Meet Anca Mihalache, a person who believes real impact lives where purpose meets meaningfulness. With a sharp eye for details and a healthy skepticism, Anca has managed teams, contributed to architecting cultures desired to combine structure with humanity.
Anca stepped into her leadership shoes through her experience as a teacher , and for more than two decades in the IT space, as Talent Acquisition Leader. Anca’s professional mission is fueled by the fact that she has learned to care about the outcome, more than the output and the courage to do the work that matters, both for the people and the business.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I always toss a quick smile to this question just to buy some time to answer.
Who is Anca today?
Part innerchild, part my chatGPT history
Meaning?
If I tell you, I will have to kill you.
Kidding.
Personally, I’m a mom to two incredible daughters. Our weekly school runs have become a playground for unexpected life lessons, some given, some taken. They react so candidly, often forcing me to pause, reflect, activate my inner child and understand where the emotions are coming from. I love depth, good conversations, and I giggle hunting interior design objects on my Sunday getaway.
Professionally, I’ve spent my career at the intersection of structure and humanity, learning leadership both at the kitchen table and at work, building teams, managing conflicts, and asking the “uncomfortable” questions.
What inspired your career journey and led you to where you are today?
I was a teacher for more than five years, and I think that gave me the privilege of living my adult years with childhood[again] together.
I was a work in progress while building other human works in progress. I learned with them the lesson of vulnerability as a tool, the power of micro wins, that authenticity creates more buy-in than perfection.
I learned that you lead better through example and influence than through authority. I later applied them in recruiting, selling, engaging, coping with situation shifts, carrying difficult conversations.
Recruitment and leadership became my professional playground and I’m inspired by those moments when we bring an impact to people’s lives.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
There is no such thing as a typical day for me, but rather striving to accept life with curiosity. Waking up not rushing into my notifications and to-dos, taking a moment to anchor myself in how I want to feel that day. Then, I set off to conquer the day, not let the day conquer me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
There are always ups and downs, and, of course, sometimes I feel burdened and, then, a good support system at work or at home will make the difference.
At work, different days require different abilities of me, some I possess, some I cultivate, some I learn the hard way. The more curiosity you have to discover, choose, reinforce, expose, make mistakes, the more you will evolve professionally no matter the function.
What is your favorite technology or tool, and why?
Even though I am in the IT space, I am not a technologist, so, that said, my tool of choice is drumroll….. chatGPT or the sort.
We excel at some abilities and we need to compensate others. Boy, was I more interested in fixing my car’s error in the middle of nowhere with chatGPT than anything else!
And it worked!
What is the best book, article, or podcast you’ve discovered recently?
One of the “discoveries” I’ve made recently is the work of Julien Blanc, a transformational coach I follow on instagram.
I like his content because it avoids “positive thinking” clichés, instead Julien is teaching a 3 step way to embrace pain and release it, how to love your inner child, how to find motivation, etc. I love his practical, raw approach to self-acceptance, inspired by his authenticity.
Which AscentCore value resonates with you the most, and why?
I would say Relationships.
And not only in the fluffy sense of networking, but bridging trust with people over the years.
This means listening, taking mindful decisions, showing up. So, if you ever find people in your professional life, whom you are constantly being authentic with, you both deliver on the promises, you are able to challenge each other’s ideas, pivot fast from bad decisions together, and have each other’s backs…”marry” them! [haha]
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned during your time here?
That influence doesn’t always come from visibility, sometimes meaningful change happens quietly, when you choose depth over noise.
