On 11 December, Gregoire Dattee shared his recipe for success with young specialists at the French Career challenge.

In the professional world, there is no single or exclusive recipe for success. Your personality and your goals are extremely important. We at Mazars value different points of view, cultivate entrepreneurial spirit, and support innovations.
However, I can identify three main characteristics that are crucial:

The first characteristic is to be open and curious.

This applies any time and to any issue.

Curiosity means not only focusing on your immediate targets or specific tasks. Instead, it is important to recognize that there is value in dedicating your time to things that may not bring immediate results.

We tend to think that we have no time for non-essential matters. But in the outside world, we can always find great sources of inspiration. All you need to do is look around, be attentive, and remain curious. In reality, individual people rarely invent anything from scratch. Instead, we listen, we observe, we take into consideration, we recycle, and we store away ideas for later use in order to make progress and adapt to new environments.

It is important to be open. Do not focus only on your short-term interests. Take time to listen to others. This is never a waste of time. If you want to manage people in the future, you must learn to listen.

My second advice is to embrace your adaptability.

In today’s fast-moving world, we are constantly facing the challenge of rapid adaption to new circumstances. Events in March 2020 are a good example of this phenomenon, with the entire world shifting towards distance working and new forms of professional engagement. It is likely that you do not fully appreciate your capacity for adaptation.

The key to making the most of your adaptability is to avoid underestimating your potential and not being afraid to take the next step. My advice would be to avoid becoming too specialized in any one segment. The more you are able to integrate different experiences and competencies, the more you will be able to adapt smoothly to any new challenges that come your way.

Today, we speak a lot about multi-skilled people, but it is important to understand this term correctly. It does not mean constantly achieving new professional qualifications. It implies being ready to continue learning throughout your professional life.

Embrace a long-term outlook and ever stop dreaming!

Long-term thinking is not purely for top management. Thinking about the future is never easy and you may be sure that plans will change over time. But having a vision gives you a focus and a direction. It is vital to have a long-term perspective and to embrace bold dreams.