Our Strength Lies in Having a Common Project

Last 28 November, nervous and full of new sensations, I stepped onto the stage of our Aula Magna in Via Roentgen for my first opening of an academic year.

To prepare myself for that moment I have reconsidered the past year, the many projects already completed and those underway for the coming year. I thought about the students and the alumni I met, the colleagues (professors and staff) that I have learned to relate to day by day in a different role from the one I had until last year. And I immediately understood one thing: on that stage I would not be alone and so, at least the tension has passed, although the emotional sensations remain.

This may seem rhetorical, but it ties in with one thing that has stood out to me more than any other over these 12 months: the importance of teamwork. I have practiced it in all the management responsibilities I have covered in recent years, and I have always tried to impress upon my students of all ages that teamwork is not merely important in itself and of itself. Its centrality is also directly proportional to the complexity of the problems faced and to the level of responsibility involved. Teamwork is based on the value of sharing. One does not exist without the other, and teamwork is not fully expressed without a deep sharing of objectives, styles and ideas, as well as obstacles and failures. I have also learned that a team is formed around a table at the beginning of a project, but it is also grown day by day with the people you meet, as little by little they come to feel part of that same project.

The strength of Bocconi, from its President and Chief Executive Officer to the student who just enrolled for the coming academic year, lies in being able to have a common project. They involve different teammates in that project who bring extraordinary and diverse skills, but they share a common vision. All this gives Bocconi enormous potential for innovation.

The opening of the academic year on 28 November was my first, but I was not alone because there together with me, while I gave a long speech, was the whole Bocconi team. All those people who, directly or indirectly, on campus or from a faraway corner of the world, contributed to what was written in that speech. I am deeply grateful to all of them, and hope that they will continue be part of our efforts to forge an increasingly prestigious, innovative and global Bocconi.