L'Italo-Americano
THURSDAY, MAY 8, 2014
www.italoamericano.com
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despair or disillusionment.
Simply, I was curious. I wanted
to see how things looked on the
other side of the world. I was
very
young, not yet a graduate,
and I was willing to explore, to
experience, to learn."
Lorenzo Thione smiles with
satisfaction
at the results he has
achieved so far, yet he is still
eager to push himself further.
"Life is made of challenges.
When I moved to Palo Alto right
after graduating and started to
work for Xerox Parc I felt out of
place", he recalls. "It seemed to
me
that the masters I was work-
ing
with would never consider
me, but as time passed I realized
that I was learning a lot of new
things about myself. And this is
the
most important challenge, the
one against yourself."
Also important is never to bail
out: "At some point, what makes
the difference is being able to
seize the opportunity, to under-
stand that it won't come again,
and to turn it into something
unique without any fear of fail-
ure", states Bing's inventor. And
he firmly believes that Italians
are
particularly good at that:
"The
entrepreneurial drive is the
creative drive par excellence,
allowing to create something out
of nothing. We are very creative
people, but we need to believe in
values and heroes again. This is
the only way young generations
can regain hope and confidence
in themselves." Indeed, besides
his main field of interest - that is
information technology com-
bined with logic analysis of lan-
Inventor of the Bing search engine. Born in Como, he
made his fortune in Palo Alto.
For
Lorenzo Thione "the real challenge is against yourself"
Continued from page 1
guage - Lorenzo Thione is also
fond of theater and a stage per-
former
on Broadway, which he
sees as a natural evolution of his
creativity.
But what about the fear of fail-
ure? "When I started this new
adventure, I was afraid that I
wouldn't make it. Then I under-
stood that there is no reason to be
afraid: failure is an important
experience, and people who have
never had it should not be trust-
ed", says the 35-year old entre-
preneur. As journalist Roberto
Bonzio remarks: "Lorenzo's story
is like surfing: the wave that
could
crush you, must instead
push
you to go faster and to fly
higher." His story is also uncon-
ventional, based on a strong pas-
sion and humility, both essential
– according to Bing's creator – to
start a productive dialogue and to
move forward in life.
