EP 18 - How Curiosity, Culture, and Challenge Shaped My Leadership Path
Leadership is rarely linear. It is shaped by the questions we ask, the risks we take, and the lessons we carry forward.
In this Episode:
Francois Jacquemin shares how curiosity, culture, and challenge have shaped his leadership path from small beginnings to global leadership. Lessons on growth, resilience, and human connection.
My own path has been defined by three constants: curiosity, culture, and challenge. Each one, in its own way, expanded my understanding of the world and how I lead within it.
From a small village to a wider world.
I was born in a small Belgian village. At first glance, it seemed a quiet place to begin a journey. Yet it gave me my first lesson in diversity. Even within one country, language and culture shift the way people think and express themselves. Speaking both French and Flemish taught me early that perspective is not fixed; it is contextual.
That realization planted a lifelong curiosity about people and systems. It showed me that culture is not an obstacle but an advantage when understood and respected.
Curiosity as a compass.
At university, I discovered that formal education was only part of the learning process. The real lessons came through interacting: the debates, the friendships, the collaborative energy of creating something together. Theatre became my classroom in courage and teamwork. Standing on stage taught me more about presence and communication than any textbook could.
Later, when I moved to the UK for an MBA, curiosity guided me again. I wanted to experience a new way of learning, one built on exchange rather than hierarchy. That decision set the tone for how I approach leadership: as a dialogue, not a directive.
Challenge as a teacher.
My career began unexpectedly in insurance, not consulting. It was not the path I had planned, but it became the one that shaped me. Being the first employee of a new company taught me what no established system could: how to build from zero, how to adapt without instruction, and how to transform uncertainty into structure.
Every role since then, from leading transformations to steering complex mergers, has reinforced the same truth: challenge is the most honest form of growth. It strips away comfort and reveals what leadership really is: resilience in motion.
Culture as continuity.
Working across Belgium, the UK, Germany, and Luxembourg deepened my belief that leadership is a cultural bridge. Systems, processes, and strategies can be replicated. What truly scales is understanding the ability to connect across differences and create shared purpose.
Curiosity builds awareness. Challenge builds capability. Culture builds continuity.
Together, they create leaders who can navigate complexity without losing humanity.
Looking back, curiosity was never just a personality trait. It was a discipline. A way to keep learning when success tempts you to stop. A way to listen when pressure pushes you to decide.
Leadership shaped by curiosity is not about knowing more. It is about remaining open to new cultures, new people, and new ways of thinking. That openness, I believe, is what makes leadership not only effective but meaningful.
Timecode:
00:00 Introduction and Early Life
01:10 University Experience and Student Life
04:11 Pursuing an MBA in the UK
06:52 Early Career and First Job
08:25 Transforming a Company
10:36 Leadership and Learning
12:05 Returning Home and Leading Transformation
13:07 Navigating Multiple Crises
Francois Links:
Apple Podcast
Transcript:
 My name is Francois Jacquemin. I'm coming from Belgium from a, actually a very small village, but next to the village is even a small village, and that's where I'm from. So that's why I grew up. There's one thing that my, my parents always wanted is, uh, me to be open to other, other culture. The language mother language was in was French, but uh, my mother were coming from Flanders and therefore for her, although she didn't speak any Flemish, it was important.
I do speak Flemish, so I went to to Flanders. Uh, a lot of times in my youth to, uh, learn, uh, and practice Flemish. So I became bilingual, but it's, it's my first, uh, experience with, uh, other culture and other vision because there was a consensus about culture. You know, so it's a French speaking. There's, there's something which was, uh, always more or less similar.
But, uh, although it was in Belgium, the Flemish angle is, is the views are different. The way they're expressed is different. Uh, even though there is a, a very strong common circle. So that's something that I always liked is to, to discover that or just shaped me into willing to discover that. But I found that always interesting.
That was pretty good student, um, at my, in my education. Then I, then I went to university. Um, and their freedom was probably something which was, uh, a bit more given to me. So I was less inclined, let's say, to, to learn and to follow the, the, the courses on the day to day. I was very interested to, uh, the, the student life, which, which was offering not only, uh, education in topic that were interesting.
Sometimes it was not interesting at all. But I liked very much the human interaction, the friendship, the bonds that you make with, uh, other people, which, uh, were. Interesting. It would not, not interesting that, that we say, okay, let's meet. But there was very often purposes or element of culture that was, uh, that was, uh, involved.
And, uh, one thing I loved is to play theater, uh, not theater in a classical way, unesco, uh, ERO and things like that. Uh, but, uh, there was, so it's like a student writing, um, a play. Uh, and, uh, this played and is being played in front of a teacher. It was parody. It was much fun. So what I did is, uh, I was an actor.
