"BEHIND THE SCENES OF MY ENTREPRENEURIAL CHANGE"

"BEHIND THE SCENES OF MY ENTREPRENEURIAL CHANGE." The story of Gianni Larcher - Entrepreneur | PANTANO S.R.L. Marble, Onyx, and Granite

I have been working in the marble industry for many years. I provide consulting on materials and produce marble, onyx, and granite artifacts. It's a concrete job, made of numbers, measurements, and specifications, and for a long time, my way of communicating with clients was the same: correct, technical, but essential.

My offers were all similar: "Thank you for your request, the price for flooring and cladding is such, the price for the steps is such, I remain at your disposal, best regards." However, a fundamental part was missing: the why, the value, the promise behind those numbers.

With Private, this changed. Not overnight, but through continuous work on Mission, Vision, and values. Today, every proposal that leaves my company contains an explicit value proposition: what I promise, how I commit, what I bring differently to the client. It's no longer just a quote; it's a clear declaration of identity and positioning.

One of the episodes I most associate with this change in perspective is the experience with the Hospitality event, born within the community. We gathered around common values and built our Mission and Vision related to the contract proposal on those. The result was a stand different from the usual, built on a new way of understanding work in Hospitality: values first, then numbers.

When I asked Combine® to help me prepare a schedule for a new trade fair participation, one of the suggestions that struck me was to plan a brief morning briefing with the team at nine to realign on Mission and Vision. Ours is a particular contract: we identify all the actors who will participate in the work from the start, especially from a construction perspective. Sharing values before discussing prices means creating common ground, both within the team and with the stand's guests.

At the Hospitality event, this approach was clearly visible: people came to us not only for the product but because they felt a clear message. We had worked on the why and the how, not just the what. And, thanks to the Private method, we had invited people to the fair who were already aligned with our values. There was no trick, but the effect was that of a naturally attractive stand.

What I didn't expect to find in Private is a true cultural and methodological vision of the enterprise. Cultural, because it proposes a different way of looking at the company compared to the classic training courses and networks I have attended. Methodological, because the path is clear, structured, and accompanies you over time.

The expression "Vision & Mission driven" has almost become a mantra: letting my values guide me towards goals compatible with my capabilities and ambitions. It's not just a phrase; it's a criterion with which I make concrete decisions today.

The method goes through the Mindset, the LABs, the monthly meetings, the exchange with other entrepreneurs, and the community managers. I had the opportunity to receive important contributions from people from other Communities, who came to us to bring tools and perspectives that we hadn't grasped on our own. Even a "review" on commercial aspects, done directly and practically: it's not something you find everywhere.

A key moment for me was precisely the Mindset, when everything was still done on paper. It was two intense days, during which I laid out myself, my family, my company, my goals. The first version of Mission and Vision I presented was very technical. In the end, a colleague openly told me that Vision wasn't me: I had shown myself in a passionate and emotional way, but the Vision came across as cold. It was decisive feedback, one of those "shocks" that make you stop and reflect. I accepted it, redid the Vision, and the second version was recognized as more authentic, more mine.

This kind of sincerity is, for me, one of the great values of Private: if someone only tells you "well done" out of courtesy, you don't grow. In the community, there is the freedom - and almost the duty - to be honest among colleagues.

Our community, Pietra d'Angolo, also tells well the journey we have made. The name was born almost as a joke, the logo from an even bigger joke. Yet, for more than a year, we have been walking together. We have changed locations three times; today we meet at Golf Le Vigne in Villafranca, a more attractive and stimulating setting, also suggested thanks to the exchange. This change has helped consolidate the group: when the context elevates, the way we engage elevates too.

We are not interested in numbers; we care about quality: we want people who are willing to work on themselves and their company, not those who come to be dragged along.

Combine® has meanwhile become part of my daily life. I use it to build offers and presentations, to write letters - like the one for Japan - and to review tools like my LinkedIn profile in light of Mission and Vision. The result is cleaner communication, concise when necessary, but much denser in meaning. Today, anyone who visits my profile understands what I do, why I do it, and what kind of professional I am.

The monthly meetings, the Mindset, the daily "pills," the exchange with the community, and the use of Combine® ensure that Private is not just a simple training experience for me, but a concrete presence in my way of doing business.

If I have to summarize what Private represents in my story, I would say this: a Vision & Mission driven method, a community that offers sincere feedback, and a path that shapes you over time, where human tools and artificial intelligence work together to bring out the best in me and my company.