Co-founder of MSC Marketing Bureau Maria Papacosta has more than 20 years of marketing, human resources, operations, executive development, and management expertise. She says, “I’m really lucky that I can continue study under the greatest.” As a Presence & Inspired Leadership Coach, she assists top executives in bringing out their true leadership traits and inspiring their teams and audiences. She also manages exceptional speakers and carefully chosen thought leaders in her capacity as a speaker manager.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Maria Papacosta:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
People usually describe me as an eternal optimist, a calm force, and a skillful problem solver. I would simply describe myself as curious. I’m curious about everything that is happening around me, whether at home or at work. Having said that, I’m not afraid to try new ways of doing things, and I’ve never been concerned about failing. Failing is just another learning experience and the only way to grow. I always see a problem as an opportunity, and I’m a firm believer that we are responsible for our own lives. It’s all about taking decisions and not simply making choices.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
In the past, I’ve worked with leading international companies in the services sector as a marketing manager (from Internet security to consulting services). I also founded a company that represented one of the major speaker bureaus in more than twenty countries.
For the past years, I have worked as a Presence and Inspired Leadership Coach and have co-founded MSC Bureau, a company that provides speaker management and marketing services to elite keynote speakers, authors, consultants, and thought leaders. I’m also a TEDx speaker curator and speaker coach.
I would summarize my professional experience as working for over 20 years with many leading personalities of our time, such as Nobel laureates, Olympic athletes, award-winning speakers and consultants, and bestselling authors.
Tell us about the inception of the company. How did it all start?
Since the beginning of my career, I’ve been working with professional speakers, authors, and consultants. At first, as a client of their services by inviting them at our company conferences, later as a speaker agent, and eventually as a speaker manager and presence and inspired leadership coach. Working in this environment, among leading thinkers and charismatic speakers and authors, it came naturally to me to study and research the areas of presence and inspired leadership. I wanted to understand what makes some people more inspirational than others and to be able to help professionals stand out from the crowd and make an impact.
My business partner is actually the one who took things a step further when he realized that in order to help others stand out, it wasn’t just about their self-development. These people needed the practical tools as well, such as social media presence, website development and publicity, to name a few. This led to the creation of M.S.C. Marketing Bureau, where our mission is to help professionals stand out and make an impact by nurturing their authentic leadership and building their brand voice. And we help our clients achieve their goals by offering them the whole array of services and tools that they need on their journey.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
In one word, I’d say integrity. I don’t make promises unless I know I can keep them. I value people with clear values who are honest and truly walk the talk. Although we live in a very competitive world, we’ve managed to become a leading company with amazing clients all over the world, because we’ve had the courage to say no and stick to our values and purpose. As I’ve said before, it’s all about taking decisions. We are committed to working with those whom we respect, learn from, and are proud to associate our name with, regardless of their position, seniority, or level of accomplishment.
Which are the major services of the company and how do the company to get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
Our services include speaker management, presence coaching, vision coaching & training, presentation skills coaching, inspired leadership coaching, personal branding, website development and SEO optimization, social media management and content creation, ghostwriting, publicity and exposure management, book editing, bestselling book strategy, storytelling coaching, and professional services branding.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
It really depends on how one describes innovation. For us, it’s definitely not innovation for the sake of innovation. Our focus is on delivering results. This means using what is already available in the world in the most efficient way. All of them necessitate consistency and perseverance.Finding new ways to communicate, attract attention, and make an impact is the essence of our everyday work. We don’t call that innovation. We call it work.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
From my experience, individual heroics are still fostered by many organizations. This does not mean that they’re not trying to change this, hence all the investments in building team processes and empowering teamwork. It seems like an never-ending story sometimes, as despite all efforts, when allowing individual heroics by default, you jeopardize any teamwork initiatives. I think that organizations fall into this rabbit hole when they don’t have a clear purpose and values. Without these two, foundations are weak, and when things are not going that well, heroes arise to save the day. In most cases, though, a hero might save the day, but not the year. This short-term success hinders steady and perpetual growth.
What are your responsibilities as the Co-Founder & Director of the company? What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
In the MSC Marketing Bureau, I’m responsible for the coaching and branding services. My focus is on working with our talented clients and aligning our team to deliver successful results. My happiest part of my daily routine is announcing great news to our clients—a major speaking engagement, a book that became a bestseller, an article that got published in the media of their dreams. All these moments, no matter how big or small,
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
To know what they want and go for it. To take decisions based on their purpose and values. To truly understand that they’re the only ones responsible for their lives.
