If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough

Introduce yourself in a few words..

Maksim Behar, I manage a large public communications and digital services company for over 30 years – M3 Communications Group, Inc., I create new standards in our business, not only in Bulgaria but also around the world, I am the president of the World Communication Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and I am the chairman of the Board of Trustees of UNSS in Sofia. 

How would you describe your career in a few words?

Interesting, very challenging 24-hour work in a very dynamic field that has changed completely over the last decade. I started alone in a small rented apartment in the center of Sofia, now we have a huge portfolio of extremely prestigious clients, for whom dozens of wonderful experts in my company work. 

What was the most important choice that shaped your path V?

It wasn't a choice, it was more like karma. I wanted to do this since my student years – to connect people with each other, to have media, to create texts, content… It happened somehow unnoticed, gradually and forever. And it really happened on a global scale. It happened with a lot of hard work, imagination, proactivity, and innovation. I do not regret a single day in the company, for the lessons, for my meetings with the team, with clients, for the projects, for this entire, fantastically interesting path.

What would you like to know at the beginning of your career, but no one told you?

I wanted to know everything about this phenomenal business Public Relations, but there was no one to tell me even a word – no one in Bulgaria knew what it was more than 30 years ago. There were no social media, there was some invented and unfinished internet with jagged modems that made more hissing noise than connections. I really wanted to know everything. I waited in a kilometer-long line in front of the American embassy for a visa, borrowed some money from my father, boarded a plane to New York, and for a whole month traveled around ten states to meet PR companies. That's how I learned everything. About the standards at that time. And since then, I learn new things every day, literally every day.  

How can a person understand which profession is suitable for them?

Only when they make their hobby their profession and thus do not have to work a single day in their entire life. That's exactly what happened to me. I call my work by other names – pleasure, challenge, adventure… Sometimes I feel like I'm driving a Formula 1 car in the office, sometimes like I'm piloting a fighter jet, but I never feel like I'm moving like a turtle or a snail. I want to be laps ahead of everyone else in the business, in the profession, in the details, in the projects… This fills me with adrenaline and makes my life fantastic! Then I realize that this profession is just right for me, I realize it every day and every hour.

What skills according to V will be key in the next 10 years?

The Three Ps – Precision, Integrity, and Proactivity. With them, everyone will succeed, you just have to follow them exactly and have dreams, big and bold dreams, that when you just think about them, make your legs tremble with excitement and make you wonder if they are insane.

How to build a network of useful contacts without appearing interested?

By intelligently emphasizing what we can, how we think, and what vision we have on this or that issue. By being positive, constructive, and logical.  Then our future contacts will say… “Hmm… interesting. We definitely need to meet this one.” And that's it. It depends solely and only on all of us, on all of you.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in your career, and what did you learn from it?

I make mistakes every day, but I do not learn from them. What to learn from your mistakes? It is clear that you will try not to repeat them. I learn solely and only from my successes. I analyze them in detail and draw conclusions on how to achieve even greater successes. This is my personal saying, I described it in one of my books more than 15 years ago, I have never encountered it anywhere in the world, so I consider it revolutionary and it brings me huge advantages.

How to recognize a toxic work environment and when is it time to leave?

You can feel it in the air. It becomes toxic, tense, intolerable. My advice is to leave immediately, right away. This feeling can never be fixed and will never be fixed, sooner or later you will leave, it is best to do it early. 

What would you do differently if you could start over?

I would probably stay a little more in the shadows, rather than in the spotlight in my company, but actually, I had no choice. I came into my profession from journalism,  and that by itself implied that I was already a public and recognizable figure. But generally, I wouldn't change anything, I would walk the same path. Sometimes I wish I were less emotional, to react a little more calmly, but then I say to myself: “Well, if you keep quiet now, you won't be the real Maksim…”. A person must be genuine, authentic, and honest.     

How to keep our motivation in times of stagnation?

I have never had such moments. And I do not advise anyone to have them. Sky is the limit, what stagnation, when, why…?

How to achieve a balance between professional and personal life?

There is only one recipe – when you enjoy both of your lives, when at home you have a partner who knows that your professional life is important, and when in the office you have good colleagues who respect your personal life. In a way, I have achieved that.

When is it time to change our career, not just the job?

As soon as we get bored and lose interest in what we are doing.

If you had to give just one piece of advice to people seeking success, what would it be?

If your dreams don't scare you, they are not big enough. But this is only for those who are truly seeking success in business, and in life.

What is Vour definition of a “successful career”?

To go to the office in the morning with pleasure, interest, and motivation. Nothing more.