Cancer and Business: Acting Together Editorial This guide is based on the booklet entitled Mots et attitudes face à la maladie published by the French National Cancer Institute. It was written by companies that have signed the “Cancer and Employment” charter, which includes Allianz, together with Nathalie Vallet-Renart, Managing Director of Entreprise et Cancer. The purpose of the guide is to help you find the right words and attitudes to support both those affected by the illness and those who work with them. “Accommodating” the illness of a colleague or collaborator remains a challenge. We’re confronted with their pain, their anguish, their mortality, and perhaps with our own mortality as well. It’s a difficult and delicate process and anyone can feel lost, powerless or frightened. At the same time, carelessness can make any of us behave in a way that marks, hurts, affects – sometimes permanently – or provokes incomprehension. To better meet the expectations of those affected by cancer, the existing mechanisms are necessary, but by themselves they aren’t enough. We also have to listen and offer support in a way that builds trust and creates a climate in which they can to return to work in the best possible conditions. Thierry Breton, Managing Director of the French National Cancer Institute 3