The Profile
Taking Back Control: An Interview with Stéphanie Gateau
Overcoming discrimination over her gender and disabilities, Stéphanie Gateau has led a career that exemplifies helping others achieve their potential. She walks us through her life, her triumphs and her motivations.
By Anton John Crace
“If you don't have the ‘right cards’ in your hands, you can still achieve your dreams beyond anything you could have imagined."
“Hope, to me, is a never-ending source of motivation. Each day is an opportunity that should not be wasted. Optimism is also a virtue to cultivate."
Stéphanie Gateau’s achievements alone equate to an enviable career. Her ambitions and successes in helping others, championing diversity, fighting for disability rights and powering change make it a remarkable one (so far). A French native, she herself has overcome significant challenges, including a rare neurodegenerative disease, living with Asperger’s syndrome and deafness.
For her achievements in creating consulting firms, start up incubators, accessibility apps, as well as advocating for inclusivity and accessibility in society and, now, work in cognitive bias in AI, among many more accomplishments, she was recently recognised as one of 24 AACSB’s Influential Leaders.
Gateau, a graduate of Audencia Business School in France, told QS Insights Magazine about her life’s work, what motivates her, her personal history, and what she plans to do in the future.
QS: Could you share your journey to becoming a leader?
Stéphanie Gateau: I had a complicated childhood, feeling like I didn't recognise myself in others and, most of all, not understanding them. I struggled with many insecurities, particularly the feeling that I wasn't intelligent or legitimate enough for anything.
My school years were marked by isolation and the difficulty of not belonging to any group, but that may be what later pushed me to fight against the isolation of people with disabilities, to create connections-even in the professional world.
I had an insatiable thirst to understand everything and to explain everything clearly. Later, this drive led me to work on solving complex problems. At the time, I dreamed of only one thing: to be an hermit, far from the noise and chaos reflecting on the world to try to understand it.
A constant desire to learn, to marvel and to travel were the forces that, despite difficulties, obstacles, discrimination, disability and illness, allowed me to achieve far beyond what I ever imagined.
I went from being a silent, even mute, multi-disabled little girl, who dreamed of being invisible and thought she was stupid, to becoming a woman who now knows her worth. A woman capable of giving conferences worldwide on human and technological challenges in innovation and AI while staying true to her values and committed to a fairer world, convinced that solidarity will save us.
I even gave a TEDx talk on this topic: "How to Take Back Control of Your Destiny!”
I want to tell students that even if you don't have the ‘right cards’ in your hands, you can still achieve your dreams beyond anything you could have imagined.
If someone had told me that I would receive over 20 honorary titles and awards, or that one of my projects would rank second worldwide, right after Microsoft, out of 114,000 projects, I would never have believed it!
QS: What about your early career?
SG: At the very start of my career, I was immediately confronted with prejudice and discrimination, primarily for being a young woman who wanted to work in strategy, especially at an international level.
Thirty years ago, these positions were almost 100 percent held by men who had been in corporate groups for decades and were given international roles as an end-of-career promotion. This generation had not been trained in schools but learned on the ground.
The second, even more violent layer of discrimination came when, on top of recruitment firms rejecting my applications, my disability was also a barrier. Being deaf and having motor impairments (at the time, I didn't yet know I was autistic or had a degenerative disease) meant I was placed in a category of ‘definitely unfit.’
So, I learned to be ashamed of who I was and to hide my disabilities in order to pursue my dream career. These closed doors pushed me to leave France, and I found myself attending my first CES in Las Vegas, where I discovered the world of innovation and tech. It was love at first sight, and that passion never left me.
QS: What shaped your thinking and approach to education?
SG: My life journey and experiences led me to: Fight against discrimination, prejudice, and injustice; Explore how innovation can contribute-even partially-to solving economic, social, and societal challenges; Advocate for the common good and public interest; Promote inclusion and diversity, especially for women and people with disabilities; Ensure equal rights for all; Relentlessly work to make the world a better place-with humility.
QS: Is there something or someone in particular that inspires you?
