In this interview, Andrea Pontremoli -- former CEO of IBM Italy and now leading Dallara -- shares his vision of corporate competitiveness, which can be summed up in three key words: values, curiosity and innovation. Drawing on his experience between the tech and motorsport worlds, Pontremoli emphasizes how a business should not be run solely with a view to short-term profit, but by building solid relationships, investing in people and cultivating a culture of continuous learning. A call to rethink the way companies deal with change, every day.
When you ask Andrea Pontremoli to sum up competitiveness in three words, the answer comes dry, essential, without hesitation: values, curiosity, innovation.
A manifesto, rather than a definition. The fruit of an intense and coherent career: from the top management of IBM Italy to the leadership of Dallara, a symbol of mechanical excellence and Italian motorsport, with one foot in precision engineering and the other firmly in education, in the territory, in social enterprise.
A privileged vantage point, which also becomes an invitation to rethink the way we build competitiveness, every day.
You don't run a business to maximize profit in the quarter, but to build a future. Even when it costs money, even when it doesn't pay off right away.
Pontremoli starts from here, from a vision that restores humanity and responsibility to doing business. A business, according to him, is not just a set of numbers: it is a system of relationships, an evolving community. And it should be treated like raising a child: with care, consistency, patience.
Don't ask yourself what technology to use. Ask yourself first what you want to do.
Another cornerstone of his vision: Technology is not an end, but a means. And true digital transformation never starts from the fad of the latest software solution, but from a real problem, a concrete purpose, a need that makes sense to people.
Only then - and only with that awareness - does it make sense to talk about tools.
In Dallara we use technology to make mistakes as much, as fast and as cheaply as possible.
Mistake, in this perspective, is not a failure but a necessary condition for learning and innovating. The real problem is not getting it wrong, but not learning anything from what you got wrong.
Innovating means taking risks. But it also means doing it methodically, humbly, and with the freedom to test -- and correct -- without fear.
Trust, in business, is not goodism. It is a strategic asset. It is what makes it possible to distribute decisions, empower people, make them grow.
No system is more efficient than a person who is motivated and free to act competently.
Finally, the most subtle, but most decisive theme: meaning. Because businesses do not last if they do not have a purpose beyond profit.
In Dallara we asked ourselves: what are the values we want to carry forward for the next fifty years? We answered with three words: humility, loyalty, curiosity.
On these values is based the way we relate, design, and innovate. On these is built the corporate culture. And, after all, that's how you build competitiveness as well. And perhaps, going back to those three opening words - values, curiosity, innovation - we can read them like this: values as compass, curiosity as fuel, innovation as direction.
Pontremoli showed us how much values, sense, and the ability to make mistakes count in order to truly innovate. But what does it mean, in practice, to position oneself distinctively in today's global marketplace?
To answer that, let's take a closer look at those who have already taken this path successfully: the hidden champions. Companies that have managed to combine strong>strong roots and global ambitions, becoming a concrete model for Italian companies as well.
The interview is taken from the book “25 Years of Lean Thinking the Italian Way”.
Long-term competitiveness is built not only with market strategies, but also with a solid organizational culture. Clear values, the ability to innovate, and trust in people are the levers that enable a company to stand out over time and withstand changes in the competitive environment.
Error, if handled methodically, is a valuable resource for innovation. Quickly testing, gathering feedback and course correcting enables companies to learn faster than competitors, reducing the costs of uncertainty and accelerating the development of effective solutions.
Values define how an organization makes decisions, manages relationships, and addresses challenges. Firms with a consistent values culture attract talent, retain customers, and build a distinctive reputation - elements that no competitor can easily replicate.
Distinctive positioning is the ability of a company to occupy a unique space in the customer's mind, differentiating itself not only by product or price, but also by identity, values and overall value proposition. It is the foundation on which excellent companies - such as the so-called hidden champions - build their international leadership.
ai translated