Reflets Magazine #145 | "Our Responsibility Is to Support the Essec Community in Transition"

In Reflets Magazine #145, Stéphanie Jossermoz, MD of ESSEC Alumni, explains how the Association is embarking on its environmental and social transition, and presents the services set up to help ESSEC members wishing to make the same move. You have free access to the article here… subscribe to read the upcoming editions!

Reflets Magazine: What prompted you to carry out a survey among ESSEC alumni on environmental and social transition?

Stéphanie Jossermoz: It began with a realisation; a growing number of alumni are expressing their concern at the scale of environmental and social challenges, and their difficulty in knowing where to start when they decide to act within their professional sphere. We wanted to quantify these concerns and gain a clearer understanding of their levels of knowledge, engagement and expectations, in particular with regard to the Association.

This initiative is obviously in line with the strategy launched by ESSEC, and specifically its ‘Together’ programme for environmental and social transition.

We have reviewed our strategic focus points since last year, adding a fourth watchword to the existing ones, ‘Inspire’ (communication), ‘Support’ (career guidance) and ‘Connect’ (community events). That new watchword is ‘Together to Act’, which emphasises this priority for environmental and social transition, given that many of our communities and clubs are already acting in this area.

RM: Why did you choose to entrust this vast survey to ObSoCo?

S. Jossermoz: We wished to entrust this survey to a specialist institute, in order to obtain a thorough analysis and operational recommendations, on the basis of a representative sample of graduates. We launched a call for tender among several survey institutes and chose the Observatoire Société et Consommation (ObSoCo), specifically for their societal expertise.

RM: What did you learn from the survey?

S. Jossermoz: The results point to a broad consensus: 87% of alumni describe the current environmental situation as ‘very worrying’ or ‘alarming’. Among the challenges of our times, the environment and climate change and social inequality rank first and second respectively.

82% of alumni believe that businesses must change radically. However, just 15% claim that the company they work for is actually on that path, and blame this primarily on a company culture driven by economic performance (56%).

Furthermore, 71% believe they require new skills to address environmental issues, but only 6% say they feel genuinely supported in their efforts to reskill. Lastly, two-thirds express an interest in ESSEC training programmes, or programmes selected by ESSEC Alumni, which points firstly to a real and even immense need for guidance, and secondly to the legitimacy of the ESSEC ecosystem.

RM: As Managing Director of ESSEC Alumni, what road do you believe the Association and alumni should take?

S. Jossermoz: My past experience in the food and healthcare sectors has taught me that our health and that of our planet are interdependent. Al Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, which dates from 2006, had a profound effect on me.

The message from alumni, and more particularly our younger graduates, is loud and clear. It is our responsibility to support and guide them in their actions, given the huge challenge this represents. Furthermore, we’re seeing an enormous shift in media focus, due in part to the heatwaves of last summer, and many of us are witnessing a change in the making.

I also believe it is essential to be inclusive and positive; we are not all in the same place when it comes to environmental and social transition. Regardless of each person’s starting point, the key is to open our minds to these issues and progress rapidly.

This is where we have a role to play; we are a community, which means we can lead collective actions and that is our strength. The idea is to move forward together, no matter what point we are at individually. We also need to draw inspiration from the pioneers, those who are already undergoing transformation. Their determination is an invitation to follow them.

RM: What is ESSEC Alumni’s ambition?

S. Jossermoz: Our ambition is a direct response to the first conclusion of the survey; to support alumni in accelerating radical change in their company and in transforming business models to take social issues and the limits of the planet into account. Our focus is on the business sphere, because our expertise and legitimacy lie in this field.

RM: What actions has ESSEC Alumni already led?

S. Jossermoz: The creation of the ESSEC Transition Alumni Club (ETA) in late 2020 was a decisive moment, with more than 600 graduates taking part in its first event, which was followed by numerous actions. There is the Ambitions Transitions Forum in particular, which is an annual inter-alumni association forum initiated in 2021 by ETA to help alumni find impact employment. It’s important to note that this forum transcends the historical divides between schools, due to the urgent need to move forward. The 2022 edition, which we funded, attracted 66 organisations and companies for 1,100 participants.

There is also the Sustainable Business Club, which acts to challenge business models and explores how companies can integrate a more sober strategy.

To pursue these efforts, we organised several awareness workshops: The Climate Fresco, the 2Tonnes workshop (for implementation) and now the Diversity Fresco, created by ESSEC. They are currently available every six weeks, in-person or online.

We also assist alumni wishing to set up a Climate Fresco in their own company.

Lastly, the first edition of ESSEC Alumni Day last October, on the theme of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, brought together 80 speakers and experts and 1,300 participants for conferences, workshops and round tables.

In all, the actions we’ve led in association with our clubs have allowed us to inform more than 1,000 alumni per year in 2021 and 2022 (not counting the Ambitions Transitions Forum and ESSEC Alumni Day).

Our fresco-creating alumni are also invaluable contributors to the ESSEC Climate Days.

In addition, we carried out the carbon survey of the Association this year. This enabled us to identify areas for improvement and launch initial actions, related specifically to our procurement policy, events, travel and digital practices.

RM: What resources do you have to hand to get the Association ‘moving’?

S. Jossermoz: We are a small structure with very limited means given the scale of the issue, but we can draw on our numbers: 62,000 graduates, 200 communities and 600 volunteers. Our club leaders and organisers, our class delegates and chapter heads motivate their various communities.

