”Georgeta Dendrino, Head of Corporate Business Thrive Global Romania: “Happiness means having something to do, something to hope for and someone to love”
Georgeta Dendrino joined the Thrive Global family, with whom she aims to initiate the conversation about the importance of well-being among companies and employees.
In the next 5 minutes you will find out:
– How Georgeta Dendrino manages to keep her balance between personal and professional life.
– Who are the people who inspire her and what book changed her life.
Thrive Global: Who is Georgeta Dendrino? What does the business card say?
Georgeta Dendrino: I have several hats: I am Managing Director and executive coach at Interact, VP Partnerships at PWN, Board member at AVE, at RGS. Recently, I joined the Thrive Global family, so now I am also Head of Corporate Business at Thrive Global Romania. I knew about Arianna Huffington, I had read her book, The Sleep Revolution, I felt something aspirational about her and now I am in her team in Romania.
TG: How would you characterize yourself in a few words?
GD: I’m a person who’s been looking for something all her life, maybe her own Grail. I have always been convinced that I have to learn all the time, that I have to build my own cathedral, which is in tune with me and the times. I am passionate about education, coaching, reading, I am fascinated by fashion, perfumes, cars, flying, and the place where I feel better than anywhere is Paris. Not to mention that I feel better on the plane than on the ground.
TG: How did you “meet” with Thrive Global Romania and how did the collaboration start?
GD: I knew about Arianna Huffington, I read about Thrive Global Romania, I wrote, at the beginning, a message to collaborate on the articles side. Then, last year I think, in December, we had the first discussions about opening the Corporate pillar. Several interviews followed and we completed in May. It fit in perfectly with my belief, namely that we need to take care of ourselves, to put on our own oxygen mask, as we are trained on the plane. If we take care of ourselves, we can support others, we can be in harmony with ourselves and the world, we can be more efficient, more productive. The Thrive Global mission overlaps with my concerns, with my way of thinking, so it suited me and I was honored that I was chosen for this position in Romania.
TG: What plans do you have together, what do you aim for the next years?
GD: I want to help raise awareness of the need to take care of ourselves, our well-being, with all that this notion implies. This care does not go to selfishness, but to emotional, mental hygiene, to means sana in corpore sano (healthy mind in healthy body). If each individual is better with himself, they have a state of fulfillment, will be more efficient, and their level of productivity will increase. Both the individual and the company they work for have something to gain.
Therefore, we aim to increase the level of productivity, well-being, to support people and companies in better management of the inherent stress. I would like to mention that in the Romanian team we have experienced facilitators (Anamaria Ciuhuță, Andra Pintican and Lavinia Țânculescu), who hold webinars, wellbeing workshops, dedicated to keeping stress under control, who will be excellent guides in acquiring the state of well-being, of course in addition to the Thrive Global app.
TG: How do you manage to keep the balance between personal and professional life? From the outside, it looks like the day has more hours for you than for other people.
GD: This balance has different definitions for us. I assume that, at various times, I focus more on something and it doesn’t frustrate me that I don’t do other things. I also work on weekends, when I need to, and if I happen to worry about something and not sleep, then I write, I read, I put on paper the thoughts that do not let me sleep. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen too often that I can’t sleep.
I do other activities that make me happy, here I have a downside: I also enjoy my professional life. Of course, I also have my hard moments, when I say to myself This too shall pass. But, in general, I do what I like, I enjoy meeting my clients, coaching, mentoring, working with my colleagues from all the companies and associations in which I am involved. Maybe, since we live this pandemic, I have learned to appreciate more what I have, what I am, to have a bit more patience, to channel my energy differently.
TG: What thoughts do you wake up with this morning?
GD: Generally, with let’s do it! Sometimes, with: “Okay, I’ll take them step by step, a hard day ahead!”.
TG: What is your secret to a better life?
GD: I would say you need some ingredients. To have synchronicity between what I think, what I feel, what I say, how I act. To be my friend when I am alone, not to get bored alone. And that means that I have furnished my mind well enough, that I have read, learned a lot; to have many memorable experiences, to have with me those things that make me happy. To have people around me who I love to be with, to talk stories. I will remember a Chinese proverb: happiness means having something to do, something to hope for and someone to love. Maybe we don’t always have them all, maybe we still have hesitations. When they are there, however, on average, I would say we are fine. Another important aspect for me is to remember to appreciate the little things in life and to take small steps towards bigger achievements.
