Tag: #MIPexperience

“Poseidon: Team up with Flexa”

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on “Poseidon: Team up with Flexa”

The i-Flex EMBA program is not just self-study, but also a way to socialize and network with other students and alumni. There can be several occasions for developing ideas and participating in innovative challenges and competitions. At one of these events, I found myself starting to talk with some of my colleagues, scouting and discussing possible ideas – we wanted to have a clean impact on society – so we explored some solutions which could be more innovative and out of the box, and delved into their real feasibility and how to implement them.Several possibilities came up, and we were all full of energy and enthusiastic about making our contributions. In the end, we chose to direct our efforts towards water. Water covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface but despite this, its value and scarcity are felt on an ever-larger scale. Drinkable water is so necessary that it is precious, also considering population and ecosystem trends. Apart from natural springs, and especially in desertic or remote places like small islands, it’s necessary to find different sources, and most of it derives from marine water desalination applied together with other processes to make it potable. Analysing the state-of-the-art processes, we discovered that they are heavily polluting, both in terms of carbon emissions and potential residual waste and, furthermore, the expensiveness of small plants makes them unsustainable for local communities.

In this context we were struck by an insight, a possible alternative solution, and we started to call it Poseidon: with a simple and innovative change of approach, desalinated water could be produced in a clean, economical, affordable, scalable and reliable way. The idea and initial business model are just a first step for a startup project, and the team needs to be completed in terms of all its members so as to have a solid structure and make it real. We identified some profiles that would complete us. We needed to find out how and where to get in contact with people who might be interested in joining us.

Flexa is the online platform that MIP has developed to complement education, but also for networking with students, alumni and external businesses. There is a powerful section where we posted “our challenge” and looked to pick out a particular person to match our profile. And then it happened. We were so glad to have access to such an easy way of networking and that the project had gone ahead with the validation phase. The technical complications and complexity of the domain could easily have been a high barrier to the feasibility of our ambitious project. The possibility to access a network of people so large as to be like the whole MIP-Politecnico di Milano ecosystem, made up not only of alumni but also of external individuals who collaborate with the business school − I think all this helped us to reach out and select interested and active people.

Hence, I would like to thank MIP for this wonderful opportunity Flexa provided for us and wish all the best to all the members of team Poseidon, Federico Aiana, Giovanni Castagnola, Heidemarie Haupt, Lorenzo Zagnoli, and, of course, me, Vito Conversano.

I’m pretty sure many other projects could get benefits from this way of networking.

 

About the author
 Vito Conversano

Student of the International Flex Executive MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano.
Chief Information Officer @ San Marzano Vini SpA with extensive international experience in IT & strategic consultancy for fortune 500 companies. Creative, Curious, Travel lover. Passionate about discovering new concepts, learning continuously and developing new ideas.

 

 

Tips & Tricks To Choose The Right Learning Path

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Tips & Tricks To Choose The Right Learning Path

If there is one thing that we associate with the current era it is the availability of numerous options for learning and upgrading our skill set as professionals. With most industries evolving rapidly in the wake of the pandemic, it is more imperative than ever to continuously upgrade your skill set and be prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.

Before picking a learning path, one thing that will greatly help you to understand the long-term goals you have for yourself is if you just write down how you see yourself in 5-10 years’ time. This exercise will help in getting an understanding of your current position with regard to your future goals.

Let’s begin with the tips and tricks to choosing the correct learning path that we have been promising you all along.

 

1. Create A Mind Map

A mind map is a tool to help us think in a more tangible form, so that we can expand upon our ideas, refine them, and use them to get things done. They are also powerful ways to develop a deeper understanding of our goals and ambitions. Mind mapping demands  meaningful engagement because learners actively engage in the process of brainstorming, generating ideas, and connecting concepts together while reviewing and developing mind maps.

You can draw a mind map that showcases the topics, and sub-topics branching from them, which you plan to cover for your end goal. One can use different colours, shapes, icons, node sizes etc. We have at our disposal some online tools, both free and paid, that can help you store information such as Mind Node and X Mind, among others.

2. Focus with Research

Now that you’ve listed down all the ideas that can be executed in the pursuit of those long-term goals, it is time to do some due diligence or research to separate those which are absolutely important from those that can be tackled with less urgency. It is important to be smart about time management and to know how to prioritize the acquisition of skills.

Research everything you can about the position you want to achieve and make a list of the various factors that you think you might be lacking! From here, identify the must-haves and design a schedule to dedicate time to acquiring these skills. Depending on your professional and personal commitments, your schedule could be daily, weekly or monthly.

