John Huss

It is a great pleasure to provide some feedback on the collaboration between sanofi-aventis (Suisse) AG and Professor Raphael Cohen. In the spring of 2007, just after joining the Swiss affiliate as General Manager, I fell on an article written by Raphael entitled "Should we burn business plans?". His thought-provoking message spurred my interest, so I gave him a call and met with him. Before the end of the year, he had developed a micro-MBA program for 25 top talents of my organization, which we kicked off in January 2008 - so much about the entrepreneurial spirit of the man. Raphael's broad experience in entrepreneurship as well as his international background and exposure to different schools (HEC Geneva, Thunderbird, EPFL Lausanne) truly contribute to his very open way of thinking and therefore, of working with his clients. He is pragmatic, solution-oriented and always has in mind how clients can benefit from the collaboration he enters into with them. In addition to working with our top talents, I also asked Raphael to spend time with my executive team to start working on change management and leadership. Here again, his deep understanding of the subject as well as his international exposure helped the team adopt change without resistance. Raphael has a great ability to listen to his clients and to provoke different thinking in a non-threatening manner. The biggest gain for my teams from working with Raphael has been the ability to think outside the box and to handle paradoxes much better - e.g. the paradox of having to work faster and in a more efficient manner, while making sure we put both feet on the brakes to notice the changes taking place in our environment. Raphael has truly helped us become a learning organization and has helped me plant the seed in the minds of our employees that the only way to move forward with serenity is to be a continuous learner, a concept that Raphael personifies with great passion. I would also add that thanks to his support, we have increased the level of effectiveness and interdependence in the company, which in turn has led to great results and the ability to be prepared for the future. Raphael is deeply committed to the success of our organization. His humility and compassion make him a great sparring partner with whom you want to spend time, as you know it is time well invested for the benefit of your employees. I continue having very frequent interactions with him and often seek his advice on various topics. I feel very fortunate to have met Raphael and truly hope our relationship will develop throughout the years to come. In this sense, I wish him a lot of success and look forward to working with him in the future. With kind regards …