Myrna Nakad

Partner – Spark for Growth

Oftentimes business and leadership articles start with a sentence about how we now live ‘in times of unprecedented and unpredictable change”. This opening sentence has been used for decades and I wonder why we still find it worth mentioning. Didn’t Heraclites already say ‘panta rhei’ or “Everything flows”?

Change is a given – and maybe it can feel unprecedented and unpredictable but that’s fine, because as humans we are wired for change. At least we are when we are kids. So it’s ‘just’ about finding our way back to the curiosity and courage from those days, and becoming comfortable with the failures along the way.

I say ‘just’ but of course this is not easy. And that is the part of our work that I so love. How can we be self-confident in our strengths and at the same time recognize that in order to grow we need to change? How can we be our best selves with the help of other people’s challenges? This is a polarity I myself continuously explore as well: how to add value for clients by on the one hand bringing along years of knowledge and expertise, while at the same time remaining open for new approaches. Because – to quote another old Greek man – ‘we cannot learn what we think we already know’ (Epictetus).

Combining a belief in positive psychology with a knack for structure and synthesis, I follow an affirmative, pragmatic approach to team effectiveness and personal growth – always seeking the balance between ‘shooting for the moon’ and ‘acknowledging and building on what is here’. And always trying to move the conversation to a place where we can let go of dogma’s and defences and instead show up as we are and be interested in each other’s perspectives.