The New Portrait Of Leadership: Marc Beretta Of Inis Alga On Which Legacy Ideas About Leadership Need To Be Discarded, And Which New Approaches To Leadership Should Be Embraced
An Interview with Karen Mangia
Attitude: presence, being fully conscious and present with people, employing a style that is open, flexible, grounded and confident, remaining focused, observant, empathetic and responsive, demonstrating curiosity.
We are living in the Renaissance of Work. Just like great artists know that an empty canvas can become anything, great leaders know that an entire organization — and the people inside it — can become anything, too. Master Artists and Mastering the Art of Leadership draw from the same source: creation. In this series, we’ll meet masters who are creating the future of work and painting a portrait of lasting leadership. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Marc Beretta.
Marc Beretta is Academic Director for Executive Programs and an Affiliate Professor at HEC Paris, ranked number one worldwide in executive education by the Financial Times in 2022 and 2023. He also teaches at TRIUM (NYU, LSE, HEC Paris) Global Executive MBA. He has been coaching and developing executives for over 20 years and is CEO and Founder of Inis alga, a leadership development consultancy. He is also the founder of Anailis, an executive coaching school that combines leadership styles, coaching skills and mindfulness mindset. He is also the author of Leadership Landmarks: Going Behind the Scenes of Leadership and Human Development.
Thank you for joining us. Our readers would enjoy discovering something interesting about you. What are you in the middle of right now that you’re excited about personally or professionally?
My book Leadership Landmarks has just been launched in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (it will be launched in North and South America on October 29th, 2024). I feel proud and happy. Writing a book is an achievement indeed. But what makes me more excited is that I dedicate my book to someone I love. Being connected to your own emotions and feelings, finding the right words to express them, expressing heartfelt gratitude, love, friendship, or loyalty is a deep source of joy.
We all get by with a little help from our friends. Who is the leader that has influenced you the most, and how?
More than one name comes to my mind. I was lucky because I have always had leaders who inspired me during my whole life. Just to mention a few, Christophe André, a French psychiatrist, who wrote books on happiness and emotions: he answers most of my existential questions. Michael Hoffman-Hervé and Michel Fiol, two professors of leadership, Vincent Lenhardt, a coach, Geneviève Hamelet, a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) instructor, who respectively taught me how to teach, coach and meditate. My cousin Mary O’Reilly whose loving attitude and heartfelt kindness has always been inspiring to me. But also, my children, Alexandre, for his artistic and offbeat approach, Adrien, for having revealed to me that ‘I like people’, and Blandine, for her intuition and sensitivity; they have influenced me a lot.
Sometimes our biggest mistakes lead to our biggest discoveries. What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made as a leader, and what did you discover as a result?
Not sure it’s my biggest mistake, but it’s definitely a big one. It was when I had to recruit somebody. I had recruited this woman not because I was convinced that she was the right person to do the job, but because a good friend of mine told me that I should recruit her. This was a mistake. The lesson I learned is that when you have a doubt about somebody, there is no doubt that you should not recruit that person.
How has your definition of leadership changed or evolved over time? What does it mean to be a leader now?
My definition of leadership has evolved indeed. I thought a leader was somebody whose role was to ensure cohesion and coherence within a team. Today, I believe that a leader creates the conditions for success and is a co-visionary, able to co-build a clear vision with the team and unite people around a common purpose.
Success is as often as much about what we stop as what we start. What is one legacy leadership behavior you stopped because you discovered it was no longer valuable or relevant?
I have always been an intuitive and perceptive person who can feel what is going on, but I was a bit afraid of it. So, I used to cut myself from my emotions and creative instincts to exclusively focus on rational dimensions. I have decided to stop that for several reasons: 1/ fighting against who you are is draining, 2/ how can you be at your best if you cut 50% of who you are? Now, I feel more at ease combining the emotional and rational dimensions of my personality. In a way, I made peace with myself. Needless to say, it took me some time to get there, and I’m still on the way.
What is one lasting leadership behavior you started or are cultivating because you believe it is valuable or relevant?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression — now the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people of all ages all over the world -, psychological harassment and burnout are occupational phenomena. Unappropriated behaviors, sometimes caused by a lack of self-esteem or self-awareness, may play a major role in all that and may explain why people — especially the young generation — leave organizations.
