The Luxury of Being in the Now - Ladeja’s story From the book The AEIOU of Leadership by Sonja Klopcic
Ladeja Godina Košir tackles big changes in a very unique manner.
It seems as though she will always be one step ahead of the times. Thereby, the “international radar” usually picks up on her faster than the local one. In January 2018, for instance, she found herself standing on a stage as one of the six global finalists for the Circulars award, which is presented annually in Davos by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Accenture Consulting. She knows that people are often frightened by measures that lead to systemic change, mostly due to their complexity and interdependence. By extension, it is not always easy to see and acknowledge that solutions put into practice on one side of our planet might cause damage elsewhere. Yet, if we wish to find a new economic (and social) model that will allow us to survive on our unique planet, we must do exactly that – see the whole picture, adopt a systemic approach, employ creativity, and collaborate. We need global leadership that is implemented locally. Ladeja believes that we are living at a turning point: one era is irrevocably coming to a close and the contours of a new one are becoming visible on the horizon. She thinks that a radical shift in our mindsets and actions has to occur if we are to survive as a civilization and live a life of quality. She wants to bridge the divide between our everyday parental decisions promoting the well-being of our children and our decision-making in business environments, where we often favor short-term solutions dictated by capitalism.
Naturally, she starts with herself.
Within her unconventional, extended, and bohemian family, as an adolescent she developed a kind of self-preservation mechanism. “Rely on yourself and make sure that the conflicts around you are few and far between,” she reflects on the usual motivational talk she delivered to her young self. The skill of adapting to unpredictable situations – akin to that of animals in the wild if they want to survive – became her virtue. For as long as she can remember, the people around her relied on her, trusted her, and passed batons to her, thus she somehow internalized her role as a supporting pillar. Despite acting every day like an imperturbable fortress, inside she was sensitive and vulnerable. Gradually, she started to feel limited and suffocated by always being the person who could simply handle anything and that this was taken for granted. She sensed that the myriad of activities and expectations of others, bookended by days that always seemed too short, were distancing her further and further from the core of her own being, from who she really was deep inside. Turning within and self-searching lead her to explore her internal microcosm, to identify her own values and priorities, and to articulate her personal calling.
“The art of simplicity became the wellspring of my contentment,”
as she spontaneously reveals her insight. This involves neither asceticism nor abstinence, but merely a different attitude toward material wealth. Financial success is not her primary guidance, as she believes money comes as a consequence of a job well done. Self-actualization through one’s actions brings about inner fulfillment and peace. She broke free from certain social norms dictating what is right and what is necessary. “A way of living where we strive to pursue sustainable choices springs from a sense of responsibility and curiosity about how we can live a good life in a different manner. Solutions must be simple and accessible and they shouldn’t complicate our everyday lives. I take pleasure in what is beautiful and good and I’m not inclined to suffering or renouncing anything. If we focus our attention on what is here and now, if we recognize the beauty of this moment and of what has been given to us, as opposed to constantly yearning for something that is not, we can experience profound gratitude,” she explains in a voice suffused with warmth, a gentle flicker visible in her eyes. “For example, what is our attitude to food? We discard no less than one third of all the food produced on our planet! This could be a fun challenge for the whole family: let’s see what’s in the fridge and then empty it to prepare an original meal. Not because we couldn’t hop to the nearest store and fill up the shopping cart, but because we should have a sense of responsibility toward food and the people who produced it. Besides, it can be a fun and creative endeavor. If we dedicate ourselves to something, we develop a different kind of attitude toward it than if we do everything in a hurry or routinely. Yes, even washing lettuce can become an exercise in mindfulness.”
Ladeja reels off experiments from her own life.
She tested what it would be like to not own a car and faced the challenge of explaining this to the youngest of her three children – her daughter still attending primary school. Her older son and daughter are already of age and are themselves also enthusiastic about services such as car sharing. “We have a variety of cars, every time we can drive a different one. We have a range of choices available and on top of that we also save money and don’t pollute the environment,” as she explained shared electric mobility to her teenage daughter, displaying her exceptional flair for communication. The sharing economy, where several people use the same commodity, is still in its infancy in Slovenia, and the majority of people still link owning things to a high quality of life. If, for instance, you do not own your own car it is interpreted as though you are financially unable to purchase one, as opposed to making a voluntary decision aligned with a sustainable life style that does not reduce one’s quality of life but, in fact, does just the opposite. Children observe us and emulate our behavioral patterns and our values, thus Ladeja finds it of key importance that parents provide a good example, open a space for dialogue, and include children equally in seeking alternative solutions. The generation of twenty-something-year-olds, to which her older son and daughter now belong, understand the model of the circular economy a lot better than most of the older age groups, she adds.