 

3. Define SMART Goals

As part of our MBA, we place emphasis on having SMART goals, not just for businesses but also for our personal growth! For a learning path to be truly valuable, the learner must have the ability to define their SMART goals. SMART goals are a management ethic that defines milestones on the path of learning that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time-bound. Here is a brief for these goals in the context of the learning path:

  • Specific: Identify the specific skills needed
  • Measurable: Quantify an indicator of progress for measurable goals such as certifications
  • Achievable: Research the courses that will help you achieve them
  • Realistic: State what results can realistically be achieved, given the available resources
  • Time-related: Specify the target date or general time frame when the result(s) can be achieved

Keeping a track of these SMART goals will initiate a key aspect of any learning path: self-assessment. Once you learn to self-assess your actions you will be able to clearly see the direction you’re headed in and what results you can expect in the amount of time you are dedicating to the end goal.

 

4. Visualize the End Goal

Visualization is a last-minute check of reasons and motivations before embarking on the journey of learning. The ability to visualize your future self will require you to ask yourself hard questions and figure out where your end goal features in the scheme of your future aspirations and desires.

Some benefits of visualization include:

  • Visualizing outcomes that you want can increase your confidence. “Seeing” yourself succeed, helps you believe that it can – and will – happen.
  • Visualization helps you “practice” success. When you imagine every step of an event or activity, you get your mind and body ready to take these steps in real life.

Visualization is a powerful process, that can help ignite action in you − action needed to move in the direction of the future self, which has motivated you to take up the particular learning path to realizing your long-term ambitions.

 

5. Get Going

Now that you have a mind map ready for your goals and you have managed to define the SMART goals necessary to track your progress along the way, we come to the most important step! Start and start now and take action to achieve your goals. Until you put all the steps listed above into action, they’re just theories with little potential to help you level up your skill set.

Since you already have the list of skills that are an absolute must-have for your long-term aspirations, it is now time to start acquiring them, one skill at a time! At MiP Politecnico di Milano, we have been taught the importance of constantly working at our skills and work regularly in upgrading them earnestly and with passion.

 

About the author
 Rakshit Behel

A results-oriented marketing communications professional helping brands achieve objectives with integrated marketing campaigns built around branded content. From creatively developing and implementing digital marketing and content strategies to measuring performance with analytics and providing insights into useful data, aligned to brands’ business goals; experience of working with clients from different industries: Hospitality, IT, Fintech, Media and Healthcare.

Covid-19 “unprecedented times” and how to take advantage of them through reskilling

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Covid-19 “unprecedented times” and how to take advantage of them through reskilling

As every email introduction has reminded us in 2020, we’re living in “unprecedented times”. Covid has hit us this past year, and it hit us hard.

The last analysis of the World Labor Organization reports an increase of unemployed people of 33 million at worldwide level. This scenario obviously affects the dreams of career growth of many young people, since a phase of recession brings lower revenues for companies. Therefore, the budget for new hires and/or for the growth of employees gets lower and lower. Besides, for entrepreneurs, a stagnant economic situation can only be reflected in greater risks.

We might think that such a condition could heavily impact applications for postgraduate programs, such as the Master in Business Administration (MBA). But that is not the case.

With the pandemic recession in full bloom, business schools all over the world are instead reporting enormous increases (most times double-digit!) in applications. Why?

The reason is quite simple: until last year, the economy was so strong that prospective MBA students saw plenty of opportunities in front of them without having to go back to school. When a recession kicks in, however, the opportunity cost of enrolling in an MBA and updating your skills goes down and applications zoom up.

We live in times of exponential change and this pandemic has hit fast forward on many trends, from e-commerce to workplace culture. As Albert Einstein once said:

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

And in the “unprecedented times” like the ones we’re living through, this ability to change will be more and more crucial. The “executives of the past” will no longer fit into this new environment. Dealing with remote teams, keeping motivation high, pushing delegation, working with a goal-oriented approach rather than a working-hours-oriented approach: these are only a few of the many skills needed right now, which the old generation of managers was not used to. A McKinsey study of 2020 stated that 14% of the workforce needs to be fully reskilled and 40% needs to be partially reskilled.

The results? The “old generation” of managers will have to make a choice: to change or to be replaced. It can seem easy, but to change, to reskill yourself, you need to get back in the game. You must question yourself and your previous knowledge.

And this is exactly what I did just over a year ago, when I enrolled in the MIP International Part-Time MBA.

Now, the question you probably want to ask me is: “Were you able to achieve this change?”

I’m not the one who should answer this, but from my perspective I would say “yes!”. I am studying in an international context and this is allowing me to deal with many professionals with different backgrounds and different ways of thinking. This is a great life-gym to learn how to work in a dynamic environment.

Furthermore, handling projects and assignments remotely with international teams allows you to exponentially improve your management skills, time optimization, goal setting and task scheduling − not to mention delegation and coordination skills.

Finally, we come to the topic of Covid and how it impacts MBA students. To talk about it I want to use a metaphorical version of the law of supply and demand (I promise not to go into complex discussions on the labor market, IS-LM curve, etc. You can find these topics much better written about in the Financial Times). As most of you already know, a simultaneous increase in demand (candidates for a job, in our case) and a reduction in the supply of this good (managerial positions, for example), physiologically leads to an increase in prices. What is this “metaphorical price” for us?

