070: Public vs. Private Sector Leadership: What's the Difference? with Dr. Eva Balan-Vnuk

Made For More

What is it like leading teams in government agencies?

How different is it from leading teams in private organizations like Microsoft?

In this episode, I got to interview Dr. Eva Balan-Vnuk, the Chief Information Officer at the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Government of South Australia. Eva is a senior business & thought leader with experience in senior roles such as State Director for Microsoft. I met Eva at a conference in 2022 and was absolutely blown away by her leadership journey.

Tune in to learn more about what it's like working for the government, why you should never lower your standards as a leader, how to cope with culture shock at a new job, and much more.

Make sure you have your notebooks ready because this one's a cracker!

Topics We Discussed Include:

• Introduction (00:00)
• Getting to know Dr. Eva Balan-Vnuk (03:38)
• How Eva transitioned from working in tech to working for the government (04:46)
• What it means to work around lean processes (06:19)
• Biggest challenges working for the government (07:26)
• Why lowering standards sets everyone up for failure (10:02)
• Benefits of running a values workshop (15:30)
• Leaders act as they must, not as they feel they should (19:10)
• Characteristics of high-flying teams in government (20:09)
• What Eva does out of work to decompress (25:09)
• Tech in 2016 versus tech in 2023 (27:42)
• Top 5 tips for leaders and upcoming leaders (34:13)
• Parting thoughts (38:04)

Links and Resources:

Eva's Website

Eva's LinkedIn

Follow Eva on Twitter

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