If in July 2012, Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, would not have pronounced three magical words "Whatver It Takes" (whatever is needed) it is possible that today there would have to be disbursed three thousand three hundred nineteen pesetas, instead of almost twentyeuros, to acquire Mario Draghi.The architect (Deusto).

However, there is still a European central bank at the head of nineteen different economies.And all thanks to Super Mario, the nickname by which American and teacher are also known.

Recently the true story of the politician that made it possible for the life of 340 million Europeans to not turn.The book, written by Jane Randow and Alessandro Special, brings interesting clues about her proverbial poker face.Erasúper Mario Dialogant?What was his tolerance with the stupid?How did the meetings organize to be fruitful?

First clue: the desk that Draghi had at the quadragese plant of the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt was oriented towards the center of the room, so Draghi had no habit of looking out the window of his office as many powerful men do."Beyond the landscape, anyone who will visit the penultimate plant of the southern tower of the ECB should also refrain from looking for hidden messages in the decoration," add Randow and Speciale.

European Central Bank

For Draghi, the euro is more than a financial and economic initiative

To find indications of the footprint left by Draghi in the ECB you have to look at less striking objects, arranged with discretion among the books: the Prussian helmet of 1871 that the German newspaper gave him (a reminder that, for the Germans, thePresident of a Central Bank must adopt a hard policy about inflation), a five -euro ticket that entered into circulation in 2013 or the miniature of a Citroën, semi -marked on a low shelf.

Although the big question continues in the air (is the euro destined to last?), No one discusses that the ECB is now more powerful than ten years ago.For Draghi, the euro is more than a financial and economic initiative.It is the incarnation of the long -term political project of a European unit, emerged in response to the wars that devastated the continent during the first half of the twentieth century, and “a bulwark against the appearance of future conflicts.That is the reason why, for Draghi, talking about Grexit or Italxit, or any other exit (departure) is worse than absurd: it is dangerous, ”can be read in the book.

Angela Merkel, the last great leader of Europe

It was his father who taught him to face life."On one occasion," Mario remembers, "she told me about a monument in the square of a German city.The plate said, more or less, like this: 'If you have lost your money, you have not lost anything, because you can recover it with the next business.If you have lost honor, you have lost a lot, but you can reconquer it with a heroic act.But if you have lost the courage, you have lost everything '”.

The early death of his father, when he was 15 years old, and shortly after his mother, forced the young Mario to earn the beans when he was still wearing short pants.“I remember that at 16, when you return from a vacation on the coast with a friend, that he could do what he wanted;I, on the other hand, were at home with a lot of correspondence for dispatching and invoices to pay, ”he said half a century later in an interview.

Ursula von der Leyen, a president against the great challenge of Europe

As regards his free time, Mario Draghi likes sport.His career in basketball ended at the Massimo Institute, where he imitated Bill Bradley's game style, at that time Olympia Milano player and subsequently elected US senator.UU.Draghi played an escort (like Bradley) and was very competitive, but also stood out as a team player, says Paol.

When Draghi lived in the USA.UU.Working for the World Bank began playing tennis and, later, golf, like so many other bankers.When he is at his house on the coast, around Rome, he usually runs, sometimes with his dog, a very active and affectionate Hungarian braco.For the rest, Draghi loves football and is a fan of Rome, his city's team.He also like to talk about theater, restaurants and the last social phenomenon, as well as is willing to make literary or culinary suggestions to whom they ask them."Elena Ferrante's books advised me," acknowledged a colleague from the ECB, showing his surprise because of the fact that Draghi knew this ghost writer who has run rivers of ink rivers.

Draghi loves football and is a fan of Rome, his city's team

Very modest with his private life, it is known that he is fond of museums and that he does not feel a special inclination for rock or pop, unlike classical music.He is considered one more man of numbers than letters so his quotes are almost always of economists, except for some exception, such as when he paraphrases the Polish sociologist Zigmunt Bauman and his liquid modernity.

The experience that opened the doors to Mario Draghi to become Super Mario. for its acronym in English).

"In the United States I learned what it means to work hard"

The MIT represented the avant -garde of economic thought and had some of the brightest minds of the moment.Among his classmates were Olivier Blanchard, a future chief economist of the IMF, the Greek Lucas Papadimos, who would become vice president of the ECB, while Ben Bernanke, president of the Federal Reserve between 2006 and 2014, obtained the doctorate two years afterthe.

