It takes more than a village
The month just began- but decided that, to complement some articles that published since the previous monthly article in September, would be better to do it earlier than later.I got commentary few days ago about material I had prepared for an unpaid activity- as it was done as I would have done for a customer.
Well, when prepared a couple of decades ago a business+marketing plan for a startup that was in the end (it won a prize, so it is public) over 1.4mln EUR, an American part of the team said that in the USA for that work would have been paid I do not remember if 120k or 200k USD- does not really matter.
Ditto when, after proposing to create a new business unit in UK for a customer, prepared the business and marketing plan for that unit as well as for the business partner who would provide funding and services- it was not approved, but the last exchange was a confirmation that it was my project and could do it whenever I wanted.
Pity that apparently that plan reached others, as, eventually, a similar business unit in UK was set up by another company.
In Italy, when something reaches approval stage, too many eyes see it to actually not go ahead if there is interest.
Pity that, as usually was the one proposing initiatives and doing the business number crunching but seeking resources, more than once ended up having just the professional satisfaction of seeing that the plan had been feasible, if you had had the resources needed when were needed...
... hence, since the early 2000s with my e-zine on change, and since 2008 when decided to settle in Brussels, my preference to share concepts and plans online where anybody can see them- if I do not have access to resources to finance their development.
What matters is that, also in each mission since 2012 (when started again working and living and being resident in Italy), despite being paid between 1/8th and 1/4th or little more (at best- counting plenty of unpaid overtime, even less than that, sometimes) than my old 200EUR/h rate...
... when asked to do something, also because the concept supposedly were temp-to-perm missions, I worked as I used to do in the past: be it preparing a budget, reviewing the depreciation of assets, reviewing suppliers activities, coordinating activities, or developing new processes or organizational structures.
In the past, routinely turned down missions where either the budget or the mandate were inadequate: if you work on cultural and organizational change, you need a mandate.
Moving forward, I became even stricter: whenever asked to give private advice for free, asked to wait and read about it online...
Otherwise, this picture applies:
September was a busy publication month, as you will see in the second part of this article.
Anyway, will adopt a narrative style starting from the latest article, and going back the the first one published after the previous monthly post.
By the year end, hope to be able to add also cartoon- in line with what shared a couple of months ago within UHF Journey 2026_00_Introducing
Before starting, here is the picture of the month:
I said that this second part would be about articles published in September, but will start with the latest one published in October.
Whenever there are crises, the risk if not being engulfed by the crisis, but to fail to have a systemic perspective good enough to see what is relevant.
As shared in previous articles, I follow an approach that could now be called "PESTEL" (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal), when trying to define the context of any initiative.
Sometimes, if the initiative is "cocooned" within an organization, with external "layers" taking care of the buffering against external influences, you can adopt a simpler approach.
Unfortunately, at the company or State level, too often a simpler approach is used, ignoring all the external influences- including when actually there are already known external influences that matter.
So, an "emergency landing", a controlled crisis, can be let go beyond the tipping point.
I discussed three cases, starting with Italy, France, and then a company that actually connects them to the European equivalent of the USA "military-industrial complex" that President Eisenhower talked about in his farewell speech.
How to crash land: three cases- France, Italy, Stellantis
Published on 2026-10-04 07:30:00
Too many commentators are talking about automotive in Europe as "an industry", and then, to show how modern and trend-setters they are, focus on the next big shining cool industry.
Anyway, reality is a bit more complex- and tossing away a century of infrastructure and manufacturing expertise in volumes would impact on much more than that.
It is quite curious to see how I remember that already in one of my first projects saw that even competitors from different European countries, in automotive, collaborated and shared the results of their research or manufacturing practices, while it is still a routine when talking about military procurement to discuss everything in national terms.
So, my previous article was around that theme, calling back the title of a book on the official history of MI5.
The future of Europe: defence of the realm
Published on 2026-10-01 09:45:00
What does that book suggest? That you can have a realm to defend if you have a consensus on what it is.
If the Scottish were to defend just Scotland, UK would have (and have had in the past) more than few issues.
Beside "The Future of Europe", recently started also a series that will cover elections in 2027 in Italy- but, as in the past for European Parliament elections, started already, discussing a couple of themes concerning both Italy and Europe.
So, we are preparing for a multi-state elections run- and associated uncertainties:
The Cospaia of Europe: gearing up
Published on 2026-09-30 09:15:00
On a personal note, as I have "some" experience since the 1980s in business number crunching and cultural/organizational change, it was obvious and expected that, if I have been pulled back in Italy but without being called to carry out missions using that expertise, I would keep updating and experimenting, as wrote in the past.
E.g. when returned to work in Italy in 2012, immediately started taking on loan from libraries books about Italy, banking, automotive, other industries- as I wanted to update my knowledge of how the country (and industries I worked in, plus the political environment) evolved since the late 1990s (when first moved abroad), and, for Turin, since the late 1980s (when de facto first started working elsewhere and only occasionally in Turin).
Artificial Intelligence coupled with open source software allows to do in 2026, also for free, something that in the 1980s and 1990s (but even 2000s) would have required a large team and budget.
