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At the end of the 90s I was a bit tired of Italy, because I did not like the lack of transparency and meritocracy
So I decided to leave Italy and come to London, where I had already been three or four times before,
London had always been in my thoughts as a city where you could achieve your dreams.
You have been a good prophet!
This was the motivation that prompted me to leave Italy and so I left...
You started working as a waiter
The experience was hard because we worked 12-14 hours a day and the way they treated us was not the best
But at the same time, you told me, while you worked as a waiter, just to cover the living expenses,
you had another ambition because your education was in another field and you began working for free in a company in the field of human resources
That's right, while I worked, because my goal was to enter the field of human resources,
and not having worked before in England it was difficult so I offered my services, for free,
to a British company in the hospitality industry and worked there for free for 3-4 months
They appreciated your honesty, for sure
Then I was offered a contract at that point so I became a permanent
You left the restaurant and started working for the company where you looked after human resources
Then, in broad terms, how did you come to Schenker?
London is a place where if you work hard and commit yourself there are always great opportunities
I worked for this company for a certain period of time and learned the trade for example,
the labour laws and the various aspects related to them..
Then I began looking around for another job because I wanted to grow
It is called IHG and it is a company that manages the Intercontinental or Holiday Inn hotel chains
and I was responsible for the EMEA area (Europe, Middle East, Africa)
The company has about 4,500 hotels worldwide and more than 300,000 employees
When you reach certain levels of expertise you can be sought after by so-called headhunters
Exactly, this is what happens
They often call you, they want to know if you are interested in another positions.
It becomes almost an automatic thing and you never have to make a big effort to find the next job.
You already hinted about it before, why did you plan to come to London and not Paris, Frankfurt or New York?
What attracted you and what still attracts thousands of young people to come and have at least an experience in London?
What is it so magic?
So many things!
With regard to the labor market, it is a place where if you prove to be able to do something and
if you have the will to commit yourself, there are and there will always be opportunities.
I had this idea of London as the place of opportunities
Then London is much more than just the world of work,
maybe because I like the city as I have been living here for many years, as the locomotive of the world
Things happen first in London, New York or Hong Kong and slowly begin to spread to the rest of the world
It's a city that leads the rest of the world and not just in the world of work. Also in music, fashion, etc..
If one wanted to have a career in London, his mentality should be
"I'm going there, I am willing to work hard and am willing to start from scratch and show what I can do"
There must be this desire to prove your capabilities. You must not take anything for granted
You have to start from scratch and show people what you can do
It can be in a restaurant, in a hotel, in an office where maybe you may start making photocopies
But the mental attitude should be
"I'm going there and I have everything to prove and I will try to do my best to prove that I can do something more"
and it can be in many areas
So you are saying that there is meritocracy here in London?
even starting as a waiter, then when I started in the office making photocopies
What are your memories of when you first arrived in London and you were the classic Italian waiter?
It is rewarding to see that what I have done was appreciated.
If you look back, what are your feelings?
Looking back, how proud are you of what you achieved?
I do not know whether to call it pride ...
Francesco is very modest, we have come to know him, perhaps it is difficult for him to talk about his achievements
I do not know .... I am glad to see that if you commit yourself something happens
So maybe looking back I have been able to do things that were appreciated,
There are some countries that have been greatly affected by the crisis and, coincidentally or not,
these countries are Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece, with the difference that is Orthodox, while the others are all Catholic countries!
While Protestant countries like Finland, Germany and Holland have not been affected by the crisis in the same way
Could there be a Catholic factor behind this crisis?
Can you can say that the forgiveness, which is at the basis of the Catholic religion, has had an impact?
I do not think that is The factor, but one of the factors.
These are complex social phenomena, so there is always a combination of factors
Certainly religion plays a key role in European cultures
In particular, I see a difference between Catholicism and the Protestant religions
where there is a strong sense of individual responsibility, that is people take responsibility for what they do
And this is one of the differences between the countries you mentioned
People assume individual responsibility for what they do and do not try to blame others such as society or the system
While in Catholic countries they always try to justify the negative consequences of their actions in the light of overall responsibility.
The political class, which everyone rightly hates in Italy, in my opinion, is a reflection of the population
It is not that ''the caste'' one day landed from Mars and occupied the Houses of Parliament
That is a choise of the Italian people, that has been elected
So we have to accept the fact that these people are an integral part of the Italian people that reflects its way of being
The fact is that these people operate under the spotlight, while handling large sums of money so the result is that everything is magnified.
