mission45

About Timing. And Movies. Again!

December 1, 2016

No, not again! Well, yes. It’s important. What can I say…

But this one will be from a slightly different angle.

I don’t enjoy watching local movies. It’s a bit painful for me. When I graduated scriptwriting I immediately quit the idea of writing for film and TV. Market was in quite a bad shape and I was not brave enough. I had some other priorities in life. To get financial independence and to start my own life.

But some of my colleagues stayed in the business. In most cases they made a living in commercial projects, and in the backyards preparing their movies. Trying to find the money, sometimes even for several years. Even the most talented who proved their skills by getting the most prestigious world-wide awards for their short movies, were sentenced to endless waiting to get the money for their features.

At the end, even when they managed to shoot the real movie, only few of them would have some artistic/festival or commercial success. The most successful movies of the past decades were the ones like Zona Zamfirova or Montevideo. I have nothing against those movies (I applaud them for a huge audience and a big commercial success), but that’s simply pop music of the film industry. Nothing more.

For a while I used to watch new movies of my university friends. And most of them were just OK. Not because their authors were not talented enough, but mostly because of one simple fact – the timing was wrong. If a director has an idea and starts working on it with a scriptwriter, and the whole process of production lasts for 3 or even 5 years, by the time when the movie goes to cinemas, usually the topic and the aesthetics are already passe. It’s simply too late. The world cinema went to some other direction.

In small countries, cinematography can have international success only if it comes as a movement. Black Wave in Yugoslavia, Nordic Noir, Iranian movies of the 90’s frequently compared with Italian neorealism… How can you create a movement when everyone is making a movie so long that even the crew forgets about it? So, each author has their own direction, acting like a lonely shooter, that usually misses the target.

It’s similar with business careers.

You probably know some people (or you are the one) who were waiting for so long to get a promotion or to be moved to another department? To get the job of their dreams. Some people work very hard, they are very loyal and they are considered very good employees, but somehow in most cases the promotion, or a dream job in a cool new department slips through their fingers. But they continue to work even harder. And then, at some point they get it! And then, they quit the job after a while.

The timing was simply wrong. It was too late. While they were waiting for the position, their personal circumstances changed. Their ambition disappeared. They were just so focused to achieve this goal that they didn’t see that their goals are totally different now. Also, in this cool new job they are surrounded by some new kids. They don’t fit. They don’t get all the jokes. They can’t go to drinks with them and party every Friday. Office community is, in my opinion, equally important as salary or development opportunities. If you don’t enjoy it you will feel the frustration after some time.

The dream came through. You are living in a nice movie. But it’s not your movie anymore. What a shame.

Let’s look at this issue from a different angle. Sometimes things happen too fast and too soon. If you progress in your career very fast, you will face advantages and disadvantages. On a positive side: you get a better job with more independence and more perks. You get more learning opportunities, you start meeting interesting and important people, you start leading teams… On a negative side: you are exposed to some hard decision making at a young age, you face some unpleasant situations far before it’s necessary, you must dedicate a lot of energy to your work and you might miss some opportunities that come with a certain age…

But one of the most important disadvantages is the fact that you don’t have your peer group to support you. You cannot create a movement, like one in the film history, but you must be a lonely shooter that is usually fights against old heritage and clans of older colleagues who give support to each other. Not only inside your organization, but in the business scene in general.

The good news is that you can survive it. And you can become a good lonely shooter. Such as examples of amazing directors from some countries who were the only good directors in 20 or 30 years. But sometimes it’s simply nicer to belong somewhere. At least for me. Although I was always very independent and a stand alone guy, I always preferred to be a part of a cool and successful team or movement.

Over time, I almost stopped watching local movies. I do it from time to time when someone I trust tells me that I should see something new. It’s not a matter of me being snobbish or arrogant. It’s just a time management issue. I hope this will change and I will see some new movements in Serbian cinema.

But some lonely shooters do exist!

That’s why my movie recommendation for this weekend is the movie Klip by talented director Maja Milos. Unfortunately, her movie didn’t start a new movement but maybe a new one will. I will not recommend a drink that goes with this movie. Take anything strong enough that hits fast! You are going to need it. Especially if you have teenage kids. Cheers!
Happy New Niche!

