Reshuffling and... oui, ce sont des provinciaux: the background
Well, this month earlier than expected- but with a small experiment.Last Saturday published on my website an article with almost the same title.
After the monthly picture, will share the part that announced in that article, and the only part of the title difference: the background to each "theme" that was discussed within the "data narrative" in that article.
The concept of that article was to actually deliver a storytelling using screenshots of news articles and posts on Facebook and Linkedin that shared over the last few weeks as the "signposts" through the narrative.
Incidentally: you are welcome to have a look on Facebook or Linkedin, or to follow; but I connect only respectively if we have already contacts in common or met in person, or if we could have mutual interest- not necessarily economic.
In this introduction, instead would like to extend a bit on what shared since the previous post in this series that posted on August 12th.
I had planned to release some material by end of September- including yet another book.
Eventually, for reasons that shared already online, decided to release instead not just the mini-book but also something that was planned for much later all by the end of August.
The book? "Citizen Audit & Ai - User Manual", about evolving the concept of citizen audit that was based on something that did for few decades in my business activities on cultural and organizational change, and that few years ago started releasing on my own website as "citizen audit"
And the something else? Was an expansion of what started as a joke in 2007, using a fictional culture and organization called "United Hamster Front".
The beginning was simple: on stage6.divx.com, where registered in January 2007 because during a dinner just with cakes in Turin took movies with my own new DivX camera, and back then was how to store videos for free in decent quality.
It was probably too successful- and overloaded quite often, and whenever it crashed, the was a message that they were feeding the hamsters: giving that kind of online resources for free can bankrupt any company.
You know people on social media: also if nobody makes them to pay with their own data, they feel a sense of entitlement when they start using something for free.
So, "keyboard warriors" piled up comments online that I just let you imagine.
My first jokes were expressions of concern about the overfed hamsters.
Then, I wrote on behalf of the hamsters themselves.
Therefore, just a way to countermand without doing the same, started a group and page there about the fictional United Hamster Front, the real power behind humanity that keep "the humanity wheels spinning", with various jokes, posts with images, and...
... eventually had over 400 members, positive comments, and also the copywriter that created that "out of order" message contacted me.
My representation of the hamsters gradually shifted from being the unsung heroes that keep our collective wheels spinning, to our silent supporters who "nudged" us in the right direction when we collectively as humans went off the rails: a bit as Jean Reno joke in Godzilla that he is called occasionally to sort out the mess created by his country.
And also on Facebook some of my connections were inherited from stage6.divx.com after that website was closed.
It was funny also because, in reality, did what I used to do when delivering management training and workshops in my activities- and used my business experience to give context to apparent jokes, but always from the hamster perspective.
I am a lifelong bookworm, and I love movies.
Hence, in all those activities, as I do now in my posts and articles, often quoted movies, books, etc.
Therefore, did the same with my hamsters, but the other way around: using my experience in cultural and organizational change to actually have hamsters use those concepts without stating it.
Last year decided to add "memes"- and co-opt my UHF whenever attending events, conferences, etc- you can see them on Facebook.
To make a long-story (that will continue) short: I will not just simply resurrect the old stories from 2007-2008.
Such as when the UHF took care of space debris, or when invented a crypto machine using lava lamps and spinning wheels, or when protested about overfeeding with a "the fourth state" painting remake, or when the human scribe (myself) shared the "ode to the Great Hamster" (a joking reference to the North Korea cult of the leader).
Instead, will start a funny magazine taht will work as a funny way to share applied concept of cultural and organizational change.
In the old tradition of TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s, and cartoon series, created my own "reference book".
The "culture" is described in what you can read online on my website (there is also a link to the "teamwork the UHF way" that posted on archive.org- a cartoon manual).
The "brand" side instead is within a book that will use to actually create the future issues of the magazine, each issue focused on a single theme, and lifting from my own published material.
