Christiane Germain, France Beaudoin and Martha Stewart. Christiane, in the business world, is a courageous, daring woman, who moves forward, who positively influences a world that was quite masculine, the hotel world. She is inspiring to me and to my daughter because she runs a family business. France Beaudoin, for her determination, but also her caring side, which I love. I think I’m like that in my business too. There are many things we can do with kindness. Martha Stewart began her career at age 40. For me, she was the first to do what we do and we took a lot of inspiration from her for the world of cooking media.
It depends on the kind of ideas. For a business, operational idea, if it is a problem resolution, I will gather my team, consult them and we will brainstorm together. We must recognize that we do not have all the answers in a company. If it’s an idea I have to come up with on my own, I’ll go gardening, cooking, walking. I need to be alone in my head.
Yes. It started from our relationship and we brought that into our business: the best suits us very well. You have to see it without pretension. It means that we deserve good things in life, that we deserve the best. It’s a really positive approach. And we appropriated the words “the best” everywhere afterwards, without even realizing it. We have “the best spaghetti sauce”, “the best chocolate cake”. We even launched sweaters that just say best!
Reinventing yourself, business transformation. There is a lot of reading on this and continuing education. A business must always be evolving, anyway. If you don’t evolve, you go backwards. It’s not a choice.
I’m lucky, I disconnect quite easily. If I am contacted during my vacation, after the call, I return to my vacation – unless there is a major problem. In our company, we have put good practices in place since the pandemic, disconnection practices. No communications after 6 p.m. or on weekends, except for certain sectors – we are in catering and retail. We can send each other inspiration and ideas, but not business emails.
If you don’t have experience in this area, it’s not going to work. I was told this: it was a driving force. When you want to get there, you’re going to look for skills, you’re going to surround yourself well and necessarily you’re going to learn on the job.
I have often had this discussion with my daughter who is in the company. Soft skills are as important as know-how. And also: don’t count the time you’re going to put into work, if you want to surpass yourself.
Yes. We were partners with La Presse in the 2000s for the TV shows, the magazine and the website. We started with them and bought the Ricardo brand to become independent. In 24 hours, I became the editor of a magazine, a website, producer of a TV show and president of Ricardo Media. It changed my career and the company.
I fired a talented employee, according to established protocol. I always regretted the way I did it. I should have trusted my instincts and taken more time with this person to explain different things. It was a mistake – and not a nice mistake for that person, but for me, it confirmed that I wanted to do things my way, give thanks in my own way.
Listen, ask questions, surround yourself with people who are better than you and who know how to highlight them. He is someone who has the courage to make difficult decisions too.
A graduate in nutrition from the University of Montreal in 1991, Brigitte Coutu founded Ricardo Media with Ricardo Larrivee in 2002, of which she is today president and CEO.
The company employs more than 160 people across different sectors: magazines, books, website, kitchen accessories, boutiques, restaurants, TV production and food products.
In 2018, she received an honorary diploma in nutrition from Laval University which recognized “her leadership, her vision, her scientific rigor and her business acumen” as well as her entrepreneurial and social success in promoting healthy eating habits. .
