Before the elevator doors open
As R U OK? Day approaches, Dim Apostolovski from Clearwater Agency explains how being a broken human and showing his vulnerabilities helped him become a better leader.
For as long as I can remember, the sound of the elevator door opening each morning signified it was “game time”, a time when personal life and professional life would switch in an instant. A symbolic reminder to leave one world behind, as the professional workday began. Shoulders back, smile, greet team members and begin the day as planned, leaving the personal life at the door.
For many years, switching to “game time” served me well, it was simple, straight forward and expected. This reminder was instilled into me early in my leadership journey, “don’t ever forget, all eyes are on you now”. This was until I truly realised compartmentalising these two worlds would be both my greatest asset and my greatest weakness.
I was thrust into my leadership journey, like many leaders, before I was ready. Possessing strong technical subject matter expertise, ambition and performance, a leadership role was mine. Suddenly, I was leading a team of 25 as technical (search) director. Fast forwarding several years, I was appointed as general manager of the organisation with a team of 120, the largest independent digital marketing agency in Australia.
