I wanted to be a doctor, more precisely a hand surgeon.

Not at all, and I struggled with it for a long time. But I’ve also been lucky enough to make every career choice based not only on my head, but also on my gut and my heart. My choices were also based on meaningful encounters – finding people I truly wanted to work for. And then I realised the magic of alignment, with yourself, with your passion, with your values. I finally even made a leadership concept of this journey: ‘Alignment over Linearity’.

One of my main challenges has been the learning curve, and undoubtedly the period of adaptation to gain legitimacy, attached to each new position in a new environment. Managing a train station has nothing to do with a World Bank mission or the digital transformation of Accor, but you learn so much that it’s totally worth it!

It’s a very structured tornado that starts at 8am and ends when, if I’m in France, I take care of dinner, homework, and cuddles with my two daughters.

The best part is everything I experience with my teams: the shared ambition, the purpose, the common achievements, the pride, the laughter, the long-awaited openings, the exciting signings, the new brand partnerships, the contagious energy of the field, and the invincible strength of an unstoppable team spirit. Witnessing the rebirth of our luxury brands – Sofitel, Sofitel Legend and MGallery – and launching a new high end luxury brand from scratch.

And the worst part is the jet lag!

One of my career highlights happened very recently. I held a cross-assessment meeting for talent with my executive committee; each member was meant to evaluate the performance of his/her peers’ team members. My executive committee is very diverse, with members who have very different backgrounds and perspectives, which enriches our analysis but can also sometimes lead to friction. I have always worked to protect this diversity, which is a true source of collective intelligence, while also ensuring that my teams build closer relationships, appreciate one another, and support each other.

After four years working together, I was truly impressed by their ability to act as one team: they listened, advised each other as if they were assessing their own direct teams, and really cared about each other’s talent. The exercise wasn’t easy, and yet I’ve rarely seen such collective intelligence. I left that meeting convinced that my brands were in very good hands – and would remain so for a long time to come.

Obviously, Covid was very violent because it was almost the clinical death of an industry that needed open borders, business travel, and people who weren’t afraid to travel. But I also learned a lot, which I never want to forget for the rest of my career: nothing beats flat, responsive organisations; decision-making circuits need to be shortened; and empowerment of the field is the key to every success. I even kept some good practices, such as video calls organised with all my general managers every four to six weeks, which I keep doing at the worldwide scale even though I now have the chance to travel again.

Before Covid, when I was Accor Chief Digital Officer, another key learning happened when I had to interface two IT platforms and failed; I understood that technological resistance is nothing compared to cultural one. And that any resistance to a merger reveals a cultural barrier far more than a technological hurdle. From this, I learned a key lesson: everything starts and ends with culture.

I can’t completely disconnect when I’m on holiday. When you lead a global operation with 250 hotels all around the world, and a huge time difference, anything can happen at any moment. I do check my emails and phones every day, out of respect for my operational teams. However, I have no problem switching off when I have time with my daughters, my husband and my family. I fall asleep very easily, and I sleep very well almost anywhere – I guess this is my secret power!

Spend time with my family and closest friends. Read, laugh, listen to music. I love going to Brittany: no makeup, no dressing up, eating crêpes, walking for hours by the sea – just being in my house and admiring all the beauty around.

My mother, who was a literature professor, taught me the value of effort and genuine care for people.

I believe a truly good manager must lead by example. A leader must first apply to themselves the values and behaviours they expect from others. They must be courageous, meaning never throwing their team under the bus. I strongly believe in the ‘coach leader’ – someone who strives not so much to serve himself but to nurture and reveal the full potential of his team.

Finally, my last conviction is that a true leader is the guardian of real psychological safety – and that’s how you get the extra mile from your talent. Without forgetting to have a bit of fun, not taking yourself too seriously, striving for excellence but remaining very modest, and laughing at work, because life is so precious and short.

Women’s representation has undeniably improved in the hospitality industry, with more women in business leadership roles – not just in support functions. But I remain frustrated by the numbers of women in the luxury segment, where for instance the percentage of female general managers is half that of other segments and where resistance is still very much a reality. I am a firm believer in diversity for the sake of leadership: the most diverse teams – embracing men and women, junior and senior profiles, talents from different sociocultural backgrounds – are always the most successful.

I hope to see more women leading operational entities, especially in the luxury segment, and I hope to see more women appointed as CEOs in our industry. Take a look at most of the roundtable discussions of our luxury hospitality conferences: it’s still a man’s world!

Our perception of time has massively changed: we’ve come to realise that in the digital era, our ability to adapt quickly has become critical to keep pace, which is even more true with AI. We’ve learned to work faster, with a greater focus on testing, and in a far more agile, learning-oriented way.

Without a doubt, the biggest hurdles remain to me our unconscious biases – in the way we analyse and judge women’s behaviours, their qualities, their temperament, and their performance. I still witness different reactions depending on whether a woman or a man is assessed, and this remains a matter of utmost vigilance for me. We will make real progress toward diversity once we have raised awareness of these biases and succeeded in eliminating them.

Don’t be afraid. Don’t doubt yourself too much, and don’t listen to your fears. After all, everyone else is already taken, and the best way is probably just to try to be yourself.

Choose alignment – with what you love and with your values, because it will be by far the greatest source of energy and lasting performance.