People in the Spotlight: Oana Piticaş, Counsel, Employment & White-Collar Crime Practice Coordinator Romania, Noerr

2024 is a special year for THE DIPLOMAT-BUCHAREST business media platform. This year, we mark 20 years‘ anniversary on the media market in Romania, as well as 10 years since we established and developed OUTSOURCING-TODAY and the series of events dedicated to people in companies: PEOPLE EMPOWERING BUSINESS (Forum & Awards).

Therefore, for 2024’s anniversary year, we aim at shining a light to the best-in-class professionals in the Romanian economy. This anniversary year creates the editorial opportunity to address and spotlight what makes people to be the greatest and the most valued resource of a company as well as highlighting the personal approach on developing a strong career path and make a significant mark to broader business community.

Recently, we talked to Oana Piticaş, Counsel, Employment & White Collar Crime Practice Coordinator Romania about her career pinpoints, what drives her in work and valuable and genuine insights on her professional values and leadership views.

Oana Piticaş is specialized in the assistance & representation of international & local clients in complex white collar crime cases and in compliance & internal investigations. Oana has advised companies from a wide range of industries in complex tax evasion and corruption cases, being able to provide our clients with the most suitable strategy and criminal defence. Oana has also experience in real estate transactions, corporate matters and civil disputes.

Share with us several key steps that marked your evolution as a manager in your industry. Which are your development and inspirational pinpoints in your career?

When I look back at my career, what strikes me most is my ambition to do everything with passion. I remember one famous quote I came across when I was just a kid, which stated the importance of developing a particular feeling and connection to what you do in your work, a connection that goes beyond acquired know-how and expertise, a connection that reflects your values and your own journey in life, allowing you to be alive in your work – this quote is still with me, after so many years. I still pursue this idea in everything I do and I think it was the one pinpoint in everything I have accomplished. There were quite a lot of people who tried to convince me that fire is something particular for young professionals and that I would somehow be growing out of it with time, but I am happy to have proved them wrong.

However, what I have learned over years is that, like every other fire, passion requires a particular environment to flourish – therefore, you will need the right company (and I don’t mean just the right employer here) and you will need to make room for growing. For more practical steps that I took and now associate with my evolution, I would list investing in my education, never believing that you can know enough and continuously sharpening my professional skills and expanding my knowledge. And, of course, surrounding myself with valuable people, that I respect and admire, people that I can look up to and people I will be continuously grateful for. 

If you are to choose just one thing, what is your most valued professional accomplishment so far?

I remember a moment, after concluding an extremely difficult and challenging project that lasted for approximately one year, when I asked the client to share his honest opinion about his experience with our work, and I did so in the context of a conference that we organised, where the client was invited as a guest speaker. My team and myself then listened to our client’s view, expressed in front of hundreds of people, and it was an extremely emotional moment for me. I remember this because seeing the value in what you do, as depicted by someone else who benefits from it, gives you the strength and inspiration to carry on and maybe even become a better professional the next day. I particularly took pride in knowing that our work increased company performance and employee wellbeing and I was humbled to know that we contributed to this.

What are the most respected values that you appreciate in work ethics?

I love this question, because I believe that people should talk more about values and a bit less about profit. Of course, values differ from person to person and from country to country, but what I personally value and pursue are these main aspects: growth (if you are not better or happier than last year, then maybe there is room for change), quality (especially in our field, your work is supposed to be unignorable in terms of quality, meaning that it is supposed to serve the purpose of the one’s requesting it, and not your own appreciation of work quality), commitment (great ideas are great, but they are supposed to be pursued, integrated and sustained in the long run, in order to be effective and serve their purpose), meaning (we are built to do meaningful things and we are built to grow through the value of our work) and authenticity (your work is supposed to reflect you, so that it allows you to bring your best to the table).

What is your sentiment regarding the most impactful trends for 2024 in your line of work?

I think the trends are the ones that are universally applicable nowadays: people are more interested in a functional work environment than ever, they are prioritizing their mental health and wellbeing and are willing to make changes to their lifestyle, that seemed crazy for previous generations. The speak up culture is extremely important and it encourages people of all generations to seek improvement in everything they do, personally or professionally. We see people everyday focusing on companies and services that align with their own values, while ignoring or calling out the ones that don’t. We see people everyday admitting that wellbeing is more important than the salary and striving to become happier and more fulfilled, more balanced and with a desire to strive for joy. This is a positive change, but it will shake up a lot of old mentalities and ways in which things are generally done.

What leadership style do you find most effective, what leadership style you prefer and how do you apply it? Which are the leaders that inspire you and for what reasons?

I read a study once, I think it was a study on the so called X and Y theories, focusing on how managers manage, in accordance with their view on employee motivation. X managers believed that employees take no joy in work and will try to avoid work to the best extent possible – therefore, X managers ruled rather than managed, and ran a tight ship, through constant micromanaging and a duo of reward/ punishment. Y managers believed that work can be extremely enjoyable if the organizational culture is appropriate and found themselves to be responsible for such organizational culture. I myself believe that Y managers are more in line with human nature and are better equipped to run a successful business, but I also believe that a scenario where everybody is equally intrinsically motivated and loves what they do for a living is rather an idealistic scenario. Therefore, in terms of leaders that inspire me, of course, there is a huge list, but I would describe the perfect leader as a “Z” manager, so somewhere in between the X’s and the Y’s. I was extremely lucky to have myself great managers (Alexandru Ene-Dragan and Jorg Menzer, to whom I am extremely grateful), that somehow made this Z management style feasible – meaning that they encouraged me to develop my own personal leadership style, and empowered me to become what I believed in, even if this wouldn’t have always been their personal choice.

In your opinion, what stands at the core of professional fulfilment?

I think professional fulfilment is best described by the Igikai – it is a place where what you’re good and skilled at, what brings you joy and what is useful for the ones around you, are all brought together. And I believe this is something different for everybody, something that everybody is supposed to identify for themselves.

What advises, insights and pieces of wisdom would you like to share with the young professionals working in your industry and field of expertise? What should they focus on, what challenges should they expect?

I think that, like many other fields, the legal field is also reinventing itself now and old challenges will not necessarily be the challenges of the future. In terms of the old ones, I would say that our work is an extremely challenging one, that requires a lot of sacrifice and devotion, especially if you want to become a voice in this field. This one, I believe, will still be applicable and I would encourage young professionals to strive for becoming the best version they can be, as soon as this is an option. For this to be feasible however, it is much easier to identify an area that resonates, that speaks to them, on a more personal level – I know that in the beginning, young professional tend to be anxious and take the job that is available, and this is perfectly fine, but my advice would be to seek out opportunities and slowly find what brings them joy and purpose. In the long run, it is more rewarding to choose something that suits you, rather than something that is popular or simply works for others. In terms of new challenges, I believe that we all should understand that AI will drastically change the way we think and work and it is cautious to count on the fact that things will change, regardless of how unchangeable they might seem now. Overall, finding your drive, while also understanding the dynamics of current changes in the world, would be my recommended approach.

Which are the power words in 2024 for you and what inspires you for this year in your work?

I think 2024 and the years to come are all about adjustment – we are surrounded by so many thinks that dynamically change and sometimes it can be hard to keep track of it all and continuously adapt and adjust. But I do believe that there is one thing that can make this journey easier, and that is seeing that change and struggles are a gift: they usually open up new possibilities that we wouldn’t even have dreamed of before and they push us to dig deep and reanalyze our own resources and inspiration. It’s a chance for growth and changing old patterns, and these two are powerful elements associated with a better self.