EarReality

Narrative Designer 

Screenwriter

Paralect

Full writing support for the needs of the company:
- Writing articles and guest posts
- Creating case studies and video scripts
- Writing ads for various online channels
- Interviewing
- Supporting sales, product and marketing activities

Left the company to study full-time for MA Serial Storytelling in Germany

Copywriter

StockBattle

Worked on several web and mobile games aimed at crypto and stock market education. 
- UX writing
- Social media writing
- Blogging

Media Manager

FBS Inc.

- Managing a creative team (6 people) of the traffic department, later - of the FBS Global product, team lead.
- Copywriting for websites, landing pages, offline and online materials of the company in English.
- Creation of creative concepts, UX copywriting
- Editing and proofreading of materials for novice copywriters, training for copywriters

Creative Team Lead / Copywriter 

Heads and Hands

Content marketing and PR for Russian and International markets:
- Strategy planning
- Content marketing (blogging, SMM, ratings, etc.)
- PR
- Online Marketing

Marketing and PR specialist

Reksoft

Marketing Manager

Marketing Assistant

All my life I’ve been a fierce force of imagination, persistence, and hard work: like a dragon hunting for gold. But instead of treasure, I’ve been searching for stories to tell and ways to make an impact.

Born in Belarus, I studied journalism in Bulgaria and worked in marketing in Russia, but storytelling has always been my true passion. I create narratives that allow people to explore fresh perspectives in a safe, immersive way.

As a queer, neurodivergent woman from a patriarchal country, I’m passionate about shedding light on complex topics through my work. Over the years, I’ve designed more than 100 LARP games, written 10+ original tabletop campaigns, and worked as a script supervisor on the short film Mein Name Akim (2024), which tells the story of transgender refugees in Germany.

During my MA in Serial Storytelling at IFS Cologne, I honed my skills across genres, working on solo projects as well as collaborating in Writers' Rooms.

Currently, I’m co-developing a visual novel game with a co-author as a passion project.

Now that I've completed my degree, I’m eager to bring my creativity to TV and gaming, crafting stories in both English and German.

Dragons never stop breathing fire. And neither do I, with an endless flow of ideas and stories I can’t wait to share.

Alena Lysiakova 🐉 🔜 GAMESCOM

In audio games, players can’t scroll back. 


They can’t “check the log.” They’re usually listening while cooking or commuting, not taking notes like a detective.

So if your story relies on the player remembering a random detail from minute 3 to survive minute 22, good luck. Your plot may be brilliant, but the format will eat it alive.

🐲 Audio narrative design has to support memory.

 Not through exposition dumps, but through systems that anchor recall:
+ Recurring motifs (a phrase, a sound, a location)
+ Audio cues that repeat at key moments
+ Mirrored consequences that call back to earlier actions

💡 These are structural tools, not flavor text. They let players remember without needing a rewind button. Because if your story only works when someone can reread it: you didn’t design for audio. You designed for a book.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryArchitecture

Alena Lysiakova 🐉

Narrative designer and screenwriter ▶️ Let's create stories that make an impact

If your characters agree too often, something is wrong. 🎬

Harmony might be great in real life (depending on who you ask), but on the page it’s story poison. When everyone shares the same opinion, makes the same choice, or nods politely in every scene… there’s nothing to watch. No movement. No friction. No reason for us to lean in.

Stories don’t run on plot twists alone 👉  they run on pressure.

Tiny disagreements. Conflicting priorities. One person wanting something now while the other wants it later. A silent “no” that derails a plan without a single shout.

Characters don’t need to scream at each other to create tension. 💡 They just need to want things that don’t align. Even slightly. That’s enough to make a scene feel alive.

🐲 So if your dialogue reads like everyone attended the same group therapy and agreed to be mature about it, throw in a value clash. A boundary. A secret. A refusal that doesn’t look like one.

#Screenwriting #Storytelling #GameWriting

I just finished reading HOW TO WRITE A VERTICAL SERIES IN 10 DAYS by Isabel Dréan, and honestly, it exceeded every expectation I had. 💜 

I went in hoping for a few insights.

What I got was a full, practical roadmap: tasks, exercises, industry guidance, and a crystal-clear breakdown of how to actually enter the vertical series world. It's easy to read, but more importantly, it's easy to apply. 🐲 The book basically screams, “Start now,” and as a screenwriter, that was exactly the push I needed.

Now I know exactly how to structure my vertical series portfolio and how to approach producers with my concepts. Huge thanks to Isabel for creating such a sharp, actionable guide: it immediately earned a place on my “write with purpose” shelf.

👉 If you're a new creator or screenwriter who wants a real, practical entry point into the vertical series industry, this book is a must. 
https://lnkd.in/eaKhHw2w

#Screenwriting #VerticalSeries #BookReview

Some interactive stories love throwing choices at players like confetti.


A choice here, a choice there: none of them actually do anything, but hey, it feels interactive, right? 

🐲 No.

 That’s writing pretend-agency. It’s a novelty menu. It’s decorating the game with buttons that aren’t hooked to anything. 

Real narrative design is systemic.
👉 Choices should connect to variables that influence:
+ relationships (trust, fear, loyalty)
+ difficulty (risk, scarcity, knowledge)
+ consequences (routes, scenes, endings)
+ pacing (when info drops, when tension spikes)

If your branching doesn’t change the system, it’s not interaction: it’s decoration.

