My job? To seek excellence in solutions
“I remember my university days as constant interaction with enterprising people who wanted to conquer the world.” Laura Furlan is now the General Manager of Postepay. Born in 1971 in Tradate, in northern Italy, she graduated in Political Economics from Bocconi University in 1995 and then enrolled in the Master of Science in Economics at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona.
The “strange” choice came after graduation. “I studied political economy, but I realized that this was not my path. I saw people with very vertical skills, while I was doing well in several subjects. Unlike my classmates, I decided to go into business and realized that you have to follow your passions and find an environment that stimulates you, where you feel good.” Furlan opted for consulting, where she spent eight years alternating in different sectors. First at Ernst&Young Financial Services, then with A.T. Kearney, where she became a senior manager in the Financial Institutions Group.
In 2004, she decided to make another move, so she joined Banca Intesa, then Intesa Sanpaolo. “I found myself spearheading a major transformation, a historic one for the bank. To give you an idea of what this involved, we had some projects that we called Everest, because they were so complex, it was like climbing a mountain.” But Furlan’s strategy paid off: engaging and investing in people, onboarding them in the change. During her stint as a manager, she worked in marketing at Banca dei Territori, in charge of transactional products until 2013 and then strategic marketing in 2014.
The following year it was time for Poste Italiane, which she joined as the BancoPosta Retail Manager. A leap from Milan to Rome. “In the transition from consultancy to business, I was driven by the desire to personally implement projects, not just give advice. At Intesa I was on a train where everything was running smoothly, but I wanted new challenges.” Hence the “crazy” decision to pack up and leave. “I remember that when my father heard I was leaving the bank, he asked me if everything was OK because I had just given birth to my second daughter,” she adds. But at Poste, Furlan had the opportunity to innovate, and have a hand in relaunching a group rolling out a digital transformation and going public. In 2019, she would become head of BancoPosta, in 2021 she would head up the corporate and Public Administration market, and from 2022 on she serves as General Manager of Postepay SpA, a leader in digital payments and a newcomer to the energy sector.
As far as the digital revolution, both in package delivery and actual post offices, she says: “What’s crucial is the great commitment of the people who work here: they have accepted digital technology as a lever for development, and they’re willing to evolve day by day to better serve our customers. Poste is not just a great Italian company, it is an institution that millions of people trust; it’s a driver of financial and digital inclusion. True purpose, or ESG as we say today. Over the years, I’ve learned ambition and courage, such as when we decided to keep the post offices open and continue delivering packages during the pandemic: our colleagues on their scooters delivering packages was one of the few sounds you could hear on the street. So my job today is to seek excellence in solutions. Doing things well is not enough - you have to keep raising the bar. There are no easy answers.”
Her advice to tomorrow’s managers: they should be curious and courageous in their daily work, essential traits for climbing their own Mount Everest.
