When I ask Patrick Ménard, the recently appointed head of Société Générale's new media and telecommunications group, to describe his style of management, he drifts into football-speak. "These days," he says, "you've really got to be a player coach." Sounding a little more like a banker, he explains: "You've got to do deals yourself to be credible, both externally and internally, but you also need to be a manager. We are, after all, running a global business. And to manage people you must know what people are going through on a day-to-day basis."
"I managed to stay one step removed. I think that's important for a banker"
The footballing analogy comes on the heels of a discussion about Ménard's passion for the game. He supports AC Milan and Manchester City (the latter affiliation was acquired while learning English and staying with a family who lived in Manchester's Maine Road, a few doors away from the City ground).
Aside from his love of football, Ménard is a keen painter - his walls at home are covered with his abstract daubs - but he is the first to admit that he is above all a banker.