This price is the distinctive skills required by the market for managerial roles. In a nutshell, measuring the skills of a person from 1 (limited skills) to 10 (excellent skills), if previously a “7” would have been enough to take on a managerial role, right now you will probably need a “9”. And a 7-to-9 gap is an important gap!

An MBA can help fill it, enabling you to become more and more frequently that “ideal candidate” that companies are (or will be) seeking with increasing selectivity.

So, let’s try to look at the silver lining here: Covid has brought enormous obstacles, but it has also created new opportunities that we must be able to exploit. It shuffled the cards. The previous game (the pre-Covid situation) is now over and, as an old saying goes: ”Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go into the same box”. Well, if right now we think we’re pawns, let’s try to work and study to be the next king.

 

About the author
 Marco Di Salvio

Student of the International Part Time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano.
Industrial Engineer currently working @ Gucci as WW Supply & Demand Planner, based in Florence.
Tech passionate, Cinema-lover, Sports addicted.
Solving the world’s problems one spreadsheet at a time.

 

 

A mind map for the motivational interview

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on A mind map for the motivational interview

The motivational interview could be carried out by asking (and answering) only one question: “Why are you here?” −  a simple, direct, genuine and essential inquiry with a huge range of possible answers. Open questions like this, such as the renowned “tell me about a topic of your choice” during an exam, are sometimes harder to answer than specific questions; you feel lucky because they seem simple to answer but at the same time, the pressure grows since you feel you cannot fail when presented with such a unique and unrepeatable opportunity. If you are used to answering direct and precise questions and are not expecting to speak about the wider scope, you should work on creating flexible structures that could help with both open and closed questions.I have quite a clear memory of my MBA motivational interview and I can remember a simple but tricky question I honestly hadn’t prepared for all that much, because I took it for granted: Why MIP? An MBA is obviously provided by so many institutes here in Italy, abroad and remotely. If you decided to apply for the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano there must surely be a real and valid reason. My advice is not to consider this question as trivial and also to have an in-depth look at all the initiatives undertaken by the school, so as to be prepared.

Anyway, the topics which I think it is really important to focus on are these four as a minimum: the mental side, the practical side, the areas of improvement and behaviour and culture. You should create a mind map, tidying up all your thoughts with hierarchies, branches and sub-branches in order to get a blueprint that can help you when wider open questions are asked.

By the mental side, I mean all the thoughts about your professional life so far and your future vision. As far as the past is concerned, a misleading topic is your background: do two different people, with the same university degree and same experience in the same company have the same background? Definitely not, because what you have done in the past it is not what is important but rather, how your past experiences have forged who you are and what you think now. My advice is, when you are asked to talk about your background, always link the challenges you have faced with your actual behaviour. And it is the same for the present, your resumé surely explains what you are doing; you need instead to explain how your daily work is shaping your attitudes. When it comes to the future, you need to express your goals and your “vision”. Maybe it is not too much to talk about your “ikigai”, the reason why you wake up in the morning. If you are investing time, energy and money in a Master, is because you have realized that for you, work is not the means to earn a salary, but a way of expressing yourself. The “golden circle” by Simon Sinek, explained in one of the most viewed Tedx® videos, pushes you to focus on the “why” of your ideas and actions and only afterwards on the what and the how. Before my interview, I watched it several times to gather all the implied nuances.

The practical side is about the skills you have. Practical does not mean tangible − both hard and soft skills could be considered practical. With this term, I mean your ability to turn problems into solutions by using your skills. Saying that you are a heavy user of Excel is important, but you have to demonstrate that your ability to use Excel helps your department, or the organization, to achieve tangible results. You will not be accepted (and hired) because you have attended a course on coding or because you are an organised person; you will be chosen from among a list of candidates if you are able to demonstrate how to leverage your knowledge for concrete results. MIP is the business branch of a technical school but the importance they place on soft skills is high and the collateral lectures on these subjects are both current and numerous. Surely soft skills are difficult to define and measure, they are usually interpersonal and, even worse, sometimes you cannot learn them if you do not perform them. What helped me were examples from my life apart from working hours, sports-related and social activities.

The era of “tell me about three of your strengths and three of your weaknesses” is quite old-fashioned; of course this is a tricky question and the first time someone asks this, the interviewee has some difficulty for the same reason as for the open questions mentioned above. But then word spreads and before an interview, all the candidates prepare a short list of adjectives for their own convenience. I would focus and be prepared on areas of improvement. As seen before, you have a vision and goals; along the path you have acquired, learned and sharpened new skills but you have also realized that something is missing. Talking about any personal downside during an interview might seem like a not-so-savvy strategy: instead, I think that if you have in mind a well-structured gap analysis of what you need to reach your objectives and how to improve and offset the divide, this proves a high level of maturity.

