Among the numerous leadership talks scheduled for the participants of the Global MBA 2019/2020, a virtual meeting with Augusto Capitanucci, Regional Director Mediterranean of Hublot Italy. The full report of the speech through the reflections of the participant of the Master Maxim Kulintsov.
I have always had a strong passion for luxury watches: a year ago I decided to dramatically change my path, and I chose the MBA in Design, Fashion and Luxury goods at BBS to pursue my long-cherished dream of working in the luxury watch industry and being an international citizen.
The story I am going to tell you is related to facing obstacles, not giving up, sticking to your passion, and growing up: the way I see my future life and career is interconnected with the philosophy of Augusto Capitanucci, with whom Bologna Business School organized a leadership talk.
It was an honor for me to introduce such an outstanding figure in the watch business to my peers since #atBBS we have a tradition when a student presents a speaker. Augusto shared with us his experience, which I found extremely insightful, and it all resonated in my soul.
Augusto Capitanucci has an extraordinary background. He finished the Law School and was supposed to be a lawyer. Over time, he understood that such a perspective would not make him happy at all since he did not like that profession. First, he thought he had made a mistake in choosing his career path, but later on, he took a look into his heart and asked himself: «What strikes me most?». In fact, the answer had already been clear throughout his entire life: «luxury watches and cars». At that decisive moment, a choice of a law school was no longer a problem, it was still a life experience. Augusto discovered a passion that became a key to success but he would know it only in the future. He realized that life is short and time is swift to waste it on being who you do not want to be.
Having abandoned the idea of working as a lawyer, Augusto decided to change his life straight off with what he had: good communication and writing skills. He started writing articles on luxury goods: it was just coming out of his heart. Further on, the passion for luxury evolved: Augusto deepened his expertise in the industry, editorial work, and then marketing that all led to a fantastic career as the Editor in Chief at Gruppo24ore in Milano. Finally, significant experience in journalism, a true passion for luxury, and a strong commitment to it became a bridge that paved his professional way to the LVMH group, where he took the position of the Regional Director for Hublot, Italy. All the dots got connected.
His example shows me that I am moving in the right direction. I am coming from a digital marketing and linguistics background. Having worked with IT giants and interpreted the President of Russia, I understood I hit the ceiling in my career. It was a real deadlock for me because I believed I can do even more in my 24. I urgently needed to make a push forward and I did exactly like Augusto did, asking myself: «What strikes me most?». The answer was «luxury watches», and soon I found BBS.
Now I see how my passion becomes energy for everything in my life since I study what I like, network with people that share their knowledge of the industry and meet such great people as Augusto Capitanucci with a similar vision for self-development. I followed my passion that makes me happy. I feel lucky that I risked, changed my career path, and moved to Italy to study at Bologna Business School expanding my horizons in luxury. My marketing proficiency is helping me in my MBA studies; the linguistics background and languages give me the freedom to communicate with the talented and courageous fellow students who had also decided to shift their careers. I followed Augusto’s story and re-started my Instagram page GMTeam and website Watch Dealer where I write articles and plan to unveil some mystery that watches have. And I sincerely hope that my dots will also get connected into a single whole in my future career in watches like Augusto Capitanucci imparted us.
There are no problems, there are just solutions. The solution that guided Augusto and now guides me is our passion for watches. I will stick to it and won’t give up since I am young and life is waiting to begin. To conclude Augusto’s narrative and once again reflect my story which is only starting, I will quote just two lines from my favorite song: clasp your hands, do whatever your heart commands.
Thanks BBS for a great opportunity to let me network with such amazing professionals as Augusto Capitanucci and share my experience!