Nicolas Bidon, Global CEO of Xaxis | GroupM’s The ReGroup Ep. 1

The ReGroup is a limited series hosted by Christian Juhl, GroupM’s Global CEO, where he’ll be interviewing people from around the world at GroupM as well as some external guests to discuss various topics and issues facing our business and industry. In the pilot episode, Christian speaks with Nicolas Bidon, Global CEO of Xaxis, about how they are both adjusting to new ways of working during this global pandemic, how they are working to support the group’s people and clients, and what they miss the most from their lives before Coronavirus.

As the Coronavirus continues to upend industries and life, it is creating all different kinds of stress for clients and employees. For Christian and Nicolas, they are communicating with their people as much as they can to make sure everyone is feeling supported in any way needed, both personally and through client work.

As with everyone else, though, the new normal created from this pandemic has upended their personal and professional lives. Christian shares with us what it is like under a shelter and place order in his Bay Area home with his 12-year-old son Luke as he does schoolwork remotely with schools closed through the rest of the school year.

Nicolas shares about being able to get out and bike through parts of London proper for exercise on roads that would otherwise be very congested with tourists and cars.

A main worry for both, however, is being able to continue to stay ahead of everything that is happening inside and outside the company and being able to prepare for the future. As the future continues to remain uncertain thanks to the pandemic, it remains increasingly difficult to have any sort of concrete plan to rely on.

But a positive both have taken away from this unsettling situation, a “silver lining,” as Christian put it, has been the way the group has really found new ways to work together and collaborate effectively with their teams. “So many people are doing just extraordinary things to try and make this a little bit easier for everyone around the world,” Christian said.

At the end of the day, though, both Christian and Nicolas are looking forward to just being together with friends and family once this is all over and both men hope to get together over a nice meal and bottle of wine.