Embark on the transformative journey of Esséré, a boutique provider of leadership development and culture transformation services. Founder Serge Borg tells us more.
Can you describe what Esséré is and what inspired you to start this company?
Esséré is a boutique provider of bespoke leadership development and culture transformation services: individual and team coaching, mediation, Visioning, new ways of working, group facilitation, leadership journeys and workshops. Our four values are Dignity, Simplicity, Exigency and Joy.
It was born from the confluence of two streams: (1) what I’m pretty good at, and (2) the drive to create an organization I’d like to work in, one that puts human dignity at the center despite a pyramidal hierarchical system of command and control.
In short, in the first part of my career as an engineer, in technology transfer, I thought marketing was the driving force of companies. Then, after an MBA, I realized that finance was the driving force. Finally, after a strategic project management experience in a multinational company, I became convinced of the 3Ps approach: companies should be managed on the basis of Profit, People and Planet.
Putting human dignity at the center has allowed me to witness a collective consciousness where the balance between the 3Ps seems “natural”.
Human dignity can therefore be a driving force for business. No one wants their business to fail, but profitability becomes an outcome, not the primary goal.
Esséré’s mission is to foster better human beings to generate human leaders. Can you elaborate on what this means and how you go about achieving this goal?
This is a key topic. The cornerstone!
The fundamental question for all of us must be, “What leaders do we want for tomorrow?” Business leaders as well as political leaders. For example here in Luxembourg. I don’t think rationality, intelligence, problem-solving, etc. are enough, even with emotional intelligence.
I think the level of consciousness is becoming more important because of the complexity and seriousness of our societal and planetary problems. And by consciousness, I mean feeling inside us the outside world and being able to reconcile what your head (rational, logical, fact-based) dictates with what your gut (values, beliefs, dreams) seeks.
At Esséré, we have developed a leadership model called BRAVETM. BRAVE is the courage it takes to align internally and express it externally through decisions, strategies and investments. And BRAVE is also Benevolence (I want your best), Respect (I am curious about our differences), Authenticity (I act on my values), Vulnerability (I trust you to express my shadows), and Emotional Awareness. Putting these 5 virtues into action requires being brave.
Based on the principles of Gestalt Therapy, we guide leaders on a BRAVE journey of self-discovery, awareness, stabilizing their sense of self (ego), striving to create and live in psychologically safe spaces, and communicating a sense of belonging. They ground their sense of who they are to provide the stability necessary to create an environment where others can feel and perform their best.
“Once upon a time… there was a CEO of a self-funded tech startup who expected his management team to guarantee the scalability of the company while preserving the DNA of the current culture.”
Serge Borg, founder of Esséré
How do you define a human leader, and what are the qualities and characteristics that they possess?
Today, and even more so tomorrow, leaders need to feel confident navigating the unknown with and for their organizations and their people.
Beyond business acumen and situational clarity, he/she must connect to his gut and find a way to express and bring to life his personal vision for the future. By personal vision, I mean the collective human and business adventure that is worth living for himself and for all stakeholders. Qualities are the ones mentioned in the previous question, among which being as much as possible BRAVE.
How does Esséré bring data, science, and research to help entrepreneurs and individuals become better leaders?
We have conducted our own research based on our experience. We have identified three organizational capabilities that enable companies to embrace the unknown with confidence. These are “Quiet Egos[1]” to align egos with the common good, “Psychological Safety[2]” to build trust, and finally “Perceived Organizational Support[3]” to create a sense of belonging. For each capability, we provide a scientifically validated survey to measure it.
The measurement tools for each organizational capability can be practised for free here. (https://www.essere.lu/en/inspiration/#our-tools)
Can you share any success stories of individuals or companies that have worked with Esséré and seen improvements in their leadership abilities or organizational culture?
Yes, you can find many examples in the Epics on our website. A great recent story is Next Gate Tech. I’ve had the profound joy of working with Davide Martucci for over a year and a half.
Here is another collaboration with a French startup.
Once upon a time… there was a CEO of a self-funded tech startup who expected his management team to guarantee the scalability of the company while preserving the DNA of the current culture. I had been coaching the CEO for about a year to help him detach from his project (the project is no longer more important than he is), to better manage his tensions and thus sleep better, to see how to help and better support his management team, to clarify whether to continue or sell the company, etc.
We start a 5 pm to 5 pm Day+1 workshop by taking care of the team: they have been living for a long time with the feeling of a never-ending race. Then comes a fundamental moment of alignment on the perception of the external customer. The subgroups used drawings to support their exchanges. This was the key to a natural alignment on current priorities and a North Star for future ones. After more deep-sharing moments, we closed the workshop with a visualization experimentation: How do I see my organization in 3 years and how do I see and feel myself in that context? At the end of the workshop, the common feeling is that this “quiet” time was absolutely necessary to recharge, reconnect and realign the team. In fact, we worked on regenerating the team, aligning purposes and desires, while experiencing the BRAVETM Virtues.
[1] “The quiet Ego: Motives for Self-Other balance and growth in relation to well-being”, Wayment H. A., Bauer J. J., 2017
[2] « Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams”, Edmondson A., 1999.
[3] “Perceived Organizational Support: A Review of the Literature”, Rhoades L. and Eisenberger R., 2002 by the American Psychological Association
