Maurice Lévy on “Taking the Plunge! A Different Take on Innovation!”

With the release of Taking the Plunge! A Different Take on Innovation, Alain Conrard’s approach reflects what many public figures also believe. On the heels of Jacques Attali (Writer and President of Positive Planet), Maurice Levy (Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Publicis Groupe) ardent proponent of innovation – he is the creator of VivaTech, tradeshow dedicated to start-ups and technologies – talks innovation with Alain Conrard.

Circling back on one of the main ideas of the book, Maurice Levy explains that, “change is an ongoing phenomenon” that drives the world forward. The charismatic leader of Publicis then establishes how change relates to living out one’s dreams: “Change paves the way to becoming better. We can’t dream of something within a context and situation that are oblivious to change: we always dream of ‘bigger and better.’” Innovation therefore leads to living out one’s dreams. That idea is at the heart of an initiative explained by Maurice Levy in this video: the creation of the Escalator. It’s an incubator set up to reach out to young ambitious talents with great ideas but with no means or connections to make things happen. “Reaching out to underprivileged youth to help make their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs come true is the least we can do,” he adds enthusiastically. Fully agreeing with Alain Conrard, he also underscores the societal aspect of innovation.

Maurice Levy also praises how crystal clear the book is in explaining innovation: “It is an extremely useful book and even greatly needed as it shows innovation moving forward. (…) The book impels us to embrace innovation as an ongoing perpetual momentum, and in that sense, this book is incredible: it invites us to reflect on everything.”