SG: I have been surrounded by inspiring figures-through books and artists like Frida Kahlo, whose colourful corsets I envied while mine were dull, or Helen Keller, who overcame her disabilities.
Hope, to me, is a never-ending source of motivation. Each day is an opportunity that should not be wasted. Optimism is also a virtue to cultivate. Contrary to popular belief, being optimistic doesn't mean ignoring difficulties-it means being aware of them while maintaining a constructive and positive approach. Optimism creates energy for progress.
Finally, there's the daily wonder of a new day beginning-the idea that every day can bring the best and the unexpected.
Early on, I realised that if I waited for someone to offer me a place that matched my ambitions, nothing would happen, or it would happen too late or not as I had imagined.
So why wait or even beg, just because you think you're less legitimate, less capable, or less intelligent? Because your unpredictable health forces you to reinvent your days constantly? What inspires me is the constant need to reinvent myself in a world of insecurity and chaos-always seeking the best.
QS: How would you describe your experience as a business school student?
SG: I don't think anyone remembers me. I never wanted to be seen, fearing discomfort and my best friends were my books. My studies were both fascinating and painful because I always felt I wasn't good enough. I was so terrified of saying something foolish that I froze whenever I was asked to speak.
My only defining trait: I didn't yet know I was deaf, so I always sat in the front row, both to absorb every bit of knowledge and to read lips.
QS: What personal values or philosophies drive your work?
SG: Humility; The common good; Public interest; Caring for the most vulnerable; Equal opportunities; Inclusion; Fighting discrimination and violence (which are obstacles to progress); The wealth of diversity-through international experiences, intercultural exchanges, disability, and neurodiversity; "All unique, all different, all talented.”
QS: The recognition you received from the AACSB specifically mentions the lessons that business schools can learn from your work. Access to education and proposing alternative teaching methods are subjects that institutions are aware of, but not always well implemented. How do you encourage universities and business schools to go further in terms of inclusion?
SG: I think we need to be able to welcome all students and offer them courses that enable them to give the best of themselves. Equality of access and opportunity should be an obligation and an absolute value.
We are a long way from achieving this, with lecture theatres that are not wheelchair accessible, courses that are not subtitled or in sign language, digital media that are not inclusive and not usable by everyone, podcasts or YouTube channels that are not subtitled... and I'm only giving a few examples.
Courses should also be accessible remotely. We did this during Covid! We should also allow everyone to give their best without being competitive, which I don't think is virtuous.
Diversity, including neurodiversity, should be established as an absolute value.
I speak regularly on these subjects, but also on strategy which, in my opinion, should be taught systematically because it will help you in all your projects, including personal ones, to achieve your dreams and objectives.
Students are fabulous resources, and I think we need to give them the opportunity to build their confidence and value. It's important to prepare them and support them on what is going to be their life path, and to give them the keys. That's what I try to pass on and share.
As for schools and universities, they too need to question and challenge themselves on the issues of talent management and how they should probably create the school of the future. AI is already having a huge impact on working methods. Teachers need to be trained in it, and students need to learn how to use these tools.
QS: A lot of your work and actions focus on areas that people don't often think about. For example, Handiroad makes it easier for disabled people to get around. You also explore cognitive biases in AI. How do you get people to broaden their perspective beyond their immediate environment?
SG: Handiroad grew out of my own experience, always with the idea of making the world accessible to everyone. When I found myself in a wheelchair because of illness, everything became even more complicated. Until then, I'd been in pain, but I didn't need a carer. It was a very difficult time because giving up my activities and commitments was too hard. That's what pushed me to go beyond myself and my limits: travel, work, but also access to healthcare, shopping and everyday life.
I became interested in the issue of disability, which is interesting because it's a universal problem that has no gender, no age, and will always exist even if it's not permanent. I discovered just how far we were from having put in place the necessary solutions to enable everyone to get around and live ‘like everyone else’.
