As a child, Lionel dreamed of being like Indiana Jones: traveling the world, solving puzzles. As he grew up, he lost none of his appetite for exploration, as illustrated during his student career. After his first degree, he discovered a taste for project management and got into ISAIP (Institute of International Action and Production). Lionel completed a bachelor’s and master’s degree there, focusing on three areas: IT, project management, and languages. He then spent a semester in England, followed by two years in Spain to complete his Master’s degree in Project Management at the Ramon Llull University. After graduating, Lionel began working as a Department Manager at Carrefour. Almost two years later, Lionel joined IM Projet (a Project Management Engineering company) where he spent 12 years as a consultant, before being promoted to manager, after having participated in several large-scale projects in the building and infrastructure fields. Among the projects he is most proud of, Lionel talks about the modernization of the Roland Garros stadium, for which he coordinated the entire project as PMO for 4 years with his team. Lionel discovered Ÿnsect as a consultant: after several months working externally, Lionel joined the Ÿnsecters internally: “I saw this proposal as an opportunity to discover life in a company, as I had only known consulting. At that stage of my career, I felt it was important to experience the project from the decision-maker’s side“.
Lionel didn’t hesitate and jumped into an adventure he describes as “creative and responsible. It’s not every day that you can work on reducing your impact and prepare for the future”. According to him, Ÿnsect is above all a company of personalities: “by personalities, I mean all of the people from different backgrounds, with different cultures and expertise, who work together, communicate every day to achieve a common goal“. For him, this team spirit is essential on a daily basis: “In Project Management, the team is one of the most important things. You have to be able to build cohesion to move forward and overcome obstacles“. For Lionel, the qualities that are essential for his job are: “resilience because as a manager, you have to accept that things don’t always go according to plan, being methodical because at Ÿnsect, there is still a lot to build and we can’t afford to spread ourselves too thinly, and being open-minded: we are only at the beginning of the industrialization process, so we mustn’t be stubborn. We need to take ideas from everyone to find the genuine best solution“.
In his work, Lionel enjoys the interaction with different teams. He does not have any “best memories” at Ÿnsect, but it is all those informal moments, between two doors or on a break, that he thinks of fondly. “COVID has changed our habits and our way of managing, working and sharing with teams. I miss not being able to communicate with my colleagues as much“.
