Success Without a Script: CEOs Share Raw, Real Journeys with Students
Each of us has our own definition of success. Quite often, however, success comes with a price and it’s not without failure, sometimes more than once or twice.
This is what motivated Professor Michel Safars to give HEC Paris MBA and EMBA students an intimate look at what success really looks like through personal stories shared by CEOs and entrepreneurs in his new intensive course, Success Without a Script: Entrepreneurship and Personal Alignment.
“I was always an entrepreneur and nothing I did worked for the first eight years,” said Adrien Nussenbaum, a serial co-founder. “I literally failed my first business. If I was not trying to avoid failing my investors, I would probably have stopped the business. For me, the most important thing is taking risks. If you like taking risks, it means you are ready to live with the consequences of your actions but also willing to accept the positive consequences of potential actions.”
“It’s better to have problems to solve in life”, added Mercedes Erra, founder and chairwoman of the supervisory board of BETC. “If you have problems to solve when you are young, it builds character and a sense of responsibility. It changes your life. It’s nice and sound to be preoccupied by something else than money.”
The Spanish-born mother of five sons led BETC to be named the number one most creative agency in the world in 2024 (WARC Rankings). Mercedes traced her journey from her childhood in the 1960s to becoming a French teacher, graduating from HEC Paris, starting a career in advertising, and ultimately founding BETC.
She stressed the importance of listening to people (the final consumers) in advertising as one of the pillars of BETC’s success. “In advertising you have two clients: the final one i.e. the consumer, and your client (the Brand / the company for which you advertise). You have to deal with both, but the final verdict will come from the consumers. Does your ad convince them? Does it move them? Does it work? On the client side, for me, the most important thing is not to lose them. It’s more important to keep your clients than to win new clients. My rule is to build brands. It’s not about processes, it’s about being able to understand deeply the consumer and to understand how to move the consumer.”
The entrepreneurs and founders were very intimate about sharing their life experiences including therapy, crying, losing money, and sleeping in the streets, said Roger Romero (MBA’ 25). “Usually, we only celebrate success, so it’s very important to hear the path is also full of ups and downs. They had an idea and took the first steps to reach clients.”
“The guest speakers were former students like us. They became investors or sold their companies for millions, and they offered to be mentors or investors to the students,” he added. “We wouldn’t’ have access to that without Professor Michel Safars bringing the speakers. Now, I have five additional doors to knock on to ask for advice, to get support, and to have potential investors,” Roger said.
Professor Safars helped to illustrate key points during the course, and ran the interactive course as a panel discussion, allowing for Q&As throughout the day. He selected a mix of CEOs both men and women from different cultures, backgrounds, and personalities—a must.
In addition to Adrien and Mercedes, guest speakers included Mike Cuingnet, CEO and cofounder of Tennders, Beatrice Dellenbach, Executive Vice President, and Olivier Dellenbach, Founder, CEO and Chairman, respectively of ChapsVision, and Cecile Villette, CEO and cofounder of Altaroad.
Professor Safars worked with MBA alum Patrick El Hajj (MBA ’23), choosing speakers and working on the structure of Success Without a Script. Patrick, who was mentored by Professor Safars during his MBA and after, founded Anchora Transmission, a search fund that acquires small and mid-sized enterprises in France.
“It’s wonderful that they accepted to take time for our students,” Michel said. “HEC can teach about what we believe is important, what students have to pay attention to, the best practices, etc. I wanted not only to expose them to people but also to gain knowledge about how their stories resonate: how does it apply to me, what is not me and makes no sense for me and this course was about that.”
Finally, Beatrice stressed that it’s better to do something you love so that it doesn’t feel like work. “I am not working; I am achieving a project that means something to me, and this requires a lot of energy.”
For Jiamiao Li (EMBA ’25), who is considering launching a startup, Béatrice’s outlook resonated with her. “When my children ask me, ‘Mom, why do you work so hard every evening?’ I tell them, don’t rely on me to give you money. If you want to succeed, you need to work hard.”