Guido Corbetta, the scholar of family businesses

With Guido I had the good fortune to share more than 30 years of university life. Memories intertwine and overlap in this moment of great sadness. Of him I remember not only his academic and professional qualities, but also the natural leadership guided by empathy, the concern for others that came from his faith, his team spirit, his ability to involve and motivate young people, still reflected in his many students, his ability to listen and guide. He had a special ability to combine typically academic curiosity and analytical depth with attention to the business world and the concrete problems of management. In the world of family businesses he was considered an absolute reference point. With his passing, our university loses a pillar, a master, one of the protagonists who made the history of Bocconi in the last 30 years.

Guido was a Bocconian of my times, a little younger than me, who dedicated his entire life to our University with so much passion and quality, academic and human, recognized by friends, acquaintances and especially by generations of students. It is a great sorrow to lose him so soon.

Soul, heart and head of AIDAF from the very first day: Guido was not only, with Alberto Falck, its creator and founder, but accompanied it with unique dedication, competence and passion until his last day. An excellent academic, mentor to many young entrepreneurs, he accompanied the growth and development of many of our member companies, promoting the ethical and sustainable business model that our association embodies.

With great sorrow I join in the last farewell addressed to Prof. Corbetta. The step from student to colleague was a short one, but in reality it was more than fifteen years of working alongside him, of which I will carry the memory of wonderful years, but above all his valuable teachings that helped me grow and become an academic and a professional in the field of family businesses. I remember as if it were yesterday the enormous work to launch the first Observatory on Family Businesses (AUB Observatory), a project of which he was very proud, and to which he always wanted me by his side, and for that I will always be grateful.

It is very complex (almost impossible I dare say, but we have a moral duty to do so) to think that we can do without his guidance, because everything turned out (seemingly) very simple with him. In reality it was his charisma that made everything simple. In these years of studying and working alongside him, I had the good fortune to meet so many students, colleagues, entrepreneurs and professionals, and even before his enormous professionalism I always remember with great pride that everyone (but really everyone) was always profoundly impressed by his sense of duty, his humility and fairness, but above all by his values, which always led him in all his actions to be an example for others. He was an example for all those who had the honor of meeting and knowing him, and he will always be an example for me as well.

His passing opens a void in the Bocconian community and in the world of family business. But we all had a great privilege, that of having had the honor of being able to know and work with him. And his teachings will always continue to be the new guide for the future.

“My first meeting with Professor Corbetta occurred even before I entered Bocconi, thanks to my family business that knew him through AIDAF. I was looking for advice on how to choose the right course of study and face the entrance test, and from that moment, without even knowing me in person, he took my situation to heart.

Over the years, I then had the immense privilege of meeting him several times, until I matured the desire to finish my academic journey under his guidance. Working with him, comparing but most of all learning from a mind of such academic stature, but also of extraordinary humanity, was an invaluable gift.

Today his passing is not only a sorrow for his loved ones and closest collaborators, but a deep wound for the entire Bocconi community and for the entire world of Italian family business, which loses an important beacon of reference, whose light, however, will always continue to guide us.”

Dear Guido,

We will miss you. We will miss a person of extraordinary humanity, and capable of creating bridges in research and in the real world with a unique sensitivity and determination. I affectionately remember your gentleness and courtesy, and all the times with spoke, especially the last one, with your infinite smile while talking about your newborn grandchild.

With great affection from me and all the colleagues in the Department of Decision Sciences

Guido Corbetta served Bocconi in many roles. I had the opportunity to get to know him as Dean of the Graduate School when I was a young Master of Science director at the time of the launch of the programs. His enormous credibility to the business community made our university a pillar of the family business system, central to our country. He created many ties, some of which have become strong: to him I owe, as a person and as Rector, the idea of linking Bocconi with the Del Vecchio Foundation, which led to the largest single donation in our history.

Dear Guido, I will miss you so much. I had the good fortune to meet you many years ago when my Institute of Economics of Financial Intermediaries was in viale Isonzo, just a few steps away from yours. Many times we met and discussed, even though our topics were only apparently so distant. I think of so many projects we did together, from those at Aidaf when it was being set up, to those at SDA and then at the University, first with the Enter centre and then at Carefin. The pleasure of comparison, the taste for finding new paths, the respect for opinions. There are so many memories but above all so many good thoughts that are a lesson and a challenge to be carried on today. That's right, I will miss you a lot. 

Through his life and career Guido clearly set a path for us to follow. He does not leave us alone. It is the path of professional commitment that knows no rest, even in times of great difficulty and fatigue, working for the good of Bocconi, students and businesses. It is a path marked by deep-rooted values, such as the central role of the person and the family in business activities and the central role of business as an engine of economic, social and human development. It is the commitment to the continuous development of truly relevant knowledge that helps students, entrepreneurial families and managers push businesses on fruitful entrepreneurial paths. It is the road we must continue to travel.