Incidentally: my first experience with a "brand identity" manual I think that was with Andersen- followed by the one that was presenting the choices of palettes for the name that won the internal context for the new company- a spin-off from the audit company that replaced "Andersen Consulting" (a branch of Arthur Andersen) with the name that won, Accenture- which had a "modest" meaning: "The Andersen Consulting Century", i.e. the XXI century 😂
The name of my hamster magazine? UHF Journey.
Will write more in the future.
And now, the second part of this post- the background to each theme within that article linked above.
But before starting, here is the picture of the month:
So, if you want to read just the journey through the pictures, it takes a couple of minutes- by looking at the article published last Saturday https://robertolofaro.com/index.php?page=670 - and skipping the introduction, the section describing the context, my commentary, and the conclusions.
Then, once you have your own concept of what could connect those pictures, you can read all the above, before coming back to this background section.
Anyway, will keep this part almost self-contained, with a bit of rephrasing of what is within that article, so that each theme can make sense.
CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF THE ARTICLE (beware: 4000+ words!)
Anyway, this preamble was to set the frame of cultural reference for those who did not previously read my articles and online posts.
The remaining part of the post will follow a pattern that adopted for some of my articles on change posted on robertolofaro.com- a narrative connecting screenshots of posts and copies of articles that shared elsewhere.
My family name means "the lighthouse"- and I got plenty of jokes across all my personal and business life, notably because often I was in coordination, organization, recovery, relaunch/launch activities- the most common being "show us the light" and, while working in Rome at the Ministry of Interior on an immigration project for a Turin partner as fractional project manager and business analyst...
... got the funniest nickname blending part of my family name: robofaro, i.e. automated buoy.
When discovered the nickname, the team was worried I would be displeased that I had a nickname- but to me, whatever it was (in recovery activities I had also other less flattering ones, when you have to break few eggs to make an omelette), receiving a nickname (or many) is a natural consequence of the roles I cover.
The reason for that nickname? Because they said that with all the twists and turns, keep the course and integrated the changes without getting too much worried- and, when needed, getting right in front.
Despite all of that, whenever I enter a business activity (but also whenever I meet new people), I prefer to listen instead of talking, and to avoid assuming that age or years of experience trump domain-specific or organization-specific knowledge.
Hence, for example, I do something that in Turin, Italy, and European institutions is not common: I listen to those complaining, first and foremost to understand if they still care despite that apparent cynicism, and then to understand if, actually, they are those who have a better grasp of reality than many "leading" them who accept only silence and positive news.
So, my family name might be "lighthouse", I might have played that role (call it coordinator, facilitator, catalyst, orchestrator- three different roles with many points in common). but never let that get in the middle of reality- however unpalatable might be.
As you will see through what will share in this article, we still have plenty of work to do.
There will be plenty of negative elements, so let me start with a positive one.
Anyway, continuing on the background
THEME 1: The new Turin library
Since I was 9 years old, liked to join the libraries- as allowed me to complement my family library, my personal developing one complementing theirs, and what according to curricula should wait high school to be entitled to read.
And at 61, I am still a frequent used of the physical and digital libraries- I miss working in Kew Gardens while preparing proposals or feasibility/organizational studies for my customer, but whenever I am nearby and weather allow, used extensively both the libraries and the Valentino park (that actually extends across the Po river for kilometers, changing few names).
I do not know if I will be able to spend time there, as currently, due to locals attitude of presenting only "tremendous opportunies" and playing social engineering to keep having a job basically just gossiping (be it for recruitment or investigation purposes- same attitude: the 360 investigation in Italy, whatever its purpose, is playing the entrapment card with gusto and no moral, ethical, and apparently legal boundaries- stay clear as much as you can).
Still, the images and descriptions I saw so far are entertaining.
Now, the library in and by itself I do expect that will be presented and discussed with the usual local hyperbole.
Whenever there was an international institution looking for new headquarters, Turin presented itself as the "natural location for"- whatever.
