Time is an impartial judge of what we do

Introduce yourself in a few words…

My name is Evgeni Stanimirov. I am the rector of the oldest higher education institution with an entrepreneurial profile in Bulgaria (1920) – University of Economics-Varna. For 10 years, I led the first specialized department "Marketing" in Bulgaria. I have been consulting businesses for 27 years. I am the vice-chairman of the Union of Economists in Bulgaria, as well as the secretary-general of the Council of Rectors of Higher Education Institutions. I have the honor of being one of the two initiators and creators of the first deep tech innovation valley in Europe (VDTIP). I am a recipient of the "Varna" Award for 2023 in the field of social sciences, and in 2025 I was honored with the title "Honorary Citizen of Varna". In recent years, I have been more recognizable not as a professor, but as a motivational speaker and author of books. Among them are: "Multidimensional Strategy for Your Business",  "The White Spots in Business" and "Business in the Fast Lane" published by "East-West", which enjoy serious reader interest not only from people in the business sphere but far beyond the borders of the country.

How would you describe your career in a few words?

I can do it with just one word – "dynamic". My career started in the Territorial Management "Tax Administration". I have also worked as an accountant in an office. But my great love is marketing. Alongside my work in the tax administration, I taught at the University of Economics-Varna and felt how energizing the contact with young people is.

All the time I have strived to keep my finger on the pulse of the market and I am glad that for 27 years I have been consulting businesses. This helps me a lot in both teaching and research. The contact with business was the basis for writing my three books. I never thought about it, but hundreds of business representatives over the years encouraged me to systematize knowledge and experience and present them in a book. In this way, within three years, "Multidimensional Strategy for Your Business",  "The White Spots in Business" and "Business in the Fast Lane" were born.

I will admit that I never thought about my career in terms of its purposeful planning. Things just happened, and my senses were open to the next opportunity that presented itself.

What was the most important choice that shaped your path?

All people make their choices - every day and hour. The question is whether these choices support each other and lead us to realize our dreams. The most important choice for me was to remain constantly curious and experimental. I enjoy it when someone presents me as an expert. I always make a friendly correction and say that I am more of an experimenter. Such an approach gives me a new perspective – to seek. This is a constant game – those who play seek, the seeker discovers, the discoverer understands, and the understanding realizes. This is one of the most important things – to be aware of what, with whom, when, and most importantly - why we do.

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

There are many things I would like to know. It is impossible for a young person to know everything that will help them develop. This is a process of accumulating experience and making sense of it. Personally, it would have been very useful if I knew that:

First. We need to learn to recognize the true motives and interests of people. This allows us to work much more effectively.

Second. In a team, it is good to work with people's strengths, while leaving the weaknesses in the background.

Third. We are more emotional beings, which means that our choices are not always as logical as we would like.

I can continue listing, but these three pieces of advice are a good start for any career. They lead to one thing – understanding human nature and different behavioral patterns. The better we know people, the better we would work in a team and we can achieve higher and sustainable results.

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

As I said above, we need to try and experiment. It is possible for someone to fulfill their childhood dream and that to be the most desired profession. In many cases, however, the truth is different. Young people need to try different things and search for themselves. Perhaps for some young people, it is demotivating if they encounter difficulties at their workplace. In my opinion, it is very important sometimes to have it hard because there is no other alternative path for true development. For me, the most accurate criterion that we have found our profession is the energy it gives us. When we come home in the evening and are extremely tired but also emotionally charged from what happened during the day, we go to sleep eagerly wondering what new wonders we will create tomorrow. This shows that we have discovered our profession.

Which skills do you think will be key in the next 10 years?

There is a lot of talk about what changes will occur as a result of technological development. But everything is in the realm of speculation because no one knows what is coming. The world is certainly different. In just a few years, AI has transformed from 100% computer science-based to 80%-90% social and managerial aspect. This means that its effects will be seen in many professions. The reflex to preserve the status quo will not help anyone.

In these conditions, the ability to adapt quickly is crucial. We must also not stop challenging ourselves, experimenting, and learning new things. This poses new challenges to education. It needs to make a sharp turn and become based on a broader foundation to prepare young people for rapid adaptation. Of course, the skill of communication will become increasingly sought after and critical for every profession.

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

Why should we appear uninterested? Those who might be annoyed by us building a network of contacts and being interested are probably doing the same, but in a very veiled and concealed way. Let it be clear – people have always acted and will continue to act in their own interest, whether they do it covertly or not. This is human nature and it is not condemnable to follow it. When we build a network of useful contacts for ourselves, let us consider that for other participants in the network, we are also a potential useful contact. This is why the network is strong – because it provides added value for many people. Every new contact opens a door, and that in turn gives access to new opportunities. Appearing uninterested sounds illogical and falsely altruistic.

