A person’s resilience makes dreams a reality | PODCAST #Biz_Culture

“I personally would always suggest people get out of their comfort zone and seek challenges which can change your life forever. Stay focused on what’s important in your life. I value the uniqueness among the people, no matter how judging the environment is – it’s always the mindset of an individual which makes wonders. They maybe call you weird or creepy but it changes eventually. People’s opinion doesn’t matter. It’s always your personal preference whether you hear or ignore it. “

Girinath Anandhan | Space entrepreneur, Founder & CEO @CosmoBuzz Limited, Mechatronics Engineer, Analog Astronaut 

We all have probably heard the saying “work smart, not hard”. Still, is it always the truth? What if you don’t have the talent, knowledge, and the right network even to start a business? How smart do you need to be to avoid working hard? It is just a rhetorical question.

The reality is that in most companies, people are looking for ways how to work less, smarter, or looking for different ways to outsource. A big part of this concept of “smart working” meaning became associated with the ChatGPT. Most of the idea-creating or information-search tasks (which “eat” most of our work time) now are cut in half with the help of AI technologies. Soon, it will be the normality of our work performance.

However, the “hard-working” part comes when we meet people face to face. In the area of networking, creating business relationships (which are loyal and lasting), or building an inside/outside company culture – we are facing complexity, unpredictability, or simply small or big chaos. People’s individuality, different personalities, and incomparable experiences require hard work and discipline in our promises as well as consistency in our performance of those promises to people.

A true believer in hard work over talent is our new episode guest Girinath Anandhan, who keeps his focus on the prize – his mission to connect people in the space industry. Struggling with finding the right network for himself in order to become an astronaut. Today, he is an analog astronaut, who still believes that you need to work hard in order to build the right and strong network in the space industry. This belief became the motto of his company CosmoBuzz.

But first, what angle of the focus Girinath is keeping while he built his networking startup CosmoBuzz? Does his perspective apply to you as well? Keep reading…

ELEMENTS IN BUILDING THE NETWORK

Photo by Visual Tag Mx

Engineer’s mind first spots three key aspects of building a network: mapping the area, having the right tools and constantly weaving a web. Or in Girinath Anandhan’s words, he stresses the importance of business concepts such as:

Market and Industry Trends: Keeping an eye on the latest trends in the market and the industry is crucial. This includes analyzing changes in consumer behavior, competitor strategies, and technological advancements, most of the startups fail when fail to understand this.

Innovation and Technology: Keeping up with the latest technology and innovation is critical in today’s business environment. Organizations that fail to innovate and leverage technology may struggle to remain competitive. 

Networking: The success of any organization depends on its networks out of all the above aspects networking is the main aspect that we need to take into consideration in terms of any market. 

GIRINATH’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Picture from Girinath Anandhan’s personal album at NASA.

Personally, as a person who is trying to create his own startup in the space industry niche is quite difficult, but Girinath says: “If it’s easy, it’s not worth it “! Here are the main concepts, which meanings are helping for the analog astronaut to keep his focus while he communicates with others:

 – Resilience: I believe in Resilience. Resilience is a crucial skill that helps individuals cope with life’s challenges personally I have been through a lot of setbacks physically and mentally but the spirit to move on counts. It involves developing the ability to manage stress and maintain mental toughness in the face of adversity. Resilient people are better equipped to handle difficult situations and recover more quickly from setbacks. They are also more likely to have a positive outlook and maintain healthy relationships.

– Hard work: I am a strong believer in hard work over talent. Hard work is a more reliable predictor of success than talent because it is a skill that can be developed through practice and discipline. Talent, on the other hand, is innate and cannot be learned. Hard work also helps individuals develop resilience and grit, which are essential traits for achieving long-term success. Finally, hard work is more accessible to everyone, regardless of their natural abilities, making it a more democratic and equitable path to success.

–Individuality: For me valuing individuality can lead to a more diverse and inclusive person, as well as foster creativity and innovation. Encouraging people to express their unique perspectives and ideas can lead to better problem-solving and decision-making skills. Embracing individuality can also improve people’s personal lifestyle and Time management, leading to a more positive mindset and increased productivity.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

Picture from Girinath Anandhan’s personal album

Our new #Biz_Culture podcast guest, Girinath Anandhan is a young space entrepreneur, analog astronaut, mechatronics engineer, and the founder of the CosmoBuzz network startup. He describes himself as someone who is empathetic, curious, and constantly striving to learn and grow. He believes in treating others with kindness and fairness, and tries to embody these values in both: his personal and professional life. “Being kind comes for free” – the podcast guest shares his personal view.
 
However, when it comes to work – he is hard-headed. In his own words, the process of building a network in the space industry it’s not easy. “We always have to put work in prove our ideas and values. When trying to interact with professionals I believe we have to go all in, it may end up losing friends, and girlfriends or even ending up on streets we must all be in when we have a goal and passion” – shares Girinath.
 
Creating his Space-based networking social media in Lithuania/ UK regions called CosmoBuzz, which, he believes, can help thousands and millions of people in the space industry networking, Girinath Anandhan expresses his perspective under the lines that – it is only a person’s resilience makes dreams a reality!
 
Tune in to listen to the full episode with Girinath Anandhan here:

#20_PODCAST #Biz_Culture | A person's resilience makes dreams a reality by Girinath Anandhan – #Biz_Culture

An Architect’s Vision ‘Dream It Over’ | Podcast #Biz_Culture

With Kabilan Anbazhagan | Architect | Start-up Co-founder

“I always was odd in terms of architecture. I have been creating, but I had my own challenges to create. My approach was either too futuristic or something not architecturally possible now.”

– Kabilan Anbazhagan

Creativity has its own limits when it comes to making products for the majority of people. Different perspectives in this context can be hush with newborn ideas. Like a baby, “previously untested” ideas are very fragile. Start-up communities experience insecurity, stress, and suppression from well-developed marketplaces every single day. In the proven industry throughout generations, to be a pioneer is like fighting alone in the war. That’s why the team of a start-up business has to become one unity.

However, how do survive outside battles while proving a new idea worth or solving the team’s inner shakes? Here, creativity has no limits and can reach out to our unconscious mind for help. More specifically our dream world while we sleep. Dream themselves may: reflect the unconscious, process information, aid in memory, spur creativity, reflect your life, prepare and protect, help process emotions, and much more.

How dreams became the core tool for start-up teams and security for new ideas in the market? An architect and a start-up co-founder, Kabilan Anbazhagan from India will share his perspective at the #Biz_Culture podcast. For a deeper understanding of his perception, we invite you to open his “dictionary of meanings” in this article.

A NEED FOR THE ELASTICITY ASKS US TO RETHINK

Photo by Engin Akyurt

Sustainability: “Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain or improve standards of living without depleting natural resources or causing harm to the environment.” In today’s business culture, everything comes with an asterisk at the end just to satisfy the upcoming generation. Personally, sustainability should have a borderline sense of approach; like nuclear energy, there is a sharp negative side to it, but it is far more efficient in terms of energy output and the best energy for the space industry. Everything has a negative value when you make something out of it, and what matters is the offset of good value you can create from it. And these positive values shouldn’t just be resources or energy that are provided; they should also foster cultural growth by educating the next generation, inspiring them to venture into new ideas, and creating more opportunities. Businesses should start thinking in these terms, considering people, their values, and their cultures as sustainable positive offsets in order for them to come back and invest in the future economy.

