Students Met the CEO of Barilla

THE BUSINESS STRATEGY OF INCLUSION AND DIVERSITY ADOPTED BY BARILLA. THIS WAS THE THEME DISCUSSED BY THE CEO CLAUDIO COLZANI WITH BOCCONI STUDENTS, DURING A MEETING ORGANIZED BY THE BOCCONI GRADUATE SCHOOL

Diversity and inclusion as a business strategy for growth was the focus of the talk with the CEO of Barilla Claudio Colzani, organized by the Graduate School of Bocconi University for the initiative “A conversation with…”, a cycle of meetings (in English) organized for a limited number of students to encourage interaction between guest speakers and audience. Colzani, after a long career at Unilever begun in Italy and continued in Brazil, France and New York, returned to Italy as Barilla's CEO in 2012. He discussed how a crisis can motivate a company to accelerate its journey towards a more diverse and inclusive environment. “Our Barilla journey starts with the recognition that supporting diversity and inclusion is the right thing to do and it is also good for business". According to Colzani, in order to meet this business strategy’s goals for the future, the company needs to represent its customers and consumers in every aspect: diversity and inclusion is not just part of any company’s business strategy, but is a driver of success in the new, global marketplace.

"Colzani explained, through practical examples, how inclusion and diversity cannot just be declared as values. They must be turned into concrete actions and become an integral part of the culture of the company," explains Antonella Carù, Dean of the Bocconi graduate school.

The students who attended the initiative - from Masters of Science, MBA, Master in Food and Beverage and Master in Human Resources- had the opportunity to ask the speaker many questions: some asked for further examples on how this policy has been implemented within the company, some were interested in how Barilla reacted to the 2013 crisis. Some students also asked questions about the “Made in Italy” denomination and in particular about the rules on the labeling of raw materials.

The next meeting scheduled for the series "A Conversation with ..." will be on November 16 at 4pm with Andrea Guerra, Executive Chairman of Eataly.

by Benedetta Ciotto