You have exceeded expectations! (No, you can’t have the job)
Capitain Georges Guynemer was the second highest-scoring French fighter ace with 54 victories during World War I
“Faire face”
François Lopin is the General Manager for Southeast Asia & Oceania at CELINE, LVMH Group. His two decades of experience in the luxury industry also include tours of duty with Givenchy and Christian Dior. From finance to general management, François shared with us what he has learned about managing both a career and teams in a large corporation. François holds a Master in Management from the ESCP Business School (France), and a mid-career training from Insead.
1 - At 26, you were appointed General Manager at Christian Dior in Guam, a remote Pacific island hotspot for Japanese and Korean travelers. Just a stepping-stone ?
Guam means a lot to me. In an extremely competitive and difficult market, it was my very first position as General Manager of a subsidiary. Despite my tender age, my boss wanted to give me a chance, and to test my mettle. It is also where I became a father for the first time, which brought a different kind of responsibility.
The immediate challenge was how to make a difference with few resources. I did a lot of multitasking: retail operations, merchandising, training activities, marketing, human resources – everything! There was limited support from our regional headquarters, due to the distance and time difference. But that was fine with me. I learned a lot.
The business challenge was how to optimize revenues in a travel-retail market visited by 1.5 million visitors a year – mostly Japanese – who generally spend 2 nights and 3 days on the island. Long-term communication or engagement strategies were useless. The only option was to outperform across the entire customer journey, building awareness from the minute they land until the conversion stage [is this a standard term in business?] in the shops.
I focused on three levers:
François Lopin, second from the left, and part of his team
- Key metrics to focus attention I shared a select handful of metrics with the team: penetration rate, conversion rate, average basket. It gave us a clear direction, and well-defined action plans. To improve penetration, for example, we had to make ourselves visible, so I booked advertising pages in tourist magazines placed in hotel rooms, and on billboards in high-traffic areas.
- Forging a ‘gang’ I quickly built up a strong rapport with my team. Work hard, play hard – from intense business days to late dinners and the occasional karaoke. My goal was for them to be at their best every day, to create development plans, to allow them to progress. Ultimately, the aim was to improve buying conversion in the shops. I invested a lot of time to elevate skill sets to what we needed, such as continuous language training to enhance communication with our Japanese clients.
- Bootstrap initiatives If you plunge into day-to-day operations and think outside the box, little miracles can happen. Exhibit ‘A’: Our competitors had much larger marketing budgets, so I need to find a way to improve our brand penetration without a big spend. One day I noticed banners hanging from the light posts in the main tourist areas promoting events. I went to the local Department of Motor Vehicles – which managed the banners – and negotiated the right to use all 60 of them at a ridiculously low cost. It simply had never been done before.
2 - Given your experience in large groups, what setbacks have you faced and what lessons can you share about maximizing career opportunities?
“I didn’t get the position, I was devastated. Hard work and strong performance don’t always get you where you want”
At one point I applied for an exciting new role in the Group – managing a different brand in another country. With my track record, I thought I was a shoe-in. But I didn’t get the position, I was devastated. Realizing that hard work and strong performance don’t always get you where you want to go was a teaching moment.
This is what I learned:
Don’t forget to manage up Hard work is not enough to get up the ladder. You also need to build an internal network of supporters. Find a way to be in touch with your No. 2 and No. 3. Identify the influential voices in your company and make them your allies so they can vouch for you when needed. Build a map of these influential voices and allocate time to connect with them regularly.
Stay true to your core values It is essential to stay grounded, confident and in tune with who you are. If you take short cuts or lie to yourself to please the company, you risk losing yourself along the way. In my case, I knew jockeying with my internal competitors for position and power -- like courtesans in the court of Louis XIV – was not for me. I believe strongly in what I would call a benevolent corporate culture. My approach is to seek common grounds with decision makers in my organization, to grow my profile with my own values and, hopefully, gain internal supporters. I am a bridge builder.
