Valeriu Binig, Enel Romania: Emotional intelligence, empathy and agility are critical competencies for a business leader in 2020

Valeriu Binig, Head of Regulatory & Antitrust at Enel Romania was a member of the jury of The Diplomat Excellence Awards in all editions since establishment, being also a “consultant” in terms of messages to be delivered by such events. He was also the inspirer of the Smart Transformation Forum, having a long lasting professional cooperation relationship with Mirela Gavra, the publisher of The Diplomat – Bucharest.

In his opinion, emotional intelligence, empathy and agility are critical competencies for a business leader in 2020.

Regarding the “must-have” work skills for an employee to stay relevant for the future, Binig says: “First of all, not necessarily a joke, to be able to do things that a Robotic Process Automation application is not (yet) able to do. To be able to bring added value or to avoid critical consequences that pertain to the mankind superiority over the machines. To be a team player and to stay human.”

According to Binig, the industrial Revolution 4.0 brings in power the “millennials”, “for whom the values I was raised with in the professional life are not any more at the center.”

He explains that the reference system changes: “While in the past a company was expected to bring value to the shareholders, now mankind stresses responsibilities towards the shareholders but also towards the society and towards the environment. Mankind looks differently to companies, the values of the ones composing the company are in adaptation. I would add to this trio the duty towards coworkers, the mission to make the workplace a place for personal fulfillment and satisfaction, a place of harmonious cooperation aiming at achieving common goals, a place for a good time as part of the overall day duration. I highly respect the right of my co-workers to the work-life balance. Sometimes I interfere in signaling them that they approach burnout and they are needed long term in the team.”

Binig says the milestone of his career was the moment when Professor Aureliu Leca invited/ recruited him to become Deputy General Director of RENEL in 1997. “This exceptional exposure has marked and facilitated my entire professional career,” he adds.

In his opinion, the power sector is at the crossroads of policies and politics. “The land­scape becomes more and more complex, with environmental, social, technological, macro-economic, diplomatic, transformational, informational etc. implications and challenges,” he explains. “It is the duty of sector professionals to stay tuned and updated and to communicate clearly the implications of decisions to me made based on insufficient grasping of the sector complexities. This communication should be both external and internal, as companies employees have also difficulties in understanding the complexities in the absence of proper communication from the vision creators and owners.”

(From the print edition)