Brice de Margerie, Head of Orchestration

From musical to digital via the coaching of teams, Brice de Margerie (E00) composes a score that is unique – and harmonic.

At first glance, it seems like Brice de Margerie has followed a classical path. After an apprenticeship with IBM he co-founded, with a colleague, a coaching firm specializing in strategic analysis. The seminars he organized, however, already hinted at a tendency to do things differently. “I remember activities including manhunts, and recording sessions where the participants had to imitate each other’s voices…”

As a matter of fact, Brice de Margerie was a sound expert. His spare time was filled with music. He produced music in Bourges with the rock group Ernest, tried out abstract hip-hop under the name Sikim, with the saxophonist Michel Goldberg and the trumpeter Antoine Illouz at the New Casino, experimented with punk with Ronpornoshow, and electrojazz with Projet Thatum. His passion was such that after working for 5 years he gave up his job to enter the Conservatoire.

The key of songs

After graduating, Brice de Margerie made a name for himself as an artist. He hired singer Thomas Cerisola, plus the drummer for French singers Daho and Cali, and the musicians of the Orchestre national d’Île de France for the album In Graceland. He also created original soundtracks for the producer Jean-Christophe Reymond (E99), the play Judith by Béatrice Picard (E00), Histoire à chuchoter by Maxime Donzel - selected for the Aubagne International Film Festival - and for the choreographed interviews for the documentary La Cité de la danse with Thierry Teston.

A change of tone

Despite his accomplishments, Brice de Margerie felt something was missing: “Being a composer has something of the hermit about it.” He started coaching teams again, while embracing his experience as a musician. “Whether you’re leading a session or giving a concert, you try to give your audience an experience. The techniques used are similar.”

Another similarity: “When you’re blocked writing a song, you change an aspect of the tonality or the orchestration without touching the rest. You can apply the same method to stimulate creativity within an organization.”

This capacity for transversality has become Brice de Margerie’s guiding principle, as his initiative Social Talent testifies: “We help clients become aware of their talents, then encourage them to share their successes on the platform Day of Glory. By accelerating the circulation of experiences, we save training and reflection time for everyone. The longer-term objective is to develop a Wikipedia of behaviors, where an American teacher can seek inspiration from an Asian policeman or a Parisian midwife.” In other wirds, Brice de Margerie applies the values of the digital era to management practices: “Social Talent has the spirit of the hacker – the logic of open source. Whatever job you’re in, we all have codes to share.”

Find out more:

www.talentsocial.fr

First published in Reflets ESSEC Magazine n°113. Click here to subscribe.