Thank you
(Applause)
Thank you
Good morning everybody
Today I have the task to talk about time
in a logic of sustainability
and so I’m talking about cork
I’m talking about something we all know
but probably not enough,
to make a comparison on what
the concept of sustainable development means.
Cork has been existing long before man
just think that cork is a heritage of the Mediterranean
and is an oak of the durmast family
that developed this bark to be protected from fire
because in this area of the world, millions of years ago, there was fire.
And this bark made of air is so powerful
that prevents the tree from burning
So, it is a thousand-year old concept of time
a concept of time facing the speed of today.
Just think that cork is a heritage of the Mediterranean
because we find it especially in the Western basin of the Mediterranean
and in the Iberian Peninsula, including my country
that is the leading producer of cork.
I want to oppose it to the time of speed,
to the time of “everything is fast”
because if you do not do things you miss an opportunity
that will never come back.
But there is a world, a parallel world, what I call a “slow” world,
where clearly nature has its own times
Consider that this heritage is one of the 35
biodiversity sanctuaries in the world
It takes 25 years for a cork tree to become adult
and every nine years it is decorticated, as a sheep is sheared.
A cork stopper succeeds in becoming a cork stopper after 45 years
therefore this tree vegetates among us for 250 years
It is an extremely sustainable tree
because it helps adjust the hydrogeological cycle
it prevents social and environmental desertification
employing more than 100,000 people
it is renewable and above all
we do not need to throw the trees down to produce cork stoppers
It also absorbs 112 grams of CO2, it is a unique matter.
Just think that there are 800 million cells in a cubic centimeter
of a cork stopper
The cork stopper,
which is the main element to close a bottle of wine
gives the wine itself elegance, prestige, and a classic value.
We are talking about something that deals with time
because time is an extremely important value for us
It is an extremely important value
because being sustainable is an extremely important value,
sustainability does not have to be understood just as environmental
sustainability is a broader concept.
According to the United Nations declaration of 1987
being sustainable means having the ability
to meet one’s needs
without compromising the needs of future generations
Just think that, as human beings,
we must leave our children
at least the world we inherited from our parents.
Therefore, sustainable development is not only environment.
Sustainable development is also economic development
economic sustainability and social sustainability
what I want to talk about today
So, what’s the challenge?
The challenge is how to sell “slow” in times of “fast.”
This is the challenge I face every day
with all my managers, with all my collaborators
how to sell “slow” in times of “fast.”
Therefore, culture becomes fundamental
because it will be able to spread
the values of sustainability
only through the spread of this culture
I will succeed in instilling the value
of what I propose
in the head of people dealing with us.
So, who is our first target?
Clearly you, the consumers.
My first goal is to inform consumers.
Today customers are changing
today the great trend of consumption
that is, the most interesting segment for those who sell,
is the millennials
Millennials are those people
who have become adult between two millennia
so I think most of you
This being said, how does a millennial think?
What is the focus he/she is looking for
when he/she has to buy something?
The millennial looks especially for just causes.
Every product should incorporate
this just cause in some way,
so we have decided to communicate this
just cause in the cork stoppers,
to be able to give these cork stoppers
the intrinsic value
from the viewpoint of sustainability
so someone who uncorks a bottle
understands that it has a value
and it is important to defend that value.
This aspect becomes fundamental to distinguish us
from other products that
on the contrary, have an artificial origin.
And then, the media:
we have been managing relationships with the media for ten years
and probably we are also a kind of “case study”
in how to deal with them
because media are a fundamental means for us
so I’m talking about television, about radio, about print media
about bloggers, about internet, social network, all media
become fundamental to spread this message.
When I make a journalist, or a blogger,
see this matter with their own eyes
they fall so in love
that they too have the pleasure
of defending a just cause
and they start to see this product
with completely different eyes
Then this turns into communication
what gets to each of you
because this is our task – to create culture.
And what is the result?
The result is clearly that a journalist or a customer
who understands this thing becomes our ambassador
therefore a person who will spread this culture
and more culture means more value
However, this alone is not enough
because this is the axis of environmental sustainability
but as I said before, environmental sustainability is not only environment
Sustainability is also economic and social sustainability.
When we talk about economics, when we talk about results,
companies do not exist by chance
companies exist because there are people.