November 29, 2016

There is a café in my neighborhood. It opened two years ago. It looks ugly. It looks totally ridiculous. People sit in a window one meter above the ground. Its interior is terribly designed. The music they’re playing inside is exYugoslavia rock from 40 years ago. Who in the world would ever sit there??? They are going to close it in 15 days, like many other places around the hood. Those were my first thoughts and some not too kind wishes for my new neighbors. I know. Not very nice.

However, immediately after the opening, the strange café became completely packed with people. Every night! And during weekends I witnessed their parties where young people would even stand in front of the café because it was too jammed inside. Two years later – its’ still like that! In the meantime, a number of other cafes around (I live in the center of Belgrade and the night life is pretty vivid) ran out of business.

What’s the catch?? Why did this place survive? They found their niche! Obviously, they found their own (strange) community who likes to sing songs of Bora Corba while there’s one “cool guy” playing the guitar. And they don’t care about the interior. It’s a café in the city center where no one ever just drops by. People coming there are customers that go there on purpose. They know what to expect there and the place delivers!

Upon starting my career, my goal was to leave as big and as wide an impact with what I’m doing. Working on mainstream campaigns for big clients, publishing well known lifestyle magazines, even working for one of the biggest FMCG companies in the world. I was equalizing success with size, impact, power, influence… I was of course aware that I was not changing the world by what I was personally doing, but my intention was always to have a reach as big as possible. It was precisely that perspective that I was judging the entrepreneurial venture of my neighbors from. And I must say, for a while I enjoyed this world. You work in big companies, meet interesting and important people, travel around the world since you are a part of global business scene. A small and unimportant part, but still a part.

But then, a while ago, my interests changed significantly. Instead of striving toward size and impact I started thinking much more about exclusivity, tailored approaches, selected audiences – in one word – niches. Of course, I was aware of niches before. But when you work for mainstream company, niche is everything a bit more specific, that has any kind of a twist or is targeting “strange and unusual” target groups that are not women 18-40.

I started thinking about fewer customers, small communities and interesting concepts that would not lead to a fortune, but it will make the business journey fun, inspiring and enjoyable.

At first, this might look like an easy path. Create small business, find some customers, earn decent salary and live a good life. But, most of us are not rich inheritors or wives of tennis or football players. And it’s not only about fashion design. Or craft beer. There is a whole ocean of opportunities out there because every life and business segment can have a niche approach. Just to give you a taste I will list a couple of great examples that I have experienced, of just heard about.

The kindergarten where my kids are going to is an amazing example of a niche that has had fantastic success for over 20 years. They are targeting separation anxiety of parents and addressing this with appropriate integration program. This integration program is targeting parents. Not kids. That’s the trick! Great job! Some other kindergartens offer (in my opinion) ridiculous services like: 3 foreign languages, yoga classes for kids, fancy catering, babysitting over the weekend etc. And some of them are successful. But hardly any of them has a waiting list for admission of new kids and almost 100% loyalty of old customers. Congrats to the lady who founded it!

Now something totally different. You all know about web services offering sex chats, live web cams with striptease acts and all other sex related services. But in Korea (surprise, surprise!) you can pay online to watch someone eating. Obviously, there are enough people in Korea who are ready to pay to watch someone eating. It’s called mukbang and you can learn more about it if you click here. But be careful and don’t get hooked! Or cooked. It’s Korea.

Third and last example that I have, also embraces new digital world that we live in but in connection with the most basic need of humans: to confide in someone. Catholics can do it in a church, some of us find enough time and money to visit therapists, but what if you live a fast and furious life and travel for business all the time? Then your only option is online counseling and therapy. Or if you are Italian it might be a new web service of Vatican called e-confession.

Jokes aside, I’m sure I’m one of many people going through this transition in my thoughts about my career, success and areas of business that I want to be a part of in the future. From conquering the world, to finding your perfect place to be and your nice little niche. What is next? I would like someone more experienced to let me know.

In the meantime, I would say that the key of success is finding your own niche and taking advantage of a global digital marketplace. Because sometimes your niche might be too small if it’s only about one (small) market.

And just to be clear: this is only about business. For my writing, I still want a huge audience and a big applause!

Cheers to niches and cheers to new opportunities for great ideas to fly!
It’s All About Timing

November 22, 2016

I know that I’m already a bit boring with my “timing” preaching. It was one of the first things that I learned when I was starting my scriptwriting studies and it is the first thing that I’m trying to teach all young people that I’m coaching.

