On a personal note
Originating from Greece and living in the Netherlands since 2005 (yes, I can chit-chat in Dutch :-)). My youth dreams were all about working on airplanes or building artificial limbs. Those were my university goals. I thought I’d be working with hardware or mechanical things. Turns out… life happens, and new horizons emerge. For me, that has been web-based applications since 1999.
I truly love what I do. Product development provides me with the right balance of creativity and structure. It also offers plenty of opportunities to satisfy my curiosity by learning and applying new things.
Agile, lean startup, design thinking, as well as solid product architecture and financial intelligence, are all things that excite me. I am a lifelong learner and prefer to work on anything that has spice and challenges to keep me sharp.
I read quite a bit. Some would say I am boring as I like to read books related to the craft I try to master. Like I said, I really love what I do. Occasionally I update my instagram profile with a book I’ve read.
Over the years, I have compiled a deck: my self-manual. I self-reflect regularly, and each year I revisit it to update it with my learnings about myself. This includes my beliefs, interests, allergies, and realisations about how the world operates. The things that motivate me remain consistent: strategy, teamwork, results, commitment, quality, innovation, and wins.
You can read about how this personal manual originated and its significance for my team leadership style here.
In my personal life, I enjoy cooking for friends and family (sometimes also for my team :-)), and freezing at ice hockey rinks while cheering for my son Kimon. I often take on projects with him, gently introducing him to electronics, coding, and the creative process of making things. I hope he will continue to derive as much joy from this as I do.