Scalability is “the measure of a system’s ability to increase or decrease in performance and cost in response to changes in application and system processing demands”. Any business would need a proper model for a scalable situation; it’s highly important for any investors whose aim is to increase their portfolio. Most of the ideas I work with have a scalable situation, and figuring out how it works in a controlled environment is easy, but when it comes to the real world, what happens in America wouldn’t work in Europe; laws, culture, and people can influence it. What is necessary are business models that have a scalable skeleton frame, and from there, all the additional factors are considered variants of the same business model. This would create unique offshoots and a high chance of sustaining in a new region. Scalability should go along with adaptability.

Networking is “the exchange of information and ideas among people with a common profession or special interest, usually in an informal social setting”. Networking has been a building block for any business, especially in start-up scenarios. It carries a special privilege when you know someone, irrespective of the field. And in today’s context, just knowing someone in a common field of the profession doesn’t build new innovative businesses; it would be the same idea over and over again. Understanding and networking with different fields of study can bring solutions for both fields and inspire new business ventures for the new generation.

KABILAN’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Photo from Kabilan’s personal album

1. Pizza – well, obviously we all know what a pizza is and where it came from. For me, it carries a different meaning, and I made it a trademark of my identity as someone who loves pizza. I use this as a means of ice-breaking a situation, an introduction, and engaging with people, especially when you say you love pineapple pizza. I use this keyword to make sure the team is fed with food, because for me, food is a resource for thoughts and critical thinking; without it, you would be making decisions with extreme negative emotions, leading to an undesirable situation. Since pizza caters to all varieties of food, I use it as an excuse to keep the team fed and happy for a better outcome in decisions. And it helps with team building too.
   
   
2. Let’s Dream It Over – the general meaning would be sleeping, which sounds boring right now, but this phrase has a purpose for me and my team. It comes from experience. When our team was experiencing issues in regards to finding a proper solution for our concept, we drew nothing, so I just said, “Let’s just dream it over. Our dream state minds have better-unrestricted access to subconscious thoughts; maybe we will find our answers there.” And voila, we figured it out the next day, presented with a good flow, and ended up winning the competition. It happened again, so now it’s stuck with the team!
   
   
3. Relatability – is “the quality of being easy to understand or feel sympathy for”. Convincing a complex idea in a presentation is hard work and high risk if you don’t get the chance to have a Q&A session. I’ve been there, done that, and that’s how we barely won the competition. From that moment on, I placed emphasis on the presentation being relatable to any users, stakeholders, or investors. Furthermore, I would like the person presenting to be culturally relevant, understanding their values and the essence of the people. Culture and lifestyle relatability go a long way toward reinforcing an idea.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

Photo from Kabilan’s personal album

Our guest Kabilan Anbazhagan is an architect with the goal to change the world! Under the table with a multicultural team, he also works on an urban tech architectural start-up project called KaunARTic (coming up soon).

Ambitious dreamer, making dreams a reality one step at a time, whose character and values go hand in hand at work as well. As chaotic and neutral in character, Kabilan loves to learn something new from other fields than architecture; he is strategic and with an approach. Kabilan uses an analogy to sum it up all – “curiosity kills the unprepared cat, but I got a backup plan”, and always finds a way.

The podcast guest believes that he is an explorer in the wrong timeline, either too early or too late, but with eagerness to help people see things differently.” I get my highs out of helping people and making them explore the world they live in, and volunteering at ESN and a few other organizations have given me that chance” – our guest shares.

A young architect and co-founder of KaunARTic start-up originally from India. Today, Kabilan lives in Lithuania and with a bunch of misfits, amazing people from different cultures, and various fields of study are making dreams a reality. So, if you find yourself lost on your vision path towards future goals – join Brigita’s and Kabilan’s conversation at podcast #Biz_Culture for your motivational boost and “Dream it over”!

 Tune in here or at platforms: SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Castbox.

#19_PODCAST #Biz_Culture | An Architect’s Vision ‘Dream It Over’ by Kabilan Anbazhagan – #Biz_Culture

Wanna change or linger in ‘better sameness’? | PODCAST #Biz_Culture

“To be clear, I do not set out to be deliberately challenging; rather I come with an intent to make a difference, I trust that my clients do not want ‘better sameness’, and if that is the case, I help them go where they need to go. That means I can be experienced as disruptive, and I attempt to show up in a way that balances the context with my stance. Sometimes I need to dial it down, sometimes up.”

Steve Hearsum | Change Practitioner | Consultant & Supervisor

Probably, the core drives of change globally are Sustainable Development Goals, Digitalization (5G, AI, IoT, Metaverse, cryptocurrency, and others), Cultural Tribalism, Work-life balance lifestyle, and Regenerative organisations. I believe these ideas and “implicative strategies” were pushed more to the obvious along with the pandemic chaos. So we are all walking through a transformational era. “Change management” is an operational pillar in many businesses. However, more and more “the change” itself has been normalized by using different synonyms at work as well as in people’s daily lives.  

And yet, the biggest challenge has remained the same – the avoidance of conflicts. Or as our podcast guest would probably paraphrase that into “inability to hold contradictions”. We are pleased to have Change practitioner, consultant, and supervisor Steve Hearsum on our podcast and explore his views on business and communication.

THE “FIXER-UPPER” FOR YOUR LANGUAGE USE ON THE BUSINESS GROUND

Photo by Dids

I asked Steve to share his perspective about commonly used words in a business language because I wanted to know what bugs Steve the most when it comes to old thinking patterns among people in work environments; and what people could change in their language now. Some of the “scalper-work” was beautifully done by Steve in his answer here:

“Language is important. I am less bothered by new words (although I make an exception for anything prefaced by the words ‘The Great…’ e.g. Resignation, etc), than I am by how words that are accurately descriptive become either bastardized and twisted or are used to describe things that we already have language for.

Examples:

• ‘Change’. It has become thingy-fied. We have ‘driving change’, ‘landing change’, ‘delivering change’ etc. In turning change into an object rather than an unfolding set of experiences, largely mediated through the quality and frequency of human interactions, we sanitize it, dampen anxiety and over simplify the complex and too hard to understand.
• ‘Culture’. Suffers from a similar thingy-fication. ‘We need to create a coaching culture’. Aside from the fact that coaching culture is an absurd construct, as it takes coaching – something that is a helping relationship – and locates it within the context of the manager: employee relationship whilst denying the power inequalities that cut right against how coaching is meant to work. Culture gets appended to other things in equally unhelpful ways e.g. agile, learning, feedback etc
• ‘Feedback’. Instead of being seen for what it is, namely part of feedback loops of data, it has become a synonym for people offering their judgments and opinions of others, rather than what it should be i.e. offering observations in service of someone else’s learning.
• ‘Empowerment’. The bastard offspring of pop psychology, it utterly misses the point that you cannot empower people, all you can do is change the conditions such that people may experience something different/make different choices
• ‘Engagement’. Just a re-tread of motivation.
• ‘Agile’. A lack of understanding often as to the difference between Scrum etc and agile behaviours.
• ‘Collaboration’. Most orgs that say they collaborate do not, because they are not able to do conflict well. So collaboration has become a synonym, really, for cooperation.
• ‘Leadership’. We need less leadership and more leading.

