Embracing change

Last March 19th, I was invited as a speaker at the “Embracing Change” event, organized by Radial Europe.

On paper, it was a training and discussion moment to talk about the evolution of the e-commerce world. In reality, it was a beautiful moment of sharing human emotions: fear, creativity, and desire for transformation.

The panel was a perfect 10 and my “inner impostor” wasn’t quiet for a single moment. But I pulled it off anyway. The messages of appreciation from such “distinguished” colleagues really pleased me (and surprised me, too. I still need to study a lot to reach that level!).

First speaker, Leonardo Antonio Avezzano, whom it was an honor to meet: high-altitude photographer, storyteller, modern explorer. Leonardo talked about his adventures in the most magnificent and remote places in the world.

Places that resonate deeply, in my memory and in my sensibility. Mountains I love, even though I’ve looked at them from below “without ever reaching the top” (as Paolo Cognetti wrote). Nepal, Peru, Kenya. That kind of location where earth and sky, the here and beyond, are separated by a very thin veil you can distinctly perceive.

Leonardo talked about courage and fear, about the ability to plan the journey and to actually experience it.

One anecdote stuck with me. He tells of a man who wants to change his life and decides to climb a mountain. But, before leaving, he wants to collect data, as much data as possible. He asks anyone returning from their expedition what the difficulties were, what it feels like to get up there. And he accumulates testimony after testimony, without ever deciding to leave. He tells this to a monk, who warns him: collecting second-hand information doesn’t come close to experiencing something firsthand.

Perhaps we should stop being afraid. Stop thinking that only one day, only when the conditions are right, when we have all the information and all the equipment, only then we can leave for that adventure we dream of. Maybe we should leave now, right away, and that’s it. And see how it goes.

And, applying it to marketing, it’s also like saying: data is nice, but experience is something else. Enough with this data-driven approach, let’s become experience-driven, maybe it’s time to put people, not numbers, at the top of the priority list.

Invisible, transformative, sustainable and supported by AI.

Following, to complete the full house of aces, Valentino Caporizzi, Baris Gencel and Ben Demiri delivered some more enlightening speeches.

Valentino Caporizzi, from the height of his long career in digital, gave a minimal and conceptual presentation. He painted in a few precise and vivid brushstrokes what our life will be like in a few years. Machines “will know us better than ourselves, to the point of predicting not only what we want but also what we might aspire to become.”

A machine that encourages us to become the best version of ourselves could also be the best imaginable version of the machine.

Ben Demiri emphasized the importance of sustainability as a sine qua non of a personalized and fluid shopping experience, yes, but also one with low impact.

Ben has been at the forefront of revolutionizing fashion production by reducing overproduction and waste. His company, PlatformE, uses innovative technology to optimize supply chains, enabling fashion brands to offer personalized products while minimizing environmental impact.

Ben highlighted the need for the fashion industry leaders to prioritize sustainability and human-centered leadership, recognizing that small incremental changes can lead to significant shifts in how companies operate.

Finally, Baris Gencel showed how AI is not at all a monster trying to replace us, cheaply imitating our creativity. On the contrary: it’s a powerful tool that can expand our mind and amplify all our background and sensitivity. Therefore it must be governed, but only an artist will be able to draw something artistic from it, as has always been the case in world history. In short, you don’t become a supreme poet with ChatGPT. And, certainly, you don’t create such impactful and pathos-filled works of figurative art like Baris’s without having his taste and aesthetic sense.

In the end, here I am, trying to tie all the discourse together to give a positive message. Because to me, the future still seems bright. I don’t feel like a medieval copyist who has just heard about movable type printing; I don’t think I’ll be replaced. I do—and quite often—use tools like Notebook LM and similar, especially to generate summaries of large amounts of content that I need to study before writing about them.

But when I write with my hand, in my style, fragmented and syncopated but mine, human, I know it’s more accurate, more exciting, that there’s more warmth between the lines. And that warmth can’t be replicated with a tool, just as you can’t replicate Chris Cornell‘s voice with autotune.