Before inclusion was even talked about

Fragmentary information was beginning to emerge, mostly from the United States, and multinational companies headquartered in the US, and occasionally in France, were starting to implement their first initiatives in Italy as well. The approaches were imported from abroad and applied with little effort to adapt them to the new context. People were experimenting with ways to navigate this emerging field, taking into consideration different identity characteristics and attempting to move beyond the binary male/female distinction. The iceberg metaphor was used to visualize differences, but the terminology and frameworks being referenced were very much rooted in the American context, often creating a sense of disorientation.

These initiatives attracted the interest of HR professionals, always looking for new ideas and stimuli, but within companies they were often perceived as something imposed from outside and somewhat disconnected from the Italian and European context. This context, after all, was not without tools and policies supporting targeted employment inclusion, although these were largely public initiatives rather than programmes directly managed by companies.

At the time, the term inclusion was not yet widely used. Instead, the focus was on the need to “manage diversity” — hence the term Diversity Management. Attention was concentrated on the need to articulate these different identities, understand them, classify them, define them, and identify their specific characteristics and needs.

During those same years, Fondazione Brodolini was already recognised in Italy and across Europe as a reference point for developing research and tools to promote equal opportunities in the workplace. Established in 1971 in memory of Giacomo Brodolini — minister, politician, partisan and trade unionist, who in 1970 had worked on the drafting and discussion of the Workers’ Statute — the Foundation had a natural commitment, embedded in its DNA, to combating discrimination and contributing to improving the working conditions of both women and men.

At that time in Italy, there were no high-level training programmes specifically designed to provide the skills needed by people who wanted to enter organisations, or by those already working within them who wanted to establish a role dedicated to recognising and managing differences.

There were some professional training programmes, focused exclusively on personnel management, but they lacked a broader perspective: the ability to look at the organisation as a whole and at the global scenarios underlying the emerging need to open up to greater plurality. These were vocational programmes, but they lacked the tools needed to interpret the complexity of the contexts and strategies within which organisations operated.

The Master’s programme was created to address this gap, initiating a more comprehensive reflection and training pathway that sought to bring together the findings of academic research on diversity and organisations — which was beginning to gain prominence at the time — with knowledge developed within associations, among activists and civil society, as well as with the practical experience of the first professionals working on these issues within companies. This approach also took into account the role of European and national public policies, as well as that of intermediary organisations, first and foremost business associations and trade unions.

It was an interesting and unprecedented challenge, and one that was also closely aligned with the distinctive characteristics of Fondazione Brodolini, which has always stood out for its ability to interpret the complexities of the world of work and build bridges between different voices.

The desire to respond to this need was also connected to the ambition to turn research findings into competencies — into practical knowledge, capabilities and skills. The underlying idea was to reinterpret the knowledge and lessons emerging from Fondazione Brodolini’s research in order to offer those working on the ground high-quality content that could also be put into practice to promote change within organisations.

From its very beginnings, the Master’s programme has therefore positioned itself around two goals: fostering an openness to understanding complexity and promoting organisational change.

To put this approach into practice, the programme adopted an extended definition of differences that went beyond identity-based diversity to include the plurality of multidisciplinary forms of knowledge and the different perspectives of stakeholders. This was accompanied by a focus on intersectionality, even at a time when the term itself was not yet explicitly used.

This attempt to broaden perspectives has always gone hand in hand with the desire to provide practical tools to help participants interpret data, both within and outside organisations, and to design transformative initiatives capable of generating meaningful impact.

From the very first editions of the Master’s programme, the theoretical component therefore ran in parallel with the development of project design skills, leading participants to work in small groups to develop project proposals aimed at fostering inclusion.

From the outset, considerable energy was also devoted to creating a dialogue within each class that could make space for differences, develop the ability to listen to divergent voices, and help participants learn how to navigate difficult conversations — conversations in which disagreement and conflict could be acknowledged and explored.

As the new edition approaches, the numbers are becoming increasingly impressive: 20 editions, plus one delivered in English for a European audience; more than 350 people trained, many of whom now hold key positions within the DEI teams of Italy’s most forward-thinking organisations; and more than 30 lecturers and guest speakers contributing to each edition.

And it is precisely the teaching team that represents the GEDM Master’s programme’s greatest strength. People continue to choose the programme because it has managed to remain proudly authentic, faithful to the values of Fondazione Brodolini while remaining in dialogue with a changing world.

Today, the teaching team includes a core group of long-standing lecturers who preserve the programme’s memory and carry forward its foundational principles, alongside a selection of emerging voices in every edition. These new voices bring cutting-edge topics to the classroom — issues that are likely to become priorities in the years ahead.

All of this is accompanied by a constant attention to the evolution of language and to new terminology. Not through a prescriptive approach, but through a commitment to promoting the substance of change, so that no one feels excluded and everyone feels part of a process that seeks to transform organisations, enabling every person to find their place and feel at ease.