But here is what triggered my thoughts about timing all over again.

I was driving to the city where I lived a few years ago. I had a business assignment there and I spent a year in this challenging environment. While I was approaching the city Ryanair plane started landing on the airport which is just next to the city. This was the first time that I saw a plane landing in this city in over a year that I have spent there. There were no commercial flights at the time. “How nice, finally a low-cost company with cheap tickets. Is it a flight from Berlin? My favorite city in Europe”. I immediately got one business idea that I shared with a lady that I’m mentoring now (and that also happens to be from this city). And there was something else I figured out: I don’t care about cheap flights anymore. This nice development (which I still consider to be very good) does nothing for me. I needed low cost companies 20 and 10 years ago. Now I’m too old and too spoiled to fly low-cost. From my personal perspective – wrong timing for this nice development.

The second event was from a few days ago as well. I had a talk with a friend of mine about his boss. Coincidentally, I know his boss, and she is one of the most incompetent and rude persons I have ever met. When I asked him how he’s managing to survive this situation he told me that things are actually – very good. What? It was a surprise to me. But then he explained: She figured out that she should not interfere too much in what he is doing because she doesn’t understand it all that well. He always finishes everything on time and results are good. At this life and career point my friend wants only two things: to finish work on time and not to be bothered too much by his boss. So, the timing for having such a boss, even though they are incompetent and rude, is actually good.

In the first case, it is quite easy to figure out what you want and what you don’t want and figure out the correct timing. Through time you create certain lifestyle, habits, preferences and they guide you in everyday decisions and choices. Your lifestyle changes with years. And you adjust your choices accordingly.

It’s a bit more complicated with your career choices. At least, that was the case for me. I’m fully aware that many people deal much better with this topic. But I’m sure that quite a number of people have similar doubts and troubles about timing, just like I do.

The trouble starts when you imagine your career and set up your career goals. If you are/were a highly ambitious person like I was, then you make quite a number of plans. You also set some standards for yourself. In the same way, you decide that you will not fly low cost or buy furniture in Ikea, you decide that you will not work on a job that is not intellectually challenging enough or if you don’t have proper learning opportunities or chances to make a progress in your career. Or you want enough independence in making business decisions. Or, you always want someone who will guide you through making those decisions. And then you stick to those decisions, or if you must compromise you feel deeply unsatisfied because you compromised. But you make another plan, deciding how long you will compromise and when you will get back on the track.

But time passes and you change. If you don’t take enough time to introspect and to understand how your needs and views have changed through time it might happen that you want to get back on the same track – which is now a totally wrong track for you. Yes, it was a good about 5 or 10 years ago, but it’s not anymore. Your ideal boss from 10 years ago might be a bad choice today. Your desire to learn new things might be fulfilled in a totally different area of life, not in your office.

Why is it then so hard to understand your own needs in time and to take proper action? I would say that this is the case because reaching proper timing is a matter of practice. The more you try (and fail) the more successful you will become. Of course, making some tough calls in life is scary but if you push yourself a couple of times – I promise – each attempt you make afterwards will be less painful. And very often, good timing comes as an award for courage.

Cheers for good timing! I would say that now it’s good timing for one Shiraz from Australia. Because it’s the beginning of summer down under.
Working for Your Own Joy and Pleasure

November 13, 2016

Pedro Almodovar and Quentin Tarantino were very important directors of my teenage years. Later, during my film studies, I was heavily influenced by their aesthetics and dramaturgy. Each of them in a very different way but I would say equally strong.

Tarantino, with his Pulp Fiction (1994) was the hero of us, young wannabe movie writers, all too keen to deconstruct the storyline and plot even before we learn how to construct one. Almodovar, on the other hand was the strongest European author of that period, proving that one can have commercial success and recognition of critics with a very peculiar style. I still consider his move Todo sobre mi madre (All about my mother, 1999) to be one of the most impactful cinematic experiences that I ever had.

Ten plus years after the peaks of their careers, both directors are still active. But I’m not sure if I would write about them if my posts were focused only on movies. Not because I think they are not respected directors even now, but simply because in today’s film industry there are some other significant figures.

But Almodovar and Tarantino inspired my thoughts on another topic – how can one person make sure they work just for his/her own pure pleasure. What is the road that we should pick in order to achieve this? I was thinking about this last year after watching Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight (2015), but the same thoughts came back few days ago after Almodovar’s latest movie – Julieta (2016).

