The trade union confederation of public and private company executives and high professionals celebrated its seventieth anniversary by presenting a manifesto of commitment of the category of managers for the construction of a New Europe, based on renewed values of ethics, merit and transparency able to bring citizens closer to the institutions and recreate that indispensable trust which is the basis for building a better future.
As the President of the Confederation Giorgio Ambrogioni underlined, we are living in a moment of great unease and disorientation due not only to the long economic crisis, but also to the loss of points of reference and shared values. The difficulty in imagining a better future due to the uncertainties caused by a globalization not managed well by the ruling classes, has pushed a part of the population, often the weaker one, to take refuge in the defense of their own small space, perhaps conquered with difficulty in recent years , to look for the alleged culprits, and above all not to think about medium-term projects, and not to commit to achieving them.
The consequence is that, as well illustrated by the French political scientist Marc Lazar, many are attracted by the so-called populism, i.e. by those who give simple (even if impracticable) answers to complex problems. The real risk is that behind this generic and ambiguous concept of populism, there is actually a pure and simple return to nationalism, a withdrawal within the confines of one's own home which in the memory faded over the years seem more reassuring or at least better manageable by those executives of the past who knew how to operate the levers. Or at least they now say they know how to do it and no longer risk making the many mistakes made in those years.
The trouble is that this look to the past is becoming the cultural heritage of many political forces, not just the "populists". When one hears the president of the Labor commission of the Chamber of Honor Cesare Damiano express nostalgia for the 50s and 60s, when big industry hired thousands of people, transforming peasants into a middle class, or when one regrets the season of concertation which, in his opinion, brought social cohesion, neglecting to say that it imposed a immobilism of work and technologies that the evolution of the economy then completely collapsed, so yes there is something to worry about.
In short, a cultural environment is being created, even before being political, fearful of changes and therefore opposed to innovations not only of a technological nature, but also of an organizational nature, which managers should try to contest by proposing a vision of the possible future and working to make it appear better and safer than the mere attempt to defend the existing. Otherwise, as Damiano suggested, we will end up looking for systems to control both technological innovation and the process of opening up markets, which is impossible to do. And if by chance one wanted to try then the not exactly desirable perspective of a new Middle Ages would open up.
It is precisely to avert these dangers that leaders must assume a larger role in steering society towards a desirable future. The European manifesto, as the sociologist Giuseppe Roma said, is not a platform for demands, but a contribution to a positive dialogue with the social partners and citizens, to get out of this spiral of depression and distrust and look concretely and with determination to build a new and better future.
