Lightspeed CEO JP Chauvet credits globetrotting childhood with fostering intercultural sensitivity

After a childhood spent in France, Ireland, Nigeria and Singapore, JP Chauvet’s career has spanned yet more countries and continents. He was lured from London to Montreal to work for Lightspeed, where he is Chief Executive Officer. Growing up, Chauvet never felt fully accepted in any one place, but his ability to understand different cultural perspectives has been an asset in his career. “Everybody always asks what’s your superpower, and it’s kind of a weird question, but I can be in Paris and understand how people think. Or how they think in London or in Germany,” Chauvet tells Associate Prof. Karl Moore in an interview for the CEO Series podcast. “And this has helped me at Lightspeed. We grew through organic growth and a ton of acquisitions, and people at those companies say that at least the CEO is someone who can understand where they are coming from. This helped us quite a bit in our ability to expand."

He tells Moore in interview for Forbes, “We were often against the typical American companies that are not as equipped to understand anything else than English. I think it helped us quite a bit in our ability to expand and find the right people who would trust us.”