It was obvious after watching those two movies, that both directors had fantastic time making it, and it was also quite clear that they did everything precisely in the way that made them happy or emotionally fulfilled. For Tarantino, this was mostly obvious in references and highly aestheticized sequences, extremely long shots (that no one has been using in Hollywood for almost 100 years) and disillusion effects which have only one purpose – to bring fun to the author. It might bring fun to the audience as well but it doesn’t look like Tarantino cares too much about that. Almodovar works in his typical frame of highly artistic and a bit weird melodrama, but this time he doesn’t put too much effort into delivering any big thoughts to the audience. He doesn’t push to the very end. He does everything at the pace and with a style that makes him happy. After watching this movie, I read an article that the initial idea was to shoot this movie as his first English movie with Meryl Streep in the title role. But I guess he realized that he will not enjoy it in that case.

And you can now ask the logical question: what is so special here? Two big names are now in the position to do whatever they want to due to the fact that they have long successful careers and a lot of money. And this is true to a certain extent. But what I find more important is the fact that those two authors haven’t reached this position by compromising through the early stages of their careers in order to earn money and then to be able to shoot movies that would make them satisfied. They were from the very beginning original and unique, with distinctive style that was not always welcomed by the audience and critics.

Often during our careers, we are pushed, directly or indirectly, to act per certain standards, to fit to mainstream and to fulfill expectations. Most of us tend to act in a way that we presume other people will like and support. After some time, we start to believe that this is the only way for us to reach career goals and maybe, after some time acquire independency and freedom of choice. But what may happen in the meantime is that we start losing ourselves. Our unique style and all the things that were different and interesting start to fade out. Slowly but surely we become just one of the many and even if we come to a position to do things in a different way, at that point, we have forgotten what that “other way” is. Not to mention all the fun and enjoyment that we are missing during those years of “waiting” and pushing back our real spirit.

What we see as a faster way and a shortcut to our key goals very often becomes a very long and exhausting journey – if not in reality, then in our perception. And perception is everything.

Being Almodovar or Tarantino of business is not easy. If you choose that path get ready to face many challenges, push backs and open wars. But for sure, that kind of path will secure more personal satisfaction and sooner than others you will be able to enjoy the work you do to the highest extent.

I’m done waiting. While I was waiting for things to change and for me to be ready for a change I have lost many years. Today I understand that you can make business success by being yourself and not trying to fit into a system. I’m far away from being Almodovar or Tarantino, neither in business nor arts, but you would be surprised how even small victories can make you satisfied when they matter and when you stay true to yourself. It’s not about Oscars and millions, it’s about the possibility not to give a damn about Oscars and millions and still manage to get them.

Cheers to all the authors who stayed true to themselves! And of course, movie recommendations for this weekend are all movies that I have mentioned in this post. Believe me, spend your Sunday watching those 4 movies and you will have an amazing and inspired week in front of you.
To Change or Not to Change, That is the Question

November 6, 2016

Frequently you can hear that the only constant in the modern world is change. And probably this is true when it comes to circumstances around us, living and working environment, technology… The trouble is our characters and personalities can’t follow the pace.

We can change and adjust our behavior but there is a fat chance that we will be unhappy and deeply unsatisfied. We will be frustrated.

I meet from time to time people who claim that they have changed for better and that by investing a lot of time, effort, thought and money – they managed to build their new personalities that fit better into modern living and challenges around them. Every time I hear such a story I remember this hilarious video from Saturday Night Live.

In business context, we are pushed to change all the time. Sometimes there’s a realistic need for a changing market landscape, sometimes your company paid expensive consultants and they said to the board that you should all change. And don’t get me wrong – I fully embrace changes. I was many times a “change management champion”. But the trouble is, that even when you participate in a change and you support it 100% it might happen that the outcome of the process is not a place that you feel good about. It might be a totally new universe that you don’t belong to.

I will tell you about two situations in my career where positive business change went against my character and caused significant frustration in my career and life.