💡 Players don’t remember how many buttons you gave them. They remember how their choice changed the world, the character, or the story’s tone. We’re not designing “options.” We’re designing impact.

#NarrativeDesign #GameWriting #AudioGames

Everyone loves saying “games are the new IP goldmine”, until it’s time to adapt one and suddenly half the story disappears and the other half gets rewritten into something no fan recognizes. 🎮📺


So I wrote about what makes good adaptations work.

How to translate gameplay into story, treat worldbuilding like a character, and keep both longtime fans and newcomers hooked without bending the source material into something unrecognizable.

👉 Game Over for Bad Adaptations 
https://lnkd.in/ejp-QaQF

If you care about storytelling across mediums,  this one’s for you.

#Adaptation #Storytelling #Screenwriting

Open article: Game over for bad adaptations by meer.com

Let’s be honest, most early world-building documents look like Pinterest boards in disguise. 👾 

Pretty aesthetics. Moody adjectives. 

But in audio games, vibes won’t save you. 👉 Rules will.

If the player can’t predict how the world behaves, they can’t make meaningful choices.

And if they can’t make meaningful choices… well, what are we even doing here?

Strong audio world-building isn’t about lore dumps: it’s about systems thinking:

🧩 Consistent logic
 Magic works the same every time.
 Social rules don’t change based on a writer’s mood.
 Danger has clear signals that the player can learn.

🔊 Predictable sensory cues
 A sound has a purpose. A silence has a consequence.
 The player should learn the world’s language without needing a codex.

👤 NPCs follow world rules too
 If everyone except the protagonist behaves like they’re in another genre, your world collapses faster than a badly mixed audio cue.

🗺️ Boundaries that define possibility
 The world needs limits. What can’t happen is just as important as what can.
Because a world with vibes but no rules isn’t a world. It’s a mood board with dialogue.

🐲 Design your world like a system, and the player will believe in it instantly.

#NarrativeDesign #Worldbuilding #AudioGames

Writers love to obsess over genre:
 “Is it a drama? A thriller? A dark comedy?”


👉 Here’s a secret: your tone decides that long before your logline does.


Take this:
 A couple argues in a car during a thunderstorm.
 💔 In a drama, it’s the last fight before they break up.
 😂 In a dark comedy, lightning strikes right as one says, “At least things can’t get worse.”
 🔪 In a thriller, someone’s bleeding in the trunk and the argument’s just a cover.

Same setup. Totally different story: all because of tone.

Tone tells your audience how to feel about what’s happening, even before the plot fully unfolds. It’s the lens through which they interpret every line, every silence.

🐲 So before rewriting your script for the tenth time, don’t change the plot. Change the tone. Sometimes it's even more effective.

#Storytelling #WritingTips

Here’s something I learned writing for audio: if you build your episode like a typical visual game, escalating scene after escalating scene, your listeners will mentally check out by minute 12.


Why? 
👉 Because audio burns brainpower faster than visuals.
There’s no UI, no map, no screen to anchor attention. Just the player, their imagination, and whatever chaos you hand them.

That’s why audio episodes need chains, not ladders:
🔗 Repeat anchor points
 A recurring sound, phrase, or location the player can “grab” onto.

🔗 Linked beats instead of vertical escalation
 Scene → consequence → micro-turn → reorientation → next link
INSTEAD OF
Action → Bigger Action → Biggest Action → listener meltdown.

🔗 Reorientation moments
 Tiny resets that say, “Here’s where you are. Here’s what changed.”

🔗 A rhythm, not a sprint
The emotional pulse matters more than the scale of the event.

🐲 Because if your episode structure only works when players can stare at a screen, it won’t survive in audio. 

💡 Design for the listener’s brain, not the writer’s adrenaline.

#NarrativeDesign #AudioGames #StoryArchitecture

EarReality is hosting a free webinar for anyone curious about interactive audio.

🐲 And yes, I’ll be one of the hosts.

Here’s what we’re diving into: 

✅ The TWIST Engine: A clean, no-nonsense intro to the tool we use to build interactive audio stories (the same one I used to write all my audio games).

✅ Business & Publishing Opportunities: self-publishing, collaborations, monetization: the whole ecosystem and how you can actually earn from your stories.

✅ Live Demo: we’ll start with a 30-minute listening session so you can hear what interactive audio feels like before we break down how it’s made.

If you’ve been meaning to try this format, want to explore it for your professional projects, or you’re just audio-curious, this webinar will save you weeks of trial-and-error.

🗓️ The LinkedIn Event link is right below. Seats are capped at 100, so grab yours before it fills up. And if you want to support the event, a like, share, or repost would make my day. 😎

#EarReality #TWIST #NarrativeDesign #Storytelling #InteractiveAudio

Helping Media Companies, Game Studios & Brands Expand Their IP Through Interactive Storytelling | CEO @ EarReality | TWIST Game Engine | Transmedia Strategy | In-Car, Mobile & Web Experiences

🎤 🎧  Finally, we’re hosting a FREE webinar for authors, narrative designers, and brand marketers who want to understand how interactive audio works and how to create it. 🕹️

What the session covers:

✅ TWIST Engine
A clear introduction to the tool we use to create interactive audio stories.

✅ Business Opportunities
How self-publishing, collaborations, and monetization work on TWIST and TWIST Tales.

