Laurent Bensoussan is Head of Oliver Wyman's Communications, Media and Technology Practice, Americas, and is based in New York.
Laurent brings more than 25 years of consulting experience and in-depth expertise in marketing and customer value strategies in B2C industries, such as grocery retail, consumer finance, and telecommunications.
I help my clients reinvent their strategy and implement it, working together with them on redefining their positioning within the context of the overall market dynamics in which they play.
His work involves assisting companies not only in rethinking tactics but also with repositioning themselves in the dynamic markets they operate. “I advise clients in upgrading their internal capabilities with best-in-class practices, especially on data and analytics, which are often important components in the process,” says Laurent. “But equally critical to advancing the process are the soft dimensions, such as organization, governance, and mindset, which are key to any major repositioning.”
Beyond seeing his work pay off for clients in terms of revenue growth and profits, Laurent takes an even greater pride in seeing the impact it’s had on the organizations he advises. “One of my clients had seen its revenues decline by 2 percent per year for the past five years, leading to yearly layoffs and cost-cutting,” he says. “Getting them on a positive 3 percent growth rate for the past three years, with a completely new market and competitive strategy, not solely stopped the layoffs, but made everybody in the company happier and prouder. Walking the corridors of this client, and seeing a step-change in the mood of the employees now feeling part of the ‘winning team’ is really the best reward I got.”
In addition to work and a deep devotion to his family and grandchildren, this economics graduate of the elite Ecole Centrale Paris is also passionate about Talmud, the oral tradition that forms the foundation of Jewish law (or “halakhah”). “Talmud is a highly analytical domain, one that requires a lot of intellectual investment,” says Laurent. “Study is typically done in pairs and groups, and only really works if one is open to learn from others and accept their opinion after lots of debates. Not that dissimilar from consulting!”