Iliyana's Blog

A Day in The Life of a Chief of Staff in Tech

[fa icon="calendar'] 01-Mar-2024 08:00:00 / by Iliyana Stareva posted in Personal Development, Work Experience, Technology, Career, Leadership

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I've been a Chief of Staff for close to two years but I've held similar positions in the past without the title. 

People often ask me "What is it that you actually do?"

Chief of Staff roles have become popular over the last few years, especially in tech. Many of the big companies have a Chief of Staff for all of their SVPs and above, and some even for VP and above. 

I find the Chief of Staff role quite unique depending on who the executive is that you support. I'm lucky to have an amazing leader who I work with hand in hand which allows me to learn and grow. 

But back to the question about what is it that a Chief of Staff does every day. Let me go through a day in my life, however, before I begin I have to say that the Chief of Staff job is so versatile and frankly not every day is the same because the role itself relies on the ability to pivot, adjust and be flexible pretty much all the time as there are often last-minute fires to be put down. So I will focus on explaining the key daily responsibilities. 

A Day in the Life of a Chief of Staff in Tech

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Navigating Success: The Power of Social Intelligence in Life & Business

[fa icon="calendar'] 14-Jan-2024 07:22:10 / by Iliyana Stareva posted in Brands and Business, Leadership

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In a world increasingly driven by connectivity and relationships, social intelligence has emerged as a crucial skill for personal and professional success.

I first heard about social intelligence from Daniel Goleman's book "Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships" and wanted to write a piece that covers what social intelligence is, why it matters in both life and business and also share the key insights into developing and honing this invaluable skill, especially in the corporate world.

What is Social Intelligence?

Social intelligence can be defined as the ability to understand and navigate social situations effectively. It goes beyond traditional intelligence metrics and encompasses a range of skills such as empathy, active listening, communication, and interpersonal relations. It involves being aware of one's own emotions and the emotions of others, as well as adapting one's behaviour to different social contexts.

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The Key Cultural and Country Preferences for Effective Leadership

[fa icon="calendar'] 04-Dec-2019 09:00:00 / by Iliyana Stareva posted in Leadership, Program Management, Project Management

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There's no doubt that organisational culture impacts the behaviour, values and practices of anybody working at that organisation. 

As a program manager, I've always thought of myself as a different type of leader who acts as a change agent to help create a positive organisational culture among my project or program team.  

But since I've always worked in an international environment and with multi-cultural teams, that's not always been easy. 

I've written about cultural differences before and they play a huge role in the success of any project or program. 

In fact, knowledge and awareness of cultural values can enable leaders and managers to effectively manage and work through intercultural conflict and interactions.

To learn more, I found a research a while ago performed by GLOBE that maps leadership within cultural groups around the world. 

The GLOBE research team defines leadership as the "ability of an individual to influence, motivate, and enable others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of the organisations of which they are members."

The team found that members of different societies have differing expectations from their leaders that are influenced by their cultural values. They also identified leadership attributes that were culturally-endorsed.

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How to Give a Great Presentation

[fa icon="calendar'] 30-Oct-2019 09:00:00 / by Iliyana Stareva posted in Personal Development, Career, Leadership

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One of my favourite things to do is to give a presentation. 

I love public speaking. It fills me with energy and it's the crowd that feeds me with it. 

But I used to hate public speaking. 

In my first year of university, I had to present on a marketing project in front of the class - about 90 people - and I remember how nervous I was and how my nerves got the best of me. I was sweating, my voice was trembling, I couldn't look anybody in the eyes and I don't think I managed to transmit my message to my public. I was ashamed when it was all over. 

My initial reaction to this 'failure' was that I was never going to do public speaking again. I was terrified and I never wanted to experience this again. 

But after a couple of days, my attitude changed. I decided that I was going to overcome this fear and I was going to become a terrific public speaker. 

I don't know if I am a terrific public speaker but I can certainly say that I no longer loathe giving presentations in front of small and large groups, I love it and I welcome it. The more, the better. 

So how did I do it?

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5 Questions with Iliyana Stareva - Digital Leaders

[fa icon="calendar'] 26-Sep-2019 09:00:12 / by Iliyana Stareva posted in Technology, Leadership

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I was a speaker at a fantastic event called DigitalK earlier this year in Sofia that was all about digital and digital transformation

As I'm starting a new job at Cisco next week and because Cisco is all about digital transformation, I wanted to look at various things I've written and participated in about and around digital so I remembered this interview I did prior to the conference in Sofia. 

Take a look at what digital means to me and how I see it impacting the business world. 

5 Questions About Digital

How do you see the world in 5 years?

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