Accepted at the beginning temporarily, Draghi became a doctorate to all purposes, after convincing his teachers that "it was worth having me", as he would say many years later.In any case, he had to work hard, in the classroom and outside it.I was already married to Maria Serenella Cappello and her studio scholarship only covered rent and food.A normal day could easily last eighteen hours between attending courses, examinations, the drafting of the thesis, teaching and work."In the United States I learned what it means to work hard," Draghi admitted in his day."He was a taciturn boy, but an unbeatable student," said Robert Solow, one of the two directors of his thesis (the other was Franco Modigliani who, like Solow, had won the Nobel Prize in Economics).

After the doctorate, Draghi resumed the academic career, teaching at the universities of Trent, Padua, Venice and, finally, Florence.But it also began to move outside the academic world.In 1983, he became an advisor to Giovanni Goria, the Minister of Treasury;A year later he was appointed Executive Director of the World Bank.His fame did not stop growing in the 1980s, when the Italian prime minister, Giulio Andreotti, appointed him General Director of the Italian Treasury, a position he held for ten years in which he happened to eleven different governments.

On January 28, 2002, after a period in Harvard, Draghi was appointed vice president and general director of the Goldman Sachs International Division.To a large extent, he was hired as open to make his contacts serve, but Draghi did not miss the experience to learn how traders and bankers worked.His ability to read investors would have a key role in 2012 with the Eurozone crisis and turbulence that threatened to destroy the single currency.

Meetings

Draghi always arrives very prepared, with the newspapers read and all the documents about the problem to be discussed

But, if Draghi has stood out for something in his 74 years of life, it is because of his well -known habit of staying out of the brawls.“Where is Draghi?Otherwise, ”he became a habitual joke for his legendary ability to sneak out.His habit of disappearing from meetings to address a call or talk to an official led him to be known in Italy as "the man who is in another place".

His closest collaborators wonder daily when he finds time to sleep because, regardless of what time is the first meeting in the morning, Draghi always arrives very prepared, with the newspapers read and all the documents about the problem to be discussed analyzed.His style is analytical: ask difficult questions and listen to answers carefully.Of course, he doubts the common places and the accepted customs.

The ideal meeting, according to Mario Draghi

Mario Draghi is reputed to be a tremendously busy person.For this reason, it has no patience for the discussions that last too much.In the opinion of those who know him best, Draghi concentrates on a few crucial issues so that the trees do not cover the forest and has no problem leaving daily management to subordinates and collaborators.Of course, when Draghi trusts someone a project, "it means that, for all purposes, you are responsible," Randow and Speciale.Unlike his predecessor in the ECB, Jean-Claude Trichet, who always granted the word to all those attending a meeting, Draghi prefers short and scheduled meetings, and does not allow those present to continue talking about the simple pleasure of hearing themselvessame."He has no tolerance with the stupid," says a close collaborator of his.And when your patience is about to run out, it is often noticeable."If you consider that an argument has exceeded the limit, Mario cuts it," can be read in the book.In practice, Draghi prefers two to the custodful meetings of people.If you need information, take the phone and call the reference expert, instead of gathering more people around a table or proposing an online conclave via zoom or through any other chat video software.

Draghi presents a proposal only after having contemplated it from all possible angles.That said, it is considered open to alternative suggestions.He likes, for example, that his counselors say what they think and refute."Otherwise, they would not be doing their job," he recalls.On this particular, it usually cite a famous phrase attributed to John Maynard Keynes: “When the facts change, I change of mind.What do you do, Lord? ".

Draghi has left more phrases for memory.For example, being president of the ECB compared the euro with a bumblebee: "According to the laws of physics, it is impossible for him to fly, and yet he gets it".Now, however, "the euro must become a true bee," he said when the single currency passed through one of its worst moments, in June 2012.

When the facts change, I change your mind.What do you do, Lord "

In 2021 Time magazine considered Mariodraghi one of the 100 most influential people of 2021.In February of that same year he was appointed Prime Minister of Italy, although he resigned to collect his salary, about 110.000 euros gross per year.His heritage allows you.The income declared by the Premier in 2020 (year 2019) amounted to 581.665 euros.

His certificate income statement that has ten properties (one of them in London), some in co -ownership regime and one in community of goods, in addition to six lands.The former president also has a participation of 10.000 euros in Serena society, a non -profit fund that bears the name of his wife, with which he has married all his life and with whom he has two children and a grandson.

However, its main testament is to have been the true architect of a rescue that many considered impossible, when, in the midst of a global crisis only comparable to that of 1929, the Greek, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese debts endangered the very existence of the very existence of the very existence of the veryCommon European Project.

For draghi, small European nations can have relevance and voice if they are united.On the other hand, by themselves, they are destined to discuss among them while Washington, Beijing or any other nation decides the course of history.

By reflections such as the previous.It is the third time that the former president of the European Central Bank achieves it and may not be the last ...