DON

< back to articles

Jean Pierson Leadership Award: 3rd edition

Published on

4 Jun 2024

An exceptional prize in tribute to Jean Pierson (1940-2021), who graduated from ISAE-SUPAERO in 1963, to be awarded each year to an ISAE-SUPAERO student for his or her ability to engage, inspire and motivate.

A leaderhsip award

The award, launched in 2022 by the ISAE-SUPAERO Foundation, pays tribute to Jean Pierson, a man with a particularly inspiring personality. The prize was created on the initiative of and thanks to donations from friends, former collaborators and members of Jean Pierson’s family. Thanks to the support of companies where he has worked with ardor and panache, notably Airbus, where he was CEO for 13 years, we are now in a position to make this award a lasting one.

At AIRBUS, Jean Pierson (S 1963) and his team were instrumental in changing the course of civil aviation, and for 5 years as Chairman of the Board of Directors of SUPAERO (July 1998 to April 2002) he left his mark on the training of aerospace engineers.

The Jean Pierson Prize was awarded for the first time in December 2022.

An award to recognize a student’s ability to engage, inspire and motivate.

“The leader is not the one who is ambitious for himself, but the one who is ambitious for others.

The Jean Pierson Award is intended to reward each year a student of ISAE-SUPAERO at the end of his or her studies (all courses combined) who, during his or her years at ISAE-SUPAERO, has demonstrated particular leadership qualities.

WHAT IS A LEADER? AND WHY REWARD IT?

Has anyone ever made you want to move mountains with them?
Leadership is a bit like that: knowing how to create commitment, convey motivation and enthusiasm to make a project a success, increase the feeling of belonging to a group to achieve an objective and make those around you accountable while showing altruism, empathy, listening and often humility. He or she has a clear vision, knows how to be assertive and, above all, considers the people around him or her first.

A leader is NOT necessarily a manager or a leader, he can be a good manager but the reverse is not always true, so the hierarchy is irrelevant here!

A leader is NOT necessarily someone who is extroverted or visible, humility is one of the greatest qualities of leaders

A leader is NOT a person who imposes his ideas, or crushes others, quite the contrary!

Finally, a leader is NOT necessarily a person who recognizes himself or herself as such, which is why the award allows for candidates to be nominated!

Thus, each candidate must be nominated by June 30 on the proposal of a group of students, a teacher-researcher, a professor or an internship supervisor. After validation of the applications by an internal committee of the Institute, each candidate who has accepted to be nominated must submit a file before October 15, which will then be submitted to the international jury of the Jean Pierson Prize composed of 6 permanent members.

 

What if we were to develop leaders instead of managers?
an article Welcome to the Jungle!

The 2024 Prize will be awarded this year at the Foundation’s Awards Ceremony on February 13, 2025 !

> See full rules