Here are some of the questions we are frequently asked
about ourselves, the two founding partners of Principiæ:

—   How did Jean-luc go from science to communication?
—   How many languages do you speak? Which ones? Why?
—   Given all the demand you get, why are you not hiring?

 

How did Jean-luc go from science to communication?

As an undergraduate student in engineering, I was told
by professors and classmates that I was good at speaking,
writing, and graphing, yet I did not know what, specifically,
was good about my presentations, documents, and displays.
Without a conceptual framework, I felt I could not improve.

As a graduate student at Stanford, I grabbed the opportunity
to take “E103 Public Speaking” and “E102 Technical Writing.”
I thus found the first elements of the conceptual framework
I was hoping to develop. I ended up teaching Public Speaking
for several quarters: a valuable—and enjoyable—experience.

During a postdoctoral year and a compulsory military service,
I started training and consulting activities in communication
on a freelance basis during nights, weekends, and days off.
These two intense years—the first of many more to come—
confirmed two points: I genuinely enjoyed these activities
and there was visibly a need (and hence a market) for them.
I needed no more to decide to make a living out of them.

How many languages do you speak? Which ones? Why?

We run training sessions in English, French, Dutch, and Spanish,
and we have completed writing projects in English and French,
and exceptionally in Dutch. We are native speakers of French,
one of the three official languages of Belgium (our country).
Another is Dutch, or Flemish, as the Belgian variant is called.
(The third is German, although it is spoken by few Belgians.)
Jean-luc refined his mastery of English by spending four years
in California; that is where he learned Spanish... for pleasure.
Geneviève used English and Dutch daily on the job in the past
and learned Spanish in evening school, out of personal interest.

Given all the demand you get, why are you not hiring?

We are indeed receiving more requests than we can accept,
but we have two reasons for not hiring additional resources.
First, our activities seem to require an unusual combination
of knowledge, skills, and attitude. Any substitute would need
a solid background in science and engineering or in finance,
excellent communication and teaching abilities, and a mastery
of several languages. Such people usually have a job already.
Second, our clients call upon us largely for “who we are”—
for our hallmark style, for the chemistry in the interactions, ….
Many of them told us they would not settle for someone else.

Top|Home

On occasions, we do work with others who have knowledge
or skills complementary to ours. For regular speaking courses
at a given client organization, we often train internal “coaches,”
who can then run the practice sessions in subgroups of five.