It’s like the ”Exit the King” play. The king asks the housekeeper if she was at the market. She says, “Yes, Your Majesty, and I saw eggplants!” “Did you see eggplants?” “Yes, Your Majesty, I also saw tomatoes!” “Did you see the tomatoes?” “Yes, Your Majesty, but I have to climb 237 steps to the castle.” “How happy you are to be able to climb them!”
I would say that we have adopted the strategy that Arianna Huffington, the founder of Thrive Global, is talking about: that of micro-steps. I can no longer travel the world, but I can read, study, drink a virtual coffee with friends from so many countries. For now, they create a good life for me, given the context.
TG: When you feel that you are too stressed or too overwhelmed by life, what do you do to get out of that state?
GD: I really had such a situation recently. I slept more: I underestimated the importance of sleep for a long time. I would recommend the book Sleep Revolution, by Ariana Huffington, which itself went through a serious episode of burnout, after an extremely stressful period. Then I saw relaxing movies, I went out to see the world, without a specific purpose. I allowed myself to take things slower for two days.
TG: How do you get rid of bad thoughts, what brings you optimism?
GD: I’m watching a comedy; I talk to a child, I play with him / her: children have a magical power over me. It quickly changes my perspective, my condition. I’m going to buy myself a perfume: the elixir of my well-being. I create an atmosphere at home that makes me feel good: with champagne, a good book, something sweet, a candle with a more special aroma, a fashion magazine where I can see the trends in the art of clothing.
TG: What advice would you give yourself, the one from 20 years old?
GD: Have more patience with yourself and others, get to know yourself faster, leave behind more easily what keeps you in place and those who do not want to be there.
TG: What has been the biggest challenge for you so far?
GD: I had many challenges, I wouldn’t know which one was the biggest. I went through very difficult moments, when I was down, when I broke up, when I moved house a few times. But the hardest part was when we lost loved ones. We can fix anything, but we can’t bring anyone back… I often remember that it’s good to appreciate those around me, even when I’m upset.
TG: But the most serious failure? How did you get over the moment?
GD: I have some experience here also. I think the hardest part was dealing with breakups. I’m like a hedgehog: it’s hard to get close, and when he does, it’s hard for him to break up. The movements cause pain. Unfortunately, I had moments like these, I made the wrong choices several times. How did I get over it? I focused on something else for a while, working at the same time as my inner recovery. It was like I was a puzzle that broke down and I had to take it piece by piece and put them back together.
TG: What is your relationship with technology?
GD: The phone is an extension of my hand. I write articles on the phone, talk, read, listen to podcasts, take some classes. I have many apps, I like to test what’s new, to put reminders when I want to focus on changing something or acquiring a new habit. Maybe that’s why I resonated with the Thrive app. You see, we learn a lot, we know a lot, but the question is: what do we do with what we know? How well do we implement what we know? The app does what exercise does for the muscles: it keeps them in shape. I use the Thrive app every day, I have some reminders set and I generally stick to them, I respect them. The Romanian version of the app will be officially launched this fall. Companies can decide to invest in this app for their people, thus contributing to their well-being, to a balance that can only benefit all parties.
TG: Do you have a role model, a person who inspires you?
GD: I have many people: Steve Jobs for his vision and courage to change the way we communicate; Audrey Hepburn for elegance and involvement in noble causes. My Insead professor, Manfred Kets de Vries, for the vision and consistency with which he brought new perspectives in global leadership; Coco Chanel for how she revolutionized the way she dresses here women. Some of the people I know, who are like encyclopedias, who always fascinate me. My high school French teacher, for her elegance, because she brought me the French spirit in a gray, communist period, and inspired me to dream, to dare. Maybe my parents, for their mental strength, for the way they coped, managed to grow us, although it was extremely difficult for them, and because they never complained, they took it from the beginning, as if nothing hurt them, they were very responsible.
TG: Is there a book that changed your life?
GD: There are many books that have marked me. To speak of one would be to do a disservice to others. But I was marked by writers such as Proust, Dante, Baudelaire, Flaubert, Eliade, Marquez, Milan Kundera, Isabel Allende, Michel Tournier, to name just a few. There are many business books on the list; because we are talking about well-being, about the holistic approach to the individual, I would mention Arianna Huffington’s book, Thrive: The third metric for redefining success and creating a life full of well-being, wisdom and miracle, for the courage to put your finger on some problems of contemporary society and bring them to our attention to seek solutions.
TG: Share a quote that you like or that motivates you.
GD: The quote that guided me since I was little is: “Don’t let a day go by without hearing, seeing or reading something beautiful!”, By Goethe.”
via: Thrive Global