01.

PALERMO, ITALY

Early 1990s

In my early 20s, I moved from my hometown Trento, in Northern Italy, to Palermo, in Sicily. 

As a young activist, I joined a movement that challenged a culture of fear and silence. I worked alongside the anti-mafia mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando.

Those years taught me some of the most important lessons of my life: courage is contagious, leadership begins with personal responsibility, and lasting change always starts from within.

It was there that I became fascinated by a question that still guides my work today:

Why do human beings choose fear, and how do they find the courage to transcend it?

02.

COLOMBIA

2001-2010

My search for answers brought me to Colombia, a country marked by one of the longest armed conflicts in modern history.

For years, I worked alongside communities, institutions, former combatants, and political leaders seeking to transform violence into dialogue and division into possibility.

Conflict taught me something that leadership books rarely mention:

the conflicts we face externally 

often mirror the conflicts we carry within ourselves.

Understanding human transformation became more important to me than understanding conflict itself.

Because every peace process begins with an inner one.

03.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

2000s - Present

At Columbia University in New York, I found the intellectual home that allowed me to integrate practice and scholarship.

As an anthropologist, professor, and researcher, I spent years studying leadership, conflict, culture, negotiation, and human behavior across different societies and organizational contexts.

But the most important discovery was not academic. It was realizing that behind every strategy, every negotiation, every organization, and every decision, there is a human being seeking meaning, certainty, and belonging.

Understanding people became more important than just understanding systems.

04.

TODAY

Global

Today, I advise CEOs, entrepreneurs, family business leaders, artists, athletes, and public figures around the world.

The contexts have changed.

The challenges have evolved.

Yet the question remains remarkably consistent. How do we lead with greater clarity,  courage, wisdom, and purpose?

My work sits at the intersection of anthropology, leadership, conflict transformation, neuroscience, and human development.

I help leaders uncover the invisible patterns shaping their decisions, relationships, and future.

Because the quality of your leadership will never exceed the quality of your self-understanding.

Different places. Different worlds. One purpose.

TO UNDERSTAND THE HUMAN BEING BEHIND EVERY DECISION.