✅ Practical Demo
We begin with a 30-minute listening session so you can hear an interactive audio story before learning the production workflow.

If you want to create interactive audio, evaluate the format for professional use, or explore future publishing opportunities, this session gives you the essentials.

This webinar is listed as a LinkedIn Event.
The registration link is directly beneath this post.
Seats are limited to 100 participants, so register early to receive the meeting link.

If you want to support the event, feel free to like, share, or repost 😎 

#EarReality #TWIST #marketing #storytelling #games #gaming #stories #audiobooks #audio #RPGs #writing #books #narrativedesign

Christian Mahnke, Anastasiia Chetverikova and 28 other attendees

View event: EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST - Part 1

EarReality Webinar: The Business of Interactive Audio & TWIST - Part 1

🐲 Just a quick reminder: this week we’re hosting our interactive audio webinar: a deep dive into TWIST, storytelling tools, and how creators can actually publish and monetize their work in this format.

If you’re curious about interactive audio or want to explore new opportunities as a writer, narrative designer, or creator, join us. 🎧🔥

#NarrativeDesign #InteractiveAudio

⏰ Starting in ONE hour! 🎧🎤


Our webinar on interactive audio storytelling and the business behind it is about to kick off.

If you’ve been curious about how interactive audio works, how creators can actually publish and monetize their stories, or what the TWIST Engine looks like behind the scenes… this is your chance to join live.

 🔗 https://lnkd.in/ek5wHQJ2

See you there: bring your questions and your curiosity. 🎧 🐲 

#InteractiveAudio #Storytelling

BonaMente

Helping companies bring transformational ideas into Business-as-usual.
Powerful blend of Strategic HR experience, strong business acumen and passion for modern trends in people-centric Leadership and way of organizing.

Supporting business leaders and company owners on wide range of transformative journeys:
- Complex multi-dimentional change programs
- Business Performance turnaround
- Business model change
- Leadership paradigm shift
- Targeted organizational culture change
- HR transformation
- M&A integration, spin-off business transformation

Individual Entrepreneur, Business Transformation Consultant

LeanPeople

The multi-discipline expertise business service platform, dedicated to put strategies into practice. Everything a mid-size business needs to reach outstanding results:
- business and market positioning
- marketing and market intelligence
- people and culture
- organization and processes
- legal and finance
We take care of your organization in all means, so you could care of your core business.

Co-founder and Chief Transformation Officer

Electrolux

Effectively manage manufacturing, supply chain, and logistics for 20 factories, 34 warehouses, one supply chain fulfillment centre, a population of 15k, and 18 direct reports. Define and deliver major improvements for Employer Value Proposition. Address the coming needs of Industry 4.0 transformations regarding digitization and modern capabilities. Utilize leadership skills to fuel positive organizational change, experiment with the latest methods, and meet the needs of the VUCA environment. Travel 50–70%.
Key Contributions
Reached and maintained the strategic target for product delivery at continuously improving cost while growing employee engagement since 2016. The key success came from several turnaround initiatives allowing entire end-to-end Supply Chain to perform at best of capabilities:
•	Designed, implemented and continouosly growing the new leadership approach based upon trust, engagement, and realizing full team potential.
•	Accomplished several multi-year cultural change programs: Consumer-focused supply, cross-functional collaboration, talent-driven teams; new practices became the blueprint for success.
•	Realized major organizational setup changes in Quality, Supply Chain and Manufacturing; completely re-energized and transformed the teams into admirable, high-achieving and continuously improving.

HR Director Industrial Operations EMEA (from 2019 - Europe)

Fully supported all organization units located in the region (Sales & Service, Professional Equipment, Logistics, IT, Global Technology) leading an HR team of three that managed 250 staff members. Guaranteed timely turn-arounds on key projects. Streamlined the processes for leadership changes and paved the way for increased profits and growth. Built new capabilities and new culture while making the leap to drive business to the next level as an independent self-driving sales machine.
Key Contributions
•	Secured business continuity and increased HQ stakeholders’ understanding of situation.
•	Completely re-energized the team and seeded enthusiasm and self-esteem, assuring all are ready for stepping up the responsibility and taking all market opportunities
•	Ushered the company into an era of being a top player in the Russian and CIS markets.

Regional HR Director (CIS counties + Baltics)

Linde Gas

Oversaw four production facilities, two ongoing M&A projects, and an HR team of 10 that supervised 1k employees.  Developed and implemented new and improved HR policies, procedures, and processes that contributed to overall organizational success. Preserved cost basis and needed profitability after the financial crisis struck. Restructured processes, minimized hiring and training efforts, and developed key leadership teams. Oversaw large customer installation projects. Focused upon succession planning and preserving operational capabilities.
Key Contributions
•	Reached all targets and deliverables when completing two M&A projects.
•	Assured business continuity along economical crisis, delivering expected level of EBIT and ROI.
•	Successfully rolled out a critical SAP HR project.

