ABSTRACT
In this section, it is hoped that the reader will learn much more than the names of politicians and corporate leaders. The attentive reader will perhaps grasp the ferocity of the competitive examination system in France, and the stereotypical career path that practically all of the makers and shakers have taken. The reader will perhaps be surprised to learn that university studies, generally speaking, rarely lead to the top in politics or industry. They will perhaps understand why the monoculture of the grande école is causing problems in some sectors of industry, why working in teams is so alien to the French corporate mind and why French companies are run the way they are, as pyramids, with power distance governing the top-down approach to management. Things are changing, but very slowly.
