Relying on young people to develop and enhance new paths of digitization and company’s sustainability

Recalling the past to head toward the future. Relying on a continuous generation renewal means focusing on young people, supporting them with the expert lead of those who have been working in the company for years.

Since its foundation in 1973, Morandi Steel has always looked toward the future, a new vision and a new positioning. On the World Youth Skills Day, Francesca Morandi (Morandi Steel’s board member) highlights the company commitment to enhance young generations and  take advantage of their skills within the team.

How do young people fit within the new vision of Morandi Steel?

Morandi Steel is an innovative steel service center. In our vision this means being able to combine process and product innovation with business innovation. It means understanding customers to give them customized solutions. This is an Ocean Blue strategy: unique and innovative propositions in a logic of mutual exchange, transparency and sharing. In this context, the contribution of young people is essential to build the new company. Indeed, they can help spread and facilitate a cultural evolution of the social and company context.

How can they decisively trigger the change?

Their skills, their strength and courage, their lateral thinking can dismantle old and traditional models and help introduce something new. Therefore, we need them. I am thinking now of Morandi’s new hires: they have an extraordinary learning ability, a deeper knowledge of technologies and the right attitude toward teamwork. However, they need to work with more expert colleagues, in order to make their contribute meaningful for the company and not limited to its own sake. This is essential to transfer the company’s know how, but requires humility and desire to grow.

If we think about the recent win of the Soccer National Team at Euro 2020. This was the victory of a team composed mostly of young players, but with some older and more expert leaders. It was also the success of the team’s coach and his staff. This mix of inclusion and enhancement of new generations should be taken in by companies and entrepreneurs.

Which role can young people play in Morandi?

With their characteristics and skills, they can play a key role for two of the actual main trends going on right now, innovation and sustainability, which are indeed at the core of the PNRR.

For example, if we develop a new system of data sharing, we are sure that young people have the right culture and mindset to learn it and help the company develop innovative services for customers.

The same is for sustainability. Professor Luigi Bruni says: “Fifty years after ’68, young people are again the main player of change and the main trigger of political and social innovation. They are doing this while caring for a sick Mother Nature”. Here is the point: they are forcing us to consider these problems and debate the issue. In these terms, sustainability does not affect only the environment or the amount of waste produced, but also the way we build sustainable work time and pace.

Moreover, we should also focus on communication. Indeed, if we want to communicate in a transparent and modern way we can only do through the eyes of young people. Through their gaze, we can see better what we are, improve and refresh our storytelling, making the steel industry more attractive also for new hires and future employees.

How does the choice to rely on young people reflect on the company’s investment?

Relying on young people means investing on the human capital through high quality continuous education. Moreover, through the years we started many collaborations with local schools and welcomed many students for internships. These are great opportunities also for us: indeed, it makes us express our best. More or less the same happens whenever you host someone at home: you arrange and prepare everything the best way you can. We hope that all students had the same great experience we had.