Hello, I'm Didier Lebon
Head of Culture & Creative Sectors
Global Strategy, Content & Execution
I help organisations craft legacy by imagining, building & scaling all-inclusive portfolios of culture & creative sectors initiatives.
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From conception to delivery, I develop strategies, masterplans, in-house capabilities, teams, formats, content & programming and oversee their execution. I work with clients at a strategic level to develop mid- to large-scale, complex & high-profile offers ranging from policies & grants, education & training programs, conferences & exhibitions, to festivals, start-up competitions, creative entrepreneurship programs, art shows and international partnerships.
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My secret sauce?
Years of venturing in the international creative vanguards offer a unique capacity to craft outstanding strategies for all types of organisations.
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What you won't learn from my bio
I performed in my first opera at 8, coded games on an Amstrad CPC6128 at 10, traded game cards at 14 and wrote a poetry book at 18. Friends became fans.
Championing imagination, creativity & innovation
I guide governments, managers & entrepreneurs on how to craft a thriving cultural & creative legacy.
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In details, I help clients:
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define the vision, objectives & strategy of a culture & creative sectors portfolio
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build the capacities on management: teams, boards, resources, digital workplace
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conduct in-depth research on incumbent, adjacent and vanguard markets of choice
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create a deal flow of ideas, partners, innovative products & speakers
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build flagship initiatives that support strategic & commercial developments in a wide variety of formats
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design year-round communities with shared passions & purpose to grow people & businesses continually.
Strategy
Advised on 3 innovation-led turnarounds
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Constructed 1 management business unit (38 FTEs)
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Created 12 new global innovation pipelines (1 incubator, 1 accelerator, 4 corporate university partnerships, 1 venture studio, 2 artist/entrepreneur-in-residence programs, 3 deal sourcing global networks).
Content
Produced 800+ culture & creative projects
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Developed programs on creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship resulting in 2 new pan-African policies, 4 new academic curricula
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Contributed to the creation & scale of 100+ creative ventures
Capacity
Featured 6,000+ talents & leaders
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Worked with 130+ nationalities
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Helped raise €350m
Some credentials
My story
#CreativityWithoutBorders
In the last 20 years, I was a theatre director, a photographer, an executive producer, a cultural manager, an art curator, a brand strategist, a corporate activist, a business designer, an intrapreneur, a COO, a founding entrepreneur, an Executive MBA alumnus, a creative director, a mentor.
All roles had in common to celebrate imagination by bringing people and ideas together at scale. Step-by-step, I built the infrastructures to discover & nurture creativity.
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#BespokeScenarios
Your culture is unique, and so shall be your cultural offer. You set the tone within the range from conventional to pioneering. I helped clients develop DAOs to rebrand the African continent, materialise foresight scenarios through a food experience, rethink HR through Spotify, develop a new ready-to-wear brand by putting GenZ & Alpha in the executive board of a traditional textile company, pilote the future of food by contributing to the design of the first sausage made from snails (that's called protein transition).
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Culture follows no orthodoxy. Neither do I.
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#MiningVanguards
I prize experimentation, intuition, honest critique, simplicity and learning as you go. I keep exploring creative frontiers in tech and non-tech domains, developing new thinking on creative leadership and structuring the creative economy for modern ages. To do so, I work at the crossroads of design, social science and strategy:
> design as in strategic business design, experience design, more-than-human design, circular design;
> social science as in humanities, sociology, anthropology, ecology, behavioural science, cultural management;
> strategy as in innovation strategy, ESG-ready, collective intelligence, systemic thinking.
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Check my recent readings for inspiration on my current passions: Web3 and regenerative design.