Sometimes, the last lines of a CV are about hobbies or activities performed during your spare time; it seems as if we are forced to fill in some blank spaces and to write something appealing. Most of the time they are all the same: travel, sport, DIY, books, cinema and so on. Actually, the question behind these lines is not unimportant: “Who you are, apart from your job?” But can we consider ourselves to be two different entities, one who performs a job and one who simply “lives”? I think that our attitude, our way of approaching problems, our behaviour during working hours should reflect − or at least, be similar to − our behaviour at our place of work. Some executives I have met along my path were really good at other activities not directly linked to the job (e.g. marathon runner, videogame award winner, or guitar player). Behaviour depends on personal culture and if you also demonstrate your ability in other fields, you can prove a linear way of conducting yourself.

My last piece of advice is to consider the MIP motivational interview mostly as a personal review. More than an “exam”, my interview was a rich and fertile discussion. From my side, I talked about my expectations and doubts; the interviewer needed to understand the fit with my profile. At the end, I was even more convinced to become part of this school and if I were now asked to give one reason to choose MIP, I would definitely say because of its international vocation in every aspect of the path.

 

About the author
 Luca Bianchi
National Account Manager for a multinational logistics company and part of the young group of the Freight Leader Council, I would define myself as curious, ambitious and continuously disposed to improve. A strong supporter of cross-functional experiences, job rotation, teamwork and lifelong learning, my objective is to be constantly able to see challenges from different perspectives and to be adaptable in this ever-changing environment..

 

Why is doing an MBA now more important than ever?

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Why is doing an MBA now more important than ever?

There’s no doubt that the current pandemic has put a lot of things in perspective for the world. The primary factor here is the business landscape, as industries across the world grapple with the new normal and are about to start a long and arduous journey towards recovery. Businesses are re-evaluating their methodologies within the context of the pandemic and restructuring their vision and mission values to fit the new normal. It comes as no surprise then, that a lot of these businesses are looking to invest in managers and leaders who share the same level of consciousness towards the challenges that lie ahead and are able to figure out solutions to lead businesses with their knowledge and acumen.

With things having hit the reset button, it becomes imperative that investing in an MBA amidst the global pandemic makes more sense than ever! Why do you ask? So let’s take a look first at what does an MBA offer?

At its core, an MBA offers you the following key aspects:

  • Technical expertise at managing and leading a business
  • The opportunity to build a network with professionals from diverse backgrounds
  • The chance to specialize in a field suited to the constantly evolving technologies and business landscapes (Innovation, Digital Transformation, Big Data

With the pandemic severely affecting the future prospects for a lot of junior-middle management executives, the crisis also presents a fantastic opportunity to significantly add new knowledge to your current capabilities and add value to your profile. Think of it this way, nobody in the last decade who graduated as an MBA faced the same challenges while figuring out solutions to case-studies or figuring out the current scenarios in the context of Covid.

Add to this, the fact that the pandemic has limited our mobility and so scope for socializing has dropped drastically. With the backdrop of the pandemic, business schools all over the world have had to quickly grapple with the challenges and make the best use of available technologies. At MIP Politecnico di Milano, I was amazed at the rate at which these technologies were initiated for optimum course delivery. Along with the academics, it also allowed me to have live discussions with the professors as well as the wonderful set of colleagues for various assignments, projects and competitions. The fact that we are part of an international program means that I have had the pleasure of growing my network with some of the smartest minds from different parts of the world.

Another important facet of doing an MBA is that it provides an opportunity to evaluate an alternate career path. Of course, most people applying for an MBA dream of landing a top job in their preferred fields of Finance, Operations or Marketing − but what if the job market is lacking in better prospects? As someone studying business administration, I can say that the technical skills that you learn about managing businesses successfully can also provide you with a way to start your own business. The knowledge can give you deeper insights into defining the value of your product or service and enable you to work out a comprehensive business plan in order to take your solution to the market. Business schools across the world today offer their students incubators and a vast network of industry professionals in order to hone their entrepreneurship skills.

Part of studying for an MBA is being able to question the status quo and devise solutions to complex issues. The crisis will demand of business schools the fusion of prevailing knowledge with new intelligence. As new technologies emerge so will the new data points, helping us draw fresh insights into how to adapt the course offering of MBA programs to better suit the needs of the industry. It becomes imperative then, applying to take an MBA in current times will help you equip yourself better for the time when worldwide economies hit the recovery mode and employers will be looking to hire skilled people who can help them navigate the future.

Last but not least, an MBA can help boost your confidence in yourself many times over. It is not a hidden fact − the pandemic has taken a huge toll on our mental health. Being amidst high-calibre individuals with similar thoughts can help you make new friends and significantly boost your inner confidence in your own abilities as a team-player. Most MBA programs are designed in such a way as to help you learn how to manage multiple tasks by learning to prioritise and teaching you how to deal with tight timelines that follow one after the other. These traits help you develop a long-term perspective on getting a return-on-investment out of your course, because as you get higher up in your corporate journey, you need these skills more and more.

