Quentin Prévot, 15 years in strategy and innovation consulting

"Finance has always attracted me. I could have made my career in this field, but through research and discussions with alumni, I realized that it was just one function among many in the corporate world. Yet, in the professional world, you need managers with a global vision and experts with a thematic vision. I'm a generalist, and this character trait was a perfect match for the Master in Strategic Management."

Today, Quentin is Growth Manager for the Ad Valoris Group, a Swiss consulting firm specializing in strategy, transformation and performance. His role involves accelerating the group's development, opening new offices in new geographies, developing new offers, recruiting new talents and profiles, exploring new sectors, opening new accounts, and finally optimizing the group's communications to support these initiatives and raise Ad Valoris' profile.

Quentin defines consulting as "an economic activity with organizations as its object, rationality as its method, and optimization as its goal."

"It's a profession that requires insatiable curiosity. I'm constantly reading to better understand the world we live in. I recommend that consultants read essays on business and technology (Smil, Pinker, Burgess) as well as scientific articles on growth and innovation (Ipinnaiye, Gruber, Tucci). The web gives us easy access to authors and their publications. Talk to them, challenge them, cut out the middleman and get your information from the source."

Quentin has a keen interest in new technologies and artificial intelligence, but he's not content to simply deepen his knowledge of the field. He applies his curiosity to all current social and business issues. In particular, he has participated in the creation of a new type of sustainable consulting based on the United Nations' sustainability goals.

In Switzerland, companies are now required to include sustainability KPIs in their annual reports. By developing this sustainable innovation offering, Quentin is helping companies to master not only their savoir faire, but also their faire-savoir.

It's a job that many can only dream of (23% of business school graduates work in consulting firms, according to a CGE survey), but one that requires analysis, synthesis, proactivity, resilience and resistance to stress.

There's no such thing as routine for Quentin: his day-to-day work involves constant challenges, particularly in terms of brand awareness and recruitment.

"There are a lot of players in our field in Switzerland. So it's imperative to be recognized by our customers. They need to understand who we are and what we offer that's unique. On the other hand, recruitment is the sinews of war. Recruiting is easy, but hiring and keeping the best talent on the market is more difficult."

Various aspects of the consulting profession enable you to rapidly mature, both professionally and personally (work pace, diversity of projects, major responsibilities...). Quentin is proud to recruit and support young talents, some of whom are TBS Education graduates, in their quest for fulfillment and accomplishment.

According to him, success is subjective (work/life balance, financial comfort, positive impact...) and is seen in hindsight, requiring upstream efforts. Motivated by the desire to hone his skills, Quentin defended his thesis on "Business applications of artificial intelligence along the value chain".

This research work led him to obtain, at the end of 2023, the prestigious Executive MBA "Harnessing Innovation" from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

"I did this training to stay at the cutting edge of technology. It's an investment that contributes to my vision of success, and I'm very proud of it. Always with this thirst for learning, I think it's essential to continue training and exchanging with your professional network, especially with other TBS Education graduates. It helps to build your reputation and create incredible opportunities."

Quentin has no intention of stopping there. His ambitions and prospects are many: personally, he is the father of a little girl, and family time is precious to him despite his work addiction. He and his wife are expecting a second baby girl in January. Academically, Quentin hopes to obtain a doctorate and plans to focus his research on the growth levers of SMEs in competitive environments.

Professionally, as Head of Growth, he wants to grow the Ad Valoris group and bring even more value to his customers.

Quentin is also keen to develop and animate the Stratosphere community, which he recently created to democratize the tools and best practices of strategy consulting to Swiss startups and SMEs. A business network and a compendium of free resources to help these companies prosper.

"I like living in a society and an economy driven by large corporations, but also by craftsmen, startups, entrepreneurs and SMEs. We need to help and support these players. With Stratosphère, I promote the notion of give-back in the form of workshops on long-term vision, growth objectives, business models, and any other issues related to their activity."

Follow Quentin on LinkedIn and find out more about the world of strategy consulting, Switzerland, the Stratosphere community and Ad Valoris!

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