- Benedetto Viña has been Ferrari's CEO since 2021, overseeing the company's transition to electric vehicles.
- His background is in technology, with previous experience as an executive at a semiconductor company.
- According to WSJ, Mr. Vigna prefers the agility of a tech startup and has removed Ferrari's layers of bureaucracy.
Ferrari's CEO wants his company to move as fast as cars.
Since taking over as CEO in 2021, Benedetto Viña has introduced changes at Ferrari, with the tech start-up as the more than 80-year-old company enters the competitive field of electric vehicles. It was possible to move forward at a speed similar to
To that end, Mr. Vigna removed layers of bureaucracy and created a flatter hierarchy within the company, The Wall Street Journal reported. It's a move other CEOs have also explored. Improve a company's performance and ability to innovate.
For example, previously there were six levels of employees between the CEO and the test driver. Well, there are three.
“When environmental conditions change at high speed, you need a team that can adapt at high speed,” Vigna told the Journal.
The newspaper said Vigna's approach to leadership stems from his long career in technology.
Mr. Vigna, a physicist by training, previously worked for about 25 years at semiconductor company STMicroelectronics, where he started as an engineer and later became an executive, according to a Ferrari press release.
Ferrari has what Vigna called a high “bureaucratic mass index,” with employees too far removed from the CEO, the newspaper reported.
Mr. Vigna has previously expressed a desire for Ferrari to operate faster and reduce the company's bloat.
In a 2023 interview with Bloomberg, Vigna said he believes companies work more efficiently through smaller teams.
“Being on a big team makes you feel like you're number one,” he told Bloomberg. “In a small team, you're the one who contributes in some way. You also learn from your mistakes much faster.”
So far, Wall Street has responded well to Mr. Vigna's arrival.
The paper said the company's stock price has nearly doubled since Vigna took control of the company.
Ferrari also plans to launch its first electric car by the end of 2025.
A Ferrari spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment over the weekend.
