“Mad” skills and emerging “dark” professional practices in the fields of information, communication, and management[Compétences "MAD" et pratiques professionnelles “dark” émergentes dans les métiers de l’information, de la communication et du management]

MAD (Make A Difference) skills are generally described as cross-disciplinary, unconventional, or even exceptional in the sense of being rare. Some approaches emphasise the fact that MAD skills are acquired in unconventional or surprising ways. The term ‘mad' was not chosen at random: the figure of the ‘madman' evokes a form of subversive otherness, characterised by an ability to think outside the box. It evokes an iconoclastic, inventive and visionary profile, capable of thinking outside the box and, in doing so, solving problems deemed unsolvable – a quality particularly valued in contemporary professional environments. From this perspective, MAD skills can be linked to the definition proposed by Xavier Roegiers: "Competence is the ability of an individual to mobilise, in an internalised manner, an integrated set of resources with a view to resolving a family of problem situations" (Xavier Roegiers, 2000, pp. 66–67). MADs thus involve a situated, contextualised and often creative mobilisation of individual resources. During her presentation, Lucile Desmoulins analysed the links between MAD competencies and the so-called DARK communication and management methods and techniques. The application of these methods confronts students and young professionals with complex ethical dilemmas. Although they are reluctant to acknowledge them publicly, they may be compelled to resort to them, often reluctantly, under duress or as a result of various pressures. Dark practices can fall into very dark categories when they are illegal, or into lighter ones that are more ambivalent when they contravene ethical guidelines, dominant social norms or personal values. Lucile Desmoulins drew on biographical elements as well as several episodes from a serious game simulating critical professional situations: XP#CharlieDilemme. The programme, which combines theoretical lessons, synchronous gaming sessions, debates and creative workshops for improving or designing scenarios, serves in particular to highlight the tensions between the pursuit of performance, legal compliance and ethical responsibility, whilst encouraging participants to reflect on MAD skills. Whilst this presentation openly advocated for MAD approaches to skills, it also highlighted several areas for caution in its conclusion: the risk of undermining the foundation of ‘HARD' skills, the pitfalls of exceptionalist approaches that amount to demands for over-performance, and the need for personalised support throughout the professional development process. This entails the transfer of knowledge regarding best practices and more ambiguous professional realities, as well as the development of critical thinking on the use of DARK practices and their supervision.