Welcome to a new edition of the Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino series. On this episode, we talk with Daria Rudnik—founder, CEO, team architect, leadership coach, strategist, author, and speaker who helps overloaded leaders build high-trust, self-sufficient teams so they can achieve better results with less burnout.
Daria is the author of CLICKING, co-author of The AI Revolution, and creator of Aidra.AI, an AI-powered leadership coach designed to support modern leaders navigating complexity, disruption, and constant change. A former Chief People Officer and ex-Deloitte professional, she brings more than 15 years of global leadership experience to her work with executives and organizations worldwide.
Rather than focusing on what leaders should do, Daria focuses on what they can do—especially in the face of uncertainty, rapid technological shifts, and the crushing overload many leaders face today. From her journey from Russia to her current base in Israel, this conversation explores leadership, AI, team design, resilience, and the future of work. Enjoy this insightful and timely discussion.
Daria is the author of CLICKING, co-author of The AI Revolution, and creator of Aidra.AI, an AI-powered leadership coach designed to support modern leaders navigating complexity, disruption, and constant change. A former Chief People Officer and ex-Deloitte professional, she brings more than 15 years of global leadership experience to her work with executives and organizations worldwide.
Rather than focusing on what leaders should do, Daria focuses on what they can do—especially in the face of uncertainty, rapid technological shifts, and the crushing overload many leaders face today. From her journey from Russia to her current base in Israel, this conversation explores leadership, AI, team design, resilience, and the future of work. Enjoy this insightful and timely discussion.
In this episode of Famous Interviews with Joe Dimino, Daria Rudnik shares how leaders can navigate complexity, build resilient teams, and avoid burnout in a rapidly changing world:
- From overload to team empowerment — why leaders must shift from doing everything themselves to building high-trust, self-sufficient teams.
- Leadership in times of disruption — insights on navigating uncertainty, global change, and the evolving role of AI in organizations.
- Designing teams that work — practical strategies for creating resilient cultures that sustain performance without exhausting leaders.
- The future of leadership — combining human judgment, strong team systems, and AI-powered tools like Aidra.AI to lead effectively in modern organizations.
(00:00-00:20) Joe Dimino
Well, excellent. I'm ready. All right. Well, it's wonderful to meet you. Thank you so much for taking a minute out today. Well, thanks for having me. Absolutely. So before we get into your work and your world, I want to know this. Six years ago, this pandemic was changing the world. How did you get through that era and how did it change the way that you live and work today?
(00:21-00:49) Daria Rudnik
Well, for me, it was, I mean, I know it was hard for most people, but for me, it was a good change to like being connected with so many people all over the world. And it completely changed the way I work. I mean, I'm full remote now. So let's, let's get into the heart and soul of your work right now. I'm going to put you in front of a bunch of 12 year olds in a school. It's career day. And one of the kids wants to know what you do for a living. How do you explain what you do for a living?
(00:51-01:14) Daria Rudnik
Well, I help their parents have fun at work, to be honest. I mean, really, I want people to feel well at work. So I work with managers that motivate and engage, not motivate and engage, but help people feel well at work and produce meaningful results so that everyone is happy. So when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? What was your dream job?
(01:16-01:34) Daria Rudnik
Well, at some point I wanted to be a ballerina. I grew up in Moscow, Russia, and ballet is a big thing, and I didn't want to be a ballerina, but I wasn't a small girl. I was kind of plump, big girl, but still I was jumping around. Yeah.
(01:34-01:50) Joe Dimino
So talk to me a little bit about what kinds of seeds were planted early on in your life that made you become a coach, that made you be around executives and be a team architect and help people find their destiny and a better work environment.
(01:51-02:20) Daria Rudnik
I never planned that. And it was through various connections with different people who shared some of their personal stories and some of the learnings that they had. I said, oh, wow, that's interesting. I want to try that. That's how I found out about NLP. And then that's how I found out about what HR people do and what's learning and development and what's training. And then kind of moving from one mentor or one inspiring person to another. That's how I got here.
(02:20-02:30) Joe Dimino
So talk to me a little bit about your geographical migration. So you talked about Russia in the beginning. When did you when did you get to Israel kind of how have you traveled geographically?
(02:31-03:01) Daria Rudnik
Well, I'm originally from Russia. Most of my work, like corporate experience was in Moscow. I worked for some international companies. So I had experience of working in the U.S. I worked with some Latin American countries, some European countries. And then about like three and a half years ago, we moved with my family. We moved to Israel. So, yeah, now I'm happy to work remotely with all like the world and many, many countries.
