When one thinks of a yacht, one instantly draws a picture in their head, envisioning the glitzy and glamorous life, catering to all the luxurious and leisurely desires one dreams of. While the owners of the yacht enjoy their masterpieces, it is the exceptionally talented yacht builders who bring together the best-in-class luxury yacht offerings and experiences to create a top-notch sailing excursion for its high-end clients.
Delving into the fascinating world of luxury yachts, one needs to acknowledge the makers and innovators of the industry. Earning the spotlight is the woman of the hour, Barbara Amerio, an experienced Owner of Permare shipyard with a demonstrated history of working in the luxury goods and nautical industry.
Through her pioneering efforts, Barbara played a crucial leadership role in transforming the company to its present-day glory. With a diploma in International Yacht Brokerage, Barbara is well-known for her skills in negotiation, sales, shipping and insurance, boat shows, charter market, Hospitality Industry, and Maritime Safety.
Over the last 40 years, the company has created an artisanal production considered niche, with over 90 yachts built to measure for Italian and foreign customers.
Transition is the new mood for a very dynamic company that wants to imprint the future in its respective sectors. Today, Barbara reckons the company has to think of futuristic scenarios where yachting will be a great player in exploring new technologies, new building processes, and new materials and propulsions energies.
Be it Inventions or Stem Skills, Barbara aims to be a pioneer in adopting new solutions and at the same time follow the Agenda 2030 goals for sustainability, implementation of give-back actions for the territory and social activities, open innovation, and strong dialogues between governance, stakeholders, and shareholders. To summon up, she adds, “Be a virtuous example for your partners, clients, and employers. You can be part of the change, more, you can be the protagonist of the change.”
Sailing with a Sustainable Approach
As a distinguished personality and travel advisor, Barbara has time and again emphasized sustainability as a whole. She has not only been vocal about it but has also taken measures to integrate sustainable development goals, boosting eco-tourism and eco-friendly yachts, and becoming carbon neutral for combating climate change.
Permare Group’s focus is to reduce consumptions and emissions, it has the record in the pod installation in the superyacht sector, where the company has obtained the best performance with only 3.1 lt for a nautical mile at 9 knots with a superlight 94 of 60 Tons saving 20 Tons of weight compared to the traditional ones. Currently, it will be the first to adopt the new powerful innovative pod S40 on the Amer steel 40 mt an amazing superyacht project.
The company owns a patent for producing more efficient composite hulls, and it invests in research and innovation together with suppliers and universities. It is part of European teams of research and collaborates with biologists studying protected areas in Mediterranean waters to reduce its environmental impact with its superyachts.
An Icon of Excellence in Leadership
Permare Group is a family business started by Barbara’s father in 1990. They launched Amer Yachts which became an award-winning global player in the sailing industry. Today, the company is run by the second generation of Amerios, Barbara, her brother Rodolfo and her sister Alexandra, while the third generation is being groomed by Mimi the first granddaughter So, Barbara’s business acumen is an inherent trait, running in her family, and now it’s all about maintaining their legacy for generations to come.
Currently spearheading the leadership role, Barbara embodies empathetic behavior. She fondly works with her family and team offering them the utmost respect for their varied life experiences and specialized skills. She adds, “I listen to people a lot, I’m familiar with psychology, it is very helpful for working relationships. We incentivize non-stop studies free of charge in our company and, I encourage all kinds of workers and employers to believe in themselves, be open–minded, and work in synergy as a strong team.”
When her team members are stressed and are facing any challenges, Barbara is the first one to offer them a helping hand. She keeps an eye on every member of her team and tries in advance to understand if they are suffering from burnout and if they need to recharge their batteries to regain energy.
As a women leader, Barbara is all about empowering and enlightening other women professionals. In her team, there are a majority of women whom she inspires and motivates at every step of their journey. Being a woman herself, she understands more than anyone how hard it is to manage a job and look after the family. So, she uses this system, where there is an open timetable permitting them to solve problems at home and be efficient at work. She tries to create a multitasking team able to replace each other in case of trouble. For Barbara, flexibility is the key word.
Barbara is a true example of a leader, she not only thinks for her team but also supports young minds by giving them key advice by solving their doubts to facilitate their right choice for the future. There are many schools and universities that want Barbara to be their mentor for helping students with their jobs and studies.
Fostering Employee Engagement and Well-Being
For Barbara, her team is the number one priority, she is a true example of a leader, who believes in team growth along with the success of the organization. To provide a collaborative and compassionate work environment, Barbara takes effective measures. She aims to create a good place to work, a healthy and inclusive workplace culture for the long term, flexible working hours, and sensitivity towards each employee.
Diversity and Inclusion are key aspects of a thriving workplace and Barbara encourages hiring a diverse team, be it for a regular position or an executive role. She adds, “Never had problems concerning this matter, dialogue is the main key point. We are inclusive also in leadership with three different generations working all together. We enable an open-minded approach for young people, boost foreign collaboration, and work very efficiently and properly together.”
Adhering to Social Responsibility to the Core
As a leader and entrepreneur, Barbara doesn’t measure her success in terms of monetary gains rather she incorporates a comprehensive strategic vision and lives by her values of societal well-being with a commitment to social and environmental causes.
As previously mentioned, Permare Group takes as a guide the 2030 agenda for its action goals like respecting the sea, collaboration with biologists to reduce consumption, emissions, and noise pollution, social campaign for going slowly at the sea, closing the coasts in the Whale sanctuary in front of its facilities, social actions for reducing the gender gap, to support local sports teams, sailing female team, female soccer team, blind para athletes football team, para-athlete for swimming, and more. The company dialogues with shareholders and stakeholders and invests in innovative startup companies.
Streamlining Technological Integration and Crisis Management
Permare Group embraces digital transformation by incorporating system integration, AI, data sensors, new power energies, innovative engines, and new processes for building and refitting in superyachts.
The new rules and regulations, and restrictions related a reducing environmental impact are the main challenges in the sector. To optimize, the company is connected to the automotive industry investment in research and innovation with no fossil fuel, it is ready to explore the electric choice option in this transition era.
Additionally, as a leader, Barbara shoulders many responsibilities and has to find optimal solutions for every crisis. Her approach to crisis management is crisp and clear. If there is a serious risk to humans and nature, she acts immediately and involves a crisis management team. On the other hand, if she has more time to find solutions, she becomes more reflexive..
The Legacy Continues
Business runs in Barbara’s blood. Her family business stands as a testament to creating an everlasting legacy and ensuring a smooth transition in every leadership role. Barbara concludes, “I’m part of the generational transition, the secret for the wellness of the company is to become generous to transmit your knowledge at the next of yours like a never stopping drop each day of the year.
You will never know when is time to stop working and is better to start to do it fast towards the next generations and trust managers. It is sad to say but good companies have a longer life than people belonging to them. Hence, this is part of your responsibility in leadership to create a new leader who can make informed decisions because without decisions a company is dead.”
Luckily, Permare Group belongs to the luxury made-in-Italy sector, Italy is the main world superyacht builder, and due to the limited production of this kind of goods, it remains high in demand. Barbara’s desire in the future is to expand to new markets like the USA and the Far East and become a protagonist of the transaction era in her sector.
