Money VibeZ Stories | L'intervista a Nerio Alessandri, persidente e fondatore di Technogym

Hunger is trained, curiosity is trained, creativity is trained, talent is trained, everything is trained. Life is a training. It's clear that if you want to achieve a result, having known practically all the sportspeople in the world, they all have the exact same characteristic: a spirit of sacrifice.

Yes, I don't have the exact number, but it happens often, especially now on social media, from Kim Kardashian who is very active to the great champions, etc., we find Technogym in the lives of many athletes, actors, entrepreneurs, and also in ordinary people, our fans who have embraced the Technogym philosophy.

Not only is the story exact, the garage is still identical, absolutely, and I hope it remains for at least another 100 years. It is, how to say, our origins for us, so we consider it not only as tradition but also as culture. So the garage of Technogym in Macalisese, Cesena, via Mentana 44, is a starting point for everyone, because our collaborators, many from all over the world, come and spend an hour inside the garage, to be part of Technogym in the world, sooner or later you pass through the garage. It's a very beautiful garage.

But for me every day is like the first, nothing has changed. I am very passionate about achieving the unthinkable. So, I am part of the category of entrepreneurs, because there are various categories. Of course. And the entrepreneur usually, like myself, takes risks, even with a bit of recklessness, to realize what does not exist. So I don't ask myself the usual question that a manager asks: 'I have the budget, I have the resources, I have the time,' and when he has everything, he starts. Then in the end the risk is to give birth to a mouse, I don't know how to say. Instead, what an entrepreneur typically does, and in my case very much in this direction, is to have a dream, have a vision from the beginning and still today, because for me everything is still to be done. So I am an eternal founder, a startup founder like the first day, setting challenging, unrealistic goals. And that has been my 42 years and still today, as I was when I was in the garage, I set myself unrealistic goals. Then day after day we prepare, we organize, we choose the best people, we invest, we do research, development, innovation, and typically we achieve what you couldn't even imagine. And that is Technogym today, what was unimaginable in size 42 years ago. But every day, for 40 years now, since this ritual repeats, it is a rite, a liturgy, and today we have not only millions of people using Technogym in 120 countries, 28,000 hotels, 50,000 gyms, 6,000 hospitals, 8,000 companies, 6,000 universities, 600,000 homes, the most beautiful homes in the world with Technogym, also 10 Olympics, etc., but for me every day is the most important day of life.

Yes, this is exactly our mission, the purpose as we would say today, the reason for Technogym's existence. What you said, why Technogym? Technogym is about helping people move, getting the world moving again, because we went from 20-25 km a day a thousand years ago to 1-2 km a day today. We celebrate when steps are a hundred more. Yes. So this naturally creates health risks that we all know. Technogym is the enabler, the activator, the facilitator to get people moving again: people who are sedentary, people in difficulty who need rehabilitation, people who are ill and need treatment, or athletes who can improve their performance, or simply to be more beautiful. And in all of this, this lifestyle logic, because this is a true lifestyle that we promote, which we called 33 years ago 'wellness', a word we invented, registered, a brand that has now entered the English dictionary 10 years ago. Today we carry this philosophy forward in the world as a social responsibility of business, so anytime, anywhere, meaning not Technogym in the gym three times a week if all goes well, but Technogym as a way of thinking, as a culture, which means healthy eating – not diets, diets are not good – a healthy eating that means a positive approach to life, and therefore enthusiasm, energy, desire, passion, and this plays a very important role in well-being and aging. And at the base, man was born to move, so movement is fundamental. Movement also means we teach not to take the elevator but to take the stairs, we teach thanks to Technogym Map to go out on Saturday and Sunday by bike or in a park, to go on an excursion with children. So Technogym is a way of thinking. We created a foundation, we created our own university, and in the world this philosophy, thanks to a company from Cesena, Romagna, in the Wellness Valley, has passed and is recognized by everyone because today we are, in some way, the reference for many universities. We have a research center, we do studies on healthy longevity, we created a research center with 300 people inside the campus in Cesena, and out of 3,000 direct employees and another 3,000 indirect full-time, we still have 10% in research and development, that's a lot, the investment we make in innovation, but we are at the beginning. For us, we are still in the garage, just as we are every day. In the meantime, around the garage, this Wellness Valley was born, which we talk about today, and newspapers talk about it every year, providing studies on people's well-being.

