France

I came to France on an Erasmus exchange from Umeå University, studying at Grenoble École de Management. French was my fourth language. My goal was to become fluent.

The curriculum gave us one hour of French, twice a week. I knew that wouldn't get me there.

There was a tailor in Grenoble I kept walking past. An older gentleman with uncle energy, bordering on grandpa. Cocky and charming in the way only the French pull off.

One day I walked in. He had logistics piled up. I asked if I could help him in the shop, and the only thing I wanted in exchange was for him to teach me French.

He said, "Bah yes, but no money."

I said, "No money, it's okay."

From then on I showed up to help, and he spoke nothing but French to me. "Non, non, non, pas ici. Là-bas." Moving boxes. Sorting stock. Correcting my grammar while we worked.

I did not walk out fluent. I walked out with enough French to later adapt to Swiss-French colleagues at PMI.

If I do what is expected of me, I get the results everyone else gets. Extraordinary results require doing extraordinary things.

GEM's standout course for me was Design Thinking and Innovation.

I took it thinking it was about product design. It ended up being about how to think.

Plan first. Set the scope. Define the expected outcome. Build only after the frame is clear.

Years later, I work in AI architecture. Most of the job is no longer the build. AI handles the build now. The job is planning, scoping, and benchmarking the output against the expected outcome. AI can generate slop as easily as it generates signal. The frame decides which.

The framework started in that classroom.

The French taught me something Sweden didn't, and Singapore didn't.

Boundaries. Identity. Cherishing who you are.

"On ne vit pas pour travailler, on travaille pour vivre." We do not live to work. We work to live. Work hard, yes. Enjoy life, also yes.

Many afternoons in Grenoble, I walked out of a boulangerie with a fresh baguette, bit the end off on the way to the park, sat on a bench, read a book. Lived out my Ratatouille life.

That rhythm is something I still carry into the teams I work with.