You can be anything you want in your life.
(Note from my iPhoneX – 2014)
Do you remember that phase when we used to take notes on our phones as if they were confessions?
I do… It was 2014, a time when work seemed endless, the future uncertain, and the word “identity” was something we associated “with many complex things, accessible and understandable to few people”… only real or only digital but not yet connected and perfectly overlapping (one an extension of the other).
I wrote that sentence without knowing that, eleven years later, it would come back “knocking at the door and presenting the bill”.
And everything took on a different meaning.
Because back then “being everything you want” seemed like a goal.
But today I understand that it’s a journey, a process that passes through communication, is rooted in strategy, and reduces marketing to what it really is: a visible manifestation of our identity… that inevitably goes downward and upward.
“Like roots that enter the ground ‘forcefully’ and then follow the light… becoming (…).”
In 2014 we communicated to exist.
In 2025 we communicate to mean something.
And the difference is total, simply… abyssal.
We have learned that visibility is not enough if it is not supported by a (clear and coherent) vision.
That the editorial plan is not to fill spaces but to occupy meaning.
That strategy is not a Gantt chart but an act of truth.
Because every message, logo, post, every “damned” decision, if it does not arise from a clear identity… is just noise. YOU ARE JUST NOISE.
In these years we have seen SO MUCH change.
We have seen the way of working change: offices that have “emptied out”, desks that have moved into kitchens, meetings that are held through a screen… thefuture “choosing remote” as its (perfect) form.
We have learned to work alone but also to feel alone.
We have emptied ourselves… not “to return” but “to tend”.
And from that loneliness a new need was born: to reconnect… not to networks but to people.
We have seen the way of communicating change: from the rush to the “perfect post” to the need to say something that remains because creativity (alone) is not enough if it is not accompanied by sincerity and that authenticity is not a strategy but a daily choice.
We have seen the way we look at ourselves in the mirror change: we have asked ourselves “who have we become?” and if the work we do truly represents us.
Many have changed jobs, others “just” perspective.
But all of us, in some way, have felt the need to “put the pieces back together”.
We have lost points of reference (people, Companies, certainties) and found new ones: truer relationships, smaller but denser (and more intense) projects, a different form of success that is not measured in numbers but in meaning… in impact.
We have witnessed the possibility of LEARNING ONLINE, at any time, “masters of time”, of the way… finally free… yes but FROM WHAT?!
So much (in)formation “parked online” available to everyone… a “BUBBLE” (dis)guised as opportunities aware of “arriving without impacting”: WE WERE PLANTING SEEDS, GIVING a part of ourselves so that people could MAKE OUR POINT OF VIEW THEIR OWN or, simply, what we had understood better (and earlier) than others.
Disappointment? WONDER.
We have seen new statutory/corporate forms, like B-Corps and Benefit Corporations, finally become a beautiful reality capable of inspiring people, Communities, and Organizations… NEW ones.
“New questions” have arisen, the “why are we doing this” (finally!) has an enormous specific weight (compared to the “what” and the “how”).
We have witnessed the rise of Social not only as a MOVEMENT but as FERMENT: people and organized and committed communities that “TAKE CARE”… of something or someone.
We have known sadness and melancholy, some have “hit rock bottom” (with their whole hand), others have “become meaner” (even though I prefer the word “bastardized”… that is, those who have lost their identity or do not have a recognized one).
We have learned that competence is not enough if it is not accompanied by humanity.
That knowing how to do is important but knowing how to be is even more so.
And that behind every brand, every profession, every Company, there is always (at least) one person who struggles to recognize themselves in their work, a person who does not just want to “sell” but to be worth… who needs to feel useful, to “serve” and to understand.
What we have understood: that the road is still long.
That as I speak, many contents (not only online) “start in AI and end in I”.
It’s not about being “everything you want” but about truly being who you are and making it useful to the world… truly “putting it to common use”, which does not only mean “sharing it” but spreading it with awareness, integrity… with that “posture typical of those who (still) marvel”.
That the best strategy is the one that “starts from within” (and not from an algorithm).
That every story, every project, every daily choice (even the one that seems small, tiny) contributes to building a direction… a continuity.
That a design project, a communication campaign, a training or Coaching path… are real “legacies”.
That we are the expression of something more “noble”, perhaps “higher”… certainly deeper.
And so I ask you:
And what if the real strategic act today was not “to be chosen by the market” but finally to choose who we want to be?
The future is not a distant horizon but a (daily) exercise in presence.
And “being” is the only way to “be there”.
