Olympic Parallels for Communicators: A Conversation with Paris 2024 CEO Étienne Thobois

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Earlier this year, Page Up Chair Umayma Abubakar had the opportunity to interview Étienne Thobois, the Paris 2024 CEO, about the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games at our Spring Seminar. For this episode, we bring you their conversation, which covered topics ranging from stakeholder engagement, project management and cross-cultural collaboration. Their tête-à-tête was rife with insights for leaders and communicators, Olympic or otherwise. 

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Transcript

[00:00:56] Umayma Abubakar: Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you for staying with us. Mr. Thobois, thank you for being here with us. It's a great pleasure. 

[00:01:02] Etienne Thobois: Thank you. 

[00:01:03] Umayma Abubakar: Very impressive. We heard just from Joseph just now that you've been trying to bring the Olympics to France for a couple of years now. So, We want to spend a bit of today talking a lot about, your journey from being an athlete to the CEO in your current position, and hopefully we can spend a lot of time unpacking the parallels and the similarities between the sport world and also the corporate world, which is why so many communications people are in this room here today just trying to figure out their role and their part in it.

[00:01:29] But maybe if you can start us off with talking about why has it taken it so long to bring the Olympics to France? 

[00:01:36] Etienne Thobois: Yeah, well, you know, it's been, it's been a long journey for France to welcome back the Summer Olympics.

[00:01:42] for the first time, the Paralympic Games, which is very important for us. It's been a hundred years. So yes, we've been trying in 92. We tried with Lille in 204, 208. We're beating Monde, and we lost by two votes to London in 2012. Finally, we're here. actually maybe the fact that, we lost to London in 2012 was, was a blessing because we learned a lot from, from that journey also, from London and, you know, when our authorities went next door to, to see the games in London and see the impact that it could have, on society and globally, We might give it a last try and this time it worked and I think it worked because we had a plan that was not just a plan about ourselves.

[00:02:26] Some kind of a project for the development of Paris and the region, but more a plan around sport and the development of sport and the place that sport could have in society, where we could actually engage, on a much broader scale. A question of the, why did we need the Olympic and Paralympic Games, but also why would the IOC or the IPC want the games to come to Paris?

[00:02:52] And here we are, 120, I think it's five days today, changes every day, tic tac, tic tac. From from that nice opening. No pressure. From that, that fantastic opening ceremony on the Sand River on the 26th of July. 

[00:03:12] Umayma Abubakar: You talked a little bit about, you've tried this a couple of times and it took a while before we got there. For those of us who don't fully know what goes into the, The numbers or the measurements or how do you get the points to be able to host something like this?

[00:03:25] What is it that the organizers are looking for? 

[00:03:28] Etienne Thobois: Well, you know, you have to convince a hundred people in the IOC that your project is the best for the IOC for the Olympic Movement and for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. So you talk to people that are around the world with different agendas, different views on what the Olympics should be.

[00:03:45] Some are international federation presidents. They are focused on their sport. Some are, you know, NOC's representative. They look at, you know, their country and the place and the medals they could win and et cetera. So everybody has its own perspective. And that's what is fantastic about this project, this huge project, a project like that, is you can do.

[00:04:06] So many things around the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Definitely, it's a sports program, it's a s And, and, you know, at the helm of the organization, we, I got a president, which is three times Olympic champion. I am myself an Olympian, lost first round. Twenty five kilos ago, more or less. there are things that we got from our sports career.

[00:04:29] Their, their first one is You might lose on your weaknesses, but you win on your strength. And I think we reviewed that bid and the project of Paris 2024 much more based on our strength. Then you, you don't win by trying not to lose. Playing defense is necessary sometimes, but you need to be ambitious.

[00:04:54] I think it's, it's it's a quote I like to, to say from Daniel Burnham, which is the big architect that built Chicago who says, don't make little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood. So, you know, dream big, be ambitious. And I think the success that we have so far. But, but we got, you know, 70 percent of the public opinion behind these games, which is unprecedented. And usually six months out, it's all about security, transport, cranes, catastrophe, everything goes wrong. There's a bit of that in the press. But we got 70 percent of the public backing these games.

[00:05:35] We got people involved from all kinds of, of origin. Joseph here is a big, you know, blue chip company representing the sponsors, but that was yesterday in front of 650 people from the social businesses with Professor Mohammed Yunus, who, Nobel Prize 26 2006, invented the micro, microcredit. But those guys, they engaged behind Paris 2024, and we made sure, you know, those games wide open, which is our slogan actually could happen.