To conclude; sure, the pandemic has made us think about a lot of things, with so much uncertainty looming around us; if you’re wondering whether now is the right time to go for a business administration course, I would say that this is the perfect time to unlearn old notions, learn new things, rewire your thinking and upgrade your skillset with an MBA degree.

 

About the author
 Rakshit Behel

A results-oriented marketing communications professional helping brands achieve objectives with integrated marketing campaigns built around branded content. From creatively developing and implementing digital marketing and content strategies to measuring performance with analytics and providing insights into useful data, aligned to brands’ business goals; experience of working with clients from different industries: Hospitality, IT, Fintech, Media and Healthcare.

The right mindset in a changing global context

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on The right mindset in a changing global context

It’s already been four months since I started my experience as an MBA student at MIP. I am still struggling to find a new comfort zone while organizing my time daily to fulfil my tasks at work, while preparing both the individual and the group assignments necessary to pass the exams without forgetting to clean the flat, go to the supermarket, do some sport and finally, get some rest.

The International MBA I have chosen is a part-time program that lasts two years. I knew it would be challenging but I have to admit that it’s not easy to predict in advance how much effort is required to work and study at the same time. I constantly need to plan my activities days ahead, I set personal deadlines for assignments and online lessons, considering that one of my goals is also to keep the quality of the work I do for my job as high as possible.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 emergency is pushing companies and universities to be much more flexible while scheduling activities, considering and alternating both in-presence and from-home solutions. We’re using all the features that technology can offer, not only to live our new routine as best we can but unfortunately, also to keep our distance from people.

Actually, we should at least try to take some advantages from this emergency. In Italy, due to the non-stop changing of the restrictions imposed weekly by the government, companies are redesigning their businesses and employees’ tasks so as not to stop production, engineering works, sales or any other valuable function. There is an extremely low likelihood of a global pandemic breaking out and no company had made adequate  preparations for facing one. This is the real challenge, after all: being able to take advantage of adverse situations, especially when they affect the whole industry including direct competitors. Unexplored strategies can speed up responsiveness and make the difference now, far more than was the case in previous years.

I’ve grown up in a global context that has changed fast year by year but I have honestly never seen the cards being reshuffled so many times in such a short timespan. It’s time to sink or swim, to freeze in front of a disruptive event or to react fast to reduce its long-term impacts. I prefer seeing it as a forced training of being flexible to unpredictable events, when you are not only required to plan in advance, but also to prepare a plan B or even a plan C.

When I think of myself as I was before taking the decision to start an MBA, I would never have seen things as I am doing now. What I am experiencing at MIP is something different from what I did previously during my studies, it might depend on my personal maturity, on my work experience, or on challenges I have already learnt to deal with. But that’s not all.

Try to imagine you’re in class following a lecture on something about which you know little, only the information you’ve read online or in some book or other, and the professor asks the students for some considerations about a certain business case. Actually, you have your personal view of the problem and want to contribute, so you raise your hand and explain your thoughts. The professor listens, nods and then lets other students start a discussion about it. You find that even if your idea is fine, it can be enhanced by your classmates’ expertise and therefore you improve alongside them, while analysing case after case.

It’s so astonishing to understand that as a silo you can only be good, while as part of a team, you can seek excellence. Studying several essential topics should be only one part of the improvement path, in the end it’s more important to surround ourselves with reliable and skilled people from whom we can learn, share knowledge and points of view. In some way, when you choose to start an MBA, you’re automatically designating the university to shape a well-mixed team of students to guarantee this.

The unexpected adversities and the fast-changing environment can be properly handled by being agile and flexible, but this is not sufficient. Teamwork should also be enhanced to its maximum, starting from the operatives right up to management level.

Finally, while writing this article, I have realized that I should not be looking for a new comfort zone  ̶ rather, what I actually need is to keep myself trained to be resilient enough to face unexpected situations with fast and solid resolutions. Surely the combination of work, university and a global pandemic can be the right gym.

 

About the author
 Simone Moscato

Having graduated at Politecnico di Milano, Simone is now working as a civil engineer in an international EPC Company while attending the International MBA at MIP. An enthusiast for travelling and fighting sports, he’s always searching for new challenges. After years, he’s still struggling to learn how to play the guitar.

 

 

From the family business to MIP, and back: «This is how we innovate the transfusion sector»

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on From the family business to MIP, and back: «This is how we innovate the transfusion sector»

Barbara Sala, CEO at Delcon, talks about her educational and professional career, that led her to head the company founded by her father. «Our goal is to make the supply chain more efficient: using design and listening to those who work in the sector»

Innovating sometimes means changing your perspective. As did Delcon, the Italian company that produces medical equipment led by CEO Barbara Sala. A leap forward that might have been riskier, or that perhaps might not ever have happened, if the company did not have a purpose to guide its choices: «Above all by considering the sector in which we operate, which has a strong ethical value», explains Sala. «Having a noble objective allows us to risk something more to achieve it, adopting a long-term perspective».