Confidence building is key I admire Elon Musk because he is a visionary but also because he has an uncanny capacity to distort reality and make things happen even when they seem impossible. How does he do it? He has unwavering faith in himself. Confidence building may well be the most underrated path to success. So build your confidence. One tip: write down your achievements at work. You can also build confidence outside work, through sports, for example. Seek interactions with stimulating people who send back a positive image of yourself. Train yourself to see the glass half-full rather than half-empty. Personally, I practice visualization as a meditation technique. When I face what appears to be a setback, I can transform that into a pathway – a transition, perhaps – to a better place. Having this positive mindset is also contagious, and will open new opportunities. And – coming full circle – if you are confident, you will not be afraid to seize those opportunities.
3 - As a country manager, you more than doubled revenues for Christian Dior in Macau and built a brand-new network for Celine in Southeast Asia. Lessons learned, especially for team management?
I am a strong advocate of employment engagement. You need to first engage your teams for them to be able to truly engage clients. That’s how you create value, both in terms of brand equity and revenues.
Business case: How to maximize a new recruit’s abilities
The successful recruitment and development of a store manager with no prior experience in store management or fashion
A couple of years ago, I was looking for a store manager. The job description call for someone to lead a sales team, manage store operations, promote excellent customer service, and grow customer loyalty. A typical recruitment advertisement will ask for a solid track record in a similar position and “X” years of experience in the luxury industry. But I ended up recruiting a person who had no such experience and was actually afraid she wouldn’t succeed as a manager of a prestigious luxury store. Here’s how it broke down:
Need : Hire someone who can learn to grow, i.e. a “growth learner”
Options
Solution A - Look for the perfect candidate. This is someone who ticks all the boxes and has had a similar job/industry experience.
Solution B - Look for an underdog. Aim for getting 75% of what you need, and see the remaining 25% as a credit towards higher motivation.
Analysis
Solution A is ‘plug-and-play’, but there is no guarantee this profile can grow into a new role later on. Solution B requires more time and training, but that is the one I chose. The women I recruited had solid management experience – a team of 20 people – looking after VIPs in the hospitality industry. But she knew nothing about store operations and had no fashion experience (even if she herself was fashionable). When I offered the job, she literally jumped [?] and cried. I knew she would give 100% and then some!
Actions
My aim was to leverage my own skill set to help her grow and maximize potential. I initially increased the number of job reviews, but followed the same meeting structure. I set quarterly objectives and goals, and reviewed monthly results and offered positive suggestions for improvement. I also invested heavily in a forward-looking ‘personal development plan’ to develop skills and competence. I encouraged her to dig deep in search of the drivers of her ambition: “Where do you see yourself in two to five years?”. I shared my vision of industry trends to help her project herself into that world.
Results
In response to our commitment to her, she committed to learning with passion and an impressive drive. Soon enough, she was a top performer.
4- You are married and have four children, but still find time to nurture others outside of your work – how do you do it?
By really connecting with individuals, one by one. I spend a lot of time at lunch with people from other industries because it enriches and inspires me each time.
But I try to give something back to people who deserve it. I take time to think about their specific projects and ambitions, and then ask myself who I know that might be an excellent contact for this person, someone who shares the same values, vision or passion. I have seen quite a few partnerships and companies emerge from this process.
5- What quotation or motto most inspires you?
When I was a teenager, my dream was to become a pilot. I lived near a military airfield and was fascinated by planes. They stirred an urge to travel. I was attracted to speed -- the exhilaration, of course, but also as a meditative exercise in intense focus. As I read about aviation, I came across the mantra of a French fighter ace, Georges Guynemer, and made it my own: “Faire Face”. The words are engraved on the back of my watch. Faire Face means facing any situation with courage. Don’t run away. Stand proud. When things don’t go your way, learn from the experience and rebound. Turn anger into positive energy. It’s not easy to convey in English how much strength there is in this mantra.
Some data in this interview is drawn from: https://annualreport.guamvisitorsbureau.com/