I have been developing my self-esteem, self-awareness and self-compassion for years now. This has been a great challenge for me. I did that for me, for my health, for my loved ones, but also for the people around me. Self-esteem helps you to not systematically doubt your own competencies. Self-awareness is the #1 competence to be a great leader today. Self-compassion helps you be your best friend. I’m not there yet, but on the way, little by little, with ups and downs of course. Being kinder to yourself helps you be kinder to others. It’s a paradox.
What advice would you offer to other leaders who are stuck in past playbooks and patterns and may be having a hard time letting go of what made them successful in the past?
One, be aware that what made you successful in the past may make you unsuccessful in the future. Why? Because the world is changing and because we are changing, getting more mature every day.
Second, as Roy T. Bennett, a US nonfiction writer said: “Create your own miracles; do what you think you cannot do.”
Many of our readers can relate to the challenge of leading people for the first time. What advice would you offer to new and emerging leaders?
First know: learn, read books, listen to podcasts, watch movies, explore the world of knowledge, and be exposed to different cultures.
Then do: apply what you have learned, test things, explore new ways of doing things, be open and creative, and challenge the status quo.
Finally, be: be the person you are, be open, be respectful, be kind, and embrace curiosity; as Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist, said: “You are what you do and not what you say you’ll do.”
Based on your experience or research, what are the top five traits effective leaders exemplify now?
The top six — not five, sorry — concerns — that became traits — I have most frequently heard from Executives are the following:
1/ How to be self-aware?
Arthur has just been appointed as an executive committee member. He wanted to go from ‘being a very good manager to being a leader.’ But he also wanted to better control his emotions, especially his anger: he shouldn’t have outbursts at work. In our third coaching session, I modelled various personality traits to help him understand himself and others, which is the first step towards acceptance. Halfway through the session, I saw tears rolling down his cheeks. He was deeply moved and said, “Now, I get it. I understand everything. I understand why I got divorced, why I hate my neighbor, why I get so angry, I un-der-stand.” Arthur had become self-aware of how he had reacted — defensively, by default — to the situations he had faced so far. All the other items listed in the coaching agreement were consequences of it. Dealing with awareness, including self-awareness, would have a positive impact on all the rest.
2/ How to be agile?
Arnold is the number two of a company. He wanted to change his company. But changing a company requires systemic change, so its managers should start by changing themselves because that will affect the entire system. What was at stake for Arnold’s company? What had worked in the past wasn’t working any more. How could Arnold and the CEO reinvent their way of working together? Arnold was brilliant, kind, loyal and respectful — a real diplomat. But sometimes diplomacy is not enough. When you’re running a company, you need to make things happen. So, we worked on his agility while being careful to respect his polite nature. For him, that involved asking himself three questions: ① How do I feel? ② What do I want to say? ③ How can I say it in a respectful way? This approach enabled Arnold to make the significant changes he needed to make.
3/ How to be environmentally friendly?
Dealing with the environment means developing a global strategy for the use of natural resources, encouraging appreciation of nature, avoiding over-buying, over-exploiting, over-travelling, over-working, over-consuming and all these ‘overs’ that are destroying our planet. But it also means taking care of people within our work environment. Claudia wanted to restore serenity in her work environment. To do so, she cultivated trust, creating a safe, and supportive environment that allowed people to share freely and to maintain a relationship of mutual respect. She showed support, empathy and concern for others, demonstrating openness and transparency to display vulnerability. It worked well. They were able to develop short-term action plans to set the team in motion, which was not possible beforehand.
4/ How to be demanding?
Doreen, a performance manager, wanted to improve her team’s performance. What was lacking in her team was… presence. If we’re not present, we can’t deliver properly. When we are present, we are fully perceptive, conscious and present with others, and above all with ourselves. How we feel — e.g. tense, relaxed, nervous or anxious — says a lot about the quality of the relationship; it is precious. Moreover, being present within yourself gives permission to others to be present with themselves. This makes it more likely that people will be in the moment, connected to their own sensations, emotions and thoughts.
