What are your best and worst habits?
My best habit is going to bed early. My worst habit is also my best habit. I am a fairly energetic person and I am often asked where I find this energy. I think it’s because I sleep well. On the other hand, I am a boring friend. I miss parties or leave them early.
What do you do when you need to come up with an idea?
I expose myself to my opposite. I have always enjoyed being outside of my comfort zone and being in front of people who don’t think like me. It takes effort and a bit of humility. We have to be willing to recognize that we don’t have all the answers.
What word can you no longer stand?
” Impossible “. Audrey Hepburn said: “Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m possible. » That’s what I believe. We use this word to justify decisions, often for the wrong reasons. I consider that there is almost nothing impossible.
How do you unplug?
I’m getting better and better at unplugging. I haven’t always known it, but I know the people around me do it and I listen to them. To successfully unplug, I binge-watch series.
What book or film do you usually recommend?
There are two books: The woman who fled, by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, who describes so well the pain in choosing to be both a woman and a mother. The other is Ruby Kim Thúy.
The film is One and the other (Claude Lelouch, 1981). I saw it in my twenties and I haven’t changed my mind. The history of these three generations tells us that there is no such thing as chance. The music left its mark on me. I fell in love with the Bolero by Ravel.
What advice are you glad you ignored?
It is: a number two rarely becomes a number one. It was lavished on me generously. When I was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal and the president left, I was determined to get the job. I consulted several people to get their opinion and one of them, in his large gilded office and big leather sofa, told me that, and for a moment, I believed him. It’s still fresh in my memory. Not like it was yesterday, like it was this morning!
Was there a moment when your career changed?
Exactly after this episode, when I went from number two to number one.
Do you impose a “dress code” on yourself at work?
No. This morning, I got caught up in a quote from Coco Chanel who said that women are overdressed and not elegant enough. The code I give myself is to be comfortable. When I was in Paris, I adopted sneakers because high heels on the cobblestones are not ideal. At BDC, wearing running shoes was prohibited by the dress code. After the pandemic, when we thought about it, we ended up abolishing the dress code.
Do you have a mantra?
Yes. “Aim for the moon, if you miss, you will land among the stars. » This is what I tell the teams I work with. It’s by Oscar Wilde and I’ve believed in it for 25 years.
What is your biggest mistake?
Having been convinced that the university avenue was not the only avenue for learning. I didn’t have the patience for school. I attended several universities and several disciplines, without obtaining a diploma, to the great despair of my parents, who were teachers.
The ideal retirement?
It’s about never stopping. I’m starting to think about it. I’m rolling around and I tell myself that I’m going to have to slow down. I don’t think about stopping. Retirement, for me, is a mix of activities: less professional activities and more personal activities.
Who is Isabelle Hudon?
Since 2021, Isabelle Hudon has headed the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), a federal Crown corporation that provides financing and advisory services to Canadian businesses.
Isabelle Hudon was Canadian Ambassador to France and Monaco from 2017 to 2021.
She held management positions at Marketel and Sun Life Financial, where she was CEO for Quebec.
From 2004 to 2008, Isabelle Hudon was president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.