Jacek is a high-potential Polish manager working in a large international corporation deeply shaped by French cultural codes.
He is an excellent technical expert and a solid project manager. Yet, in the eyes of his supervisor, something is still missing for him to step into a more strategic role.
He comes to us with a clear request: to become more assertive, to adopt a posture that allows him to better present his projects, to promote them internally, and to give them greater political weight within the organization.
This request is entirely legitimate.
At the same time, it reveals a very real cultural gap between Poland and France — one that his manager is not always aware of.
Yes, Jacek needs to learn the codes of an organization that operates according to French norms if he wants to gain visibility and influence.
But he has been shaped within a very different understanding of what creates value at work.
In Poland, he learned that work should speak for itself.
That results are enough to establish credibility and to be heard.
That commitment is expressed first and foremost through action, rather than through how one speaks about it.
After five years in this French organization, he reaches a conclusion that can be surprising:
a well-crafted PowerPoint can sometimes have more impact than a perfectly executed project.
This is not a dysfunction.
It is a different system of codes.
In the French business culture, intelligence and legitimacy are expressed through argumentation.
It is not enough to be right — one must be able to convince.
The word convaincre itself is telling. It carries an almost combative dimension: a confrontation of ideas, a search for the right form, a way of shaping an argument so that it lands and is recognized.
Content matters, of course. But the way it is structured, the rhythm of the reasoning, the style of delivery — these are what give it strength.
An argument does not stand on its own: it needs to be constructed, developed, and carried.
What is expected is not only logic and rationality, but also a certain form of elegance — understood as precision, clarity, and the ability to guide others through a line of thought in a compelling way.
This is where influence is built.
You can see it in the impact of figures such as Dominique de Villepin, where the power of language is not just a form of expression, but a primary act of influence. This logic extends into corporate life.
Another key dimension is the ability to navigate relational networks.
Building alliances, introducing ideas upstream before decisions are made — these are not neutral practices.
As shown by Philippe d’Iribarne, they are rooted in France’s history, deeply marked by the legacy of the Ancien Régime.
This is not about monarchy in a literal sense, but about a way of structuring relationships: the importance of position, recognition, access to decision-makers, and the ability to be seen and heard in the right circles.
These codes, although transformed, are still very present in organizations.
Influence is not built only through formal structures — it often takes shape beforehand, in relationships and in the way ideas and individuals are positioned.
For those shaped in other cultural contexts, this can be disorienting.
And the same mechanism applies in reverse.
The merger between Lafarge and Holcim, and the situation of Bruno Lafont, illustrate this clearly.
The French leadership style — more centralized, with a strong role for the leader and top-down decision-making — was perceived as too “monarchical” in the Swiss context.
In Switzerland, a different logic prevails: more consensus, more consultation, and a greater balance in decision-making.
What is seen as strength and clarity in one system can be perceived, in another, as a lack of listening or an excessive concentration of power.
Understanding these cultural differences — and learning how to work with them — is essential not only for developing one’s influence, but also for positioning projects and ideas effectively.
Because today, Poland has something it long lacked: a strong position and growing credibility in the eyes of international partners, including French ones.
But quality alone is not enough.
It still needs to be translated into codes that are legible and convincing for the other side.
This is precisely where we come in.
We help leaders and teams navigate these codes with greater ease — without losing what makes the Polish approach so strong: speed of execution, grounded commitment, and credibility rooted in reality.
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