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Hello everyone, hello. So, we are going to[br]ask a very simple question: how to make your

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dreams come true? Do you think it's a good[br]question? I think it's a good wiki question.

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Actually, when you were a kid, when you were[br]younger, what did you dream of becoming? An

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astronaut? Yeah? A model? Journalist? Speaker[br]- yeah, it's great. An actor? How many actors

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or actresses in the room? The next Robert[br]De Niro, Julia Roberts? Maybe a rockstar?

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How many rockstars in the room? Ah Gadsby[br]- yeah for sure. How many financial directors?

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One, two, ok.

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How many bankers? No? Accountants, sales rep,[br]product manager - how many product managers?

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You don't even know what it is. Don't laugh,[br]it's my job. Yeah, I'm a product manager.

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And yet, I wanted to be a rockstar. But you[br]can figure out that it didn't work. Otherwise

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you would know, right? It's me in the picture[br]by the way. It was some years ago.

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I wanted to be a rockstar because my dream[br]was about sharing. Sharing a big adventure,

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you know, with a band. Touring in a bus, playing[br]every night in a different city in front of

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hundreds of thousands of people. It was really[br]exciting, and I wanted to create, every day,

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every single day creating, feeling free, you[br]know. And, most of all, I wanted to colour

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up people's lives, because this is how music[br]works with me. When you are a little down,

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when you've got some troubles, when you want[br]to get some courage, you listen to music,

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and you feel better.

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And so, I wanted to be this rockstar. But,[br]actually, things went slightly differently.

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So I'm going to tell you - very briefly - my[br]story and maybe answer this question. So,

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when I was 20, wanting to become this rockstar,[br]I just thought that maybe it wasn't the safest

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profession on Earth - rockstar, I mean. So[br]I wondered, what could I do... what could

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I do. I was looking for a safer job. And I[br]thought about becoming a film director. Yes,

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it was quite realistic I guess - if music[br]doesn't work let's do some cinema, yes of

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course. But ok, I was 20, don't laugh.

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And so, I wanted to go to this cinema school.[br]And to do so, I had to get this scientific

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degree. So, I went to a scientific college,[br]Jussieu, in Paris. And in doing this degree,

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I've discovered artificial intelligence, that[br]was pretty different from music and from cinema,

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but actually, that was quite fascinating,[br]because it was about understanding human beings.

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The way we think, the way we act, the way[br]we make decisions, but studying that from

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a scientific approach. It was that interesting,[br]that I kept following my studies, until I

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got a PhD in computer science - and honestly[br]that wasn't expected at all. But it was interesting,

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because I kept learning and learning about[br]human beings.

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But since preparing a PhD doesn't pay a lot,[br]well, I became a web designer. Because I had

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to earn my living, you know. To be honest,[br]I wasn't very good at it, and I didn't earn

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a lot of money, but I met this guy, a coach,[br]a company coach, you know, going into companies

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and trying to help employees to feel better,[br]to be more efficient in their jobs. And so

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to design his website, I had to understand[br]what he was doing, so we were talking for

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hours, days, weeks. And he began to get interested[br]in what I was doing during my PhD, and it

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was kind of complementary, actually. It was[br]so complementary that he asked me to create

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a company with him. That wasn't expected at[br]all, and I had no skills - I was still practicing

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music a lot, and that wasn't expected; but[br]I ran a consulting firm for 7 years. We've

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been pretty successful actually, and it was[br]very interesting because we met a lot of people,

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I learnt a lot of things about human beings,[br]but I didn't plan that, to be honest.

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7 years later, a customer of mine once asked[br]me - and honestly I still don't know why - but

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he asked me, could you help me, could you[br]help my human resources director to support

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all of his processes. So could you create[br]the software? But I wasn't doing that at all,

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and I said 'no' the first time, and I said[br]'no' the second time, and the third time I

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said 'ok, why not'?

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That wasn't expected, I had no specific skills,[br]but since he insisted that much I said ok,

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and finally I became a product manager, and[br]once again, we've been kind of successful

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with that, with this talent management field.[br]And since we were successful, I could become

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a blogger, starting writing books about talent[br]management and the way to develop yourself.

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And this is where it becomes quite interesting,[br]because actually, I started to share and share

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and share again, with everyone, the users[br]of the blogs, and so on. And finally I realised

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that my dreams came true.

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Well, I know that you are laughing, because,[br]well, it is kind of different from being a

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rockstar. I could ask Gadsby, 'well, you are[br]going to become a product manager, will you

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be happy with that?' Maybe he won't be that[br]happy; but what is interesting, is that I

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wanted to share a powerful strong adventure[br]with a lot of people. Actually, I share this

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string adventure with more than 150 colleagues;[br]most of them have become friends. I wanted

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to create; well, even if you don't know what[br]a product manager is, creating is the exact

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job description of product management. I wanted[br]to become free; I am one of the bosses of

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the company, so I'm pretty free, even if I[br]have to go to the office in suits and I have

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a schedule, I'm kind of free.

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And the most important thing is that I wanted[br]to colour up people's lives, and actually

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with our software we help our customers' employees[br]to find their own way, to find their path,

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to get their dream job, to drive their own[br]career. So when you think about it, yes my

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dreams came true, but nothing of what I had[br]ever expected had happened. The question is

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not how to make your dreams come true; it's[br]how to let your dreams come true. Because

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if you think about it, we all focus on the[br]'how': how are we going to achieve our dreams,

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but the truth is, we have no idea about it.[br]So the important thing is not to focus on

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the means; it's to try to be able to see,[br]to identify, to recognise, to spot opportunities

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when they come.

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This is a tough thing, it's not obvious. There[br]is this guy, falling from his boat, drowning

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in the ocean, and he prays to god, he prays[br]to god to come and save him. He says 'god,

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please, help me'. The first boat comes, and[br]says 'hey, man, come on up'. The guy says

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no, no thanks; god is going to save me. The[br]second boat comes and says 'hey, man, come

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on up'. 'No, no, no thanks, god is going to[br]save me'. The third boat comes and - you know

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the story - he says no, and finally he dies.[br]He goes to paradise, he meets god, and says

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'hey god, what did you do? I prayed for you[br]to come and save me and you didn't show up!'

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and god says, 'are you kidding me? I sent[br]three boats!'

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This is our problem - we don't see boats,[br]we are not expecting boats, we are expecting

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something else. I don't know what, but something[br]else. And so the truth is that if you want

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to become a rockstar, a model, an actor, an[br]astronaut, maybe it's not going to happen,

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but that's not the most important thing. The[br]most important thing is what is lying under

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your dreams; what do you really want to do.[br]Not necessarily to do, but to be. And so you've

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got to stay very open, to stay tuned for opportunities[br]when they come. And I can swear, life will

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do the rest. So the question for you is, what's[br]in it for me? What is it going to be? And

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so, you can take this coin, and say heads[br]or tails. Heads. You don't know, but I swear

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that you will see.