I have more, but that gives you a flavour.”

STEVE’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Photo by: Nadezhda Moryak, Евгений Качин, Valdemaras D., and Steve’s personal album

• EDGE+STRETCH – This is not just the name of my business, and yes, it stands in two words. The coupling reflects part of the underlying philosophy of my work. When I work with clients, I am helping them find what I term their ‘edge and stretch’. ‘Edge’ in this context refers to the point at which their sense of comfort and security in what they know, and/or how they experience themselves in work, begins to fade. It is at this point they are getting in touch with what is likely to be a developmental edge. It might be individual, group or organisational level as well. Once they have the edge, the next question is: what is the stretch? If there is going to be any change, if they are going to learn, there is likely to be a territory opening up which is less easy, in the literal sense of the word. Most developmental learning is not a case of knowledge acquisition, it entails some degree of discomfort. I would go so far as to say much of what we need to learn about ourselves as human beings is often preceded by some discomfort, in fact. So I set out to create useful discomfort in service of learning.

• PRACTICE – given that the vast majority of my work is with change practitioners and leaders, I frame what I do as helping people develop their practice. In particular, whilst reflective practice is key, it is useful but not sufficient. In a work and organisational context, what we really need to do is create the conditions for people to develop reflexive practice.

• REALLY? – I have a kind of microchip in my head, which I think appeared initially through childhood. I am the son of an alcoholic and perennial outsider, a man who was also a lover of absurdity and friend to the fellow outcasts and loners. It taught me to question, and to question certainty, arrogance and most important of all, to pick up on absurdity in life. Organisations are full of absurdity, contradictions and paradox. The greater the absurdity, the more my brain goes “Really?…” That can be a gentle inquiry or a serious challenge, but the main thing is, it reflects a stance and desire to get under the skin of things to what really is going on.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

Photo: personal Steve’s album

Our podcast guest Steve Hearsum is ‘the right kind of fly in the ointment’, who lives in the UK. Change Practitioner, Consultant & Supervisor aligns perfectly with who he is, what he does, and wants to do. Founder of Edge+Stretch.Ltd can be found in 3 or 4 meanings of the concepts he described above in this article. Building those meanings for him took years of work on himself, which later were inquired into his own practice.

“A client recently described me as a “provocative git”, which is how she experienced me when she first met me, and then got the value of my probing and challenge and how it helped her go deeper” – Steve shares a memory with a client.

Steve Hearsum is a person, who walked the walk, talked the talk, and felt the change with his own body, mind, and soul. In this podcast episode with him, it will be easy to go deeper, beyond the surface of the “standardized” language of business.

Tune in now here or on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, or Castbox.

#18_PODCAST #Biz_Culture | Wanna change or linger in ‘better sameness’? by Steve Hearsum – #Biz_Culture

University community – a strict but fair parent? | PODCAST #Biz_Culture

with Lukasz Tkaczyk | Community Relation Officer at Edinburgh University

There are various discussions about today’s university role in the context of students’ preparation for the workforce: failing in preparing people for businesses, it competes with the self-learning market online, or it is just a bureaucratic institution. Despite all these system-orientated issues, universities are first about intelligent, creative, authentic, and innovative people, who have a chance to gather their minds together in order to create something out of their gained skills and knowledge.

Today with Lukasz we want to explore exactly that and how students as well as university staff are learning about the business culture just by being at university and getting ready for their next step in life.

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS ALWAYS A TWO-WAY RELATIONSHIP

Photo by Beyza Yalçın

When I asked Lukasz, why he uses the metaphor of a “strict parent” to reflect the role of a university, he said that just because it is like this with students and then directed my focus towards the meaning of customer service in a business environment.

Customer service in a different context is changing its meaning, right? In business, we have a saying “a customer is always right”. However, in the context of university (where the customer is a student) – Lukasz says that “as a customer – sometimes you just don’t know what is right for you” (smiling).  

Students’ life mostly chaotic: parties, police, lack of discipline, lots of first times… They need first to develop a sense of personal boundaries and this is where the university community service becomes rather handy.

“When dealing with the staff, which has a lot of experience – if you trust them, it is better to ask them for advice, because they know what it might be better for you. For example, when you don’t have any experience or any expectations and you will go to an unknown restaurant – you don’t have a clue about your choice, so you better ask a waiter to give you suggestions, because he/she knows the land, he/she knows the kitchen as well as knows the staff. But… building trust, which reflects genuine care for a person is a must here as well. We cannot talk about customer service without overviewing the building a trust process itself.

Building trust with community support is especially important. For example, you need to have trust in a hairdresser’s service otherwise you will not go to her/him. Ideally, if in any job you know what you are doing, you are trying your best and you are approaching trust with not only students but also with the management.

I have tried different departments at the university and I have noticed that I can’t work in any department if the management doesn’t trust that I am doing the right job. If there is no trust and there is a micro-management – I simply don’t want to be in that place. You don’t want to check yourself constantly if it is good what I am doing. I think.”

MISTAKES ARE THE ROAD TO BUILDING A TRUST

Photo by The Lost Ninja

“There are companies where the management attitude is like “ok, we look at you. If it’s fine – it is fine, but if you make a mistake then we will get rid of you. It feels like they want to catch you making a mistake. In this environment, your natural flow is affected because you can’t be just yourself if someone you feel is watching over your shoulder. This kind of approach makes you nervous and you tend to make more mistakes. Basically, the whole system is wrong then. In my opinion, this kind of level of management is about covering their backs only.

The management role is to teach, support, and then manage processes or direct people. However, sometimes I feel that kind of attitude in companies is wrong. For example, they send you to do a course on health and safety at work, but their whole approach to work is not changing and they still acting according to the old patterns of management authoritarian behavior. What is the point then to teach and support – if the core of organizational culture will never change?

This issue we have at community support as well. Despite of the stressfulness of this job, you need to be able the trust your team members. Team support is vital. However, I do not call being supportive, when some team members are pointing out your mistakes and then teaching about you to the management. In this context trust is important because you are working together, you are here to support each other. If you see something, which you cannot approve – you can approach me in the right way and just correct me, but not teach me how to do the job right. If you think that I am not doing the right job – it also could be that the company’s structure failed to train me in the right way or I am not good for the job.”

This is a very nice approach, which Lukasz has just revealed to us about trusting another person at work. It is about giving a person space to do his/her job, which means is to give space for a person even to make a mistake. In this way, you show that you trust your team member that he/she will evolve and by holding space for that person, you put your trust in him/her to fix the mistake by himself/herself. You don’t need to do the job for that person or explain how it should be done. You simply just need to put your trust in that person, that he/she will find his/her way out of a current situation. Of cause, if you see that you can be handy – do it together by his/her lead. The mistake is still his/her to tackle, not yours.

“Freedom of mistakes is actually the best and the quickest way to learn. When it comes to students, they are learning boundaries. They are learning what is allowed and what is not. This is where the “strict parent” metaphor comes into the picture. University is like parents, it allows you to explore, teaches, supports you and creates trust with you. The strictness part covers all the rules and regulations upon which the university is built upon” – finishes Lukasz.

