Paolo Sodero: From Lucca to Shanghai

Paolo Sodero, Körber site: Treviso, Italy

In procurement, you make decisions every day. 
Some are made quickly. Some are uncomfortable. 
And sometimes, you just have to make the call. 

After more than twenty years in this working field, I’ve learned one thing: 
When the moment comes, I prefer to act rather than wait. 
Because waiting rarely solves a problem. 

But one of the most important lessons had nothing to do with speed. 
It was about adaptation. 

Years ago, I moved from Italy to China.  

A new country. 
A new language. 
A new culture. 

I grew up in Italy, near Lucca in Tuscany, where I still live today. 

The villages there are small. 
In my neighborhood, there are maybe two hundred people. 
Everyone knows everyone.  

Then I moved to Shanghai. 
And suddenly, everything changed.  

The residential compound I lived in had around twenty thousand residents. 
More people than in many small towns back home. 

Shanghai itself has around thirty million residents. 
You can drive for four hours and still be within the same city.  

In that moment, you quickly realize: 
Your own perspective is very small compared to the world.  

And just as quickly, I realized that the leadership style I was used to didn’t work there. 

In Italy, you put twenty people in a room – and you immediately get twenty opinions. 

In China, I experienced something different. 
In meetings, people listen carefully and take their time before sharing their thoughts. 

At first, I misunderstood this “silence”. 
I thought everything was clear. 
But that wasn’t necessarily the case. 

So I changed my approach. 
I deliberately created space for exchange in different ways – in larger groups and in one-on-one conversations.  

And then something shifted. 
Ideas became more concrete. 
Questions became clearer. 
Different perspectives became more visible. 

And I realized something important: 
In a different culture, you can’t simply apply your own standards. 
Change starts with yourself. 

Over the years, I have lived and worked in different countries. 
Italy. China. The United States.  

Three very different cultures. 
Three very different ways of thinking.  

All these experiences have shown me: 
Success in a global environment means being open to different ways. 
Listening. 
Observing. 
Engaging with others. 
And in a global company like Körber, these are the skills that make the difference.