Loyalty, trust pillars for Pernod Ricard

By Oh Young-jin

If you were to run into Pierre Pringuet on the street without knowing who he is, chances are that you would think the 61-year-old Frenchman is either a musician or a scientist.

His piercing eyes, softened by rimless glasses, would lend further credence to musical talent or laboratory skills. In other words, give him a conductor’s baton and place him in front of an orchestra, and he would fit in nicely. On the other hand, if he donned a white lab coat, he would not look out of place surrounded by beakers and Petri dishes.

A handshake and a brief exchange of pleasantries, however, would dispute any misplaced conventional thoughts that the French are not globalists. I want to put emphasis on the word,” misplaced,” because we know of a lot of Frenchmen who trotted the globe, Napoleon being one among a multitude. Pringuet may be one of the latest additions to show the contrary is closer to the truth.

He would be willing to accept an Anglicized (for that matter, Koreanized) pronunciation of his name without an attempt to correct it. A popular stereotype is a Frenchman who pretends not to be able to speak English with the proper accent for the love of his French language. The first part of his last name comes with a nasal sound that is uniquely French.

After 30 minutes talking with him you would know that he is good with numbers and it gives you an inkling that he may be engaged in business.

His mild manner and preference for moderation would still conceal who he is — leader of one of the world’s leading alcoholic beverage makers, Pernod Ricard, with a sweeping range of brands and products including Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Royal Salute and Absolut. His rise to the top of the corporate ladder is by and large attributable to his expansionist mind — acquisitions of Allied Domecq in 2005 then Vin & Spirit and Absolut in 2008. As with any leader of a mammoth organization, there is more than what meets the eye. Ask him to share his secret of success, he would tell you, “Luck.”

Even after being pressed to elaborate, he wouldn’t concede many details, saying that it was team work, not individual excellence that brought him this far.

Granted that luck may be the best trump card that life hands you, it can’t explain everything about the leader of the firm since November 2008.

For him, that extra seems to be loyalty to the company that employs him.

It was evident when he answered how he balanced family affairs and corporate obligations. He said both are equally important but, when it was assumed that he would talk about his family, he talked about his colleagues in the company, the message being that they are his family. Actually Pringuet is married with two children.

“I trust them,” he said. “They trust me.”

Pringuet’s sense of mutual trust extends not just between him and his inner circle of executives but also between him and lower-ranking employees. That trust also, to him, is the hallmark of his company in the eyes of his clients.

So he makes it a habit to be freely in contact with his employees.

“They can contact me by all kinds of means,” he said, obviously believing that communication, instant and clear, provides the basis for their trust.

During the interview, Pringuet invited two executives to join in.

Franck Lapeyre, CEO of Pernod Ricard Korea, talked about his business strategy in Korea and the industry, complete with numbers. Pringuet would agree with a third party’s observation that Lapeyre has the passion that is regarded to be very French.

“I trust that people in charge of a given region would know the most about it,” he said.

Charles de Belenet, who recently joined Pernod Ricard Korea as a marketing director, was asked about his new role and the Pernod Ricard culture. He explained that he got his overseas position in return for doing his best in his previous given duty. “Come back in two years” was what he was told after requesting his superior officer for an overseas tour of duty. “I did. I got the job,” he said.

In a way, when examining Pernod Ricard’s history, it can be viewed that what is loyalty to the firm is like patriotism to the United States.

The firm is the 1975 combination of one very old French spirits company, Pernod, which was founded in 1805, and a relatively young firm, Ricard, also a French spirits firm, dating back to 1932. Their combined history has been a revolution characterized by a rapid series of mergers and acquisitions. Such swift quantitative growth can’t be achieved without trust among members who are expected to be loyal despite potential risks.

Pringuet disclosed a tenet of Pernod Ricard’s decision-making process that is not uncommon among fast-growing firms.

“Everybody is entitled to their opinion and to exchange it among themselves,” he said. “But once a decision is made, it should be executed without diversions until the objective is achieved.”

His words about single-mindedness in pursuing a determined objective didn’t sound as daunting as they could be, especially when he talked about Koreans working long hours. “I relax over the weekend and take three-week vacations,” he said.

Pringuet visited Korea for the Ballantine’s Championship, the Korean leg of the European professional golf tour, and left Friday night.