Thierry told me that we are similar, except that he believes that society changes when every individual participates in the process while I believe that society needs a change in the elite to trigger transformation in the whole. Following this, I had my revelation on the way to Damascus. I’m an open elitist.
Thierry is right. I believe that change is led by a minority of enlightened people, but don’t think that anybody has any right to be part of it by birth. Actually, my favorite guys are the ones who challenge their background – family, class, nation, ethnicity, religion, culture and even genetics – to express their full potential and make something special in this unique opportunity that we call life.
If you want to be part of the elite you need to bring something unique to the table. It doesn’t matter what you bring or even if I like or understand it, but make your contribution.
Yesterday Thierry Weishaupt, the president of Euclid Network – my president – invited me out for dinner to celebrate my birthday. Although 3rd December would be the correct day would you refuse the invitation to a traditional French cuisine restaurant in Paris?
The occasion was informal so we could talk about our future plans after having quickly liquidated the boring topics.
It’s true, Thierry and I are similar. We are both internationalists who don’t really fit within professional standards and national boundaries.
We have always travelled across the world, living abroad, speaking many foreign languages. He’s more impressive than me as he’s fluent in both Japanese and Chinese.
We are both passionate about foreign cultures, escaping our co-nationals but craving exchanges with people from all other the world. Like adventurers in the age of transatlantic expeditions, we love exploring new countries and working in challenging environments – even risking our lives.
On the other hand, if you want to kill people like us put us behind a desk to fill a spreadsheet, assess staff performance or write a report. We can do it but why would anybody be willing to?
It was not in the plan but we ended up working closely for the last 5 years developing Euclid Network from scratch. Together we learned about the various differences of civil society and social economy across Europe and the madness and intrigues of the policy process in Brussels, and challenged the status quo underpinned by various lobby groups festering in the bubble. It has been a pleasure doing business together.
On the other hand, I am aware that people like Thierry and I belong to a minority. We don’t play the game with the same rules and this makes many people feel uncomfortable, even threatened. We are not predictable. It’s impossible to control us.
For instance, this week I caused some troubles in London revealing that social enterprise hasn’t been selected as a founding priority in the next programme of ESF and ERDF (2014 – 20) in the UK. I publicly blamed NCVO – the national umbrella of voluntary sector – for doing a poor job in lobbying Brussels and I provided evidence. But 2 government representatives made straight that NCVO is leading on this file and we must work with them.
I was disappointed to realise that, even in the UK, gatekeepers win instead of the best. For many years I believed the UK was better than my home country. But I won’t give in because life is too short for mediocrity and the crisis requires delivery only. Let’s see if I get expelled from the UK for my impudence.
By the way, Thierry’s daily job is CEO of the Réseau Education et Solidarieté promoting mutual saving groups across the world and fostering social security policy across the world. He operates across Asia, Africa, Central and South America. The network was founded by MGEN, the French mutual for health insurance of teachers and one of the largest of its type in the world.