Being a local of Ljubljana, Ladeja feels privileged in a way.
To live in a city with such a high degree of safety, clean water, cycling routes, a market with local produce, green areas, and only a short hop away from the sea and mountains, is very precious. To her, Slovenia seems like a country that is just the right size and a sort of a testing ground for various solutions. She fails to comprehend how some people do not realize that they could seize innumerable opportunities if they only knew how to collaborate honestly with each other and that every instance of success means that doors will open for everyone involved – that success does not represent a threat but rather a chance to make progress together. She is saddened by the fact that, all too often, we impose limits on each other instead of supporting each other. She loves to work in Slovenia but adds that if her career were not divided between working at home and abroad she would feel limited. She spends half of her working time traveling, which lets her compare the merits and pitfalls of her home terrain with those of the wider, global domain. “All of us have everything we need. Also, there’s enough of everything on the planet. The only question is our attitude to all this. The problem lies in distribution.
The economic system is a consequence of how the society operates.
I’m interested in how to empower individuals so that we we’ll be able to change the economic system, ensure the survival of our civilization, and preserve our planet.” She remembers that, as early as a quarter of a century back, when she was putting together her thesis, which had a very unusual title for that time – The Factors of Environmentally Friendly Business Policies – she was thinking about transforming social and economic patterns. First she obtained a bachelor’s degree in economics and then also a master’s degree in the “sociology of everyday life”. In her career she has always intertwined the economic and social aspects and simultaneously employed her communication and creative skills. Ever since she was a student, new paradigms represented a challenge for her, whilst thinking outside the box marked her manner of creating. To link what could not be linked, to unite what could not be united. Interdisciplinary, international, pioneering – these were the hues and textures of her actions, which at first glance seemed disconnected and dispersed, but which in hindsight nevertheless played their roles and made perfect sense. As the creative director of an international advertising agency with a network of local agencies, she had the opportunity to get to know various fields, brands, and sectors inside and out. In marketing, she collaborated with many different actors. As a lecturer, she researched together with young people. In professional associations, she widened her network of contacts. As a mentor to her protégés, she overcame many challenges together with them. And, as a mother of three, she has sought to strike a balance between her career and family.
Each of these roles wove another thread into the tapestry of her experiences and competences.
When she read the EU Circular Economy Package issued by the European Commission, she connected what previously had seemed to be unconnected dots. She felt that this was the “real deal”. In the economic model described therein, she recognized a framework for linking paths that previously seemed unlinked. The seed was sown. Upon meeting the author of the first draft of the package, Slovenia's former European Commissioner Janez Potočnik, Ladeja asked him, in her straightforward manner, if he would be willing to be her mentor. He agreed, and her study of reports, articles, and the pertaining materials commenced. The idea that the circular economy is a concept that should be disseminated to the widest possible circle of people took even deeper root when she attended the leadership academy of the Center for Business Excellence at the School of Economics and Business of the University of Ljubljana. This was where Ladeja enthusiastically spoke about this challenge and the development of the circular economy. The participants and lecturers respected her ardor but also posed questions about how she intends to survive by being committed to this calling, and what the business model was.
She found that she actually could not answer the question about the business model.
She intuitively felt that the idea was the right one and trusted that, while treading this path, it would be revealed to her how to ground it in business terms. Again, making a profit was not the top priority, which rather was circulating information and knowledge and connecting people. This story was very akin to one of her earlier “experiments”, the Institute for Business Growth and Creativity, which she co-founded with Violeta Bulc, Andrej Bertoncelj, and the late Darko Kovač. The movement for innovation communication and the book The Rhythms of Business Evolution, to which Ladeja contributed the chapter Evolution and Communications Aspect, sprung into existence very intuitively and long before their time.
As a seasoned communicator and marketer, she yet again sought to promote her idea by establishing a trademark – Circular Change, which later grew into a private non-profit organization. Under this name, she first started to present the concept of the circular economy to various stakeholders, which she followed-up by attending numerous professional events, expanding her international network of partners, counseling, and lecturing. A big breakthrough occurred at the first international Circular Change Conference, which was attended by many international experts and representatives of the Slovene economy and government. The ball then started rolling rapidly and intensely, and, naturally, the journey was interspersed with trials.
