Times and rhythms of two illycaffè managers

Inteview with Giacomo Biviano and Furio Suggi Liverani.

LET’S TALK ABOUT TIME AND RHYTHM: WHICH OF THESE TWO NOTIONS IS CLOSEST TO YOU?

GB – I’m careful about both, without underrating them. I use time and respect it both as an individual and as a professional; in a way, I live with time.
Continuous appointments, contracts to settle, monthly sales that need to be closed: in the face of all of this, it is fundamental to respect time. Rhythm instead is the element allowing us to advance systematically in time. I’m reminded of George Patton, nicknamed the American “steel general” who, for example, would set a goal for himself to be achieved in three months. To him, reasoning over time was not enough: he also needed to schedule his progress rhythm. Indeed, rhythms are necessary to gradually come closer to the goal, until you reach it. Another example is sports. Living in a beautiful seaside city as Trieste, I am obviously fond of sailing and regattas. The goal is to pass the finish line before the others (time), but this goal cannot be achieved without performing specific turns and counter-turns (rhythm). Time and rhythm are therefore absolutely complementary to each other.

FSL – There is no single, simple definition for the notion of time; therefore, I will give you the definition that physics gives of time: time is an irreversible succession of linked events (for example, the fall of the Berlin wall).
Therefore, time goes only in one direction. Rhythm, instead, gives you an idea of cyclical time, of an endless repetition of events (for example, the day-night cycle). Having said so, apart from my personal idea of time, my position (RTD) calls for a more linear notion of time, i.e. time as an endless flow of unrepeatable events. While the rhythm is that of an athlete obsessively repeating 100 sit-ups, time is that of a person rafting with the current down a stream or river.

IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW LONG DOES A RESULT LAST? IN OTHER WORDS, WHEN IS IT TIME TO START AGAIN?

GB – My opinion is that a result always ends the day before, in the sense that once it is achieved, you must immediately start again the next day.
Especially in the field of sales, when you look at the results achieved over a given month, you are already working to achieve the goal of the following month.

FSL – The farther away the beginning of a given survey is from the market and, therefore, from the completeness and profoundness of the survey itself, the more the result will be enduring and inimitable compared to other results – thus creating competitive advantage. It’s the same difference you have between knowing a given point on a map or the entire territory. You must start again when the market starts giving signs of restlessness, i.e. when you realise that you are incapable of satisfying your consumers.
WHAT IS THE TIME OF A PROJECT?

GB – As far as I’m concerned and considering my professional sector, projects end within a year’s time. In March you are already thinking of the following year, in September the plan for the next year has already been drawn up. What needs to be done well is to draw up a correct and accurate plan because, with a product like illycaffè, there is no such thing as a corrective sales plan. With a speciality blend like ours, promotional campaigns are unlikely to be implemented to support moments of temporary sale drops and reducing prices is even less conceivable. It is a single product, a single blend, a single price, a single and extremely precise sale strategy. That’s where the difficulty lies, but there is also the challenge of being in charge of such a product sale. The result is rewarding, it is only a matter of time.

FSL – It is not the notion of time that is important but rather the twofold intensity of qualitative and quantitative time. Let me explain what I mean: with any project, you always need to take into consideration 3 dimensions: time, the resources used, and quality. Time can be compromised by increasing the resources or by accepting a reduction of the quality level. Apart from this consideration, there is also the notion of correct time: this means completing the activity neither too late nor too early, but when the market is ready to receive the result. Let me remind you that in 1980 illycaffè produced its first microprocessor-controlled espresso machine but the market did not acknowledge this achievement because this solution was too early for its time.