HR Director

Samsung Electronics

CIS region was newly shaped organization in 2005, became independent and reported directly to HQ. CIS region included 8 subsidiaries: Sales, Service, and R&D functions. Population around 1.000 employees, HR team 8 people.
Main achievements:
-	Built up CIS Headquarter from scratch, including main holding function (among which HR)
-	Established all core HR processes from practically 0 levels or upgraded up to required international standard
-	Effectively installed localized Leadership team. Traditional Korean expatriates moved to "adviser" roles where needed, otherwise fully localized.
-	Reduced Employee turnover from 25% to 5%
-	Together with the Manufacturing unit completed due diligence study (people side) for the opening factory in Russia

CIS Region HR Manager

That was the project of integrating acquired PWC Consulting business into IBM. The idea was to find synergies between 2 businesses to move from Product- to Solution-based model. The population of ~100 consultants.
- Aligned all processes to IBM standard while keeping low turnover rate.  
- Consulting department got through several restructurings with overall headcount increase
- Reached project deployment ratio was 86%. 
- Re-tuned the educational system to allow consultants to use time without project for learning.

HR Manager. Business Consulting Services department (integration project)

Luxoft

My core responsibility was to build the software development team of around 200 people for the new business stream of Luxoft - dedicated software development centres for big corporate clients.
The pilot project I held was with super demainging Deutsche Bank who decided to outsource their USA and UK development centres to Luxoft.

The core responsibility was hiring initial team of ±100 people within a strict timeline of several months and expand it as per demand keeping speed, at uncompromised quality of candidates.

Along with the growth of the team, I was also involved into employee development, leadership development and team cohesion building activities.

Recruitment Manager

Unconventional Leadership Enthusiast | Creator and propagator of the "5E's of Leadership" | Empowering Leaders to Transform & Thrive in the Age of Change

With over 20 years in corporate HR, I’ve transformed underperforming teams into high achievers and turned potential into performance.

Like many managers, those I’ve helped have faced the complexities of leading teams through challenging changes and resolving deep-rooted issues.

Today, as a consultant, I elevate leaders from daily firefighting to strategic excellence, driving outstanding team results.

My Commitment. 

I empower you to:
- Elevate your teams to new heights.
- Synchronize structures, processes, capabilities, and culture.
- Unlock your team's full potential with a clear performance roadmap.
- Foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning, tailored to your needs.

Why Partner with Me?
I offer more than advice — I become your strategic partner, crafting a unique approach that fits your world. As a mentor, coach, advisor, and consultant, I provide the methods and insights to view your organization from every angle, connecting these elements into a holistic picture.

People are the core of business success and the central driver of growth. If you're ready to uncover and maximize your organization's potential, let's collaborate.

Your vision, combined with my expertise, will forge a path to outstanding team results. 
Reach out with a message or book a call (button at the top of my profile). Together, we’ll shape the future of your organization.

Mikhail Lvovskii

I ran a business alone for 4 months.

The MD was fired in my second week. No handover, no welcome committee, and a team that had been losing money for years.

Every day felt like triage. Toxic personalities outnumbered pragmatic ones. There were no playbooks, just constant firefighting.

In that chaos, priorities snap into focus. 

What actually moves the needle vs. what just looks good for the next board meeting? 
You start to see which reports matter, which meetings are just noise, and who is really adding value.

I had to strip away every layer of corporate theater. 
Survival demanded ruthless clarity. 
The only thing that mattered was keeping the lights on and finding a way forward.

Fast forward 18 months: that same team became the fastest-growing commercial unit in Europe.

It wasn’t about bold speeches or complicated programs. It was about showing up every day, fixing what was broken, and refusing to settle for slow progress.

This is what happens when you stop talking theory and start owning execution. Real leadership is forged in the fire, not in comfortable meeting rooms.

P.S. The trick is: that time I had a role of HR Head. Not Commercial, not Product, even not Finance - HR Head.
Yes, fully entrusted to be able to run business and make significant transformation. Fully empowered beyond my functional limits. 
But still HR.
 
Crazy things happen, and your functional belonging does not matter if you have courage and skill.

Interim HR Director/CHRO | Turnaround & Transformation Specialist | Helping leaders succeed when context is tough

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Ever notice how teams start to crave chaos?

In turnaround situations, I see leaders and teams running from fire to fire, convinced that constant urgency equals progress. 

The daily scramble feels productive. 
But really, it's just noise.

Here’s the reality check: chaos is addictive.

-> People get used to the adrenaline. 
-> They wear firefighting like a badge. 
-> Ask for calm and process, and you'll hit hidden resistance. 
-> Suddenly, everyone’s nostalgia for the “old days” kicks in. 
-> Clarity sounds great... until it demands change.

And for newly appointed leaders, this is the trap. 

They underestimate how much people secretly love disorder. After all, chaos hides problems, blurs lines, spreads blame.

So what’s the hardest move? 

- Slowing down when instincts say speed up. 
- Choosing system over reaction. 
- Making decisions without the full picture. 
- Calling out old habits as soon as they reappear, even if it feels awkward.
 
Every time you feel that pull back to “just one more urgent issue,” recognize it. That’s not progress. That’s the comfort zone fighting back.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: discipline wins, not drama.

If you’re serious about transformation, make structure the hero. Treat process like your best ally. The system isn’t your enemy, it’s your chance.

You’ll want to default back to hustle and emergencies. Discipline will feel weird, maybe even boring. Good. Lean into it.

The only way out of chaos is through commitment to change. Don’t let old habits steal your turnaround.

Anyone else seen teams cling to chaos like it’s a life raft? 
Drop your stories or tag someone who needs to hear this.

We’re quick to teach kids facts: how things work, what’s right, what’s smart.

