A voyage in Italy: dedicated to those who do not surrender

4 July 2014

4th of July – Graduation. The director of IlSole24Ore presents his new book, together with Romano Prodi, Claudio Domenicali and Massimo Bergami, in front of 372 young people who have successfully completed Masters at the School.

A Voyage in Italy between uncertainty, anger, fear and hope. It is one in which Roberto Napoletano leads us in his latest book which is the focus of the round table of the Graduation 2014. “A journey – said the director of Il Sole 24 Ore – started in Trento and finished in Pantelleria where I tried to let myself be guided by whathings and emotions I observed: I saw an Italy crossed by a deep crisis, a journey through the many ruins, from which university-trained people, however, continue to go out and have a great strength: that of beauty and culture that is found in every city, in every village, in every church.”

“In the book there is a terrible passage – said Romano Prodi stimulated by the questions of the journalist TG1 Carfagna – which speaks of bureaucracy and the static nature of our public structures that make the unexpected expected unfortunately. And that tells the story of a country in which most of the time the past is taken as an excuse to not to face the future. Especially in our European policy. After one of my lessons a student from Shanghai asked me if Europe was a laboratory or a museum. The future is to think about the unexpected and to prepare for the unexpected in order to build it.”

Max Bergami also spoke of the unexpected: “The theme of uncertainty – he said – is still too little at the centre of our curriculum of studies, while there is a need for a new wave of entrepreneurs who are increasingly able to manage the ‘”unexpected”. We should help more and more people that pass by the Business School and the University to understand that today it is necessary to create job for themselves. Today a permanent position no longer exists, especially in organisations that inside, change faster and faster.”

“Those who receive the diploma tonight are privileged – said Prodi – those who have a prospect of employment. At one time it seemed that they had life assured. But the message that I would give is to be careful, to expect the unexpected. This is a day in the beginning, not the end. You will need to reinvent yourself your life. This business school has given you a lot, not only the ability to have excellent teachers, but has given classmates that are the source of your life. Because the only way to deal with uncertainty is to do it together.”