Archivi delle categorie:Personal Development

5 Myths about Entrepreneurs and Business People

I think that I am going to say something obvious now: being an entrepreneur or a business person is not easy. However, their personal and interpersonal characteristics and skills are not obvious. Some seem unrealistic and they are like myths. Here are five of them.

1.  Entrepreneurs love risk. There is nothing more false than that. Apart from some people, such as those, for example, who do extreme sports, entrepreneurs and business people prefer trying to control risks, like most of us. They analyse potential risks and draft a management plan for each category of risk they identify.

2. Entrepreneurs and business people are visionaries. Actually, they test their ideas day after day. Entrepreneurs and business people are very flexible people with a great spirit of adaptation. Their idea can also change dramatically because of the market needs.

3. Entrepreneurs and business people know how to make predictions. I think entrepreneurs and business people trust more what they do. Any prediction they can make is destined to clash with the reality that changes more and more quickly. Entrepreneurs and business people learn to trust their own intuition.

4. Entrepreneurs and business people are not like us. Well, yes, they are like us, they were not born entrepreneurs or business man/woman, but they have became one. Like all things, you can learn the art or science, as you prefer, of entrepreneurship. What is important is the business idea to be developed, the rarer or more unusual, the better. It is not even important to know how to draft a business plan. You could learn it in business schools or even download it from the Internet. The business plan may be useful to guide you through the business process and if you want to ask for financing or sponsorship. Entrepreneurs and business people try daily on the ground their business model and they learn from the market, from their customers and potential customers.

5. Entrepreneurs are successful on their own. This is also false: entrepreneurs and business people shall be able to count on a team and work with them. Nowadays it is unthinkable to be able to do everything by yourself. The things to do are thousands and sometimes complex, you need to work with many people with different competencies and skills, and that can easily work with each other.

Do you think you have any business skills? Let me know!

5 miti da sfatare sugli imprenditori.

Penso di dire una cosa scontata affermando che fare l’imprenditore non è una cosa semplice. Quello che non è scontato invece sono le caratteristiche personali che vengono attribuite agli imprenditori, che hanno l’aria di veri e propri miti. Eccone qui cinque.

1. Gli imprenditori amano il rischio. Non c’è niente di più falso. A parte alcune persone, come, per esempio, quelli che fanno sport estremi, gli imprenditori sono persone che il rischio cercano di controllarlo, come la maggior parte di tutti noi. Quello che fanno è analizzare il rischio potenziale e prevedere un piano di intervento per ciascuna categoria di rischio individuata.


2. Gli imprenditori sono dei visionari. In realtà gli imprenditori testano la loro idea giorno dopo giorno. Gli imprenditori sono persone molto flessibili con un grande spirito di adattamento, questo sì. La loro idea può cambiare anche radicalmente in base alle esigenze del mercato.


3. Gli imprenditori sanno fare delle previsioni. Penso che gli imprenditori si fidino di più di quello che fanno. Qualsiasi previsione si possa fare è destinata a scontrarsi con la realtà che cambia sempre più in fretta. Gli imprenditori imparano a fidarsi della loro intuizione.


4. Gli imprenditori non sono come noi. In realtà sì, gli imprenditori sono come noi, non si nasce imprenditori, lo si diventa. Come tutte le cose, anche l’imprenditoria si può apprendere. Quello che è importante è l’idea di business da sviluppare, più rara o strana è, meglio è. Non è nemmeno importante saper fare un business plan (che comunque viene insegnato nelle business schools o che, più semplicemente, si può scaricare da Internet), che serve principalmente per chiedere finanziamenti o sponsorizzazioni. Gli imprenditori sperimentano tutti i giorni il loro modello di impresa e imparano dal mercato, dai loro clienti e dai loro potenziali clienti.


5. Gli imprenditori hanno successo da soli. Falso anche questo: gli imprenditori devono poter contare su una squadra. Oggi come oggi è impensabile poter fare tutto da soli. Le cose da fare sono mille e tante volte sono pure complesse. Perciò, bisogna poter contare su tante persone dalle competenze diverse e che siano integrabili facilmente tra di loro.

Tu come sei? Ti senti un po’ imprenditore? Fammelo sapere!

The Process of Decision Making

It may be difficult to take a decision, both private and business related. There are many options that you need to take into account.

First, you start with the assessment of your purpose, by asking yourself: is it worth? Does it serve your dream? Or vision, if it is business related?

To get a clearer dream or vision, you can use the five whys technique that will connect you with your highest purpose and then you will be able to act accordingly in your everyday life. 

