Lunch with Jean..

Kinda long, those who wait answers to questions above, may not bother, othervise for Ferraris sake, read on..

It was a nice little meeting with 16 ish people.
Jean and two italian guys were guests of honor of course.

I stayed there nearly two hours, here are my observations;

For the ones who did not met him personally, i'll start with how he looks like, than go on to the chat part, not that there was lots of it, not with owners anyway..

Jean is a nice little guy (litterally, he is like 5,2 and 100lbs or something).
He was wearing not matching pants, jacket, shirt, socks and shoes. Not obviously sporty as someone guessed, and definitely not fashionable but it was a nice choice for a hot summer days unofficial meeting.
I must admit that from CEO of Ferrari (Italians/world's one of most fashionable brand) who is actually French (capitol of fashion), could have done with a better (not better, but lets say nicer) suit.
Anywho, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and i'm am definitely not a fashion critic not by a long shot, besides who am i to judge such an important personna depending on his choice of colors..

What cought my eye is that on all of his fingers he has bandaid kinda tapes, probably not to allow him biting his nails due to high stress, i guess he got that habit working with Shumi all these years . He uses "Vertu" cellphone. (God, do i feel like a paparazzi)

Besides his look, i can say, he definitely has a glow.
When you see him, you immediately feel that he is someone very important, and that is a very essential leadership characteristic that you can not learn but you are born with, imo.
When we shook hands i was glad that i was wearing a suit and felt sorry for the guys with jeans if u know what i mean. His looks tells you that you have to respect him..
I mean he does not look like he is a down to earth guy, he knows his worth and dont hold back, no, he does not talk down to you or dis you with his looks but, his body language is, albeit involuntarily.
I mean there were 10 or more people in that room with very high credidentials which own good companies and achieved what they want in life, but compared to Jean, man we were all loosers. Maybe i feel that way because we were all here for him, or we pay (out of or nose somethimes) for what he does and respect his products more than anything in life (some of us anyway), but all and all my first impression was like that..

Following his arrival (with a black quattroporte), and immediately after a small welcome/shake hands session, they have gone to a meeting room with Dealership officials and stayed there for 30 minutes.
When they come out he met with everyone personally. Sales manager was telling the names of owners and what they drive and he made little comments about.
Like, i drive a modena with manual t., he said "oh, you should try one of our 430's with F1"

After that session, which is constantly interrupted with phone calls, when i thought that i could ask some questions (probably only one if i was lucky and nothing specific like kers or emissions/new car), another meeting come up with the italian guys, my guess is that they are either area sales managers or country sales managers. Hop, goes another 30 minutes. I guess thats what it means to be CEO of a company like Ferrari and F1 section.

At least we used that time with lunch and enjoyed the agency ladies (modelling agency, not cia or italian counterpart ).

After the 2.nd meeting, i was ready to make my move, drank 2 JimBims and 2 glasses of white, and started to stroll by their side, i tied my jacket, gathered my courage, push others out of my way, hold my index finger high, opened my mounth, and...
...
...
...that damn chairman of backgammon federation said "how about a game Mr. Jean?"..

"Man, c'mone, you had one question to ask and you ask that" i felt in frustration..

After that it was all over, i watched them play for 15minutes, they never said a word, than i waited 15more while smoking some cubans and it just kept going, so i got bored, fed and a little drunk hopped in my 360 and gunned it to home..

It was obviously a charity kinda event for him (the cherished are us), he did not looked bored (althoug he did not had any mimic on his face) but i know that he choosed playing backgommon instead of answering silly questions. (i'm sure some might, such as "why ferrari?" or "do u think u can be F1 champions?").

It was a different experience, sorry not much more to share, but as Tiff Needell said, "Meeting Jean Todt is like meeting with Queen", so i guess i must be happy, (what the heck, proud) to meet one of the most important man in automobile and racing (dont forget wrc peugeot) history..

i'll talk to the maneger in the following days about what went on at the meetings, not industry secrets probably, but maybe i can squize general information about the subjects they talk behind closed doors..

cheers..