(03:01-03:15) Joe Dimino
Japan, Australia, US, everything. Wow. So prior to becoming a coach, what was one of your favorite job experiences that made you feel like you wanted to help people get to that place that you were at?
(03:16-03:35) Daria Rudnik
I was lucky. I mean, during my career, I was really lucky to work with some amazing companies like Deloitte, which was great. They had great culture. They had great learning experience for people. And I was there as a learning expert. And then I worked for some companies, some startups that really valued...
(03:35-04:04) Daria Rudnik
people and culture. And they were talking about how important the culture is. And I saw how strong culture within those organizations actually helps those companies survive some multiple disruptions and be the best customer service provider within this area, within the whole Russia. So yeah, that's how I learned how important culture is and how it's important to build those cultures. So talk to me a little bit about
(04:07-04:27) Joe Dimino
A little bit about a hero or an inspirational force that's allowed you to find your job right now, to find your role in the professional world. Who's been that for you? The role? Well, no. Who's been an inspiration or a hero in your life that's allowed you to find your job, to find your place?
(04:28-04:58) Daria Rudnik
Well, I can't name one person. Like, as I mentioned, there were different people. Like at some point there was like one of the friends in college and then there was one of the trainers that taught me NLP and taught me how to do trainings. And there was my manager. And then there was the CEO of the startup that I mentioned. So these are the people and I learned from them. I can't name like one person.
(04:59-05:24) Joe Dimino
So you've written books on AI, you've co-authored the AI revolution. Talk to me a little bit about, you know, the thing about AI is that it's moving so fast. It's just blindingly fast. What is your take on AI in the workplace? Do you believe that it's going to automate things? What do you see AI doing in the workforce as we move forward?
(05:26-05:48) Daria Rudnik
Well, I mean, I love the topic and I love the question. AI is not technical change. It's not a technical transformation. We've been through digital transformation where there was a lot of tech, but there was also a lot of change management and resistance and fear. And compared with AI, there was nothing. There was a lot of fear when it comes to AI. People are afraid that it will replace them.
(05:48-06:13) Daria Rudnik
There is a lot of, like, it changes how teams work, how organizations work. It changes the workplace dynamics because not only, like, things are being automated, our thinking process sometimes is becoming automated. And we don't want that. We want to keep the human judgment to ourselves. And sometimes at some point, we kind of dedicate too much. We offload too much to AI. And at that point, we...
(06:13-06:42) Daria Rudnik
We lose connection to our work. We lose judgment. We lose engagement. And I work with teams who've been through that process of losing motivation and engagement because they're delegated too much to AI. So we need to be really mindful about how we integrate AI in our workplace because it is going to stay there and it's going to change how we work together. So having those people in the loop and keeping human judgment to ourselves is a critical thing when it comes to AI transformation. Yeah.
(06:43-07:08) Joe Dimino
The other part of A.I. is that there's this fear that it could become a negative force on this planet. It could do really bad things. What's your take on that? I mean, and that's a common question. It's a common fear. We've seen it in Hollywood movies. It's just we know how human beings work. But what's your beat on it? Do you think we'll continue to harness it as humans or do you think there's a chance that it might supersede our expectations?
(07:10-07:31) Joe Dimino
We have so many things that can destroy humanity, like honestly. And this is just another one. It's how we use it. Yeah. Well, I heard someone say at one point, AI is going to be a reflection of humanity. And I think overwhelmingly humanity is good. There's a lot of good things that happen every day.
(07:31-07:57) Joe Dimino
And if it's a reflection of that, then hopefully we have hope for the future for it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I do have faith in humans and that AI and people can collaborate for better future. So let me ask you this. If you could meet a coach or like a business mind, sit down, have lunch, ask questions that might help you on your journey. Anybody on the planet, who would you love to meet and talk to?
(07:59-08:26) Daria Rudnik
There are two people. I'd love to have a conversation with Marshall Goldsmith and Dori Clark. What would you want to know? What would be some questions you would ask? I think Marshall Goldsmith is a marketing genius. I mean, I don't know him as a coach, but the way he works and he builds network is just amazing. And I'd love to learn how he builds those networks and what are they...
(08:27-08:44) Daria Rudnik
He shares it online a lot, but kind of having this access to the source of this wisdom would be great. And Dori, she's also a lot about networking and marketing and being out there for people and building relationship and building presence online.
(08:45-09:13) Joe Dimino
So the one thing that you're doing as a coach is you're helping people have confidence in coaches and how that works. What was the first coach that you had that made you love this pursuit of being a coach? So there was a transformational coaching training that I took. I don't do transformational coaching. I'm more on the leadership coaching and behavior side, but that's where I experienced...