A few years ago, I worked for a fantastic small company – a media start-up with 25 people employed. Great boss, great fun at work, fantastic colleagues, very posh office space, a lot of champagne and caviar. We had a relaxed working atmosphere, open communication, plenty of jokes, almost zero politics. After a year or so, we acquired company that was 4 times bigger than us. It was a good business decision since we evolved into a market leader, but we got a toxic environment where everything become more important than doing business. I was promoted. But a major part of my job was focused on making this acquisition work, playing political games and finding ways to say goodbye to the people who were destructive and who caused troubles in this new setup.

I can say I have learned a lot during this process. And I’m for sure a much more competent professional due to this experience. But instead of creating media content, developing business, developing people and bringing new ideas (things I enjoy the most), I was spending most of my time solving ridiculous interpersonal challenges and playing politics to maintain peace in the company. I felt very frustrated.

The second example is when I moved to a job where I really had to be careful about what I’m going to say/write in public. By public I mean social media. The job itself was very good. Well paid, intellectually stimulating content, many new things to learn… I’m still benefiting a lot from that experience. And to be clear – no one asked from me to be silent or to censor my writing. But you would have to be pretty stupid not to figure out that that was the only way.

As you can see, if you are reading my blog, I have tons of opinions. About many things. Also, about many people. And I like to express my opinion. Live, in a smaller circle, but also in the digital world where anyone can see it and read it. Yes, I know. I have offended some people in the past by expressing my opinions. Every time my argumentation was not strong enough I apologized and did my best not to repeat it. I’m not the type of person that can talk or write under a fake name or anonymously. I want to say it as Stevan. I highly disrespect people who are sending messengers or hiding behind others instead of saying things loud and clear.

The level of frustration due to the fact that I’m unable to express my opinion inside of the organization I work for, but also outside of it, was enormous! So enormous that I had to stop it no matter what.

What I’ve learned about myself from those experiences?

I’m capable of change and adapting. And of being fully functional. Even very good at what I’m doing. And that’s good and important to know. But frustration remains. In the long run this is an unacceptable situation and the “real me” starts screaming out loud.

Be open to changes. But don’t force yourself into things that are against your nature or that may take you too far from the things you enjoy and you love. Even under difficult labor market conditions, some options still exist (find some in my post about career changes).

Bonus learning about business: If you do acquisition, say one big “thank you” to all top managers of the acquired company and give them nice packages to take away. I know that this is a well-known thing and I’m not saying anything new. But, if someone has doubts I just want to confirm from a real-life experience – it’s a good call. For everyone – you, them, the new company, all employees…

Cheers to freedom of writing and deciding. And cheers to Mondays. It’s good when you are approaching them with a smile! That’s a good change.
Fun at Work as KPI

October 30, 2016
A few nights ago, I had a small reunion with a team that I worked with 6 years ago. For blog readers who don’t know me well, I was the first publisher of Sensa magazine in Serbia. We launched Sensa in 2008 with a campaign that I’m still proud of and after a very short period of time, the magazine achieved great success among readers on a declining magazine market.

While remembering all those amazing moments and interesting people that we worked with, one thing was the most important spice in our Sensa kitchen at the time – having fun at work!

If I think about different jobs and projects that I worked on in the last 15 years I can tell you that the most successful were the ones where the team had a lot of fun together. That’s why I think that fun should be introduced as official KPI. Not an easy one to measure, I agree, but it’s worth trying.

People tend to take their jobs very seriously. While I’m a big supporter of being professional at work and treating your working tasks, colleagues and competitors with respect I must be very clear: taking any business-related job too seriously is, if nothing else, an issue of emotional intelligence and maturity.

With all respect toward different jobs and professions (including ones that I have done and still do) if you are not a doctor who is saving lives or an engineer constructing a bridge over a river – relax – your job is not that important for the World. And even if you don’t dedicate yourself to it so seriously, still – you will survive, everyone around you will survive and the World will still be there. Not to mention that even doctors fool around a lot and have all kinds of fun. And still most patients survive.

