LEADERS TALK HR
DECATHLON:
WORKING SERIOUSLY WITHOUT BEING SERIOUS Q
Tell me about yourself. Who inspires you? What are your career aims?
Sports and games are a part of working life at sports apparel giant Decathlon. But CEO in Singapore and Indonesia Bastien Grandgeorge says he is dead serious about sketching the company’s blueprint in this region
have fun in taking decisions, we will have good results. If I could dream of a five-year career path, I would say that I don’t care about the title or the mission. I would like to feel as young as I’m feeling today.
I am turning 36 years old and I have been living in Singapore for one-anda-half years. As you can hear, I’m French! I am the CEO of Decathlon for Singapore and Indonesia, a sports What is your leadership style? Sham Majid equipment and apparel retailer that To be natural, and when sham@hrmasia.com.sg is headquartered in France, but with I come to work, I am my stores all over the world, and soon to authentic self. open a 35,000ft megastore in Singapore in January 2016. In Decathlon, we don’t speak about titles. We just like Regarding my career, I went straight into retail at Decathlon to be ourselves and if we stick to the values of “sincerity”, after I graduated at the age of 22. Decathlon is well-known in “generosity”, and “vitality”, then the team will follow. I think France for its system of nurturing and training future managers, these are the key words for leadership at Decathlon – I follow and I had the chance to work in almost every department through these words everyday. my career, from sales training to brand management, and from I am very happy everyday because I don’t play a role – my store manager to regional director. We only promote internally nametag says my name, with no mention of my title. I come – we don’t make external hires – so this kind of training and to work and I take pleasure in my team, and for me, it’s very progression is essential for identifying and training our leaders. All important to do something you love. Honestly, I don’t feel like top management, including our CEO, started on the shop floor. I’m working everyday. After that, I had the opportunity to move abroad and to participate in the international growth of Decathlon. After How would your employees describe you? eight years of working in retail in France, I moved to the Czech Totally crazy! Republic where I became a CEO for the country. My job there I dream that if you ask them to describe their boss, they was to set up the company for retail and development. I stayed would say that while I’m the CEO and that I have to make strategic for two years and we opened another seven stores. decisions on a daily basis, I’m a teammate like all of them. Thanks to this success, my company offered me the At Decathlon, in terms of what we wear, how we are, and opportunity to move again, this time to Asia. My three kids how we speak and interact with people; there is no hierarchy are my main inspiration. They don’t think for three hours and there are no differences between staff. before making a decision. Honestly, when I transfer that My job is to set up the DNA of the company and the DNA of into my decision-making, it inspires me a lot because when the company is to create freedom in our relationships. We aim you set up a new company, you have to make quick decisions to work seriously everyday without being serious, by creating a and my personal feeling is that if we take pleasure and if we natural and friendly work environment.
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12 ISSUE 15.12
HRMASIA.COM