Fabio Corno edited the Italian edition of the Wise Company (published by Guerini) by the authors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, the intellectual fathers of the concept of knolowedge management (out in bookstores today).
This book meant a lot to Fabio Corno, who has known Nonaka for over thirty years, and for many reasons he wanted to edit the Italian edition.
First of all, for the fundamental role of knowledge in the creation of innovation, for its practical declination of the concept of corporate social responsibility and for the proposal of a new model that guides the transformation of knowledge into wisdom.
The Wise Company is an important theoretical and practical guide on how to become ‘wise leaders’ contributing to the good of the whole society, designed precisely for entrepreneurs, CEOs and managers at all levels.
The key to the development of continuous innovation is to be able to develop a practical wisdom, shaped by values, ethics and morals. A wisdom “acted out” in the ba, shared spaces (physical, virtual or mental), capable of enabling a community to share contexts and experiences and to create new knowledge and innovation, both at corporate and social level. Everyone must be oriented to make knowledge creation a valid way of life for everyone, a goal capable of generating continuous innovation, improving the performance of organizations and enriching our lives at the same time.
“The creation of the future must go beyond the narrow interest of the enterprise. Entrepreneurs and managers are asked to hold their heads high; to ask themselves whether decisions are as good for society as they are for their businesses. The top management of a company must bring their people together, helping them to “share feelings, emotions and points of view” and to intuitively understand the context in which they find themselves, so as to be able to act appropriately,” explains Fabio Corno in the introduction to the book.
The invitation to entrepreneurs and managers is to “ask themselves what kind of future we want to create for ourselves, for our children and for the entire community”.
The two authors, therefore, have succeeded in declining concrete good practices to bring a human-centric management into the company, capable of enhancing the contribution of people even in the face of the extreme acceleration of technology that characterizes our time.
Reading this essay will help companies and business leaders to cross the bridge between theory and practice.