How to understand this title: Me? Leading?
One is not necessarily born the leader of a company but one is the leader of one's own life.
This is one of the many obvious things that surprise us during our existence.
A company is a living organism with a person at its head who strives to lead it by giving it meaning. Just like in life.
What does it mean: why do some people believe in you?
When others believe in you, it is because they trust you. When you become aware of this, you advance in the knowledge of yourself.
To lead is to find meaning for others. We understand then that it is a formidable detour to find meaning for ourselves.
The "know thyself" cannot do without the knowledge of others. Of what they are to you. And of what we are, ourselves, for them.
To lead is to give direction and "sense" or "meaning". What's new here?
Giving direction and sense or meaning to a company is not the same as giving meaning or sense to all staff.
Most of the time, the need for meaning (in work) manifests itself in the form of a demand for recognition.
The suffering resulting from the "lack of meaning" comes from an inability to find meaning by oneself.
Why did you opt for the dialogue form?
A dialogue - even a fictional one - is a way to put thought in motion.
The dialogue plunges us into the living of ideas and emotions. It avoids the pitfall of a thesis statement.
When the substance consists of two people understanding what they already know a little, the dialogue form is self-evident since "the form is the substance that rises to the surface" (Victor Hugo).
What were your inspirations for this writing?
For the form and the spirit: Denis Diderot with his dialogues and asides.
For my first notions of "management": Peter Drucker with his principles and formulas.
For his role as a "ferryman" from Antiquity to our days: La Fontaine with his considerations on leadership.
Where do you get your ideas?
From my encounters, from my experience, from my emotions, from my reflections. From my practice.
Daily life that provides me with as many validations as it does challenges.
The practice of music with all that it requires as humility, learning, understanding, listening, etc.
Why this book and why now?
After writing many reports, articles, studies, reviews, the moment had come to go beyond sharing knowledge and experience. It was time to talk about my attitude. About the way of thinking that has always guided me. Without making a will.
I ran after time for a long time. I liked it. Then one day, time caught up with me. I took it and enjoyed getting down to the task of writing.
This 300-page book is 3 years of writing that has stirred up 30 years of experiences that resonate (a little and at times) with what was written 300 years ago. It is an unprecedented relationship with time.
Why self-publishing?
After many rejections and despite all the compliments, the few concrete proposals did not offer "interesting" conditions.
Publishers think in categories. They struggle to grasp hybrid texts that they cannot classify into any of the categories they have defined.
With today's means, it has become a great experience. There is the pleasure of having been through it. To do everything, to get into it. To understand from the inside. It's one more experience.