But I’ve noticed with my son that he doesn’t need more answers.

He needs space to ask better questions.

We talk about curiosity like it’s just a stage before real learning.
Honestly, it’s the whole game.

When he asks, "Why do people go to work?" or "Who decides what things cost?" I could hand him the answer.
Instead, I ask, "What do you think?"

The stuff he comes up with? Sometimes hilarious, sometimes surprisingly deep, always honest.

It keeps reminding me of leadership.
The best leaders aren’t the ones with all the answers.
They’re the ones who keep the right questions open long enough for the team to grow into them.

Maybe real learning - for kids and adults - starts the moment we stop teaching what to think, and start letting people discover why to wonder.

Curiosity isn’t a warm-up. It’s the main event.

li_at

JSESSIONID

Talks about #culture, #leadership, #management, #futureofwork, and #humanresources

Most new leaders fail in their first 180 days. 

This is research and statistics say, not I.

This is not because they're bad, rather because they're often polite.

Here's the usual script as I see it:
-> They walk in, eager to "listen and learn." 
-> They hold back on real decisions, hoping to win trust first. 
-> They focus on being liked, not on making waves.

But while they're waiting, the real problems are getting worse. 
The people resisting change are stalling out progress. 
By month 6, it's too late. Their window to set the tone has closed. 
They've lost credibility, and the dysfunction is now their problem.

The lesson? 
Speed matters. 
But so does getting it right.

You don't need to blow up the place on day one, but you can't wait forever. 
Make your priorities explicit. 
Go after the roadblocks early. 
Address the hard truths, even if it feels uncomfortable.

The teams that see results aren't run by leaders who just listen. 
They're run by leaders who act, right from the start.

If you want to survive the 180-day trap, earn respect by having the tough conversations, making principled moves, and setting the bar before the clock runs out.

P.S. Sure thing, rushing without reflecting neither is better.
I've seen cases where extreme rush resulted in even more drastic failure. 
Be prompt, but not super rushing. 
Be thoughful, but avoid analysis paralysis. 

Balance matters.

Executive coaching won't fix a dysfunctional team. Here's why.

Most companies hire a coach when a team goes off the rails. They think if the leader is better, the team will follow.

That hardly ever happens.

Coaching makes the leader sharper. They get new skills. They learn to manage chaos a little better.

But the real problem never goes away. 
- The team is still stuck. 
- The same turf wars and trust issues keep coming back.

So what happens? 

The leader just gets better at surviving dysfunction, not solving it.

Here’s the reality: Coaching alone is like polishing the captain while the ship keeps taking on water.

What actually works? 

Tackling the problem at both levels. 
-> The team gets a reset, a serious intervention. 
-> The leader gets coaching to grow alongside them. Real 
-> change happens together, not in isolation.

If you want to fix a broken team, don’t just coach the leader. 
Fix the system they’re leading. 
That’s how you stop sinking and actually move forward.

Remember when digital transformation felt like a marathon everyone could train for?

Now, it’s a sprint—and the finish line keeps moving.

AI has just changed the rules for leadership, pretty much overnight. 
It’s not just another tech upgrade. It’s a full-on test of how fast, decisive, and human your leadership actually is.

Here’s the real kicker: 
Every CEO, MD, and exec is now getting graded on their ability to use AI as an advantage. 
If you hesitate, someone else will move faster. Simple as that.

This isn’t just about tools or hype. 
It’s about how you think and act.

Leaders who figure out AI are going to jump to the front.
-> They’ll automate headaches. 
-> Make faster calls with better data. 
-> Turn cautious teams into teams that execute fast (because the excuses disappear when AI does the grunt work).

The ones who wait? 
They’ll keep fighting the same old fires, but now those fires are ten times bigger and the clock is running out a lot quicker.

Let’s be honest:
- We’ve all seen leadership teams drag their feet on new tech before.
- But this time, the cycle is brutal. 
- Markets move faster. 
- Boards are impatient. 
The gap between the top and bottom widens every quarter.

If you’re a new CEO or just got handed a messy turnaround, here’s my take:
- Start running small AI experiments right away (you don’t need a PhD)
- Pull your leadership team in. Get everyone learning together
- Focus on real business headaches that AI can solve now, not three years from now
- Measure, tweak, move - don’t wait for perfect

AI isn’t a silver bullet. 
But right now, ignoring it is the fastest way to fall behind.

If leadership is about making decisions that move the business forward, AI is the new test.

Some leaders will take the test and win big. 
The rest might not get a second chance.

Who’s actually moving?

A weird thing happened last weekend.

I was trying to get my kids to clean up their toys. 
After week-long school break, room was looking way too messy.
 
The more instructions I gave, the slower things got. 
Questions, clarifications, waiting for my next move—total standstill.

I finally just said, “You know where everything goes. I trust you. Show me when you’re done.”

The shift was immediate. 

Suddenly, it became a project. They sorted, made up little games out of it, even helped each other. It actually got done faster, and with zero nagging.

On Monday, I returned to work and realized how much this “parent mode” sneaks into business.

We say we want teams to move fast and take ownership. 
But how often are we - without even noticing - setting the pace by controlling every little step?

In turnarounds or high-stakes projects, it’s easy to clamp down. 
We want things fixed. We want visible control.

The problem? 

The more you micromanage, the more passive your team becomes.

