Photos © Benoît Greindl
By Sylvie Macquet
After many rewarding years as an entrepreneur, Benoît Greindl wanted to give greater meaning to his work. If business takes the common good into account, it becomes a powerful engine for building a new world.
“We have two lives, and the second begins when we realise we only have one.” Benoît Greindl has made this famous quote from Confucius his own, putting it into practice. After studying business, the Belgian co-founded a real-estate services company for businesses, which expanded into eight European countries. The concept proved highly successful and within a few years three hundred people had joined the company, before it was sold.
At 40, Benoît Greindl moved to Shanghai with his wife and children to recreate the same business there. And it was there, at the end of five years in China, that he began to question what, through his experience and his reflections on society, he had to contribute to future generations, to the economy and to the planet. Looking deep भीतर himself, he realised that while entrepreneurship is an extraordinary adventure, current economic models have largely reached their limits.
So in 2010, Benoît and his family returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland. They were drawn to the country by its beauty and by its model of public governance, which respects diversity and fosters innovation. Benoît continued to create businesses, but in a very different spirit. A lover of nature, he embarked with his cousin on a venture to convert old barns into a seminar centre for companies: Montagne Alternative, in the heart of the Swiss Alps. “Entrepreneurs have become aware of societal and environmental changes, and want to align their production activities with today’s constraints. The idea is to help them, in their search for meaning, to reconnect with nature… and with their own nature.”
Another initiative Benoît has committed to: “An integrated approach to management. An entrepreneur or employee is not just a brain, but also a psychology, emotions, a body…” This is why he co-founded the European branch of the Resilience Institute, a support service for managers. “We stimulate and support organisational change through awareness, understanding and practice leading to behavioural change.”
To measure economic impact, he advocates through the B Corp movement the need to overhaul today’s indicators, which are now completely outdated. New metrics must take into account notions linked to well-being.
There are two ways of looking at today’s world: either we are paralysed by the scale of environmental and societal problems, or we focus on the solutions emerging everywhere and develop a new vision of the world by undertaking business in a committed and almost militant way.
“Entrepreneurship is an engine for innovation, an extraordinary driving force. If the planet is telling us that it is urgent to change gear, entrepreneurship tells us that it is possible to meet these challenges. There are two ways of looking at today’s world: either we focus on environmental and societal problems, or we develop a different vision of the world, to build better.
Technology is bringing about a fabulous expansion of global knowledge. Let’s share that wealth and use it wisely! Let’s strive less to optimise everything at all costs, and move towards greater collaboration.” With all his projects geared towards a resilient future, Benoît Greindl has succeeded in “not dreaming his life, but living his dreams”. A fine lesson in life and hope.
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