Author Zana Goic Petricevic chatted with Digital Journal’s Markos Papadatos about her book “Bold Reinvented: Next level leading with Courage, Consciousness and Conviction,” and she opened up about the importance of leadership.
Zana brings to her work a blend of more than 15 years of experience as a corporate manager, entrepreneur, executive leadership coach, leadership development consultant, coaching trainer, and mentor with a great passion for writing, teaching, and public speaking.
Regardless of the methodology or program she uses in her current roles, the transformative power of bigger and bolder conversations always remains central to her work with clients across the globe in EU, UK, USA, and Asia-Pacific region and including industries as diverse as finance, banking, pharmaceutical, education, professional services, energy, telecommunications, FMCG and IT.
She is a Certified Professional Co-Active coach, Co-Active leadership graduate, Organisation and Relationship Systems Certified Coach and Leadership Circle certified practitioner. She holds a bachelor’s degree in languages, a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Zagreb (Croatia), and an MA in International Business Administration from Leeds Beckett University, UK.
Her former corporate positions in the region include corporate communications director in the oil and gas industry and marketing and sales director in the pharmaceutical industry.
Some of her current formal roles are founder of Bold Leadership Culture, a company offering leadership development solutions; The Leadership Circle Europe certification coach and the Ambassador for the Balkans; trainer of PwC’s Academies in CEE for ICF accredited Business Coaching Diploma where she trains and mentors new coaches believing that coaching is the new language of modern leadership.
She is the author of a book called “Bold Reinvented: Next Level Leading with Courage, Consciousness, and Conviction.”
Zana lives in Zagreb, Croatia, and works internationally as a leadership coach, consultant, and speaker.
Talk to us about Bold Leadership Culture, where did the idea come from to center a vision and a company around leadership.
With some years spent working in the corporate world, I’ve seen firsthand the impact of leadership centered around following, prosperity, and bottom line vs leadership that empowers innovation, human potential growth, courageous authenticity, and accountability. In the long run, the impact on the individual is a lack of meaning.
There came a point where I found myself needing to grow my own leadership game, which I did through multiple powerful programs like the Co-Active Leadership Program and the Leadership Circle certification program to name a few. Once I grew myself, I got a clear vision to start giving back and help grow others so that they can find their own voice and the work that’s deeply meaningful for them.
I am passionate about igniting bold leadership in corporate environments because the impact has major ripple effects for everyone in organizations and beyond. Because organizations shape our world, once our leadership in them becomes bolder, our entire world will become better.
What is one characteristic that entrepreneurs and business owners need to have to become a bold leader in today’s environment?
There are two that go hand in hand: vulnerability and the willingness to put some skin in the game. Without being open to be seen, to make mistakes, and to be willing to fail, there is no bold leadership. We cannot create and innovate and pass on the risk to someone else.
We so often play it safe in our lives and in our work because we try to hold onto a sense of safety that is mainly an illusion. The more we try to avoid potential failure and criticism, the less we are able to see the possibilities and the bold decisions and actions that are asked of us to turn those possibilities into reality.
What commonalities do you find from leaders in Croatia and leaders in America as it pertains to becoming a true leader in today’s corporate culture?
What we all have in common is the need for connection. It does not matter where we are from and our cultural background, true leaders know about authentic relationships.
The leadership of today is relational, not transactional. Leaders need to be able to see potential in everyone, swap judgment for curiosity, and have impeccable listening skills regardless of where they are located. True leaders know that they never create alone and that the success of leadership is in the way they relate to others.
Why is leadership important to Zana Goic Petricevic?
Leadership must be important to all of us. We sometimes think that leadership is just for the few who are in charge, but that’s a very limiting perspective. Everyone can be empowered to be a leader, regardless of their job title. We are leaders by being humans because we have our own unique work to do in our corner of the world.
We simply need to decide to learn about our passion and our impact and develop our ability to prioritize our vision over fear, and we can change our reality and the world around us. I believe our collective future will require us to bring our leadership to the table like never before in history.
What are the top three takeaways that one can apply to their business life that you talk about in your latest book, ‘Bold Reinvented’?
First, leaders never stop learning. Second, leaders build communities because everything that really matters is done together with other people. Third, leadership is inseparable from the vision just as the vision is inseparable from fear.
“Bold Reinvented: Next level leading with Courage, Consciousness and Conviction” is available on Amazon.
