Interviu cu Philippe Chabert, antreprenor si actual manager de succes in Romania

1990. Debutul carierei lui PHILIPPE CHABERT, General Manager BNP Paribas, Leasing Group

Dupa terminarea armatei, Philippe s-a alaturat in cadrul UFB Locabail, o companie de Leasing a marelui grup Bancaire, de sub aripa lui Paribas. A urmat o perioada in care a lucrat pe un post care ii permitea sa faca analize, sa ia decizii. A avut parte de multe provocari, dar, spune el, l-a avut ca model pe Yvon Chouinard, fondatorul Patagonia. Dar, mai bine, aflati poveste lui din interviul de mai jos.
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How did you start your career? What was your first job?

In 1990, just after my military service, I join UFB Locabail, the leasing company of the Compagnie Bancaire, owned by Paribas, as credit analyst for the commercial vehicle financing Dpt. I worked in the headquarter in Paris and I was in charge of analyzing and deciding, according to an underwriting delegation, the applications sent by our commercial network. It was a very good school to learn how to decide fast with a limited set of information, and how to explain and sustain your decision when it was unfavorable. I changed regularly position, from commercial to recovery or financial control, in France then in Italy before coming in Romania.

How did you get at BNP Paribas?

In 1990, UFB Locabail was quoted on the French stock market and the Compagnie Bancaire was the main shareholder. We were then owned at 100% by Compagnie Bancaire, which became owned at 100% by Paribas before the merger between BNP and Paribas which led to the leading group BNP Paribas.

What was your greatest challenge in your entire career?

With no contestation, the greatest challenge was to come in Romania in order to set up a leasing company (supervised by the National Bank of Romania) from scratch just before the financial crisis. It was a set of challenges: to discover the Romanian culture and the Romanian market, to recruit people, to identify the good strategy, and so on…It has been very exciting.

It was difficult at the beginning? What was easy for you in the beginning?

Working in a different country make you lose your references, which are crucial in order to take the good decisions. Thanks to my previous experience in Italy, another latin country, I think I saved time and energy to solve this first hurdle.

What are the criteria’s do you choose your managers - what are the most important things ?

To recruit is one of the more difficult task to tackle. For the selection of the managers, I favored their personality, their adapting and thinking skills more than their knowledge or professional experience. Experience is the past, personality is the future. I paid attention also to diversity looking for people coming from different industries and with different educational background.

In what way you manage to distribute the responsibility ?

When you work with motivated and disciplined people, the distribution of the responsibilities is coming quite naturally. Each one knows the strategy of the company, its goals and how each one is contributing to achieve it.

How fast did the company grow up since you are in front of it/ the head of it? Which role plays the innovation in BNP Paribas?

Volume has never been our target. It is important but it comes naturally if you are providing a real added value to customers in the market. And innovation is key if you want to adapt to the fast changing markets and make the difference with the competition.
As a matter of consequence, after 2 years of experience, we exceeded the initial target in terms of development and profitability. But this is the past, and we need to keep focused on the present and the near future!

What is the key of being a good manager? What are the main characteristics?

A list of qualities in order to be a good manager wouldn’t be so relevant. As a matter of example, I think that being a good team player, being able to effectively listen others, being creative and curious are key.

Leader or Manager? Is it better to be loved or feared?

I don’t think we have to choose between manager and leader. Both are necessary. You need to manage the things, the processes, the products, … in order to improve the quality of your output and to lead the people you are working with towards the best business orientations. People are not machines. They need to understand and to be convinced if you want them to deliver their best.
Neither loved nor feared! If your goal is to be loved, you won’t take the best decision for your company, but for your charisma. If you are feared, people won’t deliver their best because they will be afraid to take initiatives.

Favorite leader

I have a deep respect for Yvon Chouinard, the founder and owner of Patagonia, an outdoor clothing Californian company. He wrote a very interesting book “Let my people go surfing!” which narrates how he created and leaded his company to success while respecting sound business practice and respect of environment. He demonstrated a courageous innovative approach, balancing the short view of the market by a long term and responsible strategy.

What are the main advice that you will give to a junior or a middle manager to reach the top ?

My best advices would be to really desire it (not everybody wants it), to act as of now as if he was already at the top (it is the best way to prepare yourself and to show to the others your capabilities), and finally to find a sponsor.

What is the balance between work and personal life ?

It is difficult each day to keep the balance because of the permanent and urgent professional solicitations we receive. But you have no choice if you want to last long. You have to set up clearly you own goals and priorities, both in terms of professional matters and personal life. I find very useful the question of the “ten years”. When you have a dilemma between professional and personal option, you try to guess what would be your perception 10 years after about the better choice. It is often illuminating.