I was born in Paris in the late 1960s into a lively family shaped more by books, values, spirited discussions, and care for the community than by ambition or wealth. My mother, a brilliant mathematician and a descendant of the French astrophysicist François Croze, chose to become a schoolteacher and went on to teach thirty generations of children to read—always with the same unwavering passion. My father, a former student of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, was a lecturer in art and art history who devoted his life to nurturing the artistic talents of an entire generation—some of whom would go on to become acclaimed artists around the world.
My parents, along with our extended family, instilled in me a deep belief in the power of transmission—as something that can truly change lives. We were raised in a traditional Protestant faith that placed a high value on reading (we didn’t have a television at home), the pursuit of truth, the love of the Jewish culture, service to others, and a strong work ethic—well above the pursuit of personal or professional success.
At the end of the 1980s, as I was in my early 20’s, a major event reshaped the Western world: the fall of the Berlin Wall. As we witnessed the collapse of an entire world from which we had been cut off for decades, we also saw the triumph of an economic model—profit-maximizing neoliberalism, and a system of governance (liberal democracy) over communism. This gave rise to the assumption, as Francis Fukuyama famously wrote, that we might be witnessing the “End of History.“
But at that same moment, I had a concern. Until then, there had been a kind of competition, mostly dysfunctional, between two systems, each seeking to demonstrate its effectiveness and moral superiority. With the fall of the Soviet Union—which led to the liberation of entire generations and several nations—what also vanished was the existence of a counter-model to neoliberalism and profit-maximizing capitalism.
I sensed that nothing would now stand in the way of unfettered capitalism’s global expansion. This was the topic I originally wanted to explore in my doctoral research, at the crossroads of economics, finance, and theology, a project that would have opened up the possibility of reimagining an economic model positioned at equal distance from, yet rising above, the two dominant ideologies of the 20th century: neoliberal capitalism and state socialism.
However, at the time, the idea was considered neither relevant nor of academic interest. So I turned my attention to international economic and finance instead.
My academic journey took me across Europe and the United States, culminating in a doctoral program in management sciences at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. My research focused on international finance, particularly on option pricing in continuous time.
In the early 1990s, I joined Mars Incorporated almost by chance—initially tempted by an academic career—as a young graduate. After a few years in operational finance and corporate strategy jobs, I was appointed Chief Economist and took the lead of the company’s internal think tank, Catalyst, reporting directly to the leadership team. This role became a remarkable journey. With exceptional teams—always recruited for being better than myself—we pioneered breakthrough practices: from measuring marketing effectiveness and advertising impact, to managing risk in volatile currency and commodity markets, to integrating sociological and anthropological insights into M&A strategies.
Most significantly, we began developing a new approach to value creation that came to be known as the Economics of Mutuality, a breakthrough model co-developed over nearly a decade in partnership with Oxford University’s Saïd Business School.
This initiative was born in 2007 from an unusual conversation with the leadership of Mars—at both the Board and Executive Committee level, shortly after I had been appointed Chief Economist. During that discussion, I was asked a surprising question: “What should be the right level of profit?”
I was struck not only by the question itself, but by the fact that it came not from a government, NGO, or civil society actor, but from the shareholders and executive leadership of one of the largest privately held companies in America.
My immediate response was: “Why are you asking me this question?”
The answer I received was both thoughtful and revealing.
“If a company can be seen as a value chain, then that chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If one link breaks, the entire ecosystem on which the company’s prosperity depends can collapse—potentially leading to its bankruptcy. Therefore, while it is necessary to generate enough profit to reward shareholders, reinvest in the business, and remain competitive, it is also critical not to abuse a dominant position by extracting excessive value from more vulnerable stakeholders—because if they disappear, the entire system is at risk.”
As I began to explore this further, I was surprised to discover that the question had never been properly addressed in the economics or management literature.
