Meet our New France Country Represenatives

We are proud to announce the launch of Emergenetics International – France! The latest expansion of our European presence will be headed by Hervé Roy and Geraldine Koempel. We had the great pleasure of interviewing Hervé and Geraldine as we begin to welcome them into the Emergenetics family. Read on to learn more about our France Country Representatives, their first experiences with Emergenetics, and how they hope we will grow in France.

How were you first introduced to Emergenetics?

Geraldine (G): An ex-colleague of mine, a psychotherapist and coach, used our team at work to do her first MOTM for her certification. I found the whole workshop so convincing that I registered for the next certification.

Hervé (H): And she told me about it, and made me take my Profile. I was impressed by the accuracy of the assessment and the simplicity but impactfulness of the feedback.

Tell us about the first time you saw your Emergenetics Profile. And would you mind sharing your favorite aspect of your own Profile?

G: I have a bi-modal Profile: Social and Conceptual (332). I found my Profile accurate so I wasn’t very surprised. It resonates well I guess with my life and my work.

H: The fist time I saw my Profile I was amazed by all the content that was included on one page of paper and by the subtlety of the Profile. My favorite aspect of my Profile is me being in the “It depends” group for both Flexibility & Expressivity.

Geraldine, you’ve been an Associate for a few years and are in the process of becoming an Emergenetics Master Trainer. Have you had any interesting Emergenetics “ah-ha” moments over the years?

G: My first” ah-ha “moment was at my certification with Colin Yeow (best master trainer ever) and [Dr.] Geil [Browning, founder of Emergenetics] who was then in Singapore. Geil and I were talking during the break and she told me more about the conflict between the Structural and the Conceptual thinking preferences. My second “ah-ha”moment was when my daughter took her Profile: I have a Conceptual preference and she has a Structural preference (we also both have a Social preference!). My third “ah-ha” moment was when I had a team of managers with a strong Conceptual preference in their combined Group Profile and a group of team members with a strong Structural preference in their combined Group Profile. I realize it is a very conceptual way to answer to your question.

Do either of you have a favorite Emergenetics activity or exercise?

G: I personally really enjoy the activity around the Behavioral attributes: “where shall we go for lunch”. I really enjoy showing the difference made by how your 3 behavioral attributes combine together.

H: I love the lining-up of participants to reflect their positions on the behavioural attributes spectrum. I think this is really powerful to get team members experiencing, understanding and remembering their differences and strengths.

What is your vision for Emergenetics International – France?

G: My dream is that Emergenetics becomes another word known and used by all individuals responsible for human capital development and resources. I just want it to be part of their vocabulary.

H: I want Emergenetics to be THE driver that will help French people build self-awareness and switch to a positive attitude and to become actors of their own development, not waiting for others to do things for them.

What is the talent development industry like in France? And what does this mean for Emergenetics?

H: Hiring talent, developing them and retaining them are key topics in France. Even if Emergenetics has lots of competitors in France, its strengths and the system built on top of the Profile (MOTM, STEP, ESP, Power of WE) will help Emergenetics move from a new entrant status to a key player.

Any dream clients?

H: The French Government. It will be an amazing way to show the powerfulness of Emergenetics Profile combined with MoTM to develop a team, even with big egos within it!

What are your hobbies/ activities which you enjoy to do in your leisure time?

G: We are a family very much oriented towards books, movies (all the classics) and travels.

H: I love practicing & watching sports (rugby, ski & sailing in particular). I love travels as well even if these past years it was a bit difficult to travel around with my 4 young kids.

What do you do for personal and/or professional development? Do you have any favorite books, podcasts, or blogs?

G: As a psychologist I do quite a lot: supervision, trainings, readings. The book I would recommend anyone to read is from Irvin Yalom: And Nietsche Wept. I also regularly check the Ted Talks, always inspiring. For my personal development, I practice yoga, do sport, go to church and read.

H: I do read and practice sport. I like reading biographies on great leaders from business, politics or sport.

What is your favorite quote?

G: I have severals but to name only 2:

The one that I use in my practice and is close to my heart is from Oscar Wilde: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

Another one is from Aristotle: “There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

H: I don’t have a favorite one, but I will mention two I came across recently:

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb trees, it will spend its entire life thinking he is totally stupid”. Albert Einstein.

As a rugby fan, I couldn’t miss a quote from Jonny Wilkinson in a TV ad: “You can be talented, you can have a vision, ou can be brave, but you are nothing without the team spirit.”

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