Shopkeepers, cafés, restaurants, hotels, companies and architects working in interior design seem to be the leading edge of élites in Turin, if you consider the number of "renovations" announced and planned...
... before having a budget.
That attitude resulted in quixotic choices such as, after hosting the Eurovision once (as Italy had won previously)...
... starting a campaign to have the Eurovision permanently moved to Turin- ignoring the rules (but the locals more than once changed rules in their own institutional appointments to retain in place people well beyond the temporary mandate that were supposed to have agreed to receive).
I shared since 2012 countless initiatives just like that, often in parallel (one day you are the natural location for "art decò", the next day for an agency about inclusion, the next one... you catch the concept).
I will focus in this article to just a few, as were supposed to be pivotal about both retaining its industrial past and projecting toward the future.
THEME 2: automotive valley and automotive in Italy
You can search on my website articles about "automotive"- look just at those since 2025, or do the same on my Facebook and Linkedin profile, and you will see a local cognitive dissonance galore (to echo a 1940s movie about a ships getting lost and people squirreling away its cargo).
Including, for what was the main automotive industrial area, Mirafiori, continuous announces and newspaper articles with local élites proudly talking about its relaunch- while I stated in each case why they were misreading the messages implied in actions, and looking just in the mirror.
Beside local insults and the usual antics... in each case, unfortunately my view was confirmed.
THEME 3: The natural location for everything all at the same time
Nothing more to add- in Italian we say: "stendiamo un pietoso velo"
Communication as if it were a duty for the universe to choose Turin frankly so far did not produce results...
... and if I observed it since 2012, probably is "embedded" in the local culture- and will take time to evolve- and will to evolve...
THEME 3: Turin as the center of the AI universe
What is a name? For an organization, a public sharing of its definition of purpose.
With a curious cameo: all the events about AI since then that attended in Turin have locals call it the national AI competence center or something like that, and those from Rome remind that should stay in its own corner, by quoting the official role: focus on manufacturing etc.
Shifting to the Italian side, it is yet to be seen if the lesson about the recent lost opportunities also in Milan to attract agencies (e.g. we lost against Amsterdam- but you should read the two proposals to understand why- we were again communicating to ourselves, not to project ourselves to an audience of decision-makers) has been learned, and Milan will obtain results.
THEME 4: playing king makers in Ukraine
I am not the one who has to explain...
THEME 5: President Trump inviting President Putin
Well, once upon a time, we had sanctions.
But, as described within the article, first in Europe we checked which channels were open to see where information would flow, then started shifting our gold reserves as fast as possible away from President Trump's potential interventions, after what happened to Switzerland for its funding for F-35 diverted to Patriots.
THEME 6: my publications and the local context
If you are just interested on the last point of this post...
... here is the link to my publications released for free on archive.org (it will retrieve also something that has nothing to do with me, but you will recognize mine from the title- the search on archive.org adopted an approach akin to a famous Crusade that was supposed to go East, went West to attack the Cathars, and is remembered for the phrase "will recognize his own".
But that attitude, to pretend high motives so that you can have resources for your own tribal fights is something that observed from my fellow Italians since the early 2000s, when first prepared to return to Italy, by deciding to interact with both the private and public sectors, as well as startups: as if we collectively were 5 years old (individually, often our leaders behave as teenagers).
Apparently, simply stating your own purposes, even during a negotiation, is not socially acceptable.
Pity that many take at face value those statements.
When published an online quarterly magazine on change, businessfitnessmagazine.com, the preparation started in 2002, as when was offered to become a citizen in UK via an accelerated path and told already which job I would have to do, decided that my preference was to keep using my experience and skills for a larger community, not just a single set of institutions.
Moreover, as shared in the past, becoming a citizen of a monarchy is not in my political menu: I am a European citizen.
Hence, prepared to return to Italy, and did a project involving others to assess, contact, involve the audience (it worked- over 800 managers and senior managers up to Cxx subscribed, across over 500 companies within my target, in Italy and Europe).
