Moving from vision to reality is not easy, especially when the changes keep coming at us so fast. So, we need to be willing to adapt along the way and remember that the journey is as important as the destination. When taking on the necessary steps, big or small, we are usually not alone when implementing change. And these steps are not perfect, but we have to take a risk, remain focused and consistent in our delivery of value. In this episode, we are having a discussion with Mateja Lavrič about a case when a company decided to take on a new challenge, to go on a new journey wanting to transform themselves while transforming their customers. During the conversation, Mateja, a Managing director at Kolektor Ventures and a member of Kolektor Digital’s core team, takes us through their journey how they pivoted their company in a new direction You are most welcome to listen and learn from her experience.

"Rome wasn't built in a day” as the saying goes So many people give in and fall short of success. When bringing vision to life balance and consistency are key. So, make a plan, and stick to it. Don't burn yourself out in the first couple of days and then give up when things you want don't just fall into your lap. Commit to show up, put out great content, and build connections and relationships with people who can help you reach your goal. On this occasion, we have taken a broader look into the community that has so strongly impacted all of us and shaped our day-to-day in recent months. Pandemic has turned our world upside down in an instant, and we are still recovering. I this context we need to look around for new experiences and gather different perspectives, different viewpoints. We have been privileged to discuss whether we need to be guided or allowed to make informed decisions with Dr.Mateja Logar. Dr. Logar is an Assist. Prof., Doctor of Medicine, Infectious Disease Specialist at the Department of Infectious Diseases and Department for Hospital Hygiene at University Medical Center Ljubljana. As Head of the advisory group for covid-19 Containment and Epidemic Management at the Ministry of Health. During the conversation, she has shared with us her experience and advice on what to consider when mobilizing people. You are welcome to listen.

Having a purpose, a vision alone is not enough to be successful, both require action. Without action, vision is nothing more than a dream. The key to success is to stay focused on your vision and to be realistic about your current situation. And that can be a challenge. We have opened this season - starting with square one –“the change” and how we are perceiving it with a special guest - Dan Podjed, PhD, an anthropologist dedicated to developing ethnography-based IT solutions and innovative research methods at the intersection of different scientific fields. He is a Research Fellow at the Research Centre Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Associate Professor at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Arts, and Senior Research Advisor at the Institute for Innovation and Development of the University of Ljubljana. The topic of our discussion was focused on whether technology is making us more or less human? Dan shared with us how we have forgotten to stay human during this transformation, his concerns with technology dependence and how can we regain the balance between on and off. You are most welcome to listen.

The tech landscape is lush with entrepreneurs who reached success only after the founders had modified or even abandoned their original vision. What about the idea that the best startups are driven by a clear vision and consistent values that generate success? Well, that’s business. Hard and fast rules don’t work often enough. You can’t always just follow lists of best practices. Capturing new growth opportunities is fundamental to startup strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. But how can managers best meet this challenge- with flexibility or focus? We have discussed this dilemma with Jasna Mihelj Coustaury, GM European operations at Plume. Jasna shared with us her story and revealed why constant learning and ongoing innovation are so critical going forward when the world continues to change.

Not so long ago, the time has stopped for many of us, while on the other hand, time has accelerated. Certain aspects of our economy had to respond fast to this unpredicted crisis. It was a ride, but it was not all bad. The situation has accelerated the change and put things in perspective - what we need and what we don’t, what matters to us, how flexible we are to embrace change and act on it. “Less is more” may sound like a cliché. In reality, it helps us to concentrate on what matters to us and what we need to focus on. It was a pleasure to speak about the dilemma with Irena Turšič, Adriatic Mediterranean, and the Black Sea District HR Business Partner at Bureau Veritas. Irena shared with us her story of how her team managed to overcome the anxiety linked to the pandemic and how they embraced the necessary change to become more resilient.

If enterprises are going to succeed in their digital transformations, they need to be able to shake up and challenge existing perceptions, mindsets within their organizations. In fact, not being able to challenge the status quo is one of the barriers to their success. Yet moving away from what we know, and how it has always been done, is a risky move - not all transformations succeed.  It was an honor to speak about new opportunities linked to Living transformations with Mario André Brueckner, Digital & Agile Transformation Expert, the founder of the Agilizer® network, New Work solutions speaker, and coach. Mario shared with us the key failures limiting the transformation success and provided many applicable ideas for business immunity and endurance.

Things are moving too quickly to be able to sit back, review the world, debate at length, and suggest a grand vision to be reviewed five years later. This is a thing of the past. Executing brilliantly yet failing to consider the long-term implications of these actions can mean a failure. Equally, focusing on the future, failing against the present demands, or not executing against the vision, will not get you there. The need to execute with the future in mind, or strategize while executing requires leaders to become adaptive. We had a great discussion with Jernej Pirc, General Manager at SoftwareONE Slovenia, about how to execute effectively while being highly strategic? During our conversation, Jernej raised many valid points and shared his guidance on what to keep high on our list when bringing the future into the present, to solve today’s problems?

Tensions we are feeling in enterprises today are especially important, because a company’s long-term survival depends on experimenting, taking risks, and learning from failure … all this in the pursuit of new, better products, services, and processes. However, companies also need consistency, discipline, and steady attention to make the most out of what they already have. These innovations create tensions between today and tomorrow, existing customer offers and new ones, between stability, and change. We had a powerful conversation with Nico Schumann - Senior Digital Strategy and Transformation Manager at Eon Digital Technology, and a Co-founder of Icon (Inspiring Co-creating Organizations Network of Europe). Nico gave us plenty to think about the importance of gathering different perspectives and stimulating co-creation, collaboration, and co-innovation to shape the future. A lot can be learned from his valuable experience and I hope you will like our conversation.

To succeed in today’s world, innovation is non-negotiable. Leaders need to ensure progress by creating the culture that will drive their organization into new areas, technologies, methods, products, and services. At the same time, they need to understand why their organization exists, what mandate is being fulfilled by their presence and what makes them successful — to guide their decisions. In addition to looking to the past to steer company growth, leaders also need to be willing to try new things and be comfortable with failure; leading their organization to do the same. We were privileged to discuss the importance of being tech-savvy and human-aware for today's success with Igor Pauletič, founder and partner of FrodX, author of Game changer portal, and active member of the Customer Experience Slovenia community. He constantly strives to get out of the comfort zone to accumulate development potential and has provided us with useful insight into how technology usage helps us boost business growth through the development of customer engagement and managing customer experience.

The only constant in the world is change. If we only think about how much different is our life than it was 10 years ago - how different do you think the next 10 years will be? An inspiring conversation about how leadership and life are about reinvention with Ina Kukovič Borovnik - the first certified Chief Reinvention Officer Practitioner, Founder of Bela Voda, and active member of We Exist reinvention agency. Who we are today will not be who we are tomorrow. There are too many variables beyond our field of control. Life rewards those who are prepared, those who take the calculated risks and proactively strive to create a successful future. If you stand still, others will pass you by and life will eventually run you over.