My Story Our Story: Francesco Pisano
2 October 2017BBS Alumni talk about themselves: what was before, what came after and the memories of the student’s life, to offer a personal story and a narration of one’s own professional experience. For a history of our Community. The protagonist of this episode is Francesco Pisano, CEO of Worgas Group.
Ouverture: first love, engineering
In Calabria in the ’80s a well-defined family imprinting brings three brothers and one sister to study engineering. Thus begins the story of Francesco Pisano, who, in less than thirty years, moved from being a student in the homeland of southern Italy to the position of CEO for Worgas Group.
“At age 25 I started working in my region. At that time it was easy to find a job, it was not a merit but a normal condition. I have learned to write a CV as an adult, while young people today are forced to learn it first and then to work,” he says, recalling the years of his beginnings in truck design.
Francesco Pisano is a concrete person who has never overlooked the playful aspects of life. “As a person I call myself smiling, I can do nothing if I do not enjoy it. I am deeply convinced that the playful aspect of work, in the things we like to do, gives a different taste to you and to those around you. ”
The story so far: from technician to manager
When the calls from the ‘north’ began to arrive in a great number, Francesco was a well-established and satisfied young professional. Those short trips, however, had shown him a different world, both in habits and technologies, so interesting that he decided to stay.
“About 22 years ago I started to work as a consultant for IMA, TetraPak, Arcotronics and other local companies. Then came the call from Caterpillar. The first thing they said to me was: you can no longer work as a consultant. It was like having to choose between the life of an impenitent bachelor and the solid bond with the right person. ”
He chose the company, and the company believed and invested in him. He started to travel the world and grow professionally. “They gave me the opportunity to study in America and, if that would not be enough, to choose another path in Italy. And I chose Bologna Business School. ”
Why (and how) Bologna Business School
Francesco felt the need to strengthen his managerial skills. “I lived in Bologna. At the time Bologna Business School was still Alma Graduate. I immediately liked their approach, serious and methodical. I met professors like Carlo Boschetti, who fascinated me. All the staff helped to make the experience a great period of my life, strengthened by the intensity of the study. ”
The study in the United States and in Italy were two very different experiences for Francesco. “I studied a lot in Bologna, even though I was used to, coming from engineering. I still remember the reverential respect we had for our MBA professors. They were real masters of life.”
In 2004, Francesco chose the MBA Part-time Weekend to reconcile work, study and family. “Here I have acquired a fundamental network. BBS today has reached such a seniority that it can rely on a network that works.”
“Network does not mean having a friend to help you, but having someone helping you to give added value to what you believe in,” he specifies.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Many aspects of his career changed after the MBA. Starting from being a pure technician, Francesco began to deal with business issues at 360 degrees. “I finally realized how a company functions. I thought I knew it, but I was wrong. I found out what it meant to move the functional levers of a company. Bologna Business School taught me this. ”
Francesco’s life is a continuous movement towards the pursuit of happiness, towards the physical and mental state in which everything becomes possible with naturalness. “I need to find playful and clean people,” he says. “Cleanliness, integrity, are not ethical choices, but they have a long-term return. We need to teach our children that by making shortcuts you can’t be successful in life. Playing according to the rules is a long-term investment, you take it with you for the rest of your life.”
An advice to a student
“The advice I can give to those who want to tackle the MBA in the best of ways is the same I would give to live in the best of ways: to be persevering. No great genius is needed. I personally know great geniuses that got lost and others who with commitment and perseverance have led mediocre ideas to success.
All we do must become part of us, of our DNA. Like the musician who becomes one with the instrument. “
