Leading with a Story with Cosmin Alexandru

One of the important levers for a career in management is the ability to make us heard and understood in the business environment. Be that small teams or larger groups, our subordinates, peers or upper levels, within organization or through media, our capability to convince others to listen to us, to trust us and to follow is essential for reaching our objectives.

This course covers one of the main instruments available for leaders to lead effectively – storytelling. It starts with the personal story, it develops into a common story, as a group, a community or an organization, and ends with the abilities we need to successfully deliver those stories in front of an audience. The sequence is meant to align who we are with whom we belong to and with how we say it in order to reach our desired audiences using the best effort-result ratio.

The “my story” part is sometimes referred to as a personal brand discovery. This denomination implies that the result is mainly for public use. Not all of us may want to have a significant place in the public space, but having success in business most often requires that we mean something valuable for other people. The best way to reach that point is to start with how we define value for ourselves, within ourselves.

This section of the module will last one day and will cover a personal introspection looking on what drives and motives each participant. We will search for personal attributes that are both differentiating and valuable and that shall be used and communicated according to individual purposes. Then we will go through a customized personal story building process, in few steps.

The “our story” section is set for one day and has to do with understanding what creates a powerful story of a group of people. What makes us want to belong more to a group than to another? How can we create a story that becomes the most attractive one for others that we want among us?

The “delivers a story” part is the most feared of all. It is said that public speaking is, for most people, scarier than death. We dedicate one day to downgrading that threat and finding new meaning in addressing groups of people through speeches or PowerPoint presentations. Each participant will be requested to deliver a short speech and will benefit from the feedback of the audience, learning in a structured way to close the gap between what it is said and what it is heard, what is meant and what is understood.

Good public speaking builds bridges towards those we want to convince and to inspire. At the end of the Leading with a Story module participant will have a better understanding of themselves in the process of communication and a better chance to attract others on their side in any of their personal or professional projects.

About the lecturer

Cosmin co-founded in 1992 one of the first market research companies in Romania. He grew it till 1996, when all shareholders agree to sell it to the GfK Group, one of the top five market research organizations in the world. He continued to run GfK Romania and successfully managed the cultural transition form an entrepreneurial entity to a multinational branch, transforming it into the largest company in this field in Romania, since the year 2000.

As a result of his contribution to the success of the company in the region, in 2002 Cosmin was selected in a team of 15 managing directors from around the world appointed to redesign the Corporate Values of the GfK Group.

The outcome of one year of team’s work is still in place today. Cosmin left GfK Romania in 2005, passing over to the next management team 45 employees and 1,7 million Euro yearly turnover. Today, GfK Romania still holds the number one position on the Romanian market with 200 employees and 9 million Euro turnover.

Also in 2005, Cosmin co-founded the Erudio Association, an organization that runs the Erisma – Creative Leadership, a three months development program for top managers and leaders of organizations. In this program he taught Public Speaking and Mentorship.

In 2011 together with three other partners, Cosmin started Wanted Transformation, a consultancy aimed to assist leaders engaged in transformational processes of their organizations. He sees Wanted as his main professional focus for the following years.

Cosmin graduated the faculty of General Economics within the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest in 1994 and the ASEBUSS Program for Executive MBA conducted by the University of Washington Business School in cooperation with the Romanian-American Postgraduate School of Business, in 1999.

For many years Cosmin is advising, as a board member, leading Romanian NGOs, providing them with feedback and guidance on strategy and sustainable development. He also publishes regularly in Revista 22 and occasionally in various business magazines as well as on his blog: www.cosminalexandru.ro.

 

We are now offering you the option to join one of our EMBA courses. You will join us for a half day of the class, which will give you a taste of the EMBA experience, whilst also giving you the chance to meet the lecturers and current students. We have limited places for guests per each course, so please email [email protected] to check for availability.