Guests including VIP's, company managers, regional officials and directors of Human Resources of local firms were invited for the cutting of the ribbon by Olivier Oger, Dean of EDHEC Business School and Ms Antoinette Franchi, Town Counsellor representing the Mayor of Nice, Jacques Peyrat. 

The highlight of the evening's events was the informative conference by Valérie Petit, Professor of Management at EDHEC Business School and Leadership & Managerial Competencies Chair and Nicolas Deslandre, student in EDHEC's Master in Management programme.

The inauguration of the Leadership Gallery was the perfect occasion for Ms Petit to present the findings of EDHEC's Leadership and Managerial Competencies Chair research into Management and Leadership in a conference entitled "Faut-il du charisme pour diriger? (Does one need charisma to be a leader?)

Ever keen to involve students in innovative projects, the Chair carried out this research with the assistance of a group of students who interviewed the chosen leaders personally and helped with the analysis of results.

35 company leaders (including major figures such as Franck Riboud, CEO/Chairman of Danone Group and Eric Faintreny, CEO of REDCATS US) were interviewed on their vision of leadership and on their best practices concerning the development of leadership. Their results are hardly surprising and somewhat traditional showing that the ideal leader is charismatic, a visionnary and a good manager. For them, the way to develop leadership skills is through thought and analysis of past personal experiences. It is hardly surprising therefore that their learning process is made up of critical incidents in their professional lives such as site closures, redundancies and recruitment errors.

The Leadership and Managerial Competencies Chair was created three years ago. It works in close collaboration with its 2 sponsors, REDCATS (PPR) and AUCHAN, and develops research on leadership and new forms of managerial legitimacy. In addition to original and interactive courses, the programme offers students numerous opportunities to meet key business leaders.