I will explain this by reading a passage by Alessandro Manzoni from The Betrothed. Here it is. With ideas donna Prassede behaved as they say one must do with friends: she had few; but to those few, she was very fond. Among the few, there were by misfortune many of the crooked ones; and they […]

One of the main, as well as ordinary, aspects of my work, is to define the boundaries of situations before determining the actions to be taken. When I am dealing with many, sometimes too many people, offering the same interpretation of a given situation, my mind goes to this excerpt from Konrad Lorenz, taken from […]

Some time ago I read an editorial by the Italian journalist and TV anchor Massimo Gramellini about the Male-Female, a type of man that he defines as a “pioneer of evolution who tries to reconcile the characteristics of the ideal male — calmness, energy, responsibility — with kindness of manner and a desire to isolate […]

I have wondered many times if there is a common thread among the people to whom I have seen lose power and/or prestige. Complex analysis, I told myself. Then, this morning, I came across a thought by Jean de la Bruyère, which I think will help indeed. Listen to this. You see men falling from […]

Yes, when you are with people whose interest you want to catch, the best you can do is to keep quiet. Why? Silence, in these cases, offers some advantages: it keeps you safe from saying things that do not fit the situation; it allows you to get useful information from the very person whose attention […]

Watch this short clip, which is quite common on the Web.       The penguin who would like to jump into the water but hesitates: he searches for the most suitable spot, several times he is on the point of jumping but then changes his mind. Finally, after much hesitation, he jumps in, raising […]

If you struggle to manage the relationship with your boss, if his/her pressing demands make your life difficult, the following lines will probably help you. It happens quite frequently that bosses are under pressure, and they are anxiously seeking performance marked by enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. And it also happens that their anxieties and urgencies […]

Among the most common difficulties that leaders face in business is to inspire in people the motivation to pursue the desired goals: this is what leadership is all about. Why is this so difficult? Why do people, instead of “pushing” for results, seem to wish to be “pulled”? A not-so-well-known (and used) tool is the […]

I took this picture in Kronplatz (Plan de Corones), Puster Valley, in December last year, during a short vacation. That morning I left the hotel for the usual walk in the snow: the weather was not the most inviting. Low clouds, particularly harsh temperature, freezing wind. In short, a wolf’s weather! I walked up a […]

I read this morning a thought by Afro-American writer Zora Neale Hurston. There is something about poverty that smells of death. You dream about dead people who fall from your heart like leaves in the dry season and rot around your feet; impulses smothered too long in the fetid air of underground caves. Although the […]