When I started out as a manager, I thought that only my enthusiasm and my will could motivate the troops. It is not so simple. I deeply believe that a leader is nothing without a solid team, ready to lift mountains with him. The more complex and ambitious the project, the more mutual trust must be established and everyone’s contribution to the project must be valued. I always give my team the right to make mistakes, but above all the possibility of being daring. Demonstrating creativity, asking the right questions, looking at things from another angle without managing by constraint, this is what allows any team to demonstrate its value. By adding these principles to my enthusiasm, I realized that as a leader, it allowed me to raise the game, mine and that of my collaborators, and to achieve great things for the organization.
With the notion of customer experience, we have learned to develop an offer based on customer needs and ask them for their opinion. This has created a real revolution in products and the way to sell them. Today, that is no longer enough. You talk about process, I would rather talk about commitment. A clear commitment to CSR, to corporate social responsibility, will be neither more nor less than a guarantee of sustainability for an organization. At ETS, this is what our students expect of us. The role of the leader is therefore fundamental, because he must be convinced that it is the right thing to do. Make choices according to your convictions, despite the headwinds, and make them resonate throughout the organization.
My career has allowed me to understand the importance of perception beyond the facts and to take into account all points of view. This approach inevitably leads us on the path of rigour. I am fortunate to evolve in the university environment, where rigor is not only taught, but where we have clear bodies and processes to preserve the well-being of our community. When it comes to notoriety, it is rightly said that the ETS is too well-kept a secret. But our efforts to make ourselves known are bearing fruit and we will continue in this direction in order to attract more talent and large-scale research projects to better fulfill our mission, which is to contribute to the economic and technological development of Quebec.
Choosing to join a predominantly male domain is already a self-affirmation, a result, I would say. Young girls must first feel empowered to make choices according to their desires, to recognize their strengths. This confidence is acquired at a very young age by rubbing shoulders with inspiring female role models and in contact with a society that values them. Lise Watier, a great feminist who paved the way for today’s businesswomen, rightly said, by way of example, that women apply for jobs where they meet more than 80% of the job criteria. hiring, while men apply with only 60%. More confident young girls will become women who will break the last glass ceilings. And even if they are fundamental today, I hope that one day we will no longer have to establish quotas or rules, and that we will only talk about skills, ambition and effort.
We need to make more room for science in primary and secondary schools. It is therefore necessary to demonstrate the value of technologies and sciences in our society. Young girls tell us that they need to embrace a career where they will feel useful to society. They want to have a direct beneficial impact. However, the image they have of genius and science is too abstract. The ETS is working in this direction and wishes to see a growing role for science and technology in the school system. It is therefore our role as a society, and what is more, as an educational institution, to promote awareness of science through activities where they will discover inspiring models, as well as a taste of the engineering profession. They must understand that as engineers, they will make a difference. Let’s think about technologies for health or for the environment! And this approach works. We increase the number of female students who walk the campus every year.
