Founder and CEO of Alkemy Group. Tenacious, fast, a lover of tennis and transformations. Puts impact, and the people who create it, at the center.

Describe yourself in one adjective.

Determined.

What’s your favorite word?

Impact.

What values guide your choices every day?

Responsibility, courage, ethics. Without responsibility there’s no impact, without courage there’s no growth, and without ethics everything loses meaning.

What job did you dream of doing as a child?

Certainly not an entrepreneur. It wasn’t even an option in my university years. Today I push for that not to be the case for students — I believe our country has a lot of ground to make up on this front. I didn’t have a defined dream as a young man, but I never stopped looking for one: it started taking shape in 2012, with Alkemy.

What’s the achievement you’re most proud of as a manager?

Having built a company that holds together two things that rarely coexist: the ambition to grow and be competitive, and the will to do it ethically. Those who know me know I like to describe Alkemy as a company made of “skilled people and good people.” That’s certainly the result I’m most proud of.

Where have you failed in your career, and what did you learn from that experience?

I waited too long before making hard decisions, especially on people and governance. I learned that speed, even imperfect, is almost always better than indecision.

What’s the hardest challenge you’ve faced and overcome?

Managing growth, transformation, and stakeholder pressure all at the same time, while preserving strategic coherence and fidelity to our culture.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received, and who gave it to you?

A piece of advice I made my own by reading Jim Collins: the CEO isn’t there to control everything — his job is to set a direction and build a system that works even without him. It’s what the author calls the role of the architect.

What quality do you value most in people?

The ability to combine ambition and ethics. I know — I always come back to that, to “skilled people and good people” — but it’s what makes the difference at Alkemy, and what I believe our society needs more than ever.

Name a manager or entrepreneur you admire.

Jack Welch, with his obsession for performance, and Steve Jobs, for his ability to see the future before anyone else. Two opposite models, but both radical.

Who do you consider your mentor — the person you’ve learned the most from professionally?

I don’t have a single mentor. I’ve always tried to learn from everything and everyone; it’s one of the things that has helped me most in my career.

Name three brands you love.

Patagonia, for the strength of its purpose. IKEA, for having democratized design. Apple, for lighting the spark of the digital transformation that Alkemy was born from.

What song do you never get tired of listening to?

I listen to music of every genre, depending on the context and the mood I’m in, but there’s one artist I’m more loyal to, and who I always come back to with pleasure: David Bowie.

What film do you never get tired of watching?

It’s hard for me to pick a single title. I love cinema and I like to move across different genres, but I rarely rewatch a film I’ve already seen.

What book has taught you the most?

I’ll name three books that were foundational at different stages of my career. Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore, on how to bring innovation to market. Good to Great by Jim Collins, on the shift from growth to industrialization. Antifragile by Nassim Taleb, on how to thrive in uncertainty.

What sport has taught you the most?

Tennis, which I played at a decent level as a young man: it puts you alone in front of your responsibilities, with no alibis. It taught me competitive drive and tenacity.

What do you follow regularly to stay informed, inspired, and keep growing?

Various analyses on technology, AI, and new business models, complemented by direct dialogue with other CEOs and entrepreneurs.

Which app do you use the most?

LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and the iPhone Reminders app.

What are you most passionate about outside of work?

Quality time spent with the people I care about, and sport — especially tennis.

What’s the greatest invention of all time?

Hard to pick one for all eras. For ours, I’d say the internet and AI, for the impact they’ve had, and will have, on economic models, on skills, and on society.

Which historical figure do you feel closest to?

As a Tuscan, I can’t help but cite Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti — but I’d want to add Gandhi and Mother Teresa of Calcutta to the list. All four, in different ways, have left indelible marks on human history.

What change would you like to see in the world?

Now more than ever, one thing only: peace!

What habit has improved your life most in recent years?

Doing the Five Tibetans in the morning: a habit I picked up more than ten years ago. Dedicating fifteen minutes every day, right after waking up, to this mix of physical exercise, yoga, and meditation has changed the way I approach the day. To this habit, another one is added — one I’ve had since I was a boy: getting up very early.

What’s your motto?

It comes from that masterpiece, The Little Prince: 'What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.'