Meet Rodolphe Meyer

We recently connected with Rodolphe Meyer and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Rodolphe, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

Ah, the ability to take risks—a skill often confused with madness, but I assure you, mine is a refined madness. It began, I suspect, when I decided to leap out of perfectly good airplanes with the French Foreign Legion. There’s something about plummeting toward the earth at terminal velocity that teaches you to distinguish between a calculated risk and sheer lunacy. Spoiler alert: you want the parachute packed correctly.

Medicine also played a part. Imagine making life-and-death decisions before your coffee’s kicked in. That’ll sharpen your nerves—or fry them. As a scientist, risks are subtler but no less perilous. You risk ridicule, funding cuts, and the occasional laboratory fire when you propose an idea that breaks the mold.

In IT management, risks come cloaked in the dull hum of servers and the dreaded phrase “data migration.” Leading a hospital’s digital transformation is like playing a high-stakes chess match where the pawns are irritable surgeons and the board occasionally catches fire. And yet, those risks come with tremendous rewards—assuming you don’t get eaten alive by the bureaucracy first.

Finally, art and music: nothing exposes you to the raw terror of risk quite like putting your soul on display. Will anyone buy the painting? Will they clap at the song or leave the room coughing pointedly? You risk your pride, but without that, there’s no growth.

So how did I develop this ability? By embracing risk as a companion, not a foe. Life isn’t about avoiding danger but learning to dance with it—and occasionally leading the waltz.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Ah, where to begin? I’m a bit of a professional shape-shifter. By day, I’m the C-level IT mastermind keeping a national university hospital’s digital infrastructure from imploding—a task that involves herding servers, tempering tempers, and navigating bureaucracy with the finesse of a tightrope walker. What’s exciting about it? The stakes. Everything I touch impacts lives directly—medical decisions, patient care, the whole shebang. It’s like Mission: Impossible, but with fewer explosions and more emails.

Beyond that, I’m an artist, which feels like the antidote to IT’s spreadsheets and system logs. My digital paintings explore everything from bold abstractions to surreal landscapes, each piece infused with a little mischief and a lot of heart. If you squint at one long enough, you might even see a bit of my soul—or perhaps my caffeine addiction.

As for the “brand,” if I had to sum it up: it’s a celebration of paradox. Precision meets creativity. Chaos meets control. Military discipline meets artistic whimsy. I’m a believer in embracing contradictions, because that’s where the magic happens.

New on the horizon? I’m gearing up for an art exhibition that will showcase some fresh works, preparing to release a few new animations for the images, and actively developing my network to expand the reach of my art. Selling more of my creations isn’t just a business goal—it’s a way to share what I love with a wider audience. Let’s call it my ongoing experiment in proving that life is far too short for just one passion. Stay tuned—preferably with a strong drink in hand!

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Looking back, I’d say three key elements shaped my journey: adaptability, resilience, and a voracious appetite for learning. But above all, let me add one more that’s often overlooked: the ability to force your chance. Life rarely hands you opportunities on a silver platter—you have to grab them, wrestle them into shape, and occasionally bribe them with charm or persistence.

1. Adaptability:
When you leap out of an airplane, adaptability is more than a buzzword—it’s the difference between a graceful landing and a disaster. Whether it was shifting from military life to medicine, from medicine to IT leadership, or balancing all that with art and music, being able to pivot and recalibrate kept me not just afloat, but thriving.
Advice: Start small, think big—say yes to things outside your comfort zone. Get used to being uncomfortable. The more you lean into uncertainty, the better you’ll get at finding your footing in chaos.

2. Resilience:
Life will knock you down; it’s a given. Resilience is about how stylishly you get back up. I’ve faced moments where failure seemed inevitable—war zone havoc, projects imploding, bureaucracies buckling, canvases refusing to cooperate. But each stumble was a lesson, and each lesson made me stronger.
Advice: Get used to anything that discourages you. Fail often, fail smart, and learn to laugh about it. Build resilience like you’d build a muscle it’s the armor that lets you face setbacks without losing your edge.

3. A Voracious Appetite for Learning:
I’ve always been a relentless student—of medicine, science, technology, art, and life itself. The world is an endless feast of knowledge, and I refuse to leave the table until I’m full.
Advice: Stay curious, and don’t silo yourself. Learn things unrelated to your primary field. A doctor who understands coding, or an artist who knows logistics, is someone who can solve problems in ways others can’t. Treat curiosity as a discipline, not just a whim.

4. Force Your Chance:
Here’s the secret no one tells you: opportunities don’t always come knocking. Sometimes, they’re hiding, locked behind a door, and it’s up to you to kick that door down. From taking audacious leaps in career transitions to putting my art out in the world where rejection is a given, I’ve learned that hesitation is the enemy of success.
Advice: Be proactive, not passive. Reach out, pitch yourself, take risks that make you sweat a little. Waiting around for the “right time” or perfect conditions is the fastest way to get left behind.

For those early in their journey, my advice boils down to this: Be bold, be relentless, and don’t let fear of failure—or fear of looking foolish—stop you. The best journeys are the messy ones, the ones that force you to grow. Oh, and keep a sense of humor. It’s the best companion you’ll have along the way.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

Ah, my parents—brave souls with nerves of steel. The most impactful thing they ever did for me was give me an incredible amount of liberty in my choices and my doings—a kind of freedom that could give any normal parent sleepless nights and premature gray hair. They trusted me to chart my own course, even when that course looked like it might lead straight into a wall.

While other parents hovered anxiously, mine stood back, arms crossed, and let me take the leap. Want to join the Army and jump out of planes? Go for it. Want to dive headfirst into medicine, then pivot to science, then reinvent yourself in IT? Sure, why not. Want to explore art, even though those pursuits make most practical-minded parents break out in hives? Their response was essentially, “Good luck, kid. We’ll cheer from the sidelines.”

But here’s the genius of it: their trust made me accountable. With that level of freedom came the unspoken understanding that I couldn’t blame anyone else if I failed. It was my path, my risk, and my responsibility. That liberty forced me to think deeply about my choices, to take ownership of my mistakes, and to savor my successes all the more.

It’s a terrifying gift to give a child, but it’s also the ultimate one. That freedom taught me to trust myself, to embrace risk, and to live without regrets. It’s a lesson I carry with me every day—and I’m sure it’s one they carried with white-knuckled patience.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rodolphe-meyer.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rodolphe_meyer/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodolphemeyer/

Image Credits

Rodolphe Meyer