Great managers look to the future to anticipate tomorrow’s challenges, yet history still offers valuable insights into the challenges facing today’s leaders. In this series of meetings, the experiences of great figures from the past provide an opportunity to reflect on contemporary dilemmas: making complex decisions, leading people and navigating change in uncertain environments.
What happens when a leader accustomed to winning faces entirely new challenges? Why can even the brightest and most capable individuals make seemingly inexplicable mistakes? And how can we recognize when the strategies that brought us success are no longer enough?

Ulysses is the hero of ingenuity and strategy, whose brilliance helped secure victory at Troy. Yet, on his journey back to Ithaca, some of the very qualities that had made him successful become limitations, forcing him to confront mistakes, navigate unexpected challenges and rethink his approach to leadership.

Drawing on his book "Il desiderio e il limite. Ulisse e la leadership trasformativa" (2026), Andrea Lipparini, Professor at the University of Bologna, will revisit the most significant episodes of the Odyssey to explore the challenges facing contemporary managers.

In particular, participants will explore:

• beyond the victory at Troy: when ingenuity and winning strategies are no longer enough
• between Cyclopes, Sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis: navigating temptations, difficult stakeholders and complex decisions
• the journey that transforms Ulysses: recognizing personal limitations and learning from mistakes to embrace change.