A Call for Energetic Optimism

Today, and in the months ahead, we must think and act with keen optimism and determination.

While I was traveling back home during the holidays, in my native Torino – which is also the 2008 World Design Capital – I witnessed the usual warmth and cheerfulness of familiar faces in an atmosphere fueled by the holiday spirit.

At the same time, I had the chance to browse through some of that more casual and disparate holiday reading material, ranging from the history book found at home, to the arts catalogs in the bookstore of the Civic Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art to some mundane magazines which tend to materialize in your laps at the airport or at the hair dresser’s. Among tales of beauty, technology gadgets (I especially like the 500-shaped USB I received from my Dad), and daily happenings, a common theme was surfacing across the press:  the need for optimism.

Usually, when a state of mind is summoned by multiple parties, it means there has been a lack of it, or lackluster presence at least.  So I sniffed around for supporting data.

An article I came across in one of my “holiday magazines”, (A) by Giancarlo Bruno, manager of Banking and Capital Marketing for the World Economic Forum, was reporting data about Italy’s classification among the world economies, based on overall competitiveness (World Economic Forum competitiveness index). The current ranking: 46; down from 42 and 38 in the previous years.  By digging in a little deeper, it shows business competitiveness (ranking: 42) is more favorable in terms of “Sophistication of company operations and strategy”(32) rather than “Quality of the national business environment” (45) (link).

Given that Italy should be among the top five or six world economies, a 46th overall place sounds very much like the C series.  Or, with a different cultural metaphor, if you are an A student it is a shame to get anything less than a B, just because you can so easily do better. Two years ago, I attended a business breakfast where an economist from BNP Paribas stated: “Italy is dying” (he also mentioned oil prices were not going to rise ...). At the end of the presentation I raised my proud Italian hand and clarified that, thank you for the concern, but Italy was alive and well, despite aggressive competition in certain sectors, from high-growth emerging economies.  A few weeks later I flew to Torino to witness first-hand the sparkling beauty of the Olympic Torch and the rebirth on the world stage of the first capitol of Italy.  My country still looked very much alive.  Today we should not be in 46th place and, most important, we should be competitive, jostling for the top 5, top 10 positions.  Not for sake of the ranking per se, but because that’s a sign of the dreams, work and achievements that lie beneath the digits.  Hence my urge to blog on the topic.

Two weeks ago a business delegation with the Partnership for Growth program, accompanied by US Ambassador Ronald Spogli, visited the Bay Area.  There was much enthusiasm and no shortness of energy among the Italian visitors, eager to absorb information and to interact constructively, to build on their ideas.  Matteo Fabiano of BAIA opened his introductory note on BAIA, during a lunch session at Stanford (sponsored by YourTrumanShow), exactly on the topic of optimism, and on how it pervades the business climate of Silicon Valley. It was nice to see the light shining in the eyes of the audience, they grasped the message!

So, let’s capitalize on our talent, passion for quality, business acumen and scientific skills, to invigorate our country’s competitiveness and to keep our ability to dream alive. Dreams become reality when you believe in them and work hard toward their achievement. Optimism is not just a word, but the positive attitude and energetic drive required to move forward in spite of temporary obstacles and challenging circumstances.

Lucia Panini

Comments

[Tara Lyn Kelly]

Lucia it was great to meet you on the Partnership for Growth trip.

I have to agree, Italy should be doing much better than it is. There's too much talent here to be otherwise.

There's still a long way to go here in Italy, but it was great to see folks coming away from that trip with a new sense of possibility.

Thanks for the event.
Cheers,
Tara

[Alessandro]

I like this post but nothing will change. I'm 30 yrs old, MBA educated at Columbia, got back to Italy after the MBA and have experienced so far not a dying country but a dead country.

Yes, there are excellence centers, we have Ducati, Prada, Armani and a lot more but we are still at 46th place in the WEF standing. The 1st gen network is made of great minds, wonderful entrepreneurs but they can't fight against the culture of the remaining 99% of Italians. We're the country where a region president (Cuffaro) cheers newspapers with cannoli after being condemned, we're the country of Mastella and Pecoraro Scanio, we are the country of Berlusconi.
Optimism is not enough, it will not spread through the people, we might choose to change our educational system and invest on people but without these investments, we're a dead country.

[Donato Mangialardo]

I see what Alessandro describes. However, that strikes me as one of the most notable differences between the US and Italy. That is, what these two very different cultures mean by "optimism". I'll try to explain that with an example.

When someone in Italy is without a job, he refers to himself as "unemployed". When someone is in the same situation is US, he will think of himself being "in between jobs". Now, many people might say "Whatever, that's the usual politically-correct/hypocritical approach. If you are unemployed, you are unemployed, period".

Well, things are actually different. Saying "In between jobs" actually puts everything in a positive context, because you focus to the next positive step, the new job. You project yourself into the solution of the problem, as opposed as looking back to the problem itself. Yes I know, some may say "come on, this is just self-improvements-books-style talk". Maybe. What I have learned here in the US though, is that there are two ways to approach a problem. Complain about it to someone who cannot help you -- the hairdresser, the barman, your peers at work (oops, sorry, what work?), or try to do something about it and talk to someone that can actually help you. Which one do you think is going to help you? True optimism is both stating positives and actively moving toward a positive direction. It’s not a matter of what terms you use.

