Economic Sustainability

Allegory of Good Government - detail (Prudence), Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1285-1348 ca., Siena, © Scala Archives

'At our company, everyone does the following: we don't clock in, but we all strictly observe the working hours; we don't want people to be online for business reasons after the end of the working day and on weekends; we want salaries to be slightly higher than average, especially for those classified as blue-collar; we think that the lunch break should be as lovely as the lunch eaten with the family; we surround the workplaces with gardens and landscape, which are there for everyone to see thanks to large windows that make everything visible and present.

When we think of the business, we prefer gracious, constant and balanced development, and this too is a lesson that comes from rural life, where fast accelerations and large harvests cannot become the rule because doing so would damage the great harmony of nature; nature teaches us never to be too afraid of painful events – which often teach us something, as Saint Augustine said – and to follow the regular pace of our action. A hailstorm will never affect the whole countryside, but only part of it; a financial crisis cannot last that long, whatever its causes. And just like Ulysses said, it is enough to keep the rudder steady until the storm is over, beyond which there is always sunshine.'