Whereas before she felt like a ball in a pinball machine, at times hitting one wall and then another, now everything fell into place.
All her previous encounters with walls, which helped her build content, create networks, gain experience, and strengthen her spirit as being someone who connects key players, now took on meaning. Ladeja herself became the embodiment of circular change: she provided a link between stakeholders, a common laboratory of ideas, and an incubator for new, sustainability-focused projects. Companies, cities, NGOs, research studies, creative individuals, the media, government – she persistently spun a web of connections and, more often than not, found herself in the role of mediator between different interests and outlooks. In government circles they even started referring to her as a “walking circular economy” because she actively attended consultations and workshops for creating key national documents, such as A Vision for Slovenia in 2050 and the Slovenian Development Strategy 2030, as well as discussions on how to form Strategic Research and Innovation Partnerships (SRIP). She was vocal about the circular economy being a model that should be included in these documents and, within the framework of Slovenia's Smart Specialisation Strategy, a horizontal and linking element for all SRIPs.
When Ladeja, aka circular economy in the flesh, tackles new projects, she always pays attention to the soft aspects. The “wild creature” from her youth is still very much a part of her – she has an instinct for sensing the zeitgeist, what is salient in today’s time and space, and what is relevant to the circular economy and sustainable development, and she dares to respond intuitively. She always puts intuition first, even when her intellect does not (yet) have an answer as to why she is pursuing a certain venture. It has to make her heart sing – this is her litmus test for either refuting or accepting an idea. Then, life has to be breathed into that idea. She again ventures within, and looks at what her main competences are, who or what she can lean on, and how she can make the idea resonate with other people. She also always considers the outcome of an idea. Her course of action is not structured according to a business model, but rather follows the fluid structure of a thought pattern. She is an extremely visual person and she always draws a sort of a roadmap in her mind, outlining key content, the messages she will work on, the people and organizations she will include, and the timeline and desired results.
Underpinned by her visualization and trust that it will come to fruition, the idea swings into action and the outcome manifests itself.
As she works without following any traditional plans, it seems as though she is constantly launching herself into empty pools but, as she says, they luckily fill up with water while she is suspended in the air. This method of working is based upon her unconditional trust. Once the pool is full, she strives to maintain buoyancy and glide along smoothly. Sometimes, though, swimming in a pool looks more like navigating the open sea. It can be dangerous, stormy, and unpredictable. And it is precisely moments like that when she heeds her inner voice even more and musters the strength to follow her calling. As she says, when the ocean turns most tempestuous, safe harbors appear on the horizon or ships willing to offer help often sail past. “If you don’t venture out of your comfort zone, you can’t experience new things or make new discoveries,” she firmly believes. The price is sometimes high, but the contentment derived from observing how certain potentials develop, how ideas become a reality, and how people flourish, is profoundly fulfilling.
Ladeja’s relationship toward money is aligned with her general modus operandi. “All too often we’re blinded solely by financial outcomes. An exchange between us doesn't always have to be in the shape of money or be visible in our bank account. We have to also recognize capital elsewhere. Social capital is the type we fail to appreciate enough. For instance, the internationally established speakers who attend the Circular Change Conference usually charge high amounts for their presentations. But they come to us because they appreciate the way we work; they can see our professionalism and responsibility laced with enthusiasm. Because we invest our heart in organizing the event and prepare original content, it draws the cream of the true global groundbreakers. The World Economic Forum ranked us among a handful of events of the highest quality on the topic of the circular economy in the world, which is recognition that affirms that we’re doing the right thing.”
Ladeja has another guiding principle that she follows in her work. Dynamism, openness, and fluidity.
Networking as opposed to stable structures. She assembles a team of (international) co-workers according to the business challenge. “Together we create a good story and then once again go our separate ways. This is fluidity without any hard feelings attached. When a new impulse arises, accompanied by an opportunity to collaborate, I seek the right connections. Each and every time it’s so precious to inject a breath of fresh air into a project, to attract people who think outside the box and share a similar mindset and values. This is how collaboration becomes a pleasure and we always learn something new.”