5/ How to be kind?
Eileen is the new CEO of an entity in a leading group. She wanted to bring her executive committee on board with her appointment and approach. Overall, the environment was very tense and not very friendly. Eileen had informed her executive committee members that she wanted them to be “conscientious, thorough, precise, careful, serious, committed, loyal, creative and able to co-construct concrete proposal.” What was missing on her side was “active listening”. Engaging in holistic listening — i.e. listening to what is not said as well as what is said — helped her a lot. The executive committee worked on their common three-year plan, their one-year priorities, their individual recommendations and contributions and their commitment to the collective effort. Listening more, Eileen was perceived as kinder.
6/ How to be co-visionary?
Kai wanted to develop a shared vision for his department. He wanted “to recall the fundamental roadmap” and “to promote confidence and mutual assistance so as to develop shared interests”. He and his team co-built a shared vision around the following questions: 1/ How do we picture the department in three years’ time? 2/ How do we picture it in one year’s time? 3/ What are the short-term issues and priorities? 4/ What are our recommendations for action? 5/ How do we see ourselves contributing personally? Kai understood the power of being co-visionary to promote a common purpose.
American Basketball Coach John Wooden said, “Make each day your masterpiece.” How do you embody that quote? We welcome a story or example.
I was only 33, but I’d had a hemiplegic stroke. It left me endlessly repeating the same sentence, but I was completely aware of what was going on. Moreover, I went through a near-death experience. I saw the light — an indescribable brightness — and saw myself from another perspective, as if I were flying above myself. During this experience, I saw my priorities in life revealed — I am lucky and grateful. However, fearing I was crazy, I didn’t tell anybody about it once I regained the ability to speak normally. Later, I read books about near-death experiences and learned something astonishing: regardless of culture, religion or education, people who have one of these experiences go through more or less the same thing.
The scariest thing about the stroke for me was the questions it raised: Will my memory be permanently damaged? Will my handwriting recover? Will I remember the people I love? Will I still love my loved ones? In short: will I go back to normal? When I shared my fears with my neurologist, she asked, “What is normal? Is there a norm to comply with?” Her words were so powerful. They had a profound effect on me. They made me realize that I had been living according to the idea that we’re here to stick to the norm. This sentence made me feel free. It was such a relief
As Carl Young said, “to be normal is the ideal aim for the unsuccessful”
Being alive is a biological miracle. Awareness is key. Nowadays, fully recovered, I do my best to focus on the essentials. It’s a quest. Life is a path. Every morning since then, when I wake up, the first thought that comes to my mind is, “Wow, I’m alive!” This is a positive and energizing surprise. Gratefulness and humility are important values to me. I take nothing for granted.
As the Moroccan saying goes: “The healthy have crowns that only the sick can see.” Life is a fragile jewel I take care of every day.
What is the legacy you aspire to leave as a leader?
• Intention: what counts at the end of the day is more how we do things than what we do. My intention is to bring harmony to life, and to adhere to the philosophy of doing good (vs avoiding bad).
• Attention: deep listening, to what is said but also to what is not said, noticing, acknowledging and exploring people’s emotions, energy, shifts, non-verbal cues or other behaviors, integrating words, tone of voice and body language to determine the full meaning of what is being communicated.
• Attitude: presence, being fully conscious and present with people, employing a style that is open, flexible, grounded and confident, remaining focused, observant, empathetic and responsive, demonstrating curiosity.
And my new book, Leadership Landmarks, of course!
How can our readers connect with you to continue the conversation?
Readers can connect to continue the conversation by sending me an email at mberetta@inisalga.com or on LinkedIn.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to experience a leadership master at work. We wish you continued success and good health!
Thank you, it was a pleasure and an honor. I wish you all to enjoy the moment.
About The Interviewer: Karen Mangia is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world, sharing her thought leadership with over 10,000 organizations during the course of her career. As Vice President of Customer and Market Insights at Salesforce, she helps individuals and organizations define, design and deliver the future. Discover her proven strategies to access your own success in her fourth book Success from Anywhere and by connecting with her on LinkedIn and Twitter.
