jhm | Yann Girardot: a business leader who moves forward… in a wheelchair

Yann Girardot is first and foremost a look; a straight look, served by clear eyes. He looks at you the way he looks at life, or at problems: straight in the eye. Yann Girardot is also a man, a life – complicated – and a company, in the world of construction, which is not the most serene at the moment.

41 years ago, little Yann was born in Chaumont. Neither he nor his parents knew that he was carrying a disease as rare as it was vicious, called Charcot-Marie-Tooth. Doubts arise when Yann starts to walk. The disease will be definitively diagnosed when he turns ten. Ten years old is also the age when Yann lost his mother. That’s a lot for a child, right?

Yann grew up in Villiers-le-Sec. College in Chaumont. Bac Pro alternating in Dijon, then BTS alternating in Bourg-en-Bresse (in a Chaumontais architecture firm). It seems simple like that. All students find an apartment, do their shopping and cleaning, then go to class. But all this in a wheelchair changes things dramatically…

Having reached this point in our story, everyone has understood that the boy has character. A desire that his clear and straight gaze expresses unequivocally.

He successfully completed his diplomas, worked in a project management firm in Bologna and naturally decided to create his own building project management company in 2006. At the same time, he began studying engineering which he will lead for two years before choosing: it will be the company he develops. He took on a first employee, then bought his first plastering company in 2010. He developed it and continued to create jobs.

In 2018, he moved to La Vendue and bought a second plastering company at the end of 2022. Today, the whole has 33 employees. He occupies the boss’s chair alone. But the chair has casters. Managing a construction company is anything but easy. But also in a situation of disability…

Take a mundane site meeting. You go there with boots, you avoid mud puddles and built-up areas. You discuss with the different trades, standing at the back of the wall. Him ? How does he do it, Yann?

He does. Point.

It’s much more complicated, much more stressful. And he sits when the others are standing, that is to say lower than the others. Try, once, to exchange on an equal basis with people located one meter above you.

Bedridden by violent pneumonia

Yann Girardot has made his place, respected as he is in the profession for his skills. It has proven itself.

Unlike many other bosses, he must set aside two afternoons each week for rehabilitation. Two exhausting half-days for his body. He has to take care of himself afterwards, and often goes home to take a breather. And the job ? He does it, evenings, weekends, all the time. Do you want to make him smile? Tell him about the thirty-five hours.

Everyone will have understood: the events of life, very early on, forged in him a will of iron. A few years ago, this workaholic took so much of his energy that his body made him understand, violently: “Not too much is enough”. Yann found himself bedridden with severe pneumonia. Result: coma, three months in hospital. Since then, he has taken a step back and gained peace of mind. He knows that obstacles will always come in the way of his progress, and that there is no point in getting upset.

“The armchair takes up space in a conversation”

In this world of permanent annoyances, of daily problems to overcome, Yann relies on his family. His wife, his children are a source of energy, are reasons to move forward. Their unfailing support guides and motivates him. Yann still works a lot, but differently. In his boss chair, behind his computer, he produces with formidable efficiency. Everyone agrees on this. But what everyone doesn’t know is the invisible thing that takes place at that moment: “when I work, I forget about the disability and no longer feel the pain.” He agrees: “sometimes, how others view my disability can be complicated. Some people wonder what I’m doing here, still sitting. The chair takes up space, in a conversation, in a meeting.”

In the construction industry, no one knows more than him how much space the chair takes up. But he, before and better than anyone, takes it into account when he designs a house. Accessibility is not about a standard, a restrictive obligation. It’s just his life. The life of a construction boss, with a clear and straight outlook.

Dominique Piot