Too Big to Succeed: How to Make Government Work | Diego Piacentini

The Dumbest Guy in the Room

Innovation gets harder the older, larger, and more complex an organization becomes. Government agencies that have been around and expanding for hundreds of years are nearly impossible to evolve. And it doesn’t help that modernizing government services seldom grabs big headlines, leading politicians to focus on the biggest problems — even though it could take years before the solutions are felt by the average American..

On this week’s episode of The Dumbest Guy in the Room, host John Dick welcomes Diego Piacentini. Born in Italy, Diego was one of the earliest executives at Amazon. He climbed the ranks there for over 16 years before leaving to bring Amazon’s principles of innovation and customer-obsession to the Italian government. Now he’s back in the private sector as an investor, board member, and advisor. Diego and John talked about how governments can tackle problems, what makes America most unique on the world stage, how adventurous Diego has become at trying new foods, and whether or not he could jumpstart a Ferrari if he had to.