When I wanted to do my first show at Vivatech to promote the startup, I had to turn back because nothing was accessible. The second year, I was able to access but via a goods lift because nothing was provided. It was as discouraging as it was humiliating.
Naturally, I turned to new technologies to see how, by relying on innovation, we could change the situation, but also on people. Here too, the reality has been difficult, but this project has made it possible to point the finger at discrimination in tech for women and people with disabilities.
In France, only two percent of female founders find the funding to carry out their projects, and that's unacceptable (and unfortunately, I'm one of the other 98 percent). As far as disability is concerned, I realised that all digital solutions were discriminatory because they were not based on universal design. This led me to focus on the issue of digital inclusion, to make solutions accessible to all.
Raising awareness is not enough: we need to act at source and get companies to commit to designing so that everyone is represented and has access. Inclusive AI is a challenge that few realise, yet it is even more devastating if it is not tackled now. The next , and biggest, challenge in tech is inclusion!
I always try to use concrete examples (like the Handiroad solution to facilitate mobility for people with reduced mobility) to help people understand the extent of an issue or challenge.
QS: You have also founded a consultancy and a start-up incubator. How has your training guided you in these projects?
SG: Multi-disciplinary training (management, strategy, marketing, sales, legal, tax, etc.) was essential to have the keys and to be able to understand an ecosystem. You can't develop relevant strategies if you can't identify where the problems come from, and the levers needed to solve them.
QS: And what motivated you to launch them?
SG: Being consistent with our values was the key and the driving force behind my launch. 20 years ago, we were developing duplicable strategies that took no account of people. Nor the manager, who was not involved in co-construction and found himself unable to implement what you had planned. Nor was he able to unite his teams around a project that didn't take people into account.
As far as I was concerned, this was nonsense: you can develop the best strategy in the world, but if the human element isn't there, it will be a failure. So, I decided (and subsequently in all my projects) to put people at the centre. What's more, as I was aware that everyone was different, I wanted to do something tailor-made, whereas as a consultant, we were asked to do ‘volume’ work.
There came a point when I could no longer subscribe to these methods, which for me were absurd and contrary to my values. Finally, there were entrepreneurs who had fabulous ideas but couldn't afford the support of a big consultancy. With my keen sense of justice, I wanted to help these entrepreneurs realise their dreams.
So, I decided to set up my own firm, preferring to have few clients but to take care of them. This was the starting point for my desire to ‘Make the world accessible to everyone’, which would become my guiding principle before I knew it.
Subsequently, creating an incubator for start-ups came from the tech boom, which had its own codes and its own specific business model. Start-ups that wanted to launch themselves on foreign markets or simply at international trade fairs were thrown into the deep end without being ready or supported, which caused a lot of damage. Just because you have a good idea doesn't mean you're an entrepreneur and can pitch in English! Many lack the skills and codes to compete internationally.
The Exportunity incubator is also designed to welcome start-ups looking to establish themselves in France or Europe, with the same idea in mind: to assess the feasibility of a project, provide security and support.
QS: What advice would you give to managers or aspiring managers on how to better support others and the community?
SG: Inclusive leadership: Talking about inclusion in leadership is essential because, by definition, leaders and managers have to manage different people while respecting their uniqueness. In fact, that will be their talent: knowing how to bring them together and make the most of the best in each of them.
It's easy to see how difference can be an asset. It also allows us to learn from each other, from our experiences and failures, and from each other's knowledge and experience. It also allows us to build a collective force by combining the abilities and will of each individual.
We live in an inevitably diverse environment, but we are not taught to rejoice in this diversity. Schools, universities: this notion must be taught to combat prejudice, bias, preconceptions and value judgements. This would prevent them from being reproduced in the workplace or in everyday life (here we can talk about the seriousness and devastation in the field of disability - particularly in the field of invisible disability, which accounts for 80 percent of disabilities). I'm in a good position to know this because most of my disabilities are invisible, which leads to a lot of misunderstanding.
