The Apprentice Leader

You have such an interesting background. You were born in Argentina, the son of two immigrants. Can you tell us a little more about your family background and your experiences growing up? And how do you think they shaped your approach to leadership?

Well, as you said, I’m a son of two Sicilian immigrants that were married, in an arranged way, think about it. My father moved there in 1958, took with him two sisters. And then my mother was asked to go meet him two years later. They didn’t know each other, but they had a wonderful life for 52 years before my father passed away.
And I was born there, although I grew up in both countries, Argentina and Italy, because my parents went back for a bit of time to Italy. And obviously, we grew up in an environment where it’s all about family. I had a great childhood, in the sense that I had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends, but also had to make some sacrifices, you know, including the fact that when the time came to select a middle school, I decided to join a middle school inside the military base, which teaches you to be an apprentice.
And I think the concept of apprenticeship, which is now coming back, believe it or not, kind of shaped me in many ways who I am today. And I carry it always through the career I have had for the last almost 40 years, believe it or not.

So, when you talk about the apprenticeship experience, what do you mean? What are some of the things that you’ve taken away from that, that really have helped your view of leadership evolve?

Well, you know, the fact that you grew up in an environment that’s very structured in many ways, but they give you the tools to learn, with hands-on experience, right? That’s something that generally today is hard—you either study or you work. And at the time, there was the ability to do both, and actually get exposed to multiple practices. And then eventually, you pick your path, right?
And that hands-on experience comes with a little bit of survival mode in many ways, because, obviously a country like Argentina, which was in the top 10 countries in the 50s, in the 60s, it was a different situation in the 80s. And so for me, it was all about learning and soaking up as much knowledge as I could at the time, and that defined me, I think, over the last almost four decades, you know, learn from the hands on experience while you complete your studies, and that requires a lot of sacrifices, including the fact that I went to college during the night times after work.