industry thoughts from Clarteza

For most of my life I’ve been told to choose between the two things that I love: My passion for business or my creative musical expression. I studied music and business.

In fact, as a child and through my early twenties I felt as if I was always a part of two different worlds: “the real” business world and the creative “unreal” music, art world. Deep down I knew, that I embody both but it’s hard to be honest and talk about both, for fear of being perceived as not fully committed to … Continue Reading

I consult brands for a living and I read a lot about mindful living. Both interests converge on life experiences.

This year, I’m going to live what I preach. I will live and breathe experiences. I will also evaluate them along the way to know their incremental impact on my overall well-being.

For context, for couple of years now I have had a list of 100 things I want to accomplish in my life and my plan is to chip away every year.

My 2018 is ambitious. I’m willing to write about my plans, mainly … Continue Reading

Being mindful and enjoying the moment is essential. The present moment is all we truly have, but I’ve learned that unless we make a conscious effort to recognize it, the majority of our time is spent in the past or in the future.

A realization of the preciousness of the present moment is grounded in being grateful, and this alone can be truly uplifting. Sometimes, however, we take things for granted and miss the opportunity to cherish the real value of what we have. I see a true connection between the ability to … Continue Reading

I love Marcel Proust’s quote: “The Voyage of Discovery Consists not in Seeking New Landscapes but in Having New Eyes”. It describes the way we look at business issues.

What we do:

Our team focuses on finding innovative solutions to meet clients’ marketing and business needs. In our work we apply design thinking and we recognize that creativity is a collaborative skill. We function as a think tank of highly specialized experts to evaluate the business issue and create custom tailored solutions. Our lenses allow us to see issues from variety of different angles and, as such, we can better “connect the … Continue Reading

I live my grandmother’s dream every day. I live it with pride, with honor, and with gratitude.

My grandmother, Anna, was Estonian. Her parents were transplanted from their native Estonia to Crimea. At the age of two, my grandmother lost her mother, then her father died just seven years later, and she was left to be raised by her much older brother.

Then the war started. At fifteen years old, my grandmother was taken from the streets by the Germans and put in a concentration camp in Buchenwald, Germany. She had to work in a quarry. It was brutally difficult and painful … Continue Reading

I have always admired great leaders. I’ve tried to figure out what they do, not because they were very successful with their careers, but because they created value. They created value for the team they led, for their communities, and for clients they served.

I studied leadership at school, but mostly, I learned it on the job. I have seen bad leadership and how damaging it is, and observed remarkable leadership and how it lifts organizations.

What I have learned though, is that your leadership style has to match the style and culture you want to create within your organization.

Here’s what leadership … Continue Reading

We think we’re immune to change. We say, that’s just the way I am, the way I’ve always been. But the truth is, you can change. You are not defined by past choices and you can become that better self you imagine.

Here’s my advice on how to make that happen, gained from my recent work at making some real changes in my own life.

• The first and most important step is to make your mind up.

You may be able to imagine getting up early and having more time for coffee and reading … Continue Reading

Giving thanks is always a good idea, but the holiday gives us the perfect excuse to slow down and think more deeply about the many good things in our lives.

At Clarteza, we are so very thankful to love what we do! Together, we have built a creative, energetic, and collaborative team. We share and keep central the values of integrity and social responsibility; we find it our duty to make a difference in this world. We get to push boundaries and apply our true passion to our work. We know how special it is to love the work you do, … Continue Reading

At Clarteza, we are proud of the consistently creative and unique solutions we offer our clients. Part of our success lies in our process: We apply design thinking and team collaboration, building great solutions through small, iterative steps.

Design thinking is a method that allows a creative and adaptive process to discover the best solution. Our team have been proponents of this approach for several years, applying it in many different facets of our work. Because design thinking is integral to our process, we get the best solutions without losing time, money, or patience.

What is key in our approach is that … Continue Reading

At a certain point of my life I realized that I don’t fit in! I’m sure some of you have felt that way too. After working at big companies for over a decade I realized there might be something I do that’s not conforming to “the rules”. At big companies, I always tried to fix everything, find new solutions, create new departments, and eliminate inefficiencies (and yes this is my pet peeve!). Most importantly, I believed that some rules are meant to be broken. At heart, I was an entrepreneur, but … Continue Reading