Funny that Udayan wrote about what Firenze could mean - in his post. Perfect segue for mine, and we live in opposite sides of this continent currently and didnt even sync up on it. Back in July 2006 when I did think about this project and was looking for a name (all cool projects need a name, see), I picked up Firenze immediately. The reasoning was very simple.

Firenze - as the italians call florence was the birthplace of the renaissance. And it was no dumb luck either. The Medici family that ruled Florence at that time had painstakingly brought in the top thinkers of that time from all walks of life from all parts of europe (not just italy) to come live in Florence. The sculptors (Michelangelo), Painters (raphael), engineers/innovators (Leonardo) [No, not the teenage mutant ninja turtles, dude.This aint the early 90s] where brought in to join the likes of political strategists (Machiavelli) and musicians (Heinrich Isaac). Ofcourse 2 fundamental things happen when genuises of different talents are brought to the same place for a good period of time - a) they fight each other over who is the most magnificient b) After their initial fascination, subsequent disagreements - they eventually get around to innovate to levels that they didnt individually dream possible. In Firenze this was made possible by the Medici family who were ofcourse favored by the church(pope) since they were the pope's bankers. Simply put: Vision+Socialsupport+finance = great manangement environment (ofcourse i am missing a whole lot of other variables here).

The first time i heard this story i was fascinated. When i visited Florence for the first time in 2003 and walked through the Uffizi gallery and the main piazzas looking at the statues - the presence of these greats all being in this city all the same time was a thought that just streamed through my senses constantly. A super positive ebb of energy was what i felt. Since then i thought something like this could be created, maybe not at that scale - but atleast at corporate.

Project Firenze on a basic level has many of these elements. And the idea is to get the young talent from around the world to have a good support system to have experiential learning abt themselves in a short period of time. Something that hopefully stands with them forever. And more importantly something that they can nurture and share with others over their lifetime. The great individuals from Firenze were great because of the influence of each other on each other - but more importantly bcos Medici and the family had that vision. Project Firenze couldnt in my mind be named any more apt.

What the alums from this project have to share is more about if the effects of this mirrors the intentions :)