Appearances are deceiving, as you may know. You should certainly not rely on what will reveal your eyes, if you ever meet Alessia Zabatino, who is passionate about social innovation. The stylish young Italian is graceful as a ballerina. She is frail. She is tiny. But her mind is so bright! Her strength - is it her secret? - what allows her to reconsider everything, from which springs her creativity and perpetual questioning, she draws it from the greatness of what lies inside her. Because in order to be able do that, you need to live without limits. I do not mean to pretend living in a James Bond movie. Living dangerously. Not at all! I mean freedom of the spirit, with no barriers, an expanding mind.
Stagnation, corruption, mafia, risk aversion, are factors that hinder the evolution of governments and organizations. They drove Alessia to preach about creativity and collaboration. Dialogue between stakeholders, internal and external, is a must for her. She seeks to engage individuals in a transformation. By trying to motivate collective intelligence, Alessia hopes to change old values rooted in the culture of governments.
How to overcome the rigidities to instill change? She first tried to influence authorities by demonstrating in the streets. She was rudely shaken during a demonstration to the point of breaking bones. "I felt defeated, disillusioned," she said. It could have been more than enough to cut her off from showing further interest in improving public policy. However, an ardent desire burns in Alessia, who will not likely return to the streets, but nevertheless continues to seek ways to raise awareness about the concept of social intelligence. For Alessia, creativity is the lever for systems renewal. She distinguishes herself by a process of differentiation. She only needs to adjust the intensity of each component in the system nesting, and to size the best approach for processing more agility.
I understand Alessia a little better now that I see that her mind tends to an absence of limits --- which is really the true nature of our mind, and a goal towards which we should all strive. I now understand why she talks about "her prisons", and I see why she got criticized for being "too good" and "too excellent in school." This is a complaint I often hear about me as well. Alessia, I would like to tell you to believe in yourself. If society has too many closed spaces, fly away (inward).
I invite you to read her mission reports:
Addiopizzo. Aware consumers against the Mafia system;
13 variations on a Baroque theme;
My Ithaca. Notice to Mariners.
