…and what should we replace it with? For years, management has repeated the same mantra: we must be aligned. Strategic alignment. Team alignment. Goal alignment. Alignment with the vision. The word is reassuring. It creates the illusion of control. But in a world that has become complex, unstable and interconnected, alignment has turned into a simplifying word used to think a complex reality. A comfortable concept inherited from another time. Alignment: a geometry that is too

When thinking about the future becomes a strategic act We live in a paradoxical time We live in a paradoxical time. Never have companies had so much data, analysis, indicators and foresight studies, and never have they had so much difficulty thinking about the future. The problem is not a lack of information. It lies elsewhere. The future cannot be contained in tables, statistical extrapolations or five-year plans. No statistic has ever made it possible to predict the future,

For a modernity of doing, human innovation and shared prosperity Three books offer powerful insights into the digital age, an age that may be distancing us from our humanity: The Craftsman  by Richard Sennett, L’Âge du faire  by Michel Lallement, and Hände: Eine Kulturgeschichte  by Jochen Hörisch. We live in a paradoxical time. Never have we been so connected, and never so far removed from reality. The world now reaches us through interfaces, screens, indicators, abstraction

Our Purpose Everything starts with a conviction. The conviction that has guided us since the very first day of Activate Innovation: the workplace can and must be a place of fulfilment. We have seen companies become spaces of joy, learning, and meaning. And others, on the contrary, where suffering settles in, where people fall silent, where energy fades away. It is not only counter-productive: it is humanly unacceptable . Because this suffering does not stay within the company

The Essentials for Designing an Ambitious, Unifying and Sustainable Territorial Project In a world undergoing profound transition, one truth stands out: the territory is the human scale of reinvention. It is at this level, wide enough to mobilize diverse forces, close enough to remain tangible, that new models can emerge, aligning economic performance, social progress and environmental regeneration. Reinventing a territory begins with building a shared vision , deeply rooted

We live today under the tyranny of urgency . Everything feels urgent: emails, meetings, decisions, crises. We are caught in a constant flow of information, injunctions, notifications, a whirlwind that makes us feel like we are running without ever moving fast enough. You know you are taking back control the moment you feel you are no longer in REACTION  mode, but in ACTION  mode. When your decisions are no longer dictated by pressure, but aligned with a vision. Breaking free

By Serge Darrieumerlou 🔶 WHY? A CEO recently confided to me: “I feel like I’m running after technologies I no longer understand.” That’s precisely where everything begins: when a company realizes that its traditional weak-signal sensors are no longer enough. Advanced technologies are moving at lightning speed artificial intelligence, biotechnology, sustainable materials, automation, clean energy. They’re reshaping our business models, production methods, customer relationshi

Innovating with and for customers: When listening becomes the engine of value creation Author: Serge DARRIEUMERLOU, founder of Decathlon’s Innovation Platform Customer R&D is not a methodology. It is a culture, a way of rethinking innovation starting from real life, real uses, and real emotions. It places listening, observation and co-creation at the heart of research, to design solutions that are fair, meaningful and desirable because they emerge from people’s lives. This sp

The Client at the Heart of the Company The idea that the client should be at the heart of the company is often repeated but too rarely embodied. Because today’s client is no longer just a buyer: they are a citizen, a “consum-actor”, a member of communities, and a bearer of values. They choose brands as much for their meaning as for their products. They want to participate, co-create, and be recognized as a full-fledged actor of progress. Why Create a Customer R&D? For several

The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Philippe Aghion  and Peter Howitt  reminds us of a fundamental truth: growth doesn’t fall from the sky. It is built, day after day, through the ability of individuals, companies, and territories to innovate, learn, and reinvent themselves. From Solow to Aghion: Understanding the Real Engine of Growth   In the 1950s, Robert Solow , a researcher at MIT, showed that a country’s growth depended on two main factors: capital and labor. B

Artificial intelligence is not just another technological revolution. It is a deep undercurrent reshaping the way organizations think, decide, and learn. But to truly benefit from it, it is not enough to integrate AI tools: it must be connected to the company’s strategy and a dynamic of continuous transformation. AI Has No Vision. It Amplifies Yours. AI has no vision of its own: it amplifies the vision of the organization that uses it. Without purpose, it does not create valu

The Tyranny of Quick Answers We live in a world of constant urgency. In business, everything must move fast: strategic plans, reorganizations, innovation, digitalization. For every problem, an immediate answer is expected. But there is a trap: too often, companies focus on answering other people’s questions - those posed by competitors, by the market, by the media, by consultants. In doing so, they lose their most precious ability: to create their own questions. Asking Your O

Permanent transformation explained in under 5 minutes! Soon translated in English !

In every company, everyone feels deep down the need to change, evolve, and constantly adapt to the shifts in their environment. Yet this...