Coming back to inclusive leadership, it's the power of diversity. Without it, we lose all the benefits of diversity. Inclusion allows everyone to feel recognised and accepted. One of the most important attitudes, in my opinion, whether for the leader or the members of his or her team, is humility. It's this attitude that enables us to welcome, recognise and respect the fact that others may be different.
Furthermore, if you want to increase the intelligence of a group, you know that it's enough to include a woman, for example. It's not because it's a woman that the collective intelligence will have grown, but because a group of men (and therefore more or less homogeneous) has been given a different way of working and thinking.
Finally, when it comes to uniting a team or a community, it's clear that the younger generations are more successful at getting thousands of people on board, even though they haven't been trained in leadership. They are inspiring in this respect, and companies need to understand that the rules have changed. If they are to be attractive, it is - at last - in their interests to listen and be ready to collaborate, rather than imposing their codes as they have done for decades.
QS: What are your next projects?
SG: AI for Humanity: We've never been through such an impactful period, which is reshuffling all the cards in terms of power, employment, work and wealth. It's up to us to know what we want to do with it.
I've never stopped thinking and researching, so it was obvious for me, having been in tech for 30 years and being passionate about innovation and its impact, to turn to AI. After working on the issue of digital inclusion to ensure that tech benefits everyone, including people with disabilities, I set up a think tank on the challenges of inclusive AI.
AI is the most discriminating tool that has ever existed. Because of its methodology, the lack of representativeness of the people who feed it data, those who train it (who have conscious or unconscious biases), but also because it naturally creates digital discrimination. AI is exclusionary by nature.
Which is very alarming:
- Nobody corrects or warns that generative AI is biased in its operation and responses.
- Which is dangerous: they lie and don't give good answers, and nobody minds. Would it ever occur to you to market a dangerous or faulty product?
At what point did tech, which claimed to be an accelerator of diversity, an economic and societal lift, play this role?
- It hasn't learnt from the mistakes of the past and is starting all over again with AI, in a much more serious and alarming way.
- The famous ‘test and learn’ approach, which everyone marvelled at, has not been applied to AI at all.
- Any good strategist should learn from his mistakes, identify and correct his solution. In the case of AI, it comes as no shock that nothing is done.
Worse still: whereas if you were to buy a packet of biscuits, you would be obliged to notify the composition and its potential dangers, for AI, nobody warns you.
Why is this alarming and urgent? AI tools will shape our future. Additionally, entire sections of the population (women, people with disabilities, minorities) are neither represented, nor active, nor asked to contribute to building this world.
So you can understand the incredible impact that the disappearance of AI , both in digital data and in the decisions paving the way for the future, and therefore in the solutions created using AI,- will have on the seriousness, the increase in inequalities, the worsening of discrimination and the social, societal and economic divide that this will engender.
And yet, as usual, I can't help telling myself that anything is possible and that we must not give up, but on the contrary propose something else and be a voice, even if it doesn't make as much noise as the others.
I hope to be one of those voices, helping people to understand that we can innovate and be fair; that we can have a position that is both differentiating and attractive. AI that is representative of society is the key to trustworthy, ethical and egalitarian AI. Without inclusiveness, there can be no diversity. Without inclusiveness, there can be no equality.
That to be virtuous, an economic model does not need to crush everything in its path. That it is collectively that we will succeed. Humans still haven't understood that individual race and competitiveness make no sense, and that it's unhealthy.
I will shortly be launching an appeal, a Manifesto, for AI that is not only at the service of humanity, but built by placing humans at the heart of its design, taking all humans without exception. It's also about sharing best practice.
For years, I have been advocating tech for all, created by all. This revolution is an opportunity to redistribute the cards, and I will support organisations, groups, schools and managers who wish to take this route to build a fair, responsible and virtuous future.
Finally, I'd like to say to students - who often suffer from injustice, repeated crises, insecurity and job insecurity, but who are our future leaders - that they can change the world and that the best is yet to come.
Never forget three things:
1. Everyone can, at their own level, help to make the world a better place.
2. Hardship does not define you: you are what you have decided to become.
3. Life is chaos, but a never-ending series of opportunities.