If you don’t take your job too seriously, you are making a first step toward having fun at work. What are the advantages of this kind of approach?
- You are more relaxed and for sure more creative. You are producing more ideas and spend less time focusing on problems, using free time to address opportunities.
- If you create fun atmosphere in the office, people will love to work with you. This way, you will keep good associates, but also you will start attracting the best ones from the outside world. Good, capable and creative people enjoy working in such environment.
- You will find much more satisfaction on a personal level and you will maintain your life balance much better. Your friends and family will appreciate that. Your office stories will become funny stories and people will like to hear about them. Instead of listening to you crying about your hard job and hard life.
How to achieve this?
- Team is the most important. Be very careful during the selection process. Don’t pick people only by their competences and skills, but also by their emotional intelligence, sense of humor and how they interact with others.
- Create opportunities to have fun and then transfer that atmosphere to your office. Start meeting in a café, or somewhere unexpected (like a spa or a gym) and then move your team’s good spirit into a working environment.
- Don’t overthink and overanalyze. Try to enjoy as much as possible. Try to be yourself, authentic and relaxed. People will appreciate that even if you are not a natural born stand-up comedian.
- Kick the people who are disturbing others in any way, preventing them from having fun or ruining the fun atmosphere out of the team
And, please don’t think that one team building and one table football in your office will do the job. It must be more than that. It must be the way we live and work daily.

In order to double check the validity of my thoughts let’s see what the opposite of having fun is and what is going on in the office in that case. The opposite is – being bored. If people are bored, it’s not just that they will not perform at their best, but very often they become very destructive, negative and in many cases, they do stupid things.

I like to say that idleness and boredom are the mother and father of stupid acts. Cheating, lying, annoying or even torturing others, in many cases starts from people who are bored and incapable of channeling their energy into a positive direction.

I’m arguing for the introduction of Chief Fun Officer. Anyhow, I was never a huge fan of CFO’s. I worked only with a few good ones. And those good ones had great sense of humor and fun in the office. So, they would not mind this new title.

Cheers to having fun at work! If you need some additional tips and tricks let me know.

And cheers to my Sensa team! Thank you for all the fun we had. After almost 10 years that’s the only important thing we remember.
Protecting Integrity at Work

October 23, 2016
Personal integrity is something I value the most. Physical, emotional or intellectual integrity. All three equally important.

While you are young, you must learn to protect your physical integrity. In the backyard, kindergarten, school – kids will attack you. It doesn’t have to be very serious or dangerous, but you must learn to take care of yourself.

Later, during turbulent teenage years emotional integrity is in focus. First loves, first good choices, first not as good choices, important life defining decisions – and again many storms inside and around you and quite a challenge to keep yourself on track.

And then (in most cases) you get to a certain working environment. Then your intellectual integrity goes on the line. Your job doesn’t have to be “too intellectual” but you still need quite an emotional intelligence and you will have quite some challenges in every working environment comprised of more than one person (you).

The focus of my blog is personal and career development so let’s focus on integrity at work. But you will see that mechanisms are absolutely the same through all life stages: is it protecting yourself or your friend from bullying at school, persisting when your parents are pushing you away from your vocation choices or defending your professional integrity at work and avoiding becoming a mobbing victim.

Here are my 7 golden rules:
1. Respect everyone and behave in respectful way no matter what the circumstances are.
2. Speak up on different topics (including ones that don’t consider you directly) to create an image of a person that is ready to speak up.
3. Build alliances with other people of integrity and people you respect and trust. They don’t have to become your friends out of the office. Still, those connections can be very powerful.
4. Stand up for others when you think it’s important. Otherwise, there will be no one standing up for you or for what you think is important. Not because it’s a reciprocity issue, but simply – if you do not promote support as a concept, why do you think that other people will? It’s everyone’s responsibility.
5. Show your teeth and “muscles” from time to time. People should never take you for granted. Also, don’t allow people to see you bleeding. Show emotions, but never act out.
6. Don’t become too close to your boss. There is a very delicate line in your relationship with (even the best possible) boss that you should never cross.
7. Support and develop younger associates because that’s the biggest value you can create for the company and for the society. It must pay back at some point. This is also a matter of mental hygiene.
It’s very challenging to apply all those principles and stay true to it in every occasion. But I believe some of those must be embedded in your behavior like washing hands after using the bathroom. And yes, I know. Some adults don’t wash their hands after using the bathroom. And those people are not always the obvious suspects (in this example – men). So be careful.

Some other presented behaviors are a matter of practice. Like sports or music. The more you practice the better you are. You don’t have to be perfect. Just do your best! Cheers to that!
Two A’s That Can Make You or Break You

October 17, 2016

Ambition has been highly valued in the last couple of decades. In the last ten years or so I would say it has been valued and promoted as a desired quality more than it should be. I like to call this period “the era of awakening of ambitions”. Everyone is talking about career, leadership, success… Movies and TV shows are promoting this culture. Magazines make a living out of it. And you might ask, what’s wrong with that?

