As a kid, I had three professional convictions. The first was to become an engineer, a conviction I formed in middle school. The second was to become the CEO of a large group, which came a little later, in high school. The third was to gain international work experience, an ambition that grew during my engineering studies.
In 2021, I announced that I was leaving Schlumberger (now SLB), while everything suggested I was steadily moving toward positions of major responsibility.
After I announced my departure, the CTO at the time did me the honor of offering me a position I would not have turned down in other circumstances. That day, I declined the offer.
I had made a deliberate decision to become an entrepreneur, something I had been thinking about for many years. It was irrevocable. It was the fourth time in my career that I had chosen not to follow the path laid out for me.
It was also the one with the greatest impact, the one that made me realize I no longer wanted to follow a path shaped to carry me along, or to keep contributing to a corporate machine.
The first time was in 1997. I was finishing at Gustave Eiffel, THE technical high school in Bordeaux, a factory for preparatory classes. My application to a PTSI preparatory class, the classic route to the French engineering schools, had been accepted. I chose the IUT route instead, while keeping my ambition of getting into Arts et Métiers.
The second was in 1999: choosing an apprenticeship to earn my Arts et Métiers engineering degree. A choice of independence, a deliberate choice, which opened the doors of Ford, then the largest employer in the Aquitaine region. Ford is where my industrial DNA was built.
In 2005, I was at the peak of my career plan as a young engineer, and everything was going my way. I landed a sought-after position as an integrator between Ford and Peugeot. At the same time, I had an intense desire to discover the world. I chose to resign and join Schlumberger, a discreet but very influential French company in the energy sector. I sold everything I owned, left with a single bag, and ended my journey in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
At Schlumberger, I always said yes. I accepted every opportunity I was offered and gave my time and energy, in full workaholic mode. Back then, I told myself that the company and my managers knew what they were doing and knew how to develop their people. I was not disappointed. It was the right choice: it made me a seasoned manager with a strong sense of personal development and of business.
Then my conviction changed. I wanted, and needed, to write my own path. I wanted to build something that reflected who I am, and who my friends are. That became jll.spear.
Looking back, I notice that I seem to refuse roads I have not mapped out myself. Again and again, I have chosen to build the paths I take and to control where they lead, aiming for distant destinations that challenge my body and my mind.
That is surely why I accepted the CTO position at GOWell. And yet I am an entrepreneur, in partnership with my best friends. A new road, a bridge to our future, a way to build ahead of our future needs.
Life is made of opportunities and choices. What matters is to choose, and to stay in control of where you are going.
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