LUKASZ’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Photo by Eren Li

• COMMON SENSE – means to be creative in accrued circumstances. You can brake some rules. Just focus on what you try to reach at the end.
• VISUALIZE – in order to do things, first you need to see them in your head.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE 

Photo from Lukasz personal album (mixed)

Lukasz is a very philosophical character and has worked in the hospitality industry for more than 10 years now. He loves to travel and have intellectual conversations, which helps him to explore different points of view just with his exploration and visualization of his mind. This ability developed by being a foreigner among foreigners in the UK. Probably that’s why he is one of the best customer service specialists and now working at the university community support team.

“There comes times when I observe myself and my sensations more. I am slowing down everything and allowing things to happen, emotions to follow, and acknowledge what I truly value at work and in life” – openly shares Lukasz with me.

So take a break, slow down and enjoy Lukasz’s perspective at our #Biz_Culture podcast with the host Brigita:

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#17 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | University community – a strict but fair parent? by Lukasz Tkaczyk – #Biz_Culture

Human-Machine Communication in the Hospitality Industry | #Biz_Culture PODCAST

with Carolina Bobes Llames | CEIO | Business Development | Technology and Innovation | Hospitality

Digitalization of communication in customer service is in a way good because machines do not have egos, so they avoid being offended when dealing with not very pleasant customers. However, technologies are programmed by people. Some dialogue scripts are learned by machines themselves from humans. So, at the center of new technologies, we still have – human beings with their human values, ethics, morals, and communication culture.

Now, we are teaching machines about us and what it is like to be among us and help us. Soon they will be a part of our “normal” life. The question remains – are we good enough teachers for these machines?

This time it is not enough to understand engineering, computer science, or the technical aspects of these technologies to bring them into our life. We are creating artificial “human” minds, who are as with our children at early stages – need to be “installed” with the right basics for living on this earth. This we pass on through our communication, creation of relationships, and earning trust. In a way, giving meaning to our connection overall. What meanings of our life do we pass on throughout our communication to machines then?

Let’s start with our need for shelter, warmth, food, and sleep – the hospitality industry as the business culture here will suit the best! It would be wonderful to explore communication culture trends in the hospitality business. Especially, when we are matched up with new technologies tremendously. The perspective taken by our podcast guest, Carolina Bobes is new-age thinking. By being an expert in tourism business development and IT in hospitality, Carolina is also an outside-box thinker, who is twisting our “normal thinking narrative” into something that is still hardly understood by the majority.

KEYWORDS IN NEED TO OVERVIEW IN-DEPTH FOR THEIR MEANINGS

Photo by: Pavel Danilyuk

AI and Automation will be widely adopted across the hospitality industry as means to reduce operational costs without compromising service. Still, do we soaked in the right meaning of the digitalization keyword for the hospitality industry? Carolina commented on that:

“DIGITALIZATION is the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities; it is the process of moving to a digital business. To shape a business model or to help us be more productive? Perhaps we just need technology to communicate across the world with our colleagues (zoom) or to simplify complex data to give us more time to analyze it instead of just crunching numbers all day (Revenue management systems) or to simplify our daily routines (Property management systems) “

Indeed, what if we actually need to be technology-smart?

Another keyword that varies for a different organization (or maybe it should be the same) – is organizational culture. Every organization, as an indigenous tribe, has its own unique culture combined with habits, values, and communal recognition elements. There as in any social organization (this applies to a family as well) there is hierarchical order scaled by age, skills, experience, or even looks or inheritance of power. Unfortunately, those who are at the top – they have the biggest responsibility, still is taken by them the least in practice. So, how will it be transmitted to machines there hierarchical cultures in organizations? What meaning of power in organizational culture are we teaching machines via our online communication now?

“ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE – the proper way to behave within the organization. This culture consists of shared beliefs and values established by leaders and then communicated and reinforced through various methods, ultimately shaping employee perceptions, behaviors, and understanding – Wait so… Does this apply to machines too? Should we change the definition? Is a robot an employee? Think of a robot acting as a waiter or these drones Amazon wanted to introduce…” – expresses Carolina Bobes.

Definitely, this concept is asking to be overviewed for the new world adaptations. Still, the core of hospitality is its keyword’s meaning in general, which is all about empathy, understanding is the most important – human touch. With technologies on the horizon, the dilemma of humane integration lack becomes the core threat to the whole industry.

Carolina adds “HOSPITALITY definition according to the Merriam Webster’s Dictionary is “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers” – If we are introducing new technology such as self-check-in kiosks, chatbots to solve all our customers’ problems, robots to cook and serve them breakfast, etc. Does this definition apply? Are we really receiving and entertaining our guests or are we just providing them with accommodation? Weren’t we the experience/providers of the happiness industry? What are we now?“

However, AI and other technologies will be here soon or later. What we are going to teach them – depends on us. As Mo Gawdat stressed, “If we do not magnify our true essence as humanity, as we all want to be happy, we all have compaction to those who we care and we all want to love and be loved. If we do not magnify these core elements – artificial intelligence will magnify what we are today – selfish, narcissistic, egocentric, and rude – how we communicate to each other every day no matter the place.”

Thus, we probably need to do less talking and more taking responsibility for our own culture in communication and change the values of collectives one by one. Algorithms of AI will do the rest for us by building better customer service than we had in centuries.

CAROLINA’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Photo from a personal Carolina album

• GOAL: Just tell me what you need in your words and I’ll translate it in my head for the computer to understand. (Obviously this work in the hospitality industry for me… I don’t have the keywords used in let’s say medicine to be able to translate that for a machine to understand)
• DAILY OPERATIONS: These are repetitive and tedious tasks you must do at your work every day … (Automate those – Give these tasks to a machine!)
• CRITICAL THINKING: Please think outside the box, there’s more than one way of doing things.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE 

Photo from a personal Carolina album

Our new episode guest is an expert in the hospitality industry with a long title list as Chief Expansion International Office (CEIO), Business Development Manager, and Technology and Innovation officer of the hospitality industry. Carolina Bobes out of the virtual world is just a wonderful human being, who is in love with the hospitality industry. She is very analytical and loves traveling and meeting new people.

“I guess that due to my international travel I always try to put myself in the head of others to try to understand them better and adapt my behavior to each situation and person“ – says Carolina. We can assure you that, she is an experienced chameleon with a good-hearted soul. By just being next to her you start to feel like in a 5-star hotel no matter where you are at that moment.

Carolina also is passionate about technology (that’s why she works in the hospitality tech field), but you won’t find her in front of a computer during weekends (if she can avoid it). You will find her on the beach enjoying the smell of the sea and appreciating the nature around her. Carolina lives in the real world, not the digital one during the weekends. As a human being, she really needs to disconnect from the virtual world every now and then.

“Please give me a good mountain to hike, the road to drive through or a place to visit, and food to try!!!! Experiences and adventures during weekends please!” That is what Carolina’s perception is.

Tune in to listen to her now here:

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#16 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | Human-Machine Communication in Hospitality Ind. by Carolina Bobes Llames – #Biz_Culture

OK. Let’s do it my way! | #Biz_Culture PODCAST

“We can do wonders in seconds, impossible things take a bit more time! Business is solving someone’s problem; if we can understand the opposite side thoroughly, we can easily make the impossible happen. Don’t rush, don’t hope, and don’t do anything just for doing – listen, step into the other shoes, and go together towards best goals.”

