Management and Leadership at Expo: A Success for Italy to Build On

Few had bet on the success of Expo Milano 2015, but it turned out to be a world event that has restored the credibility not only of Milan but of the whole of Italy around the world. Now that Expo is over, it is worth wondering how this feat, given the initial circumstances, was achieved. Above all, it is important to understand what conditions have enabled, in a relatively short time, to overcome major delays in design and construction, emerge unscathed from bribing scandals, and ensure an efficient and secure management of the exhibition site, as well as attract huge crowds to the countless events that took place there.

In a recent research study, carried out as part of OCAP, SDA Bocconi's Observatory on change in public administration, we examined a number of good practices implemented during Expo, in fields as diverse as selection and management of personnel, development of public and corporate partnerships, media communication, environmental sustainability, relations with schools, universities, volunteers, and civil society associations.

The study highlights the innovative and effective solutions that have emerged, and which are an important legacy of the event. This wealth of managerial skills and management methods can be applied to other areas of government intervention. But more than this, there is something we will provide a detailed account of in our next study and these are the conditions the enabled the emergence of good management practices and the attainment of the world exhibition's very ambitious targets. First of all, there is a lot of management praxis behind Expo's success. Never before had the methods of management science and business administration proved their usefulness and effectiveness to such a degree.

In fact, there was no improvisation in the planning that led to the accelerated implementation of the works on the site, there was no creativity in organizing the work of thousands of workers and volunteers who have ensured its usability, there was no imagination in developing the impressive networks for the promotion and management of the event, there was no approximation in using information technologies for the treatment of the huge mass of exhibitors' and customers' data, as well as protect the security of visitors at the event site. In all this there was great professionalism, i.e. a very solid management team, composed of professionals capable of applying, in situations of great pressure and complexity, the innovative methods of modern management within the narrow perimeter of regulatory restrictions and bureaucratic directives.

In business schools, Expo Milano will become a case of study of management in action. Was it just a matter of skill and method? Surely not. There is another factor that explains how it was possible to achieve this. It is an intangible resource, so intangible that is difficult to measure, but its effects were very real and decisive nonetheless. It is taught in schools of management under the chapter of leadership. The importance of having a strong leader like Giuseppe Sala was clear both in setbacks and crises in the preparatory stages and in the actual successful staging of the event. Today, the Expo Commissioner is hailed by all Italians as the epitome of the successful manager. But Sala has proved to be something more: a quiet leader, capable of nurturing and shielding his team, always at the forefront in dealing with troubles, always in the backstage when it was time to celebrate successes. With his behavior, rather than his words, he set an example, to become a role model for the diffusion of hyper-focused orientation to the attainment of objectives.

This is the lesson of Expo: what sound management can achieve when true leaders are entrusted with difficult tasks. This may serve to change public administration more than major reforms, new laws and good intentions can do. Credible leaders and good management. The recipe is very simple, simple as pie. Much more difficult, at least in Italy, it is to find the right ingredients.