The theme goes to the very heart of the things in which I am extremely interested, for which, I would say, I’ll attempt to give a more than adequate reply. To graduate at the LUISS means – particularly today – to have the courage to make a wager with oneself. LUISS is a University which has changed very much in recent years, and the change, just like merit and talent, are part of a kind of liturgy, composed of a triad of concepts to elaborate, even before thinking of the attainment of a “LUISS formation”: courage, fear and shame. Fear does not mean to lack courage, in the sense that fear is unfailingly felt. Who can, arms himself with the courage to face it, otherwise, one would have, and probably unwittingly, only an arrogant attitude. What is lacking today, in many occasions, is the capacity to feel the sense of shame. Of course, in the assumption in which shame means the recovery of the sense of dignity. As a Country System, as a civilized society, we must recover that sense of dignity and pride and we, in this sector, are doing much.

Because we attempt to do just this (with simplicity, without presumption) … during recent years, we have gradually moved – with the intuitions of Celli (Director General of the LUISS) – the focus of attention, placing the student at the center of the system. To place the student – during his entire course - at the center of the system means to transfer, completely, the final objective of our work and the concentration on the things we do. The student as “entity person at the center of the system” involves us for a project that we have defined of “11 years”.
Eleven years, because we follow him until one year before he nears the Ateneo, we follow him for the five years of his course at LUISS, and we continue to follow him, at least, for another five years until he is actually settled in the work market. “At the center of the system” means to transfer a very simple concept. Can you ever imagine training an athlete and thinking they can make 100 meters rapidly, with a lead ball tied to his foot? No, well then, our objective is to see that every student is examined with great attention and evaluated in his studies and in the commitment.
When a particularly bright boy arrives, it is necessary that his studies are his primary interest and that whatever faculty he chooses – in all the universities –is able to support him with the best and most adequate preparation. All this is very important as it allows for a course to be constructed which ....you understand ….. on the one side, is the need to form a student in a specific profession, and on the other, to form him as a man. So here …. it’s like saying the name of the assassin in a thriller …. is revealed the objective of the structure and of the various parts of our work: at LUISS, it not only interests us to form a good jurist, a good economist, a good manager or a good diplomat, above all, it interests us to form a good citizen. A person who is aware of the necessity of competence, because without competence, there’s no future; it’s as if a footballer goes onto the playing field without knowing whether or not he has the shoes with the regulation studded heels. It is a requisite that we are obliged to give …. that is, what we are trying to add to this acquisition of competences, in the process of the formation of a good citizen, is the guarantee of a particular attention to the activities that can be done together to learn to compete respecting each other.
Therefore, the ping-pong table that you will find near this building, is neither accidental nor usual, it is not customary to find two ping pong tables and table football in a University. But they serve to create collective and different frequentations, which suggest competition and teach reciprocal respect.
It is no accident that we are the first University in Italy to have such a lively sports association, sufficient to sustain a basket ball team able to play at a professional level, that is, which plays in the professional competitions, and we are competitive also in other sports. They are ‘collective rites’, which teach loyalty and respect.
We are going through an epoch in which, finally, after having learned that the successful professional must be a person able to express a right mixture between knowing; knowing how to be; and knowing how to do. We are learning that we are not interested in someone who knows everything and then does not know how to behave or has no savoir faire …. In short, we are not interested that our graduate presents himself as someone who knows everything, but does not how to conduct himself, because he does not know how to express ethical values.
Therefore, the right mixture to aim for is the course to mould persons, professionals who know their subject well, who know what to do and know how to behave. Now, we are trying to add another ethical level, that is, to know how to give.
One must metabolize the need to leave University with an additional aptitude, which is that of knowing how to give: to know how to listen, how to give time, attention and respect. It is an important project which, didactically, involves all of us, students and professors: the classrooms must be attended continually by rivers of students, who come to measure themselves, to ask questions, and present projects.
Since the beginning of this project, we have already developed four societies of entrepreneurial spin-off of our students. Since, in this way, in situations like the economic crisis, our scholars must respond and must respond by rolling up their sleeves.
A society called Selected ADV was created, which is a procurer of publicity and promotional activities for the University; another composed of students who create services for events, and yet another of consultancy, for young graduates.
The root theme of the quid pluris, is the comprehensive strategy to profile the skills, in such a way that it is one of the principal elements on which to work with a incessant activity of elaboration of the strategic plans of the faculties and departments, creating a guide-line to develop strategic projects.
The guide-line is based, above all, on two elements: the first is an ample benchmark comparison with the formation offer, also of universities at international level, and the second is a great attention to the networks of our graduates with whom we are in contact through a consistent activity of networking, seeking to borrow the example of the American universities.
We have 20 thousand graduates and on-line there are already 10 thousand contacts: they are all people, today, who perform roles of the very first level. They are managers, chief executive officers, politicians …. We have a wealth of graduates who are part, in their own right, and in a visible way, of various strata, in various environments of the executive class of this Country System