Marilyn Uleksin | Dive Group (Estonia) Country Manager, Photographer, Business Owner

….

In today’s context, more and more we tend to turn onto a narrative of “caring for people”. Still, do we really care that much about the people as we say and show in business meetings, media, and marketing campaigns or even in the job description?

This is the question of people’s mindset shift, actually. Which is still in progress of choosing the right meaning for words we use during our communication in business as well as in life with loved ones. How to choose it right? How to choose it and still keep your business value?

Our new episode guest, Marilyn Uleksin offers to do everything your own way. “People will always see from you if you feel uncomfortable. So it is better to act as yourself, not the role of the playbook.” – says Mystery Shopping Managing Director of Dive Group Ltd (Estonia).

PEOPLE, HUMANITY, AND A LITTLE MAGIC

Photo by Matheus Bertelli

“Businesses are not some registered names stacked on shelves. Companies are the face of people working there and this is often disregarded. I have even heard from my team saying: „it’s the company’s responsibility to ….”. Well yes, but who is this company? It’s us! And this “company” concept needs a lot of attention so that people could understand (as employees) that they are part of that mysterious “company”. As well as managers and leaders must acknowledge that they emphasize this message. 

It applies to business partners and clients as well. We work with people, so we need to create an environment of trust, well-being, care, goodwill, and comfort. And then we can see, how decision makers are more willing to cooperate with you based on those values. I have been told so and won over a big client exactly for that reason, so this is 100% true!

Back in the day, it was common that people to have their job description, they meet the needs, go home, and get paid. But in the era of pandemics and other significant changes, people are more aware of their inner self and also value employers who put emphasis on building a healthy atmosphere and work environment. It is not a benefit anymore, it’s a must. And if you want your business to run successfully, then starting from a creative and positive atmosphere will get you there.

And magic! Yes! There isn’t a thing where we can’t put a touch on little miracles ourselves. This is what makes ordinary extraordinary and this is crucial in business. Big marketing teams work hard to differentiate from competitors, CFOs crunch the numbers to win deals with cheap prices, and teams are pushed to work even harder to maintain quality and speed. But where does the magic happens with those activities?

I think that we need to bring back daily inspiration, a little laugh, fun, and unexpected surprises to our jobs/teams/customers. It’s the human brain that loves a little spark but on the other hand, it’s energetic communication and building stronger relationships by going that extra mile. We ourselves get more attached to the people we love being around, why not create this type of energy then? What is stopping us?

And of course, enjoy ourselves while doing so, because if we don’t enjoy what we do – we can’t expect success.”

Have you grasped the main meaning, Marilyn has? Here are the core concepts she uses for herself as a reminder of what are the core meanings she follows in her work and life:

MARILYN’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

Photo by Kammeran Gonzalez-Keola

• EXTRAORDINARY – let’s step out of the grey and ordinary way of thinking and communicating, and make a difference!
• “FEEL GOOD” – If people can feel good, they feel that they make good decisions and associate that with your company.

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

Photo from Marilyn’s personal album

Our guest, Marilyn, is a deeply analytical and system-loving person and still – doing everything with an inner spark and energy. Ordinary things get lost in a crowd, so she believes that being different and adding joy to any activity is something that creates totally different mindsets, results, and relationships.

Having a dynamic and extraordinary career path story, a large corporation country manager and personal photography company owner tried to fit in according to the business playbook. And ended up finding her real self.

“If I can’t find the extraordinary touch or can’t put any magic in, I feel restless and anxious – because it’s not the way I see how things should be. It’s not me and I don’t like it at all, so I always keep looking for ways to be awesome!

I value purposes, individuals, and meaningfulness. Whether I am making sales, communicating with our team members, or setting priorities for my tasks – I always emphasize those keywords to myself. And my greatest wish is to inspire others as well, so that whatever we are working on or how we engage with others – let’s do it meaningfully and enjoy the ride of changing the world one person at a time.

Because all in all, businesses are about purpose and people first. And then the rest,” – Marilyn openly shares with us.

We believe, that #Biz_Culture PODCAST for the first time is having such an honest perspective. You have to hear it for yourself!

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#15 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | OK. Let's do it my way! by Marilyn Uleksin – #Biz_Culture

Relationship transparency in creative businesses | PODCAST #Biz_Culture

with Glen Calleja  | Creative Entrepreneur (Malta)

“I work with mapping tools for personal and business purposes, so I continuously ask ‘Where am I?’ like a regular ‘health check’.  I apply that to anything from stock-taking to building a client base to bottom line figures. How are the numbers looking today vs yesterday? And so on.”

Glen Calleja | Creative Entrepreneur

…..

Photo MAP: Photo by Skitterphoto

WHERE AM I?

‘Where am I?’ – is the best self-reflection question to ask yourself in any circumstances moment. Unfortunately, it is not often an in-depth asked question within our busy lives at work. We tend to lose ourselves in numbers, measurement techniques, or comparisons with the outside environment and other people. In a way, we become kind of lost among other things, responsibilities, and roles we play during the day.

In business, self-evaluation programs such as LEAN are being applied more and more within bigger organizations. Still, most of these types of worker’s self-assessment exercises become a very hard task to accomplish while remaining genuine to ourselves. Usually, it is done in a rush and with a thought of how to provide a satisfactory answer for the company owners. Measurements and strategies are being thought through to gain particular results, which are orientated to keep the job or get a rise. This behavior of ours might mess up with the true purpose of the professional feedback on “where we are?” now. So, do we really have conscious awareness of a major question: “where am I now”?

Photo of a creative workshop studio Studio Solipsis

LET’S DRAW A NEW MAP TO GO ALONG WITH BUSINESS

A creative way of looking at where we stand can help us to minimize the complexity and seriousness we usually put on ourselves. How do creative industry entrepreneurs do the check-ups for themselves? Let’s dig deeper into our next guest speaker’s perspective in order to understand what this map looks like at first and how to navigate there. Thus, Glen points – PERFORMANCE, DISRUPT, and TARGETS – as the core dots in this map.

“Although the word ‘PERFORMANCE‘ generally refers to the operational health of the business and how the employees involved contribute to the success (and profitability), the sub-text to me is more about stretching each employee’s individual talent and resources. So from performance, we’re now into the territory of ‘human cost’… what is expected of the employee so that the company ‘performs’ well… And how is that individual’s personal cost linked to his/her value and self-worth? 

Another word is ‘DISRUPT‘ in view of innovation both in product and service and within the context of hierarchies within the organization (the organizational structure). This is a word that I like because it speaks of active contribution towards moving away from the status quo and this can be applied to individual growth and organizational growth (in parallel).

‘TARGETS’ is one more significant word to point to within the map.  People often use it to suggest that planning and having a clear destination will provide you with a map to success but it very often turns into a self-defeating useless exercise and leads to disappointment. People often speak of BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) which is ok to a point but in my experience, the cliche of ‘being true to oneself and to a degree, an intuitive approach, holds greater power for development and meaningfulness.” – says, Glen.

It looks like we went around and came back from where we have started – being ourselves. This means that we are aware of where we are as a conscious feeling of self-being in the here and now. Without allowing any external worries to alert us by showing that we are not reaching our targets this month; and without allowing even our thoughts to take the performance evaluations too seriously.

