“20+ years in HR, and I'm still learning things I thought I'd mastered long ago.”
I've been with PwC Romania for nearly six years now, leading a team of 23 as Human Capital Leader for 1,100+ colleagues across Romania and Moldova. And honestly? The biggest surprise has been how much I'm still figuring out.
Take communication. After two decades, you'd think I'd have it down. But when you're in a room with three generations — all wanting the same things (to feel good at work, to be paid fairly, to be efficient), yet expressing it in completely different ways — you realise communication is never "done."
I've learnt to create simple spaces where teams just talk about the basics: How do you prefer to communicate? What does "urgent" mean in a message? And from something that simple, people start laughing, connecting, understanding each other. The simplest things have the biggest impact.
What development looks like at this stage isn't generic courses you can Google. It's highly specialised and applied. I can read about empathy anywhere — but how do I actually apply empathy in a client meeting when I work in consulting? What does it concretely look like? That's the learning that matters now.
In the past year, I've been driving automation and AI adoption within my own team — convincing 1,100 people to request certificates from a bot, running internal campaigns to shift how our entire organisation interacts with HR. I didn't take a course on that. I learnt by doing: running campaigns, gathering feedback, iterating, communicating constantly.
What I value most? The freedom to shape my own role. After the pandemic, my job didn't change because someone told me to — I changed it myself. My team and I proactively automated processes, rethought how we work, focussed more on wellbeing. Nobody prescribed that. PwC gave me the space to experiment and innovate.
My vision for the next few years? Bring more technology into HR — not to replace the human element, but to free us up so we can go deeper into wellbeing and mental health support. When you automate the repetitive work, you create space to be truly present for people.
Here's what I'd tell any experienced leader considering their next move:
Knowing a concept isn't the same as applying it in your specific context. The moment you think you're done learning is the moment you stop being effective. A good company doesn't just "develop" you — it gives you the environment, the complexity, and the challenge that keep you sharp.
PwC didn't hand me a script. They gave me a platform and said: make it yours. That's been a bigger development opportunity than any single training could ever be.
Take communication. After two decades, you'd think I'd have it down. But when you're in a room with three generations — all wanting the same things (to feel good at work, to be paid fairly, to be efficient), yet expressing it in completely different ways — you realise communication is never "done."
I've learnt to create simple spaces where teams just talk about the basics: How do you prefer to communicate? What does "urgent" mean in a message? And from something that simple, people start laughing, connecting, understanding each other. The simplest things have the biggest impact.
What development looks like at this stage isn't generic courses you can Google. It's highly specialised and applied. I can read about empathy anywhere — but how do I actually apply empathy in a client meeting when I work in consulting? What does it concretely look like? That's the learning that matters now.
In the past year, I've been driving automation and AI adoption within my own team — convincing 1,100 people to request certificates from a bot, running internal campaigns to shift how our entire organisation interacts with HR. I didn't take a course on that. I learnt by doing: running campaigns, gathering feedback, iterating, communicating constantly.
What I value most? The freedom to shape my own role. After the pandemic, my job didn't change because someone told me to — I changed it myself. My team and I proactively automated processes, rethought how we work, focussed more on wellbeing. Nobody prescribed that. PwC gave me the space to experiment and innovate.
My vision for the next few years? Bring more technology into HR — not to replace the human element, but to free us up so we can go deeper into wellbeing and mental health support. When you automate the repetitive work, you create space to be truly present for people.
Here's what I'd tell any experienced leader considering their next move:
Knowing a concept isn't the same as applying it in your specific context. The moment you think you're done learning is the moment you stop being effective. A good company doesn't just "develop" you — it gives you the environment, the complexity, and the challenge that keep you sharp.
PwC didn't hand me a script. They gave me a platform and said: make it yours. That's been a bigger development opportunity than any single training could ever be.
