Cristina Silingardi has built a truly global career. She moved from CFO roles in Europe to COO and board advisory work across North America and Asia. Throughout these experiences and locations, one principle has remained as a constant: teams thrive when their work is tied to a deeper purpose. With a professional background rooted in finance and operations and leadership roles, she has seen firsthand the difference purpose can make in execution.
“People want to know why their work matters,” Silingardi explains. “Purpose creates alignment. It builds trust and it transforms execution.” For her, organizational performance is not about rigid processes but about clarity and meaning. When employees understand the bigger picture, she argues, they show up with more ownership and energy — something she has witnessed repeatedly while integrating acquisitions or scaling operations.
Building Around People, Not Just Performance
In high-pressure environments, many leaders chase quarterly results at the expense of culture. Silingardi’s track record of leading teams to average annual revenue growth of 25 percent tells a different story. “Culture is performance,” she insists. By creating equitable and inclusive workplaces, she has consistently unlocked innovation and resilience.
Her belief is that diverse perspectives are not just a matter of fairness but of strategy. “Encouraging different ways of thinking helped us anticipate challenges, identify blind spots, and find solutions we would not have reached otherwise,” she shares. From recruiting across diverse backgrounds to implementing equity-driven operational practices, she has fostered cultures where collaboration and belonging directly fueled results.
Multiplying Leadership Across the Organization
Another defining theme in Silingardi’s philosophy is the idea that leadership should not sit solely at the top. Instead, sustainable organizations require leadership at every level. “Future-ready teams don’t rely on just one leader,” she says. “They’re built to adapt because leadership is shared.” She has observed the power of empowering mid-level leaders to take ownership, noting how it increases agility and innovation. In her view, readiness must be embedded throughout the organization. Teams that are resilient enough to navigate disruption, she explains, are those where leadership is multiplied, not concentrated.
The Sustainability Connection
Silingardi’s expertise extends beyond strategy and operations into sustainability and social impact. Having led cross-country initiatives and managed acquisitions across three continents, she has consistently emphasized ESG and DEI priorities. For her, shaping future-ready teams is directly tied to building more sustainable organizations. “In resilient teams, readiness runs deep,” she says. “They develop many leaders who can rise when needed.” That ability to adapt and grow responsibly, in her view, is also what allows businesses to thrive in a changing economic and social landscape.
Shaping the Teams of Tomorrow
For Silingardi, preparing organizations for the future is not a defensive exercise. It is a proactive act of shaping. She distills her approach into three clear actions: lead with purpose, center people, and multiply leadership. “The future isn’t just something we respond to, it’s something we shape. So shape it with purpose.”
Follow Cristina Silingardi on LinkedIn for more insights on shaping future-ready teams.
