“There is a world where people don't let things happen. They make it happen." And again: “The true value of a leader is not measured by what he has achieved during his career but by what he has given. It is not measured by the results he achieves, but by what he is able to leave behind." These two sentences by Sergio Marchionne illuminate better than others the revolutionary philosophy of Sergio Marchionne, an incomparable manager who we will regret forever and who, not surprisingly, accompany the cover of "Marchionne the foreigner", the demanding and extremely timely book, just out in the bookstores for the Rizzoli editions, by Paolo Bricco, correspondent and columnist for "Il Sole 24 Ore" and one of the most brilliant journalists of the forty-year-old generation.
Bricco's pamphlet (298 pages, 15 euros) is not an improvised last-minute instant book but the result of a meticulous work of documentation, research and intelligent interpretation of the work of Marchionne, the son of the Abruzzese carabiniere who emigrated from child in Canada and the man who took over the fate of Fiat when, in 2004, it was technically bankrupt and led it to the successful purchase of another noble decayed, Chrysler, building the seventh automotive group in the world.
But why, as the title says, "Marchionne the foreigner"? Not because he was half Italian and half Canadian but because he was a revolutionary manager, with an incredible vision and an impressive innovative drive and courage but also with a human sensitivity that went beyond the inevitable determination of the manager who wanted at all costs achieve the salvation and relaunch of the company for which he was capable of working non-stop 20 hours a day. But "Marchionne the foreigner" also because Italy - not only most of the unions but the establishment itself, starting with Confindustria – never really loved him because he never really understood him and perhaps only after his recent death will he have the opportunity to reflect on the actual scope not only of the ideas but of the facts created by the incomparable manager in a sweater.
Marchionne's was not only an industrial and financial revolution but, first of all, a cultural and political one that Bricco's book helps us to get to know and fully understand through a journey that starts from the ruins that Marchionne found upon his arrival in Fiat and which, analyzing all the most significant passages of an unrepeatable story, arrives at the manager's latest public outings, especially that of the presentation of FCA's new strategic plan at Balocco on XNUMX June last when, having won the bet of zeroing the debts of the group, puts his tie back on, "which, however, you can hardly see" but "you can see instead that he looks tired" of someone who has given everything for his mission and no longer has the time and strength to live.
Read also "Marchionne, a revolutionary that Italy did not want to understand“, by Ernesto Auci.
