Summer inspiration

We have put together a selection of books, movies, tv shows and documentaries to inspire you.

Whether you are searching for something interesting to read on your vacation or just looking for a thought provoking piece to watch at the weekend, we are sure that you will find something to your liking on our list.    

Are current success measuring metrics the right ones?

My last article about happiness emphasizes the fact that many of us measure success simply by how happy we are most of the time. How others see our success (and I mean here „ours” in general not related to me or my colleagues), is a different story. How the current (mainly Western) society measures success at large, that’s another story too.

We all know there is a mixture of reasons, choices and actions leading to happiness/success. When it comes to professional success, however, I have been seeing quite a shift lately. Not yet a major one but on the verge to become one.

Purpose-driven Leaders: Radu Manolescu – NeuroMindfulness Institute

Radu is one of the most well-established executive search & leadership development pioneers in Eastern-Europe, and his work expands beyond his business. He is the initiator of AVE – “Asociatia Pentru Valori in Educatie” (one of the most impactful NGOs supporting education in Romania). Radu is a co-founder and managing partner in K.M.Trust & Partners and is also involved in executive coaching and in co-delivering leadership development programs in EMEA.

When we launched the 1000 Purpose-Driven Leaders Initiative, Radu Manolescu was recommended by many former colleagues, clients and friends. When we had our first call about a year ago, we ended up passionately talking for 2 hours about values, purpose and making a positive impact in the world.

Was Buddha Wrong?

Some perspectives on happiness and success…

I was finishing my early morning run in the woods of Snagov and disconnected the audiobook to enjoy the birds chirping and the landscape for the last few hundred meters. The sun was making its way through the bright green of May while three scared dears crossed my way.

Radu Manolescu – RFI Interview

My second interview with Mirel Bran at RFI. In this one we talked about K.M.Trust & Partners’ executive education programs and our involvement in AVE Romania.

Coping with COVID 19 related fears, anxiety and limitations

I strongly believe prolonged fear and anxiety (caused nowadays by the COVID-19 virus) might be more damaging than the virus itself. No one says not to think about it, ignore it or not to stay vigilant, but over-stressing about it does not help anyone.

And fear triggers the fight – flight – freeze response that instantly shifts the brain and body priorities to survive immediate danger ( i.e. reduced peripheral vision, non-essential body functions diminished, blood directed to larger muscles to help us “flight/fight”, narrowing the mind’s focus to anticipate and escape danger to the detriment of other functions, etc. ).

Radu Manolescu – RFI Interview

Check out my interview with Mirel Bran on RFI. We talk about Asociatia pentru Valori in Educatie, introducing social emotional learning in schools, why values matter in business, neuroscience and much more.

In Search of Meaning

Many of us feel we are at a point in our lives when the presence of meaning at work has become essential. Or, maybe, its absence has started to be incredibly annoying…?

Not that it didn’t matter earlier, but as we have “grown up” a bit more, especially since many of us have achieved a decent level of financial well-being, we’ve come to realize happiness and non-financial well-being haven’t always come in the same “package”.

Of course, happiness is subjective, but that is not the point of this article so let’s begin…

We all know how important it is to know ourselves well, but how many of us actually do?

One of the topics introduced at our last leadership development program in June was self-awareness. Research shows that it is among the top 5 executive coaching topics (and often the first of interest).

Most of us know that self-awareness is one of the main components of emotional intelligence along with self-regulation, empathy, motivation* and social awareness. However very few of us are actually self-aware because it is a skill that could be developed with a pretty high amount of effort, discipline and patience.

Why I believe most team building programs fail

Some of you might know about one of my major interests in contributing to a better education system in Romania and that together with some wonderful people, we are in the early stages of planning the introduction of compassion and kindness training in schools, as early as possible, via the efforts we do with AVE, its collaborators and many more.