“Repairing social ties means relearning to speak to each other to act better together.”
Karim Mahmoud-Vintam
Karim Mahmoud-Vintam is a committed speaker, author, and educator who places Humanity at the heart of social transformation. Co-founder (2007) and then general delegate of the civic movement Les Cités d'Or, he works to (re)give young people and organizations a sense of belonging, meaning, and responsibility. His motto — « from insertion to rooting » — summarizes a simple belief: sustainable success arises from an embraced identity and a living link to the collective. Of Guadeloupean, English, Tunisian, and Breton roots, he grows up in a dialogue of cultures and contrasting social backgrounds — a foundational experience that will nourish his work on citizenship, civic reconciliation, and meeting the other. This personal biography irrigates his interventions: to speak of identity is to first speak of stories that intersect and recognize each other.
Trained in the best schools of the Republic, he follows hypokhâgne/khâgne at the lycée Louis-le-Grand, graduates from Sciences Po Paris (Public Service section), completes a training in theology (Centre-Sèvres), obtains a DEA in sociology and anthropology of religions (EPHE) and then an MBA at ESSEC. He enriches this path with programs in Cambridge and Cornell, milestones that structure a transdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues. His twenty years of experience cross public strategy, international affairs, and pedagogy: advisor in the cabinet of the president of Grand Lyon, then advisor to the president of FAO (UN) on multilateral governance and urbanization; secretary general of an NGO for non-governmental diplomacy; coordinator-writer of a European report on globalization. This "on-the-ground" political practice explains his style: concrete, demanding and resolutely solution-oriented.
Karim Mahmoud-Vintam has also worked on the transmission side: editorial direction (publishing house Temps Présent), documentary productions (France Télévisions), teaching in geopolitics and history of political ideas, and leading seminars on audiovisual writing. Everywhere, the same compass: the concern to transmit, and the expertise to do so. Author and scientific editor, he signs or directs several works of ideas and interviews, and today intervenes with companies, local authorities, associations, and educational institutions. His conferences, enriched with lived examples and immediately actionable tools, combine depth of insight and operational pedagogy to help everyone — teams, managers, young people — move from intention to action.
Citoyenneté & identité : « On ne naît pas citoyen, on le devient »
- Dans un monde fragmenté, la citoyenneté ne peut plus se réduire à un statut administratif ; elle est une compétence vivante. Cette conférence explore les ressorts de l’appartenance : qu’est-ce qui nous relie ? comment se fabrique le sentiment d’estime civique ? et pourquoi l’identité, loin d’opposer, peut-elle devenir une force de réconciliation ?
- Karim Mahmoud-Vintam montre que l’on apprend la citoyenneté comme on apprend une langue : par l’usage, l’exemple et l’entraînement. Il éclaire les mécanismes de non-reconnaissance qui minent le lien social et propose des clés pour faire émerger la parole, restaurer la confiance et transformer le « on » anonyme en un « nous » agissant.
- L’intervention décline ensuite la citoyenneté dans l’entreprise : comment passer d’une culture de conformité à une culture de responsabilité ? comment articuler diversité des identités et exigence commune ? comment installer des rituels qui donnent à chacun une place, une voix et un rôle clair ?
- À l’arrivée, les participants repartent avec un cadre simple pour éduquer à la citoyenneté dans leurs équipes : langage commun, espaces de dialogue, décisions co-responsables et indicateurs d’impact humain. Une méthode pour faire de l’identité un levier de performance relationnelle et de cohésion durable.
Politics & globalization: from a world of borders to a world of networks
- Our age has moved from a universe of borders to a world of networks. This conference offers a clear mapping of this shift: new actors, new rules, new risks. The goal is to equip decision-makers to read the underlying dynamics and regain a sense of direction in the complexity.
- With a wealth of experience with international institutions and large communities, the speaker shares what practice teaches: the art of mediation, the logic of coalitions, and the necessity of aligning goals and means. Understanding globalization means first understanding who speaks to whom, and for what purpose.
- Karim Mahmoud-Vintam shows how politics regains traction when we clarify the stakes of recognition, the tensions between freedom and security, and the social demand for meaning. The remarks remain concrete: analytical frameworks, action scales, non-violent levers of influence.
- Participants leave with a method of strategic reading applicable to their own causes: making the right diagnosis, identifying key actors, choosing sustainable scenarios, and measuring progress in ways other than just immediate results.
Jeunesse, décrochage & « école buissonnière » : de l’insertion à l’enracinement
- Talking about dropouts often means talking about deficits. Karim Mahmoud-Vintam shifts the focus: it's about rooting — rediscovering a story, a place, a horizon. This conference tells the pedagogy of the Cities of Gold: restoring confidence, getting back in motion, and placing learning back into real life.
- Rather than piling up initiatives, the approach works on five human skills that change everything: persuasive speech, supportive networks, information without misinformation, self-awareness, and context intelligence. Simple, demanding, transferable tools.
- The discourse is interspersed with concrete stories of young people and teams who have rebuilt their trajectories. It shows how caring mentorship and structuring rituals transform the trial: confidence returns, effort makes sense, ambition becomes permissible again.
- For field actors as for companies, the challenge is the same: to create learning ecosystems where everyone can become both taught and teacher. The audience leaves with an operational framework to design
Everyday spirituality & common good: meeting as a discipline
- In organizations in search of meaning, spirituality is neither a supplement for the soul nor a private matter; it is a discipline of meeting. This conference highlights simple practices that re-humanize the collective: really talking to each other, honoring disagreements, deciding without humiliating.
- Karim Mahmoud-Vintam connects anthropology, political philosophy, and field experience to show that a community is held together by what it venerates in common: dignity, truth, justice. Where cynicism divides, the honest search for the common good reassembles the pieces.
- The discussion opens practical pathways: clarifying the purpose of action, articulating performance and humanity, establishing rituals of recognition and times for reflection. An embodied spirituality, at the service of relational quality and just decision-making.
- At the end of the intervention, each person leaves with key gestures to fulfill their role in an inspired manner: taking care of language, cultivating gratitude, daring to speak the truth, and making diversity a resource rather than a fracture.
Ethical speaking: persuading without manipulating
- Taking the floor means taking care: of your audience, of your intention, and of the connection. This conference offers a grammar of ethical rhetoric: preparing a clear intention, structuring a true narrative, and adjusting your presence to serve the message — not the ego.
- Karim Mahmoud-Vintam shows how to articulate ethics and technique: effective speech doesn't need artifice; it relies on precision, listening, courage. With supporting examples, he dismantles the "tricks" of manipulation and proposes clean alternatives.
- The focus is on team rituals that create a culture of speech: useful briefs, elevating feedback, publicly assumed decisions. Communication becomes a shared learning space, where everyone gains in
- By the end, participants have access to a concrete toolkit: narrative templates, ethical checklists, brief trainings, and progress indicators. This allows the establishment of discourse that engages without constraining, and helps people grow as much as the projects do.