Meet Mickael Jacquemin

We were lucky to catch up with Mickael Jacquemin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mickael, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

My confidence comes from action. I have always approached new projects with a significant amount of self-doubt, accompanied by that all-too-familiar feeling of impostor syndrome. Yet, it’s only when I truly dive into the work, when I start creating, that this sensation begins to shift. Over time, I’ve come to view doubt not as an obstacle, but as an ally. It’s doubt that pushes me to question myself, to aim higher, and to explore uncharted territory.

In fact, the stronger the doubt at the outset, the greater my confidence by the end. There’s a particular euphoria that comes when I reach the tipping point, the moment when I realize that perhaps I can create something worthwhile after all. This transformation is cyclical: the doubt fuels the process, the process builds confidence, and the confidence strengthens my sense of self-esteem, until the cycle begins anew with a fresh challenge.

While confidence tends to grow over time, I make a conscious effort to keep it in check. Comfort, I’ve learned, can be the enemy of creativity. Too much confidence can lull you into a sense of ease that stifles the energy and curiosity needed to innovate and take risks. This is particularly true when recognition and awards come into play. While external validation can feel rewarding, it also has the potential to make you risk-averse, tethering you to the fear of losing your reputation.
The irony is that chasing external markers of success can lead you further from the internal authenticity that fuels genuine confidence. I’ve experienced this firsthand. The more I allowed external validation to dictate my path, the less I recognized myself and, paradoxically, the less confident I became.

This is why I embrace the mindset of the eternal beginner. A beginner has no reputation to protect, no identity to uphold, just the freedom to create and explore without constraints. That blank slate is where energy and ambition thrive. I strive to keep this perspective alive by grounding my sense of identity not in what I’ve accomplished in the past, but in what I’m doing right now.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Throughout my career, I’ve applied this principle across various fields, music, design, and advertising. Looking back, I realize that my life has been defined by the willingness to start from scratch, to be a novice in something new. What inspires me most is the exhilarating challenge of standing at the base of a mountain I have no idea how to climb. And when I sense that the terrain ahead has become too familiar, that the challenges lie more in the past than in the future, I choose a new direction. This approach helps me avoid the thing I fear most: falling asleep.

In recent years, I’ve had the chance to work on several very exciting projects. Together with my friend Benoit Oulhen, we created two films for Volkswagen, Nothing and The Others. I’m very proud of these projects, what they represent, the way they were made, and the journey we undertook to bring them to life just as they were meant to be. We also worked on the film From Sand for the release of Assassin’s Creed Origins, The Next Normal for UNESCO, several films for Tag Heuer, and campaigns for Road Safety, among others.

I also collaborated on an artistic installation for Hennessy with the studio Marshmallow Laser Feast. It served as a metaphor for the creation process of their exceptional cognacs. This was a massive challenge that unfolded over several years, and it proved to be a deeply formative experience for me. Working on a relatively long timeline is rare in this industry, and it offers a completely different perspective on our role, one that demands much more humility and patience.

Recently, I directed the 40th anniversary film for Stone Island. This was another significant challenge, involving a completely new role for me, and it allowed me once again to move closer to that pursuit of being an eternal beginner. It was both intimidating and incredibly exciting.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Don’t get caught up in your own image. We live in a time when praise, whether deserved or not, comes quickly but is forgotten even faster. Forget what you’ve done, any past successes, destroy your identity, and look ahead. Everything is fleeting, and the only way to truly enjoy the journey is to align yourself with what you’re doing in the present moment.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The book Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb had a profound impact on me. The book’s main argument is that nothing great happens unless those involved have skin in the game, meaning they put something on the line, they take real risks. This ties back to what I mentioned about putting your own identity on the line. You need to have something to lose, whether it’s your comfort or your image, to achieve something meaningful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mjacquemin.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickaeljacquemin/