Corrado Paolazzi’s Post

Late March 2014. I had been feeling a bit frustrated. Just like I would be many times later. Just like I will be many other times. Even though my same old lonely convictions still got me through the days (still they do), it was getting tougher. But come on, silver linings. Life was changing, and family was about to be transformed by the arrival of a new generation, as my first niece’s birth was expected at any minute. In this context, I had to leave, just like many other times back in the day, this time towards a new destination: the wonderful Trento, out in the northern Italy, back for the first time to where war made my ancestors left. Two planes, a bus and two trains later, there I was, and it was easy to put the tiredness from the long trip in the background for a while with the astonishing beauty of those hills. For a while. And then, the turning point. During the few coming days, me and my pairs around the world (feeling just like me, who knows?) gathered around to listen to what Italscania S.p.A. had to tell. It is quite easy to forget nowadays, but an economic crash from the late 2000s had just turned away around the corner (or not?), and times like those just don't let the weak survive. It was not any romance at all. But then, some of the nicest people that I had the pleasure to know in my professional life proved how great one can be with good use and improvement of consistent basics, specially under heavy clouds. It took courage and be big enough to think small when it was needed, to be absolutely prepared for every opportunity, to take the most of what was out there, and it was not much at that time. Every basics means business when you know what and why you are doing, and that clear display forged this as a true north over that frustration, so that I could never forget. It was alive. It was there. It was concrete. Beyond cheap talk. It is sad to realize that the need to take courage and even rebellion to set, hold and improve basics has been usual these days, while just "different" several times seems to be good enough before necessary or value adding. But thanks to moments like those, I will keep sticking to the consistent in order to save my all for trying the unknown to my very best when it is really needed. And amongst so many names to be remembered, special thanks to Cecilia Fagerdahl, Corrado Paolazzi, Guido Pellizzari and Roberto Anderle. It would be a long dramatic stretch to say that a life was changed (although it would fit just so fine in an italian story 😄), but those old convictions were a little bit less lonely from then on. A few days later, a new life was born. And a few years later, it was time for another one. And I found my way. Just like I would find many times later. And as long as I remember this, I will find it again. And again.