PageViews Monthly - Issue 5

PageViews Monthly is a public-facing newsletter for member teams and other communicators. To subscribe, click here.

Aug 1, 2024

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games are an opportunity for people around the world to come together and celebrate ideals like excellence, sportsmanship and inclusion — things that draw people to sports. The events are well underway, with records being broken, medals being won, and dreams coming true. But the process of bringing these games to Paris has been decades in the making. 

Earlier this year, Page Up Chair Umayma Abubakar of Mubadala sat down with Étienne Thobois, the CEO of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Planning Committee. The whole conversation can be found on our podcast, but we wanted to call out some of the key points for communicators.Copy link

How the Paris 2024 team adopted a multistakeholder approach.

Podium perspective: For Paris 2024, the vision "Games Wide Open" encapsulated inclusivity and broad engagement. More than a catchphrase, Thobois and his team have strived to make this the most accessible Olympics to date.

“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. They want to be actors.”

Key Takeaway: Everything was designed to maximize the value for all stakeholders; The outdoor opening ceremony open to the public and the “Marathon for All” event are two examples of delivering on their “Games Wide Open” slogan. This approach has led the 2024 Paris Olympic games to have an unprecedented 70% approval rating from the local public, according to Thobois.Copy link

Long-term success require an iterative learning process

Podium perspective: Thobois underscored the importance of fostering an innovative culture within the organization. He encouraged taking calculated risks and learning from failures to achieve extraordinary outcomes.

“The fact that we lost to London in 2012 was a blessing because we learned a lot from that journey… when our authorities went next door to see the games in London and see the impact that it could have on society and globally. We gave 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.”

Key takeaway: Having tried to bring the Olympics to Paris for over 20 years, there were a lot of lessons that were needed to finally succeed. Encouraging innovation and accepting failures as part of the process can lead to groundbreaking achievements and set new standards in any industry.Copy link

In order to build a successful culture, you need to unify diverse teams

Podium perspective: Thobois emphasized the importance of having a clear and ambitious vision to align your teams. During the months leading up to the Olympic games, Thobois’s team was onboarding between 70-130 new employees each week.

“You’ve got people coming from all over, different origins, backgrounds, and they mix together, and that bunch can be really innovative, really powerful. But only if they have common values. Only if they are drawn back by something that actually, you know, drives them… every Monday morning, I spend half an hour [with new employees] explaining what our DNA is. And I wouldn't miss that for the world, because it's important. And we take great pride in onboarding our people so that they do understand what is our DNA. ”

Key takeaway: For any leader who is trying to address complex issues, having diverse teams is crucial to finding innovative solutions. Even as the current environment sees business leaders increasingly walking back diversity initiatives, it’s important to remember the benefit that diversity brings to your organization.Copy link

In keeping with our Paris-centric theme, you can also check out our latest episode of the New CCO Podcast. Listen as Mubadala Investment Company CCO Brian Lott interviews award-winning author of “Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century”, Simon Kuper on his unique perspective on modern Paris, and what’s next for the city of light.