We also created the position of ‘Head of Transition’ last January, for which we recruited Sounya Kiniffo. Her first task was to assess the state of play, launch this survey and work with all stakeholders to draw up an initial version of our road map, which was unanimously validated by the Administration Board last June. I’d like to point out here that the interest and commitment of our Administration Board in this matter is a cornerstone of our sound governance.

This first position will be consolidated by the arrival of a ‘Transition Project Head’ in the coming days. We have deliberately chosen complementary profiles; one focused more on the environmental aspect, and the other on social matters, diversity and inclusion. I believe we are the first alumni organisation to invest so actively in this area within its permanent team. At the same time, we organise regular meetings with other alumni associations around this topic, in order to boost our collective impact.

At present, we devote 12% of our budget to environmental and social transition.

RM: What are the key points of the ESSEC Alumni action plan?

S. Jossermoz: Our watchword is action, because we believe it is the best remedy for the eco-anxiety our alumni express. We offer interested alumni a three-step process, which corresponds to the key steps most often taken when you set out on the road to transformation.

1. Be informed, i.e. develop a knowledge base. We will add to the workshop and frescoes offer already in place, beginning with the digital, biodiversity, building and finance fresco. We are also going to create a resource centre on our site, centralising the main orders of magnitude and reference sources for self-training.

2. Be a player, i.e. be equipped and trained to lead the transformation of a company, whether from the inside, by joining an impact company or leading one’s own entrepreneurial project. To this end, we have two complementary actions:

- To adapt our existing measures to the issue of transition. We will thus organise web lunches with experts from the ETA Club and alumni, to explore topics such as carbon footprint, life cycle analysis or the ‘Company with Mission’ status. The two coaching sessions offered to contributing members could also be devoted to this transformation.

- To select the most relevant training programmes in this area, starting with ESSEC’s offer, which includes twenty MOOCs devoted to transition, such as ‘Companies and Climate Change’, ‘Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace’ or ‘Impact Investing’.

3. Join a positive impact collective to extend the scope of individual action. We hope that a great number of alumni will join our committed clubs and make use of these new services...and that they will be satisfied with them. We are also going to allocate a large proportion of our editorial line to sharing inspiring stories from graduates who are already involved in transition.

RM: What is the role of committed clubs, in particular ESSEC Transition Alumni?

S. Jossermoz: ESSEC Transition Alumni is currently formalising its mission statement, firstly because the club has reached a new level of maturity after 2 years’ existence, and secondly because our commitment requires us to be very clear about our respective roles and complementarities. ETA is there to provide us with its expertise, and its members have a vital role to play in this respect. I’m thinking of Alain Risbourg (EXEC MBA 00) in particular, who created his own MOOC entitled ‘Get Involved in Environmental Transition’ and available on OpenClassrooms.

Above all, I’m delighted to announce the launch of the ETA podcast Bouge de là [Move it] (in French) last month. It will lend a voice to those acting within their company, or people who have left it in order to work towards a low-carbon world which respects life.

The ETA and Sustainable Business Clubs are not the only ones involved in this movement. Our professional clubs (real estate, finance, automobile, entrepreneurs, or luxury, etc.) have taken this subject on board and play a key role through their events and collective actions for the impact of our alumni in these sectors.

RM: How does this work alongside the School’s ‘Together’ strategy?

S. Jossermoz: We work side by side and move forward together, each bringing its own expertise to the table: training and research for ESSEC; community events, collective action and knowledge of the business world for the association.

We work closely to develop training programmes which correspond to the demands expressed by alumni in the survey, more specifically the need for training by sector or profession. Some of these training programmes could lead to partnerships with key players for transition. In this respect, we firmly believe that an opening between schools and the mix of managerial, engineering or design profiles etc. are sources of richness and effectiveness.

Lastly, I recommend you visit the ESSEC Impact Initiative website (in French), which presents the initiatives for impact led by ESSEC since 2003. Many of these are perfectly suited to the needs of alumni wishing to engage in environmental and social transition, such as the E&MIS laboratory (in French) to measure impact, or the ESSEC Antropia (in French) incubator with its Start Up and Scale Up programmes.

RM: How can we avoid accusations of greenwashing?

S. Jossermoz: By going beyond the declaration of intent, by proving our impact and influence with regard to the transformation of businesses. To that end, we will assess the development of the key items of our survey on a regular basis.

We will also set up performance indicators at the level of the Association. We have three objectives:

In 2023-2024: 1,500 alumni informed, equipped and trained per year, with a gradual shift from information to training;

- A level of satisfaction with our services above 8.5/10.

- In 2025: 25% of alumni actively committed to the transformation of businesses (vs. 18% in 2022).

RM: A final word for graduates?

S. Jossermoz: The topic is systemic and complex, but you have spoken; you feel concerned and want to train and act. So get involved in our clubs committed to environmental and social transition as well as our business clubs! Take part in our frescoes, workshops and training courses! Challenge yourselves! You are all welcome, because I’m convinced that by standing together, we can move forward and contribute to the transformation of companies.

Interview by François de Guillebon and Michel Zerr, editor-in-chief and correspondent of Reflets Mag

Published in Reflets Magazine #145. To read the digital version of this edition, on exceptional free access, click here. To receive upcoming editions, click here. 

Image : © Arnaud Calais