Daniela Micusan, CEO Teleperformance: “Nowadays, I see myself more as an influencer. Because influencing people and helping them making the right decision for their lives makes a difference”

“Teleperformance has 500,000 employees worldwide and I think the vision is to rather grow despite the AI and all the challenges. So that was the message we received at C-level, that we should look into growth options, which is a bit of a challenge nowadays. And for me, the most important thing, and I kept it saying over the years, and it didn’t change, is the people. And people are my top 10 priority.

Wherever I look, if it means the employees, if it means the customer, or if it means the human interaction, which for sure in the future will make a difference, whatever component we look into, the human interaction will stay,” Daniela Micusan, CEO Teleperformance said at Romanian Business Services Forum organized by Outsourcing Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“ I would say that the top priorities as a leader are for myself, now in this transitional phase, emotional resilience, in order to keep the ball up and running, and two, the second priority to steer the trust of a new team in order to sustain the requests of the team. And everything, keeping it together. And last but not least, my third priority, I’m always focusing on for myself and trying to inspire also the rest, is hope. Because I think that as humans, we only function seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how difficult the road is, to keep the hope is, I think, one of the main secrets in order to make a difference.

I would say that in my view, over the 18 years of executive, I’ve been switching roles quite often, starting with a parental approach, growing into an advisor role, leadership by models. So, a lot of changes and self-discovering in this journey.

Nowadays, I see myself more as an influencer. Because I think influencing people and helping them making the right decision for their lives makes a difference. And if you do it in a genuine, honest way and show them the potentials, even if it hurts you maybe as a company, nevertheless, if you know as a leader that you gave the best advice to your employee, tough decisions like for you it would be better to adapt your need to another company, for instance, that open discussion is fostering engagement. Because then you can meet the person on the street, and they will smile to you because they know that it was not the typical layoff discussion you would have as a leader with authority.

But it’s rather, let’s see if we can match and if we can’t, how can I help you on this journey? And how can I help you on this journey needs to be honest and needs to be always based on what is best for both of us. To make it a win-win situation and to influence from your strategic perspective experience the best way you can when the next morning you wake up and you question yourself and say did, I do this really honest? And just look in the mirror and just stay true to yourself. I think that’s the key.”