Diversifying experiences: an added value  

Before coming to the helm of the company founded by her father, however, Barbara Sala travelled down different paths: after a degree in public relations, she explored marketing and technology, working with companies like Microsoft, Fujitsu-Siemens, Banca Intesa. And also by attempting the startup route, giving life to the AllUCanItaly tourism portal, which aimed to present Italy to tourists in its most authentic and genuine form. «Until, in 2011, I realized that the time had come to bring the value of all these experiences to Delcon. Over time, the diversity of my experiences after graduation proved to be an added value», says Sala. «Joining Delcon was an important professional and life choice, as well as an incentive to continue to train myself and thus to be able to meet the needs that my roles required».

An MIP education

Indeed, in 2014, Sala completed her EMBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano. «An experience that I would recommend to everyone.  I chose MIP for its engineering background and its attention to the issue of innovation», explains Sala. «But beyond the crucial educational aspect, I was also struck by the great networking opportunities. It was an experience that opened my mind, guaranteeing me empowerment and an important professional boost. Investing in education is the best choice that each of us can make, because the return is immense».

Design that is born out of use

Armed with new professional skills, and eager to innovate, Sala studied a diversification strategy for Delcon: «It wasn’t easy.  We operate in a highly regulated sector. All the machinery and technology used in blood collection must meet a series of stringent criteria. Until now, therefore, the production of these technologies always started from regulations». Delcon, at a certain point, decided to try a different strategy: «Together with Cefriel, a consortium company founded by the Politecnico that follows innovative companies, and with the New York Blood Center, we created the Milano scale. Instead of starting from regulations, we decided to interview those who personally use these tools.  What were their needs? Based on answers, we started to think about the design of the scale, so that it was not only perfectly compliant with regulations but also functional». The efficiency of the instrument and its ease of use, however, weren’t the only criteria that led to the creation of Milano: «We also worked to create an instrument with a less aseptic design compared to typical hospital products. We like to think that these products make the spaces dedicated to transfusions more welcoming».

Believing in a purpose

Delcon’s new approach also led to a small internal revolution, especially when it comes to hiring: «Our mission was to bring innovation to an industry that has always had difficulties in this area and to make the supply chain more efficient. And we understood that what makes the difference are those people who join our project with enthusiasm, with conviction. For this reason, we often hire candidates more for their attitude than for their CV. We look for courageous people, who like us care about the future of this sector, which is so delicate and important for everyone», concludes Sala.

Digital transformation and i-Flex, enable your business to deal with changes

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Digital transformation and i-Flex, enable your business to deal with changes

The entire world is changing. This has always been the case but in the last few decades the phenomenon has accelerated as never before. It was not so many years back that we witnessed first the industrial revolution and then an information technology revolution  ̶  now a new way of conceiving the world has arrived, from several point of view. It can be seen both in the goods we are using, and related technologies. Let’s think of smartphones, and how many things multipurpose devices have enabled in our lives. It can be seen in human interaction and relationships. Let’s think of social media and how they have turned our lives upside down. Let’s notice the sales services like e-commerce or sharing services like house-sharing, car-sharing, right up to the simple sharing of software/hardware instead of downloading/owning it.

The rules that worked until few a decades ago for industry leaders, the famous “too big to fail”, may no longer be valid nowadays, since incumbent industries can be destabilized or even devastated overnight by something better and cheaper. Bezos himself, founder and CEO of Amazon, said in 2018 to his employees, “I predict one day Amazon will fail”. He is aware that disruptive innovations are continuously happening. Every business knows that it’s mandatory for survival to adapt to environmental and economic changes. To compete with younger, fresher and lighter startups with their disruptive innovation it’s necessary to have the ability to surf the waves of the digital revolution and be able to handle digital transformation. Options could be either succumbing or getting the enormous benefit from it.

Hence, digital transformation is not only a trend of the moment, but is overwhelming businesses, and, in a kind of Darwinian evolution, selecting only those firms that are able to foresee the opportunities and threats. It embraces all the functions of the business. Everything can start precisely from the strategy of a business. Many new business models have been devised in this period by those who have the vision to see business opportunities which did not exist until the day before. It’s necessary to re-adapt the strategy processes in order to be able to recognize and welcome the changes. Or just to stop a startup hindering the work you have done until now.

But recognizing incoming change may not be enough. It’s necessary to be able to manage the change. The internal organizational structure may need to be updated in order to host more flexible processes or a simplified structure that can implement new strategies. Timing is important for business competition, being reactive is vital. A key aspect that has been introduced by digitalization is the ability to test and revert back. Digital technologies have a pivotal role in the implementation of BPM (business process management) principles.

