Choose goals that have not been achieved by others so far

Introduce yourself in a few sentences..

Maksim Behar, founded the company M3 Communications Group, Inc. more than 30 years ago and I am still its CEO today. I passionately love my business, I have a bunch of international positions on various boards and committees, I am now the President of the World Communication Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of UNSS in Sofia. I graduated in management from the Economic University in Prague, a leadership program at Harvard Kennedy School, I hold a PhD in media and PR from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski“.  

Tell us what are the philosophy and values of the company you currently represent?

First of all – professionalism. Second is innovation, every day, every hour. And only after that come constant learning, precision, proactivity and self-confidence. I don't even mention categories like honesty, ethics, and transparency, because they simply do not fall into the category of “values”, because they are a vital necessity, without which we cannot do anything, both in business and in life.

How long have you been developing your current company? What are the most valuable lessons that the current situation has taught you during this period?

We have been in the market for over 30 years. We have nearly 12 000 completed projects behind us, I remember each one of them in the smallest details. But… the moment one project ends, a new one is already forming in my head and this gives me huge amounts of adrenaline every day and fills my body with energy. I don't know if I have valuable or less valuable lessons. We learn every day and I often say that I don't like to learn from our mistakes, according to the old Bulgarian “managerial recipe”, I prefer to learn from our successes, to analyze them, to study them in detail and thus to look towards the next ones.

If you personally had to write a job advertisement, how would you attract the attention of a future employee?

I write and publish such ads almost every week. I emphasize teamwork in the company, the good working conditions, the honesty and transparency in the company, naturally and the additional “perks”  to the salary, but mainly and most importantly – the opportunities for great and practically limitless development in business and in the company. Over the years, we have proven this many times. And still nothing – whatever I write, I rely on a personal meeting, on what is most important to me when working with anyone. It is unique, simple and can never be hidden or artificially created. It is called – sparkle in the eyes.

What does your company do to organize a constructive and beneficial working environment for everyone? Should people in the team be friends?

M3 Communications Group, Inc. has been known for many years for the fact that our teams are always friends. This has its advantages, as well as disadvantages, but certainly the advantages are more. We have different team meetings, we playe bowling, we go painting with wine and many other things, but the most important thing that connects us are the projects and professionalism. My vast experience shows that no team building, nor any week at the beach together, nor any or ten, or even a hundred nights together in the best venues can replace the cohesion of a team during a project, at an event, during a client crisis or even the organization of a simple press conference. Work, ideas, innovations, sharing and… in the end – successes, are what best unite a team.    

What makes you look forward to going to work? How do you deal with difficult and stressful moments?

Very clearly – even 31 years ago I knew that if I made a profession out of my hobbies, then I wouldn't have to go to work. I'm joking, of course, but there is a bit of truth in this joke.  I go to work every day with great pleasure and this is for me a wonderful activity, a huge responsibility, precise planning and---a little hobby. I have extremely many stressful moments, but I share my invented formula that it is not important how much you work, but how you rest. In my opinion – this is an iron rule.

What work model does your company adhere to – office or remote?

We prefer to be in the office. I completely understand that remote work has its advantages, but practice has taught me not to be a hundred percent supporter, but I do allow compromises, of course. To a large extent, our work can be done remotely and there is nothing wrong with that, even I allow my colleagues to come up with better creative ideas, but personally I am against this model for one simple reason – I have no concept of how to create a good and cohesive team when working remotely. At this stage, it even seems to me that this is not possible or at least from the hundreds, or maybe even thousands of hours of watching podcasts  and presentations, and reading business books I am not sure that anyone has come to a good solution. I wouldn't be so insistent if the foundation of our business did not rely on teamwork and the constant birth of interesting and creative ideas.      

What do you think about the possibility of offering flexible working hours, within which employees have greater freedom to balance their personal and work commitments?

This is completely possible and coming to the office with us is plus minus one hour, but the leaving should also be within these limits. I don't hold fanatically to working hours, but we have so many important and responsible projects that in any case my colleagues are quite busy to work less than necessary. Again – there is no problem with flexible working hours if the necessary working time is respected and projects are successfully completed within the set deadlines. For there to be flexible working hours, of course, there must also be flexible managers who understand their colleagues, but also monitor the precise execution of each task.

How do the continuous technological changes in the world affect your business?

Very well, of course. Artificial intelligence, new technologies, dynamically developing media only help us, save our time, make us more creative. Of course, they must be constantly studied, and a lot of work must be done on this topic, but every minute invested is worth it and personally I invest a lot of time, to stay constantly updated with new technologies.  

How important is the hierarchy and what does it mean to you? What kind of communication do you support in your company?

Ah, a favorite topic. Especially now. Two or three years ago in my book “Five Minutes to Tomorrow” I developed quite a detailed thesis on “horizontal leadership” and the more time passes since then, the more I am convinced that it works perfectly. Everyone already has media in their hands, everyone communicates in seconds with anyone around the world, everyone has access to unlimited amounts of lightning information, then everyone must be… a leader. To be a leader of their projects, their ideas, their clients, their skills to sell and create. This concept automatically destroys any existing hierarchy and delegates many rights and many responsibilities to each team member. In my opinion, a senior manager is left with the responsibilities for the financial health of the company, because this responsibility cannot be shared, and partly the ideas for strengthening the team and for the honest and professional distribution of tasks.  Nothing else. This fundamentally changes the picture in every company, which may experience difficulties and miscommunications in the short term, but in the long term will make it much more successful and much more stable

What is your career advice for all people who are building a strategy for their professional development?

Choose goals that have not been achieved by others so far. To reach them, there is no ready path, you will have to make it yourself, but if you know where you want to get to, put in maximum effort and concentration, the chances of reaching are categorically over 50 percent. Nowadays, that is not a small amount at all.