Sneak peek of my interview about being a localization manager, or why diversity is a new buzzword for something as old as humankind

How does the life of a localization manager look like?
While asking this question, most people expect me to talk about source languages and target languages and pivot languages and translation KPIs and ISO 9000 quality management systems standards and TMs and glossaries and workflow optimization and... the endless stream of industry-specific lingo could go on and on.

All those things are for sure very important, and yet, at least to me, being a (good) localization manager is above all about self-awareness, stellar and consistent communication, self-control, diversity management and valuable relationships.

A relationship, every kind of relationship (romantic partnership, professional partnership, family relationship, friendship, being colleagues, neighborhood relationship, you name it), can be pleasant, happy, rewarding, quiet, funny, encouraging.
Or challenging, difficult, painful, disappointing, frustrating.

In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Thondup

better known as the 14th Dalai Lama

A relationship can actually be also merely boring, ordinary, not interesting at all. Or it can be all these things and more, depending on the days, your mood, the circumstances, your attitude.

Still, what matters is how you deal with the relationships, both in your private life and at work.

[Pics: Me, October 2017 -  With my naturally curly hair...
after five years, they are back.

© Radoslaw Kosiada]

Last week I got interviewed for Plinga's blog series "Heroes at Plinga".
It has been a fun one, and I had a chance to talk about diversity, work-life balance, servant leadership and more.

"What I want to do before I die?" Candy Chang and John Lennon can help you answer that question

When does one realize that life is getting serious?
That one is becoming an adult, after all?

While getting older, I find myself confronted almost on a daily basis with: friends who are getting married, who are starting a family and having children, who are falling in love, who are buying a house or moving to another city or making a career makeover... 

I am not yet much confronted with death, but it happens sometimes to hear that someone I love just lost a friend, a relative, a loved one.

[Art installation Before I Die by Candy Chang

Image credit: Candy Chang.Com]

In the song "Beautiful Boy" John Lennon says that life is what happens to us while we are busy making other plans. Life is somehow difficult to be planned and we are used to thinking that we have a lot of time. We are used to saying: "One day, I will do this and that". We are used to taking a lot of things for granted.