Welcome to my blog

HEY THERE, THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! I’M HONOURED TO RECEIVE YOUR VISIT.

I’m Alina, a native Romanian, based in Milan, Italy, for 4 years now. Publishing this very first blog post on my site, I'd like to share my story with you in the hope you will be inspired to make that change or take that decision you know will bring you fulfilment.

With an engineering and business administration background, I left the corporate world and a C-level senior position 4 years ago when, together with my husband, we decided to reinvent ourselves professionally in a country that stole our hearts years before: Italy. We both were at that time 50 years old and both enjoyed - through intense hard work and deep loyalty towards our companies - successful careers.

Professionally, for both of us, what outside could have seemed success and a well established career, inside felt rut, routine, stagnation, lack of any inspiration and fresh breath. In one word, we knew it was the end of a professional phase for each of us and time to make room for something else. 

For thirteen years I had the opportunity to work as managing director in a 300+ FTE design company and be its operational architect in rebuilding its systems, procedures, capabilities, and skills base. Last but not least, in growing and developing its employees, directors and leaders included. 

I worked significantly with change, transitions of people and organisations while delivering value to shareholders. If anything I learnt about myself in this period, is that I am good in creating positive change and making it happen, in inspiring people to contribute and give their best to that construction. A mission I loved, cared about fully and gave it all. 

One day as a managing director, I realised that - while having passed several cycles of organisational growth and bringing the organisation to a successful operating level, I  started to feel my own stagnation. And it was not a  pleasant feeling to live. I was split between two realities: in one - the organisation - pieces started to fall nicely in the right place; in my heart and my mind I started, however, to become aware about my need for fresh air and change.

2018 was a year of full search. One would think it was about searching for a new job. In fact it was exactly the opposite. For thirteen years I have been so much focused outside myself, so it came the right time to turn my search inside: 

Who am I when I am not defined by my job or any title?

Who am I if I allow myself to step outside my former education, or any form of thinking or acting limitation I used to put myself?

Who can I be or become?

One thing I knew: I did not want to apply for any job. Partly because I felt I needed time to heal something. Partly because I felt I would just take my "stagnation" into another organisation or another management role.

In fact, I needed to give myself the opportunity to learn something new, something different, something that I liked, and something that I could have enhanced by adding anything I already knew. If only I knew what that was!

2018 gave me the gift of an empty canvas. The very first thing I noticed was my tendency of not doing anything for being afraid to spoil that canvas. What if was constantly in my mind.

That was the moment when I decided that no action will ever come out of inaction, so I became a frenetic tourist. Rome, Milan, Bologna, Bergamo, Como, Lecco, Ravenna, by train, by foot, by bike. I literally put myself in action. Movement turned on soon my curiosity, curiosity made me search for more, search turned reading into research, mainly about history, places and people, their lives and their decisions. Stories that happened thousands, hundreds, decades ago or even those days. Stories about people. Stories about heroes and villains. Stories about people creating change, people being the change, for good or for worse.

And this led me to read more about how and when people actually change, if ever. What makes them so, suddenly, they are able to release all their inner potential, overcome their own resistance, their own inertia, comfort or of fear, and launch themselves in the act of creating something new.

Coaching came immediately in my mind as one of the ways in which I could have known more and found my answer. In the process, I also discovered myself.

I have been a customer of executive coaching myself to know its power. What is interesting about coaching is that one first comes to the decision to call themselves a coach and start coaching and, while doing it, one  builds their own skill of coaching.

Why is this so interesting to me? I found this process very similar with any transition, with any evolution. And I realised that it sounds so familiar to me because I have already been there several times in my life.

One day you are not a parent and the next day you are. One day you are not a spouse and the next day you are. One day you are not a manager and the next day you are. One day you feel your field of action is too small, and the next day you step into something completely new. One day you are a managing director and the next day you come to the conclusion you really want to be something else irrespective of not knowing what. One day you had no business of your own and the very next day you registered one. One day you are on a road and next day you can realise that is not the road you wanted to take. 

All these are not only moments in time, are in fact moments of decision: whether you were able to make that decision for yourself or whether others or circumstances made that decision for you. It is on you now to successfully make that transition in your new role.

Transitions always come with negotiations. And the first negotiation to win over is with self. Once that is done, others or circumstances will align to your decision. Not being aware about this negotiation, or not assuming fully your own responsibility for completing this negotiation, is in fact your way to self sabotage your transition at the beginning of a new road, stage, phase or relationship.

I learned years ago about this negotiation when climbing the organisational ladder myself and I learn new things today, too. And I know that, as in any negotiation, who has the information has the power.

To be successful in your next role, you need to negotiate with yourself, find your response and take some decisive decisions about:

1. WHO you want or need to become?
2. What out of WHO you are today is useful to carry further?
3. What out of WHO you are today stands in your own way and blocks either your view or your action?
4. What are your current beliefs, assumptions and attitudes responsible for either item 2 or 3 above?
5. WHO are you when you are neither your old version, nor your future version? 
6. HOW do you know you move in the right direction when things around you seem unchanged?
7. HOW are you going to measure your success, knowing you are still far away from your destination?
8. HOW are you going to remain confident in yourself, knowing you are still far away from your destination? 

... and so many others.

Every step was challenging also for me, but overcoming it was extremely liberating of false fears, useless expectations from self, and meaningless aspirations.

In 2019 when I decided to be and work as an executive coach, I started to reach out for executive customers. Prior I had my own negotiation moment and it was not easy, but once I took that decision I felt all pieces come together and my motivation skyrocketed.

I know inside out what it means to have the right mindshift for success in the organisational world. Today, I discovered and still discover and work with nuances applicable to myself in becoming an entrepreneur.

This blog is for you if you are a manager or an early entrepreneur in transition, knowing they have to elevate their way of operation for increased impact while feeling there is more untapped or unused inner potential and believing an upgraded mindset is essential for their evolution.

What will you find in this blog? 

I will write from my own experience both as a former manager who stepped through many organisational levels (up to C-level manager) and from working as a coach with my customers involved in management.

My favourite topics will be about mindset:

• the mindset making a manager successful in management
• the mindset supporting a resilient being. 

I’ll certainly share with you new perspectives and management that will help you fill the gap between your perception and organisational or even on your personal reality.

When you feel overwhelmed or feel the need for new ideas, I’ll be by your side. You can book a free 90-minute discovery session with me, if you want to bring some clarity and build your personal development strategy.

I would also really like to know what your change story is. When was the last time you acted decisively and created a reality for yourself you could not initially think was possible? What made you tick that time with such an intensity so you mobilised all your inner resources? Who were you able to become at that time? Who do you want to become now?

Write back, share with me your vision of future YOU or even better: book your discovery call and let’s build strategically your future!