Giorgia Stancari
Executive Master in Business Innovation Design

15 July 2022

Digitalization and Processes Support Manager at Gruppo Hera, Giorgia Stancari attended the Executive Master in Business Innovation Design at BBS out of a desire to deepen and broaden an innovation-oriented vision shared with the company. Between managerial modules and more design-oriented proposals, Giorgia found the path that allowed her to grow both professionally and humanly.  

Why focus specifically on business innovation? Tell us how you chose this Master’s program. 

I had the honor of being chosen for this Master’s program by my company, the Hera Group. Innovation has long since become part of our DNA, not only as technological innovation but also as a continuous search for change and improvement of all business processes and an increasingly advanced digitalization to support all areas, from strategy to operations to new business. This vision came from the management but it is really now widespread at all levels, and in my case it has been my job for 6 years, while now I have returned to a more business-related role. But this spirit and approach I carry it with me and in my team every day.

What do you think of the approach that combines managerial logic and methodologies from the design world, mediating between even divergent knowledge in a continuous search for optimization?

I have to say that the articulation of the master’s program, which alternates between managerial and more specific Design modules, is in my opinion perfect. At the begininnig, while I was clearly very comfortable and focused on management, the sometimes almost philosophical chats about Design and its theories surprised and displaced me since they seemed far removed from my scientific background. I then realized, month after month, that those words became thoughts and then approach and then action. A profound, and I must say exhilarating, transformation that affected my vision, my open-mindedness, really deep down. The Design path involves to an important extent the acquisition of extremely practical tools that we acquired as we went along, with exercises and in the implementation of the Project Work, allowing us to consolidate the theory and experiment with what we could put into practice once we returned to the company.

How important are technology and the skills, including practical skills, related to it to becoming an innovation leader? 

I think they are fundamental. An innovation leader is driven by open-mindedness, curiosity, and a continuous desire to look beyond, but needs technology to empower and speed up change, and “practical” tools to structure the design process and make it clear and engaging for the Team. The Master’s program has provided us with more expertise on both the most innovative technologies and on effective, yet sometimes very simple, tools and instruments.

How influential do you think having done this Master’s program has been in improving your “design culture,” and how important do you think this element is in bringing together all souls of technological innovation and business evolution?

The Master’s program marked a turning point for me. I was already accustomed to managing projects, even innovative ones, but the tools provided gave me structure, a clear framework in which to move. Innovation is experimentation, idea generation, and born in a sense out of entropy, but techniques and tools make it possible not to disperse and to converge, synthesize, and make ideas concrete.

Has it been difficult to balance study and work commitments? Do you think the part-time formula with residential helps create a good balance? And what do you think of the focus sessions, which were created to discuss the issues of innovation by design with managers and industry professionals? 

It wasn’t easy, my job is very busy and at the same time I wasn’t going to give up my family commitments. However, the formula is certainly the only one that I could have afforded in terms of time during the time I was attending the Master’s program, and I must say that I managed it, albeit with some sacrifices. But as I think it became clear — it was worth it!