I, uh, I even wrote the text. And, uh, the last year I was doing it, uh, the, the, the writer didn't even bother writing my, my part because they knew I was going to, to do it anyway. And, uh, the, the, that was exhilarating. Exhilarating because there was a lot of friendship and, and bond between the actors and, and the teams.
Uh, the singers were there as well. I mean, it was great. I, I wasn't singer. I was, I was terrible singer, so I even didn't think of trying to do that. Um, but I love the, the, the team effort. And we've done also other things, other activities next to it, which were, which were very interesting. The, uh, the second accelerating moment was, uh, when you're on stage in front of all those people, um, then, uh, well, there's always the stress coming on, on stage.
That was something that, uh. I, I fear it terribly I didn't sleep. But also I loved it very much because once you've passed this moment of stress and you start talking, then, uh, then, uh, it's, it's, uh, it's a symbiosis moment and, uh, it's, it's, it's a mo a place where I really like being, even though sometimes it's very difficult to try to, uh, uh, go on stage after the song, uh, on, on, uh, thunder of a CDC, then you know the audience and student don't want to, to listen to, uh, all the text that I was giving.
So. I needed patience. I needed, uh, courage. I, I, my legs were very, very shaky, but, uh, with patience and, and, and perseverance, I, uh, I got back the audience and, and, and, and off we went. But there was a lot of stress behind the scenes, the stage, uh, or backstage where, uh, they were like, oh my God, what's going on?
He's never going to make it. But I made it. Uh, and it was a, a beautiful moment and we celebrated it afterwards with the, with the teachers as well as, so with all the professors was. It was a good moment. I, I really enjoyed my, my education. Um, but I was in a Belgian system, which was very academical and, uh, I wanted to, um, to do an MBA.
Um, you know, after a bit learning, uh, engineering and applied mathematics and, and, and economy. I wanted to do an MBA, which was much more practical, much more business oriented, much more close to my, my thought we're doing. Uh, entrepreneur bureau element or, or, you know, start something or be, be a consultant.
So I thought it was a, a good continuation. And my teacher at the time, my tutor from my dissertation, uh, was asking me, Fran, you know, just stay here, do one more year in, in, in, uh, a master in economy. But I, I had no, no willingness to, to remain in this, uh, in this system too academical for me. I wanted to get into the, the practicality.
And the exchange of the, of the UK system. And, and why the UK system? Well, it's something that made me dream this element of, of exchange, uh, the, the, the English universities and, and those, uh, um, those teachers who come in in the classroom and say, look, I'm gonna learn as much from you as I, as you will from me, which.
You know, probably is not fully true, but the approach to it and the exchange, the, uh, was something in which I, I found very appealing and I, and I wanted to do that. There was, um, there was even a, a firm at the time, willing to support my MBA. Uh, I just had a budget. I was finance it myself, but I didn't want this firm to finance it.
It was a great firm, you know, it just probably could have been great carrier, but for me, the most important was that I have independence. I can choose whatever I want afterwards. I wanted to have a year of focus, a year of learning, a year of different cultural environment. The ability to master English, write in English, to demonstrate to myself that I was going to be able to, to, to succeed.
There was so, was so important for me that I, I waived out. I waved also, uh, the other, my, my tutor willing to, to keep me for one more year. So I've, I've done this and, and I love this, uh, this MBA. And, uh, I also establish very, very strong friendship there and network and, uh, people who can, I can count on when there is a problem or something that we could do together.
This is a network that I can be open to without judgment. There is no, I can, I can, I can ask questions and, and, and not expect, um, to be judged or to, to have a, you know, a. A negative element in that could sneak in behind, behind the scenes. So that's something that I, I, I've relied on, on my career. So that was very, very strong, strong element for me.
Then someone told me I should go back to, uh, to, to be on the continent and, uh, and, uh, I, I came back, I applied for jobs and I found this, uh, this job in Luxembourg, which is not at all what I was looking for. I was looking for a, uh, job in the consulting industry. And, uh, the consultant I was applying to referred me to an insurance company that was being established.
I was the, the first employee. I accepted that job. I had other, other offers from a, from a bank, a very, very good offer from a bank. But I, I declined it simply because I found it was so, uh, interesting to be the first employee. So I've learned a lot. I've, I've, I've done a lot. Um, it was hectic. Uh, at the moment.
I doubt, yes, of course. I doubt. Um, un understand Consulting contacted me, um, very early, say after a bit less than, than a year in that company. And we had several discussions and, and, uh, I decided not to, to join that firm, although it was, it was great, but I thought there was, there was so much that I could do and learn and, and enjoy, uh, by being, being part of something and building something.
