Ladies–and yes, gentlemen– listen up too. It’s time to throw out the rulebook and rewrite your own. If you want a leading career that lasts –if you want to walk into a cigar lounge, a boardroom, a negotiation, a factory floor, or even a VIP dinner at a cigar festival and own the room –here’s the truth:
“Whether you’re lighting a cigar or lighting up a boardroom –you choose the flame.”
Dr. Anastasia Psomiadi, Founder, SOTL Global Movement*
Read in the magazine (rotate your device for a better reading experience):
It All Starts With You
Your relationship with yourself sets the tone. Forget the noise. Forget the expectations. Forget what a “woman or man in leadership” should be. Let go of your past and move forward. You can’t lead anyone if you’re at war with yourself –whether you’re sealing a deal over cigars, leading a master blender tasting, organizing a cigar lounge event, or walking into a room full of strangers, it’s your energy they’ll feel first.
Be Who You Are. Break the Stereotypes
Own your desires. Own your limits. Laugh at the labels society throws your way. Escape from the collective trauma and the chains of your social identities! You didn’t ask for those chains –why wear them?
Live the present with power –your power– and let that presence be healing, not hiding. Whether you’re bold and loud or calm and calculating, own it like a perfectly tailored suit. Break out of the crowd, even if that crowd is full of high-powered professionals who dress the same, talk the same, and dim their fire to fit in. You’re not here to blend in –you’re here to blaze.
Build Your Personal Brand –Ethos is Your Greatest Asset
Your ethics are your precious currency. Integrity turns heads long after looks fade. Let your name whisper power and principle before you even walk through the door. Are you known as the one who keeps their word? Who respects others? Who handles both success and failure with grace? Who supports others expecting nothing in return? That reputation will open more doors than any title on your business card ever will.
Spread joy –it’s contagious
Joy is fuel. It helps you survive, heal, and thrive. Create small, intentional moments of joy: your morning coffee, a great cigar, a deep belly laugh, a walk in nature, becoming a member of a charity community, or a spontaneous conversation with a stranger.
When you live in joy, you radiate strength –and you become the kind of leader that you actually want for yourself! And here’s the twist: joyful people are powerful people. So light your inner flame and let it burn.
For Leading, Empathy is Your Secret Weapon
Want loyalty from your clients? Your partners? Respect them first. Learn what they need, what excites, scares, and motivates the people around you. Touch their hearts, not just their minds. Connect with them. Ask them what they dream of, what keeps them up at night, what they long for.
Empathy is not weakness –it’s love for yourself and for the other. And when you turn that love into a business strategy, you create magic that no competitor can copy.
So, dare to sculpt your own self and create your own path, because “fortune favors the bold” –a saying echoed by Alexander the Great.
*Entrepreneur | Speaker | Sustainability & ESG Expert | Guest Lecturer & Course Developer | Social Innovator
