"I succeeded without any skills": Jean-Michel Aulas confides through his autobiographical story

Jean-Baptiste Sarrazin, with Jacques Vendroux 19:00 pm, March 16, 2023

Perseverance. If there was a leitmotif in the vocabulary of Jean-Michel Aulas, the closest faithful of the president of Olympique Lyonnais would agree on this feminine name. Interviewed by Jacques Vendroux in Les Décideurs du Sport (every Thursday evening from 20 pm), the legendary football executive spoke about his recently published book entitled Every day to reinvent himself, co-written with Olivier Blanc, and in which he looks back on his professional career, from his studies to taking charge of the Rhône club.

Trotskyist militants, Jean-Michel Aulas' parents influenced him during his youth. A student actively involved in the demonstrations of May 1968, he developed a passion for computer science. This is how he created his first computer company at the age of 20. A first step in the world of entrepreneurship that will allow him, subsequently, to fly from success to success to finally bring him on the path of the presidency of Olympique Lyonnais in 1987.

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"Forbidden to prohibit"

For those from the middle class, any experience is good to take. Voluntary, dedicated, and hard worker, Jean-Michel Aulas seizes the opportunities that come his way. He assures him, the current president of the OL group wanted to do "something different from (his) parents". Conformism does not correspond to him at all. Jean-Michel Aulas is an adventurer, thirsty for discoveries. He wants to learn. This is also one of the messages he wants to convey to young people through his story: "Give young people the desire to want."

For Jean-Michel Aulas, envy takes shape in learning. Learning, discovering, reproducing, here is the young entrepreneur taking off for the United States. "We are in a moment where IT is developing. This is Bill Gates' computer science. We have gone from large IT structures to small individual structures where everyone can develop their program," he justifies his choice of destinations in Les Décideurs du Sport. Across the Atlantic, the young wolf meets and exchanges with his American counterparts, in whom he finds great sources of inspiration. "I went to meet a very great entrepreneur who was at the time boss of 300 or 400 employees," he recalls. This is the beginning of Cegid, a software company that the businessman decides to create.

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First foot in football

In addition to his passion for computers, the native of L'Arbresle, in the Rhône, devotes himself to sports and especially handball, a sport in which he played for "five years at the highest level." A status that opens several doors to the ambitious young man. "I had the chance to meet all the great football bosses of the time. I went to see Claude Berri who was a client of my IT company, "says the main interested party in Les Décideurs du Sport.

It was in 1987, somewhat by chance, that Jean-Michel Aulas made his debut in the world of football. At the turn of a meeting with Bernard Tapie, the business leader is attached to the Lyon club to try to revitalize the club. A choice that paid off, since 35 years later, the OL holding company continues to assert its power. Finally, Jean-Michel Aulas sums up his career better than anyone: "I succeeded without any skills". A journey combining audacity and perseverance that the emblematic leader has been able to reconcile smoothly. "The company is like football," concludes the Lyon president.