Bocconi Really Can Change Your Career

ALUMNUS GIOVANNI MOCCHI, 1998 EVENING MBA GRADUATE, DESCRIBES HIS MULTIPLE PROFESSIONAL LIVES

Giovanni Mocchi, 51, has already undergone three mutations in his professional life: first he was a farmer, then he became a lawyer, and now he is a manager, after a spell in consulting. The decisive acceleration to his career came while he was working for Eni as a legal expert in labor law, when he decided to enroll in an evening MBA program at SDA Bocconi School of Management, where he graduated cum laude in 1998. "That program really changed my career," says Mocchi, who is now Vice-President of the Zucchetti Group and Board Member for Career Advice in the Bocconi Alumni Association (BAA).

➜ Why was it a turning point?
Because it allowed me to enter a new and totally different career path. I had majored in bookkeeping in high school, while working on the family farm. Then I got a law degree at the university, and started working for Eni where I stayed several years, but I increasingly felt that law was not my vocation. The training and skills I learned at the evening MBA opened my eyes and pushed me to reimagine my career: I left Eni and went on to join Ambrosetti consultancy for eight years, before reaching general management in one of the companies I had done consulting for, which offered me a position as managing director.

âžœ You climbed the corporate ladder and you're now Vice-President of the Zucchetti Group, a company with a €410million turnover and 3,300 employees. What's your job there?
My responsibilities are in the field of consulting and services. The latter are the real element of digital transformation: increasingly, the sale of software must be accompanied by the ability to redesign and optimize our clients' processes, also through the use of operational best practices that increase effectiveness and efficiency.

➜ Speaking of digital transformation, you cannot avoid talking about big data. What are the key elements of this revolution?
Surely the ability to extract value from the huge amounts of data being managed. This has become a determining factor for all companies. Good databases are not enough, you must have quality data from which you can extract meaning and predictive power.

➜ Going back to your past as graduate student, what did Bocconi leave you with, and what does it mean for you being an active Alumnus today?
Bocconi gave me a network that paved the way for the third stage of my professional career. Being a member of the BAA Board is therefore my personal giveback to Bocconi, while my commitment to career counseling is a way of helping fellow Alumni in their professional careers. Luckily Cristina and Alessandro Zucchetti are Bocconians, too: since we share the same values, they allow me to find time in my schedule to follow the association's activities.
 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Alex Foti