In fact, a continual activity of internal analysis exists, an activity of benchmark towards the others, an activity of constant verification with the request of the work market and with the expected or privileged competences, differentiating the prospects among the new graduates and those who should graduate from here in three years, trying to plan and orientate the formation offer towards the adequate skills, realizing an accurate monitoring of the responses between market requirements and instances of cultural formation.
In an imaginary chest of instruments which we give to the students, a special place is reserved for the “monkey wrenches”: the concrete links between reality and culture. At the Faculty of Political Science, Roberto Saviano holds a course on criminality, among the professors of the Faculty of Jurisprudence there are, among others, for example, Catricalà and Pizzzetti and in Economy, Arpe and Gubitosi. The student “leaves” with a chest of important instruments to which he adds the “universal instruments” acquired from the ethics.
To develop the sense of belonging, the participation, to stand comparison, the attention to reach the objective of shaping a good citizen, a person who knows how to conduct himself positively, not only for the individuation of the personal path, but also for the Country System, is the quid pluris, the universal instrument of our students.The scope which derives is also that of translating the competition in “sustainable competition”, underlining the value of cooperation and collaboration, which is fundamental for the psychological consolidation of the manager of the future. For example, an activity that is called “LUISS listening to you” which is a “psychological” service available to the students who must face a sudden important problem like the loss of a parent or sibling, or who have had a very serious accident …. It can happen in a population of 7 thousand people .... and does happen, and on those occasions even the brightest students have an inevitable decrease in performance tied to a sense of acute distress and they need moral support. And this relates to a “human” vision of the competition, which is not necessarily “mors-tua, vita mea”, that is, it doesn’t necessarily translate into the equation “when the other is weaker, I am strengthened” or “my success passes, also and above all, through the failure of another”, on the contrary – it is here that the concept of talent and merit returns – talent serves and it is important, and talents can be enhanced, considering they exist, there are various gradations of talent, and so it is important to supply the students with a concrete vision that one day, they will find themselves working, included in a group, more than in a team.
A team is chosen piece by piece, one finds the best pieces and they are put together, but not always is it said that it works …. It is this that happens in the world of football … that is, in the working reality one often finds they are included in a group. One cannot choose all the collaborators. A group is ready-made; it has its talents, its half-talents and the water carriers. So, perhaps it is necessary to recuperate the value of the half-back and of the water-carrier, who run, move the game and keep the adversaries busy, permitting the talented ones to go in and make goals.
With the value of the collaboration, of the sustainable competition, one is able to obtain from the entire group a result of greater value. To return to the football metaphor, if one doesn’t rely sufficiently on the half-back, if the water carrier is not included in the group, but is excluded because only the value of the talent is recognized, it ends up that no-one any longer passes the ball to the talent and the talent alone is not able to make a goal.
Talent can even be considered as a potential trap, if it is not interpreted and utilized correctly.
It is useless to speak of merit to our students if then we do not, in the first place, apply ourselves in a concrete manner in the value of the example. If the Professor does not make the first example in the line of ‘knowing how to do’ and ‘knowing how to give’ with generosity, and limits himself to providing erudite teachings without planting the roots that others must water, probably, we proceed towards an impoverished world. So, the value of the teacher for us is he who offers great availability and willingness; there is a very profound involvement in attempting to bring to the surface – without rhetoric – the role of accompanying, of listening, of example …. It often happens to me to confess to my collaborators that if I know that my boss arrives in the office at 6:46, I take it as an example, and I must arrive before him ….this must contribute to the understanding of how important it is that everything revolves around an aware sense of responsibility.

