Grégoire Poux-Guillaume (CEO, AkzoNobel)

Grégoire (Greg) Poux-Guillaume is CEO of AkzoNobel, a leading coatings company (headquartered in Amsterdam) that is active in more than 150 countries and earned revenues of more than 10 billion Euros with over 35,200 employees, and is one of the most renowned and internationally experienced executives in Europe. Prior to becoming CEO of AkzoNobel, Mr. Poux-Gauillaume was CEO of Sulzer, a Swiss industrial company with more than 13,000 employees. Before that, he was CEO of GE Grid Solutions (fmr. Alstom Grid) and Senior Managing Director of CVC Capital Partners, a leading Private Equity firm, after having workd in the technology venture capital area of Softbank and as a consultant at McKinsey. Mr. Poux-Guillaume has worked and lived in England, France, Myanmar, Scotland, Switzerland, and the US and started his career at Total. Mr. Poux-Guillaume obtained a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from École Centrale Paris and an MBA from Harvard Business School. ______________________________________ The CEO Leadership Series is the flagship event series of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and takes place at the Heilbronn campus. The goal of the event series is to connect top managers with young students in order to promote a fruitful dialogue. The guests first hold a panel discussion with the host about their careers and organizations, and then respond to questions from the students in a Q&A session. This gives students valuable insights into the fascinating and exciting life and work of successful and renowned managers. ______________________________________ 00:00 Teaser 01:33 Intro 04:13 Childhood, university 06:48 Total 10:09 Working offshore 14:09 Leadership experience 16:15 Harvard Business School 20:29 Consultant at McKinsey (most important skills) 26:07 Softbank 27:57 Not having a job 30:28 Finding a new job 32:45 Offering Sephora to Bernard Arnault 34:30 Taking a job without extensive prior experience Music: Good Morning by MaxKoMusic