Her answer to the question of what she does with people who are not ready for such collaboration is the following: “I don’t dare judge what kind of a person someone is. What I feel is only my own experience, my own viewpoint, and not an objective truth. If I feel that things simply won’t start flowing, I withdraw. I stick to my principle that I be active where I can make a difference. I ask myself what I can do in my sphere of work to contribute to a change for the better. How I can connect the actors in such a way that they can achieve more together than on their own. I alert the involved actors to controversial practices, I encourage state departments and professional institutions to express their views and take a stand as regards the challenges we face. Each and every one of us should be an active citizen who is aware of his or her rights and responsibilities. When irregularities happen, we have to alert others to them and not avert our gaze while waiting for them to pass. Awareness, dialogue, respect, and sometimes also mediation, so that we can find the right solutions, are absolutely vital.”
The transition to a sustainable society built upon a circular economy and circular culture requires having insight into the interdependence of various fields and the active coordination of different stakeholders.
What we simultaneously need is a bird’s-eye view and a focus on our chosen activity, which is not the simplest thing to do. Ladeja’s crucial abilities are to recognize the multiple layers of a challenge, to ask the right questions, and to manage a process by including various stakeholders in such a manner that leads to synchronized action. As she says, it is important that every person involved in the process of transformation knows how to clearly express his or her interests. This can be done if we establish a space of mutual trust and transparent collaboration. Managing communication in a way that enables the stakeholders to hear and understand each other despite coming from different fields and thus speaking “different tongues” is essential. When we know how to express why we wish to collaborate, what we expect from this collaboration, and what we are willing to invest to attain this goal, different strategies can start taking shape.
It did not take international circles long to recognize Ladeja’s natural ability to manage processes involving circular change.
As one of the main authors of the Roadmap Towards the Circular Economy in Slovenia, she presented the process of designing this document and the concept of the Circular Triangle, which unites three inseparable and interdependent elements – Circular Economy (business models), Circular Change (government policies), and Circular Culture (citizens) – in many countries around the world, even Saudi Arabia and Japan. As a speaker and moderator of professional discussions, she takes the stage internationally more than 50 times a year and, as a true inveterate connector, she returns home every time with a wealth of new contacts and precious connections. Her networking skills are remarkable. They are founded on her natural curiosity and the ability to absorb information like a sponge and link these sundry bits in new ways and into new stories. Her actions have made her a sort of ambassador of Slovenia and she has contributed to the country being put on the map of European countries leading the way in the field of the circular economy.
Upon the establishment of European Circular Economy Stakeholder Platform (ECESP), she was selected from among almost 200 candidates and became one of the 24 European representatives, while in the fall of 2018 she was elected to chair the coordination group of the ECESP. “Sometimes I really find it unbelievable, the roles I find myself in. First, the award finals in Davos, then chairing the ECESP. Sincerity, open-heartedness, and connecting people, alongside professional competences, are obviously values that convince the international arena. They also often tell me ‘we love your mindsetʼ – this is something I haven’t yet heard in Slovenia. Accepting diversity, being just a touch provocative, and encouraging people to stand out from the crowd, from what is set in stone or the norm, is that little extra something that seems to open the door to the big wide world. It also doesn’t hurt that I come from a country that is just the right size and doesn’t pose a threat to anyone.” As the chair of the ECESP, she endeavors to connect creative industry and the circular economy. She seeks synergies between the members of the coordination group, wants to empower each member, and aspires to activate a wider international network to ensure proactive inclusion. According to Ladeja, there are enough opportunities and work for everyone.
As Ladeja likes to highlight – the world should be a playground, not a battleground.
She has also experienced another synchronicity, as she likes to describe coincidences. After reading the book The Kyoto Manifesto for Global Economics – The Platform of Community, Humanity and Spirituality, she contacted the authors because she simply wanted to meet them. They invited her to do a seminar for them at Kyoto University. Ladeja faced a dilemma; she did not deem herself competent enough to lecture world-class academics. But they convinced her by saying that they are keen to know more about how she connects the elements of the circular economy, creativity, and culture in practice. The outcome of her seminar was that she was invited to collaborate on the next book, which the authors are creating also based on the “inspiration” conveyed in Ladeja’s lecture. In line with her habit of connecting people, she is already assembling a “consortium of researchers” with whom she wants to take on this challenge.
And what represents personal success for Ladeja?
