Giuseppe Bonanno has been with Nestlé performing a range of finance and management roles for the past 20 years. Originally from Italy, he has been posted with Nestlé in Europe, Asia and Africa. He is currently the Regional Chief Finance Officer for Central and West Africa, and is based in Ghana.
He is also enrolled in IMD’s Transition to Business Leadership, which he says will help him with what he sees as a constant transition in today’s increasingly unpredictable and ever-changing business world.
Giuseppe especially appreciates what he sees as a double faceted approach the program takes: first working on developing himself personally, and second making sure that his development contributes to his company’s objectives.
“That’s the beauty of the program; it combines personal development with achieving the goals for your organization; the two are interrelated,” he said.
Even before he has finished the program Giuseppe has been able to apply what he has learned in Transition to Business Leadership, especially in the area of personal presence.
“I’ve learned to improve my listening skills and to tap into my emotions. At my level, personal presence is extremely important,” Guiseppe said.
The intensive coaching part of the program is helping Guiseppe bring the personal and organizational elements together.
“The coaching has really helped me understand my strengths and improve other areas with a clear actionable plan. These learnings have already helped me in my current role.”
Guiseppe adds that the results have been extremely quick and he has been very pleased with his progress thanks to the coaching. He also says that what he has learned about himself will carry over into his daily personal life.
According to Guiseppe many of the topics covered are essential to preparing the leaders of today and tomorrow.
“Working in the developing world, I’ve been through my fair share of crises, and the crisis preparation module that was part of TBL is very close to reality. The subjects that have been chosen for this program are spot on.”
Coming from such an international professional background, it wouldn’t have made sense for Giuseppe to have anything less in his executive education experience.
“Being in Europe, IMD is close to my culture but it also has close ties and a strong understanding of developing countries, which is the context I work in,” he said.
Comparing his experience at IMD to other well-known business schools, Guiseppe says the experience was very high-quality and worth the price.
Since he has been enrolled in Transition to Business Leadership, not a day has gone by that Guiseppe hasn’t discovered something new about himself or his colleagues.
“You never stop learning when you’re at IMD.”
Coming back to where he started, Guiseppe said the most valuable aspect of TBL is that you take a step back, get to know who you are and how you can make a difference at your organization.
Transition to Business Leadership (TBL) can also lead to a Program for Executive Development diploma. TBL is ideal for assessing your strengths and areas of development relative to leading a business, formulating and leading a business strategy, leading cross-functional teams and more.
