Bernard Meunier

Former chief negotiator of the GIGN, he speaks on crisis management and strategic negotiation, as well as collective agility and performance.

Bernard MEUNIER is the son of a gendarme. One day, his father leaves a book on the living room table titled "The Impossible Missions Brigade" where he learns that super-gendarmes intervene to free hostages, like those on a school bus in Djibouti (1976) a few years earlier. This is a trigger for the teenager. From that day on, he will relentlessly train in extreme conditions to achieve his dream of joining the GIGN at just 24 years old, the anniversary of the selection tests. After only one year in the intervention section, he will be propelled at 26 to New Caledonia, more precisely to the island of Ouvéa, in the midst of an independence crisis. A brigade was attacked during which 4 gendarmes were killed, another left for dead. This was followed by the largest hostage-taking of law enforcement members known to date. 30 gendarmes were captured and hidden in a sacred cave in the Caledonian bush. Upon their discovery and faced with the violence of the perpetrators, Bernard voluntarily took the place of a hostage along with 5 other GIGN members, with the aim of setting up a Trojan horse. 8 days later, all the hostages were released safe and sound. It is in this contradictory and unimaginable context that he discovers the interest of exceptionality: the need and necessity to respond exceptionally to a problem that is equally exceptional. He will become the first negotiator trained within the GIGN, develop the specialty, and intervene for about ten years in all situations involving armed individuals and hostage-takings, some of which are called POM (Massive Hostage-Takings). He negotiated during aircraft hijackings, the most famous being that of Christmas 1994 from Algiers, by 4 terrorists from the Armed Islamic Group (GIA). This GIGN operation was praised by intervention units worldwide. In a breathtaking account, this INSIDER takes you from NEGOTIATION to N.E.G.O.A.C.T.I.O.N© (reference) in complete relaxation, revealing his tactics that demonstrate their relevance to be adapted in the business world to succeed in negotiations, or to emerge from a crisis destabilizing its functioning. On the theme of "PERFORMANCE", he gives you the keys to give meaning to each person's actions in their professional path and to foster ENGAGEMENT through COLLECTIVE AGILITY by outlining the reference: C.R.I.S.E©. Also an author, this speaker has dedicated several works to the art of negotiation and crisis management: "Extreme Negotiations" VA editions (2024). "Negotiation is a weapon" published by Jacques Marie Laffont (2021); "Acting Out - School Shootings" published by Kiwi (2020) and "Crisis Negotiation" published by Special Missions Production (2004). In parallel, he holds a research Master's degree in communication sciences on crisis negotiation. A Master's in psychoanalysis and has the title of sophrologist. He is also a mental coach.