A day Job-Shadowing
Gradually finishing our academic journey, we are facing one of the toughest questions a student has to make;
Where do I imagine myself in the future?
The answers to this question were varied, since our team consists of 7, one-of-a-kind members. It’s certain, though, that some of us would love to see ourselves in the field of strategic communication and reputation management.
Job Shadowing: noun, the observation of a person at work by someone interested in a similar career.
Our latest assignment of Job-Shadowing couldn’t be a better bridge between undergraduate studies and our dive into the job market.
Through the opportunity provided by the AD & PR Lab’s “Leadership and Emotional Intelligence” course, we visited Foresight as EQuators.
Foresight is a company, which provides its clients with strategic communication solutions on an international level, while coming in contact directly with the top management of each one of them. It was founded 45 years ago and since then, it has been involved in cases in the U.S. and Greece as well.
The CEO and founder of Foresight, Mr. Alexandros Kostopoulos is a strategic communicator, a renowned speaker and an experienced contributor to international and greek media on communication, entrepreneurship and transatlantic relations.
We were more than honored to be handed the opportunity to shadow him for a day in his workplace!
He explained to us that personally leadership is something that comes to him from within, naturally and effortlessly. It is known, though, that leaders must make difficult decisions. Specifically, Foresight’s CEO argues that; “ leaders can’t and shouldn’t do anything by themselves”, as they need people around them, whom they trust, in order to obtain the ability to deliver the best results in their field.
Also, what makes a good leader is their actions, their experience and their character in general, without ever considering themselves at top. Leadership, overall, is to thank every employee, as they contribute to having a pleasant experience in a working environment. Moreover, part of being a leader is to make mistakes, own up to them and learn, in order to evolve to something even better. “It is through the difficulties of the profession that our true selves come out”.
The Chairman of the company, Mr. Stefanos Kostopoulos, who, for a large part of his life, was the General Manager of airlines for Greece and Cyprus, agreed with this statement.
With many years of experience, he states that; “ in order to become a leader, it is important to have enthusiasm, the will to evolve and awareness”. He believes that leadership is an innate characteristic, which develops over time with the right tools, in an environment that thrives on cultivating this element.
Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, is a virtue that S. Kostopoulos describes as natural and necessary for leadership to flourish within a person. A leader must look forward, leading others to bloom.
The company’s CEO highlights that EQ is linked to some extent to the concept of leadership, as it serves to balance weaknesses and strengths. Moreover, emotional intelligence is being able to comprehend the value of feeling compassion and being able to turn it into something else, something even bigger than yourself. Additionally, EQ is not a one size fits all, instead, it is tailored to each leader and their team.
This healthy environment, the true teamwork and understanding as well as the shared values we understood during our visit, helped us comprehend what the concept of SMART power is.
What’s SMART power and how does it flourish in the Foresight environment?
According to Mr. A. Kostopoulos, SMART power is having strategic thinking, doing your best to achieve a goal and cooperating with someone who does the job better than you. Having said that, he also considers it to be very important to have people around you that motivate you so that you can become better, reach a higher level and evolve.
So, what elements should a leadership figure possess?
The CEO answers that it is essential to have emotional intelligence, collaborative skills, but also insightfulness and agility.
We also had the opportunity to go to the office of the Executive Office Director, Ms. Katerina Economaki and Foresight’s new partner, Evina.
Through the questions we asked them and our experience in their work space, we perceived that Foresight is a family-oriented and pleasant environment. In general, they believe a good leader has a strong element of empathy, so that if there is any type of disagreement in the workplace, it might as well be resolved efortlessly. Ms. Economaki, also, pointed out that; “it is important to act as a mentor, inspire confidence and to have a sense of humor”.
We understood that all team members must share the same mindset, there must be a common ground of communication depending on the needs and goals of each organization.
Before the day came to an end, we received some advice from Mr. A. Kostopoulos and he suggests that; “to be a good leader, one must be a leader of themself”, as well as knowing how to balance your “wants” with your “capabilities”.
To sum-up, our experience in the field of such a business with global impact and international collaborations was indeed the ideal opportunity and choice, so that we could observe the daily goals in a 2023, professional environment, the relationships and skills of the members, as well as the qualifications of a a leader who supports the atmosphere of cooperation and continuous improvement. The family-oriented type, yet at the same time demanding program, combined with the constructive communication, the obvious elements of management and leadership, but also the prevalence of trust and collective intelligence, undoubtedly contributed to this unforgettable experience.
Closing, we would like to thank Ms. Dimitra Iordanoglou for handing this oppurtunity with this assignment and also Foresight for welcoming us and accepting us to be their “shadow” and learn more about the communication work spectrum.
Members;
