This text is drawn from 25 years of Lean Thinking in the Italian style by Michele Bonfiglioli. The extract offers Marta Bertolaso"s perspective — a philosopher of science and professor at the Campus Biomedico in Rome — on enterprise, meaning, complexity, and relationships as fundamental levers for reading change in contemporary organizations.
During the interview, Bertolaso addresses some of the most pressing issues for those who lead people and companies today: the profound meaning of doing business, the transformation of leadership in the post-pandemic era, the relationship between technology and human judgment, and the strategic value of authentic relationships. A vision emerges that does not simplify but rather guides, and that proposes a paradigm shift: from governance of complexity to true governance in complexity, where acting with prudence, presence, and vision becomes the key competence of the leader of the future.
In a time when the market demands speed and simplicity, Marta Bertolaso responds with three words that seem to go in the opposite direction: cooperation, generativity, integration.
A philosopher of science and professor at the Campus Biomedico in Rome, she moves with ease between the complex systems of biology and those – no less intricate – of human organizations.
”There is nothing more practical than good philosophy," he says, with that serene clarity that comes from years of study and practical experience in the field.
Because today, more than ever, thinking is action.
Doing business, explains Bertolaso, is not just a matter of economics. It is a question of meaning. It means knowing how to interpret territories, needs, opportunities, and to generate something new.
In this sense, philosophical thinking is not an abstract luxury, but a vital tool for those who lead companies, govern systems, or simply want to navigate a world in transformation.
We live in an era where technology promises certain, quick, measurable answers. But that’s exactly where projects often fail: when we forget that data is not neutral, that decisions require judgment, and that the human being is not an algorithm.
The real risk, he warns, is not the technology itself. It is that man abdicates his own decision-making role. That he delegates to machines the ability to understand himself and the world.
One of the major post-pandemic changes, according to Prof. Bertolaso, concerns the way we understand leadership.
After the pandemic, many leaders realized that authority can no longer be based solely on functional roles or skills. The point is: what weight can you embody as a person? What kind of presence do you offer to others?
It’s not just about driving; it’s about living within the context with intelligence, distinguishing the essential from the noise.
And it is precisely the noise – media-related, informational, operational – that, according to Bertolaso, is one of the great enemies of our time.
Where there is too much noise, there usually isn’t a center. The best decisions don’t make a big fuss.
At the heart of his thinking lies a subtle but profound reversal: complexity is not governed; it is interpreted.
We always talk about governance of complexity, but the next step is towards a governance in complexity. It’s not about controlling everything. It’s about acting with prudence, vision, and real presence.
A change of mindset is needed:
Unique solutions no longer work. The future belongs to those who know how to combine approaches, knowledge, and sensitivity. To those who know how to read contexts and recognize the value of authentic relationships.
Relationships are the thread that runs through Marta Bertolaso’s entire work.
Authentic relationships generate interdependence. They are not simply interactions between machines. They are spaces of freedom, responsibility, and shared meaning.
Yet, even in offices, it is preferred to send a message to someone who is just a few meters away.
We are talking to each other less and less. Even physically close, we seem distant. This isolation is the true silent pandemic of our time.
Two episodes, told with discretion and intensity, reveal much about his relationship with the students.
The first is the story of a boy who, after another Saturday night driven by social media, decides to disconnect.
I wanted to know what I like, not what I should like, she tells them. And already after a week I feel like I recognize myself again.
The second concerns a brilliant engineering student who, during an exam, refuses to get the highest grade possible.
Neither she nor the system can judge me, she says.
Bertolaso calmly replies:
”To challenge a system, you first have to know it."
From there, a deeper dialogue arises than the vote itself.
There are young people who know how to distance themselves, reset the game. And they do so together with others, not alone. Relationships, solidarity, are not moral fads: they are organizational principles.
In her book Umanesimo tecnologico, Marta Bertolaso proposes an apparent oxymoron: a bridge between technology and meaning.
Man has always been building, designing, interacting with tools. But what changes everything is the way he does it.
The real problem is not the technology, he repeats. It is the person who forgets that machines do not think in our absence as in our presence. It is the renunciation of judgment, responsibility, and freedom.
In a world that seeks shortcuts and certainties, philosophy can be the place to stop, observe, and choose.
Not to withdraw, but to act better.
In the end, we ask: if you were to leave a message to those who lead people, to those who run businesses, to those who teach, what would it be?
Take relationships seriously.
Stop trying to find the unique, optimal, definitive solution.
Learning to combine different approaches, in a local, concrete, and contextual way.
The leader of the future, he concludes, will not be the one who imposes, but the one who interprets.
Those who know how to distinguish. Those who see first.
Those who build communities and create space for others.
And if silence is necessary to do that, then let’s start there.
The full interview with Marta Bertolaso can be found in the FUTURO. Conversazioni di Buonsenso podcast.
Watch the interview on You Tube
Listen to the interview on Spotify
To read the full chapter and learn more about the other sections of the book, discover 25 years of Lean Thinking in the Italian style by Michele Bonfiglioli.
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Marta Bertolaso is a philosopher of science and a professor at the Campus Biomedico in Rome. She studies complex systems, from biology to human organizations, and applies this perspective to business, leadership, and technology. She is the author of the book Umanesimo tecnologico, which proposes a bridge between technology and sense, and has participated in the FUTURO podcast. Conversazioni di Buonsenso.
Governance in complexity is a paradigm shift: complexity is not controlled or simplified; it is interpreted. Instead of governing complexity from the outside, as in governance of complexity, it is acted upon within it with prudence, vision, and real presence. It requires human judgment and not just algorithmic tools.
Philosophy is useful because it helps to navigate a world in transformation and to distinguish the essential from the noise. According to Bertolaso, technology promises certain and quick answers, but data are not neutral and decisions require judgment. Philosophical thought avoids delegating the understanding of self and the world to machines.
After the pandemic, authority cannot be based solely on functional roles or competencies, but on the presence that a person embodies. The leader lives within the context with intelligence and separates the essential from the media, informational, and operational noise. The leader of the future does not impose, but interprets, sees first, and creates space for others.
Authentic relationships are organizational principles, not moral platitudes. They generate interdependence and are spaces of freedom, responsibility, and shared meaning, unlike simple interactions between machines. Bertolaso denounces isolation even in offices, where people write to those just a few meters away, and calls it the real silent pandemic.
For Bertolaso, the problem is not technology, but the person who renounces judgment, responsibility, and freedom, forgetting that machines do not think in our absence as in our presence. In the book Umanesimo tecnologico, he proposes a bridge between technology and sense, in which the human being maintains their own decision-making role.
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