Exhibition VULNERABLE: Rethinking the Role of Fragility in Organizations

From November 7 to 21, 2025, HEC Paris will host the exhibition VULNERABLE in the Galerie Nord of Building T — a project inviting us to rethink the role of vulnerability within organizations.
 

Giving Voice to a New Managerial Culture

In a context of climate crises, geopolitical tensions, and economic transformation, eighteen French business leaders co-signed a public statement titled “Enterprises, let’s dare to be vulnerable!” Their message: vulnerability is not a weakness, but a seed for renewal — even a strategic asset — toward more humane, adaptable, and high-performing organizations.

An IFOP–VULNERABLE survey, unveiled for the occasion, reveals that 63% of French employees who have experienced vulnerability believe their company did not support them enough — a figure calling for a profound transformation of managerial cultures.

Portraits and Stories to Embody the Issue

The exhibition presents 18 portrait-stories of leaders who openly share how vulnerability has shaped their professional journeys. Captured through the lens of photographer Géraldine Aresteanu and narrated by No Com Stories, these stories reveal paths where doubt and fragility become sources of strength.

Among the photographed and contributing leaders: Lucie Basch (Too Good To Go), Eva Sadoun (Lita.co), Jean-Philippe Courtois (ex-Microsoft, Live for Good), Kat Borlongan (ex-French Tech), Hubert de Boisredon (Armor Group), and Wassila Zitoune (Orange Business France).

A Theme Resonating with HEC Paris Initiatives

The question of vulnerability resonates deeply within HEC Paris. It lies at the heart of many reflections carried out in our programs, research, and social initiatives — particularly through the work of the Purpose Center, led by Professor Rodolphe Durand (Academic Director) and Romain Briat (Executive Director). The center supports students and companies in exploring purpose, leadership, and responsibility.

This exhibition continues HEC’s long-standing mission: encouraging more responsible and human leadership, where recognizing individual and collective fragilities becomes a source of learning, innovation, and impact.

This approach is reflected in the L3 Student Engagement track, which explores vulnerability in all its forms:

• Planetary vulnerability, through a seminar in Chamonix where students witness the fragility of glaciers and the effects of climate change;
• Human and social vulnerability, through fieldwork in companies and 30 hours of civic engagement with associations supporting elderly, disabled, or homeless people;
• A reflective exercise on how these experiences reshape their relationship to themselves, to others, and to leadership.

This vision also extends to initiatives such as HEC Paris HOPES, supported by the Fondation Bettencourt Schueller, which helps women in precarious, isolated, or excluded situations create their own businesses (Stand Up program).

A Shared Ambition

Launched by Alexandre Fayeulle and led by Advens for People and Planet, the initiative has fully inspired the Purpose Center, which joined the movement in October 2024.

Romain Briat, Executive Director of the Center, explains:

“VULNERABLE aims to change how we relate to vulnerability by questioning our conceptions of success, community, and power — even giving companies the means to turn it into a resource. Hosting this exhibition on HEC Paris campus fits perfectly with the school’s mission: to train tomorrow’s leaders to combine performance and humanity.”

The project is also part of a broader reflection carried out by the S&O Institute. In his report “Framing Vulnerability: Challenges, Opportunities, and Responsible Engagement”, published by the HEC Paris Inclusive Economy Center, postdoctoral researcher Octavio Barros shows that vulnerability — economic, relational, and systemic — exists at the very heart of organizations, not only in society. Based on interviews with ten HEC Paris professors and leaders, he reveals how corporate cultures focused on efficiency and control often inadvertently reinforce exclusion.

To address this responsibly, companies must foster trust and psychological safety, ensure inclusive governance that empowers vulnerable voices, and collaborate with civil society and public authorities to tackle the systemic causes of vulnerability.

Three Core Beliefs of VULNERABLE

• Leadership that dares to show doubt and humility
• Performance that integrates social and ecological dimensions
• Management that embraces fragility as a source of richness

Conference “VULNERABLE” 

On Wednesday, November 19, during the “VULNERABLE” conference held on the HEC Paris campus for first-year Grande École students, three business leaders candidly shared moments of vulnerability that marked their careers and transformed their leadership styles: 

• Grégoire Ducret, CEO of Advens for People and Planet
• Marc Batty, Co-founder and President of FEVE
• Florence Guémy, Former CEO and member of the Bayard Group's executive board, Vice President of Heart Leadership University

Through their testimonials, this conference invites us to change our perspective on vulnerability and to rethink leadership, performance, and responsibility within organizations.