“Where are we?” – The question is about where we are right this minute, which comes along with our feelings, thoughts, and focus of attention. We can do these check-ups every time we start to feel lost in our busy work day.

Photo by Greta Hoffman

GLEN’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

• TRANSPARENCY: Clear, direct, and honest communication throughout the process. This precedes a commission or a sale.  I adopt a stance of total transparency with collaborators, employees, and clients alike so that we don’t waste anyone’s time with unnecessary dramas, especially when things get a little tricky. 

• RELATIONSHIPS: Relationships to me are the purest source of wisdom. They are the resources on which we build ourselves and our businesses. Needless to say, fostering relationships is based on clear transparent communication but most of all it is about being true to oneself because that’s the first person you’re going to be dealing with all day: that is yourself.

• VALUE AND MEANINGFULNESS:  The cliche’ is true. If you love what you do then everything becomes a little easier, even the hardest of times. Being true to oneself and acknowledging things how they really are, even when you really love what you’re doing but it is not working out. 

Photo from personal Glen’s album

THE GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

The person, who likes to avoid planning in business, but at the same time loves to do constant “where am I” check-ups is the next guest at our PODCAST #Biz_Culture. Glen Calleja presents himself as a creative entrepreneur and runs a hand-made book publishing company “Kotba Calleja” and a creative workshop studio “Studio Solipsis” based in Malta.

Risk and experimentation are important for Glen.  It’s what pushes the creative entrepreneur out of his comfort zone and allows Glen to challenge his thinking methods and technical skills in order to be better than yesterday. Consequently, Glen always finds himself in some kind of transition and re-defining phase, where he asks himself: “What am I?”, “What do I do?” and “How do I execute business ideas?” 

As you already met him “on paper”, we invite you to listen to the new episode with him, where we are going to talk about:

• Formality and informality balance as requirements for communication boundaries in the business.
• Dedicated spaces. For example, in Glen’s perspective, the office is not for meetings – it is for work only.
• Importance of sharing responsibilities between colleagues as well as partners.

Tune in this minute and check for yourself, where are you now in your business environment:

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#14 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | Relationship transparency in creative businesses by Glen Calleja – #Biz_Culture

The Language of Perspectives

Cover Photo by Marvin Chandiary

The “Talk Science” section now officially has been open for your eyes and minds to read about how perspectives of science, business, and the touch of human senses can help us to create a better reality to live.

With this article, I invite you to explore how a researcher’s mind paves the path with ideas that have emerged out of collected information from different scientific articles, observations of people’s behavior in the field, and the deep conjunction with human senses. The focus here is the language of perspectives and our future of communication. I will start from where we are today – our digital reality.

Have a good read.

Photo by Marvin Chandiary

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

For how long are we going to think outside-inside way in a business? We still observe the objects first and then discuss the strategies on how can we play around with them to generate profit. Again, we tend to look outside for outcomes. It is like we discuss business and who has a better idea at the time – wins. The same techniques we apply in our digital environments. Are we going to evolve as a human race or are we “Playing Theatre” after the theatre ends?

In this world, all digitalization shift presents us with a more efficient way to do our work as well as make us realize that what was “normal” will never be here again. For this reason, some of the jobs, which were created just for maintenance roles will no longer be essential for the marketplace. The maintenance job roles will be moved inwards – digitally – and take the facilitation roles within the company as well as independently.

Most of the companies have already managed to adapt during the pandemic by transforming themselves into a digital way of serving customers, navigating employees, or managing the companies. Saas, PaaS, and IaaS business models are filling this miss-communication gap between physical and virtual social interaction in the business field. However, the digital environment provides us just a set of tools for communication. We still need to communicate by ourselves. In other words, we need to start to communicate telepathically by following each other’s train of thought, and this time we are doing it online.

Photo by Leah Kelley

THE POWER OF THE MINORITY IS BEING REDIRECTED TO THE MAJORITY

From what we can observe online, we still do not have the right level of consciousness to collaborate together. In different forums or social media, we tend to “fight for our own opinion” instead of looking for a way how we can elaborate the discussion. Our egoistic perception of self vs. others still is dominant to us. We believe that stronger arguments can win our place of power within a group of people. We still believe that “moral economy” techniques for communication can empower other people’s emotions and influence them to act as we wish them to act accordingly.

Primitively speaking, that’s right. We will win our place in the hierarchy of society, where the strongest mind person wins. However, each person with technology is gaining “the right of personal perspective” ownership. This we can notice not only in the digital field but also in our use of language. Due to the inclusiveness, diversity, equality, and other similar concepts are being adopted in our daily vocabularies. This starts the switching process of our mindset towards collaboration. So, the power of the minority is being redirected to the majority. However, to hold the power in these circumstances we need to care genuinely about others. 

Photo by Juan Pablo Serrano Arenas

THE LANGUAGE OF PERSPECTIVES

You may ask, how we could genuinely care for others. You may say that it is so complex to understand each other and be good for everyone. We can’t satisfy everyone! However we do not need to satisfy everyone or give what people ask. Sometimes people have no clue what they truly want even though they assure us that they do. What we need to do is just appreciate each person’s perspective. In other words – start speaking in the language of perspectives!

Most creative industry professionals have been speaking in this language for generations. And now more than ever, we need to learn this language in order to understand people from different business sectors. People use concepts such as “entrepreneurial mindset” or “ecofriendly mindset”. What do they really mean? I believe, here lesson one starts with learning the language of perspective, which could be bio-linguistic in our mindset. In this critical era where issues and problems are hybrid, complex, and non-manageable with one process system – we are forced to think critically, but first, we need to learn the language of perspectives in order to think differently.

With digitalization and cross-cultural communication – the need for this language understanding becomes essential in order to keep the business alive further. “The digital” – is a new social interaction environment. “Cross-cultural communication” – gives us a diversity of perspective contexts for communication. By joining these two together in old fashion way (by adapting a “problem-solving” mindset) we need knowledge, skills, expertise, specific tools and data statistics, and so on. Today, all we need is just awareness! When we are speaking in the language of perspective we start intuitively feeling the room even though the room is on the digital platform.

Photo by Andi Risam Triangga

A HUMAN-CENTRIC VIEWPOINT ON THE NEW LANGUAGE NEED

Ok. What do I mean by “the language of perspectives”? This language is the language of meanings and it is unique and individual for each person separately. It might look difficult to learn each person’s language of perspectives, but we learn this language not by learning more about others, but by learning more about ourselves first. Perception appears because of our consciousness connection by adaptation to the same energetic vibration of both/or more people’s personal state of thoughts (words/action meanings, negative/positive focus, holistic/narrow views, and so on). To understand more of the scientific side of this perspective, I invite you to read more about “Cultural Models” by N. Quinn and C. Strauss.

When we communicate with other people in this language, we do not talk about objects and discuss their processes in order to transmit what we want to say. Instead, we exchange the visualization of our ideas and use our knowledge about objects/tools to connect to other people’s perspectives. We eliminate the factual details of the conversation, smoothen the knowledge power relation and create the conjunction on the mind level with another person. Then the communication becomes synchronized by our energetic vibration, which gives us a tone to create the bond and trust in people as well as provide the respect for each person’s superiority to make their own choice. This applies to every level of human interaction. The exclusion applies to the AI machinery as they are driven mainly by mind calculations and logical algorithms of situations.

