This interview with Anne Mazoyer was originally published in La Lettre du GCCG – Stratégies managériales in November 2018. The President of FairValue Corporate & Public Affairs talks about her professional values, her commitments and her vision of management.

What are the main principles that guide your decisions in your professional life?

In terms of strategy, the key word is „Anticipate”. As Leonardo da Vinci said, I believe, „he who does not anticipate should be prepared to groan”. Anticipation is the key to organising my decisions. I decide in the present for the future. My job as a consultant requires me to be as demanding of myself as the legitimate demands our clients. Moreover, I believe that we can only make „good” decisions if we are fully involved in our clients’ problems. We live the situation with them, their problems become our problems, and from there, the solutions we propose have the best chance of being „their” ideal solutions. The great guides of my decisions are also ethics, human considerations, and courage in everyday life. For example, I don’t take cases that I don’t think have any chance of succeeding, but even if the chances are „slim”, I take and fight to the end. Our reputation is based on our ability to take and handle complex, difficult cases and bring them to a successful conclusion.

What qualities/skills do you think are essential for a leader?

The same as for an executive: flexibility, adaptability and managerial skills. Flexibility allows you to understand situations if they are unique. I don’t believe in recipes and even less in panaceas. Adaptability makes it possible to manage them intelligently. Managerial sense is what allows you to mobilise your teams, to make them surpass themselves in the support of customer problems, to find and implement the best strategies. Moreover, this presupposes creativity in the research and design of solutions and strategies.