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A man of networks if there is one, Hervé Lassalas tells us, when packing up for the dunes of Arcachon with his wife Laurence, his journey filled with encounters and human passions. Founder of Club Enteprendre, he tells us… And something tells us that the story is far from over.
20 years ago, you asked Robert Lafont to create the Entrepreneur Club. How did it go ?
Hervé Lassalas: By the network of course. A mutual friend introduced us, it was December 22, 2000, so almost twenty years ago (!) And we are no longer separated. The first Club that I created was also Entrepreneurship The Club the principle of which was already to bring together entrepreneurs and to make them meet known and recognized personalities and to deal, with qualified experts, on subjects which concerned them on finance, law, human resources, etc. Monthly Undertake was the spokesperson for this Club and already sheltered us in its columns.
This principle continued with the Club des Business Decider Dinners that I created with my wife Laurence at the end of 2011 and who celebrated her 100th Dinner on October 12 in the presence of Minister Elisabeth Moreno in charge of gender equality. More than two hundred well-known personalities from the world of business, media, politics, entertainment and a file of about more than two thousand participants constitute the wealth of this last club.
How do you see the evolution ofEntrepreneurship Lafont press, group rating on Euronext Growth and that you have worked with almost on a daily basis?
An exception in more than one way in today’s print media. In twenty years I have seen it develop, experience difficult times, but always bounce back and surprise and it is not the acquisitions of stakes in recent months that will deny us. A lot of pragmatism – if a title doesn’t work and doesn’t find its audience, we shut it down – and ” at the same time” a great loyalty to the partners – I am well placed to affirm it – but also to the collaborators and Entreprendre, the flagship dates from 1984, which is a reference… The future will tell us if this agility will be confirmed through evolution necessary, on the net, or other media.
Why are you called ” President” ?
Short answer: because, when, at a party, I am introduced to a person and they give me an empathetic “Hello sir”, I answer systematically “Ah! No, call me Hervé or President! ”. In 99% of cases my interlocutor (especially: trice) responds with enthusiasm ” President”. So, as I meet a lot of people, it made its way… Long answer: When I was fourteen, I asked my parents to buy me a desk, an armchair and… two small chairs “Visitors” and, in my room, I invented scenes where I received imaginary people and dealt with no less imaginary affairs …
It was at this point that I decided – the word more than the concept should please me – that I will be President at forty. I was – from a small subsidiary of Groupe Sacilor – at thirty-nine … It has not left me since, since the age of forty-seven I have only lived “Boxes” that I have created or clubs that I have… Presided.
You have organized many events and meeting places, where does this passion for people come from?
In addition to the previous answer, I will add that I was an only child. This is probably what explains my « richesse imaginative », but also and above all this unquenchable thirst to meet and know new people. Obviously, my memory – a natural gift (thank you!) That I have probably exploited well – has continuously helped me since I believe that I have been able to recognize more than a thousand, even two thousand people since my college years, from university and of course my professional and personal life. That said, it is cultivated and it is a permanent job which is essential if one wants to animate friendly business clubs among others.
Have business relationships changed and in what direction?
Yes, undoubtedly. When I was in the business – over twenty-five years in the industrial goods business – the quality of the relationship was most important. “Buyer seller” and trust was the key word to qualify and quantify this relationship in addition, of course, to the minimum criteria required for skills in the technical fields that it was necessary to have and the credibility that they generated. Then in the 1990s, a form of “Financialization” and of “Judicialization” of the business world. What was only incidental has become essential.
I have often felt it as a brake on innovation and the relationship of trust between men. If I let myself go for a second, I will add that the famous ” Precautionary principle ” (thank you Jacques Chirac) has unfortunately legitimized and worsened this trend to the point that, with great difficulty, we are trying to overcome this situation by restoring relationships of trust through the clubs. But it’s not always enough
Is it so important to be part of a network?
