When You Are Hungry for Talent, Merit Will Surface. And the Glass Ceiling Will Disappear

“Throughout my early career, I was told, ‘you’re not assertive enough.’ The leadership model in big companies was male, so I invented my own way of being the boss. With kindness and firmness, bringing everyone on board: from the most front-line people to managers.” Silvia Candiani is now Vice President of Microsoft’s Telco and Media Sector and was Managing Director of the Italian division for six years. Throughout her career, she has always focused on concrete, tangible outcomes. This explains her choice after high school: Economics at Bocconi University, specializing in finance and mathematics. During her studies, this path led her to an MBA exchange program at Wharton in the US. She says: “At 21, I found myself in a class full of extraordinary people, with professionals who were already working in consulting and in big investment banks. That’s what sparked my curiosity to work in an international arena.” 

After graduating in 1993, Candiani’s ambition was to find a company that would have a positive impact on the world, one that would drive change. So she joined McKinsey as a consultant. “The consulting world was a great school for problem solving. I learned how to deal with complexity: from breaking down problems into smaller chunks, to handling relationships with managers and people. All in different sectors: insurance, telecoms, media,” she adds. She then embarked on an MBA at INSEAD, which gave her the opportunity to come in contact with high-profile professionals from all over the world and to study real-life business cases.

But her goal was still to help build something, to see a project grow. So, after a stint at the SanPaolo Imi bank, Candiani joined what was then a start-up: Omnitel. “It was an incredible experience,” she says. “The market was a work in progress. We had to invent everything: from the team to the strategies to challenge the monopoly at the time, which was TIM [in Italy]. In eleven years’ time, we became the leader in the consumer market. Witnessing this evolution made me realize how important it was for me to be part of the change and to see the 
results firsthand. I’m thinking about a company going from rapid growth consolidation.” 

At Omnitel, Candiani became Marketing Director, but when others would have stopped at the top, she decided to change everything up again. A restlessness that she explains like this: “The TLC market was now mature and I was looking for fresh challenges. I was looking for a life on the edge, and I found it at Microsoft, where innovation, freedom. and empowerment were part of the growth strategy.” 

She joined the big tech company in 2010 as head of Consumer Affairs and then became General Manager. Her international experience as Head of Consumer Affairs for Eastern Europe was crucial. It was here that she struck on her leadership style. “I managed international teams with different cultures,” she says, “and I tried to make people feel like a part of a project. It also worked thanks to very motivated women, who saw in this great American company the possibility of building a career and a future for themselves. It is no coincidence that we were the fastest growing division at Microsoft in those years, showing how diversity in the company brings fresh ideas and innovation.” It also defies stereotypes. “One of the stereotypes we’ve challenged is that women are not suited to commercial roles, but this is actually where they can bring their interpersonal skills to bear. The ‘muscular’ view of negotiation is wrong; nobody ever wants to be overpowered in business negotiations. The point is to mediate, and women have a talent for that.” 

In Italy, her appointment as CEO has given her the opportunity to take part in the digitalization of her country, betting that cloud services would bring significant investment across “the boot.” But Candiani is also focused on reskilling and training the new generations, especially in STEM. She says: “I encourage girls to study STEM subjects because it is an area of opportunity. You can have an impact on the world through technology and have a career at the same time. I often remind myself that in an environment where there is a hunger for talent, merit will emerge. There is no glass ceiling that can hold us down.”