{"id":108461,"date":"2026-06-26T14:04:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/?p=108461"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:04:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:04:51","slug":"the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/","title":{"rendered":"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A room of one’s own \u2014 that’s what Mina would have liked to have had when she was a young girl from Cremona in the ‘Bassa’ province, beginning to forge her own unique path as a great singer. A room just like the one Virginia Woolf<\/strong> longed for to escape the clamour and annoyances of family and village life, exhausting social interactions, and the wider world. A room where she could come to terms with her own feelings, melancholy, and desires in peace, and write about them. This reference to Mina and Woolf can be found in the opening pages of the fascinating book \u2018Mina. La formula di un successo italiano\u2019<\/strong> (Mina. The formula for Italian success), written by Pierangelo Soldavini, Frank Pagano, and Marco Di Dio Roccazzella and published by Il Sole 24 Ore. It is currently making the rounds at various summer book festivals, which are a welcome addition to the cultural scene in tourist towns and cities. One such festival is Salerno Letteratura, supported by the local Confindustria (are businesses increasingly becoming cultural players?).<\/p>\n

Mina has the voice that suits all types of music. From ‘The wonder of the night stretching out over the sea \/ took us by surprise \u2013 you and I, strangers to one another…’, with lyrics by Maurizio Costanzo and music by Ennio Morricone, to Bach’s Fugue in C minor performed with Severino Gazzelloni on the flute and the bossa nova introduced to Italy, as well as extraordinary renditions of Battisti and Paoli songs. \u2018The greatest white singer in the world\u2019, according to Louis Armstrong, the jazz maestro. Mina, the building a real brand. Mina, the star of quality television. The Mina, who surprised everyone by stepping away from the limelight at the height of her success. She retreated to the privacy of a home in Switzerland, where she spent her time writing songs, scouting for young talent, and running her own business with her son, Massimiliano Pani.<\/p>\n

Mina \u2013 a true Italian success story. The songs that provided the soundtrack to teenage love, melancholy and joy in the 1960s now captivate today’s thirty-somethings. The authors document this business case, celebrating cultured, serious and intelligent initiative, despite a long decline in quality. In many ways, it is a fine example.
\nThat desire for a \u2018room of one\u2019s own\u2019<\/strong> is an aspiration which, for anyone familiar with the world of Italian business, is often expressed by successful women at the helm of medium-sized and large companies. It also highlights a growing trend: the distinctiveness of a female-led corporate culture. Alongside the traditional values of organisation and productivity, there is a growing focus on environmental and social sustainability, the connection between workplace well-being and company competitiveness, the importance of achieving a balance between personal and professional life<\/strong>, and a dedication to the well-being of the communities in which the company operates. In short, it is a culture that best embodies the characteristics of a business led by women, such as a sense of beauty, a long-term, non-predatory approach to development projects and product quality, and a focus on people. It is often family-run, but can also be businesses run on a managerial basis outside the family of origin.<\/p>\n

It is a pity, however, that there are still so few women at the top of companies<\/strong>. ‘Leadership: more women on boards, but few in executive roles’, writes Il Sole 24 Ore (27 May), citing a Cerved study. In Italy, women account for just 26 per cent of CEOs across a sample of six million companies registered with Cerved. And in listed companies, the figures are even lower: women account for just 7 per cent<\/strong>, according to an Assonime study. This is a role mainly held in smaller firms. The representation on board committees is almost equal, with women holding a significant presence on risk control and appointments committees. According to CONSOB, women account for 43 per cent of board members overall \u2014 almost half.
\nIn family businesses, it is becoming increasingly common for the reins of power to pass from the founding father to his daughter, thus breaking with the tradition that the business would be the exclusive preserve of his sons. A positive sign of openness, and recognition of their expertise and management and leadership qualities.
\nGreat progress has been made since the Golfo-Mosca Act of 2011, which made it compulsory for women to sit on the boards of stock-exchange-listed companies. However, a genuine cultural shift has yet to take place beyond corporate leadership.
\nIn fact, the gender pay gap is widening, partly because women bear the brunt of household and childcare responsibilities. La Repubblica reports that, in an investigation detailing 10,000 cases of women resigning from their jobs in Lombardy over the last three years, 15 June, \u2018low wages and a lack of support\u2019 were the main reasons given for leaving work to look after children. And challenges remain throughout careers.<\/p>\n

