Conference Program

In contemporary societies we observe a growing social disconnection, accompanied by a decline in trust in institutions and an increasing difficulty in creating spaces for democratic dialogue. In this context, adults spend a significant part of their lives within organizations. This contribution proposes to consider organizations as possible spaces for civic learning, where people develop relational and ethical competences that are also essential for democratic life.

The contribution does not claim that organizations are democratic institutions in a formal sense: decision-making processes often remain hierarchical and constrained by economic imperatives. However, everyday organizational life requires people to interact with cultural, generational and professional differences, to negotiate meanings, deal with tensions and build trust in conditions of increasing complexity. Practices such as listening, dialogue, shared responsibility and the development of psychological safety can therefore be interpreted as forms of democratic learning that take shape within work.

Drawing on professional experience in leadership development and organizational coaching, the contribution reflects on how leadership practices may reinforce purely instrumental cultures or, on the contrary, cultivate relational environments where it becomes possible to live with differences and develop mutual trust.

This perspective connects with traditions of thought that have considered the firm not only as an economic actor but also as a social institution, as in the experience of Adriano Olivetti and, more recently, in initiatives such as Economy of Francesco and in practices of the social and solidarity economy.

In a historical phase marked by profound technological transformations, the expansion of artificial intelligence and growing dynamics of social fragmentation, organizations may represent one of the places where adults can still experience cooperation, shared responsibility and the construction of trust. Rethinking leadership also as a civic practice may contribute to reconnecting organizational cultures with democratic values and with the capacity to imagine shared futures.