How APMG's Southern European Business Region Manager, Chiara Mainolfi's journey led her to a role she is passionate about
Competitive advantage within organizations
When I consider competitive advantages in private and public organizations, continuous learning stands out for two reasons: a deeply held business belief that solving a problem, introducing a product, or reengineering a process all require seeing the world in a new light and acting accordingly.
In the absence of learning, companies—and individuals—simply repeat old practices. Change remains cosmetic, and improvements are either fortuitous or short-lived.
An equally strong conviction that across society, in all industries, leaders and their organizations are racing to unlock the value of data, tech-enable business processes, and create better, more digitally-enhanced experiences for customers, clients, and employees.
They are working to disrupt their own businesses before somebody else does. This cannot be done without substantial investment in talent.
Thinking back on the things that have informed my perspective as I’ve built my career, I realize that I’ve tended to focus on three passions.
- The first is strategy. I’ve always been fascinated by how a fantastic and committed leadership can generate sustained profitable growth, stay relevant in a rapidly changing world, and deepen ties with stakeholders.
- Second is global travel. I’ve always been curious about discovering new geographies, new cultures, and different ways of thinking around the world, talking, listening, and observing people from all corners of the Earth.
- Third is learning. Not just intellectual, the experience of learning with curiosity that is primarily emotional, being a beginner and making mistakes.
I’ve been very fortunate to have worked for companies that allowed me to pursue these passions.
Where it all started
I started my career at Getronics Olivetti. Olivetti was the Italy’s first typewriter factory, founded in the foothills of the Italian Alps in 1908 as a small family business. In the next 30 years under Adriano, the Olivetti company would become a global phenomenon, and his village of Ivrea the focus of ambitious experiments in how to build what he called a more “human” industrial city.
There are so many words to describe Adriano Olivetti’s genius pursuits. He is remembered as a man able to inspire people, not only in Ivrea but all of Italy, thanks to his avant-garde vision.
Olivetti strove to achieve a human focused economic model (years before it became “fashionable”) built upon the development of a comprehensive workforce upskilling strategy to grow “Olivetti people”. When I joined, our management development programme equipped us with a broad base of knowledge across a variety of domains — such as IT, general management, languages, marketing. This was delivered through tech-enabled learning including immersive skill- building and gamification, far removed from the traditional boundaries of classrooms.
It was a fantastic experience for this new employee to become a competent manager. Importantly we were willing to experiment during this stage for our future growth.
A career at APMG International
In 2010 I started working at APMG International. I was immediately interested also because it taps into my three interests. There are many great companies in the education field, but in my view, most don’t think about the key role of the trainer’s competences. APMG International is a niche business, focused on the accreditation and certification of trainers and training companies - a major exception in this industry
The company has a storied history, but it’s almost shy about expressing it. For the founder and CEO, Richard Pharro, the fact that APMG promotes and delivers high standards isn’t just a matter of image, it is at the core, and is ingrained in the culture of everything we do; a practice and value that’s especially important in the education market.
Corporate responsibility
Our efforts with regard to responsibility in this industry aren’t limited to assessment and exams. As an example, in the Southern European region, we organized the “Talent Club” initiative to provide training and skills to a selected group of women who then successfully found a job. We did this in collaboration with the entire learning ecosystem – local and national governments, private companies, associations - building a community to support a group of people worse off than ourselves, aware that companies grow when their employees are learning. It’s our job to help in producing professionals who can thrive in a radically changing world.
There have been some Market challenges over the past few years, but at APMG we haven’t stopped investing in new schemes for professionals and their organizations. Requesting high standards and new products for a digitally enabled world. And we don’t ever intend to change.
Yes, I’ve been very fortunate!
“Our life together is so precious together…We have grown”