Blending experience and this technological context allows then to start delivering something different, as hinted at within:
BooksBlog20260928 Going forensic and collaborative AI
Published on 2026-09-28 09:15:00
In the second half of September, actually released a short article mini-series, "The Weltanschauung of continuous organizational change", on the perspective of those used to continuous organizational change, covering three elements:
_ pay-per-use society
Published on 2026-09-23 19:45:00
_ make-or-buy
Published on 2026-09-24 22:45:00
_ post-M&A integration dynamics
Published on 2026-09-25 22:45:00
Actually, that mini-series was in part inspired by considerations within another article:
The future of Europe: framing entrepreneurship- 28th feasibility and roadmap
Published on 2026-09-21 21:30:00
Yes, routinely we talk (and even issue edicts) to streamline bureaucracies, but, usually end up in delivering something that is fine if and when everything works as planned.
Assuming that reforms work if the conditions can described as "fair weather" is always risky.
At least in Italy, but, frankly, also around the European Union, you need to be not just an optimist, but also under the influence of some drugs creating structural and permanent cognitive dissonance, to utter with a straight face that everything is under full control.
And also if some pretend in their communication that this is the case, the net result is turning the European Union into a breeding ground for political extremist organizations both on the left and the right:
The Cospaia of Europe: introduction and fence-sitting announce
Published on 2026-09-15 08:00:00
It will take some efforts to defuse those issues- and a clear assessment of the knowledge starting point can help- moreover, if we integrate AI within the toolset, to enhance access and speed of diffusione and feed-back:
Organizational Support 19: Structural knowledge and continuous improvement- the AI side
Published on 2026-09-11 13:30:00
Yes, it was a busy publication month.
The reason? Wrote it within the first article at the top of this list- the one published yesterday.
So, let's just say that the project I had agreed to work on in August remotely, so that could work from home in the mountains as did in 2024, did not start.
Therefore, as I had to stay still around Turin to validate other opportunities, could post online those "signposts" that will develop at a later stage in other publications and activities, but considered worth sharing to have a visible trace of my assessment across the time.
All those articles have some points in common.
Be they about the European Union, Italy, Turin, or technology, the key shared element is really about systemic thinking and looking at futures not just as a collection of signals and data points across time that eventually get connected- but something that you can build if you are not just selective, but actually purpose-oriented.
Events, signals, data points across time sometime are under your control, but often are something that you either see coming (something that you can prepare for, also if you cannot alter them), or discover when emerge (and there your "resilience" matters).
Anyway, if your side has no coherent reason to move forward, each one of those events, signals, data points will make any "roadmap" in a drunken sailor walk.
So, if you want you can read or sample any of those articles- but those few paragraphs maybe are enough, if you do not have time.
Over the last few weeks I have been carrying out further experiments with data and AI- as in an era where any organization has to disclose information at least quarterly, and often more frequently, the risk for any observer is to get confused.
AI can actually allow to share expertise in a different way, and enable anybody to continuously have, eventually, a digital companion able to support in connecting data that are relevant- something that a decade ago, summarizing a quarter of a century of experience in data projects and evidence-based decision making in organizations, called in a mini-book "relevant data"
I was never a fan of "big data" and "data lakes"- except for "finding patterns"- which is anyway risky, as too many still confuse correlation with causation.
Just because in summer more ice cream is sold and there are more apartment burglaries does not imply that ice cream sales generate burglaries: if it is warm and there are vacations, there is a higher chance that people will go around instead of staying at home.
With piling up of data from various sources, including those whose data quality you do not control, often is easy to get carried away from a lack of understanding of the data and why and how they are produced.
This decade became with the COVID crisis, and then saw an acceleration of events piling up- even before January 2025.
So, decision-making approaches that were based on balancing nuances and stretching decisions across time as a negotiation approach based on a roadmap often are too slow and too demanding in terms of "long-term continuity", and become counterproductive.
Few weeks ago started writing, even in those articles listed above, that 2027 can generate further instability- and listed some of the reasons that should be visible to everybody.
Each week now is bringing more sources of instability- beside the obvious election campaigns that practically already started not just in Germany (as the results so far in 2026 were a confirmation), France (waiting for the Presidential elections but, for those who expect to lose them, trying to "carve" their own "political niche"), Italy (ditto), but also now in Spain.
Anyway, in this month in my spare time, also if one of those projects discussed in August will resurrect, will be preparing more material to share.
Due to some recent events, and not just the halted remote projects, accepted that returning to the mountains is probably not feasible for a while.
Considering my young age (I am joking), already lost 14 years since 2012 in Italy, and more if consider what had started in Brussels in 2008, or nuisances since the late 1990s, whenever was contacts for missions in my birtplace or via my birthplace that were never what was presented.
So, for now, unless there is a change, there are two parallel lines: my birthplace Turin becomes just a temporary stop-gap before returning abroad as soon as possible, and will keep sharing and publishing and experimenting.
For the time being, will keep posting on Linkedin and Facebook news that I will find interesting or can consider "signposts", along with other experiments.
And yes- will continue for now with my daily Morning News (usually between 4:30 and 6:30 AM CET)- the plan is to use that material that is collected on GitHub as a "daily morning brief" as something useful to train models and spot trends (if you have the skills, you can do it: all the material is accessible for free online).
So, have a nice month, and see you in early November!