers there is ultimately people. They invented such things as the trading of risk or other magic with the balance sheets, but, at the end of the day, there were still families in their homes who could not pay their mortgages.”

His view on the direction the economy has taken is clear: “When you have a community where one gets richer on the back of the other and makes more money by trading virtual things than creating, it lasts for awhile, then everything collapses” he warns. “Of course,” he adds, “we need to do savings to be competitive, but we must give much more sense to our impact and to the stake we are taking in the communities.”

His conclusion is radical and farsighted: “We need to go back to an economy of fundamentals, where of course people can trade and are allowed to get rich, but you cannot live on the backs of others!” he is quick to add. “Profits have to spill into the local economy through cooperation with governments and things such as investment in utilities and infrastructure. Economic systems have to balance and be more inclusive. Capitalism has to be more inclusive!”

Empower the new
Used to looking ahead and challenging the ordinary, Barrault argues that “the big difference with the past is the greater interdependence of everything. We are still talking about boundaries and territory, but we are increasingly speaking the same language with the Internet, Twitter, Facebook!” He sees in the young those who can rise to the challenge and spearhead the change: “The younger generations want to do things together, they care about the planet and they have a lot of aspiration,” he says confidently. “There will be a big wave coming from our children, be- cause they grew up in an environment that is very different.”

As many other business leaders, Barrault acknowledges that the transformation will not only be generational but also geographic. “Some countries are focusing on building their own infrastructure and raising the lifestyle of their inhabitants, whereas other countries are declining,” he observes. Then, taking the example of India, he cites figures about the rise of people with access to the Internet and with degrees in science and engineering, and warns: “Don’t look at India as a back office for brainware or China for hardware!”

A matter of leadership
Such a changed world surely needs new people in the lead, both in governments and in the private sector. As a former CEO, Barrault has the experi- ence to pass along a few well-learned observations: “Twenty years ago, we had the manager, who ensured that the processes went right,” he explains. “Then we had the leader, who made everybody feel inspired. Now, since everything is a network, you need to inspire but also to empower. The good CEO is the guy who creates a project and makes the people willing to work on it all together.”

“The last two years have scared the people ... they have lost faith in the system, they are now looking for sense. This is why the leaders of the next decade should believe in the people rather than believe in the system.”

He also believes that a CEO must “go outside his comfort zone”. Barrault’s background in sciences and robotics helps him explain his views figuratively: “I compare a CEO to an atom with electrons and different levels of energy. The CEO is at the centre of totally ant- onymic things. So in a company you have the shareholders, the state, the customers, the vendors, the employees. They all want different things. Then you are asked to be green, to diversify, to have more women. And the guy is alone in the lead,” he says. “One needs to make sure that the guy at the centre has the intellectual and emotional capacity to make this very complex ecosystem and quantic model work together on a sustainable basis.”

Rules and inspiration
In anticipation of the World Eco- nomic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Barrault’s hope is that, “Talks about the next decade should not only focus on frameworks, governance and rules, but should also be about giving hope and spiritual inspiration to people. The last two years have scared the people,” he says. “They have lost faith in the system, they are now looking for sense. This is why the leaders of the next de- cade should believe in the people rather than believe in the system.”

Making capitalism inclusive, coping with the new interconnected world and inspiring people: it is a rich and challenging agenda, and surely an unusual one for a businessman. But as Barrault remarks: “I am saying this for our safety; it is just a way of protecting our kids.”




This article was first published THE SWISS STYLE - WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM SPECIAL DAVOS —ECONOMIC OUTLOOK AND DEFINING POLICIES FOR INCLUSIVE GROWTH: INSPIRATION TO US  »»» by Frank Lombard