[00:06:04] And, and, and what we're trying to deliver is It's coherent and consistent with that. That's why we have that opening ceremony on the Seine River. It's not just because we want to show, you know, the best architectural and cultural aspects of France. We will, through the ceremony. But it's also the opportunity to have five times more people participating.

[00:06:27] With, with the opportunity on the Operbank to come and be invited to the party free of charge and, and to be part of something special. We have the Marathon for All. For the first time, we'll have 24, 000 runners that will be able to participate in the Olympics in the, in the conditions of the athletes, and that's the first time it's ever done.

[00:06:49] We've opened our volunteer program to 45, 000 volunteers coming from all over the world, 180 nationalities. We, we want these games also to be opened through a big engagement program. We've, built probably the biggest digital sports club, 4. 7 million people. Connected to the games on a day to day basis through that digital club, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:07:15] So we've made sure that whether it's through our procurement processes, whether it's through our selection processes for volunteers, for Torchbearer, for everything, we have those games as wide open as possible. So there is something for anybody that wants to connect. with these games. we understood very early that people just didn't want to be spectators.

[00:07:38] They want to be actors. So the question was, what is there for me in your thing? that thing, which is quite big, so people know it's there, they want to be part of it. And if you don't give them the opportunity to do so, and not only through 13 million tickets for the Olympic and Paralympics, which is already quite a lot of tickets to sell.

[00:07:58] And actually, if you want to buy some, don't hesitate. Lots of tickets still to sell for, for, especially for the Paralympics. We get a big, big focus on the Paralympics. We want those, first time we host the summer Paralympic Games in France. And it's a fantastic opportunity to draw attention on, on people with disability, which is something that is, you know, for the whole society, 15 people.

[00:08:22] of the world population has some kind of an impairment. We don't talk about it. We're sometimes, keeping distance around it. But we actually need to embrace and engage with the world of disability. And, and, and definitely these great events are a fantastic opportunity to show, to draw attention on those big issues that we live in.

[00:08:43] Because I'll keep on talking, yeah? 

[00:08:46] Umayma Abubakar: Yeah, please go. 

[00:08:48] Etienne Thobois: As you can see, we're quite passionate about the project, because another thing is, you want to be connected with the world you live in. It's not just about 333 medals. It's not just about a sport event. It's also about gender parity. It's about health. It's about education.

[00:09:04] It's about inclusion. And this project is fantastic, because there is not that many projects where You can do something, move things with a positive project. We're all talking about sustainability because if we don't do anything, we're gonna hit the wall. And everybody has to get on board, but it's more of a, You know, it's, it's an obligation here.

[00:09:33] We, we can address so many of those society issues through something that is positive. 

[00:09:39] Umayma Abubakar: But that's a great point you're making, but how do you get people around that? Right. So you're trying to address a lot of societal issues gender imbalance sustainability, et cetera. How do you get everybody to come rally around the cause?

[00:09:52] Cause it's a great event. It's a great initiative that you're doing, but does everyone understand? the common purpose. 

[00:09:59] Etienne Thobois: Well, everybody's got different perspective on a lot of things. and, you know, we, we pretend to welcome the world. So you got to, take a lot into consideration. You were.

[00:10:10] mentioning the number of stakeholders we've got to deal with. I can tell you there are a few, stakeholders to deal with the National Olympic Committees, 206 of them 32 international federations, 80 sponsors, not to mention every agency in the national, regional, local governments, and you got so many people involved and that you need them actually to deliver such a project.

[00:10:39] So timeframes are different, agendas are different. So you need to have some kind of a DNA that everybody understand. You need to have an ambitious goal that everybody understand. Then from that, You discuss, you learn, you try things, you fail, you learn again, you adapt, you adapt, you adapt, but you never compromise on what is essential to you, on what is your DNA.

[00:11:06] And we spent a lot of time explaining what we were trying to do. And, and we spent, you know, we, we recruit right now between 70 and 130 people a week. So we bring them on board. I spent, every Monday morning, I spent half an hour explaining what our DNA is. And I wouldn't miss that for, 

[00:11:29] the world. And, and, because it's important.

