A few days ago I gave a lift from a seaside resort to a very young boy headed to Bocconi University in Milan.
For two hours we talked about various topics and, I admit, conversing with a brilliant young man was a lot of fun.
I had a meeting at 3.00 pm and he lectures at Bocconi at 2.30 pm. Despite my hyper-cautious driving, given my respective commitments, I pressed on the accelerator as it hadn’t happened in years to ensure that my passenger arrived on time for class.
While I was driving Giorgio (invented name) read the latest Time news in English on the iPad and we commented on them together.
Why did I glimpse in Giorgio (and I put my hand on the fire) the gifts of an out of class?
Here’s what I noticed:
Giorgio embodies an explosive and enveloping mix of: cultured and refined thinking, fluency and self-confidence, a significant dose of aplomb and education and, last but not least, a genuine and seductive form of humility.
That’s right: humility.
Never a hint of arrogance, or the snooty attitude of a rich and spoiled Bocconian boy. Never (during the two-hour journey) the use of vulgar and inappropriate language. Never a smudge in interacting with a woman adult. Far from it.
He tells me, although he comes from a very wealthy family, that he has 4 jobs!?!
They widen their eyes and I am told in the smallest details of these 4 jobs, yes 4 “jobs” at 18!
Let’s see them together and here’s what they show:
1) work as a babysitter (Let’s face it: how many boys babysitters do you know or have you known in your life?)
2) work as a PR in the disco
3) organizes and sells the tables in the disco in the private area
4) he started a company with a friend of his that produces T-shirts with particular prints
With eyes that sparkle and scream passion, he enthuses that with the money he managed to earn with these “4 jobs”, he paid for his holidays first in Mykonos, and then in Sardinia.
It should be noted that his family is more than wealthy. He is impeccably dressed and wears a magnificent Oyster Perpetual Submariner on his wrist. The satisfaction he expresses in telling (and in reconfirming to himself) of his ability to produce money and be autonomous, without having to weigh on the budget of the large family (there are 7 plus the dog), exudes from the whole body and, listening to him, does not I can not share and congratulate him!
The joy he communicates already puts him on the podium of those who have what it takes to be an entrepreneur, or who in any case have the energy and energy to project themselves onto professional levels in order to exercise their skills as a natural leader.
I ask him when he started Bocconi and I ask him other usual questions about how he found a home, who he lives with, how he lives and how he organized himself in Milan.
Bocconi started it on 29 August and at the end of September it has the first partial exam of I don’t remember which subject.
A friend of her mother’s found the house in a semi-central area of Milan, well attended and not far from the University.
In Milan he moved alone and in full autonomy.
Parents have been careful not to be “helicopter parents”, in other words those suffocating and over-protective parents who pave the way for their children by depriving them of the possibility of making mistakes and learning.
Chapeau to them! I want to know them.
Having a steady housekeeper in her family, she tells me that she washed the dishes for the first time in late August. I couldn’t stop laughing … But still hats off to the parents who gave him the opportunity to learn to get by on his own.
The washing machine has not yet learned how to use it and does not know which clothes are clean and which are not. It seems they are all mixed up, so he thought of writing a sheet, like the check sheet for the bathrooms in public facilities, with the aim of indicating the day of washing the clothes in order to be aware and remember when he did the washing! Brilliant and creative.
He tells me that the parents are lawyers and have various positions in the Board of Directors, NGO organizations, etc. He chose to study economics “on purpose” to have different challenges and to achieve his goals. Knowing what you want to achieve at 18 is a great starting point and a real gift.
He already knows what job he wants to do and how to get there. She obviously chose to study in English and half of her class comes from all over the world. The network international already knows that it will be his human capital portfolio, as well as all the potential relationships he will develop at Bocconi.
I was struck by this young 18 year old boy who does 4 jobs, and in the car he reads to me in English aloud, while I drive, the latest Time news!
Unfortunately, my thoughts fell on other young people: NEETs. Young people who do not study, do not work and who do not look for work at all! From my personal point of view, this is a real social drama that confronts us with a serious cultural problem that we hear very little about.
We hear numbers, statistics, percentages, but I notice few targeted actions aimed at stimulating young people to study and / or work. Certainly addiction to social networks is a deterrent (but this is a chapter that should be addressed in a different space).
Giorgio is a university student and at the same time already involved and immersed in the world of work. He is passionate, vigorous and tireless. In addition to being very nice
At 18 it is not at all obvious in our Italian social context!
I think of many parents who say “your job is studying” !! As if the two could not go hand in hand.
This situation is normal in the United States and allows young people to pay for their studies by working in bars or restaurants as waiters where tips help a lot. This attitude favors entry – often difficult – into the world of work and to understand its complex dynamics more easily and quickly.
And the adults? What role do adults, parents play?
All of us: what do we do to facilitate and guide boys and girls so that they can develop entrepreneurial skills, without necessarily becoming entrepreneurs, but keeping their spirit by nurturing grit, determination and tenacity?
We adults have the responsibility to educate children by example. Leading by example is a MUST.
I find it essential that children from an early age learn the value of money and the commitment it takes to generate it. Money is a functional tool that allows us to buy a house, pay the mortgage, pay the children’s studies, go on vacation, go to dinner, think about health, etc. Nobody works for money, money is simply a useful means to guarantee our maximum well-being. It is advisable to avoid confusion. Certainly in the hierarchy of values it is necessary to be in the top 5 but it is not the lever that makes us get up in the morning to go to work and that gives us meaning. There are many other values that give us meaning: each of us has our own.
In the future, we know, there will be fewer and fewer permanent posts, and more and more fluidity will be created in the professions. Denying it to yourself and your children is risky as well as very dangerous.
It is good for adults to transfer to their children security, confidence in their abilities that they have, or that they can build step by step. It is also useful to transfer to them the deep sense of duty and responsibility towards work, commitment and discipline.
Have you ever wondered what kind of example you are setting for your children?
To your students? If you are Professors
To your resources? If you are a CEO
To younger colleagues?
These reflections are for Giorgio, for all boys like him but even more so for those who seek external stimuli to take concrete action towards the Future that is being built today in the Present.
Kids, the energy is within you: it is you who stimulate, challenge and amaze adults!
You are the Future and it is from you that the sacred fire must be released with passion, courage and great trust in yourself!
Thanks to Giorgio (the name is invented to protect his privacy).