Alumni in the spotlight: Matteo de Pascale

Matteo de Pascale is a management consultant working for Siemens in Germany. Matteo has a background in engineering, and specializes in supporting senior management on complex organizational transformations and strategic projects. Read on and watch the video as he outlines his experience with WBCSD’s Leadership Program. 

 
What motivated you to join WBCSD’s Leadership Program? 

I joined the Leadership Program for two reasons. First of all, I wanted to gain formal knowledge on sustainability, and secondly, I wanted to expand my network and my exposure to the topics beyond my own company.  

What has your experience been so far? 

It was a totally challenging and mind-blowing experience because you're suddenly sitting at a table with 50 different people coming from many different companies and at least 30 plus different countries. You're not working just for your own company with the same colleagues and the same type of mindset, but suddenly you're challenged by different perspectives and different approaches to the same topics. It was really interesting to see problems from a different perspective, hear multiple ideas that make you rethink and challenge exactly the same things you've been doing maybe in the same way in the past. 

What were your key takeaways from the program? 

There are three reasons why I believe this program helped me to bring back more value in my daily job.  

First of all, I now feel much more confident about sustainability topics. I know the different facets of what we're talking about, and I know the formal frameworks behind it. I am familiar with the main trends, criticalities, and challenges around sustainability.  

Secondly, I am assured that I now have new professional and personal networks behind me that I can reach out to if I have problems, if I have questions, if I simply want to spar and exchange ideas about sustainability or leadership.  

And lastly, I'm now more deeply connected to WBCSD. I'm part of a formal, well-structured, broad, established organization that I can always refer to if I have the need to reach out to someone who is experienced in sustainability and can support me.  

So, because of these three reasons, I think I have now a better toolset that can help me achieve greater value and more impact in my daily job, once I go back to Germany and to Siemens. 

A final message for business leaders who are watching? 

I would definitely recommend the Leadership Program to other business leaders, especially if they're looking to broaden their sustainability ecosystem and get new best practices and different ideas from companies if they’re maybe stuck on a particular ESG challenge in their company. If they are missing inspiration or perspectives on what they're currently doing, the WBCSD program is the best platform, the best way to do it.