Antoine Beaussant, Partner VISCONTI, exchange with Louis Godron, President of Argos Wityu.

With more than one billion euros in assets under management, Argos Wityu is one of the most beautiful independent European investment funds, well known for its famous “Argos Index”. A player in development capital for thirty years, still as a majority shareholder, Argos Wityu has engaged nearly a hundred companies in their transformation and acceleration.

For Argos Wityu, the role of shareholder is to be a supporter and a catalyst for transformation in companies. This role will guide substantive relationships with managers, which will be based on rich and direct exchanges and on a proactive relationship based on trust. The company's first expectation from the manager is his desire to project himself into such a relationship, based on trust and transparency.

The missions of the manager:

According to Louis Godron, the main missions of a manager are as follows:

• Define a vision, a strategy
• Execute the strategy, implement
• Engaging teams

The first qualities of a leader are:

• The leadership
• transparency
• and courage.

Being a leader is tough. The role of the majority fund is to share this harshness.

The challenges the shareholder faces in relation to its manager:

• Don't play the wrong role
• Always be sure that there is alignment between the manager and the fund.

“Putting the human at the center”

Argos Wityu's slogan “Putting people at the center” means that people are the first factor in creating value. The role of the majority shareholder is to strengthen the company and to transform it. There is no transformation without putting the human at the center. The challenge is to create a human dynamic.

For Louis Godron, transformation can only be achieved by acting on culture. And the human is at the center of that. This does not only mean being surrounded by the right people but also making the effort to have fluid communication with all teams, not just management.

Like all companies, Argos Wityu's participations have gone through more or less brutal crises such as the subprime crisis and 2008. In his experience as an investor, Louis Godron has never seen a single business plan come true: there are always unexpected turns of events. But when transparency and trust are there, solutions are put in place. The worst moments of crisis are the rare moments during which the fund realizes that transparency was not there. As a majority shareholder, it is difficult to realize that dysfunctions have been hidden. This loss of trust in one or more employees is very difficult to manage.

Louis Godron's leadership style, as the CEO of Argos Wityu:

Argos Wityu is also a company that cultivates a strong entrepreneurial spirit.

Louis Godron's leadership style is resolutely collaborative. The Argos Wityu team is made up of 50 people, in six different countries and with twelve nationalities. Most of Argos Wityu's current partners returned as interns at the start of their careers.

3 tips to be a good leader:

• Be clear with your teams, shareholders, and all staff
• Deciding under uncertainty
• Choose an investor with whom you feel aligned. Work on the quality of the investor/manager relationship. A good investor must be the sparring partner of the manager.

The key qualities of a great leader:

• Leadership Who listens and who engages
• Transparency with the shareholder and with the teams
• Courage

The current period is multiplying disruptive factors: disruptive innovations, digital revolution, transformation of consumption patterns, changes in work organization, war for talent, environmental challenges.

These factors challenge business models. Businesses need to be able to pivot. Among these factors, Louis Godron highlights the impact of decarbonization challenges and the impact of Covid on consumption or work organization patterns, and the appearance of new expectations of employees and teams.