Fast, high-performing teams don’t need a permission slip for every action. 
They need clarity, trust, and a real chance to own the outcome.

If you’re always in “parent mode,” you’re training the team to wait for your go-ahead.
If you give them space (and trust), you might be surprised by the results.

The reality: 
You can’t force speed. But you can remove the drag.

So here’s my question:
Where are you still giving play-by-play instructions, when you should just be asking for the finished result?

Maybe it’s time to step back. And see what your team can actually build.

I used to think creating something big required a team, a fancy setup, and a real budget.

Today, my 7-year-old asks, "Can we make our own stories? You know, the kind with real animation?"

The wild part is, now we can.

AI and a wave of new tools have flipped the script. Anyone willing to imagine and learn can bring their ideas to life, no big studio needed.

You don’t have to be a pro animator to make a point visually.
You just need a message worth sharing, and a bit of persistence.

To me, this isn’t about replacing human creativity,
It’s about giving it a megaphone.

If technology lets a kid and his dad turn big life questions into stories, we’re on to something bigger than just content.

We’re seeing the start of a world where learning, storytelling, and real leadership all mix together in the same creative space.

That’s the future I want to help build.

P.S. I am soon coming out with the series of short animated movies explaining kids all around money.
2-minutes short 3D animated movies are the best way to explain my kids complex matters of earning, spending, saving, investing, making business.

Along with games, I consider visual stories the second best way to teach things to kids.

HR is not your compliance cop or party planner.

Let's just call it out.

Too many HR teams are stuck pushing paperwork, rolling out one-size-fits-all policies, and obsessing over annual engagement surveys that barely shift the needle.

But that's not what moves a business forward.

HR should be where growth starts.

If you want real results, you need a system where people know the goal, get the right support, and have the freedom (and pressure) to perform.

I've seen companies double down on ping pong tables, happy hours, and fancy policies.

Trust me, no one ever turned around a struggling business with free snacks.

What actually works?

→ Putting the right people in the right roles, fast.
→ Giving crystal-clear expectations, not just fuzzy values on a poster.
→ Holding leaders (yes, even the CEO) accountable for results, not just effort.
→ Rewarding what actually moves the needle.
→ Designing systems that make execution almost automatic.

The best HR leaders I know are builders. They're not waiting for someone to hand them a seat at the table—they pull up a chair and start driving the agenda.

They turn HR into the actual engine of business outcomes.

If you're in HR and you want to matter, don't hide behind process.

Be the architect of performance.

Nobody will invite you to lead if you don't make things happen.

Stop waiting for permission.

Start designing for impact.
 
Want HR to matter? Drive the business, not just the paperwork.

How are you making HR the engine, not the brakes, in your company?

Ever watched a kid build something from nothing?

A drawing, a paper city, a wild little experiment. 
It almost doesn’t matter what it is.

It’s that moment when they look up and say, “I made this.”

As a parent, it’s hard to top that feeling. But here’s the thing: we talk a lot about ownership and accountability in business. At the heart of it, we’re all chasing that same spark—the quiet pride of making something real.

Lately, I realized what I actually want to teach my son isn’t how to follow instructions. It’s how to come up with his own ideas. It’s how to make something that didn’t exist before, even if it doesn’t work out the first time. Maybe especially if it doesn’t.

Creating makes you care. Caring makes you grow.

That’s where leadership really starts. Not with memorizing rules, but with turning curiosity into something real.

If your team isn’t making things - testing, building, experimenting - something’s missing.

Leadership and learning are both about this simple loop: see what’s possible, try to make it happen, and learn by doing.

It’s not just for kids.

My son started telling me a story.

Halfway through, he froze. Frustrated, he said, "It's not working like I thought."

I’ve seen this in boardrooms, in C-suites. Smart, capable leaders tightening up the second things go sideways. Afraid to mess up. Afraid of looking foolish.

That fear is poison.

Let’s be honest: most organizations are built on covering your backside, not taking risks. We talk a good game about innovation, but the second someone stumbles, the room goes quiet.

Here’s the truth most leaders won’t say out loud: If you don’t create emotional safety, you will never get breakthrough results. Period.

Kids don’t worry about failing. They just go again. Somewhere along the line, we beat that instinct out of people.

It kills speed. It kills growth. And it turns talented teams into spectators.

If you’re not actively dismantling fear in your organization, you’re building a dead end, not a future.

Real leadership isn’t about protecting your own image. It’s about making space for others to swing and miss, then swing again.

You want a high performing team? Double down on safety. Make it impossible to play small.

Transformation isn’t a slogan. It’s a decision to lead differently.

The other night, after dinner, we sat by the window.

No screens. No agenda. Just a quiet room.

My son looked up and said, "Dad, I think when I grow up, I want to understand how the world works."

For a second, I forgot how big that question really is.

We like to talk about preparing kids for the future. But sometimes, I think they're actually preparing us to see things differently.

Every generation tries to explain life to the next. Maybe our real work is simpler: create space so they can discover things on their own.

Leadership, parenting, teaching... It's all the same at the core. Hold the light steady, and let others learn to walk by it.

Ever tried explaining compound interest to a seven-year-old?

My boy shows interest to various range of topics, among money and science are the top leaders.

I've been reading some adapted financial and science books with my son. They're fascinating, but let's be real - most of it goes way over a kid's head.
Even those written for kids...

