A seasoned traveler, mountaineer, dreamer, and man of action, Erik L’Homme is best known for his writings for young people, which have earned him international recognition, and have seen his books translated into 26 languages. Through his literature and his life as an adventurer, he passes on his magicalgift enabling those around him to perceive our world in all its marvels. As Christmas and the end of the year celebrations approach, it is comforting to introduce a pinch of this dreamlike dimension into our thoughts. As a member of GensDeConfiance, Erik L’Homme invites us to find our bearings again. He draws upon the wisdom of the Hindu Kush tribes amongst whom he lived, and reminds us that solidarity and trust are the invisible threads that bind society together.

Former interdepartmental delegate for Economic Intelligence to the Prime Minister from 2013 to 2015, a graduate of l’École Nationale d’Administration, Claude Revel has shared her career between service to the state and to private enterprise, particularly in the building and public works sector. A French pioneer of international professional influence and a specialist in standards-related issues,she now chairs the EIG (Economic Interest Group) “France Sport Expertise” and advises the general management of SKEMA Business School. Author of several reference books and numerous articles on the subject of economic warfare, she has never ceased to reflect on the logic of trust in business and in the professional world in general. Claude Revel is a member of GensDeConfiance.

“To trust in the justice of one’s country”. Does this formula still make sense in the era of the media courtsthat praise you or charge you? This is nothing new as La Fontaine was already denouncing this in 17th century.The question is all the more legitimate because if there is one institution that, more than any other, shouldnot suffer from mistrust, it is the judicial institution. And especially criminal justice, which guarantees ourfreedoms and punishes attacks on people and property. To answer this question, no one was better suited thanthe famous general counsel Philippe Bilger. For this magistrate, who has presided in the most high-profiletrials of the last twenty years, is first and foremost a man of culture – with nuances – who never ceases toreflect on ways to reconcile citizens with those who – let us never forget – render justice in their name.

Hedwige Chevrillon is not only a star presenter on BFM TV, host of L’Heure H, Monday to Thursday, from12 p.m. to 1 p.m. on BFM Business, she is also a leading journalist. Having studied at HEC, she is familiar withthe economic world and its main players and, beyond the crisis of confidence in the media, she reflectson the crisis of confidence in society as a whole. As such the fact that she granted an interview to Socleis highly relevant at a time when the boundaries between information and opinion, journalism andcommunication, legitimate debate and hostile discourse are too often confused. Irreplaceablechannels of critical freedom, social networks, she argues, will never be the equal of the press for two keyreasons: the anonymity that too often reigns there and, therefore, the non-transparency of their sources.

How can you trust someone you’ve never met? This is the challenge, unattainable without the enormousresources of the digital economy, Frédéric Mazzella and the BlaBlaCar team, the world leader in the field ofcarpooling, face every day.

Thanks to the system they have created, but also thanks to a vision that is very much in line with that ofGensDeConfiance: trust does not just fall from the sky, but is the consequence of very specific actions.Exclusively for Socle, Frédéric Mazzella looks back on his experience and on the success of BlaBlaCar,which is used today by more than 90 million people worldwide. A solution that helps to save 1.6 milliontonnes of CO2 each year.The equivalent of the emissions from Parisian transport!

After having given the floor to a political scientist (Jérôme Fourquet) and a sociologist (Michel Maffesoli),this month Socle, our newsletter features a military man who combines solid experience as a teacherwith his long practice of command which includes on an international level (military attaché at the FrenchEmbassy in Washington from 2000 to 2003).

A former director of the École de Guerre, General Desportes has been involved in strategic thinking, high-level teaching (Sciences Po Paris, HEC) and business consulting for several years.

Behind this commitment lies a conviction that has been tried and tested: the army, whose unity is achieved firstand foremost through trust, has much to teach civil society in these times of widespread mistrust

An emeritus professor of sociology at the Sorbonne, internationally renowned explorer of the imagination, Michel Maffesoli has devoted more than half a century of his work to the interaction between ideas and changes in societies.

Ignoring this subtle interplay means, according to him, failing to understand the real changes – political, economic, cultural, social... – at work in our daily lives, where the rational is being replaced by the emotional. In truth, it is this imagination that subtly sculpts our reality. So individualism is being defeated by the return of tribes, based on common passions, whose return to our post-modernity was first announced by Michel Maffesoli. These tribes, which flourish in the digital age – and even more so in the age of confinement! – operate on a key factor: trust.

Will French society emerge changed from the Coronavirus ordeal? What can we already learn from the sequence of events started on the 16th of March by the decision to enforce on the French the strict confinement rules already applied in China and subsequently in Italy?

As a seasoned analyst, the director of studies at the IFOP (Institut français d’opinion publique), Jérôme Fourquet, is not a pollster like the others. He is also a geographer with a passion for the history of mentalities, which makes him one of the most qualified people to discuss the subject.

In the wake of his latest book, L’archipel français, naissance d’une nation multiple et divisée (Seuil, 2019), which in just a few months has taken its place at the heart of the debate on ideas, he assesses for us the impact of the crisis we are going through on the value of trust.