Tag: personal development

From Waitress to VP: The Unconventional Ascent of a Project Management Pioneer. Meet Beth – a seasoned project management and organizational transformation expert with over 25 years of experience. Forget the traditional career trajectory; Beth's story is a testament to embracing change, seizing unexpected opportunities, and the profound impact of human connection in the often-technical world of project management. Prepare for a deep dive into the real-world experiences and invaluable lessons learned by a woman who redefined her path and left an indelible mark on the industry.

Do and run. Plan and deliver. Push harder. Relentless. This operational focus often leads to the biggest blind spot in leadership: operating on autopilot and missing the entire emotional intelligence piece. But what if the key to consistently securing deliverables and navigating the pressures of uncertainty lies not in pushing harder, but in pausing? Executive coach Susanne Madsen addresses this challenge by advocating for a gentle yet transformative journey inward — the necessary Inner Work that moves leaders beyond transactional management to become truly transformational.

W swoich podcastach często mówisz o emocjach w biznesie – dlaczego uważasz, że to właśnie one są jednym z kluczowych elementów efektywności zawodowej? Kiedyś tłumaczyłam coś zawzięcie mojej klientce, a ona mi na to odparła, z ogniem w głosie: „Kari, ja to wiem! I co z tego, że ja to wiem… Ja to muszę poczuć!”. I tym stwierdzeniem dotknęła czegoś, o czym często zapominamy, a może nawet nie chcemy pamiętać: decyzje podejmujemy emocjami, a dopiero potem je sobie racjonalnie usprawiedliwiamy.

Project leaders – stop trying to be the smartest person in the room and start orchestrating! In an era where global virtual teams and AI have become the norm, project managers must evolve from simply automating tasks to becoming true orchestrators of human talent and technology – driving productivity by a factor of ten. Peter Ivanov, creator of the award-winning 10 Big Rocks, unveils the future of project leadership and the secret to leading without authority. Discover how to build powerful team gravity through genuine heart-to-heart connections – and see the tangible results this approach delivers.

As AI automates jobs and intellectual labor, humanity faces its biggest question: What is left for us? This interview explores the profound psychological and societal shifts, revealing why unlearning old paradigms is vital. Discover how to find inner purpose and generativity and navigate an era of unprecedented, accelerating change – ensuring human meaning thrives.

Piotr, you speak seven languages. How did you do it? I usually say "hold my beer" and then I tell a long story :) The story is indeed a long one and it began nearly 25 years ago. At that time, I failed one of the two university entrance exams. In order to retake it, I decided to study German philology, just for a year, to improve my German, which by the way, I had already been studying for nearly a decade. A year later, I passed the exam, but unfortunately, I did not succeed in the second one. As a result, I remained in the German philology program with the intention of leveraging later my German language skills in my career. This path eventually led me to my first role in the industry. In my second company I was quickly promoted (at just 27 years old) and became Sales Director for Central and Eastern Europe. My responsibilities included building the company’s operations from scratch in over 20 countries, participating in international trade fairs and negotiating contracts. Soon I realized that in addition to improve my English, which was at the time truly indispensable at the time, I also need to learn Russian as quickly as possible. This was the last language I studied with a teacher and even though the process took less than two years. Learning subsequent languages became significantly faster, I could reach a level of comfortable in just a few weeks for each of one. What truly accelerated my progress were the frequent opportunities to apply my skills and the conclusion that foreign languages are, in essence, tools for building relationships. The stronger the relationships I wanted to cultivate, the faster I needed to master a particular language. I fully immersed myself in each language and sought ways to enhance my productivity, tailoring the learning process to fit my daily routine and lifestyle. This approach proved to be a real game changer.