Piero, a Professional Journey in Seven Locations

If you can't make up your mind between economics and medicine, you can choose the former and end up working for the latter in a leading medical technology company. This was the professional goal achieved by Piero Novello, a 45-year-old from Vicenza, who graduated in Business Administration from Bocconi in 1997. Over the two decades of his career, he has already changed his country of work seven times, each time growing professionally. He is now general manager of Baxter Hospitalar, the São Paulo-based Brazilian subsidiary of U.S. medical giant Baxter, which employs 45,000 people around the world. He joined the company immediately after graduation, his first destination being Munich, Germany.

"In my company, I grew professionally and from a personal point of view, because I was able to navigate different places and cultures. After Munich, I returned to Milan, then moved to Madrid, Illinois, Florida, Mexico, Switzerland, until reaching Brazil for my current assignment." A cosmopolitan propensity born in Bocconi's classrooms and nurtured through a specially designed career path. "My case is a bit special," he says, "because people who move a lot for their careers usually change employers as well. I traveled the world but always remained with Baxter. I was able to appreciate differences in working styles, such as the greater efficiency of the Anglo-Saxon world, where work absorbs less hours, because people exclusively focus on the task at hand rather than also spending time on cultivating personal relationships. However, in the end, it's corporate culture that prevails over local peculiarities." In Brazil, Piero Novello manages about 1,200 employees. São Paulo, one of the world's largest cities, has a significant Italian heritage. "About 30% of the population has Italian origins," says Novello. "Today Brazil is slowly recovering after some difficult years, dominated by political and economic crisis. But living here is easy, in terms of cultural adaptation," he adds.

"More in general, I strongly recommend an experience abroad to any young person starting his/her professional career. It opens your mind and makes you realize that there are many other things out there that you could think of, even though all this has a personal cost in terms of affections and friendships you leave behind. But today technology makes it easier to remain in touch, and no matter how many things you'll have to renounce, you will find many more ."