How I Got There

When I was born in the Vosges, France was booming, thanks to the postwar reconstruction. Back then, people believed in the future. My grandfather had a furniture-making business and, under my father and uncles' management, it became a leader in the field. I literally grew up smack in the middle of the family business. Our house was surrounded by offices and workshops, and furniture-making wood was stacked right outside our door. I loved growing up in that atmosphere. People thought about what they were doing, they were creative and hardworking, and they took pride in what they did. When I was 6, I put together an album of articles and photos that included clippings on JFK, Charles de Gaulle and the Berlin wall, among others. My father told me years later that the album gave him a hunch that I was probably going to end up doing something bigger than run the family business.

As a child I used to walk around wearing a NASA baseball cap. Neil Armstrong was my hero. I loved knowing that the most incredible things were possible. To this day, I reject all fatalism. If man is capable of going to the moon, we're certainly capable of accomplishing much simpler tasks here on Earth.

At university, I studied political science, which was my real passion. My first job was as an analyst with [the pollster] Louis Harris France. I went to New York to meet Lou Harris, who really impressed me. He made me general director of his company a year later. In 1990, I moved to the public polling institute IFOP, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. The first year was very difficult: 80 salaried jobs were at stake, and I was dealing with unionized workers. Together, we were able to turn the company around without eliminating any jobs. I learned two important lessons from that experience. The first is that it's important to be truthful with people. When you have to share information with fellow workers, tell it like it is, give them the whole picture. As president of MEDEF [France's chief employers' association], I apply the same principle in my discussions with the major unions. The second is: be tenacious. When you set an objective, you must not give up. When things don't work out, it's often because we drop the ball too soon.

Economically, France is not in great shape. We need a real reform of the state and the only way that will happen is by collective action. The public sector is spending more than it can afford, which considerably weighs down development. The French need to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit. I am convinced it's the only way for us to grow as a country. We have French companies that are absolute gems, but that should be much bigger than they are. The MEDEF can play a big role in changing mentalities.

My commitment is certainly to serve companies, but it is first and foremost to serve France. We don't have a great economic culture in France. We have a culture of politics and of sociology, but not of economics. We don't have an entrepre-neurial culture at all. My priority is to change that cycle.

MARIN ALSOP