On Friday, January 21, 2022, a new appointment was held as part of the “1 hour of … with …” initiative, the webinar cycle organized by Bruschi for all employees and recently extended to stakeholders and former employees, which aims to provide food for thought on socio-economic issues or related to the concept of “doing business.”
The guest of the day was Professor Daniele Manni, professor of computer science at the Galilei Costa technical and economic institute in Lecce: the first Italian professor to have won the Global Teacher Award. He was included among the 50 best teachers in the world and awarded for his teachings that go beyond school programs. In addition to computer science, he deals with self-employment, encouraging every young man to be an entrepreneur of himself.
1 hour of… with… Daniele Manni
The meeting topics were related to the acquisition of an entrepreneurial mentality, the possibility of bringing out transversal skills useful for oneself and the company, and the ability to introduce news and ideas within the company context.
Professor Manni told his personal story, made up of successes and failures: before becoming a teacher, he managed to create together with other partners four different Startups in the South, two of which have failed, while the other two are currently very prosperous. To define himself, prof. Manni prefers to use the term “intrapreneur“: a person who takes the responsibility of transforming an idea into action.
Teaching computer science in a high school, Prof. Manni set himself the goal of changing the way students are trained, alternating the ministerial study plan with issues related to entrepreneurship to help children face reality with a more proactive spirit. Through this method, prof. Manni noted how his students are able to develop various soft skills, such as having a problem solver mentality, working in a team, and becoming leaders. Other features that prof. Manni tries to develop in his students are resilience, the ability to adapt to changes, and the management of failures and errors, aspects that the traditional school does not always teach. Getting children used to not considering failures as boulders, replacing the word “failure” with the more delicate one of “unsuccessful attempt” gives the exact perception of the formative value of the error, which helps to improve, to have the security and confidence of himself and his abilities.
In the world of work, it is essential to have people who have an entrepreneurial mentality, who want to get involved, experiment, and introduce news and changes. Professor Manni suggests inventing new operating modes by changing the “game plan” to progress and new results. Obviously, not everyone can and must become an entrepreneur, but applying this “entrepreneurial spirit” to their workplace creates benefits both for the company and the person who takes on a more participatory and leading role. Therefore, it is crucial to abandon the passive and spectator attitude in favor of greater proactivity.
In conclusion
The message that prof. Manni left us in this webinar is to be able to create a change in how we observe reality, encouraging us to take our life in hand and grow both personally and professionally. Having the courage and the ability to introduce a new and original point of view is the key to improving our working and personal life, making us become protagonists of change!
