Business management and Blockchain: CEO as Quarterback

How to Lead a Team to Victory with Technological Innovation

I am frequently asked how I manage multiple companies as CEO or sole director and create so many relationships and strategic partnerships, forming ecosystems in different sectors, including blockchain. This technology is indeed a key element in ensuring transparency and security in business operations, similar to the clarity and precision required of a quarterback (QB) during a game.

What distinguishes me is a great passion for what I do, combined with creativity, determination, consistency, reliability, and transparency. These factors are crucial for being proactive in achieving a mission. To answer my interlocutors, I drew a comparison between a CEO and a QB.

In my humble opinion, the role of the CEO is like that of the quarterback in an American football team, acting as the “director” who decides and executes actions to lead the team to victory, no matter the cost. In this role, adopting blockchain can be compared to an innovative strategy offering a crucial competitive advantage.

The Qualities of the CEO and the QB

Passion, determination, and decision-making ability.

Often, I find myself like a QB in the “pocket” with the ball in hand, seeing that my teammates are not ready to receive it, perhaps because they are covered man-to-man, so I run… head down and towards the end zone (goal).

Waiting for a receiver to be free can sometimes be fatal; thus, it is the QB’s clarity, courage, and determination that make the difference. Similarly, a CEO must have the ability to make quick and confident decisions, and using blockchain can facilitate these decisions, ensuring that every transaction and contract is transparent and immutable.

I believe that a good CEO should always be ready to step up, just like a good QB, training with the team, following the playbook, calling good plays, being able to throw the ball or run with it, even at the cost of being heavily tackled.

In this context, blockchain technology can be seen as one of the innovative tools a CEO can use to ensure transparency and security, just as a QB uses new strategies to gain an advantage on the field.

It’s clear that neither the QB nor the CEO should act like divas; their primary role is already recognized. They must be ready to bring the game forward by choosing the best strategic plays and identifying players who are free and ready to score touchdowns, so the team wins TOGETHER. In this sense, blockchain can be an innovative strategic play that, if well implemented, can lead to winning results.

Likewise, a CEO must always keep the company mission in mind, stay focused on the objectives to be achieved, involve the team, delegate, and help each collaborator grow without favoritism.

Also, motivating and giving proper recognition to subordinates is essential. It is always necessary to find and enhance their talent because a good leader’s vision must be global, not self-centered.

The result of this cohesion and respect for all elements that make up a team will undoubtedly lead to success, whether in sports or any other sector.

In this scenario, blockchain can help keep everyone aligned and accountable, thanks to its transparent and immutable nature.

Technological Innovation as a Strategic Tool

Experience with Blockchain.

Regarding continuously stepping up, like the quarterback who must decide within seconds whether to throw or run, a CEO must make firm decisions before it’s too late, even if they are unpopular, to guide or position the ball in the right direction for the company’s benefit.

Here comes technological innovation, such as blockchain, which can provide a fundamental competitive advantage.

In 2020, after seven years since the launch of Italy Crowd on January 12, 2014 (which marked the birth of the first Italian real estate crowdfunding platform), a revamp was needed. With the partner EasyTech and the partner Swiss Crowd, we created a new platform incorporating blockchain technology (Ethereum) to ensure transaction transparency and the associated financing contracts.

I was convinced that this technology would be very helpful in the unfortunate event of a dispute between a project Proponent and the Investors who financed it. Unfortunately, due to Covid and issues related to the Superbonus, some Proponents were unable to meet the expected repayment timelines, leading some Investors to seek legal advice.

None of the involved lawyers wanted to remind the court that, besides an online contract, there was also its transcription on the blockchain, guaranteeing reliability and immutability.

“Imagine… if we start talking about blockchain, the judge wouldn’t understand a thing, we risk creating confusion by associating lending with crypto, so we won’t touch on blockchain, Etherscan, Themis, or its stamps,” a lawyer representing the Investors in the class action told me.

I am disheartened that such a secure and transparent technology like blockchain is still a “taboo” subject for some Italian courts in 2024.

I hope the day will come soon when a judge will see signing a Smart Contract as an added value supporting irrefutable evidence, not a dark problem.

This experience highlights the importance of integrating technological innovation into business management, just as a quarterback must adapt and make quick and decisive choices.

Blockchain, with its ability to ensure transparency and security, represents a strategic tool that every CEO should consider to lead their company to success, just as a QB leads the team to victory.

Augusto Vecchi