So, I have always thought that the company is like a tree. It is born from a seed. The seed was the first piece of equipment made in the garage when I was 21, 22. Then it grew, built a trunk, branches were born. These branches are our networks in the world, the fruits are our results, and the roots are in the territory. Over the years, with this metaphor, we realized that such an important tree, becoming so giant, must have ever deeper roots in its territory. Paradoxically a bit counterintuitive, right? You say you are in the world, over 93% outside Italy and 99.9% outside Romagna, and you are in Cesena. 'But why do we do all this in Cesena?' However, near the highway exit, so at least we are there. Then I'll tell you a story you'll like. So this responsibility to give back, as the Americans say, this responsibility to give back has always been in our DNA as a passion. And 23 years ago, since it was already 5, 6, 8 years that people talked about making Italy the largest producer of well-being in the world, creating the country of quality of life in the world, bringing projects to the government. I was in the Council of Ministers with various people, no names, presenting this social idea as a dreamer, as a Romagnolo, but nothing happened. Words, words, meetings, meetings, absolutely nothing happened. So after 6-7 years I said enough, it means there is bureaucracy, everything is short-term, there was and still is a lack of planning. So I said, you know what? We'll do it ourselves, and we created a Romagna laboratory, created a foundation, involved all stakeholders of the territory in silence, without newspapers, without anything. We started. Today, after 23 years, we have about 47 active projects: education for children and schools, programs to combine chemotherapy with physical exercise as a drug that gives a 30-40% increase in the psychophysical outcome of the patient, programs against diabetes, medical prescription, physical prescription from family doctors, programs for the elderly in parks, active vacations for hotels on the Romagna Riviera, initiatives against Alzheimer's. We created a district that grew by itself, in the sense that each actor in the territory (hoteliers, scientists, doctors, schools) participated. We brought four faculties to the University of Bologna Cesena campus: wellness, bioengineering, sports science, psychology, nutrition, which are the four legs of the wellness table. All of this to create a culture, to create sensitivity, because wellness is a mental state and means loving yourself, taking care of yourself with prevention, doing sports, being in contact with nature, loving your children and family and friends in a sustainable perspective. And all of this has led to us having more startups per capita than the national average, most of them in life sciences. We have the most active population, 10% more than the national average. Diabetes among over 65s is 10 points lower. We have a lower incidence of type 2 diabetes. The University of Bologna and the Chamber of Commerce audit the results of this culture, which has created economic and social value for the territory: more jobs, more people fit, less absenteeism, more productivity, more creativity, more tourists, more talent, more health initiatives and prevention for cancer and cardiovascular diseases, because you know that now scientific evidence on any website shows that health education – eating well and moving – reduces the probability of stroke by up to 40-50%. Alzheimer's is becoming a serious problem, but the solution is not so much Technogym, but the environment, the relationship with schools. And this is a legacy we want to leave to the new generations that will come in 20, 30, 40, 50 years, because they live in the only wonderful Wellness Valley in the world. And when you exit the highway in Cesena, on the sign it says Wellness Valley; it's entered geography. And the Technogym Village, our wellness campus, is the center. We have a university inside that trains professionals in sports and well-being. So we are a sustainable company, born with a purpose focused on the environment, on people, and on health as a precious asset.

Yes, because in the end, 'La Dolce Vita' teaches that, as does the old Romagna. We are, and I want to say this because I care a lot, we are a bit centered, in the sense that we represent Italy on various fronts. We are halfway between Milan and Rome, halfway between Florence and Venice. Technogym is exactly at the intersection at 4 and 45 to 1 to 14. When I joke around the world, I say: 'What is the intersection of world culture?' They say the Mediterranean, all cultures. And what is at the center of the Mediterranean? Italy. And I say, what is at the center of Italy? Technogym. So the equation is that we are at the center of the world. But we will make a new Renaissance from Romagna.