The entrepreneur, the main agent of social change | Patrick Chassagne | TEDxIssylesMoulineaux

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Innovation is a powerful driving force in the development of our societies when it is in use! At the heart of the successful transfer of innovation in our lives, is a transgressive and durable business model the key? Is there a particular type of mindset, a kind of person who is better than others in developing and conducting the business models?

Patrick is an entrepreneur, founder, and owner of several enterprises since the beginning of his career. In 1996, he co-founded Melcion, Chassagne & Cie. Now consisting of four members, this team of senior advisors accompany nearly 300 entrepreneurs in their financial, strategic and shareholders-related problems.

Good evening, everyone.

Our societies are changing,
they change all the time, constantly.

And we can - we might - agree on the fact

that the innovator is the most important
person for change in our societies.

I don't agree, and I will tell you why.

But first, I will talk to you
about my region.

This is Auvergne.

This is Auvergne too, and so is this.

These are local dwellers in Auvergne,

and that is the Puy de Dôme.

At the foot of Puy de Dôme
lies a small town, Clermont-Ferrand.

It is into this small town
that I'm taking you, in 1889.

In 1889, the Michelin brothers
started a business,

Michelin&Cie, not a very original name.

They based it on an innovation
developed by an English man, Dunlop,

who discovered
the vulcanization of rubber.

And from this innovation
- that was not their own -

they were to develop tires,
first for bicycles, then for cars,

and then truck tires,
airplane tires, etc., etc.

But as years went by,

at the beginning of the 20th century,
when cars appear,

they had a brilliant idea:
put tires on car wheels.

It changes everything!

That changes everything
in terms of comfort,

it changes everything in terms of safety,

and changes everything
in terms of axletree breakage, etc.

So basically, their future was bright,

those two entrepreneurs living
in the small town of Clermont-Ferrand.

Well no! Well no! Why, then?

Because at the beginning
of the 20th century,

when you have a car,
you basically don't use it.

You are very happy and proud,
you drive a little, but not a lot.

Since you don't drive a lot,
you don't wear your tires out,

so there is no market for tires.

So the small company in Clermont-Ferrand
remained a small company.

Then the Michelin brothers understood

that to sell tires,

they had to convince the people
who had bought a car

to use it.

It will begin with the road map.

This is the first time
a non-military map is made.

It explains how to go
from Strasbourg to Orleans,

but it is not enough,

because, from Strasbourg to Orleans

even if you start realizing
the way you are going to take,

why would you go?

So they will make an inventory
of every natural or man-made wonder

you can see in France, and later in Europe
and in the world, it's the Green Guide!

It's the green guide
that will take people

to Mont Saint-Michel,
to Arcachon Bay.

Fine, you have the road to take you there
you know why you're going there,

but there is another problem:
what are you going to do on the long way?

You have to stop to eat, to sleep,

and this is the red guide!

The red guide that indicates
the restaurants and hotels, etc.

And the last thing they will do,
perhaps the most surprising of all,

they will install every kilometer,
on the main roads of France,

a kilometer marker that indicates
the distance, the direction,

and the name of the nearest village.

Two small entrepreneurs in Auvergne,
lost, out there,

will install kilometer marks
throughout France,

so that you, who, at the beginning
of the 20th century, have bought a car,

get to wear out your tires to go and see
the Mont Saint-Michel bay,

and that you eat and sleep on the way
otherwise you don't go on the road.

So this poses a question:

this impasse in which innovation lies,

this impasse
that the Michelin brothers solved,

well, it requires a special mindset,

and we are going to use
the Melcion matrix to describe it.

Imagine two axes:

a horizontal axis,
which is the axis of autonomy,

freedom and the control
of one's own destiny.

On this axis, entrepreneurs
are all at the top,

with all the freelancers,

all the people who want
to work only for themselves.

The axis of autonomy, freedom,
the control of their destiny.

Imagine now a vertical axis, it is
the axis of the desire for achievement,

the axis of achievement in the US way,

of the permanent need
to advance one's plans

one after another, after another,
after another and another.

Entrepreneurs are all
at the top of the second axis too,

along with managers.

Except that, you understand, when you are
at the very top of the horizontal axis,

and at the very top of the vertical axis,

you are at the top right
of the Melcion matrix.

And here you have two unfulfilled needs:

the first is to continue to find
solutions, again and again.

It is to transfer

innovation into practice.

And so this desire
for freedom, for autonomy,

this allows entrepreneurs

to have the ideas
of a transgressive business model,

because, let's not kid ourselves,

no one paid for the kilometer marks
nor the printing of the road maps,

the selection of the various sites
to visit in France,

nor the list of hotels and restaurants,

no one, except the entrepreneurs,
who paid out of their pockets.

And once they had done this,
what happened?

Well, the market exploded
in France, in Europe, in the world.

Today, Michelin is a business
operating in 170 countries

and with 110,000 employees.

Not bad for two little Auvergne guys
who started at the foot of Puy de Dôme

or rather for their descendants!

The idea I wanted to give you today,

is that the innovator has
a very important role in our society.

But those who put
innovation into practice,

those who build business models

that allow to create businesses
on the basis of innovation,

these are the entrepreneurs.

And so entrepreneurs
have a responsibility.

You have a responsibility.

The evolution of our societies,
the changes in our societies,

rest on you, the entrepreneurs!

Good luck to you!

(Applause)