The “La Quatrième Roue du Carrosse” adventure got its official send-off at ESSEC Business School on March 21 with a conference I gave with the three students who launched the project. Jean-Baptiste, Thomas and Alexandre will crisscross the roads of the American West Coast for four months to interview ESSEC alumni on their life journeys and the key decisions they made along the way. They will pedal from one location to another and conduct interviews that will surely to inspire fellow students and all of us tuned into their adventures on the Internet and social media.
The bon voyage conference got underway with a screening of the documentary Tandem Conquest that describes my ride up Mont Ventoux on a tandem bicycle with Guillaume Buffet. I discussed the main themes addressed in the documentary and set them in the context of “La Quatrième Roue du Carrosse”: taking the plunge without having all the answers, accepting discovery and learning as part and parcel of doing, managing the inevitable contingencies and having alternatives on hand to cope with them—without forgetting to have fun to help manage doubt and overcome challenges. It was a wonderful moment that confirmed the joy I have sponsoring this fabulous adventure. You can follow the trials and tribulations of the “dream team” trio and listen to the ESSEC alumni interviews here: