Mircea Geoana: NATO Support for Young Leaders and Innovators | E62 | In Search Of Excellence podcast

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Episode description

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Episode description

Welcome to the second part of our insightful conversation with Mircea Geoana, the Deputy Secretary General of NATO. Mircea was born and educated in communist Romania, finished his education in the West, and built a successful political and diplomatic career.

He was appointed as an ambassador to the U.S.A. and became the youngest ambassador in Romania’s history. He later served as a president of the Romanian Senate, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Prime Minister. In 2009, he narrowly lost the elections for the president of Romania when he received 49.6% of the votes.

Mircea is a board member of several organizations, including the World Economic Forum, The Aspen Institute, and the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a published author and has written several books on foreign policy and international relations.

00:00 NATO’s billion-dollar entrepreneur fund

NATO created an ecosystem where young entrepreneurs can test their ideas for free

Testing ideas in DIANA – Defense Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic

The Innovation Fund – The first ever multi-national sovereign venture capital fund

Competition with China

European HQ for DIANA is based at Imperial College in London

10:23 Mistakes made and things learned from them

Don't be satisfied with your learning

Aspen Institute in Colorado

Started Aspen Institute in Romania

Wishes to become a moderator of Aspen leadership seminars

15:20 Five ingredients of being a great leader

There are no natural-born leaders

There are many different types of leaders

Never be happy with your success (make room for progress)

17:55 How important it is to be funny as a team leader

A tendency to become rigid and dry from within over time

Try to be humble and listen to others

Everybody has something to offer

There is always something to learn

20:32 What does it take to be successful

Life is tough and has ups and downs

There is always another chance

Never give up

21:36 Extreme Preparation

Romanians are very talented people, but sometimes neglect preparation

Hard work is very important (talent is not enough)

In NATO, everything is done with thorough preparation

Preparing for the unexpected

Don’t take things too seriously

26:30 The importance of mentors

Believes in mentorship and, even more, in indirect mentorship

Started mentorship program with NATO

Randall’s mentorship program

Mircea’s dream is to bring programs to Romania

31:33 The secret to work-life balance

The balance between mind, body, and spirit

A tendency to have a foresight for bad things to happen

A Rand