Graines de boss: an example of a leadership contest
Fifteen entrepreneurs1 from over 3,000 applicants were honored on May 31, 2016 at the Graines de boss competition. Franck Lebeugle, Managing Director of AFNOR Certification and member of the jury, takes this opportunity to reflect on the notion of leadership conveyed by these executives.
You were one of the business leaders on the jury for this 2016 edition. What did you take away from it?
Franck Lebeugle: ” Graines de boss is an interesting program of reserved mentoring students, start-ups or entrepreneurs launched less than five years ago. In reviewing the applications, I discovered entrepreneurs who embodied their ideas, knew their products or services, their production methods, their partners and, of course, their teams. They master the means they have given themselves to succeed. They embody a concrete example of commitment and leadership. I paid particular attention to this because they point out that the concept of leadership is de facto associated with innovation, and this is true of young entrepreneurs. The new version of ISO 9001, the flagship quality management standard, includes this as a criterion to ensure that managers take direct responsibility for the efficiency of their organization.“.
Why does the AFNOR group also award trophies?
Franck Lebeugle: “We’re doing it for EFQM, under the patronage of the President of the French Senate at the beginning of the year2; we’ll be doing it at the end of the year, in partnership with theAssociation of French Mayors. France and Intercommunalité presidents for local authorities whose quality of customer service is judged to be outstanding3. The AFNOR association will also do so at the end of June, with the “Or Normes” awards to recognize people who contribute directly to the influence of voluntary standardization4. All these initiatives are positive and well received by those concerned. They have a different meaning from a certificate awarded following an audit, but they make a legitimate contribution to rewarding highly committed managers who have succeeded in getting their teams involved in positive projects.
Have you agreed to continue discussions with some of the Graines de boss entrepreneurs?
Franck Lebeugle: ” Exactly. Whether at the level of the start-up whose dossier I had to defend in front of the jury, or with some of the prize-winners to liaise with the AFNOR group, exchanges will continue over the coming months. We’ll be able to help those who didn’t win this year, and create development paths for those who wish to do so. For AFNOR Certification, this could also give rise to innovative partnerships that would be harder for us to develop on our own, a kind of “reverse mentoring” that the Graines de Boss concept is ideally suited to. ”
> Find out more about ISO 9001 certification…
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1 View the list of Graines de boss 2016 winners
2
March 31, 2016: Senate President honors 17 top-performing companies