I watch him wrestle with big ideas. Sometimes he gets lost. Sometimes he asks questions that catch me completely off guard.

That’s when it hits me: understanding isn’t just about the content, it's about how you translate it.

At work, I spend my days turning strategy into something people can actually act on. At home, I’m learning how to turn abstract concepts into curiosity and play.

It's the same skill either way: empathy. 

Seeing where someone is - right now - instead of where I wish they were.

So, when he asks why some people have more, or how money "appears," I answer with stories, not spreadsheets.

Maybe that's what real learning looks like. Less flooding people with facts, more lighting up that spark of understanding.

That's how you make ideas stick. 
With anyone, at any age.

Culture isn’t window dressing.

It’s not team posters, Friday perks, or high-concept values crafted for your website.

Let it grow undirected and eventually the strongest force shapes it:
Status, inertia, comfort, or cynicism. Never strategy.
 
Everyone talks about pursuing “excellence,” but few invest the energy to design the everyday system their team operates within.

Clarity or confusion? Individual responsibility or quiet finger-pointing?

The calls you take, the ones you don’t, how deadlines actually matter, what gets quietly waved off... these dial the system you’re competing with or fixing daily.

And culture doesn’t wedge fake urgency around shiny new trends or tools.

It turns real with frameworks that outlast product pivots:
- Actual ownership, not just buy-in at offsites
- Leadership as blueprints, not drama
- Feedback and measurement hardwired, not resurfaced in anxiety
- Agency assigned, shortcuts killed with discipline

People join to do meaningful work in teams that help them grow.
Very few thrive on make-it-up-as-we-go vibes.

Your business already ran a culture experiment last quarter, whether you acknowledge it or not.
Who saw real ownership? Which values remained standing after a cost cut or a failed launch?

System beats marketing every time.
Ignore execution, and the culture hands you the bill.

Every org’s culture matures:
Yours scales quietly with you: modelled in hundreds of invisible micro-decisions, or unravels just as quietly.
What grows beneath the surface says it all.

Most CEOs talk about change.
Very few start with themselves.

I've seen it over and over: leaders overhaul teams, processes, org charts.
But their own habits?
Untouchable.
Their blind spots?
Off-limits.

And the business never really moves.
Because the system always mirrors the leader at the top.

Want accountability?
Show it yourself, even when it's uncomfortable.

Want speed?
Make decisions without hiding behind endless analysis.

Want trust?
Go first. Admit mistakes, ask for feedback, be human.

The hard truth is this:
You can't build a high-performing culture by standing on the sidelines with a checklist.
You have to do the real work, in public, flaws and all.

The best leadership systems I’ve seen?
They start with a CEO willing to get uncomfortable.
Willing to hear tough truths.
Willing to shift their own playbook, not just everyone else's.

So next time you think about transforming your business, ask yourself one question:
Am I ready to change, too?

That’s where the real transformation starts.
Who have you seen lead real change - by changing themselves first?

You don’t win the first 180 days as a new CEO by being the hero.

Everyone makes the same mistake at least once.

You hit the ground running, convinced you have to prove you’re “the one in charge.” 
You hold every meeting, answer every question, jump into every fire.

But here’s the thing nobody tells you: 
The faster you make yourself the center of everything, the faster you’ll hit burnout.
And the more you risk to have the entire organization blocked.

I’ve seen it more than once. 
I’ve watched it happen to smart, motivated leaders who should have crushed it. 
They show up every day, work late, push decisions across the finish line themselves... and then wonder why nothing moves unless they move it.

The real game isn’t about proving yourself at all.

It’s about how quickly you build a leadership system that keeps running when you’re not in the room.

I’m not talking about a loyal team. 
Not just getting buy-in. 
I mean building a machine that runs on trust, clarity, and follow-through. 
A lot of first-time CEOs miss this. 
They get stuck fixing problems themselves and become the bottleneck in their own business.

Want the secret to a real turnaround? 
Ditch the hero cape. 
Start acting like the architect.

Lay out what matters, set up real accountability, and then get out of the way. 
Stop firefighting. 
Let the system do the heavy lifting. 
You’ll actually execute more, move faster, and—crazy as it sounds—finally have a life outside of work.

The CEOs who do this don’t just survive. 
They build companies where people step up, decisions happen quickly, and nobody waits for permission to get things done.

That’s how you create real momentum.

I wish someone had told me this before I got under water for the first time.
Trying to be everywhere myself, driving my first significant organizational transformation.

So, who else had to learn this the hard way? 
What did it look like for you?

The secret to building a human leadership system in 8 weeks? 
It is not some magic playbook. 
It is not a perfect framework, fresh off a consultant’s laptop. 

It is this: 
Are you brave enough to have the real conversations?

Most new CEOs and MDs want a shortcut. 
They ask me for a ready-made system, a toolkit, a checklist. 
I tell them the same thing every time.

You can have the best process on paper, but if your team is not telling the truth - especially the uncomfortable truth - you are stalled before you start.

So, what do I do first with a leadership team? 
Get everyone in a room. 
Ask one question: 
What is really holding us back?

Not “our meetings run long” or “deadlines are fuzzy.” 
Not vague stuff. 
I mean the things people are scared to say. 
The things that get stuck in people’s throats but drive all the frustration and poor execution.

The room goes quiet. 
Nobody wants to go first. 
But someone does. 
Then another. 
Pretty soon, you are hearing the real story.