Those changes will impact the business overall. Examples are multiple. Operations have been drastically reconceived. It’s being talked about Industry 4.0 and Agriculture 2.0. IoT systems entering firms. Digital innovations are becoming part of all production services, not only reducing costs (leading to adapting cost strategy) but mainly improving product quality (adding the differentiation and quality strategy) and enabling higher customer intimacy in the services provided. The market itself is being hit by new ways of being in contact with clients, attracting them and extracting analysis and trends from customers. Everything starts from customers and ends with customers. New branches and jobs are created in the omnichannel marketing area. Also neurosciences are fed with tons of data for their inferences. Data is an important asset in a business, maybe the most important. It makes it easier to perform internal management control or get external insights. Branches like Big Data, Deep Learning or Neural Network find their space in the new mechanisms, or create their own new ones.

Digitalization is also updating the ways of interacting with credit, or of getting funds. New forms of financial services are being introduced that allow differentiation in sourcing or investments. It’s changed the way to approach innovation as well. Depending on strategies, relaxing the confines of internal research and being open to new ideas from outside could be options that would make it possible to generate a significant impact in the differentiation and innovation of a company’s own products or processes.

Those I’ve just mentioned could be only a few suggestions about what digital transformation could mean for present and future businesses, and for society as a whole. It’s a wide argument that is impossible to cover in just a few paragraphs. And it’s in constant evolution, following its characteristics and prospects. Learning and being able to handle all the aspects and functions of a business is becoming crucial. The i-Flex MBA program offered by MIP Politecnico di Milano wants to raise attention with regard to evolving digital trends. It’s structured to place the traditional MBA topics alongside emerging tendencies, revisiting the offer with a view to digital transformation tools and instruments which enable new competences. All the subjects mentioned above, and many others, will be part of your journey, both in the i-Flex MBA program and, more importantly, in your future working life.

Digital is no longer a reason for competitive advantage, rather, it is a reason to succumb if you have not adopted it in the right way.

 

 

About the author
 Vito Conversano

Chief Information Officer @ San Marzano Vini SpA with extensive international experience in IT & strategic consultancy for fortune 500 companies. Creative, Curious, Travel lover. Passionate about discovering new concepts, learning continuously and developing new ideas.

 

Innovation: the key pillar for future managers

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on Innovation: the key pillar for future managers

A year has now passed since I introduced myself with my first article for the Polimi School of Management community. Back then, I had only high hopes for the path I was about to undertake. Today, as a result of the new knowledge and skills that I have acquired, I have many more convictions. One of the main focuses of MIP’s MBA Programs is innovation, which is covered in many courses, such as the last one I attended: Innovation Strategy, held by Dean Federico Frattini, Prof. Josip Kotlar and Prof. Reinhard Prügl.But first, what is innovation?

In the current economic and social context, innovation is one of the main development drivers and a determining factor for business success. It is talked about a lot, but all too often without its true meaning being known. My favorite definition of innovation is that of the Hungarian biochemist, Albert Szent-Györgyi:

“Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.”

One of the most interesting aspects is that this “innovation awareness” no longer belongs only to large companies: in fact, we are witnessing a process of a progressive “democratization of innovation”, also driven by the most recent paradigms, such as Open Innovation, which are multiplying the opportunities to innovate, even in smaller companies. This is, above all, thanks to the lower cost of access to innovative solutions, ideas and skills, a privilege historically reserved for large multinationals.

This is the historic moment when every company should ask itself: “Am I doing things right?” And to achieve this awareness, one cannot only look inside, but also (and above all) to the continuously developing economic and social context that surrounds us.

As the famous inventor, Charles Franklin Kettering, once said: “If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong.” And this is absolutely true! If the world around us changes, we, too, must change accordingly. And if we haven’t done it yet, we are probably already lagging behind.

Successfully innovating, however, is not always easy. There are some enabling factors that can help achieve the desired goal.

The first of these is having good vision, or the ability of the top management to steer their company effectively towards the chosen goal.

Another important key factor is the culture of failure. While it is essential to have clear methods to avoid the commitment of resources in favor of initiatives that will not be successful, it is equally essential to activate mechanisms for capturing knowledge and learning from cases of company failure.

Finally, the last fundamental factor is to have a well-defined strategy, focused on specific objectives. Frenzy and instinctive decisions can be very dangerous. For example, introducing a very powerful technology, but one which you do not know what to do with, or do not have the skills to manage, can have a negative impact on the performance of an organization.

In this regard, from what emerges from a recent study conducted by PwC, 54% of the managers interviewed argue that within innovative companies there is a struggle to bridge the gap between business strategy and innovation strategy. Both strategies must move in the same direction. Even better, they should be two sides of a single model geared towards achieving economic results over time. And this is even more achievable through the concept of Open Innovation, theorized by the US economist, Henry Chesbrough, in the essay “The era of open innovation”.    According to Chesbrough, “Companies can and must make use of external ideas, as well as internal ones, and access markets internally and externally if they want to progress in their technological skills”. Adopting an open approach, therefore, means innovating by leveraging one’s talents within the organization, but also involving various actors outside the company boundaries.

The result? A much more democratic and much more widespread access to new technologies.

Now, the last question which could come to your mind is: “Ok, in the MIP classes you talk a lot about innovation. Do you really put it into practice, though?”

