unnamed-3Last weekend, June 20th and 21st 2015, at MIB School of Management, the first Alumni Reunion took place.

When I arrived in Trieste on Friday evening, the weather wasn’t great: cold and the Siberian wind called “bora” made me feel like it was winter and I thought what a mistake I made while preparing my suitcase.

But on Saturday, when I woke up to get ready to go to MIB, it was sunny and I was perhaps too excited to realise temperature and checking the clouds. Few months had passed since last time I was in Trieste, it was for the open day, at the end of March.

When I arrived at School, I met some old friends from EMBAXIV, plus new ones that joined the Reunion, and it is always easy to connect with new people at MIB.

Carlo Rossi

Carlo Rossi

In the morning there was a session on Back To Class, with my fellow Carlo Rossi and Ms Anna Favini Robertson, member of BoD at AMBA (Association of MBAs). Carlo introduced us the “Ignorance project” by Prof. Hans Rosling (a professor of International Health at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden – ). Very interesting study on how data can change our perception of the world.

Then Ms Anna Favini Robertson gave MIB Alumni an interesting keynote on how assessing and developing skills for international career. Absolutely not granted how to present yourself on international interviews, how to manage very stressful situations and how to assess your skills and align them to career requirements. Multicultural environments make the whole process even more complicated and require more research and analysis beforehand.

Ms Anna Favini Robertson

Ms Anna Favini Robertson

After lunch, some Alumni took the floor in a 20 minutes session each. Topics were very different and so interesting because they were just real life and work experience.

Jessica Ontiveros (MBAXXI) traveled from Mexico to share with MIB Alumni how she felt when she arrived the first time in Itay, few years ago, for her MBA. It was touching when she went through her difficulties with the culture, the language and how she felt lost between foreigners. Then she talked about team building and key factors to make a team successful. Very interesting and inspiring.

Jessica Ontiveros

Jessica Ontiveros

Then our fellow alumnus Roberto Ruggiero (MBAXI) talked about “Idea Generation for the Healthcare Industry”, an insightful keynote on innovation in one of the biggest industries in the world.

Roberto Ruggiero

Roberto Ruggiero

Claudio Colaiacomo, my fellow at EMBAXIV, addressed MIBAlumni the Mindfulness at work, the hidden costs of a stressful environment. After an introduction on how this practice works on our mental state and self control, we exercised 30 seconds of a kind of meditation: there is not better way than “biting the apple” to taste the flavour, Claudio said. And it is true!

Claudio Colaiacomo

Claudio Colaiacomo

To close the Back To Class session, Giorgio Faustini (MBAXXIII) introduced to MIBAlumni his keynote on International Business Development and New Market Entry. 

Giorgio Faustini

Giorgio Faustini

In the afternoon there was a big event in Trieste, the Color Run, with 21 thousand runners, coming from the Norther Italy and from abroad. The most colourful run in the world has seen some Alumni joining the event, and the fun led the mood of the whole afternoon.

Color Run

Color Run

The dinner in Piazza Unita’ d’Italia just left me astonished. Everything was nice and elegant, the atmosphere was jovial and people just made everything perfect. I had the pleasure to meet in person some of the fellow alumni that are already on my network on social media. We have been sharing ideas, photos, contents and comments since months, but last Saturday was the first time we had the pleasure to shake hands.

Dinner

Dinner

The Reunion then followed on Sunday in Muggia, a beautiful Venitian village on the border with Slovenia, with a guided tour and a lunch in “Agriturismo” with a breathtaking view over the gulf.

Muggia (TS)

Muggia (TS)

Let me say that we all experienced how powerful can be our community if we just allow ourself to get out of our comfort zone and make that little step towards others. We are all like minded people, with a genuine interest in continuous improvement. Connecting and networking with our community has the potential to take us farther than what we could do by ourselves. Take this opportunity, bite the apple and taste the flavour!

A special thank to those that have worked because this Reunion happened: Carlo Rossi, Sara Polli, Giorgio Faustini, Federico Paron, Dorina Stanculescu and the priceless work by Carolina Meucci and Valentina Savino at MIB School of Management. I would like to thank also Prof. Francesco Venier and Gabriella Iacono for joining us on Saturday morning. This means a lot to all MIB Alumni.

(some more pictures of the MIB Reunion weekend are collected here).