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Bertarelli Photo by Max Ranchi |
Hows this for a long shot? Representing a landlocked country in the worlds most prestigious oceanracing competition, a firsttime challenger goes halfway around the globe to the reigning champions home port, and without losing a single race, brings the Americas Cup to the Continent (a feat never accomplished by any other European country, despite 150 years of trying).
If it sounds almost as difficult as bringing a profitable drug to market, maybe thats why Ernesto Bertarelli (MBA 93), CEO of the Swiss biotech company Serono International, was equal to the task. As the Financial Times (February 27, 2003) explained, Mr. Bertarelli runs his Americas Cup team like a small global company, with over one hundred team members, drawn from fifteen countries, and eight specialist units covering everything from boat design and sail making to professional sponsorship and training.
In challenging for the Cup, we had to choose our people at the beginning of the program and then could not change them, Bertarelli said. I think that is one of the most important decisions anyone ever has to make, be it in business or competition: Choose your people right.
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