Marc Le Menestrel

Love, Ethics and Peace in Fashion

Marc Le Menestrel — 2011-11-08T08:54:45Z

When I was contacted for an interview by FT's fashion editor Vanessa Friedman about the CEO of a fashion house who is now partner with the creative director, I thought it was a joke.

The ethics of love in the fashion industry? What an insignificant subject to think or write about!

At that time, I was preparing a difficult assignment for a company involved in military intelligence. I was reading about covert operations, disinformation, influence tactics and strategic military planning. I was attempting to analyze how we now treat war and information as a business. I was feeling important and powerful, glad to study this subject professionally and not as a subversive covert activist. I felt disdain for the fashion industry.

In fact, my reaction was so much ego-driven that I could not avoid noticing it. I became prudent about myself. I first asked Vanessa about the ethics of writing about such a personal topic and she told me that they (the coming-out couple) asked for it. This was a good reason for her to do her job. I began to think more about the subject.

Discussing this topic is one more manner by which “love” enters business relationships.

I first thought about love as an antidote to violence, which is more and more present in business and which obviously raises ethical issues. I also thought about love as a source of true creativity, which has monetary value, particularly in the fashion industry. But I also thought of love as a metaphor to share about priceless values. In my dreaming sessions, I observe that most business leaders dream of a life where their personal values would be compatible with who they are at work. Hence, this love story is also about the tension between personal life and professional life, about the meaning of life. It was a fairy tale that says you can work and love. That was the input Vanessa will use in her article.

Bringing love to the debate about ethics and business also raises unethical issues. In a sense, we participate in a system where love becomes a business, and a show business that conveniently hides other unethical issues. I thought about Guy Debord and his “Societé du Spectacle”:

"Toute la vie des sociétés dans lesquelles règnent les conditions modernes de production s'annonce comme une immense accumulation de spectacles. Tout ce qui était directement vécu s'est éloigné dans une représentation."
Guy Debord

The world is becoming a show business and we are actors in this show.

Again, ethics appeared to me as a continuous experience where contradictions resolve when our actions reveal our true identity.

For these business lovers, how they will manage their affair will reveal who they are to themselves and to stakeholders. I wish they will see the many dilemmas they will face as opportunities to truly become who they want to be. They are bringing love to business.

Finally, “peace and love in business” came to my mind. In association with the FT, I thought it was too much. And I loved it!

Click here to read what Vanessa finally wrote: "When personnel get personal", By Vanessa Friedman, Financial Times, October 28, 2011.

A Journey Through the Forest

Marc Le Menestrel — 2011-07-19T12:27:38Z

In these last years, I have been dreaming of accompanying executives in Nature, to share my teaching in this only place where I truly feel at home. I could see the day where I could teach from my true self, as much as a rock-climber or an academic.

Thanks to the vision of Jens Meyer at CEDEP and of his client, this became reality in June 2011 with a 2-day program in the Fontainebleau forest, followed by a 1/2-day debriefing to facilitate integration and re-entry.

I may have spent in this place most of my week-end before 20, discovering this magical forest in the typical tribal way of my rock-climbing friends and with unbounded passion. This journey was like coming home: a deep feeling of belonging.

Here is how the program was presented to a set of 40 Human Resources participants of a large multinational:

The purpose is to prepare you to guide the leaders of your company in their own journey. We will take the time for you to go deep in who you are and who you want to become: we want your own journey to become the primary source of your excellence towards others'.

We will dream, reflect, share ideas and visions to be ourselves, for us and for others: to work better together.

Day 1: Anchoring in the past, dreaming the future: being with integrity.

Day 2: Giving to others, protecting ourselves and trusting the unknown: becoming together.

½ Day 3: Integration towards my role as HR leader

Experiences in nature combined with cutting edge leadership development approaches and discussion are an effective way to help us realize how much we are part of nature. We also experience that our own accomplishment depends on looking after each other and the environment. Our nature can be a surprising and distinctive teacher…

Download the flyer (pdf) for more information.

Dreaming and Visioning

Marc Le Menestrel — 2008-10-06T09:46:00Z

In this session, we give time to ourselves to link with our past and elaborate a vision of our future. Using “dreams”, we make it more than an intellectual exercise and connect with what is most important to us. We learn the extent to which our values are shared or not and we identify bold and concrete actions towards the life of our dreams. After the session, each participant has laid out a vision that will help his or her practical decision-making.
Inaugurated at INSEAD in the AMP in (…)

- Executive Sessions / Executive Training, Leadership Development, Human Resources, Experiential Teaching, Dreaming and Visioning, Sustainability, Emotional Agility