Scoiattoli e tacchini excerpt 1

Scoiattoli e tacchini

Squirrels and turkeys
by Gian Paolo Montali - excerpt 1

Capacità di allenare i sogni, questa è una delle
caratteristiche che devono avere un bravo Coach e
un bravo Capo, affinché il viaggio non finisca mai.
In modo che ognuno abbia sempre una sua Itaca
in mente, come scrive il poeta Costantinos Kavafis
(Itaca):

Sempre devi avere in mente Itaca
¬ raggiungerla sia il pensiero costante.
Soprattutto, non affrettare il viaggio;
fa che duri a lungo, per anni, e che da vecchio,
metta piede sull’isola, tu, ricco
dei tesori accumulati per strada
senza aspettarti ricchezze da Itaca.

Itaca ti ha dato il bel viaggio,
senza lei mai ti saresti messo
in viaggio: che cos’altro ti aspetti ?

E se la trovi povera, non per questo Itaca ti avrà deluso.
Fatto ormai savio, con tutta la tua esperienza addosso
già tu avrai capito ciò che Itaca vuole significare.

All’inizio, non pensavo all’importanza del viag-
gio. Solo in seguito ho capito che le sconfitte e le
amarezze sono il prezzo da pagare per realizzare i
sogni. Essere sconfitti è salutare; perdendo ven-
gono a galla difetti e punti deboli. L’unica possi-
bilità che abbiamo a disposizione per migliorarci
è che il viaggio sia pieno di difficoltà, che metta a
dura prova corpo e mente.

Tratto da: Scoiattoli e tacchini di Gian Paolo Montali, pagg. 20 e 21

English version

The ability to coach dreams, this is one of the
peculiarities that a good Coach and a good Leader
must have, in order the journey will never end.
So that each of us could always have an his own Itaca
in his own mind, as the poet Costantinos Kavafis writes
(Itaca):

But you must always keep Ithaca in mind.
The arrival there is your predestination.
Yet do not by any means hasten your voyage
Let it best endure for many years,
until grown old at length you anchor at your island
rich with all you have acquired on the way.
You never hoped that Ithaca would give you riches.
Ithaca has given you the lovely voyage.
Without her you would not have ventured on the way.
She has nothing more to give you now.
Poor though you may _nd her, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Now that you have become so wise, so full of experience,
you will have understood the meaning of an Ithaca.

At the beginning, I had not been thinking to the importance of the voyage.
Only nextly I understood that defeats and sorrows
are the price to pay in order to realize our dreams.
To be defeated is healthy; by losing, defects and weaknesses turn out.
The only opportunity we have at our disposal in order to improve ourselves
is that the voyage has to be full of troubles,
that harshly tries out our own body and our own mind.

Freely translated from “Scoiattoli e tacchini” by Gian Paolo Montali pages 20 and 21

Scoiattoli e tacchini excerpt 1

Millennial Leaders - Bea Fields, Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch & Rob Newbold

MILLENNIAL LEADERS

A great book I read last year in 2008. I was very pleased to directly receive the book by one of its authors, my online friend Bea Fields, completed with an autograph of her.

The very modern and updated book gives a deep insight in the peculiar way the so called Generation Y approches work and life.

The book, very smooth to be read, encompasses a number of interviews with experts in this field, as well as precious "Point of reflections" at the end of each chapter.

From Chapter I "The Roots of a Generation" :

"Echo Boomers. The Connecteds. Generation Y. Millennials.

This isn't a list of rock bands, but the numerous names attacched to the generation of young people who were born after 1980. And there are 74 million of them in the United States right now, a population that will soon outnumber the Baby Boomers who have dominated the workplace for two generations."

"Here is a generation of young adults who have never been without the Internet or cell phones.The Soviet Union existed only in their history books. To "Google" is a verb and text messaging is their email."

"Gen Y, as a Group, has tremendous influence in our culture, with a powerful impact on the workplace. On teh job, they are interacting with members of others generations - Gen X, baby Boomers, and the Silent Geneartions. Each generation brings its own perspective and set of tratis, but how do you bridge the ever-widening gap between so many interconnecting age groups ?"

"…..The reliance on the Internet and text messaging to communicate within their socila network has reduced many social and interpersonal skills. The have great expectations and "I want it now" impatience that confounds their managers and employers."

"As our stash of fascinating insight continued to grow, we saw the need to share it with others who have been unable to find a way to live, work, and play with these unique youth. In this book, we offer perspective on the upbringing that has created the Gen Y mindset by letting the experts speak for thenselves. We deliver their knowledge and advice to help you grasp the core essence and unrealized potential of this segment of the population".

"This book is about busting myths, not people. Gen Y has been accused of being self-serving, lazy and disrespectful. We'll explore the realities of these myths, revealing a generation of young people who are dedicated to volunteerism and making a positive change in their world. We'll show you that these highly self-sufficient individuals welcome leadership and respect the value of older mentors."

http://millennialleaders.com/

Millennial Leaders - Bea Fields, Scott Wilder, Jim Bunch & Rob Newbold

Il Barbiere di Stalin

Il Barbiere di Stalin di Paolo D'Anselmi

Come il barbiere di Stalin, che non si sentiva responsabile dei crimini del dittatore, ciascuno si sente pulito e pensa sinceramente di non aver nulla a che fare con misfatti e inadempienze che constata ogni giorno: eppure tutti "flirtano" con il male. Qualche volta lo servono. Pensionati e lavoratori, politici e cittadini, dipendenti pubblici e privati, lavoratori dipendenti e popolo delle partite Iva sono l'un contro l'altro armati, convinti che altri siano i responsabili. D'Anselmi invece se la prende con le personali responsabilità di ciascuno. Il messaggio finisce per essere tuttavia ottimistico e non catastrofista perché riconsegna a ciascuno la chiave della propria felicità. Puntando l'attenzione sul lavoro delle imprese e delle istituzioni l'autore svolge un'analisi puntuale dei diversi settori dell'economia e del sociale, crea un database sterminato di scempiaggini che si perpetrano e di cose buone che si fanno, e presenta così uno spaccato della nazione e l'agenda per una cultura dell'attuazione.

