🌳Open the field of possibilities

Dear leaders,

Happy November! As we gently step into the winter season, I hope this month’s note brings you warmth and inspiration.

This time, I want to share something very special: a nugget straight from France: La Forêt des Possibles. It’s an invitation to pause, reconnect and rediscover how your team can move forward together with purpose. If you’re planning your next offsite or simply looking for a fresh way to re-energize your leadership team, this might just be the breath of air you need.

Meet Marin, its inspiring founder and discover how La Forêt des Possibles can help your team open new paths, build trust and make change truly happen.

And since transformation always starts with people, I’m also sharing one of this month’s leadership resources: “Change Management: where to start?”: a practical guide to leading change without losing the human touch.

With curiosity, courage and care,
Anita Cassagne, Founder & Coach at The Laughing Willow.

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This month’s nugget

Exclusively reserved for French-speaking leaders this month: it’s available in French for now - English version coming soon!

Et si votre CODIR donnait un nouvel élan à son début d’année?

J’ai testé une nouvelle manière de se relier et faire émerger vision et raison d’être.

La fin d’année approche… Vous avez prévu un offsite avec votre équipe ? (bravo, c’est déjà très bien 👏)

Maintenant, je vous entends déjà:

• Des ambitions claires.. mais peu de temps pour les transformer en plans concrets, l’agenda est déjà plein.

• Des équipes fatiguées, enchaînant les comités sans toujours réussir à se projeter.

Et si, cette année, leaders curieux.ses, vous osiez faire différent? Je vous propose un outil simple et pragmatique pour inspirer et structurer votre feuille de route.
Un cadre qui permet de ralentir, de respirer, et paradoxalement..de gagner en efficacité ensuite.

Pourquoi l’adopter?

• Pour construire une confiance basée sur la vulnérabilité (le secret bien gardé de toute équipe performante)

• Pour réveiller la curiosité et l’envie d’explorer autrement.

• Pour ouvrir vraiment le champ des possibles.

Concrètement, comment ça marche?

Dans ce monde B.A.N.I.*, nous avons besoin d’approches innovantes pour transformer la stratégie en actions concrètes et embarquer les équipes avec sens et énergie. (Et la BPI l’a aussi reconnu!)

💬 Envie d’offrir à votre CODIR un vrai moment pour souffler, réfléchir et construire autrement? 

→ Répondez à cet email par “Forêt des Possibles”

^{*B.A.N.I. définit le monde dans lequel nous évoluons depuis 2020 - un monde Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear et Incomprehensible.}

Change management: where to start?

If there’s one topic that never gets old in leadership, it’s change.
We talk about it all the time, yet when it happens - in our teams, our organizations, or even our own lives - it still shakes things up.

I’ve seen many leaders approach change as a plan to roll out. But real change doesn’t happen on PowerPoint slides. It happens in people: in their habits, emotions, and daily realities.

This month ’s resource offers a simple, structured approach to leading change without losing the human side. It breaks down where to start: from identifying real impacts, to listening to weak signals, to celebrating small evolutions - even imperfect ones!

If you’re navigating a transformation (big or small), this one’s worth a read.

→ Read it here in French or English

And don’t forget to pass the test!

Meet Marin Maufrais

I had heard about Marin Maufrais long before I met him. He’s the older brother of my son’s best friend. One day, my son came home and told me about what he saw as quite a feat: Marin had resigned from his internship in public affairs. What Marin would later describe to me simply as “shedding light on an inconsistency.”

That decision led to a conversation with the CEO at the time; Emmanuel Faber. Audacity? Courage? Conviction? All three, Captain!

Audacity? Yes, because he didn’t want to leave without saying something.
Courage? Yes, because Marin chose not to follow the obvious path (and with his brilliant academic record, he easily could have).
Convictions? Absolutely, grounded in strong human values.

And that’s how we met: around La Forêt des Possibles. I’ll let you discover more about him.

What happens when we truly dare to open up as a team?

Too often, in organizations, we keep a poker face -  afraid that showing vulnerability might backfire. But that silence can come at a high cost.

Imagine a boat taking on water. If the crew is too afraid to speak up for fear of being blamed, chances are they won’t make it. That sinking ship is our collective future.

In a world undergoing deep transformation (climate change, resource scarcity, social tensions) our vulnerabilities are systemic. In companies, they show up in fragile value chains, a loss of meaning, burnout and growing difficulty in mobilizing and retaining talent.

How can we address the root causes of these vulnerabilities if we don’t dare to name them? How can we identify blind spots, solve tensions, or set a clear direction if no one speaks up about what truly matters?

Freeing speech takes courage, a safe framework and a culture of trust.
But it’s also about opening the door to others; discovering that one person’s fear can be balanced by another’s strength. Our vulnerabilities then become the collective’s power.

In a society moving through the fog, it’s essential to build teams that are aligned, able to face uncertainty and to find new solutions together.
Opening up isn’t a weakness:  it’s a bet on resilience, interdependence and the long view.

What inspires you in your leadership?

I believe in the power of leading by example. If we want to guide an organization toward an ecological, fair and sustainable transformation. How can we hope to bring others along if we don’t start with ourselves?

A few years ago, I left an elite Parisian world to get involved in Marseille’s northern neighborhoods. Choosing a life of popular ecology surprised many around me. But it also helped gather deeply motivated teams around La Forêt des Possibles: people driven by strong values and genuine generosity.

I’m naturally persistent when it comes to vision, but I always try to stay pragmatic in how to get there. I’m well aware of all the hard skills I don’t personally master and I see my role as revealing them in others. I love involving my teams, helping them grow, take ownership of projects and turn our constraints into creativity.

But to inspire others, you also have to nourish yourself. I’ve experienced the fatigue that comes from overcommitment.. What some call activist burnout. My ability to listen and stay calm suffered. I’ve always been inspired by those who cultivate gratitude, silence and meditation. But slowing down is hard when you’re caught in the rush of action!

Then, by chance, I had a serious bike accident.. and broke my phone. That moment became a turning point. I took a step back, reassessed my digital habits and decided not to reinstall social media. I’d wanted to quit for months, but it’s not easy when those tools are designed to keep you hooked.

I swapped scrolling for evenings of sports, reading and silence. And guess what? Bit by bit, the energy came back. Sustainable things take time! That period of inner retreat also created more space for spontaneous initiatives within my teams, the kind that bring everyone along naturally.

To me, leadership means inspiring by example, engaging through structure and staying clear by reconnecting to yourself.