When it comes to the capabilities and characteristics that the company expects from a manager of the 21st century, from a real leader business, the most used words are: openness, flexibility, digital skills, creative thinking, adaptability and innovation.
This is undoubtedly the case: the speed of change sometimes leads to the absence of certain points of reference and this is why companies need aware managers, people capable of managing risks, anticipating them. Today we cannot be passive spectators of the change taking place – of which digitization is a very powerful accelerator – but it is necessary to get involved as an active part of this change, experimenting with new paths and forms of relationships, interacting with technology so as not to be swept up.
But it's definitely not enough. The manager that companies need today – and perhaps even yesterday – is not the technician or the hyper-specialist, but must possess a much more complete and profound set of skills and abilities. I always thought a good manager is the synthesis of mind and heart. A successful professional career is not only linked to talent, skills and the performance individual, but is conditioned by many other factors, plus soft, but equally fundamental: listening, dedication, respect, creativity, passion, sense of responsibility, the ability to value the people around us, recognize their merit also as a stimulus to increase our commitment.
In one word: Humanism. This is a fundamental issue, not only for the future of companies, but for the stability of the entire economic and social system, to combat what Pope Francis has recently called "waste economy”. No human being can be discarded, no person can be considered a "leftover" or "undesirable”. it “integral development” of society desired by the Pontiff himself, can only rest on the centrality of Man.
A true leader it is therefore the one capable of putting the economy and ethics in the right relationship, profit and respect for the dignity of the worker, according to the teaching of Adriano Olivetti: a great entrepreneur, who has been able to demonstrate that in business - and more generally in society - they can coexist profit, work, science, attention to the community, respect for the territory, social innovation, justice, equity. An ESG vision (Environmental Social and Governance) that Olivetti adopted and put into practice many years before the issue of sustainability became so central to public and private debate.
Today, in fact, the vision according to which the company strategy must be oriented towards the creation of long-term value is widely shared, not only from a financial point of view, but also from a social progress point of view. An increasingly integrated strategy, on which the trust of the stakeholder and in particular of investors, so much so that it is almost no longer possible to distinguish between socially responsible and non-socially responsible investors. Suffice it to say that, according to data from the Global Sustainable Investment Review, the assets managed according to an "SRI" approach amount to approximately 23 trillion dollars a year, with a significant and constant increase over time; and the demand for financial instruments is also growing, such as i green bonds, intended to finance activities with a positive social impact, (including environmental issues).
Olivetti was probably the first to understand the real importance of integrating sustainability within the business: and his legacy, his idea of "social humanism" is more current than ever, especially today, when we are called to interface with continuous and disruptive changes, and with the challenges posed by growing automation.
The labor market is today grappling with the overwhelming entry of automation which, according to a well-known study by McKinsey, could destroy up to 2030 million jobs by 400. While, still in 2030, the big ones trends changes – including the green and circular economy and the aging of the world population with the associated increase in the demand for care services – will help determine a demand for labor that could, in part, compensate for this loss. However, what exactly are the skills that will really be needed is certainly a topic that should be investigated immediately. 2030 is near: this must be the priority of companies and governments, to try to face an occupational change that would otherwise be dramatic.
CHANGE
It is undeniable that we are living in a period of great uncertainty and volatility: the world is changing suddenly, with profound consequences and sometimes unpredictable results.
But change – as well as having intrinsic value as a source of opportunity – is sometimes truly unavoidable. As Sergio Marchionne said, also awarded with this Master, a real one leader and also a dear friend,"every time you try to start a real change, a chorus of cynics will tell you it can't work, or that things just don't get done that way. Cynicism is easy. Instead, it takes vision and courage to believe in improvement.” So remember vision and courage: another way of saying intelligence and heart.
Understand the environment in which you live and the various trends that can impact our lives helps us to be leader of change and adapt more quickly to new needs.
Anyone who knows me knows that I don't particularly like talking about myself, but I believe that a practical, personal example can better clarify my reasoning. So let me tell you a little about my experience. I can say that I have had a very full and satisfying career, also because it was full of changes. Changes I experienced not only working in different industry and in different roles, but also actively participating in the evolution of business companies that have been (and still are) very important in my life. I had the great fortune to deal with sectors with a high technological content and to do so at a time when a strong transformation process was underway. A circumstance that certainly made the various experiences more interesting, even if decidedly more complicated.
My journey began and continued for a long time in Telecommunications, working in Italtel, Siemens and Olivetti, and we can say that few industries on a global level have experienced such a radical evolution as those of telecommunications. Just to give an example, in the space of a few years we have passed from traditional, physically cumbersome landline telephones to the mass, hyper-technological mobile telephony revolution: powerful and evanescent at the same time. Not to mention the extraordinary acceleration impressed by Internet and from connectivity, which has now come to permeate every aspect of our daily life, also having a profound effect on social behavior. I lived all of this with emotion and enthusiasm, as a challenge, a continuous pursuit, and I was never afraid, I listened, I studied, I studied, I tried to learn from others and to give my contribution.
I left Italtel after 25 years of extraordinary work experience, to then try my hand at change, without which I think I can say that I would have lost great opportunities. It is a growth path that never stops and continues even today, with the presidency of Enel: one of the largest utilities in the world, leader of the energy transition, protagonist in recent years of a truly unique evolution on the international scene.
Today the energy transition is an irreversible path driven by the electrification of consumption, which will lead electricity to become the first source of energy in final consumption, penetrating into some of the most polluting sectors (transport and heating/cooling of buildings in particular). And the more electricity is produced from renewable sources – through an ever greener supply chain – the more we will be able to make a real contribution to saving our planet.
Becoming Chairman of the Enel Group is therefore not only a great professional achievement, but it is also (and above all) an exceptional opportunity to be able to learn more, and be an active part of a continuous path of growth and development.
CONCLUSION
A journey that goes on day after day and which, I will never tire of repeating, can only be based on the valorisation of people, their skills and merits and, more generally, on the essential respect for every human being.
This is the thought I would like to convey to you today: in the career and life path you are building, in addition to skills, respect, love and passion are the values that in my opinion must always be kept in mind. It is only by embracing this ethic that we will be able to find the courage to carry forward our vision and be truly free: that is, to have the strength not to let ourselves be influenced, to face difficulties without giving in to boredom and indifference, but renewing our commitment every day for what we do.
So I greet you with a quote from Steve Jobs, who in one of his famous speeches, addressing Stanford students, compared work to a love story, saying that: “the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't Still found, keep looking. Don't stand still. As with matters of the heart, you'll know you've found the one as soon as it's in front of you".
