Anna Kornacka

1. To start with your professional work. What is your area of professional specialization?

I deal with broadly understood soft skills in business – I work with managers from various industries and sectors, conducting training in areas such as effective communication, efficient management, leadership, public speaking, stress management, creativity, and self-organization.

2. What challenges do you encounter in your professional work?

I have been working with managers, middle and senior management for over twenty years and encounter extremely diverse challenges. Every person I work with brings a separate story, which I treat individually and uniquely. Currently, the biggest challenge in my work is the hindered and limited direct contact, which is the foundation of working on soft skills.

3. What key issues does the subject taught by you in the MBA studies address?

In the MBA studies, I teach the subject Design Thinking, which is design thinking, or more precisely – thinking like a designer. The subject concerns the design of services and products, and includes many workshop contents essential for this skill, such as workshops on creativity, emotional intelligence, stress management, and proactiveness.

4. What topics are most frequently discussed with students in your classes? What are students most interested in?

Discussions very often revolve around breaking stereotypes, which I must admit is my favorite subject matter – much of the content I convey is based on the latest research (especially in the field of neuroscience), including challenging what is stereotypically or habitually considered the norm. Such issues always arouse emotions and lead to extremely interesting, constructive discussions. Another dominant category during Q&A sessions are topics related to the individual, professional experiences of students – managers, who eagerly share them, which is also an additional value for all participants of the classes.

5. What skills do students acquire while studying the subject taught by you in the MBA program?

I have the pleasure of teaching a subject that offers great opportunities to address extremely interesting and universal issues – my ambition is for students, after these classes, to be able to navigate the realm of their own and other people's emotions, understand the mechanisms related to stress management, intellectual activity, and creativity, and to better understand their clients as well as team members, coworkers, and employees. All of this proves extremely useful both in the work of an effective manager and service designer, as well as in personal life – and these areas are worth treating in combination.

Anna Kornacka – business trainer, entrepreneur, personal advisor, and social activist. Since 2000, she has been running her own training company, inspiring and supporting business, public administration, and academia in their development. She specializes in the area of soft skills (management, motivation, stress management, public speaking, creativity, didactics). Academic lecturer, author of a dozen publications dedicated to effective communication and management. She has conducted training for teams from various industries and diverse areas, having worked for organizations such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economy, the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution, trained staff at universities such as the Warsaw University of Technology, the Medical University of Warsaw, and carried out educational projects for universities across Poland: the University of Warsaw, SWPS University, WSB University in Poznań, and trained several hundred business teams (including Tieto, OT Logistics, PKO Bank, BOŚ Bank, Environmental Protection Fund, Modlin Airport, LarsLaj, McDonald's). President of the Management Board of the Association of West Pomeranian Employers, member of the General Council of the Lewiatan Confederation, vice-chairperson of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship Social Dialogue Council. Active in both local and nationwide social activities, including initiator and president of the management board of the "Women for Szczecin and the Region" association, member of the Institute for Germany and Northern Europe. In 2009, she was chosen by the readers of "Gazeta Wyborcza" ("Wysokie Obcasy" supplement) as the Polish Woman of 2008, and in 2017, by the journalists of "Głos Szczeciński", as the most influential woman of West Pomerania.