{"id":370,"date":"2024-05-22T17:19:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T17:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/purpose-for-action-sometimes-comes-from-conflict\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T11:18:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T11:18:27","slug":"purpose-for-action-sometimes-comes-from-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/purpose-for-action-sometimes-comes-from-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"Purpose for Action Sometimes Comes from Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I think about social conflicts, two immediately come to mind: Old vs. Young and Men vs. Women. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first one doesn\u2019t affect me as much\u2014I\u2019ve always had a fascination with old age and enjoy friendships across generations. But I know plenty of people who fight these battles, and I\u2019m sure they have their reasons. The second one, however, makes my blood boil. In every aspect of my life, I feel like I\u2019ve been fighting against the opposite sex. Ever since fifth grade, when Federico, my eight-year-old classmate, went from being my childhood friend to my sworn enemy, this struggle has been present. I could start my personal Men vs. Women history right there\u2014with Federico\u2014and continue with a long list of 1,000 other names that have shaped my ongoing fight. A fight that has always led me, and still leads me, to issues of gender. <\/span><\/p>\n

At its core, I think this fight stems from a deep frustration and a sense of inequality that I have personally felt in male-dominated spaces\u2014or, honestly, in almost every encounter with masculinity. When I realized that I wasn\u2019t the only one feeling this way\u2014that it was a widespread phenomenon across my entire country\u2014I made the blissful decision in 2021 to move to France, where, at least from this perspective, things seemed better. Then, under some strange cosmic alignment (probably called Brain Drain Reversal), I found myself back in Italy. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even though I constantly complain about these gender issues, I have, in the end, been accepted in most places\u2014and I\u2019m grateful for that. But still, it\u2019s not enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much do you want, Silvia? <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Apparently, too much.<\/span> Because seeing that gender inequality still hasn\u2019t been resolved on a societal level is just not something I can ignore.<\/span><\/p>\n

The key word here is<\/span> purpose,<\/span><\/i> and maybe this personal story can help explain that invisible force that drives a group of people to take action in the world. Purpose is what pushes people to start initiatives\u2014even in an entrepreneurial sense, even in leadership. And isn\u2019t it true that without fire, without conflict, there isn\u2019t much drive?
\nOne of the first questions I ask when I meet a founder (or, more rarely, a foundress) is: Why? Why do you want to do this thing? Why not something else? <\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>next challenge<\/b> is <\/span>expanding that purpose<\/b>\u2014taking the <\/span>initial drive<\/b> and growing it through the <\/span>aggregation of others<\/b>. Because the moment a project gathers people around it, that <\/span>original fire<\/b> is no longer just \u201chis\u201d or \u201chers\u201d\u2014it becomes <\/span>theirs<\/b>. This requires <\/span>letting go<\/b>, in some ways, of the personal battle to allow for <\/span>collective evolution<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A startup, in the end, is <\/span>much more plural<\/b> than we think. We\u2019re used to identifying a company with its <\/span>leader<\/b>, but that\u2019s not always the case. I know of a business where <\/span>customers no longer refer to the company by its name<\/b>\u2014they call it <\/span>\u201cthe guys from [Company Name]\u201d<\/span><\/i>. I find this shift fascinating because it somehow <\/span>bridges<\/b> one of the two major social conflicts I mentioned at the beginning.<\/span><\/p>\n

So maybe, one day, the <\/span>gender issue<\/b> that makes my blood boil <\/span>will also be solved on a societal level<\/b>? At this moment, I don\u2019t think so. And honestly, I\u2019d much rather be <\/span>sipping a Saint Germain Spritz in Place de la Concorde<\/b> (which, by the way, Italians just call an <\/span>Hugo<\/span><\/i>) than sitting here talking about <\/span>feminism in Italy<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if I don\u2019t do it\u2014if <\/span>we<\/b> don\u2019t do it\u2014then <\/span>who will?<\/b><\/p>\n

So, I encourage <\/span>all readers of this column<\/b> to fill their lives with feminist books, experiences, and, yes, feminist children. Let\u2019s not forget that the word <\/span>feminism<\/b> was coined <\/span>in opposition to the patriarchal structure of our society<\/b>, a structure that has reached its <\/span>final stop<\/b> and has long <\/span>worn out its welcome<\/b>\u2014even among goats. And goats, as I imagine them peacefully chewing grass, almost <\/span>never<\/b> get tired of anything.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for me, I\u2019ll leave you here, still trying to figure out <\/span>what I need to give up<\/b> to transform this battle from <\/span>mere complaints<\/b> into something that truly belongs to <\/span>others as well<\/b>. Sometimes, I wonder if I should <\/span>abandon my warlike spirit altogether<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet, whenever that thought creeps in, I remind myself that, in case of doubt, it\u2019s always <\/span>better to write\u2014or to embrace boredom<\/b>. Maybe, from that, something good will come.<\/span><\/p>\n

So here\u2019s the <\/span>comic strip<\/b> I\u2019ve drawn\u2014though, given my <\/span>limited artistic talent<\/b>, take it with a grain of salt.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I think about social conflicts, two immediately come to mind: Old vs. Young and Men vs. Women….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[57,42],"class_list":{"0":"post-370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-lab-en","8":"tag-conflitto-en","9":"tag-start-up-en"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/silviamanduchi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}