Jean-Marie Compas

"“Mr. Boussac trusted me, he gave me freedom, he provided me with the means. He only asked me twice for the budget report. When I exceeded a billion centimes, he looked at me and said: ‘I leave that to the judgment of your conscience,’” recounts Jean-Marie Compas. The most beautiful factories, the most beautiful social achievements, those were the best days: the grand officiant of the ‘Boussac’ religion, inviting the family around the holy table, celebrated the miracle of help that comes from above. Thanks to his vicar, ‘Saint Marcel’ watched over everyone. Thus, he ensured the loyalty of this peaceful little world centered on its school, its nursery, the castle and the pond, where the noises of the city reach only muffled and which joins in the calm of the Vosges countryside the marvelous paradise of the Fortune of Gaspard by the Countess of Ségur. Confident in the solidity of the human instrument, Boussac has free hands to strengthen his power in the financial field, increasing his control and independence according to the same principles, and adding a specific objective: to remain invisible from the outside. To get rid of the oversight rights of both the staff, the public, and the state over his management, he will set up a mechanism that will make him the solitary holder of the secret of his accounts. He undertakes an operation probably unique in the history of companies. On January 20, 1947, in an extraordinary general meeting, the C.I.C., a public limited company, parent of the group, created in 1917, abandons the status of PLC for that of a limited liability company."

"How can it be explained that from 1945 to 1970, everyone believed in this paternalism from another era? What is the mystery of its success? Isn’t it surprising that, unlike François Michelin who led a monastic life among his employees, Boussac managed, from a distance and with just an annual visit to his factories, to maintain a level of devotion and loyalty unique in the history of French industry, which withstood all the upheavals of recent years? This feat can be explained by the perfect symbiosis that existed between Boussac and his social director, Jean-Marie Compas. There lies the key to this paternalism, successful because it had a genuine face."

"How can it be explained that from 1945 to 1970, everyone believed in this paternalism from another era? What is the mystery of its success? Isn’t it surprising that, unlike François Michelin who led a monastic life among his employees, Boussac managed, from a distance and with just an annual visit to his factories, to maintain a level of devotion and loyalty unique in the history of French industry, which withstood all the upheavals of recent years? This feat can be explained by the perfect symbiosis that existed between Boussac and his social director, Jean-Marie Compas. There lies the key to this paternalism, successful because it had a genuine face."