Jean-Michel Booh-Begue, COO of Mister Auto, expert in sustainable mobility and e-commerce 

Meet Jean-Michel Booh-Begue, an energetic leader who has worked his way up through digital marketing and the automotive sector to become COO of Mister Auto and VP Purchasing & Marketing-Global IAM activity at Stellantis, one of the world's leading automotive companies. As he recounts his rich career path, he also shares with us the values that guide his leadership and some advice for managers and future leaders.

A hyperactive career in marketing and the automotive industry

What do you remember about your studies at Rennes School of Business?

I'm a member of Cohort 7, which graduated in 2000. The school taught me a lot about adapting, making decisions and, above all, daring to take risks. It's essential to get out of one's cocoon quickly if you want to develop a solid career path. I was lucky enough to go on a gap year for a double degree at the University of Leicester. This experience reinforced my interest in marketing and my knowledge of Anglo-Saxon business culture, both of which were decisive factors in my first job.

Rennes School of Business also gave me a solid grounding in marketing: knowing how to define a product, draw up a strategy and identify the right distribution channels are very useful skills. This enables me to position myself at the heart of a company's strategy and interact with many key professions.

Finally, the communication aspect was invaluable, whether through student associations or the international dimension of the curriculum. Getting up on stage and performing in front of a few hundred people... It helped me enormously to present my ideas clearly and captivate an audience, skills that have served me well throughout my career.

How did you forge your expertise in marketing and the automotive sector?

I was initially recruited as an intern as Assistant Product Manager at Shell, but I was quickly given the chance to take on more responsibilities when my manager left. I trained with a sales force of 15 people and an iconic brand, which turned out to be a real marketing school. The company was very attentive to its customer value proposition and pricing. It was ideal for a real-life experience.

I quickly progressed to Marketing Manager France Benelux for Shell. There I acquired a good deal of expertise in product offering, UX and marketing, as well as experience in the field working with sales people. I had the chance to work with counterparts from all over the world on harmonizing prices on a European scale. I quickly discovered an international dynamic that was essential for the rest of my career.

My last job at Shell was Category Manager. I was in charge of product categories for major retailers. At the time, Shell had developed an effective model with Walmart in the US, but nothing yet in Europe. I had to analyse the key success factors and propose a European recipe that enabled the company to win responsibility for Carrefour's Automotive division. At the time, this was only done in the food sector.

A word of advice: be clear about your own potential and your organisation's ability to reach it or even extend its limits.

I sensed that things weren't going as fast as I wanted at Shell. So I seized on a very interesting assignment at Valeo, one of the market's leading automotive suppliers, to build a new product line. Valeo's ambition was, for the first time, to enable its customers to retrofit recent options from new vehicles to their own cars: a real challenge. I helped define the most interesting functionalities, the market potential and the right marketing mix. We sourced products all the way to Asia to find the best value for money. We had to put together a complete business plan in six months: I put my heart and soul into it and learned a lot.

Valeo saw my motivation and gave me my first management experience. I was able to move up every two or three years until I was promoted to Sales Marketing Director for France. Valeo was a great school. I gained experience of strategic, multi-disciplinary projects, which proved key to taking on much broader responsibilities.

What values guide you as a leader today?

Always in action or thinking: I really like the "neverstopmoving" philosophy, because it's essential to encourage your mind to stay dynamic and curious.

Respect and high standards: It's essential to be demanding of oneself before being demanding of others, and to know how to create a respectful environment in which everyone can evolve according to their own limits and those of others.

Providing solutions: Positioning yourself as a "solution provider" is crucial to progress within a team. We are often confronted with people who will automatically argue that "it won't work". Don't be too quick to judge. Give yourself time to reflect and experiment, so that you can come up with concrete answers that enable everyone to move forward. 

Mister Auto: A key player in sustainable mobility and the digitalisation of the Stellantis group 

What is your role today at Stellantis and as head of Mister Auto?

Stellantis is a world-renowned automaker with 14 brands, including Peugeot, Citroën, Chrysler, FIAT, Opel, Maserati and others. The Group also has brands that position it more broadly as a supplier of sustainable and responsible mobility solutions.

Three key points stand out:

• Electrification to meet environmental challenges.
• Shared mobility with short-term rental services via Free2Move and long-term rental services with Leasys.
• Finally, vehicle maintenance: the Mister Auto company for which I am responsible is part of this department.

Mister Auto plays an essential role in extending the life of every vehicle. We offer a 100% digital shopping experience and 2.4 million part numbers, to cover the whole range. Individuals and professionals alike are sure to find the right solution, whatever their vehicle make or price range. The company is one of France's 100 biggest e-tailers, and we've just been ranked No. 1 in Capital magazine's list of the best sites (car parts and accessories categories

In particular,  we must meet four major challenges:

• Simplifying product selection: the field of automotive parts and services is highly complex. Identifying the right product and helping customers make their choice is an essential added value. This requires the most efficient and reliable customer journey possible, particularly in the area of data. So we work with our customers to offer them a solution in just a few clicks.
• Ensure availability and reliability of deliveries: Customers demand reasonable and reliable delivery times. In the French overseas departments (DOM), we have succeeded in delivering in just 5 days - a real logistical feat.
• Responding to growing demand: Our customers want ever more options, from premium ranges to the most economical. We're working to evolve our model from 2 million items to many more.
• Accelerating internationalisation: We are expanding our catalogue to include cars from all countries, including Asia, and see strong potential for development, particularly in Africa.

Our teams have thus developed real expertise in e-commerce, which today represents a key digitalisation avenue for the entire Stellantis Group.

My role as Operations Director includes defining the company's strategy and vision, allocating the talent and resources needed to execute this strategy, and driving profitable growth for the company. I also manage operational, logistical, commercial and product development issues, all aligned with common objectives.

My aim is to create collective leadership, ensuring the well-being of our teams, their motivation and a shared sense of purpose. In particular, we are proud to comply with compliance standards and to have a real gender balance within Mister Auto, including in very physical positions. For example, in Vesoul, where we ship almost 6,000 parcels a day, we have rethought many practices to maintain this parity.

The new partnership between Stellantis and Rennes School of Business 

Working together to better identify and support talent

I'm delighted to see that Stellantis France and Rennes School of Business have recently signed a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening their ties! For me, these two players have a lot in common.

For an organisation like Stellantis, identifying talent is essential, and Rennes School of Business is able to provide profiles with an international background, capable of working in a team, managing a project and creating performance.

Involving employees to share their experiences or contribute to the programmes offered by the school will help strengthen our employer brand. This will make it easier to integrate apprentices and interns, to give them responsibilities and identify promising talent. Stellantis is a dynamic group that offers a wide range of professions and geographical opportunities, not to mention the fact that the mobility sector is in a constant state of flux, with some exciting challenges ahead. It's an extremely promising prospect.

A message for Rennes School of Business students and graduates?

On a personal note, I can think of several key points:

1. Constantly feeding your intellectual curiosity: As far as I'm concerned, I read a lot. I've realised that it allows me to interact with any department and enrich my vision.
2. Know how to work in a team: Learn to collaborate effectively in project mode, to listen and find the right tone of communication with others. These are essential skills.
3. Set goals and take risks: Build a plan, define where you want to go, but don't impose strict limits on yourself. Sometimes, things move faster than expected. Those who take risks and step out of their comfort zone are often the ones who find the most pleasure in their work.
4. The relationship with work is changing: find a balance between your own motivations and total investment in what you do. Today's generations are no longer content with a job that doesn't interest them. Reconcile yourself with what excites you and makes you want to invest yourself fully.