One goes to the dentist, is told the cost and is asked to pay "800€ but without a receipt you will pay only 500€"
Therefore you agree to pay 500 € and at that moment you are contributing to tax evasion, and you are now part of the system
That attitude multiplied a million times contributes to the deficit and you are an accomplice
The difference is that you operate on a smaller scale and can only take possession of minor amounts
Those of the ''caste'' handle millions and do it on a larger scale.
Let me give you an example: my boss is Icelandic and a couple of months ago he asked me
"Francesco, it is true that Berlusconi will run again?" He could not believe that it was possible!
"It is true, I heard that too."
And this is one example, but I could name hundreds of people who asked me this question
It is difficult to explain why in Italy he got 30% (at the last elections), in my point of view
I am not judging, people are free to vote for whomever they want,
but it is difficult to give an explanation for the promises that he made and that were not kept, that is the way he operated
In simple words, it is clear that he only pursued his own interests
If you asked me why then that 30% of voters, and we're talking about millions of people, still voted for him,
I think it is many people look up to those who know how to do their own interests.
Introducing flexibility in the labor market, although in the short term there may be negative consequences,
I think in the long term it is an incentive to recruit and it is shown that where there is more flexibility companies hire more people
This aspect is of flexibility is inexistent in Italy and introducing it would be beneficial if very difficult to do
I worked with the Anglo-Saxon model where flexibility is even greater, total, and this means that the economy is more fluid
The economy needs to flow to flourish
It is a model, from a economic point of view, that works very well
There are other models that work well, like the German one which is closer to the Italian and where it is not easy to lay off people
It is not as rigid as the Italian one but not as flexible as the American one, but maybe somewhere in the middle closer to the Italian for its history
That model works well, in my opinion, in Germany while it would not work in Italy because
the union trades in Germany are more reasonable, more modern and more collaborative.
In Italy they are ideologized and they defend the slacker
always without realizing that what that idler fails to do will fall on the shoulders of the others
Where the unions are responsible, collaborative and modern, they would never defend him
The one bad apple can spoil the others
You are right, there are thousands of examples in Italy,
when there was need for 100 workers but the union wanted to keep 500 workers on that job
But it is useless to keep 500 if 400 people are in excess
Why is a German, Swedish or English company reluctant to come and invest in Italy?
The cost of labor is not a major obstacle because we are in an advanced economy and thus produce products and services of high level
Our it is not the manufacturing sector of China
A person who intends to invest in a foreign country looks for very simple things
What does the investor look for?
The investor says
I'm going to that country, I want to invest, I want to know what happens,
I want to have control over what happens, so I need simplicity and transparency
If I need a license, I want to know how much it costs me, and know the day, quickly, I can receive it
I need to know if I need 50 people, if I can reduce staff
The entrepreneur needs a system of rules that is clear, transparent and simple
I was talking recently to a professor of economics and he told me that
business owners do not go to Italy because they do not know when the decisions will become reality
There's this big black hole of bureaucracy and you can just wait and pray
And this is exactly what that the entrepreneur does not want
To manage resources effectively an entrepreneur needs absolute transparency and certainty of the future
Because in Italy there is a lack of certainty and political stability; fifty governments in fifty years
Then there is corruption and crime
If I open a shop or an office I want to be sure that no one can come to my office
asking me for money to be able to keep working
I recently wrote an essay on what we have discussed, as an Italian in London
My real passion is writing. I've always written. I published a novel, and then I continued to write
Inspired by my experience but
it could be the experience of anyone, the purpose is not to talk about me
The aim is to try to understand what we can learn from this culture
There are various historical and social considerations
One thing I want to say, until now we have talked about the Italians in negative terms,
in fact they have many positive aspects
I have met many Italian of great intelligence and creativity
Italians, I think, are second to none, our history, art, genius, etc..
The purpose of this essay is to say,
"Look, we have a wealth of qualities of the highest order and we are ruining them with our stupid behaviours"
If only we could learn from other people such as the British or the Scandinavian,
we could build on our qualities and potentially become a country that would lead the world
Will we see you in Italy?
Are you going to come back or for the time being you will remain abroad?
No not at the moment
Except of course to go back to visit friends and family
Indeed, if I were to move from London I'd like to go to another city
For example? Where would you like to go to work?
New York or Hong Kong
With my sincere wish that this dream of yours will come true even if,
as I told you, I hope men like you can go back to Italy because we need people like you,
thank you so much for the hospitality you gave us in your office,
at Schenker House, near Heathrow, as you may have seen, with the planes behind us
Thanks a lot and best wishes for the continuation of your career
Thank you all, from Francesco and Alberto from London