[00:11:31] And we take great pride and, and, in onboarding our people so that they do understand what is our DNA. And we've done a lot of work they call it the vision. But, you know, that game's wide open thing, that means a lot, for instance. And people need to connect to that. So, we can, we can discuss, we can. We can do a lot of things, but then we got some kind of a, I guess a fishbone that is clear for everybody.

[00:11:59] And then I think that's a condition for success. 

[00:12:02] Umayma Abubakar: This group here spends a lot of time talking about culture and talking about how do you infuse your organization culture within the organization and the employees, et cetera. And you talk about onboarding that many people weekly. How does it go beyond just the words that you say to actually people feeling it and living it?

[00:12:20] Etienne Thobois: Well, yeah, in the world of organizations, you got two ways if you want to be efficient. My humble experience is that either everybody looks alike and think alike, and that's very powerful. not very innovative, but very powerful. And then on the other side, you got people coming from all over, different, you know, origins, backgrounds, and they mix together, and that budget can be really innovative, really powerful, but only if they have common values.

[00:12:50] Only if they are drawn back by something that actually, you know, drives them. And that's what we're trying to do. So that's why, again, the vision needs to be very clear, no compromises on what we think is important, but from that on, Go on, be innovative, take chances, take risks. we accept people are failing within the organization. How can you ask people to be innovative if they don't take risks? We tried to limit, obviously. Yeah. And the closer we get to the games, we try to get focused on, on processes and procedures and at the end of the day it's only, you know, square meters, seconds and, and, and dollars, huh?

[00:13:29] But the whole process was to give people initiative. Again, a project that size, if you don't delegate. Your day, then. So, so, we need to trust people that they are going to be consistent and coherent within, you know, walking the talk of what we are saying at the helm of the organization. Leadership is very important also to be consistent.

[00:13:51] But,it works. When you take the time to explain and, and, and people adhere and connect. And again, we need to be consistent. It's, it's about walking the talk. It's about. setting the goal and, and, and be coherent throughout and consistent. And I think that's also why people do connect because gentleman before me talked about trust.

[00:14:13] I couldn't agree more. It's, it's all about trust, but to be trusted, you know, people need to know where you stand and what you do and that what you do is connected to what you say. 

[00:14:24] And I think that's, that's part of the. Again, so far, success of Paris 2024 is, we've been walking the talk. 

[00:14:33] Umayma Abubakar: I'm curious, you talk about trust and you talk about delegating and, you know, allowing people to be the best versions of themselves so you can be successful.

[00:14:40] What does your leadership team look like? Who do you, who do you surround yourself with that enables you to be focusing on the right stuff?

[00:14:48] Etienne Thobois: We've got a very interesting team. Some come from sport background and a huge sporting event. they, you know, they've eaten the dog and, and, and they're really good at anticipating and allowing the others to, to speed up the learning curve. we've got maybe one third of people that come from the industry.

[00:15:12] The French. It's very mature in terms of sports organization. Got a lot of, Big events whether it's sport but also around entertainment, culture, et cetera. So they bring their particular skills and, and their understanding of the market, of the agencies, et cetera.

[00:15:29] And then, and then you got people that come from very different background, but that, that are very good in their area of expertise, technology, finance, accommodation. Logistics, transport, you name it, we got everything. and they challenge the others. Why did you do it that way?

[00:15:45] And how do you compare, et cetera? And that mix of people actually is very powerful, because they, they try to set a new blueprint understanding the, you know, the standards, and what's been done before, and try to, to take it to the next level. Quite international it's an international team, especially the ones that you know, what we call the event junkies or roadies that's the way they're called.

[00:16:11] They go from event to event, but we got, we got 150 some nationalities already within the team. So you know, we speak Fringlish, our own dialect, which is IOC related with all kinds of acronyms everywhere, you can imagine. but the, the language, the, the language we have is, is the common language is games wide open sport is also about excellence.

[00:16:35] It's about delivering, it's about performance. We're all conscious of that, and, and, and it's a one, you know, it's a, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and, and we know there is going to be only one 26th of July 2024. Now you don't have a second chance, huh? We are not going to do the opening ceremony on the 27th.

[00:16:59] That's not gonna work. . So time is not a factor, which is when you look on those projects. So we got, you know, few aphorism to put people into, you know, we don't take anything for granted. 

[00:17:12] Speaker 3: Mm-Hmm. 