The five whys technique works like this: take something that it is hard for you to decide. I take as example going to the gym. We all know that going to the gym regularly is healthy, but often it is easier going out for a drink, or sitting on your couch.

The first question would be: Why should I need to go to the gym? The answer might be because I will feel healthier.

Second question: Why feeling healthier is important to me? Because, I will get more energy.

Third question: Why having more energy is important to me?  Because I can do more things and I can do them better.

Fourth question: Why would I need to do more and better things? Because I will achieve faster important results.

Fifth question: Why is it important achieving results faster? Because I will approach faster to my ultimate goal.

Now that your decisive goal is clear, you can ask yourself: What will happen if I do not take that decision? What impact will it have on my life, if I decide to go that way? What is holding me back? Do I have the personal competencies to take that decision? Can I make a risks and benefits analysis? Do I have the financial resources? 

Decision-making involves a range of personal talents from creativity to intuition, enthusiasm and courage, determination and persistence. You do not need to have them all; you can always ask me to help you out! 

Are You Ready for the Job of the Future?

Nowadays, we see that a lot of jobs no longer exist in the market, or they are about to disappear. If they will not disappear, they will change tremendously.

In the future, there will be more people that are self-employed then employees. Flexibility and life-long training will be more and more needed as it will be necessary to switch from a competence to another one, depending on the project or job.

Besides your own professional network, you will need to develop a professional identity. The more it will be clear and coherent, the more your competencies will be noted.

To build a professional branding, you need to act on two levels:

  1. Professional: knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA);
  2. Personal: values, purpose of life, engagement, without speaking about your private life unless it has implications on your job or project.

Whether you are an employee or a self-employed, the future belongs to those who train themselves not only with the new technologies, but also strengthening their own abilities to act in diverse and complex situations.

By participating in training courses, managing a new project, starting a new job you may learn new KSA. Try to anticipate trends or find a niche to develop. 

Working with the uncertainty of the future (temporary contracts, fixed-term contracts, and self-employment) will mean not only knowing how to manage your own finance between one salary and another, but also a certain inner anxiety caused by your vision of the future, your personal identity and the reflection on your values. You will therefore need to develop your intuition, learn or improve project management and quickly direct your experiences, transforming them into added value for others.

In summary, to be able to work in the future you need to learn regularly and to develop great resilience, so that you will be able to influence your environment, the organisation you will be working for and even the society, through the development of:

1. a strong professional identity;

2. appropriate meaning and values;

3. continuing training.

You don’t know where to start from? Send me an email and we will look at it together!

Hai le competenze giuste per il lavoro del futuro?

Ai giorni nostri constatiamo che tanti lavori sono scomparsi o stanno scomparendo. Quelli che non stanno scomparendo, subiranno delle trasformazioni importanti. Come prepararsi?

In futuro ci saranno più lavoratori autonomi che dipendenti. La flessibilità e la formazione continua saranno necessari perché ci sarà bisogno di passare da una competenza all’altra in funzione del bisogno del lavoro o del progetto del momento.

Oltre al proprio network professionale sarà necessario sviluppare la propria identità professionale. Più questa sarà chiara e coerente, più le tue competenze risalteranno e più possibilità avrai di essere notato/a.

Per poter costruire la tua identità professionale devi agire nei social media mettendo in evidenza due aspetti:

1.       Professionale: esperienza, conoscenze, idee;

2.       Personale: valori, impegno, filosofia di vita, senza parlare della tua vita privata a meno che non abbia delle implicazioni nel lavoro / progetto.

Che si tratti di lavoro dipendente o di lavoro autonomo, il futuro appartiene a coloro che si formano in continuazione non solo nel campo legato alle nuove tecnologie, ma anche per rafforzare le proprie capacità d’intervento in situazioni diversificate e più o meno complesse.

Le competenze si possono acquisire non solo partecipando a corsi di formazione ma anche con la gestione di progetti nuovi, o iniziando nuove esperienze lavorative. Cerca di anticipare le tendenze e di crearti una nicchia esclusiva. 

Lavorare nell’incertezza del futuro (contratti interinali, a tempo determinato, lavoro autonomo) significherà non solo saper gestire le proprie finanze tra uno stipendio e l’altro, ma anche una certa inquietudine interiore, causata dalla tua visione del futuro, la tua identità personale e dalla riflessione sui tuoi valori. Dovrai quindi sviluppare la tua intuizione, apprendere sempre meglio la gestione dei progetti e ad indirizzare velocemente le tue esperienze trasformandole in valore aggiunto per gli altri.

