How Company Friendships Create Competitive Advantage - Maurizio de Franciscis

In Chapter 4 of 19 in his 2010 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, education entrepreneur and Global Campus (www.globalcampus.com) founder Maurizio de Franciscis builds professional friendships working at Arthur Andersen in Europe. When the Europe manager prioritizes monthly dinners across country team leaders, the resulting relationships facilitate not only friendships but also performance increases to levels two to three times that of competition. De Franciscis compares this approach to the traditional American corporate culture of healthy competition. He challenges the accepted view, citing how competitive culture rewards selfishness and limits potential by penalizing socialization, sharing, and collaboration. De Franciscis graduated from Universita degli Studi di Roma - La Sapienza - and earned his MBA from INSEAD.