On April 15th 2019 Notre Dame de Paris, our lady of Paris, burned and the world mourned one of the great man-made structures of human history.
Within hours, though, #BeautifulLeadership was shown from business leaders and the French President.
Business as a force for good
Within hours, two French businessmen pledged €300m to the rebuilding effort.
I loved that when I scrolled Twitter I quickly saw Paul Polman, a truly purpose-driven business leader, tweet this:
Our thoughts are with the French on this very sad day. It will make us all stronger together. Amazing to see such generous leaders #FrancoisHenriPinault @KeringGroup and #Arnault @LVMH show the way. https://t.co/r9mozPcsd7
— Paul Polman (@PaulPolman) April 16, 2019
Presidential leadership
President Macron also announced very quickly that the rebuilding will be done in a way that allows individuals to support this financially, not just from within France, but far beyond.
Cette cathédrale Notre-Dame, nous la rebâtirons. Tous ensemble. C’est une part de notre destin français. Je m’y engage : dès demain une souscription nationale sera lancée, et bien au-delà de nos frontières.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 15, 2019
Translates to:
“This Notre-Dame Cathedral, we will rebuild it. All of us together. This is part of our French destiny. I am committed to this: from tomorrow a national subscription will be launched, and far beyond our borders.”
We are in an era where people love to contribute to causes, and restoration of such a beautiful and international symbol is one such cause that so many will wish to consciously and materially play a part in. I love that President Macron has quickly embraced this both within and beyond France. I also see some people decrying this as an example of how society depends on business more than the state, yet I disagree. Absolutely the French state will massively contribute to the rebuilding, yet I love that others will also be a part of this, from individuals contributing small amounts to Arnauld and Pinault and their massive contributions.