Expats Expressing Their Personal Brand in Italy

How a person expresses their personal brand should be in part dictated by the cultural context in which they are living and working.  When in Italy, there are a number of important things that expats (or aspiring expats) should consider if you are interested in building a strong personal brand or professional reputation.

The first thing to remember that appearances are very important - it is what Italians call "la bella figura". Carrying and presenting yourself in a smooth and professional manner is of the upmost importance. This means dressing in elegant, fashionable clothes. The care you take in presenting yourself reflects the care you would take in doing good work and demonstrates you can handle yourself in social situations. Appearances also means being aware of and respecting cultural customs and norms.  To dress inappropriately or make social gaffs that indicate you do not understand Italian culture would be what the Italians call "la brutta figura" and would likely lead to loss of respect from your clients or colleagues.

Another thing to be aware of is that verbal communication is preferable to written communication in many situations so the way you express yourself is important in being received well.  If you are writing a CV, you should write less, as it is expected that you will be doing most of your presenting during your interviews. It is normal to have three or four interviews, as you will be assessed on your presentation and communication skills. When writing your cover letter, the language should be very formal, but again you'll want to not write more than four paragraphs as you will communicate the most important points in your interview.

Although one's skills and experience do play a part, "credibility" is usually established by the company you keep and your relationships to well respected companies, institutions and groups.  Most people prefer meeting people through an introduction, so your network is extremely important. When people do not meet through an introduction, if a person has gone to a top university or worked for a well-known company, those credentials can help to build rapport. But at the end of the day, introductions and developing relationships face-to-face are the best way to establish trust and build relationships that are essential to advancing in your career in Italy.

According to a World Bank report, only 40% of Italian households are wired (have a connection to the Internet). This, coupled with the emphasis on personal relationships when trying to grow professionally, is likely why Italians tend not focus a great deal on developing their online identity and network in order to build their personal brand.   Since for Italians time is actually for spending with others, most would much prefer engaging with people rather than a computer.

Although technology does not play a big role in building professional relationships and expressing one's personal brand in Italy currently, that may be changing. Activity on several online networks such as LinkedIn and Facebook in Italy is slowly increasing.  Internet usage is on the rise as well. It's gone from from 13.2 million in 2000 to over 30.8 million (last report in 2006).  That's approximately 58% of the population. With the younger generations being much more tech saavy, when its time for them to enter the workforce the role of technology in all forms of communication will likely be much more commonplace.

Another item worth noting is that Italians are avid users of mobile phones, with per capita mobile phone users at 1,090 per 1000 (meaning it is common for people to have more than one mobile phone). As more social media and networking applications are being built for mobile phones, there will be more access to online communication and tools which will likely contribute to an increase in the role of online networking in building one's brand.

For now, career prospects and personal brand building in Italy is primarily driven by the culture of developing strong personal relationships 'offline'. It will be interesting to see how the role technology will change these cultural norms over time.

YOUR SUCCESS TIP: If you are an expat (or aspiring expat) in Italy, take into account the culture norms when thinking about building your personal brand.  Identify one thing that you could do to shift the approach you are taking now.  Check in with yourself on a biweekly basis to see whether or not your commitment to making that shift is making a difference.

YOUR THOUGHTS?: Are you an expat in Italy? Does all of this ring true for you?  Are there other things that one should be considering?  With cultural differences between the north and south, are there other suggestions you would make to expats to support their pursuit of building a strong personal brand in Italy?

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Comments

[Tina]

Hopefully by the time mid 2009 rolls around I'll be starting my new life as an Italian. :-) This article just got me so excited! I'm really looking forward to working hard and being a success. Now that I have my citizenship and some goals, I'm going to have to go through your whole blog. lol

[Megan Fitzgerald]]

Tina,

Great to hear your excitement! Keep me posted on when you will arrive!

Buona notte,

Megan

[Cherrye at My Bella Vita]

Going with the personal communication over written communication thing, it is important to note that at least here in the south almost EVERYTHING is done face-to-face not even orally over the phone.

I've had people call my husband for a reservation for a friend at our B&B, but instead of just booking over the phone, they call and say, "I have something important to talk to you about," then drive 10 minutes to talk to him face-to-face.

They say it is because it is legal for outside parties to listen in on your phone calls and they just prefer to do things in person.

[Megan Fitzgerald, Expat Personal Branding Coach]

Hi Cherrye,

Great information - I knew that the south was more personally focused but I did not realize that even a b&b reservation would require a visit!

Many Thanks for sharing!

Ciao!
Megan

[Miss Expatria]

I think (I hope, I pray!) in the next 10 years wired homes in Italy is going to see a huge increase as the teens using it now get their own homes (or at least are making money to wire their parents' homes).

[Ryan]

Great blog! I have worked for multinationals in London(3 years) and in Milan(1.5 years to present) and have a few comments:
COMMUNICATION: In my experience, email communication (rather than face-to-face communication) plays a much larger role in Italy than in Britain. During my time working in London, it was normal to hold meetings (face-to-face and conference calls), either one-on-one or in cross-functional teams. These meetings were easily organised through MS Outlook. In Italy, most of my colleagues prefer to send out long emails to large CC'd distribution lists rather than organising/leading meetings. Issues that in London were resolved in a single meeting can in Italy sometimes require days of emails to resolve.
Outside of the workplace, I do agree that Italians do most of their communicating offline.
LA BELLA FIGURA: I completely agree with you that this is the culture of the "bella figura". This is not a culture that embraces the idea that you "should not judge a book by its cover." In fact, your "cover" or how you look, in many and perhaps most cases is by far the biggest driver of how you are perceived both personally and professionally. One of the many interesting consequences of this strong social driver is that many Italians make regular visits to the tanning salon. As a native Californian that was raised with a strong awareness of the negative effects of tanning your skin, I still do not go to those lengths to adopt to my new social environment, however, I have completely renewed my wardrobe with new fashionable Italian suits. Moreover, like most senior managers in Italy that want to avoid the "brutta figura", I do not adhere to casual Fridays. It's a shame but when in Rome...
Another downside of the "bella figura culture" is that it means managers have a greater tendency than their British counterparts to distance themselves from problems. By distancing themselves from problems, Italian managers reduce the chances of being associated with the problem and thus doing a "brutta figura". Naturally, this makes solving problems a greater challenge in Italy than in Britain.
On the bright side of things, we all look absolutely marvelous!!!