The Client: Generali
Established in 1831, Generali Group is one of the largest insurance and asset management providers in the world, operating in over fifty countries, with 82,000 employees serving 70 million customers. Headquartered in Italy and historically Europe-centric, the Group has been expanding steadily into Asia and South America. Its strong commitment to serving the global customer requires a global mindset combined with a deep understanding of local markets, as well as a common language and shared vision across the organization.
At the heart of Generali’s business strategy is its commitment to customers, achieved through innovative and personalized solutions, best-in-class customer experience, and digitized global distribution capabilities. The Group has fully embedded sustainability into all strategic choices, to create value for all stakeholders while building a fairer and more resilient society. Called Lifetime Partner 24, the Group’s strategic plan is built on three pillars: drive sustainable growth, enhance earnings profile, and lead innovation, with a strong commitment to positive social, environmental, and stakeholder impact.
The insurance industry has faced significant disruptions recently, ranging from regulatory changes to technological advancements and macroeconomic conditions. These disruptions accentuate the need for the industry to remain agile and innovative, embracing new technologies and strategies to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of policyholders and society at large.
In this context, the Group’s strategic targets as well as its purpose to “enable people to shape a safer and more sustainable future by caring for their lives and dreams” can only be achieved and fulfilled if everyone in the organization has the skills and capabilities required to support these priorities, starting with the organization’s leadership team.
Following a careful, systematic search, Generali selected MIT Sloan Executive Education as its partner in delivering “Inspired Minds, Sustainable Futures,” an immersive education experience designed to inspire the organization’s top executives to lead the organization into the future, equipped with a new mindset to champion the Group’s strategic imperatives.
“We have worked with many different business schools over the years on leadership development programs, but what impressed us about MIT was the ability to put different perspectives together with a clear common culture at heart,” said Anna Chiara Lucchini, Group Head of Leadership Development and Academy at Generali. “We were looking for a partner who could focus on our key strategic imperatives in all their complexity. Not only to help us see how technology can affect the way we operate and influence our business strategy but to understand how a culture of experimentation and innovation can create a different mindset where various fields come together for greater impact.”
MIT Sloan program designers and faculty worked closely with Generali to create a multifaceted and engaging experience for the organization’s senior leaders. The program was held on the MIT campus in three subsequent cohorts: starting with CEO-level executives from around the world, followed by heads of function at Group and local levels, and culminating in a cohort of the Group Management Committee, the international committee responsible for establishing Group strategic priorities, including Group CEO, which led to three more cohorts planned to encompass the entire senior leadership of the organization.
“Our design process is critical in achieving the desired outcome for companies,” pointed out Robert Dietel, Program Director at MIT Sloan Executive Education. He and Renée Gosline, Senior Lecturer and Research Scientist in the marketing group at MIT Sloan and the Faculty Director of the program, spent two days at the Generali Tower in Milan to get a deeper sense of the company culture. They conducted a series of key executive meetings and collaborated closely on the integration of company visits around the MIT campus during the program to ensure the learning experience was highly customized to provide maximum impact.
“At MIT, we emphasize rigor and relevance, and the application and the actual rolling up of sleeves to problem solve, to ideate, to think differently. That's the hallmark of this program,” said Gosline. “It truly is in the spirit of partnership. We have our expertise, we have some of the greatest thinkers in the world in their domains. But MIT's culture is characterized by tremendous humility. We're always looking to partner and to listen and learn, and then bring our expertise to bear. A collaborative spirit characterizes this program.”
“The program truly exceeded our expectations. More than a learning experience, it turned out to be an amazing journey both on a personal level and collectively, as it allowed us to broaden our views, challenge our decision-making processes, gain exposure to innovative ideas, and ultimately develop key skills and a different mindset that will help us leave an even greater mark as we keep steering Generali forward.”
Participants in each cohort spent five immersive days in classrooms learning concepts and frameworks from leading experts from across MIT on a wide variety of topics, including artificial intelligence and data, climate change and sustainability, diversity and inclusion, catalytic questioning and systems thinking, organizational behavior, and more. They visited labs and innovative companies to augment academic learning with real-world examples from the MIT ecosystem, with faculty providing context for each visit. The curriculum was tailor-made for each cohort’s needs and backgrounds. “I never teach the same class twice,” said Gosline. “And that's because we approach this in a way that is reflective of the questions and the challenges and the ideas that are brought to us by the participants. It provides more value for the people in the room as opposed to a one-size-fits-all approach.”
After only a few months of engagement, the cultural shift was already apparent. “There is more energy, more focus on the topics that we tackle together, and more openness among the participants,” reflected Lucchini, Group Head of Leadership Development and Group Academy. “The cultural transformation has kick-started.”
The program has surpassed expectations for Monica Alessandra Possa, Group Chief HR & Organization Officer. “We are all inspired!” she enthused. “We have ideas and alignment on how to make this inspiration transform into an impact for the success of our organization and its people. The toolkit that we have and the inspiration to make things happen. That makes me happy.”
Both Possa and Lucchini commented with surprise on how open and accessible the faculty were. “The people we have seen here made it very clear what it means to be a leader at this moment in business and the world,” Possa explained. “Not only to be competent and skilled and courageous and curious but also very humble and always open, which is not a feature of leaders of past years. For me, it was very special of the MIT outstanding professors and lecturers that we got to meet–this humbleness, this openness.”
Cristiano Borean, Group Chief Financial Officer, agrees: “For me, this openness is what I am bringing back. We all pledged [in this program] to follow through on what we’ve learned here and become an ‘integrated leader.’ This is important to me.” He also highlighted three essential facets of learning: trends, processes, and mindset. “We learned how to structure what we see happening around us, like AI, for example, in a framework for innovation. We got tools and tips for managing that.”
Marco Sesana, General Manager, appreciated the relevance of classroom topics and discussions. “You can discuss many different things here at MIT, but you must tailor the type of content and structure the type of discussion you want to have among the leaders.”
Philippe Donnet, Generali Group CEO, added: “With both our industry and our Group currently going through significant transformations, we felt we needed to define and embrace a new style of leadership to be fully prepared for any challenge awaiting us today and in the future. This is why we decided to leverage the unparalleled knowledge and culture of MIT.”
Gosline, the Faculty Program Director, described Generali as “courageous,” meaning that “it's a legacy company that's embracing a shifting world.” She commended the Group’s forward-thinking mindset: “The leadership of the program charged us with creating what they called a ‘positive shock.’ And that was exciting because, at MIT, we are all about getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. So, creating a positive shock is consistent with that. We were tackling big issues—artificial intelligence, sustainability, DEI, and hybrid work in the wake of a pandemic. They were going big. They weren't asking us to hit singles, they were asking us to hit it out of the park.”
This is exactly why our faculty and program designers work diligently with our client counterparts—sometimes for many months leading up to the program—to build an experience that is highly relevant to the participants and worth their time away from the office.
For Possa, the choice of MIT was based on three things: academic excellence in AI and other technology research; practicability of solutions; and the entrepreneurial spirit. However, it was the context of leadership connecting these elements that brought real value to the Group. “I believe that MIT has gone a long way in understanding what [technology] means for leadership and leadership development. The relationship between humans and technology.”
Borean, the Chief Financial Officer, offers a broader view: “I see the role of universities and research becoming more and more important in this world again. There was a hiatus after the internet revolution where it was all about the technology and evolution of the technology. I think we are entering a time when there is a much bigger need for universities and research coupled with business.”
Lucchini noted how different working with MIT felt. “There is no show, no ego,” she said. “It’s a very different culture. All the professors coming to us had a cohesive approach to their teaching and were very clear and to the point.”