Being a Leaders50: a shared honour

I read my name in that email several times.

Francesca Moriani, CEO of Var Group, among the Leaders50 2026.

And I still find it hard to believe.

Being selected among 50 leaders from around the world recognised for their impact, their ideas and the contribution they are making to the evolution of organisations is an incredible honour.

Then I looked at the other names.

Women and men leading companies known all over the world, people who have helped shape contemporary management thinking and practice. And I asked myself: am I really on this list too?

The answer is yes. And that realisation moved me deeply.

Leaders50 is, in fact, a very special list. It is not based on the size of a company, revenues or media visibility. The leaders are selected by people who study, shape and contribute to contemporary management thinking: Thinkers50 Ranked Thinkers and recipients of the Thinkers50 Distinguished Achievement Awards.

The selection focuses on impact, contribution, purpose, the ability to develop others and to generate change that goes beyond immediate results.

And that is precisely what makes this recognition so meaningful to me.

Because when I think about leadership, I never think only about one person.

I think about the thousands of people at Var Group, about the journey we have chosen to take, about the shared responsibility we have decided to put back at the centre. I think about the discussions, the challenges, the mistakes, the insights and all those choices that, day after day, are helping transform the way we work together.

It has been a courageous journey. And it continues to be one.

I am also the only Italian woman included in the Leaders50 2026. A detail that fills me with pride, but that I once again feel goes far beyond me as an individual.

That is why being a Leaders50 means something particularly special to me: it means seeing recognised a way of understanding leadership that is not limited to the role of the person who leads, but is built on the ability to create the conditions for others to take responsibility, experiment, contribute and grow.

And it also means feeling that what we are experimenting with together at Var Group can resonate beyond our own boundaries.

Thank you to Thinkers50 for this incredible honour.

And thank you to the people who have chosen to be part of this journey, to believe in it and to build it together with me.

Today, above all, I feel grateful.

And yes, also very, very proud.