Hugues Le Gendre

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them — Albert Einstein

Hi! My name is

Hugues Le Gendre

and for the past 10 years, I have been accompanying decision-makers and their organizations on a path of innovation and positive transformation. And it transforms me.

Hence, I transform complex problems into opportunities to act differently and change ourselves.

The complex problems of my clients are of all kinds, because I mainly intervene in meta-solving.

Acting differently takes on many dimensions: more conscious, collaborative, systemic, human, free, ambitious, efficient, etc.

My work consists in: making visible a complex problem that matters ; bringing consciousness to what is happening around it, especially among the stakeholders ; creating a space of freedom and security to solve it ; anticipating and supporting the implementation of solutions.

I favor an effectual logic rather than a causal one: starting from where we are, with the means we have to build our future.

To achieve this, I opt for a sustained preparation phase with my clients in order to create trust and allow a truly systemic approach.

I pay particular attention to people, key players in the processes of creating, deciding and implementing solutions. This prevents them from becoming the « f***ing human factor », the one that makes even obvious initiatives fail.

In practice, I contribute on subjects of: scaling up, internal culture, mission and alignment, psychological safety, innovation and creativity, digital transformation, agile management, professional transition, etc. I have a particular appetite for human subjects in technical contexts: support for CTOs and their teams, especially in growing startups.

This support is variable depending on the need and the context: I am an individual and collective professional coach, a facilitator of collective intelligence, a trainer, a consultant and a speaker.

I most often adopt a posture of problem meta-solving: I create conditions for my clients to solve their most important problems themselves.

At the same time, I publically document my encounters with new ideas that nourish me in a learning repository with 700+ entries and a several thousand readers each month (in French). I have two major themes : #apprenti-sage (a daily almanack of professional and personal development lessons) and #soph.ia (a strategic and technical take on AI and its enlightened use).

I am an aspiring-polymath: that is to say that I am deeply interested in a large number of very diverse subjects. For example: mathematics, psychology, code, spirituality, data-science, design, finance, writing, strategy, carpentry, rock climbing, etc.

Even if it’s harder to « sell » (I have been independent since 2015 and have 15 years of diverse but resolutely entrepreneurial professional experiences), I have chosen to embrace this multipotentiality rather than presenting a unique facet of my singularity. And I was told that it gave me a « relevant impertinence » (synthesis of ideas, speed of learning and adaptability) on subjects that the world needs, with an approach that is both grounded in reality and humanist.

Distinctive marks

Skills

Philanthropy

Because I came to know the impact Nature has on my balance and actualization, and because I believe we must actively regenerate it, I chose to become an entrepreneur-philanthropist by dedicating 1% of my revenue to actions that take care of it. Member of an eponymous network of corporate philanthropy between 2020 and 2024, I now dispatch my support in a more bespoke way without intermediary.

I am also the President of an AMAP (association for the preservation of peasant farming) and Administrator of the durable climbing club.