[00:17:13] Etienne Thobois: Failing to plan is planning to fail. Don't leave anything to chance. The devil is in the detail.

[00:17:21] And anyway, Nothing ever happens as planned, so be ready for whatever will come at you. But, you know, we got that into, into our state of mind, and and we move on from that. 

[00:17:35] Umayma Abubakar: Go from there. So maybe bringing you back slightly, we talked about The power of sports, right, and more and more companies today that we're seeing are investing in sports.

[00:17:45] They're including sports as part of their sponsorship strategies, primarily to help them increase their brand visibility, build brand reputation, etc. What's your view in terms of how companies are integrating sports today as part of their agenda, as part of their priorities? And during break we talked about terminologies, greenwashing, sportswashing, what's your view about that?

[00:18:07] Etienne Thobois: You should invest in sport. That's my No, I think Greenwashing is something you have to do anyway if you're not green, because otherwise customers are not going to buy your product today. I'm sorry to say and to be as blunt. So you better be green. It's good. But if you're not yet, Well, do greenwash a little bit, and then by the time you get organized, you'll be selling your product.

[00:18:34] It's not the same with sport. People are not gonna, not gonna buy your product because, because you're not sponsoring whatever club or whatever. So for me, sport washing is a bit different. I think the time where You know, the head of the company liked to play football and was sponsoring a football team is, is, is over, or if, if it's not over, it's not enough.

[00:18:56] But there is plenty of reason to connect with a sports world. First and foremost, sport is about emotions, and I think that's what makes sports very specific. You might be, I think you, you guys might go to the Louvre this afternoon. If you are in front of the Joconde and start to go like, in front of the Joconde, people will look at you with emotion that comes with culture is a bit more of an inner thing.

[00:19:21] You know what I mean? While in stadia, you know, it's a, it's an outer thing, but it's a very strong thing. The emotions that connect you with sport is very strong. So obviously, if you can connect your values again, the philosophy of what you're doing through sport, it can be very powerful.

[00:19:41] We were talking with Joseph about, you know, the reasons why Sanofi joins the Olympic and Paralympic Games, very, very different from. Coca Cola. One is really much motivated by having a project that can bring the company together which could give a, a pride within the company 

[00:20:02] It's almost a human resources program. Well, for Coca Cola, it's, it's a commercial, you know, going to the general public So the activation is very different. know, my answer would be around how do you activate your sponsorship program. You got things, obviously, you know, the PR and everything that, that's a given.

[00:20:20] But, there is a lot of power into sport to actually say a lot of things, on wide variety of issues. And it could be around education. It could be around performance. It could be about excellence. It could be about HR and inspiration because you've got so many role models into a sport. It could be about exposure, direct, blunt exposure. There is a lot of ways, but you need to think about the why you would join a sports club, 

[00:20:50] But, but definitely when I look at those 80 companies that are connecting with Paris 2024 and how each of them activate, sometimes very interesting, but there is none that I've told us today, I regret my investment. None. They're all connected, they all try to activate, and, and they find value in to connecting with that event in particular, but globally with sport.

[00:21:15] Umayma Abubakar: Do you work with these companies in order to figure out the right angle of activations or? Do they come to you already knowing that? 

[00:21:22] Etienne Thobois: Depends. Depends on their maturity in respect to how they address sport. Obviously the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a special beast, but you got the top sponsors, the ones that are signed by the International Olympic Committee that are here every year, so Coca Cola I think has been on the games for almost a century.

[00:21:39] Procter Gamble's been there for some time. so there are some repeat programs, and then there are things that they try to innovate. And then for the ones that are more, like we said, the domestic program actually, you know, we talk about a fair chunk of money. So there is a bit of discussions before, which actually help us understand what the real motivation is their side and understand what the project is and what they can find here and there.

[00:22:05] So some of them are really much focused on the sustainability approach of Paris 2024. Some are very much approach on the volunteers and some are interested about the way that we are going to go around France with the torch, for instance. Some others focus on the Paralympics. Some are on the educational side of things.

[00:22:25] With everything we do with the Olympic and Paralympic weeks in school, for instance. Eight edition, three million kids connected with the game. So, it, it really much depends on, on each company. And again what is there in our project, and then we try to discuss and creatively find solutions to, to, to get the best possible activation.

[00:22:45] Umayma Abubakar: just a question for youwhat's the legacy you want to leave? 