What I would like to stress here is that human communication in the digital environment has used more than ever visualization power to energetically elaborate the synchronized vibration, which AI and other machinery communication has no ability to do so (as they rely only on knowledge database and calculations). In this way, humans will have leverage against machines and be able to adapt easier to the digitalization transformation.

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon

OBSTACLES TO SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF PERSPECTIVES

The biggest issue for this language of perspectives is collective limiting beliefs, which we keep teaching each other from generation to generation due to our focus on the logical calculations done in our minds. In other words, people, who follow the general thinking path – called by names normal or common sense – this is where those collective beliefs are rooted and cause conflicts among our minds.

So we need to be very careful when we speak in the language of perspectives because not everyone is capable to keep the tone in the same vibration for the whole conversation. At some point, it appears that the traumatic emotions trigger the mind to control emotional wobbling within our communication. In a way, we gave ourselves to our mind control and become dual from our humanistic side, the soul.

Photo by Mark Chaves

OUR DIGITAL COMMUNICATION REALITY OF TODAY

Skills of digital facilitation of our conversations become each of our realities. We are “reading people’s minds” by using various communication tools or collective digital spaces. When we connect our expressions of thoughts in visual, written, sound and movement combined form together – our cognitive sensors may implement information much easier to our mind and “digest” the thoughts, which have synchronicity with the rest of the people, sitting on another end of the computer screen. In this way, our ability to speak in the language of perspectives gives us a feeling of “sailing the boat with all people on board”. 

All today’s digital tools and technical features of communication allow us to facilitate conversations and keep the mutual train of thoughts running smoothly. The core intermediator here is a human being with the ability to feel what he/she see, hear, touch, or perceive and then transmit it through the language of perspectives to another person.

In my view, this is what telepathic communication looks like in the digital era.

Yours, Simona Zdanavičiūtė

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Playfulness in the Seriousness | PODCAST #Biz_Culture

With Simona Zdanavičiūtė | Producer of the #Biz_Culture

It is a very strange feeling when you are writing articles, especially when it is time to write one about yourself. I keep thinking, should I do it in the third person or should I write it in the style where I can have a discussion with an imaginative person in front of me? Have you ever felt like this in your life? It is like you would watch a play in the theatre and realize you are in two places at once – in the play and in the audience.

……..

Yes. This time, I will present a personal perspective, which I apply during conversations with people. I call it, “Playfulness in the Seriousness”! It’s a specific authenticity to drag people out of their structural thinking into the adventure of ideas just by talking.

I have loved discussions all my life the same way as I have loved theatre/movies. Actually, I love any other art form, which plays with our human senses and mind. In a business context, this is how the sales are being made, right? However, this article is not about the numbers or “the right how-to techniques”. This time is about true communication when we allow ourselves to lose the old cold perspective on “how the business is done” and just value the connectivity among us.

Well… we are actually being taught this value right now in a hushed way by global events. I would like to see a deeper, rooted meaning in all this. Thus, if you are ready, let’s dive into something that we do not talk about much, but we all sense among us – synchronicity and culture – our collective beliefs.

SERIOUSNESS OF THE BUSINESS WORLD

_{Photo by Tope A. Asokere}

…..

• Do you know how any culture is being made? – By our collectively agreed behavior.
• How behavior is then formed? – By our repetitive actions and words aligned with others.
• How values of a culture are being passed on to the next generation? – By social interaction supported with collective beliefs.

Here, please don’t mind the context. Business or relatives – we all are tight to make relationships with people. They just appear to be from different topics in our conversation with specific rules for our way to think. However, in business we usually catch ourselves being very into the “conversation topic”. Sometimes we are so serious about it that we get into wars of interest and waste tons of our and other people’s resources in order just to prove our point.

The whole world is like a big drama theatre, where the most of acting does our masks of surface personality and intellectually trained brain. In order to make it more fun, we even created AI an extension of our brain. How we are going to play this social big drama theatre when the scenario is written by AI in real life? Well, we have already started with for example Sunspring – a short movie, created by AI technology. Am I making you feel scared? If yes, your mind became very creative right now!

The problem here – is keywords, stored in our minds with collectively created meanings attached to them. In other words, it is our belief systems, which we are enacting through social interactions with others. As we are living in the digitalization era, most of our belief systems are being codded by us by using phones, laptops, tablets, and other technology.  Today, computer programs (AI especially), have a large database of our used language tagged to the keywords. For example, SEO is very important for businesses to be visible on the internet and enact social interaction there. However, not many are interested to understand how the meanings of our typed words on the search page are formed. People’s mind is lazy, so it tends to learn only structures (rules, patterns). Then the mind applies them as strategies to use information with the Hunger Games’ mood in order to win the best guess in the pool of concepts in the search engines. The same structural thinking we apply to any organization of people, especially in the business world.

We probably are not always conscious to acknowledge what words we use in our communication and what meanings they have to us and other people. Just a bit after, we start to see various international social movements for cultural diversity, femininity, equality, and other keywords. Only this time we reframe their collective meanings by making social wars. Well, just like this we are being again dragged into the big drama theatre by our minds and egos, covered under the “moral values” to look for justice. It is really hard to stay conscious in this world, for sure.

NOW, LET’S HAVE A BIT OF PLAYFULNESS

_{Photo by Benjamin Suter}

….

When do you do actual business? How do you build trustful relationships? What values do you follow, which are rooted in your heart? Does your intention for conversation just another act of yours in the big picture of your personal drama theatre called “doing business”?

The core glue of any culture – is a collective meaning-making sense, felt in each of our hearts. Unfortunately, in a business meaning, this feeling is a very cold exchange of values among people, which is equivalent to a money exchange process. However, not everything has money value in building relationships. Especially if you want to build trustful relationships for your business. In this case, meanings are important. For example, the concept of “organizational culture” itself has a hidden business value meaning of “making the human interaction systems work more effectively”. Sounds horrible, I know. I feel that every time by reading the organizational culture professionals’ presentations or observing people participating in “team-building activities” a constant check-up on the behavioral standards applied to that particular company.

After all, we together are creating those meanings by supporting particular people’s behavior or thinking patterns; by supporting particular organizational structures or power relations; by every day believing in what we do and how we do the business. Everything starts from the thought-form. Just our collective action and reaction make it clear, that that is the meaning, which applies to all. In this context, marketing works as a particular meaning creator, which stresses values that are strong in the belief systems of the targeted audience. Most of the time, it is people’s rooted beliefs aligned with the new perspective presented by the brand in order to ensure the sale of the product/service. Well, I always ask myself, do I really need this product/service or do they just have caught me with beliefs, which I do not even agree with.

There are different ways to exchange meaning between people or businesses, and it works as a meaning-making process, which forms our belief systems. Later, it becomes “programmed language in our mind”, expressed throughout our used language in different social contexts. So, values actually are a reflection of our used language with people live and online. By keeping this in mind, before we uploaded our meanings on the internet and train machine learning algorithms, – why don’t we practice it in the real-world first with human beings?

Thus, this is my version of “an introduction to the artwork of AI and our future in data clouds”. If you already have felt my perspective on how I view communication among people – playfulness should be rising in you right this minute. However, if you lack more context in order to drag your mind out of the box thinking – the podcast talk is already on air. Get into it on SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.