And here is the rule: 
No defending. 
No explaining. 
No “let me clarify what I really meant.” 
Just listen.

That is when you feel the shift. 
Because once the truth is out—raw and uncomfortable—you finally have something real to work with.

From there, you set up simple practices:
- Weekly check-ins where people actually say what is on their mind.
- Feedback in real time, not a month later.
- Decisions made in the open, so there is nowhere to hide.

Is it awkward? Yes. 
Is it quick? Also yes—because when you stop dodging, you actually start moving.

Most companies never get past the surface. 
They hide behind fancy models and digital dashboards. 
They call it “transformation” but the hard stuff never gets touched. 
The window dressing is nice—the results are not.

So, if you are serious about a leadership system that works fast and lasts, skip the window dressing. 
Risk the real conversation. 
Make honesty your ritual.
 
Ready to try it in your team? 
Or still hoping that one more framework will save the day?

Most leadership systems are built to slow you down, not speed you up.

Everyone loves to preach "agility," but then drowns every real decision in endless approval chains and pointless politics.

I've watched new CEOs hit the ground ready to make things happen. 

Then bam! They're dragged into the same loop: meeting after meeting, status reports nobody reads, and busywork that looks like progress but isn't.

Why do we pretend this is normal?

If you actually want a leadership system that moves fast (without burning people out), you have to break old habits.

Here's where you start:

→ Get crystal clear on decision rights. Who can actually say yes or no? If nobody knows, everything stalls.

→ Audit your rituals. Weekly meetings: are they pushing anything forward, or are they just time-fillers?

→ Take a hard look at culture. Where are people scared to take risks? If everyone's just covering themselves, forget about moving fast.

Fast doesn't mean chaos. It means everyone knows the rules. People trust each other. People own their choices, and know someone has their back even when things blow up.

The best business turnarounds I've seen? They only happen when leaders build for humans, not for compliance.

If you're stepping into a new leadership role, you don't have to play by the same old rules.

What would you toss out if you could build your system from scratch?

Tag someone who's seen a leadership system that actually works.
Or tell me, what's the one habit you'd break first?

Every transformation hits a brick wall.

Not a speed bump you can glide over, but a full-stop, dead-in-your-tracks moment. 

-> That meeting where everyone looks at the table. 
-> The plan that worked yesterday? Suddenly useless. 
-> The room feels heavy. 

Been there more times than I’ll admit.

What do most leaders do next? 
They clamp down. More meetings. More dashboards. More control. Stack up more layers and hope to squeeze something out.

But control almost never breaks the wall down.

Here’s the real pattern I’ve seen:
When projects stall, it’s rarely because people don’t know what to do. It’s because something important has gone unsaid. 
- A fear no one wants to admit. 
- A grudge floating around under the surface. 
- Misalignment nobody wants to name.

The wall stands because everyone’s dodging the real thing holding you back.

So I started doing the one thing that feels risky. Stopping the grind. Literally calling a timeout. Pausing the agenda. Looking around the table and asking: 
- “What are we NOT saying?” 
- "Do we still remember the WHY of doing this?"

Silence, every time. Awkward shuffling. Sideways glances. You wait. The truth starts slow, but once it comes out, people lean in. 
You finally get the real problem, not the polite one. And that’s when transformation actually starts moving again.

My favorite myth? That turnarounds happen because someone at the top pushes harder. The reality: they start when someone makes it safe to say what really needs to be said.

So, if you’re stuck and the old moves aren’t working, try dropping the script. Ask what’s missing from the conversation. Then let it be awkward for a bit.

You’ll be surprised what happens.

What’s the wall you’re facing right now? If you’re willing to share—I’m listening.

Execution isn’t slow because people are lazy or strategy is broken. It’s slow because the leadership system is out of tune.

Every stalled organizaiton I’ve seen between $50M and $50B shares the same root cause:
→ A misaligned leadership wheel.

Strategy never fails in a slide deck.
It fails in daily execution.
It fails when the team loses rhythm, then blames the plan.

Let’s get real about what fixes it.
Here’s how to recalibrate using The CEO’s Leadership Wheel:

1. Balanced & Happy 
If you look exhausted, your team will burn out twice as fast. 
Treat recovery like you treat your cash reserves: guard it.

2. Lead & Facilitate 
You don’t have to be the genius in the room. 
Set the direction, clear the fog, and let others step up.

3. Consistent & Effective 
Charisma won’t save a wobbly team. 
Rituals and reliability build real trust.

4. Green & Growing 
A leader who stops learning guarantees stalled growth. 
More learning equals more valuation.

5. Aligned & Committed 
A well-designed strategy falls flat if no one is really on board. 
Alignment turns ideas into actual results.

6. Fact-Based & Inclusive 
When you exclude, you get blindsided. 
Bring in the facts, but more importantly, bring in more voices.

7. Thoughtful & Empowering 
Your words either build owners or create quiet quitters. 
You don’t have to be loud. You have to be precise.

Leadership isn’t about heroic charm.
It’s about architecture.
The right structure creates speed.
And speed wins every time.

If you’re a CEO or MD: 
Which spoke of your leadership wheel wobbles right now, energy, alignment, or consistency?

Let’s hear it.
Tag a CEO who needs a pit stop.

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Alena Lysiakova 🐉 🔜 GAMESCOM

Mikhail Lvovskii

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