Published between 2003 and 2005, and in 2004 accepted to do fractional activities across different domains- paid (for companies), with deferred payment/equity (for startups), paid at a really reduced rate (for Government projects in Rome).
Frankly, the time was in Rome I did the same I did in any other town in Europe where was routinely, also if did not live there: assess the environment.
Including meeting many just to listen to which cameos their shared about their local social, business, political experience.
Listen, not judge. And the quid pro quo of that was that often helped those I met in what was important for them- for free, be it getting through paperwork, giving asked advice if the request was consistent with my business ethics standards, or just being the one who listen without judging.
I never liked those who impose unsolicited advice, as I see that a sign of supreme arrogance and superficiality: you need first to assess, receive what defines the context, understand if there is any cognitive dissonance real vs perceived that needs to be sorted out before starting, and then, only then, give advice.
The timeline for that might be quite compressed: sometimes, it takes minutes to politely decline.
Sometimes, you need a real investment in the only scarce resource that each one of us has: personal time.
At the time, visited Turin, Rome, Milan, and other cities.
Frankly, I saw that, except few pockets of organizational and (with adjustments) ethical excellence, the level of corruption of my country since the late 1990s had increased into what a magazine called "il paese delle micro-mazzette": each signature or form, a bribe.
My concept of corruption is different: if a process or organization deteriorates to the point where the nominal performance is provided within the framework of tribal relationships, you do not need to exchange money- it is influence that distorts.
As I wrote often, and is part of my approach in listening to those complaining when I work in missions for customers: if somebody complains, it is not necessarily because has an axe to grind, it could also be because (s)he cares.
The typical Italian reaction, that saw in Brussels when I said that, at a debt that was then less than half the national debt than it is now (now is over 3,000bln EUR), and said that we will see if they would wake up by when reached 2,000.
I was called mad, then somebody hinted about a long list of different crimes- and tried to prove them by creating cases.
So, I got used to countless attempts- from having a customer paying twice an invoice to entrap, and then being told that I was too honest when I gave credit for the second payment; to try of course the usual enticement of offering nominally ego-boasting roles that would be an economic trap; to the third element of the usual triad, sex, up to having a curious fake letter or somebody organizing events on purpose, both in Turin and Rome.
Suggestion: if somebody offers you in Italy to become president of a non-profit, double-check and, more often than not, send them away with a laugh, as I did- as you get unlimited liability if you accept.
Second suggestion: as learned in Brussels, even before we had all the authentication apps on smartphones, never ever lend your own smartphone to anybody, notably to send messages- as the identity of the sender will become your identity.
With authentication apps, it is even worse: anybody taking your phone, and in Italy I saw that unfortunately tribe trumps personal relationship, get access to all your authentications.
Now, if you read also the article that posted last Saturday, you can understand why, given the option to choose between different Stellantis plants in Europe, so far different Chinese companies selected Spain and France.
Despite the high payroll costs of the latter, that make practically impossible e.g. to move an employee with dependents (spouse and children) from France to Italy under an Italian labor contract while keeping the same statutory perks.
Currently my main focus is looking for missions abroad and maybe an eventual further relocation- but will keep writing about Turin, Italy, Europe- it depends only if for an online audience, or, as in the 1990s, for partners and customers.
Publishing? It is mainly for fun, as a way to reconsider and reorganize my ideas- not really a source of revenue.
And will actually extend it a bit in the forthcoming election journey that between fall 2026 and fall 2027 will touch most of Europe (and the USA).
Disappointed from what I saw in my own country (including the routine backstabbing that received St Sebastian style) and the European Union since the late 1990s?
Well, let's say that I started in 2018 to post almost all my article only in English- as yet another bit of attempted entrapment was the latest drop that made me refuse to stay further on a mission that continuously evolved- but never delivered the role that was discussed, as there was always somebody else.
