Sunny encounter with Paul Dana

Originally from Tunis, Paul Dana has been living in Var, in Hyères, since 2005. « Les soleils de ma vie », published by « Les Presses du Midi », is a wonderful account of his life journey, joyful, filled with optimism, encounters, and love.

He confides that his next book will probably be a love story with plots and twists!

Let's then make an appointment in unknown territory! friends. I also did a lot of sport, fencing, football, volleyball. I also had a rich cultural life, I went to see art exhibitions, movies at the cinematheque.

Paul Dana answers questions from La Gazette du Var. Why this autobiographical account? PAUL DANA.

I asked myself questions about the meaning of life, the rapidity of existence. I wanted to leave a trace for my daughter and my two granddaughters of what my life, our life, was, because with my wife, we lived practically half a century together, which leaves memories and imprints. I had this desire for transmission.

So, I started to write.

It took me about a year and a half to write it. As I am a bit of a perfectionist, I looked for the right word, the right formula, I avoided repetitions. With the desire to leave a trace? PD.

I had a very happy childhood and adolescence. My family played an essential role. I was surrounded by optimistic people who loved life.

In the first part of the book « L'enfance et l'adolescence à Tunis », I review all my uncles and aunts, my cousins, my grandparents. I describe my whole family to emphasize the natural transmission of all genes.

Beyond that, I tasted good food, good dishes, cooking. My grandmothers, my aunts, and my mother cooked very well, it was always very festive. I am an epicurean, a lover of life.

With a joyful and studious adolescence? PD. Indeed, I started my studies at the high school in Tunis, then my secondary studies in technology, in the suburbs of Tunis. In my book, I took pleasure in telling funny anecdotes about those years.

Do you have any anecdotes to share? PD. With pleasure! Since the sports fields were not yet built, it was the students who, during physical education classes, carted wheelbarrows of dirt to build the fields.

Every summer, my family and I went on holiday to the coast near the sea, so we had to bring everything, mattresses, kitchen utensils, helped by movers using horse-drawn carts, like in the good old days of the Far-West, before the later arrival of trucks which made children dream less. I spent fantastic summers with friends and, long before that, a magnificent piano on which I played by ear.

Were you a musician as well? PD. Yes, at that time, I formed my jazz band which was composed of four and then six people.

I played the drums. We even participated in the Carthage Jazz Festival. We also played in a large hotel in Tunis. My grandmother had passed down to me Your arrival in France...

at 20 with objectives in mind? PD. I arrived in France, in Paris, in August 1964.

My parents joined me two months later. I had to find work. I then had clear objectives: to bounce back and build, to evolve, to blossom. I first joined a company as an industrial draftsman.

I only stayed there for 15 days because the company was facing management problems. I quickly found a job as a technical agent. But this world was hostile and unknown to me, the people did not correspond to my background, they only talked about politics. This situation was uncomfortable for me.

A decision that changed the course of your life? PD. After this delicate experience, I decided to enroll in aeronautics in evening classes at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.

It was a very difficult year. I didn't pass my exam. I then changed orientation to choose the course « Organisation du travail et des entreprises ». I met exceptional teachers.

For a year, I was What a rich experience! PD. I also had Michel Rocard as a teacher. I obtained my final diploma in 1973.

I stayed for 20 years at Massey-Ferguson, held about 10 different positions, and was able to carry out five studies on organization, improvement, and resolving malfunctions. I became an expert in the study of complex and transversal processes.

You had a very rich professional life? PD. Indeed, during my professional career, I held various positions as an assistant for one of them.

I read the books, summarized them, and presented them to the students. the main sectors of the company both at Massey Ferguson and Hewlett-Packard with manager, advisor, and project manager responsibilities. And traveled across France and the world?

PD. I was required to travel a great deal. Travel occupied my life.

Paris, Lyon, Grenoble, Ivry, Versailles, Clamart, Europe, the USA filled my life. Thanks to this mobility, I was able to meet wonderful people both personally and professionally. Then, a difficult early retirement? PD.

Yes, I found myself between four walls. To make up for this lack of activity and communication, my decision was to put on paper everything I had done 'well' in my professional career to distribute it for information purposes to companies and their employees. I thus created a collection in which I offer advice, solutions on management as well as on people management.

Finally, an encounter with the South of France? PD. I met my wife, Hélène, in Paris, in 1966.

She later came to settle in Toulon. I came to visit her regularly. My daughter, Chantal, was born in 1976. After a few adventures and a second home in Andalousie, we unpacked our bags in Hyères in 2005.

In 2018, my wife, Hélène, fell ill. She passed away, alas, some time later, leaving me in total disarray. Always with this drive to bounce back despite the circumstances, I decided to reconnect with life, meeting wonderful people, notably with my golf club, the jazz festival, as well as other cultural and oh so enriching events.

In the end, with writing as therapy? PD. Thanks to my optimism and my desire for resilience, which never left me, I did not sink. Indeed, writing my book was also a true therapy.

I started the book in late 2021, early 2022.

What a pleasure to relive all these years... to be able to leave a real imprint. I submitted the manuscript in the summer of 2023 and the book was published in March 2024, bringing me the immense joy of seeing such a project succeed.