Try, fail, try again: obstacles point the way to new directions
On 6 July, at Palazzo Giureconsulti in Piazza dei Mercanti, Milan, WeLead. Women Leading the Way took place – an event organised by ING Italia and Fondazione Mondo Digitale for female entrepreneurs as part of Job Digital Lab. Seventy participants gathered for an afternoon of testimonials and short training sessions, with a practical aim: to take home not only motivation, but tools to put to use the very next day.
Inès Makula opened the proceedings, moderating the official welcome speeches: she was joined by Chiara Benedetta Cormanni (Women’s Entrepreneurship Committee of the Milan, Monza, Brianza and Lodi Chamber of Commerce), Anita Mancassola (Formaper and Punto Impresa Digitale), Cecilia Stajano (Fondazione Mondo Digitale) and Davide Colapietro (ING Italia).
Next to take the floor is Nadine Methner, Head of Business Banking at ING Italia, who chooses to speak in Italian and recounts her own journey: from Bavaria, where women did not pursue careers, to Accenture, McKinsey and ING, with a constant thread of growth, entrepreneurship and the desire to turn an idea into reality. She also highlights a telling statistic: in Italy, women entrepreneurs account for just 15–17 per cent, despite a population that is half women, which is why initiatives like this one matter. She dedicates the final part to advice, offering three key messages. Do not change your dreams, but change the rules of the game: she quotes Angela Merkel, who broke the deadlock in G7 negotiations simply by rearranging the seating order at the table – same people, different outcome. View being a woman as an advantage rather than a limitation, without feeling obliged to appear tougher: authenticity is an asset, not something to be hidden. And accept failure as part of success, shifting the question from ‘what if I fail?’ to ‘what if I soar instead?’.
The programme then continues with the story of Alice and Giada Cancellario from Heloola, who recount the moment they decided to take the plunge. Next, Giuliana Ubertini, from Happyspeaking, delivers the first training session, dedicated to communication and public speaking, and gets the room moving: the participants stand up, pair up, change seats and film short videos about their businesses. Ubertini guides them through four ‘voices’, one for each colour: yellow to break the ice, green to build trust, blue to demonstrate expertise, and red to close with passion. Among people who didn’t know one another, interaction develops quickly and surprisingly.
After the coffee break, Francesca Serafin from Serà Fine Silk explains how digital technology has become an ally in her work. The training session concludes with Andrea Boscaro, from The Vortex, discussing generative artificial intelligence applied to business: how to use it in practice, from well-written prompts to a single document that brings together a team’s objectives, messages and figures, right through to agents that carry out tasks on our behalf.
Once again, the talk kept the audience engrossed right to the end.
The closing remarks returned to Inès Makula, centred on a single idea: test, make mistakes, start again, because obstacles are nothing more than tools to illuminate paths that, until a moment before, we could not even have imagined. During the networking drinks reception, the conversations that had begun in the hall continued amongst the participants, with a clear desire to strengthen the connections forged between people who, just a few hours earlier, had not known one another.
This account is by Nicoletta Vulpetti