This is what I have learned after 8 years of living and working in California, half of which in a US software company with most employees based in Italy. This is what I have learned from my CEO. It sounds simplistic, trivial and by the books, but guess what, it works. True optimism (AKA there are more things in your control than you think) works. Can that alone change things in Italy or everywhere else? No. It is the right first step? Definitely. Is it easy to profess optimism and act upon? No, it is hard. But if you don’t do it, you need to rely on luck. This is what I see happening here is the US. More often than in other cultures, we see a true optimism here. And, yes, I have been in between jobs 

[Lucia Panini]

Thank you all, for your comments! I genuinely welcome all of your input.
Tara: it was inspirational for us in Silicon Valley to meet your group from Italy as well.
Alessandro: I understand it is difficult to deal with those aspects of the culture and infrastructure which slow us down. But what Tara cleverly hints at as a "new sense of possibility" is a key thought and, as Donato highlights, it is not easy to "profess optimism and act upon it", yet it is the first step. I believe we owe it to Italy and to ourselves to try hard, consistently and to look ahead positively. Also critically important (see interview to Professor Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli in BAIA blog), is to adapt the winning factors of Silicon Valley to meet the needs of the Italian (or other) ecosystem. I think good models can be emulated successfully by tailoring them to the local needs and by leveraging on the existing strengths, which, let's not forget, we do have!

[MASSIMO SERACINI]

L'invito all'ottimismo della Lucia per il nostro fantastico Paese, che sta' attraversando un momento negativo, e' non solo da condividere, ma da prendere come "commitment" per tutti gli italiani in Patria e all'estero.
"Dreams become reality when you believe in them and work toward their achievements", ricorda giustamente Lucia a chiusura del suo appello.
Modestamente, da senior dell’emigrazione (dal 1968 in California!), voglio ricordare alle giovani leve, i 'cervelli in fuga'come li chiamano oggi in Italia, che i sogni, le "mission impossible" hanno sempre fatto parte del nostro Dna, che ci ha distinti nella storia dell'umanita' proprio per questa nostra testarda qualita’ e grandezza di risultati ottenuti, (che pochi popoli possono vantare, ndr.) da Giulio Cesare e Cristoforo Colombo a Meucci e Fermi, alle generazioni della guerra e dell'immediato dopoguerra che hanno sognato e realizzato un Paese che in quel momento storico sembrava un utopia solamente pensarlo!
Siate orgogliosi del vostro “Italian heritage”, come dicono gli americani, e portate sempre alto il nome dell’Italia perche’……………. LO MERITA!

Massimo Seracini
San Diego, CA
seracini@pacbell.net
5 Febbraio 2008

[Giorgio]

I believe that what Donato said needs to be restated many times (almost as a Mantra...), until it is understood: "Can optimism alone change things in Italy or anywhere else? No. It is the right first step? Definitely. Is it easy to profess optimism and act upon? No, it is hard. But if you don’t do it, you need to rely on luck"... or on the myth of the Maximum Leader, or the mysterious Saviour, I might add...

Optimistic entrepreneurship is not only a recipe, as Donato said, or a duty, as Mr. Seracini implies, it is the fuel that can propel an engine built of talent, creativity, inventiveness.

Why not give it a shot?... What's the alternative? Oblivion?

[Massimo Arrigoni]

Good article and good comments. Sorry for the late post, I just read this. I'm writing to stir things up a bit more!

Some of you know me personally. For those that don't, quick background: I went to school in Italy, but started a software company in California (Early Impact). I'm a dual citizen, with a wife born in Santa Clara, and with 4 kids (3 born in CA, 1 in Milano: typical comment from people in Milano: "4 kids: are you nuts?").

I've recently left California to return to Italy (2nd, much louder "are you nuts?" comment).

Well, not permanently. For a few years. So my kids get to grow up in Italy for a while, and my wife and I enjoy our brioche and cappuccino morning routine.

It is indeed quite easy to get discouraged in Italy. I could write for a long time about it, and I would not be adding anything new to the discussion.

I'm writing this comment for another reason. I CHALLENGE myself and other BAIA members to start speaking out and acting more aggressively to promote change in Italy.

(1) Let's create a permanent THINK TANK within BAIA with the mission of "recommending and promoting structural changes that can foster entrepreneurship and competitiveness in Italy."

(2) Let's engage our families and friends with the objective of adding to this tank the technical skills required (lawyers, commercialisti, etc.) to be able to issue very specific recommendations: new policies and changes to the legal system, with a special focus on those changes that we believe could immediately create incentives for US-based (and especially California-based) companies to bring NEW investments into Italy. Many of us have those people in our network of family and friends. Many of us could and would invest in Italy if it were easier to do so. Let's try to do something about it.

(3) Let's be the first ones to be optimistic about what can be done. If your first reaction is "this is a complete waste of time: nothing will ever change", then - with all respect - you are not invited to be part of this Think Tank :-)

If there is interest in the above, let's come up with some action items. My e-mail: massi.arri at gmail.com

ciao

massimo

[Lucia Panini]

Massimo, grazie!

This is exactly the sense of civic duty and "fire-in-the-belly" attitude we need to move forward. Personally, professionally and to fuel intelligent growth for our nation.

We will certainly be in touch to discuss concrete steps.