What is it about when we use this word, “populism”, surely too widespread? I speak of movements with a charismatic leader which they exalt the people as a united entity, bearer as a people of truth, which they reject the elites, that they reject Europe, that they hate immigrants and migrants, and finally they think everything according to a brutal but effective Manichaeism: yes/no, good/bad, us and them. Each of us has his own idea of these movements and I don't want to talk about that.
There are many explanations for the growth of populism. But here he will indicate three elements that have precisely a link with what brings you together today. If there is a growth of populisms it is because there is a deep crisis of the ruling classes, a crisis of the relationship between citizens, private companies and public administration and of course a crisis of Europe.
When we speak of the crisis of the ruling classes, we must immediately clarify that it is not just a question of the political ruling class. But of all ruling classes, i.e. financial, entrepreneurial, administrative, media, academic, trade union, etc. both at national and European level. In other words, and pardon this frankness, distrust, which sometimes reaches hatred, involves all of us symbolically gathered in this building of the Chamber of Deputies (a place that is contested by the populists, who denounce it as a place of power of the "caste"), the entrepreneurs, the politicians, the union leaders, the professors but also you managers.
We live in Italy but also in many other European countries, including mine, France, a paradoxical situation: on the one hand there is the expectation indeed the search for leaders, because we are in an uncertain economic situation and we need a clear reference, but on the other hand there is a profound distrust of the elites. One of the great challenges is therefore to rebuild trust for the elites: this reconstruction presupposes efficiency, credibility, responsibility. But there is one certainty: it will no longer be possible to rethink the relationship between the ruling elites and the population with a top-down model, vertical in short, but with a mixture of verticality and horizontality. As they say, we have moved from government to governance. It is from this point that your Manifesto «Manager for the new Europe, A manifesto for values, commitments, proposals» seems important to me.
Because it indicates a desire to participate in a double job. On the one hand, to be involved in the reconstruction of the ruling classes in Italy obviously but also in Europe, because this Manifesto states that managers not only have a role in their companies or in the public sector but have a wider responsibility for society by committing to respond to the great epochal challenges, for example work, sustainable development and Europe. What you propose is a form of diversification and enlargement of the ruling classes.
On the other hand, it is precisely about rebuild trust based on common values (regarding human resources, equality of opportunity, manager ethics, their necessary exemplary nature) which go beyond the mere logic of the market. In other words, it is a proposal of contribution of managers to the reconstruction of the social fabric, of the country system and of the European Union in general. One could obviously say that this need you had to write a Manifesto of this type demonstrates the profound crisis of political representation because it is normally the role of politicians to do this job. And it's true. But at the same time, your action seems to me proof that there are in Italy, as in many other European countries, some sectors of society that are taking things into their own hands, and this is a good sign, indeed a sign of great democratic vitality, while many observers constantly complain about the so-called low participation. On the contrary, there is a willingness to participate alongside or outside the traditional channels of participation. But this need has, in my opinion, important consequences for managers.
And that brings us to my second point. The Manifesto bears a great need and responsibility for managers in a context of a crisis in the relationship between citizens, private companies and between citizens and public administration. It is obviously not the same crisis because work is expected above all from the private sector and especially in Italy for young people who cannot find a job (the brain drain is a national drama) and also women who have great difficulty entering the market of work. For the public sector, first of all, efficiency, quality of service and personnel recruited on merit are expected, three aspects that remain very problematic in Italy despite the various and courageous reforms of the public administration, including that of Minister Madia.
The Manifesto also touches on this topic by speaking of having, I quote, "a general orientation, a compass" and to promote "social inclusion". It also proposes to "shortening the distance between public and private managers", a theme that seems crucial to me, provided however that the specificity of the two sectors is preserved, the private sector which has its own objectives, and the public sector which must modernize itself by reconciling efficiency with its public service mission which it sometimes has and will have always a cost (let's think, for example, of education, research, culture, three specific activities which, in my opinion, cannot be organized solely according to the rules of New management). But the paths indicated in the Manifesto to get out of the classic separation that exists between the private and public sectors, often the cause of misunderstandings, misunderstandings and sometimes controversies, and on the contrary to bring private and public managers together are stimulating. Surely in the future we should think about the exchange of experiences but also perhaps think about favoring transfers from one sector of activity to another.
Finally, what struck me a lot is the continuous insistence on European size. The European Union is in crisis as we all know. A very serious crisis that also threatens its existence. Crisis that has many causes that I don't have time to talk about but that we experience every day. You have made a clear choice: with this Manifesto you defend an open Europe against those who today are choosing to retreat and you propose yourselves as managers to help relaunch this Europe. And not just in words. There are also deeds. You propose a Observatory on European leadership in the European Union, at the European Observatory on Management. It's a good project, concrete and useful because the idea, if I understand correctly, is to build a European area for managers. It will be a first stage, and after that we could think of other initiatives. For example, President Ambrogioni referred to the Erasmus generation, but why couldn't we think of an Erasmus for managers? Let me explain a little.
Nowadays, during their studies, students who want to be managers have the possibility of going to other European schools or universities to train and they learn a lot from this period outside their country of origin, in contact with another conception of education and with a different culture. But later in their work they have few opportunities for European contacts unless they work in companies with a European and international dimension. So why couldn't you make one School of European Managers, at School of European Managers? This school would be aimed at those who are in business but who could benefit from a period of lifelong learning with private and public managers from different European countries. I know that there are enormous obstacles: lifelong learning is not organized in a homogeneous way according to businesses and public administrations in the same country and from one country to another, there would be problems of financing but also of languages, etc.
But today, let's dream a little with this Manifesto or rather we try to invent what some scholars call small utopias or minor utopias, not the great utopias of the twentieth century which were dramatic. In a period like the present one, it is necessary to commit oneself and to propose these little utopias, to show people that there is not only the discourse of fear, of nostalgia for the past supposed to have been beautiful, of withdrawing into oneself, of negativity. There is also space for beautiful projects, for hope, for a future, and your Manifesto is an important contribution.