In sintesi, la possibilità di lavorare in futuro sarà basata sulla tua volontà di apprendere e di sviluppare una grande resilienza, per poter influenzare il tuo ambiente, l’organizzazione per la quale lavori e persino la società tramite lo sviluppo di:

  1. una forte identità professionale;
  2. senso e valori adeguati;
  3. formazione continua.

Non sai da dove iniziare? Scrivimi e cercheremo un percorso insieme!

Lessons Learned from Cats

Most likely you are asking yourself: “What can I learn from cats’. Well, if you have ever lived with a cat, you know that those fury pets that sometimes stare at us have a lot to teach.

They are quiet and discrete animals but they know a little secret that helps them surviving and that made them earn the reputation of having 7 lives.

As you may know, cats walk also for high and narrow passages, jumps from one place to another, as an acrobat would do.

When those behaviors are part of your life, on of your main problem will be falling down.

Knowing that falling down would be a big problem in their life, cats have developed a skill that let them fall safely, regardless from the way they fall.

By falling, they send their back paws to the side so that the front ones will rotate on the opposite side and will touch the ground first.

So, no matter the way they fall because their front paws will touch the ground first and not their back or their head.

Cats have solved a problem by making it irrelevant.

They have made falling irrelevant by accepting that it is part of their life and therefore they don’t care about why and how it happens.

They accepted that falling is something that happens if you walk in weird places or jump all the time. The only thing they do is focusing in making sure that their front paws touch the floor first.

Which lesson can we learn?

Setbacks may occur but in any case, you shall always focus on your goals and your wishes, without dwelling on the obstacles: you will fall on your feet each time.

Life offers you what you need at that moment, even if it doesn’t seem to you. An Italian song by Fiorella Mannoia says:”…Life is perfect also when it seems absurd and complex. It seems inconsistent and stubborn, but when you fall life waits for you…”

This is what successful people do. They fall and get up, without making drama. They jump and walk on high and narrow paths as cats do, but they consider irrelevant if they fall.

So, what is the lesson?

Learn to fall and you will be able to get up without being hurt.

It is all about changing your mentality and believing in your abilities. Over time, you will see that this mentality will prove to be effective because you will be able to make obstacles irrelevant and you will always fall on your feet.

It might seem difficult, but this is the biggest secret of successful people.

Problems vs. Opportunities

What is a problem? A problem can be defined as a matter or a situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and finally overcome. 

A problem for someone, is an opportunity for someone else. Every problem has an opportunity in it, and every opportunity has a problem in it. Isn’t opportunities and problems the same thing only with a perceptive change? Doesn’t it come down to how we view the situation? It could be a problem or it could be an opportunity. A problem may be an opportunity waiting to happen. Some problems may be essential to finding opportunities, as they show us that something is not working as it should.

It is how you address a problem that can generate an opportunity: An undesirable event is just what it is, an undesirable event. The difference is how you approach it, in a positive or negative way.

The more time you dedicate to analyse the situation, the more likely you are to find more opportunities than problems. Some problems are huge and the potential for opportunities may seem limited. But if you don’t look for opportunities, you are unlikely to find them. 

Seeing something as a problem or an opportunity is definitely about personal perception. And you can always learn something from a problem by transforming it into an opportunity.

Problemi e opportunità

Cos’è un problema? Un problema può essere definito come una situazione ritenuta spiacevole, non gradita o addirittura dannosa che deve essere superata.

Va anche detto che quello che è un problema per alcuni può essere un’opportunità per altri. Sono due facce della stessa medaglia: il problema contiene un’opportunità e l’opportunità contiene un problema. È una questione di percezione relativa a come guardiamo la situazione che si presenta. Si potrebbe anche dire che un problema è un’opportunità che sta per arrivare. Tutto dipende dalla tua attitudine. Alcune problemi potrebbero essere essenziali nella nostra vita per trovare nuove opportunità. Un problema a volte ci porta verso delle opportunità perché ci sta mostrando che qualcosa non va.

È solo come approcci il problema che fa generare delle opportunità. Un evento indesiderato resta ovviamente un evento indesiderato. Quello che succede dopo è il risultato del tuo approccio, che può essere negativo o positivo.

Più tempo dedichi all’analisi della situazione difficile, più probabilità hai di trovare opportunità. Certo, molti problemi ti sembrano enormi e non credi possibile trovare delle opportunità in essi. Ma è anche certo che se non le cerchi, le opportunità, non le troverai mai! Vedere un problema o un’opportunità dipende sicuramente dalla tua percezione personale: tutti i problemi sono opportunità ma non tutte le opportunità sono problemi.

Da ogni problema (situazione indesiderata) puoi sempre imparare una lezione di vita.