Benjamin Bonnet is a technology freak. Luckily for him, technology is directly linked to his job: “My work is my passion. I’m constantly doing research and trying to keep up with the latest technologies.” Benjamin says he loves the dynamics of the constantly evolving technology market. He makes it a point to always be one step ahead of clients so as to propose the best strategy and the best technology. In order to do this as well as possible, he tries to improve himself every day. “I have to admit, I have a tendency to be too much of a perfectionist. Or maybe that is my stubborn Celtic side? (I am from Brittany).” However, occasionally, a client is better informed than him, which he experiences almost as a personal failure.
What drives Benjamin is a healthy dose of competition. That’s why he’s an avid fan of competitive sports and he has been playing basketball for years. Michael Jordan is his great idol. “In sports, no distinction is made based on a person’s background, color, education and so on. Everyone is equal. My opponent or team mate can be a CEO or a rubbish collector. Thanks to this sport, I have met a lot of people I would never otherwise have crossed paths with. I find that very special, this interaction with people from all walks of life.”
At work, Benjamin likes to compare his team and himself to a football team that works together as one group and with one goal, namely, to score as much as possible for clients. One of the key characteristics of this company is that it offers a trustworthy service. So, the standards are high, but at the same time, the employees’ well-being and a good work-life balance are considered very important. “We are not expected to answer e-mails in the evening after work, for example. As manager of a team of six people, I find it just as important to pay attention to my team, their concerns and their issues, as it is to listen to the needs of my clients. Now that we are teleworking, it’s a little harder to keep track, but I try my best.”
Keep calm and carry on
Benjamin is not afraid of problems. On the contrary, he enjoys solving complex cases, mediating and finding solutions that are acceptable to everyone. The key message? To keep calm. And that is something he learned along the way, through life experiences: “When I was a student, I went to London with the intention of staying there for a year. But I quickly ran out of money, so I was faced with a choice: find a job or go home. The latter was not an option, so I started working as a waiter. By chance I ended up in the restaurant of the famous Gordon Ramsay.”
All the wild stories about Ramsay are true. Benjamin also regularly found himself caught in a cross fire of insults and shouting: “It’s a very hard world where you constantly have to perform under very high pressure. Still, it was a unique experience to work in a Michelin-starred restaurant. I personally served the lead singer of Oasis, Liam Gallagher, and Nicolas Cage also visited the restaurant.”
He also got to take a peek backstage in the kitchen from time to time. It’s there that he developed his love of cooking with high-quality ingredients. In fact, he says that at home, you can regularly find him cooking up a feast in the kitchen. “I do try to cook according to the season. I don’t eat tomatoes in winter, for example. My wife is vegetarian so we eat mostly vegetable-based dishes, and pasta. I love Italian cuisine!” And that calls for a good bottle of wine: “I prefer red to white. I love Pommard. If I ever win the lottery, I’ll build a wine cellar to store prestigious bottles. It’s one of my dreams.” Yet Benjamin is convinced that good wine is best shared. For him, life in general is all about sharing: “And if I do win the lottery someday, it will be a big win, because I only play EuroMillions if there’s at least 100 million to be won.”
Passing the baton
It’s not only sharing that’s important to Benjamin, but also being able to effectively transfer something to others. For example, he collects vinyl records because that is something he can pass on to his son Célian (4). “Putting a record on and listening to it together, just like my parents and grandparents used to do, is not the same as listening to music through Spotify. A record is something tangible you can pass on from one generation to the next.”
And in that same spirit, Benjamin likes to pass on his knowledge to others at work. He has already taken many trainees under his wing and successfully mentored them. “I myself started as a trainee at Mediabrands and gradually worked my way up to manager. As such, I want to help launch the careers of trainees and help them climb the career ladder.” This gives Benjamin as much satisfaction as a satisfied client. What matters most is that he gets the chance to pass on a piece of himself to someone else.