Fabien Faure is a brilliant example of someone who makes things happen.
I recruited Fabien in 2000 as a sales executive at my previous company. At the time, Fabien had no sales experience, but during the interview, I liked his character ? I can still remember sitting around a big table in the London office interviewing him ? he was 24 years old ? a kid from Lyon, France.
At my previous company, I was a General Manager ? but the job was really just a big sales director role.
For new recruits ? I would do a week long training school and then on the last day, Friday ? I would sit down privately with each recruit and see how they took ?rejection? ? often times I would tell someone ?I do not think this job is a perfect fit for you ?? just to see how they would react.
If they said, ?yea, me neither?? I saved us both time ? and told them they did not pass ? as well as for the people that did not convince me, I would not pass them either ?. Fabien?s Friday meeting ? I can remember perfectly.
?Fabien, do you think you can do this job?? long pause ?. French kid biting his nails nervously, looking at the ground replies, ?to be honest Scott ? I don?t know?? Instantly, I stood up and shook his hand and said ?the job is not for you? and I tried to push him out the door ?. ?wait! give me two weeks and I will prove to you that I can do this job?? Aggressively, to further test him - I replied, ?I don?t need to give you 2 weeks because I know you can not do this job ? it is too hard for you ? so we will take a pass, but it has been nice to meet you ?.?
Needless to say, Fabien came to work the following Monday ?he sold a 79,000 euros deal on his 2nd day and within 2 months became the number one sales person in Europe.
I sent him to Chicago office for 2 weeks to experience America as well as another office ? and he sold during that period ? which was exceptionally rare.
His passion was incredible ? and he led his team of 4 to come to the office every morning by 6am to research and be ready for the day ? this was in Nice, France. This team of 4 is probably still the most exceptionally focused team of 4 that have ever worked for me.
After 9 months or so, my boss informed me that he no longer wanted to open an office in Monaco - therefore, I was being transfered from Nice to become the GM of the office in Barcelona, thus I had to convince all staff to drop their lives and move to Spain (17 staff in total) ? everyone excitedly agreed ? but Fabien.
Fabien and I went for a coffee and he explained that he had a serious girlfriend and his life was in France - not Spain ? on that day, I shook his hand and we parted ways?
A year later, October 2002, after being pushed out of my previous company for reasons discussed in the ?naseba? section of this blog ? I met Fabien for lunch in Monaco and shortly there after - Sophie, Fabien and I launched naseba.
During the past 5 years, Fabien has developed into the ultimate Managing Director. I have seen him develop from a very ?French? (social) person ? to someone that is nearly, if not more strict and demanding of his team than I am.
He moved permanently to Dubai in 2005 and has developed the Dubai office into a great army - the best revenue generating office in the company.
Last week in Dubai, Fabien took me to the best Iranian restaurant in Dubai (his wife is a gorgeous Iranian)? as naseba?s 5th year anniversary is nearing ? we discussed the 4+ years ? and all that we have achieved ? all that we have learned ?but we both mentioned, nearly at the same time ? we still have a long way to go until we summit this mountain.
I am very proud of the man Fabien has become ? and I consider Fabien to be one of my closest friends.
Fabien Faure is definitely one of the best managers/leaders I have ever worked with.
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