CAPITAL H - John Guziak

Today I am interviewing Iva Georgijew, Chair of the Board of Directors of Deloitte CE, a region comprising 19 countries (including Ukraine).

Iva embodies diversity, as she was born to a Polish/Bulgarian family and experienced two different cultures growing up. She always sought to discover her life's purpose and the path she wanted to follow.  Her important choices, such as the one to go to a boarding school or to move to Poland to study, reflect her attitude that has made her one of the most successful individuals I have talked to.

She has adopted the principle of IKIGAI, which in Japanese means “a reason for living; a motivating force”, to guide both her personal and professional growth. She believes that having a passion and pursuing it at work to the benefit of both ourselves and the greater good is essential for everyone to feel satisfied and accomplished.

 

My today’s guest, Tomasz Buczek, is OTC for Europe Commercial Head and General Manager at Viatris, a pharma sector company.

To him, teamwork is like sailing a boat: either everyone works for the same purpose knowing very well what to do, how and with whom, or the boat will stand still, turn upside down or sink. The knowledge comes from his own experience as a young man participating in team sports, such as sailing or basketball. In his opinion, such experience is as valuable as practical one gained at work, and young people who take their first professional steps, as well as their prospective employers, can consider it an asset.

My today’s guest, Joanna Miłachowska, CEO of Siemens Healthineers, is a living proof of the falsehood of all stereotypes: an economist by education, she is an expert in understanding and effectively managing emotions. A very successful businesswoman and at the same time she is a fulfilled mother of four daughters. And above all, she can maintain an interesting a lively conversation you are welcome to listen to.

My today’s guest, Marta Dapena Baron, has recently authored a bestseller entitled “Big Picture Strategy. The Six Choices That Will Transform Your Business”.

My guest, Anita Rogalska, is the Global Head of Leadership Development in Philip Morris International. She is an example of a HR person strongly connected to all business functions and interested in both intricacies of business operations and interactions with clients, which ultimately shape the corporate image. And she loves introducing changes, learning, growing, adjusting.

Today I am talking to Tomasz Suchański, CEO of Żabka Group, a non-executive board member of the Allegro Group. His professional life story is quite exceptional: at the age of 23, he became a CFO and a deputy CEO of a small company; at that time, he believed accounting would be his future. Two years later, he became the CFO in Jeronimo Martins Poland, and at the age of 30, having switched to operations, the CEO of Biedronka. Now, he is the CEO of Żabka, which owes its great commercial success to him.

In this podcast, I am talking to Jowita Michalska, CEO Digital University and the renowned “technology guru” of the Polish market. She runs an NGO, focused on teaching technology to children and under-privileged social groups, and a business, which provides tech education on the corporate market.

Let us listen to Iwona Wencel, the person whose life mission is to be the voice of HR. It took her years of hard work to become what she is now: one of the leading HR experts on the Polish market. She started from politics but having taken a few initial steps decided this was not for her, so she turned to business, and some years later, became a HR person in a corporation. Having gained substantial experience and knowledge of HR issues, she decided to start her own business and turned into a renowned HR advisor. Lately, she has published a ground-breaking book entitled “#BoldHR”. How to redesign your mindset to succeed in the new normal”.

Marta Jakowluk zajmuje stanowisko Chief People Officera w firmie Leroy Merlin. Pochodzi z Białegostoku i odkąd pamięta, chciała pomagać ludziom. Jej rodzice są lekarzami, ale nie zdecydowała się pójść w ich ślady, bo nie znosi widoku krwi. Wybrała zatem psychologię, którą studiowała na Uniwersytecie Warszawskim. Jeszcze w trakcie studiów rozpoczęła praktyki w jednej z prywatnych firm i - jak sama mówi - zakochała się w biznesie. Obecne stanowisko osiągnęła dzięki połączeniu wiedzy psychologicznej ze znajomością realiów gospodarczych. Przez jedenaście lat pracowała w firmie Unilever, gdzie wiele się nauczyła i spotkała kilku mentorów. Następnie przeszła do UPC, a po dalszych sześciu latach pracy – do Leroy Merlin. Moja rozmówczyni jest przekonana, że pion spraw ludzkich, zwany tradycyjnie pionem HR, musi być partnerem biznesowym pozostałych pionów i że dobry przywódca powinien znać zarówno język biznesu, jak i język HR.

Ravin Jesuthasan is a renowned futurist, a member of World Economic Forum and a bestselling author of books on the future of work and human capital. With a financial background, he has gained enormous and diversified professional experience, among others in strategy consulting and HR consulting. The future of work became his passion. In cooperation with John Boudreau, he wrote “Work without Jobs”. He believes that relentless curiosity, the strive to learn more, look around corners, connect things learned in one domain with other can shape not only the future of work, but of the entire human life, and, last but not least, of businesses, which must learn to navigate the new reality, or else they will cease to exist. In the podcast, my guest explains that change and discontinuity are natural elements of existence; and that we need to try to find out the direction of future changes and to adjust to them.