The young people of today are obviously very different from their contemporaries of the 90’s – everyone knows this – from a “privileged” observation point, we are able to verify that, today, they are more disenchanted, but much more “alert” in the sense that they have a rapidity of perception and of learning, which is new compared to what we knew some years ago. The young people of two thousand suffer from other problems, on which we are trying to work … For example, they arrive with a much reduced capacity in writing, compared to youngsters of some years back, and this gap could be a consequence of the methods and means of communication to which they are accustomed: like sms, Internet and Twitter.
Furthermore, it is evident they have a somewhat larger problem, compared to contemporaries of the past, and this is in relation to the possibility of being employed.
The University has developed a very attentive placement and re-placement service, but it is not sufficient to placate the fears or to find work for everyone. Then, there is the problem of the mobility… which is very important in a Country like ours which, unfortunately is going towards immobility, not only in a geographical sense ….
A few days ago, I was investigating a very fascinating indicator, which measures how elastic is the possibility of changing one’s income in a lifetime, and the result is that we are going towards a situation in our Country in which, who is born rich, will die rich, and who is born poor, will probably die poor. What can one do to reverse the tendency?
At the risk of seeming a romantic, in my opinion, one can attempt to teach these students the value of the sacrifice. It is a strong preoccupation that I have in relation to my own children …. When I was a child, I worked in a grocery shop, today, I would never think of sending my son of eight to work in a grocery shop, or to carry the shopping …. in reality, I don’t know whether the value of the example that my wife and I try to give, every day, is sufficient…. However, young people must be taught sacrifice. When you teach them how important it is to perspire …. Some time ago, I read a fantastic book dedicated to Edison, it is entitled “My friend Edison”, at a certain point there is a phrase which, at times, I reiterate to the students, and it recalls the mountain of work that Edison did every day, notwithstanding he was a genius and notwithstanding the immense discoveries and inventions he created. Both Ford, author of the book, and Edison were two geniuses convinced of the value and the power of sacrifice and, therefore, if one genius says to another genius that nothing exists which is more important than sacrifice and abnegation, then to us, who are not geniuses, nothing remains but to roll up our sleeves and work from morning to night. This is the sense of what I try to transmit.
Sacrifice in the working world can bring reward, notwithstanding the precariousness, and can supply opportunities of recognition. These youngsters have other qualities – although they seem so uncertain – they are aware of the importance of international parameters, of acquiring diversified experience: the rapid communication of the Web world indicates to them, not only the necessity of a fluent knowledge of the English language, but the need to have some life experience outside of Italy.
When some of our students went to visit young people in Shanghai, I realized that the comparison with such a different Country, with such a different language and with such totally different customs did nothing but enrich them, and gave them more instruments to return home with, a greater awareness to seek an adequate professional path. Certainly, not all feel the need to face hard experiences, not all the families are prepared to let their children face the reality of hardship, and to face them with fewer means than are usually available to them, but it is indispensable to cure certain interior fragilities with the certitude and self-awareness that gives experience, and here we return once again to the idea of sacrifice, abnegation and far-sightedness.

I have never thought about it, but the reply comes to me immediately, reflecting on some recent episodes of aggression and attempted attacks. It is the individuation of an aspect created by the everyday life: the element which makes the difference is the attention to the particulars, always. Above all, for those who are involved with Intelligence the byword is “always look at what you see”, often it is the detail – at first sight, negligible – the genesis of the development of an intuition or of a decision …. If I worked in an imaginary Agency, I would attempt to make courses and to institute a phase of formation dedicated to teach, in a pervasive way, how important it is to pay attention to particulars. How essential it is to see and look at, at the same time, to be intensely present, on every detail … one needs to feel, in every moment, like a mother who prepares the daughter on the morning of the wedding day, and if you look at her in the wedding dress, you realize that every minimum detail is fundamental for the success of the event.

I don’t know, actually, it is a verification that we have never made, we could imagine making some targeted meeting ….Yes, it could be very interesting to organize some meetings to present the activity of Intelligence and provoke the attention of the students.

Yes, there are some internal promoters who have started activities “work in progress” programmed for development. The global area of security, according to me, is a many-sided scenario, a course which could have significant and useful results for the Sistema Paese and, therefore, it could be of interest to the students.