The only dominant response we had—and still have—is the neoliberal doctrine of the Chicago School, summarized by Milton Friedman’s famous statement: “The sole social responsibility of business is to increase its profits.” This model may have made sense when financial capital was scarce in the 1970s, but it is no longer relevant in a world marked by an overabundance of financial capital and the growing scarcity of other forms of capital—human, social, natural.
If we accept the principle that economics is the management of scarcities, then we should have seen a shift in our economic model to address these new forms of scarcity. But that shift never came.
It brought me back to my earlier reflections, even before joining Mars, on the need for a model that stood equidistant from, yet more effective and morally grounded than, the prevailing ideologies of the last century.
I began to ask: What if, instead of separating value creation (capitalism) from value sharing (socialism), we could develop a model in which mutuality—value sharing—was embedded directly into the process of value creation itself?
To my great satisfaction—and with some surprise—the Mars leadership gave me the green light to explore this idea, — this program was launched just a few months before the global financial crisis of 2008.
Over the following decade, I had the privilege of developing both the thinking and the practical application of this new economic theory and management model through an extraordinary collaboration with Colin Mayer, former Dean of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and Professor of Finance. We were also able to pilot the model within the Mars ecosystem—across both supply and demand chains—in diverse contexts across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Before long, other companies and universities joined us in testing this approach, and the work culminated in the publication of two key books: Completing Capitalism, and later, Putting Purpose into Practice: The Economics of Mutuality, published by Oxford University Press.
Most importantly, the journey was marked by significant breakthroughs and victories—and by the quiet joy that comes from serving, even in humble ways, a project as inspiring and meaningful as this one. It allowed me to meet exceptional women and men whose determination and intelligence helped move this agenda forward with remarkable courage and integrity.
From an organizational standpoint, after more than a decade leading the project within Mars, I led its spin-off in collaboration with the company, positioning it outside Mars as a foundation. This allowed the intellectual property I had developed—particularly through my books—to become more accessible to other companies, organizations, and institutions.
Despite the global challenges of COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, the first few years were marked by strong progress and strategic achievements. Together with Nadia Terfous — an exceptional thought leader and business strategist — who co-led the platform with me, we experienced steady growth and built key partnerships—most notably with the UN Global Compact PRME (Principles for Responsible Management Education) network, with the goal of bringing the Economics of Mutuality to nearly 1,000 universities worldwide.
Equally remarkable was the reception our work received in China, particularly the publication of our most recent book by China Publishing House. The Chinese edition featured a foreword by Professor David Daokui Li of Tsinghua University, a respected economic advisor to the Chinese government. After leading the spin-off and laying the groundwork for its success, I made the decision to launch my own independent foundation: ONE Society (short for Old NEw Society).
In this capacity, I operate at the intersection of global business, SMEs, government, civil society, and education. Alongside my co-chair, Irina Nevzlin an inspiring thought leader and successful entrepreneur—and an exceptional team, we are driving systemic change to accelerate the shift away from extractive, short-term economic practices, which are responsible for many of the dysfunctions in society, toward a model grounded in mutual value creation—one that paves the way for a more just society.
My work across Europe, the United States, Middle East, Africa, and Asia—with leading companies, academic institutions, international organizations, and foundations—has given me a truly global perspective on the pressing challenges, dysfunctions, and emerging possibilities at the intersection of economy and society. These encounters have profoundly shaped my thinking and inspired in me a desire to bring together scientific rigor, systems thinking, and moral imagination in the service of building a just economy for a just society.
I have been married for over thirty years to Marianne, a development economist and social entrepreneur, and the mother of our four children. Our children—now young adults—are each pursuing meaningful paths in academia and practice, in fields such as social entrepreneurship, war journalism in Ukraine, nuclear medical engineering, and the history of the Reformation.
When young people reach out to me for guidance, I often tell them this: every life is unique, and every life carries a unique purpose. Discovering our identity is the first step toward uncovering our purpose. When identity and purpose align, we step into our true calling—where we become most useful to others and, in doing so, most whole in ourselves.