Well, until 5-6 years ago I would have thought that there was nothing wrong. I would have actually been confused if I were to meet someone who doesn’t have high career goals. And then I attended one leadership training. A very good one. With very good and smart participants. Twelve high potentials of a big multinational. Most of them were either very good or brilliant at their jobs. Some of them I still consider best professionals I ever met in my life. But after spending quite some time with them (we were together for 3 weeks in total) I realized that even at this high level, ambitious people at their mature enough age, are often quite clear about what to do, but very unclear about how to do it. How to fulfill their ambitions?

This is the moment for the second A to get in the picture. Ambivalence. Is it really good to have so many people with high ambitions? Is that really in their DNA or has someone pushed them into such a behavior? Will they ever learn how? Will they ever be happy and make people around them happy? Recently I came across an article saying that a new research showed that investments in leadership trainings were not paying back and leadership was not improved in general compared to 20 years ago. Is that a problem of trainings? Or is it a problem of expectations?

If I analyze today the careers of 12 of us, two people stand out, being the most successful. At least when it comes to titles and probably pay checks. One of them was the ambitious one who was the best at learning how to deal with her ambivalence, and the second is the most ambitious one who never had any ambivalence. He only wanted to succeed. And he did.

What have I learned from this? Ambition is like a sleeping lion. Think twice if you are going to wake him up. Think twice if you are about to wake up ambition in other people. Because, can we all be that successful? Can we all fulfill our ambitions? Is that really what we want?

I am by nature an ambivalent person. Although many people who have worked with me might say that I’m very determined and that I make decisions easily. But, in the backend of this process I’m going through a lot of painful thinking. Some of it is helpful and is making me a better person, but some of it is comprised out of clear inhibitors of ambition and future formal successes. Why is that painful? When you are reading a good book or watching a good movie, you are always attracted the most by characters who are causing ambivalent feelings. You are going through so many different emotions because of them. Which is nice, but also painful. In most occasions those characters do not win in the end. But we still love them. It’s similar in life and career. If you don’t have any ambivalence in your life you have a much bigger chance to win. But, what is the point then? What are you going to do after you win?

It’s a very hard process but the only possible one for me – learning to love your ambivalence and to understand your ambitions. This process will either kill you or make you the king of the world!

Cheers to AA! But take it easy. We don’t want anyone in the AA!
Learning from Bad Career Choices

September 11, 2016
Sometimes you simply make a bad career choice. In poor job markets with limited opportunities this can happen even more than once. This doesn’t mean that the job itself or the company that you work for were bad. This also does not mean that you are stupid. Sometimes the match was simply not good. Was it because of your boss, the company culture, the nature of the job, lack of development or toxic office atmosphere – it doesn’t really matter.

Having closed the chapter of my career that I can’t present with a Best Choice Golden Award (although it was highly successful judging by the number of promotions and raises), I was desperate to find good things about it in order to justify the time and energy spent. Yes, I was paid more than enough for what I did, but I’m simply not the type of person that is satisfied with just money. And it’s clear now that I will never be.

Having had enough time to think during the longer-than-usual summer break, not only did I ponder about myself and my situation, but also about this topic in general. And here is what I figured out – these are the things that you can learn from a bad career choice:
- How to say NO. If it’s not good it has to end at one point. So, you will have to learn to say “It’s enough” and “No, I don’t want this anymore”. Leaving is much harder than expected even when you have all the right reasons to do it. It’s especially hard for men. We prefer to provoke a break-up via incident, and not say it loud and clear (something I’d learned during my career as a Cosmo publisher) But you have to learn how to do it.
- How to leave after the first attempt at leaving. If you were so tempted to leave that you even found another option, then leave. One more round and one more attempt will just prolong the agony. A job is not a marriage. I would always fight to keep the marriage or relationship, but once you are ready to leave – just leave. And don’t look back.
- How to use time to increase your value – although it’s not all about money, it’s important that you have enough of it or a few other options. Even in a mismatch situation you can learn new things (for example, I know how to work in SAP now,) and make yourself more attractive for future opportunities.
- How to establish constructive relationships with people – colleagues, business partners, customers. Whatever your level of satisfaction with your current job is, it can be increased by establishing good relationships with people around you. I’m honored and genuinely touched whenever people that I worked with almost 10 years ago still call me for business or career advice or just beer.
- How to trust your instincts more – this is not easy and I repeat – in job markets such as Serbian or SEE sometimes you ignore your instincts for an additional 500 EUR, but if it’s at all possible, listen to your heart as well when making the final choice.
While figuring out what to do and turning a new leaf I tried to apply some of those pieces of advice, and so far, it’s working very well. But I can’t promise that I’ll be able to follow my advice every time. It’s a never-ending learning process.