She says self-realization. Whatever that might be, as it is probably something different for every human being. The same applies to organizations. Success is if an organization achieves its mission and purpose without inflicting harm on anyone else or the environment. She does not believe that you can translate such success solely into rankings and numbers. It is about values, an expanded understanding of success, and the context within which we evaluate our achievements. When we talk about sustainable business, this is not something that is separate from a company’s everyday operations and linked only to donations and mere letters on paper in a sustainability report. Sustainable, circular business models strive to sustain value and limit the negative effects on the society and environment.
Economic, environmental, and social aspects must always be taken into account – equally.
“Financial capital is overrated, human capital is underrated, while natural capital is not rated at all,” she deeply agrees with Janez Potočnik’s thoughts. We have to change this. If we do, we will achieve systemic success that will create a path to fair distribution and a circular manner of operating. When we know how to use resources so that everyone has enough, when we start being aware of externalities – the costs that arise but do not affect the party responsible for them because taxpayers or citizens must foot the bill – we will be taking a step in the right direction. When, for instance, will the costs of treating the respiratory diseases of inhabitants be covered directly by the polluter and not by the treasury or individuals? If we really want to curb climate change, attain sustainable development goals, and implement the circular economy model, our management of resources must undoubtedly change. And in order to track these changes, we need suitable metrics and indicators. Also, we must stop focusing our attention only on reducing waste and rather invest it in designing products that will allow maintenance, repair, upgrades, and, only in the last phase, recycling. Replacing products with services is another solution. It is a fact that we have to limit consumption and, by extension, production. Ladeja again underlines that this does not mean that our quality of life should decrease but that these are the very actions that can contribute to sustaining the quality of life that we enjoy today (in the developed world).
Considering how active Ladeja is, she also needs moments to unplug and take the time to calibrate her inner compass, as she calls it. Her mornings are dedicated to a ritual that includes yoga and meditation. Thanks to her sister, a yoga teacher who inspires her students to pluck up the courage for the journey within, she has developed a strong sense of herself. Ladeja says that this sense acts as a kind of inner barometer that constantly gives her feedback on how in tune she is with the universal flow. When she feels that this flow has stopped, she knows that it is time to withdraw and contemplate. In the midst of all external impulses, so many bits of information, impressions, and energies accumulate that she can no longer process them. She needs time to absorb everything. Her plan for the business year therefore also includes periods dedicated to a digital detox. This is the time when e-mails are put on hold and when the phones turn silent. She knows way too many people who have experienced burn-out or fallen into apathy. She does not want either of these to happen to her, thus she tries to follow her intuition and disconnect in time from what normally represents a positive stress for her. Yet, the modern human is so easily blinded by it. This brings us back to the question of personal yardsticks of success and Ladeja again touches upon the individual’s interpretation of what he or she deems a success or fulfillment and what society regards as success. For her, position, status, and financial wealth are a guarantee of neither success nor self-realization. An external façade might only be a smokescreen for inner insecurity, a fragile self-image, or fear. We can all feel with whom we feel good, who inspires us, who is our role model. These can be people with illustrious titles or perfectly ordinary individuals. That special X factor does not depend on the title written on a business card.
Ladeja takes pleasure in being in the moment.
Experiencing moments of closeness, of being one with everything. Her element is the sea and she will never get tired of looking at the surface of the water or the waves. She enjoys sailing. She describes how, laying on the deck of a sailing boat and gazing at the inky carpet of stars spilling into the ocean, she loses all sense of time and space. Of what exists now, what existed before, what will still come to pass. The feeling of anxiety at the thought that the whole thing is beyond her comprehension is driven away by her trust in the interconnectedness of everything – that we come from this cosmic abode and will return back to it. That there was a time when we did not exist in the physical form we currently have, and that some day we will again cease to exist.
Perhaps it is this expansive notion of existence that spurs Ladeja to break the mold again and again. Her desire for her actions to leave at least a tiny imprint on this infinite universe. For her to contribute to preserving life on our blue planet. To awaken a level of trust in people that would prompt them to collaborate, design global leadership, and spin an invisible web that would bring about change and make the light shine brighter. According to her, active citizens are the key to a society that embodies what she wrote years ago for the brand Heart of Slovenia: a space where I love to live because it is where I can create, fulfill my calling and, at the same time, live a life of quality. The engine of our actions is always our values and Ladeja combined hers in the form of a four-leaf clover: freedom, responsibility, creativity, and discipline. She most often puts them into practice while spending time with her three children; she says that they are her best teachers. And anyone who collaborates with Ladeja will sooner or later encounter her four-leaf clover.