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

I have made and continue to make so many mistakes that it is hard for me to choose just one. I strive not to repeat them and to learn from them. But I will point out one such mistake. Since I work with a team of over 380 people, I have often shared that ego can harm communication and cause conflicts in the team. I may have been too insistent and often raised this topic, and at one point I began to notice that suppressing the ego gave rise to a desire for conformity and stifled creativity. A little later, I realized that ego is very similar to cholesterol – there is good and bad cholesterol. In a similar way, ego has two kinds – good and bad. The bad ego is to perceive ourselves as great and unreachable. The good ego is to believe in ourselves and to know that we have the strength to overcome the next obstacle. It may sound strange, but I think that ego is a very important component of our development as individuals and teams.

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

It is hardly possible to give a precise answer to this question. An environment that one qualifies as toxic is a challenging stimulus for another. The question is what the feeling is, although this can also be misleading. Recently, I see a very low tolerance threshold, especially from young people. They have over-expectations, shaped by the fact that in social media things happen with 1-2 clicks or scrolls. But life is not like that. Our career path is strewn with challenges that may seem unfair to us, and the work environment - toxic. The combination of working conditions and communication with others shapes our path, as every challenge has the potential to teach us if we are ready for it. Everything is in our minds. Lessons come when we are ready for them. Even a toxic environment can be a good teacher. The question is whether it will find a student who is ready to learn?

What would you do differently if you could start over?

I will be very direct – I would not do anything differently. The reason? I am not sure what kind of person I would become if I changed even one thing. What we have done, the way we have thought, has shaped us into the form we are in now. I would not want to be someone else! I am glad for the mistakes I have made, I am happy for what I have given up, and I am satisfied with the great efforts I have made. Everything is connected and the result under certain circumstances has manifested. This does not mean that life is fair or that efforts always pay off. No, life is neutral, and efforts pay off only if they are directed in the same direction for a sufficiently long period of time. Take, for example, the woodpecker and the chicken. The chicken pecks left and right and does not see results from efforts. Unlike it, the woodpecker is purposeful and pecks with its beak in one place. The result – it finds little worms and shapes a nest. We choose whom to resemble – the chicken or the woodpecker.

How to keep our motivation during times of stagnation?

I already give lectures in many places and everywhere I mention that if one day I write a book on leadership, it will not have a chapter on motivation. Why? I do not believe in external motivation. It plays a role only to the extent that it ignites a spark in someone. Internal motivation is something else. Can we be continuously motivated? Of course not! However, there is something else – it is called persistence and perseverance. Each of us has ups and downs. The question is to continue working in the chosen direction every next day. There will be days when it will bring us immense pleasure to work and other days when it will be a challenge. But the effect of accumulation will speak for itself. When we look back, we will see that concentrating efforts and energy in one direction for a prolonged period of time has a striking effect.

How to achieve a balance between professional and personal life?

A difficult question … Everyone chooses for themselves. I often tell the young people I work with that we are in a democracy – everyone chooses for themselves in which 14 hours of the day to work. Certainly, with only 8 hours of work, we will not be able to achieve anything significant. The question is how we invest or waste our time when we are not at work. If we read books, listen to podcasts, learn, and this is directed towards personal improvement, then we can count on success. There is also another aspect – what we do while we are at work. Some people try to work mechanically on the job itself. Others do the work with the understanding that they are improving themselves. Personal life is very important and should not be viewed separately from the professional. It is a delusion that success leads to happiness! It is more accurate to say the opposite – a happy person is much more likely to be successful. And everything again comes down to the system files or software of each of us. It is a myth that success is related to whether we love our work. I know many people who are dedicated to their work, but I do not think they love it. Loving our work can contribute, but by itself does not form results.

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

I do not think we can change our career. Instead, we can change job positions and even professions. The combination of everything we do and the experience we gain shapes our career. In my opinion, we should observe ourselves and realize that we are not our job or career. Someone expects to start with a high starting salary, and for every 6 months, the salary to grow by 10%-15%. Who says that is realistic? If we do not know ourselves and have unrealistic expectations of a job position or team, then we may be misled into thinking it is time for a change. And that is not a big problem! Let the young person search for themselves! But what would happen if we change 5-6 job positions and always discover the same problems? Then we should ask ourselves whether the problem is not with us … A completely different situation is when we see that the job position does not match our temperament or is far below our potential for growth. Then it is good after analysis to realize what we know and can do, what we expect, and on that basis - to make a decision for change. There is also another aspect – frequent changes of job positions or professions hinder us from accumulating a critical volume of hours to become masters in what we do. We often fear change, but it is precisely change that keeps us in shape.

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

Systematically reconfigure their system files! I mean what lies between our ears! To update and solidify knowledge with new information, to develop additional skills that make them convertible from the perspective of the chosen profession.

What is your definition of a "successful career"?

I communicate with thousands of young people and see that for a large part of them, the opportunity to earn a lot of money is paramount. I do not deny the importance of money, but what matters much more is how it feels. If we love what we do, that it gives us an additional dose of energy and makes us see meaning, perhaps then we are on the path to developing a successful career. Time is an impartial judge of what we do. A successful career has been developed by that person who has cultivated scale in thoughts and actions and realizes that problems are measured by the people who stand up against them. The question is not the size of the obstacles, but our size and our ability to jump over challenges. The larger our scale, the smaller the scale of the challenges will be.