“My role was to use people from different sciences to understand where to put the oil wells, whether they will be profitable or not, and to understand the movements of the fluids 2 to 3 km underground. To understand all the sciences that allow you to do this: thermodynamics, geology, geophysics… these are all wonderful sciences. I spent a lot of time travelling for my job, so I worked with many different kinds of people. In the jungle, in the Arctic, out on the sea, in the desert, in many different countries. And that makes you appreciate that people who are completely different from us have different values.

So, for example, I worked in Indonesia for 4 years. That was 40 years ago… but back then they didn’t have any nursing homes. It was unthinkable. This concept was beyond their understanding. The elderly are part of the family. So, if you want, there are very nice things like that. The kids… if you invite people one evening for diner here, people will go find a babysitter. But they would come with their kids ! Because the kids, like the elderly, are part of the family. So, this socially inclusive attitude is great. And I could give many other examples where very different people do great things.

The open-mindedness comes partly if you are honest enough when you travel. You have to see certain things and you say to yourself: “well, that’s not how we do it, but it’s not so bad either.” And because we’re all human beings on this planet, it just gives you a glimpse of the variety, and it gives me the pleasure of being just one person in this world. I don’t like to define myself through my nationality. I’ve always kept it, but it’s not a source of pride. What I am proud of is to make people work together. This is me. This is what I had the pleasure of doing.”

(Parc Mon Repos | translated from French)