People become fundamental
that is, your team is critical
to spread this value
to try to promote this concept
So, our role is being talented managers
That is, the concept of “one man show”, “I order you and you obey me”
no longer works
Actually, I think it never worked
What works today is being able to handle talent
because people have enormous abilities
We must stimulate this ability
we must be able, through what I call
“delegation of responsibility”,
to make these people understand
that they are not a cat, they are a lion.
We all have a lion inside us
we just have to wake him up.
Then we are the generation of change
things do not change by decree
things change because we want them to change.
That’s why a manager
must have the ability to let people out
of their comfort zone
they have to exit from their sleeping area
and, on the contrary, to constantly meet new challenges.
So, how do we do this?
How can we constantly make a person meet new challenges?
How can we train a collaborator?
I start from this, from the potential development analysis
Through a diagnosis
I see the potentials
how the ground of that person is built
I go beyond an interview, a job interview,
because that does not tell you anything
it tells you especially how this person is built
what is his/her psycho-aptitude profile.
And the result turns into a sort of histogram
which allows you to understand exactly
how this fertile ground is built.
This fertile soil has three macro-areas:
the area of feeling, the area of energy and the area of relationship.
From the correlation between these areas I can locate
how I can actually sow the right fruits
to make something important grow in this fertile ground
both for the person and my company.
It’s a question of understanding what “muscles” should be strengthened
what muscles are already perfectly enhanced
and fit to the challenges,
because only with the right team
we can challenge the rules of market
Training becomes fundamental
because once you’ve identified the people you need,
you have to train them, and above all not only the collaborators
of your company but also those who are on the market
those who have to spread your value
Then what we are trying and I am trying to do
is to develop the concept of being self-motivated.
Why? Because when a person wakes up in the morning
he/she must know what he/she should do, or where he/she should go
he/she must know what is the value that he/she should pass to the market
Then I’ve been using this modern business model canvas for some time
a very simple way of teaching how to do a business plan
how to define what my journey is in some way.
But we can’t look at the journey of this week,
we have to look at a time space of at least three years
because in three years I can clearly change something.
We change every day but just a little bit.
The other fundamental thing is to develop
the sense of belonging of people, therefore their motivation
motivation to be part of the group
motivation to dress the company’s t-shirt
and this becomes fundamental because in this way you’ll have warriors
fighting with you
and you will realize that you can win only if you are together
This component
of economic sustainability
allows all your collaborators to be aligned
with your project
And lastly, the social sustainability component
I am convinced that being sustainable also means
being able to get involved for others
to help the neighborhood in some way
help the territory where you are integrated.
We’ve been doing it for years
because a company is fed by a territory
and the territory gives you the employees, it gives you the suppliers
but beyond this
beyond paying salaries, beyond paying bills
you also have to leave something to this territory
because it really
deserves your support.
So, in 2011,
I created the social face of my company
it’s called ethical project
You may say “What is this ethical project? What is this thing?”
We have decided to collect used cork stoppers
Each of you definitely drink wine
(particularly because we are in Veneto, Italy)
and when you uncork a bottle you look at it
you don’t know where to put it
So we have thought
“But why don’t we recover and grind this cork stopper
and convert it
into an insulation material?”
You know that cork is the greatest natural insulator existing on Earth.
Remember that it protects the tree from fire
So, we started this project,
We collected more than 350 million cork stoppers from 2011 to today, in 6 years
They are not many, considering that
around 800 million cork stoppers are thrown into the rubbish every year
but we were able to intercept one small part
of them and we have created a great movement
because everyone wondered
“But why can’t we recover these cork stoppers?”
Today we have more than 5000 collection points
in Central and Northern Italy and even a few in Southern Italy.
We have more than a thousand volunteers working with us
and help us recover cork stoppers
We recover cork stoppers, transport them with authorized means
we grind them and then resell them to green building companies.
And what is the result we achieved?
First of all, we managed to donate more than 200 thousand Euros to charity
and this is already an important milestone
because we are helping
many of the 40 non-profit organizations working with us
but especially we managed to close the circle
A circle started in the forest
with an extremely sustainable movement and respectful of the environment
passing through the way we approach the market
to the end of life of our products.
So, what would I do with an extra hour,
or 40 minutes, per day?
I would try to make my passage through the planet Earth
as sustainable as possible.
Probably in doing so
I would not need to go and look for water on Mars.
Thank you.
(Applause)
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