I was born in Sicily, raised in Calabria, educated in Milan, fell in love with Romania, sharpened my thinking in the US, remain fascinated by China, and often work with a distinctly German approach.
Yes, you can absolutely call me complicated. I’d rather build at the intersection of cultures than think like someone who’s never scrolled past their own feed.
My working assumption: the world doesn’t reward those who talk well. It rewards those who execute better.
What I love about Americans is how they sell you the vision when all they have is a rough draft. What I love about Germans is how they optimise things that already work.
The Chinese think in decades while we argue about weekly trends. Eastern Europe still carries a hunger that much of the West quietly surrendered years ago.
And then there’s Italy. A country overflowing with talent, yet so terrified of ambition that it treats it as a character flaw.
Say you want to dominate a market here, and you’re arrogant. In the US, they ask “how fast?” In China, they push back with “globally, right?”
The gap isn’t economic. It’s mental. And plenty of people mistake caution for wisdom, then spend their careers wading contentedly in mediocrity.
Not me. I’d rather be considered too uncomfortable to deal with than live small enough to reassure everyone in the room.