EP 28 - Becoming a CEO: A Journey Built on Curiosity, Connection, and Creation
I was not born a CEO. Like many leaders, I began with a simple desire to create things that mattered.
In this Episode:
Francois Jacquemin shares his personal journey to becoming a CEO, a story of curiosity, connection, and creation, shaped by learning, leadership, and the balance between theory and real-world execution.
Early in my studies, I found myself drawn to the tangible, to what could be built, used, and improved. Yet my education in Belgium was highly theoretical. It sharpened my intellect but left me searching for something more concrete.
When I moved to the UK to pursue an MBA, I discovered a new dimension to learning, one that valued exchange, participation, and shared insight. Professors who said, “We learn as much as you do,” introduced a way of thinking that shaped my leadership philosophy. It taught me that growth happens in dialogue, not isolation.
Becoming a CEO does not happen overnight. It is not a promotion; it is an evolution. My path was built on curiosity, the curiosity to understand different industries, structures, and ways of working. I began in insurance, but the lessons I learned could have come from any field: stay curious, stay open, and be willing to lead through learning.
My first CEO position came in Luxembourg. It was a small but profitable entity, and the shareholders gave me trust and freedom. Profitability was important, but what mattered most to me was momentum, the ability to build further, to create bridges across entities and establish partnerships that added value beyond the company itself.
That experience taught me that a CEO’s real work lies in connection. Strategy is important, but alignment is essential. Building partnerships was not just a way to grow business; it was the strategy itself.
Later, I joined a larger group to learn the intricacies of scale. Understanding how big organizations function, how decisions cascade, and how governance and structure support execution was all part of becoming a more complete leader. I learned how to adapt processes, manage across cultures, and integrate new teams following mergers and acquisitions.
Each role expanded my perspective. I learned that leadership is situational. What works in a multinational does not always apply to a smaller firm. Precision in process matters in a large group; speed and focus matter in a smaller one. The key is knowing when to apply which.
Ultimately, becoming a CEO has been about more than managing performance. It is about shaping an environment where people can perform at their best. Curiosity drives the learning. Connection builds trust. Creation turns ideas into impact.
Leadership, ultimately, is about progress, taking steps forward, learning along the way, and helping others do the same.
Timecode:
00:00 Introduction: The Journey to Becoming a CEO
00:35 Theoretical vs. Practical Learning
00:50 The UK MBA Experience
02:55 First CEO Role in Luxembourg
05:01 Building Partnerships and Strategy
06:28 Transition to Larger Scale Management
07:46 Leading an International Team
08:54 Adapting Big Group Learnings to Smaller Units
10:09 Conclusion: Key Elements of Successful Leadership
Francois Links:
Apple Podcast
Transcript:
What led me to, uh, to become the, the CEO or A CEO? Well, I was not, I was not born as a CEO, but it's something that I always, uh, always liked to, to create things, to create concrete elements. Um, doesn't have to be, uh, always very complex or very, um, intelligent, but, uh, building things, things that can be used, can be seen.
Um. It can be, um, further expanded afterwards. Something I always liked. However, another side of me that was very theoretical in, in, in my studies in Belgium were so extremely theoretical. So, um, uh, it was a bit schizophrenic on, on the one hand, uh, I liked creating and building and on the other. Uh, I chose a path which was, uh, purely theoretical, but, um, thank God, uh, or whoever, um, or thank luck, uh, that I, uh, I, I went to, uh, to the UK doing MBA something I wanted to do.
I, I wasn't satisfied with the content of what I was learning. Not that it was not clever or that, that I hated it, but again, I, I was missing something and that's why I, that's why I went to, to the UK in, in a different schooling system. Which were, where the, the, the, the professor were much closer to the student.
The classrooms were much smaller and we could exchange they, the, the, the teachers, the professors, they say, ah, we learn as much as you do during this series. We know it's not true, of course, but the statement is very clear. It is about sharing, is about being able to participate or the need to participate.
And it's something that I've, I've always liked. So, uh, I've done that here and, and of course we learn so much. And, um, we, we, we do so many case studies that we are, we feel empowered to, uh. To believe that we can, we can lead the world or the biggest companies in the world, um, easily, but then reality catches up and then, uh, it's a totally different story.
So, uh, the reality is that you don't become a CEO from the one day to the next, or you found your own company or so, but I was not my, my, my, my thought at the time. Um, at the time I just wanted to, uh, to, to have a job that where I can learn and, uh, and expand, uh, my, my competencies. Um, in, uh, in various angle.
I didn't want to be one sided. I liked, um, to be, uh, able to be accustomed to various. Element and, and I landed in insurance, but I could have landed basically in, in, in many other fields. The point is, uh, I was curious. I was, uh, I was willing to, uh, to progress during my career. I had the chance to, uh, to, to, to always be in the forefront and of, of innovation, of being able to influence.
Um, what, what we were doing. So it's something that I, I kept on doing, and since I liked it, I, I put a lot of effort into it and I went further into it and I, and I landed my, my first CEO job, uh, which was in a, in a small, a small entity in, um, in Luxembourg. And I, um, I was. I was given a lot of, uh, room and, and, and decision power by the shareholders.