SIMONA’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS

_{Photo from Simona’s personal album.}

….

• HAPPINESS – love by which we are all connected in this world.
• PERSPECTIVE – a state of being, when intuition is aligned with a mind. Also, it can be expressed by words combination forming a meaning.
• PERSON – is a reflection of you and at the same time a window to a horizon.
• DISCUSSION – is the road made out of words’ meanings. Here the core goal is to meet at the crossroad of ideas with mindful people and make an exchange of meanings.
• CULTURE – is a feeling we feel collectively in our hearts as being one.

GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

_{Photo from Simona’s personal album.}

….

When people ask me “so, tell me something about yourself”, usually I lack the context. We all are validated for this question according to how we create our relationships with our surroundings and ourselves. This is always in a process of constant change. So, as you can see – I am a person, who is constantly in the transition process and love the adventure feeling of it.

I do not believe that our experience or quality of work defines us in professional life. However, I do believe, that the skills, we mastered during our experience, for sure, helped us to crave better meanings for our work. I have visited various work perspectives during my work career and I am still eager to do some “traveling” more. Well, probably that’s why I became a researcher and a producer with the perspective of an anthropologist.

More official presentation of me in a business language is available on LinkedIn here. Still, the meaning of who I am – can only be felt during real conversation, which I value the most at this present moment.

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#12 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | Playfulness in the Seriousness by Simona Zdanavičiūtė – #Biz_Culture

Business plays God: SMEs way of controlling force majeure |PODCAST #Biz_Culture

with Alessandro Carbone | Senior EU Projects Manager, Trainer, Counsellor

“I believe that the financial crisis of these years and the pandemic have reshuffled the way we need to view the concept of crisis as applied to businesses. External and global events are affecting the micro dimension of businesses and give them a very small chance to react. If crises in the past were more manageable (perhaps because also much connected to internal issues or to local market matters) now the concept has become global leaving small power of control for SMEs. The crisis is demanding SMEs to work very much on the prevention of critical events and still in close connection with the larger system.  Thus, global and local need to interface themselves strongly and work for hand in hand for prevention and solution finding actions. “Glocal” – is the new way to analyze and read the word crisis.”

This is how we enter into the perspective of Alessandro Carbone. Our new guest speaker approach invited us to question the concept of CRISIS with a new view angle. What meaning does it have to us and businesses globally as well as locally?

Photo by KoolShooters from Pexels

DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS ON THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF BUSINESS

The competitive advantage-based perspective of businesses has gotten old! Where we are going now? And how are we going to compete in the marketplace today? Since resources are going low, local crises have become global and people getting tired of fake “role-playing” games at work as well in society.

With this speed of life changes we are facing every day along with technology advancement, globalization, and individual/collective crisis – small and medium enterprises are forced to be a part of an international network with more effective work manners. On another side, we have resources distribution questions in all senses as ecological, financial, intellectual, moral, etc. When we “glue” both, global and local as well as big corporations and SME’s, together into one world – the “competitive advantage” notion starts to lose its sense in this context.

In this new era of our globalized world, we have no space to compete anymore! Now it is time to unite, network, collaborate, and look at how every part of business activity can be sustainable. Not only for the ecological, financial matters of a business but also for the survival of humanity with a spiritual essence view. Humans are not only an energy resource of the economy. We are much more than that, for sure.

Photo by Johannes Plenio from Pexels

PRACTISE FLEXIBILITY OR LOSE YOUR AUTHENTICITY

With our loss of control over external factors, our focus needs to concentrate more on what value can the diversity of businesses bring as well as on the true potential of each individual alone.

We start to see how the external environment can become more self-organized and innovative with risk management. To be different – today can help us to bring innovations for business markets, public governance, and society. However, are we ready to be flexible with our eagerness to control everything in order to become authentic?   

“Flexibility comes as a consequence [relating to the above-mentioned perspective] but also if we look at the market (local market) the needs of the clients and the chances of the market rules demand a fast and flexible adaptation of what businesses offer, the demand for ongoing innovation research and the adaptation of the existing matters towards newness demand to overcome rigidities, certainties, stabilities of businesses. Now more than ever.” – elaborates Alessandro Carbone.

An illustration of the business operational corners of “the market box” can construct our limiting mindset and conservative decision-making viewpoint. Here, Alessandro adds: “Despite modernity and innovation (which can be covered by tools and applications) the need for the creation of a good working environment, positive and open communication/relationships demand for liability along with the care for empathy is of paramount importance.” So…? What thoughts have reached your head by now?

We believe that this is the time to step into the unknown, as a year ago, Kristina Dryza was talking about “the being in the same ship” in-depth with us at the #Biz_Culture PODCAST. This is the time, when the human senses are needed not only to create fabulous products for the market but also to use it in business communication as primitive tribes used before the conceptual language was discovered. 

In the perspective of multi-dynamical, hybrid, complex, and non-manageable business environments, today, people at work are being asked to be JUST regular people rather than their titles or gained expertise in the business environment. We are asked to feel more in a very logic-based context economy. As the #Biz_Culture PODCAST guest says: “In my view, today’s businesses focus more on the demands put on the staff rather than on the care for the environment. And this might affect the quality of delivery, turnovers, etc.”

Authenticity is the flexibility of being a true human being with all the true senses you have as one unique individual. Not collectively, but individually.  

Photo from Alessandro’s personal album.

ALESSANDRO’S MEANINGS OF CONCEPTS USED IN THE BUSINESS

Accuracy: the service I am to deliver is going to be accurate, caring for details, precise, well thought, responding not just to the need of the client but also to the need of the market.

Market fit: sometimes clients need to be helped to understand the market, the latest developments. It is not taken for granted by me that the client knows this perfectly. Thus my services to the client refer not just to delivering what he/she asks, but also to tailoring this demand to what the latest in the market is provided.

Client relationship: the client needs to be aware that someone is taking care, on an ongoing basis, of its demands and is working on them. The relationship between my business and the client needs to comfort the latter even during times in which the services are not ready yet, not finalized.

Photo from Alessandro’s personal album.

GUEST OF THE PODCAST #BIZ_CULTURE

This time we will meet an intercultural person, who has been working on collaboration projects across Europe. Our #Biz_Culture PODCAST guest, Alessandro Carbone is a Senior EU Projects Manager, Trainer, and Counsellor. He was born in Germany, lives in Greece, owns a business in Cyprus, and still has Italian blood in his venous. He is a multi-perspective person, who shares every day his view with half of the world to make business more flexible for the upcoming changes.

Having 25 years of international business cooperation experience, Alessandro will reveal to us the background communication culture of SMEs and training industry aspects. As various crises take over our business environments and lives, the conversation with the inside person allows us to overview how businesses do think and make decisions in order to employ flexibility and stay authentic.

Recently, his team of T-Hap organization released training services for future EU project coordinators, which helps not only to learn the essential skills and knowledge but also created a network of people, who care about what value they bring to the organizational table of business projects. How, who, and why people collaborate in order to adapt to economic changes – you will hear in our next podcast episode with Alessandro Carbone.

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#11 PODCAST #Biz_Culture | Business people's way of controlling force majeure by Alessandro Carbone – #Biz_Culture