“In addition to being an exemplary colleague, Guido was a person of deep humanity. Whether it was colleagues, students, collaborators, he was always able to look at the person in front of him and establish a true, empathetic relationship with them, beyond roles. Extremely dedicated both to his students and to the institution, until the very last.”

The passing away of Guido Corbetta grieves an entire academic and professional community that has always considered him an undisputed reference in the world of family business. Guido was able not only to identify a field of study of crucial importance for the country, but also to know how to pass it on to so many students who shared his passion. As of today, he will be missing an authoritative reference capable of accompanying the growth of young researchers, many businesses, and even associations such as AIdAF that he contributed so much to developing. His natural leadership skills and determination combined with great human qualities and an unquestioned work ethic leave an unbridgeable void in all of us today. Thank you Guido for all that you have taught us.

We are greatly saddened to learn of the passing of our dear friend and colleague Guido Corbetta who has been such a wonderful initiator, team builder, and collaborator in our research endeavors and who has brought us into the Bocconi family of researchers with such warmth and consideration.  We convey our sincerest condolences to his family and to the Bocconi community.

Dear Guido, a heartfelt thank you for everything you built as a university professor and for all the beautiful and good things that are reflected in the memories of you of so many people.
The illness did not lead you to close off within yourself, and you fought the good fight until the end, in a crescendo of faith and love.
Shine a bit of the Light in which you are now immersed upon Rossella, your children and grandchildren, our Bocconi, Aidaf, and all of us. I care for you, we all care for you!

With Guido, an economist of high culture and great sensitivity in the governance of companies and institutions, I have shared moments of great responsibility in an important historical period of our University and many rewards for having been at his side in many experiences of corporate life. To him a grateful and thankful memory.

Guido was a great mentor to me, from whom I learned so much. There is so much about him that I will remember fondly. First, his drive, optimism and passion that he devoted to the very many activities in which he was involved. Second, which lies at the heart of several of our studies, is his ability to combine his practical knowledge about how companies work with the scientific rigor of the academic perspective. Finally,  his ability to manage and inspire his collaborators: his work for the AUB Observatory is one of the cornerstones of academic research on family firms, and this was made possible by his enormous leadership and coordination skills. Dear Guido, I will miss you so much. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you have shared and accomplished.

Prof. Corbetta was a master not only for his scientific and teaching excellence in the field of family business, which is internationally recognized, but for his ability to have been a guide and reference point for so many. His leadership style, a word he held dear, influenced those who worked closely with him and his students. Work ethic, respect and a sense of justice are three qualities I remember most at this time.

I will always be grateful to Guido for inviting me to get involved in family business thirty-five years ago. Without him, family business would not be what it is today academically, entrepreneurially, and professionally. Guido himself had great gifts as an entrepreneur, and I will always remember his strength, his planning and expertise, his dedication to work, and his positive spirit.

Pope Francis wrote that “words are not neutral, nor do they ever leave things as they are.”  I took up the words from the introduction to the book “Entrepreneurs - The Value of Facts,” which we wrote together in 2011. Others would not have come to me.  We quoted Renzo Rosso (“The biggest mistake you can fall into is believing you can do everything on your own”) and then added, “It also applies to us who wrote with four hands. Hands of those who know each other from their university days, those who have shared important professional choices, those who have pooled satisfactions and disappointments, those who believe in building and especially in “building together.” It is a book written by two friends before two colleagues. One Milanist and one Interist, but the work should not be affected ....The diversity of opinions enriches.” 

Over the years, many things fade from memory, but I haven't forgotten a single thing you've told me throughout these years, starting from that day 25 years ago when you mentioned the Parable of the Talents to me. I have never met anyone else with such an extraordinary sensitivity for understanding each of our inclinations and helping us to develop our talents. Thank you, Guido, I am grateful to you for helping me find my path, discover my talent, and always strive for the best with rigor and discipline.

I learned how to manage a classroom from you. I can still picture your notes after my first lecture at the age of 24, with red corrections for what I needed to improve and blue ones for what I had done well. That sheet was almost entirely red, but those red points have guided me for over 30 years.

I also learned how to write from you. You would carefully review the drafts of my chapters, filling the lines with comments, inspiration, examples, and suggestions for improvement. It all comes back to me every time I sit down to write.

It was you who introduced me to the world of business with the strategic vision and practicality that distinguished you.

We were fortunate; having you as a caring, affectionate, and attentive guide was a gift from above. In moments of joy, you were there. In moments of difficulty, you were always there. I am immensely grateful to have met you and to have shared this journey with you. Your inspiration, your way of working, and your enthusiasm will remain with us always, every day

Guido, a person of great human and professional qualities, knew how to create fruitful relationships with people that often turned into friendships. To manage family businesses in their complex reality, a deep dose of practicality and humanity is required, qualities that Guido possessed. I want to remember him, full of life with many projects to accomplish, the last time we met, here in Venice, at the Cena dei Librai last January.