Innovating and succeeding together: the Tefal case study

Paul Rivier is self-taught and has no scruples about admitting to daydreaming about simple and convivial products with his feet firmly on the ground and his head in the clouds. He is an inextricable part of the Tefal story and the company’s development. Having started at the very bottom of the ladder in this industry‚ he realised that there were not necessarily huge differences between a qualified person and a person with limited skills‚ and that the most important factor was to strive to ensure that everyone had a part to play in the company’s challenges. Having spent most of his career creating innovation strategies, he discovered the virtues of approaches which brought everyone in the company together, including those who were simply ‘following orders’. He tried hard to listen to all the employees’ points of view in order to make choices, and then to let them all know the choices taken. He perfected a method which has not always been understood by other managers because it is iconoclastic but is surprisingly efficient, and resulted in the creation of two thousand jobs at Tefal during his time as CEO.