Uh, the company was, uh, was doing, um, good money, very profitable. Uh, it was, uh, something that was, um, that was the key is, uh, focus on profit and then. Um, rather than just, uh, relying on my, on my laurels or resting on my laurels and relying on, on, on the fact that the money was, was flowing, I thought it was, uh, much better for me to, um, to take things in my own hands and, and, and further build on what we had.And I loved it. I loved it. And, uh, I've done that for, for several years. Uh, what, what do you need to do? And, uh, as a CEO, it's not about building only, it's about establishing bridges. It's about, uh, creating the right, uh, the right content, uh, to understand the right, the, the environment, the right way, and keep on progressing.
So it's, it's not, uh, one done in one day. Of course, it's, uh, it's a, it's a long term approach where, uh, plans need to be made and are being made, are being changed, uh, adopted, um, further, uh, challenged by the stakeholders. But I liked it very much in a sense that, um, it was always making a step forward. Um, it allowed me to understand all those, uh, all those, uh, elements, but it was of course, um, as I said, a, a small firm, uh, with a, a restricted, a small value chain and, um, one side the chains to, to expand that.
Uh, I did. And, uh, how did, I did do that without asking for too much information and, and too much money and too much support, too much. Things around. Um, I shared a, uh, my project to other entities of the group I was working in, and we established a, um, a, a multi-company value chain. So I was taking of one part of the value chain with some partners a bit more than, uh, than than others.
But the key was to implement a partnership structure that was the strategy itself. So the strategy was not purely. To do the business, but it was creating partnerships. To, uh, do the business, which was for, uh, the benefit of all the stakeholders involved. And, and that's something that, uh, that, that worked really well.
And, uh, there was a exhilarating moment with, uh, presenting to the, the, the highest executive, uh, level of, uh, of, of a big, uh, English bank, uh, with, with a very positive, uh, feedback, uh, for the business that we were promoting. So they, they, they were exhilarating moment. There were the hard work moment. Uh, the key was there that, uh, there was a vision, there was, uh, partnerships, there was stakeholder management, there was, uh, investment approved, and there was willing stake, uh, stakeholders and shareholders so that there was, there was a lot of positivity, freedom was important.
Uh, was, was there and guidelines were given that were very clear from the, from the group. That was my, my first experience. But it was very clear for me that I needed much more than simply that I needed to be able to understand scale. I needed to, to be able to understand, um, much more the management structure, the fines of management.
And, and, and, and a big group could give me the answer. I left the, the CEO, uh, position and they've. Put a lot of effort into learning how big groups are, are, are working in, um, and, and, and, and the fitness, as I said, of of, of how that works and that needs competencies. So I found that a was, uh, I found myself very good at the time, but I was just too short to, uh, to, to be a, a no rounder, um, in, in as a CEO.
So I went into learning that, as I said, and by doing that it gave me. So many different angles into, uh, in, into the CEO that I, after a few years, I thought, how could, how could I have done the job I did in the past without knowing Soli? Um, but of course the basis is there, the energy is there, the willingness to work, the ability to connect.
And I expanded that and, um, and, and improved that. And that's where I've taken the, I've taken the, the, the second, uh, CEO position where it was, uh, also a challenging situation. And, uh, it was, um, taking a team and bringing the team forward. Um, the team was, uh, was, was great because it, it was international business.
Um, there was, uh, on the team, like 20 nationalities, uh, at least. And, uh, we were serving global, uh, global, uh, located people. So it was very interesting and fitting in, in my wishes to, to remain and, and, and deliver on the, on the, on the larger scale. And, um, I was able to use so many. Element that I've learned in the big group, like structure, um, hr.
Uh, processes, and when I say processes, all the tools that HR can give you in the big groups that are overstructured in a smaller, uh, unit, to be able to create, uh, a, a much a, a much stabler environment and, and connect better with the, the, uh, the HR department. And, uh, expanding that. And, um, thanks to the network, thanks to what I had learned, I was able to, to, to, to kickstart, uh, that position in, uh, in, in an optimal way.
And then I kept on learning because things are changing, things that, that you're doing big group. Uh, are not, are not useful anymore. Uh, in a, in a smaller unit, you don't have the resources, you don't have the time, you don't have the need. The return on investment for time spent on, on, on doing things perfect is, uh, is, is great in a big group because it needs to be like that.
For, to be fitting in the, in a structure, but in, in a, in a smaller or in, in a smaller unit, then, uh, you need to put things on the side and focus on what's important for that unit. So learning all that was, was so important. And then. We, we've expanded the business. I, I, um, I also was able to, to, to use what I learned in that big group into a, an acquisition and the merger structure.
So that creating the strategy, creating, um, the process, aligning the value chains and driving the path forward into. What was becoming, uh, afterwards, a, a single unit is something that I, it was my forensic experience doing it firsthand, but thanks to what I had taken and the learning I had done in, in, in, in, in, in that, uh, previous role, I was able to navigate it in a much, much easier way.
So my journey as a CEO is, uh, based on. What I, I, I like is, is, is doing things, establishing bridges, creating uh, networks, connecting with people. Uh, it's so important. It's about being, being, uh, present as a person and considering the team as, as, as people and, and bringing them, uh, towards the common, the common goal or the vision that that is established.And at the end of the day, curating something which is, uh, successful in terms of, uh, in terms of business. So all those elements together are shipping me and, uh, helping me and, um. Fostering also this what, what, what, what I have in me to, to, to, to lead teams and, and to become an a CO.