Contributing and learning was, was so, was so important to me. So that's something that I, I, I never regretted. Uh, of course, careers are made from up and down. So there was, uh, there were good moments and bad moments, but even in bad moment, I managed to, uh, to, to, to learn something so that the company was bold and, uh, for that strategic reason.
Um, there was a runoff implemented of that company. So that means that we had clients that were there for like. 20, 30, 40 years applied for, for that kind of, uh, of, of contract, but we were not able to sell it. So the the point was to transform the organization from a sales driven into a management and, and administration driven delivering the right service to clients.
And having a very stable core team, a very stable system. And, uh, we had the chance to be able to transform it very quickly. Um, and I was leading, um, the, the transformation and, and, and it became very, very quickly, uh, very profitable. We fought very hard, so it was hard work for two years. And, uh, and it became a, a very stable, stable company.
Very old system. So for sustainability reason, we decided to, uh, and I promoted, uh, a conversion on a, on a web-based system. Uh, which went, which went very, very well. And, uh, then the system could do much more than, uh, than, than simply what was asked for it for, for the same price actually. So, um, managed to convince the shareholders, which was alliance to, um, to give me a chance and to give the company a change and, and to reactivate it, which we did in collaboration again, uh, with other, um, group divisions.
Which was very important because, uh, it was a tool that was pulling element from the group that was un portable until, until that time and, and, and were actually competing with each other for the same client, for sometimes the same business. And, uh, we managed to bring all that together and deliver a, a, a web-based product, uh, which was for, for expat to client.
When I say web-based. All the processes were, were handled on the, on, on the web from the application to the management, to, to any change to the contract. And, uh, and brokers as client alike had had access to the, to the system. So it was very advanced, worked really well. After that, I went to the group center, um, doing a lot of, uh, of, of work on, uh, global steering.
I mentioned startup earlier, first employee, small firm. Collaboration was something that of course, I'd learned in my career, but going into the one of the largest group center in the world, uh, was a cultural shock. And, um, I was helped. But because it's such a pool of bright people, uh, open, extremely competitive, but also extremely open to collaborate because, uh, without collaboration.
Uh, this, this competition, uh, is, is bound to fail. So it's a great environment to learn. It's a great environment to get stronger. It's a great environment to, um, to become a leader, to, to negotiate better, to, uh, to be more polished. And, uh, I've learned tremendous amount of things. Of course, I had the leader there who was very demanding, but, uh, without him, I wouldn't be the person I'm today.
So, uh, he, he changed me. Uh, for, for, I guess the better and, and, and allowed me to, although I the state CEO for six, six years before, to be able to, to, to become a much better, uh, CEO with a much better ability to, to execute visions and, and and so on in the future. There's a lot of things you learn from, uh, the MBA, but there's a lot of things you learned.
You learn as well from being put under pressure after that. Um, well, COVID came, and honestly, I, I was away from home for 10 years, so it's, uh, when I was in Germany, it's, it was a long, long period of time. Um, but also I was away from my family and, uh, COVID told me that I should be a bit closer to them. So, uh, I got back to Luxembourg where they were living, and there I, uh, I had the chance to, to, to be part of, uh, and to lead, uh, the transformation of a, a small.
Uh, departments into a, a division for a small mutual group in Luxembourg, um, to transform that into a, a, a global company with global outreach and, uh, and, and creating, um, annual, uh, three digit growth, um, with the ability to, to execute a system, to do a merger. So in a very, very short period of time. We've reached the objective that, that I was given when I was, uh, I was appointed there creating a company this is, which is tenfold bigger.
It was 20 fold in, in, in, in less than, than than five years. So it was, uh, it was a very, very strong adventure, which, uh, which also it gave me great opportunities to learn more about myself, um, to be in multi crisis environment. I was in a crisis in a runoff, but it was one element. Of change of transformation that was there.
Then another one afterwards, then another one afterwards here, there was five crises that were happening at the same time, which, uh, which forces to prioritization, forces to compromise forces to, to big changes, forces to make decisions that maybe we don't want to make in a, in a more stable environment, but that are needed in challenging environment.
So it's not about, um. Uh, creating then the long term, uh, only is also creating, uh, a, a short term vision and setting milestone to, uh, to, to, to stabilize, uh, unstable environment. Success can be, uh, can be as, as dangerous as, uh, as difficult times because it, uh, it, it create crumbling moment in a company. And, uh, crumbling moment is like an earthquake.
The base is also challenged. Therefore it's about, uh, setting the right, the, the, the right mode for the team and, and, and team members to be, to be stepping on and going back to, uh, to, to, to competition, competition mode with the external world.