[00:22:49] Etienne Thobois: I think the legacy has been at the heart of what we do from the first day.

[00:22:54] I wouldn't be consistent if I didn't talk about the emotions. We want to leave fantastic emotions, and thanks to the athletes, I'm sure there's going to be performances that are going to blow our minds. If they can do that under the Eiffel Tower or on the Chateau de Versailles, on the Aix en Valide, Place de la Concorde, all the better.

[00:23:19] So we try, our job is to make, you know, these possible through a fantastic concept of operation, incredible sceneries and we hope again that those opening ceremonies, whether it's the one on the Seine or the one on the Champs Élysées and the Place de la Concorde for, for the Paralympic Games, will are going to stay in the mind of people.

[00:23:40] So definitely memories is a first legacy. A tangible legacy also not the biggest part of our project, but you know, we will have a new Olympic and Paralympic village. That's 300, 000, 500 homes in an area that needs those apartments. So that will be, again, a new Demerhard innovative for, for the next for the next hundred years same with the Olympic Media Village.

[00:24:09] We got two sports venues that were built for this and, and, and a lot of things that were, again et cetera, training venues. There will be nine new basins for people to learn how to swim in Saint Saint Denis, which is one of the poorest departments in France, where kids, half of the kids, don't know how to swim by 11.

[00:24:28] That's a tangible legacy. But the most important, definitely, is the intangible legacy, is how We make people work together, maybe the way they didn't do before. I was talking about the social business yesterday. I mean, we, through our procurement strategy, we made sure that, you know, social business could have access to those Olympic markets connecting with much bigger companies working together.

[00:24:53] And that happens, and I think that will leave a legacy. So it's more on the how, you know, how we do things, the way we do things. Obviously, have a bigger place for sport. In society, because we are, we believe that a better world through sport, Olympism is possible. So that through our programs in education, again, inclusion the fact that, you know, we have half women, half men for the first time in athletes.

[00:25:23] in the Paris 2024 Olympic is important for us. We got a gender parity in our volunteer program. We have gender parity in our bid marathon for all program in the, in the staff. We're trying to, again, set a new footprint on how to organize those big projects and hopefully there will be a legacy for that.

[00:25:46] 

[00:26:02] Etienne Thobois: There is always something popping up. I don't, you know, by the time I talk to you, there's probably two things that I've popped up already.

[00:26:09] So we also need to be careful on things that are happening with respect Russia and what's happening in the world definitely.

[00:26:16] That's more serious issues, et cetera. You know, we try to again, stay focused on, on, on what we want to discuss and have some kind of a journey, and then, and then we, we adapt and we react when necessary, when it's justified, and then we try to stay calm. There was, one journalist last week who I started an article with, you know, the security issues, the transport issues and then I said, Paris?

[00:26:52] They said, no, London 2012, four months out. And if you look at the 1924 the official report of the 1924 games, if I look at it, except that communication was not communication, Propaganda They used a real name at the time. It is all the same. It is all the same. Transport, security, right?

[00:27:16] So, you know, we are addressing things the most seriously we can, and I can tell you security on that opening ceremony, I've walked out. You know, the six kilometers along the Seine, many times with the Prefet police, every square meter has been scrutinized, every window is known, every building has been you know, plans and architectural things has been studied.

[00:27:40] We're working on things and you know, we're trying to stay focused. Polymix, I guess, is part of the game literally. we focus. And I think at the end of the day, I said that it's at the end of the ball that you pay the musicians. So far, so good. Infrastructures are delivered.

[00:28:00] The ticketing is a fantastic success. The unions are making the plan, and we have discussions with them every six weeks. Around the table. Everybody's on board. I'm not saying, I'm not telling you that, you know, everything is going to be fine. I'm just telling you that we are You're making a longer journey stay focused on the finish line.

[00:28:24] Probably we are sports people. We know that until the finish line and until the last athlete is or journalist is in the plane after the Paralympics the story's going on. But you know, we, we try to be again focused, determined, and, Confident, I would say, in what we do. I think you need to believe in what you do.

[00:28:49] If you believe in what you do, people feel it. And and you also have a great leadership. I'm blessed with a president who is three times gold medalist. A fantastic guy who believes in what he's doing. Who, you know, he's the face of the games. Who, Actually, that people trust and that's very important.

[00:29:14] Umayma Abubakar: I can see there are more questions, but we're out of time.[00:29:16] Thank you very