If they assumed that that attempted entrapment was akin to when was paid in Rome twice an invoice and then told that was too honest, and would stay in tamed and subservient, my fellow Italians instead of keeping to utter whenever proved the current wave of superficiality "we had an empire"...
... should read some books about Ancient Rome- and ask themselves if they could do anything like that- and I am not talking about roads, bridges, and conquests.
I am talking about falling and raising back countless times.
As I wrote on Saturday, historians associated that to a specific battle, that resulted in the invasion of the city of Rome.
There are few locations in Italy where this approach is still a collective attitude to disasters: instead, in most of Italy North and South, citizens or companies, the attitude that I saw since 2012 is a disheartening "the State must support us".
Citizens are the State: and instead, in Italy, civil servants state "we are the State" way too often for my taste, and, as wrote somebody with decades of experience as insider and reformer of the civil service, Sabino Casses, we shifted toward considering that civil servant job as a personal asset: to transfer directly or indirectly to your sons and daughters.
Hire one, get a family- potentially for generations- and whatever the abilities.
I quoted in the past a course from Beijing that found years ago on Coursera while was studying the basics of Chinese.
As an article from the assistant of Molotov on Kommersant that described the human resources management practices adopted by Molotov, article that pushed me to use my severely limited Russian and few dictionaries to translate it (a Russian friend revised then my translation and told me that if I were to move there, few months and I would be fluent- but was told the same in 2017 in Frankfurt while attending my first ever formal German language course, a B1 intensiv)...
... found it so interesting, that actually worked with Google Translate and dictionaries to create my own subtitles and study it.
What was about? Basically, the meritocratic tenets of the Chinese bureaucracy in ancient times.
Maybe if I find in my backup the translations one day will share with somebody who can actually revise them- but what I learned was then confirmed by a pile of other books about the organizational history of China that find in Turin libraries.
So, was a funny test and an interesting journey.
In Italian civil servant is translated "servitori dello Stato"- but often the behavior is closer to the Middle Age "feudalesimo": the State treated as a satrapy for personal and tribal purposes.
Example: in the early 1980s, I was active in politics- first in European integration advocacy, getting up to becoming the Turin secretary of the local youth element, and then resigning quickly by push from my regional secretary because I had chosen to support and campaign in the national elections a politically party on the left that was not one of those that were already part of those we had relationships with.
Anyway, my aim was just to help win the elections for the local quota by using the experience on campaign organization (e.g. mailing lists etc- no Internet and no mobile phones back then) that I had build since I was a kid by looking at my parents who were involved in political campaigns.
Reason: the two main political parties (that I nicknamed "the two Churches"- Christian Democrats i.e. with a close link to the Vatican, and the Communist Party) in the late 1970s became more focused on power-sharing than reforms.
So, I wanted an opposition from the left (as I was and am a bipartisan from the center-left), and found a small party that attracted me for the high level of people with "knowledge worker" occupations: professors, professionals, etc.
And yes: after the successful elections, turned down a tremendous opportunity in Turin to become a cog in the bureaucratic political wheel backoffice of the newly elected- who, as soon as they were elected, took a transformation à la "Animal Farm" in Orwell.
Achieved that objective, did not ask to be reinstated again, but kept attending events including actively, not just as audience.
Until when I was called in the Army: then, my concept of the State was that those who wear a uniform represent the State and are civil servants (not the Italian way).
Hence, have to be neutral- can have their own ideas, can attend events as audience, but should not be candidates, or visible supporters, or public advocates of a specific political party or, in referenda, a specific side.
You are the State by your own choice: hence, whatever you do in your office, is what the State assumes as position.
I always lived by that standard- and, as I said, when I was in the Army for my compulsory service, did no publicly advocate for any political party.
Actually, never had in my life, by choice, the membership card of any political party.
When returned in Italy, I decided that I would be as I have always been: bipartisan with some specific ideas, but still bipartisan- I do not care who is in Government once they win the elections- it is the Goverment.
