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"Take the first step in faith.

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You don't have to see the whole staircase,[br]just take the first step.”

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Martin Luther King.

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In February 2009, I lost my job[br]as a marketing director,

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I was all dynamic, in London,

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when suddenly one day, I lost my job.

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It was a real slap in the face[br]but I told myself,

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"it's time to live your dream,[br]I want to inspire millions of people,

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nothing less,

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I want to put videos online for free.

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I don't know how I'm going[br]to make a living from it

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but this is what I want to do.

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Now is the time to do it[br]because I've been fired.

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Let's do it!"

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I already had two,[br]three million views on Youtube,

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so I thought the time was right.

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I also thought it was time[br]to write a book.

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Why not? [br]

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I had just lost a job,

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After all, I had been practicing[br]self-improvement for years,

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I had attended training courses,

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if all that, the meditations, do work,

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it may be time to try them[br]and to put them into practice.

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So I wrote a book about it[br]and by the end of 2009,

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I had a book in my hands,[br]which had been made very quickly,

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but not a cent on my bank account.

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I ended up broke, in London,[br]a very very expensive city,

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and at the age of 32,[br]I had to go back to my parents',

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well, to mum's, my parents were divorced.

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That's a real blow to your ego, for sure,[br]but I didn't have any other choice,

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it was that or finding another[br]regular marketing job,

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working for someone that didn't suit me[br]or at least, I wouldn't get along with

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and I thought, no, I want[br]to live my dream, I don't know how,

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but I would rather go back[br]more or less to square one,

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live what I must live with my parents[br]and not do that job again.

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So I stayed but I still didn't know[br]how to make a living from my passion.

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My book had known a bit of success[br]but not enough to make a living.

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On January, 11, 2011

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I decided to go on tour across[br]the United States, Mexico and Canada,

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a 12-month tour of interviews,[br]during which I would interview authors,

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people that I thought were nice,[br]authors mainly.

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I wanted to learn from them[br]so I brought my small camera,

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my very small camera, a little bit ashamed[br]of coming over with such a small camera,

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they were so famous!

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I showed up there[br]and I started to interview them,

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to ask the questions I had always wanted[br]to ask and I broadcast it on Internet.

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But you are probably[br]wondering how I paid for it.

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Because traveling for twelve months[br]costs a lot, it can be very expensive.

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I simply put a donation button,[br]a Paypal button, on the website.

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I had no idea that it would work[br]when I started my tour.

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It showed no sign.

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So it was a big leap of faith,

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and the day before the tour started,[br]I was in New Mexico,

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I was ready to do my first interview,[br]and a donation happened.

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It was the exact amount[br]for the computer I needed,

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that I just bought to upload[br]these videos on Youtube.

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I was blown away!

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I was like: "What? Someone just made[br]a donation so that I can live my dream,

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I didn't even really ask,[br]I didn't even say what I need,

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and someone make me a donation!"

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It was like everything became[br]more colorful, more alive,

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and it blew me away.

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Of course these steps transformed my life,

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it changed me, they were difficult steps,

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challenges, leaps into the unknown,[br]almost quantum leaps,

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and it transformed my life.

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10 years after uploading my first video[br]on Youtube in March 2006,

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I got my first "like" and my first view,[br]it was very exciting,

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well, ten years later,[br]I have put 3,000 videos online,

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got around 2,000 interviews[br]in several languages,

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in French and English[br]since I am French-American,

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I am doing it in both languages.

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I have traveled in a lot of countries,

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I am just back from Martinique,[br]Guadeloupe and Thaïland,

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45 millions of people[br]have watched my videos,

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so it has produced a snowball effect[br]thanks to the social media and all that,

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these videos inspire people[br]to move forward.

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Lately I interviewed Mantak Chia[br]in Thaïland for example,

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who has written lots of books[br]about longevity,

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on having a blooming sexuality.

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Then I am going to interview[br]Professor Henri Joyeux on nutrition,

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or Frédéric Laloue[br]on Reinventing Organizations,

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so the new economic models for companies.

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In short, I am having a ball!

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I am going from one person to another,[br]I upload everything on Youtube.

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But to tell you the truth,[br]I absolutely have no idea,

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I still don't see the whole staircase.

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In other words,[br]I answer the call every time,

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every time I feel this impulse,[br]this intuition, this desire,

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when something resounds inside me,

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I say yes, but I don't know[br]where I am headed.

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What I can tell you is I am having a ball,

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What I can tell you is[br]I am enjoying myself,

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that I am filled with gratitude[br]and joy of life, [br]

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that I am feeling more and more myself,[br]and since the day I lost my job,

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and found myself broke,[br]this is when my real life began.

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It makes me laugh[br]because when I look back,

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I was so afraid of opening[br]myself to others,

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I would have been so afraid[br]of talking in public, of making a video,

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I needed to do everything on my own,[br]I needed to protect myself,

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I was afraid of being manipulated,[br]of being betrayed,

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I was afraid of being everything[br]you can imagine,

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I was protecting myself.

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Especially since that time[br]when I had no money,

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because it was the hardest thing[br]I had to live,

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being an entrepreneur at the age of 23

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and achieving success,[br]even a financial one,

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to find myself in this situation has been[br]the most beautiful gift after all,

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because it has opened myself again[br]to life, to gratitude,

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to care about myself,[br]rather than being hard on myself,

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it has helped me[br]to look beyond differences,

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beyond appearances,[br]particularly to tell real 'yes' to life,

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to learn to say 'no' when needed,[br]to follow this intuition,

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to listen to my intelligence,[br]the intelligence of the heart,

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that comes at the service[br]of the intelligence which is up there,

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and to learn to let go, to trust life

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and admit that, maybe,[br]this is not a threatening universe.

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This is the principle of this world 2.0[br]that I offer versus the 1.0 one,

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that I feel has reached its limits.

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Today we are in a world asking us[br]to be joyful, to be spontaneous,

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to be grateful for small things,

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to understand we don't need[br]to suffer to move forward,

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that we all have something unique[br]inside us, that you have something unique,

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you even have a responsibility,

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a responsibility to life, to yourself,

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and in order to live this responsibility,[br]we need to be brave,

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we need to be ourselves.

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We need to go draw within ourselves.

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It is far from being an easy path[br]but, at least, we become ourselves,

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and we really can help change the world.

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I think we got here, to the point[br]where we have this ability,

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and you know we have this ability to help,

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to contribute, if only we want[br]to make a positive impact on the world,

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but it's up to us to decide, to say yes,

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to not hesitate to also ask[br]life to support us,

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and to have visions[br]that are bigger than us.

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I remember watching a TED talk[br]by Jacques Attali,

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who said : "What's most important[br]is to undertake your life"

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I totally agree with that of course,[br]because I think it's deeply connected,

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life, our company[br]and our professionnal life

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and to blossom like that.

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So I ask you tonight to look[br]at what your role in this society is,

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what role you want to play,[br]and what your commitment is,

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what excites you,

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and what you would like to answer[br]your grandchildren if, one day,

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you had a conversation with them

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and they asked about the influence[br]you have had on this world.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)