Cheers to new beginnings! They are always exciting. Stressful but exciting. And if you apply what you’ve learned before, the stress level decreases quite fast and excitement grows even faster!
Look! Up in the sky!It’s a bird!It’s a plane! It’s a Mid-Career Crisis!

September 2, 2016
It comes out of nowhere and hits you hard. Usually you hear jokes about men buying red convertibles and chasing younger ladies, and women changing haircuts and in nowadays even buying pairs of new boobs and chasing younger guys. Unfortunately, it’s a bit more complicated.

When you approach the middle of your life, you are usually in the middle of your career as well. The lucky ones who started working after the age of 30 do not suffer from this same condition, but they have their own problems of bringing coffee to their much younger bosses.

Back to mid-career crisis.

Questions that pop-up usually are:
- Am I successful enough?
- Could I do better than this?
- Do I love what I’m doing? Do I at least like it?
- What is the purpose my job except earning money?
- Is it too late for a change?
- If yes, what I’m going to do? (screaming)
- If no, what should I do next? (screaming again!)
If you expect answers to those questions you can immediately click the X in the upper right corner of your screen. Or turn off your smartphone.

But what I’m willing to offer you is inspiration. And some ideas concerning what you can do if you decide during your mid-career crisis that you need a change.
1. Produce video content and monetize it via different online channels
Before you start thinking that you can’t do anything interesting that people would want to watch I will give you one example. A few months ago, I wanted to prepare a traditional Serbian dish and I googled the recipe. And I stumbled upon a YouTube channel of one Aleksandra from Bosnia, a lady with an interesting biography, with a master’s degree from Italy, who decided to create her own channel with traditional Bosnian recipes. She is doing it within a very basic setup and preparing mostly basic dishes from Bosnian countryside. She has over 20.000 subscribers and over 6 million views. I’m quite sure that she is moving closer and closer toward a positive financial outcome. Check out her web site and YT channel.
1. Master your English and become an English teacher
It’s a big surprise for me but demand for English teachers is still quite high. And almost everywhere in the world, at that! Except, of course in English speaking countries. If you invest some time into learning and get necessary certificates, you can give private lessons, teach in schools, travel the world and teach… Every week someone asks me if I know an English teacher. And I know at least 10 of them. But they are all too busy. So if you decide to follow this path of my inspiration advice let me know so that I can recommend you.
1. Become a digital nomad (I simply love this title!)
Learn secrets of digital marketing, content marketing, social networks or code writing… Take your lap-top and start traveling from place to place. Because, as long as you have Wi-Fi and you can find some clients, you can be this modern nomad. Working from home can push you toward depression. Especially if you once had a very dynamic office life. But, traveling around (it can be your country, not necessarily the world), meeting new people, always learning new skills and following trends of digital world – now that can be refreshing and inspiring.

If you still prefer to continue with your career path but also want to take up ultimate fighting, some extreme outdoor sports or closing all bars every night for a year – that’s also fine with me. Just remember – it’s a crisis, not a permanent condition.

Movie recommendation for this weekend is American Beauty (1999). Recommended drink is a can of Bud or Miller. If you can find it in the shop next to you.

recent posts

about

Respect everyone and behave in respectful way no matter what the circumstances are.

Speak up on different topics (including ones that don’t consider you directly) to create an image of a person that is ready to speak up.

Build alliances with other people of integrity and people you respect and trust. They don’t have to become your friends out of the office. Still, those connections can be very powerful.

Show your teeth and “muscles” from time to time. People should never take you for granted. Also, don’t allow people to see you bleeding. Show emotions, but never act out.

Don’t become too close to your boss. There is a very delicate line in your relationship with (even the best possible) boss that you should never cross.

Support and develop younger associates because that’s the biggest value you can create for the company and for the society. It must pay back at some point. This is also a matter of mental hygiene.