SCHEDA LIBRO EGEA

Download Index

Download Preface

http://www.ilbarbieredistalin.it/

SEE THE GOODREADS REVIEW

Il Barbiere di Stalin

Slow Economy by Federico Rampini

Slow Economy by Federico Rampini

Friday the 20th of November at Librerie Feltrinelli in Piazza Piemonte, Milan, was held the presentation of "Slow Economy" (published by Mondadori) by its author Federico Rampini, columnist of La Repubblica.
Just coming from Beijing, where he had a meeting with President Barack Obama and some chinese students who interviewed the american leader, back in the same borough where the author reminded the audience he had been working for so many years and thus so familiar to him as to consider it a point of reference, he deeply tackled many topics of his brand new book Slow Economy giving a good insight of his last work.

The author told the audience about his three main voyages from the US, California, to China in Beijing and then back to the US, in New York. He observed that whereas the first move led him to a still old fashioned China, the last one to New York caused him to leave a completely changed China, by far most modernd and efficient. For istance, he remembered how his last move from China to New York made him notice how modern and big was the Beijing airport, which has its sizes five times larger than the Heatrow airport, a huge, iper-efficient and modern airport and structure; this latter, compared to the New York one he found when he landed in New York, made him notice how broken, crumbling, dirty and inefficient it was.
In the same conditions is also the New York subway, that in many respects reminds the bad conditions of Mumbay underground.

After the last dramatic economic crisis the world economy won’t be anymore as we were used to see it before; what’s for sure, we’ll continue being assisting to a further development of eastern economies and to a slower rate of growth of western economies; yet, as I often heard it said, we don’t know yet how exactly the structure, the system of the economy will be after being so dramatically affected.

The same President Barack Obama is aware of this situation and tries to tackle it in a way that sometimes make him even unpleasant and unappealing to his same fellow citizens.

For sure, western people will have to adapt to a different, more frugal habits, abandoning the consumerism way of life.

Rampini cited the effective example of US families and consumers whose attics are full of goods that they’ll never use, to give an idea of the consequences and waste caused by some of the worst aspects of pre-crisis economic system.

In a world that risks to be led by a so called G2 (USA and China), Rampini rightly stressed the necessity of a major role to be played as an actor in the global scenario by Europe. As known, currently Europe as an institution is not living a bright time, yet Europe should be able, must and should be advisable to get a major role in the global policy.

The book, whose title rightly remind us, according to the same author, the Slow Food, mediterranean philosophy and all the positive concepts accompanying it, not least a healthier way of life against obesity, talk also about the studies presented by Sarkozy and led by two renowned Nobel prices: Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen about the possibility of susbstituing the old way to measure GDP, with a new one, taking into account differents and more well-advised that make more sense, since it's clear that western economies are changed and probably won't never regain the same pace and rate of growht as before this last great global crisis. Rampini also cited about a provocative proposal made in Buthan about substituing the GDP with a "Gross National Happiness" Index.

Overpaid managers and their benefits paradoxically increase the GDP measure, while on the other hand the precious work made by some women, such as in the field of the care for persons, is neglected as a GDP input: paradoxical example brought by Rampini to show the necessity to change the old GDP measurement.

Severe recession hit the Globe due to bad Finance, the economy is slowly recovering, yet it really seems that the lesson from the crisis has not be learned so well, since Finance still seems to show unfair behaviours and seems having not much accordingly changed.

The book in many respects reminds me about the thesis and arguments sustained in the great book by the great scientist Fritjof Capra that I recently read: “The turning point” : the importance of the environment and, more generally, of eco-related topics, of sustainable growth, the necessity of a greater appreciation of works traditionally made by women, such as those in the field of care for persons, the necessity to change the way we measure the wealth produced by a nation, the philosophy, the tradition and habits of eastern people as models, as the author himself cited in his examples. All very important topics tackled by Capra in his book of the first years of the eighties; yet, as Rampini himself reminds us, they are nowadays than ever still topical issues. Exactly in the same place where, in a recent past, Capra introduced his last work “The Science of Leonardo”, Rampini has been stressing those vital issues for our Globe.

As the cosmopolitan Rampini said, “Slow Economy represents a distillate of lessons learnt from his voyages, observations and experiences in the Far east.

The books talks about the necessity to pursue Quality in the midst of a slow rate growth world, achieving a sustainable growth.

Lessons learnt from the East: humbleness, modesty, frugality, eastern habits and way of life.

A last example cited by the Author, hinting at his high quality cashmere sweater, is the textile industry: in particular the cashmere clothing made in the Biella textile district.

As known, Chinese economy has repeatedly tried, in a vain attempt, to replicate the quality of our Italian domestic textiles, by building factories perfectly identical to the Italian ones, adopting the same identical processes. Yet, they so far have never achieved to made a cashmere quality product comparable with the Italian ones.

Where does the secret of this lie ? The answer is in the purity of water flowing in the streams where the factories of Biella draw water in order to be used in their production processes for making quality cashmere clothing. The polluted Chinese rivers does not allow to achieve such a high quality standard that the factories of Biella have been able to achieve. (You could find an excerpt from the book (in Italian), dealing with this case, in http://garda2o.wordpress.com ) Of course this is also an example to stress the importance of environmental issues and of sustainable growth, an aspect so crucial and strategic even for the industrial sector.

SEE THE GOODREADS REVIEW

Slow Economy by Federico Rampini