Harmony between amirican and french methods

• Richard SCHOMBERG
  In charge of R&D at Eléctricité de France (EDF) in the US
  EDF delegate, Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
  Elected president, IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)
  Elected member, Gridwise Architecture Council
  

Summary

Richard Schomberg, currently EDF's R&D representative at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, has dual nationality and is completely bilingual. He started his new job one fine day in sunny California, basking in the prestige associated with belonging to the world's largest electricity company, and filled with the desire to create good working relationships with his American counterparts whose failures in terms of the deregulation of electrical services were well known. However for six long months, nothing happened ! It took all of his French sensitivity to systematic approaches and all his goodwill for advancement (this being rather an American characteristic) for him to be recognised by his peers, and to plant in American thinking the hidden extra (the je ne sais quoi) which is so unfamiliar to them, and yet is the force behind the EDF model.

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Pascal LEFEBVRE.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference RT171007).

The entire article appears in French in the Journal de l'École de Paris du management N° 71.