There are moments in a career that do not coincide with a promotion, a job change, or a new title. They are quieter moments.
Moments when you begin to sense that accumulated experience is no longer enough. When your skills are solid, yet your perspective could be broader. When you realize that truly navigating complexity requires a different lens.

For Carlo Berardi, a civil engineer and, at the time, Technical Director, this awareness was clear. By training, he felt technical; constrained, because his lack of economic and financial expertise prevented him from aspiring to top leadership roles; dissatisfied, because he was unable to oversee projects in their full strategic scope.

Ombretta Faggiano, a corporate lawyer in a major organization, started from a different place. She saw herself as “specialized, pragmatic, and passionate”. Yet she, too, felt the need to expand her perspective — to move beyond the vertical dimension of her role and embrace a comprehensive business vision, strengthening her leadership and decision-making capabilities in increasingly uncertain environments.

Two different paths, one shared need: to evolve the way they think. To expand their skill sets while transforming the very framework through which they interpret decisions, responsibilities, and scenarios.

For both, SDA Bocconi’s Executive MBA became the organizational space where that transformation took shape.

A transformation that begins with perspective

For our two Executive MBAs, the learning journey was far more than an expansion of competencies — it was a deep and progressive paradigm shift.

Carlo describes adding “one brick at a time (an occupational habit)” to his education. Each discipline — from finance to marketing, from supply chain to people management — opened a new interpretative window. The most significant shift came when he began to understand the value of what he was building not only from a technical standpoint, but through the lens of investors, clients, and financial institutions.

By the end of the program, Carlo was promoted to General Manager — a defining milestone in his professional trajectory.

For Ombretta, too, the change was first and foremost about mindset. She speaks of a radical shift in perspective: from a sector-specific approach to a genuinely strategic and holistic one.

“I learned to see the company not as a collection of functions, but as a complex and interconnected ecosystem. This allowed me to read problems not only through my professional lens, but by considering their impact on finance, marketing, operations, and people.”

The conversations

The most tangible transformation is reflected in the quality of the contribution they now bring to decision-making tables.

“Today I talk about balance sheets, EBITDA, margins, M&A… topics I once observed from a distance with admiration,” Carlo explains. It’s not merely a new vocabulary, but the ability to contribute meaningfully to strategic decisions at the highest corporate levels.

Similarly, Ombretta describes sitting at the table with C-level executives and Board members and “actively contributing to conversations about the company’s strategic direction, market opportunities, and financial challenges — not only from a legal perspective, but with a deep understanding of their broader implications.”

This is where the true impact of an Executive MBA is measured: in the quality of the contribution one is able to bring to decision-making processes.

Beyond the role: mature leadership

Professional results followed, but the real evolution cannot be measured solely by titles.

For Carlo, the journey led first to his promotion to General Manager and later to an experience as CEO. For Ombretta, it meant developing a cross-functional foundation for strategic leadership that transcends any specific role.

In both cases, the impact runs deeper than career advancement.

Carlo speaks of the courage he discovered along the way — the ability to delegate and invest in people, and the awareness that experience is also the sum of mistakes from which we learn. Ombretta reflects on a resilience and pressure management capacity she did not know she possessed.

It is here that transformation truly reveals itself: in the depth of perspective with which complexity is faced.

The moment of decision

If he could go back, Carlo would be unequivocal: “I would tell myself: do it sooner.”
Ombretta describes the EMBA as intense and demanding — yet capable of “re-coding the way you think.”

The decision to embark on an Executive MBA rarely coincides with a perfect moment. It is a conscious choice — one that stems from the willingness to take responsibility for one’s own growth.

Because change takes shape not only in a new title, but in the lens through which we choose to interpret our future.

Perhaps, then, the real question is not, “Is this the right moment?”
But rather: “Are we ready to change perspective?”

SDA Bocconi School of Management