- Start date
- Duration
- Format
- Language
- 5 Jun 2025
- 2 days
- Class
- Italian
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Leading Through Crises: Nuclear Diplomacy at SDA Bocconi with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi
At the heart of the 2025 Alumni Reunion, celebrating 10 years of EMMIO, the IAEA Director General offered an inside view of what it takes to lead a major international organization through political crises and why programs like EMMIO matter now more than ever.
This year’s EMMIO (Executive Master in Management of International Organizations) Alumni Reunion opened at SDA Bocconi with a guest whose job description rarely includes stepping away from active crisis zones. Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), joined the EMMIO community in Milan for an open exchange on the ethics, tension and everyday realities of multilateral leadership.
Before addressing the alums during the on-campus session on Nuclear Diplomacy, DG Grossi joined us for a candid conversation on the mindset required to lead with credibility in high-stakes, high-complexity environments.
We asked how institutions like the IAEA remain relevant amid rising global pressure. For Grossi, it begins with presence. “There’s been a degree of inertia in how many organizations operate,” he said. “The challenge is not to defend structures but to prove usefulness. To stay credible through what we actually do.” He pointed to the IAEA’s sustained presence in Ukraine since 2022 as a defining example: “We are there. We see. We report. If we weren’t, the world would be relying on guesswork.”
That same commitment to presence shapes how the IAEA understands its role. Grossi acknowledged that “technical neutrality” remains central to the agency’s reputation, but he prefers a different emphasis. “Impartiality,” he said. “Because we are involved. We are hands on. And sometimes, that means acting. Not out of ideology, but in response to the technical reality we observe.”
This distinction is not always easy to explain. It requires ongoing dialogue with leaders, partners and communities who bring their own assumptions to the table. For Grossi, this is exactly where programs like EMMIO show their strength: “That’s why spaces like this matter,” he said. “Because they prepare people to lead when there’s no script.”
In the public session that followed, Grossi was joined by Ambassador Pasquale Ferrara, Director General for Political and Security Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, and Professor Greta Nasi, Director of EMMIO. Their dialogue returned to the idea that credibility today is built through consistent, grounded action, not declarations.
Ambassador Ferrara reflected on the challenges faced by institutions in a world where diplomacy is increasingly shaped by fragmentation and competing narratives. In such settings, he noted, what counts most is clarity of purpose and consistency of action.
Grossi answered by returning to the Agency’s field operations in Ukraine, Iran and in other areas where the IAEA’s presence signals a shared global interest: “You don’t need me to take sides,” he said. “You need me to help prevent a nuclear accident.”
Professor Nasi brought the discussion back to the EMMIO community, asking how leaders can remain effective when technical expertise is not enough. Grossi’s response made the link clear: “Very often, our people are asked to carry responsibilities that go beyond their technical training,” he said. “They have to communicate clearly, hold the institutional line and act with intention in situations they’ve never encountered before.”
It was a reminder that mandates do not act on their own. The burden often falls on individuals, and what prepares them is not only knowledge, but judgment, self-awareness and the ability to keep evolving. “That’s why I’m here,” Grossi said. “Because we need to keep learning.”
Grossi’s visit was a cornerstone of the 2025 EMMIO Alumni Reunion, a two-day program of reflection, debate and reconnection for a community of professionals engaged in international cooperation and public service. His presence brought to life the very principles EMMIO, and SDA Bocconi, stand for: clarity in complexity, responsibility in action and learning as a continuous mission. The themes explored during the reunion will carry forward into the Graduation Ceremony on May 30, as the next generation of graduates prepares to bring this mindset into the world.
The Executive Master in Management of International Organizations (EMMIO) is a nine-month, part-time program in English, designed for professionals in full-time roles. It blends academic rigor with applied learning to prepare public leaders for the challenges of today’s international landscape.
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