I’m not going to tell you the opposite! After writing two books on the networks (“Succeed thanks to social networks” with Michelle Jean-Baptiste in 2011, at Larousse, and “Never without my network” with Eric Legendre in 2018, at First impression), made countless conferences on this topic and above all created or chaired dozens of business clubs, the conclusion is obvious: we cannot do without a network for all aspects of personal and professional life! From looking for a good plumber to finding the best high school for his children, to looking for a job in “Meet a soul mate”, everything is network.
Or, at the very least, everything is easier if you go through the network. If we have one. This is where we have to do pedagogy: having a network is not just a matter of social class, family, school. Everyone, as long as they adopt the spirit, can build a network to suit them. Step by step. By reading my books for example …
Are entrepreneurs’ clubs useful?
In view of the previous answers, “He has no picture”! Whether to build a network or to ” to secure ” through trust in its business relationships, membership in one, or even more, business clubs is, without being dispersed therein, a wise decision and effective practice. The offer being vast (especially in Paris, but more and more also in the provinces), the entrepreneur will be spoiled for choice. Clubs “Open” (multi origins of members) will be preferred to clubs “Closed” (by profession, school or other) taking care to adapt your attendance to the time available so as not to “To compete” with the other areas of life: work, family, relationships, entertainment, etc.
Entrepreneurs’ clubs are also often wonderful vectors of “Distress” by the possibility that they offer to share problems and therefore solutions, but they are also great sources of development opportunities for their members, information circulating freely and confidentially. “Never without my network”, it is obvious to add: “Never without my club” !
You have met thousands of leaders, what do you think are their main qualities?
The same as for any other individual in contact with men, whether a teacher or a bus driver: That they love people. There are a thousand other essential qualities: courage, resilience, honesty, creativity, strength, health, loyalty, intelligence of course, but if he does not like others, the leader does not will not mark his company, his time and he even risks, in the event of a submersive wave, of sinking with the bathwater. We should also do a more detailed analysis and distinguish between the entrepreneur and the manager.
Our large groups (in France, unlike Germany) are run by managers and we can see to what extent they are sometimes called into question, if they do not have these qualities, both by their shareholders and by their employees, or even their staff. This is less the case, it seems, for entrepreneurs, heirs, creators or buyers of their own company.
How do you see the future with the omnipresence of digital?
In December 2001, I wrote in the columns of Undertake : “In the internet age, nothing beats a handshake! ” The answer is there. Digital, Artificial Intelligence, GAFA and computers in all their forms can fill our lives, our offices and our homes, there will always be the imperative need to meet, to share, to live in short. The period of confinement we are going through clearly demonstrates, by the shortages it causes, to what extent we can die from the absence of contact. Digital technology is a powerful aid, often reassuring and liberating in many moments of life, but in any case it does not replace contact with the other. Fortunately.
What are you going to do now? What are your projects, Hervé, we don’t see you stopping even in Arcachon?
The particularity of this question is that … I did not ask myself it. First, the Club des Dinners Décideurs, excluding restrictions due to Covid, does not stop and that our buyers, Ludovic Baumgartner in the lead, have an ambitious and attractive program. They asked me to accompany them for a year and therefore the Parisian sphere will continue to welcome us, Laurence and me, for a few more beautiful evenings, at least I hope so. As for Arcachonnais projects, there is no shortage of them.
Create local clubs by promoting our network “Parisian” of “Celebrities”, create some « packages » touristic around the Basin to welcome our « aficionados », travel a little, accompany Laurence in these new activities around the “Well-being”, but also better meet my four children and discover my six grandchildren (which the schedules of the previous years did not make much easier), in short, will ensure that it will not be idleness that awaits us! And then to be honest with you, I believe that I will, in addition to the rather technical books that I have so far written, finally launch myself into what I have been wearing for so long: writing, the real one, that of the heart, and there is so much to write about.
Interview by Gérard Meftah
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