Question: How would you like to be remembered?

My grandfather has been my role model and had a great influence on my life. I would like to be remembered as I remember him. He always set an example for his family and community, and was a successful entrepreneur. His ethics, his values, his energy during difficult times, his infectious good humor, and his entrepreneurial innovation still serve as examples to me.

As an Italian, I attach great importance to family and community. Professional success at the expenses of family life would be failure. Balancing personal and professional interests is certainly difficult, but it is the only way to build a merry and desirable life. I have always shared projects with my family and I mean to continue doing so.

It is important for me to help the community, as well. For several years I volunteered with the Red Cross in Italy and in Africa. These experiences left a durable mark and vivid memories. I am eager to be remembered as a contributor and, should I have the means, a financer of this organization as well as other associations that can teach our kids how to enjoy the beauty and richness of cultural and racial differences. Personal accomplishment and ambition are important, but I dread a society that praises empty material success above all else.

I want to be remembered as someone who listened to the opportunities offered by the professional services marketplace. Globalization and the merging of professional practices can offer competitive advantages to those who understand them. My recent experience helping the set up of the Financial Solution Centre in Paris taught me a lot about the power of combining IT and banking expertise. I want my coworkers to remember me as somebody who was able to help them build sound and successful business initiatives. I would like them to think of me as a people developer: somebody who offered opportunities for professional growth to those around him, and who helped brilliant young graduates start their professional journeys.

My clients, I hope, will remember me as somebody who was able to foster and negotiate win-win solutions and who succeeded in answering their needs. A senior partner once told me, 'Think as your client would, and your client will love you.' I think he was right: the only way to durable success on the market is putting the client first.

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