This issue affects not only the business world, but also the professional sector. \u2018Lawyers: wealth is exclusively a male preserve\u2019, reports Il Giorno (15 June), noting an average income of \u20ac93,604, the highest in Italy, but adding that women earn 60 per cent less than men.
\nA labour market that is fundamentally out of balance leads to an overall loss of skills, culture, productive capacity, and the drive for innovation, which contributes to the country\u2019s low growth.
\nA greater, more highly qualified and better recognised and rewarded presence of women in the labour market, particularly within businesses ranging from industry to the service sector, could help Italy to tackle the challenge of human capital. This is particularly important at a time when the ‘knowledge economy’ is prevalent, and when many women have demonstrated an ability to excel in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) by combining ‘hard sciences’ with the humanities. The Politecnico, the University of Milan and the Catholic University of Milan, all of which are led by female vice-chancellors, are significant examples of this. In order to keep pace, we need to invest more in young women<\/strong>, enabling them to participate fully in all processes, from production to research. This would have significant benefits for business growth and competitiveness, as well as for the country as a whole. By shattering the glass ceiling of women’s marginalisation once and for all and breathing in the fresh air of \u2018Il cielo in una stanza\u2019 (the sky in a room), we come full circle to Mina’s lesson with which we began, helping to write another ‘Italian formula for success’.<\/p>

(photo Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A room of one’s own \u2014 that’s what Mina would have liked to have had when she was a young girl from Cremona in the ‘Bassa’ province, beginning to forge her own unique path as a great singer. A room just like the one Virginia Woolf longed for to escape the clamour and annoyances of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,56,45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-corporate-culture","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A room of one’s own \u2014 that’s what Mina would have liked to have had when she was a young girl from Cremona in the ‘Bassa’ province, beginning to forge her own unique path as a great singer. A room just like the one Virginia Woolf longed for to escape the clamour and annoyances of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fondazione Pirelli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-26T13:04:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"755\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"fondadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"fondadmin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/\",\"name\":\"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-26T13:04:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f47d097000832c4a6e54538c791fdf25\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":755,\"caption\":\"Mina (Photo by: Universal Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Fondazione Pirelli\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f47d097000832c4a6e54538c791fdf25\",\"name\":\"fondadmin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69498a9175ca244966e51e53c88712c024fcebe41f9a05f75657f1bb25e489b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69498a9175ca244966e51e53c88712c024fcebe41f9a05f75657f1bb25e489b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"fondadmin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli","og_description":"A room of one’s own \u2014 that’s what Mina would have liked to have had when she was a young girl from Cremona in the ‘Bassa’ province, beginning to forge her own unique path as a great singer. A room just like the one Virginia Woolf longed for to escape the clamour and annoyances of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/","og_site_name":"Fondazione Pirelli","article_published_time":"2026-06-26T13:04:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":755,"url":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"fondadmin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"fondadmin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/","url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/","name":"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs - Fondazione Pirelli","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-26T13:04:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f47d097000832c4a6e54538c791fdf25"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wpsite-assets.fondazionepirelli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/23085837\/GettyImages-1487053460.jpg","width":1024,"height":755,"caption":"Mina (Photo by: Universal Archive\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/corporate-culture\/blog\/the-continued-success-of-italian-songstress-mina-serves-as-a-shining-example-for-managers-and-female-entrepreneurs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The continued success of Italian songstress Mina serves as a shining example for managers and female entrepreneurs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/","name":"Fondazione Pirelli","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/f47d097000832c4a6e54538c791fdf25","name":"fondadmin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69498a9175ca244966e51e53c88712c024fcebe41f9a05f75657f1bb25e489b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e69498a9175ca244966e51e53c88712c024fcebe41f9a05f75657f1bb25e489b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"fondadmin"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108461\/"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1\/"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?post=108461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108461\/revisions\/"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108463,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108461\/revisions\/108463\/"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108432\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?parent=108461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?post=108461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondazionepirelli.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?post=108461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}