The answer is yes, if you’re willing to. MIP offers you access to research articles, events and webinars about innovation. Most of all, however, it provides all the alumni with the chance to be supported in the creation and development of deep tech startups, providing services for acceleration, access to funding, mentorship, and advice, thanks to the strong connection to PoliHub, the Innovation Park & Startup Accelerator of the Politecnico di Milano. So what we learn is not just the concept of innovation, but how to make it real. And that’s important, because, quoting Goethe:

“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”

 

About the author
 Marco Di Salvio

Student of the International Part Time MBA at MIP Politecnico di Milano.
Industrial Engineer currently working @ Gucci as WW Supply & Demand Planner, based in Florence.
Tech passionate, Cinema-lover, Sports addicted.
Solving the world’s problems one spreadsheet at a time.

 

«Thanks to the Full-Time MBA I learned to enhance the family business»

Posted on | by Angela Leone | Leave a Comment on «Thanks to the Full-Time MBA I learned to enhance the family business»

Fabio Borgia, a Full-Time MBA student, has a leading role in the Le Rogaie farm, managed together with his parents and siblings. The history of an innovative project that, through social media, tells the story of a group that is attentive to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Innovating in a sector that is considered to be among the most traditional is possible. That is shown by Le Rogaie, a family-run farm in the Tuscan Maremma, which during the first lockdown deciding to talk about its activities online. The family business is managed by the Borgia family: two parents and five children. Among these is Fabio Borgia, currently enrolled in the Full-Time MBA programme at MIP Politecnico di Milano. An engineer by training, specialised in the energy sector, he talks to us about the reasons that led Le Rogaie online: «We took our inspiration from some foreign farmers, who thanks to social media had the opportunity to talk about their activities in a transparent fashion and without stereotypes. And we also decided to try».

The farm goes online

So, Le Rogaie landed on YouTube, on Facebook, on Instagram. The views and registrations in its social channels are growing, as is the interest of users: «I believe the success comes from the mix of tradition, passion, familiarity and innovative spirit. We are real, we show ourselves for what we are, and our initiative is already attracting users from outside of Italy.  The face of the initiative is my brother Edoardo, who in the videos talks about the activities of our company with language that is technical but also informative», explains Borgia.  The contents created, which have an educational objective, and the company’s opening to research have also drawn the interest of the academic and scientific world: «The European and Italian space agencies, together with the research institute CNR and different European universities, collaborate with Le Rogaie carrying out advanced studies on chlorophyll photosynthesis, as well as taking measurements useful for the calibration of satellites». Returning “to earth”, instead, it is worth mentioning that initiative that allowed students of agricultural faculties to virtually visit the company, thus bypassing the restrictions caused by the pandemic: «Thanks to our initiative, those visits now take place online. But we would like to give everyone the opportunity to live a real experience on the farm». In fact, the social media pages are aimed at the widest possible audience. «Le Rogaie mainly produces milk. The growing attention paid to the issue of breeding, and to zootechnical issues in general, deserves in-depth information that talks about this in an honest way, also stressing an element that is central for us like sustainability».

Social, economic, environmental sustainability

«It’s a theme that has always been important for us, and that we see from three points of view», explains Fabio Borgia. «The first is that of social sustainability.  Our first commitment is to involve the local community, to be present, open to the outside world. Then comes economic sustainability, which perhaps is the biggest challenge: we have an advantage, from this point of view, from having preserved the dimensions of a family business. Each of us leverages off specific skills to reinforce the fundamentals of the company. Specifically, I follow the development of online activities and handle establishing new contacts. Last, but not in terms of importance, there’s environmental sustainability». A theme that, in the case of Le Rogaie, is strictly tied to an aptitude for innovation: a family tradition, seeing that, as Borgia tells us, his father Giulio has never shied away from experiments, whether of a social or technical nature. «In 2008 we invested in a biogas plant that closes the CO2 cycle and produces 250 Kilowatts of electricity per hour that is now sold entirely to Enel. Our goal, ambitious but possible, is to transform Le Rogaie to become carbon negative. We want to convey the message that agriculture isn’t the exploitation of nature, on the contrary: human intervention improves nature itself», says Borgia.

At MIP for an entrepreneurial mindset

Fabio Borgia is currently enrolled in the full time MBA programme at MIP and is preparing to immerse himself in bootcamps ahead of the summer internship. «I am an engineer, but I am gradually becoming interested in governance issues. In general, I find that the whole course has been done well and is well-structured. I decided to enrol in this MBA programme because I find the technological tradition of Politecnico di Milano to be winning. For me it was an investment motivated by curriculum needs and the desire to gain access to a type of training that can offer countless opportunities, also thanks to the strong tie between MIP and companies. In fact, I have already had several interviews. Then there’s also PoliHub, the MIP incubator. Thanks to this MBA I am developing an entrepreneurship mindset, able to stimulate reflection and innovative ideas. Ideas that, of course, will also make a strong contribution to Le Rogaie», concludes Borgia.