Therefore, when was asked in 2004 to work on Government project in Rome at a discount rate, I accepted- also if the helm at the time was on somebody who never received my vote- and never voted for any of those political parties.
Still, it was my sense of "active citizenship", as wrote in my latest book published on August 31st (free if you have Kindle unlimited, e.g. if you have Amazon Prime should be accessible, I think).
Since 2012, except once to go with my family and listen to conferences, I turned routinely down invitations to attend events where just one political party was present or allowed: if there is a debate, should be open; if you are just preaching to the choir, sorry- I do not belong to any choir.
So, personally, I will keep doing as I did since 2008 when started settling in Brussels after living there for few years but having still to shutdown all the business connections in Europe (and Italy).
Or: I like that "stock" of knowledge of experience that I piled up since the 1980s across industries, countries, technologies, cultures.
And now as then, whenever enter in a mission or role, one of my first points, along with the assessment of the context, is also to see people I will work with and see their potential.
I started delivering training in family, then while in high school, then while attending university, then in the Army- formally and informally.
And I kept doing so.
In my view, the best way to really understand something is not just to teach others about that, but also to empathize with your audience so that you convey the key elements and entice into digging deeper but using their own cultural framework, not imposing your own looking down to them "because you know".
Therefore, my approach is to use that "stock" whenever I can to "augment" those I interact with.
If possible invisibly, so that they can build ownership and integrate in their activities what makes sense- as they have almost always superior knowledge of their own organizational culture, I am just passing by.
Also if since 2012 each mission that I accepted was presented as had really been the first mission in Brussels in 2008, the one made impossible to continue by Italian interference.
Or: presented as a first step toward settling within an organization and, as I said back then in Brussels, when looked for roles as senior project manager (as was first hired as employee with that title in 1990), not as COO CIO CFO CEO: if I am good, will rise again (yes, a bit an Ancient Roman); if not, we settle and will find ways to use my experience to keep having fun by supporting others.
At the time, in Brussels, was told that my destiny was a role where would stay and rise, while at the same time working across industries integrated in the decision-making of multiple entities, so my salary for my official role in a single company would be just part of the recognition of the value contributed.
In Italy, we appoint with a title those who are sponsored by tribes.
And everybody who received a role, despite the results that saw since 2012 in Italy, and not just Turin, keeps lecturing on what to do- and does something else.
In English I was told that the saying is "talk the talk, walk the walk".
But, as in the movie "Lord of War" when Nicholas Cage objects to the dictator what should say "warlord", I prefer my way: "to walk the talk".
Because if you teach but then just preach because you are excused from those who should apply your own advice, you end up surrounding yourself with those who always agree with you: and, if there is a thing that I always liked in cultural and organizational change, is being eventually challenged, and conveying without necessarily converting- those receiving have to adapt before adopting.
Otherwise, you end up as many dictators "in sedicesimo": "preaching to the choir", and you flock gets smaller and smaller.
So, in a town and country of geniuses by tribal appointment, better to avoid disturbing those exalted minds, and look elsewhere: as those who actually deliver value exist in Italy, and if the Italian élites are just content of playing musical chair while sitting on a raising pile of debt and a contracting real economy, there will be others that will see the potential and opportunity.
Meanwhile, let's see September-December 2026 which other creative accounting and creating spinning activities the locals will attempt to interfere with a relocation or activities, and to extract value at zero cost.
Hic sunt mafiosi- and are not necessarily dressed like "The Sopranos": search in my posts on Facebook, and you will see in 2026 repeated alerts launched in Turin about the infiltration of organized crime within the "società civile"- no wonder, if your informal economy sails well past 10% of the GDP...
An American friend decades ago got used to utter "Badabim Badabum"- assuming that was an Italian way of saying while instead is just something that is shown as typically Italian in the USA- as pizza and pineapple, or spaghetti with ketchup and meatballs :D
Again: have a nice week, you who managed to read also all the background section: hope that will be useful in your personal, social, business interactions in Italy and with Italians...