(09:14-09:40) Daria Rudnik
how we can broaden perspective. So how we can see not just what is in front of us, but like broader and broader and broader and how that perspective actually helps us, it helped me to see other ways of behaving, other ways of feeling, other ways, like there's so many other ways of doing things when you have this broader perspective. And that's when I thought, okay, that's interesting. I want to explore more. I want to find out more about that.
(09:41-10:03) Joe Dimino
What's been one of the most memorable client experiences that you had? Maybe it was difficult. Maybe you thought the road was going to be really almost too much to bear, but it turned out and it worked out. Do you have a client success story like that? I do have a lot of very interesting client stories and it's hard to pick one. I know one.
(10:05-10:22) Daria Rudnik
And I like it because when we met, he was a tech executive in a multinational company and he didn't know what's next. And one of the thoughts, okay, what's my next career step?
(10:22-10:47) Daria Rudnik
and through some conversations and reflections and exploring like having this broader perspective we actually came to the idea that like he doesn't need to like find another job what he really wants is helping people and sharing his expertise and he launched like he established his own consulting company and now he's running his consulting business with some of the folks that he like invited to to on this journey with him and
(10:47-11:12) Joe Dimino
And I think that's that's great because, well, first of all, he found out what he loves doing best and started doing that. And he also invited people to come along. So what is it in the morning when that alarm clock goes off? What gives you the energy to do this job at a high level? And obviously, when you're coaching, you have to get to the head of your client and there can be some messy stuff. How do you protect yourself, take care of your soul and do your job at a high level every day?
(11:15-11:44) Daria Rudnik
There was one thing that helps me a lot. I practice Tai Chi. I started doing that like a few months ago. I mean, it's not even a year, but I feel how powerful it is in terms of feeling my body and feeling the tensions in my body and kind of feeling more centered and calm and clear my head. So it's not just like physical exercises, but it's a mindfulness practice for me. And I absolutely love it.
(11:45-12:07) Joe Dimino
So let me ask you this. Of everything that you've accomplished professionally on your timeline, what are you the proudest of? Oh, my recent. The most recent is my book. Yes. Talk to me about your book. How did the book idea come about? How good does it feel that it's out? Give me an overview of the book.
(12:08-12:36) Daria Rudnik
Well, I always wanted to write a book. I think I have a friend who wrote a book. And I was thinking, okay, well, what should I write about? What should I write about? And then I thought, since I work with teams, I wanna write about teams. And I wanna write something for team leaders that will help them build amazing teams, even when I'm not around, when they don't have me. They can just read the book, do some stuff, have better teams and better culture. And I started to write this book
(12:37-13:02) Daria Rudnik
I think it was like 2020. I didn't finish it then. Then I said it again in 2022. Didn't finish it. But then 2024, it looks like every two years, I started writing that again. Like this last August, August 25, it came out live and now I have it and it feels great.
(13:02-13:23) Daria Rudnik
So when you actually got the box full of the books for the first time, what was that feeling like when you saw it happen? That I have... First of all, I've reached my goal and I love taking the box. Here it is. That I have something that I can...
(13:23-13:48) Daria Rudnik
I mean, it actually helps me to speak about what I do and to share my tools and knowledge. And so whenever someone asks me, okay, how do I do that? I say, okay, I have that in my book. It's like on page this, you can read about five levels of team trust. It's very clear. Go there. You'll find it there. Or like, how do I do a team charter? It's in my book. Here is a workshop scenario, how you do a team charter with your team.
(13:48-14:14) Daria Rudnik
So it helped me structure my tools and framework so that I can share it with other people, whether it's a book or just like talking about that. So it feels good. So when you think about the word retirement, what comes in your mind? You know, we get mired in our careers and that word retirement looms out there. What do you think about when you hear that word retirement? I think about writing more books. Yeah.
(14:15-14:37) Joe Dimino
Yeah. So let's say you had a dream tonight and you ran into the 18 year old version of you and you walked into a room and you had like a movie projector and you played like a 60 second highlight clip of your life and said that's how your life has turned out so far. But that young version of you believe that your life has turned out the way it has. Yeah. Yeah.
(14:37-15:01) Daria Rudnik
yeah i'm like i had very high expectations of myself like all the time so when i see like i i was a chief people officer i have a great family i moved to another country like i probably say oh yeah that's what i was that's that's me would you give that young virgin any advice yeah absolutely keep your contacts live i mean
(15:03-15:19) Daria Rudnik
Networking is not just talking to people, meeting people, and then forgetting about them when you change a job. But whenever you change a job, whenever you meet interesting people, keep those connections live. That's the biggest, I mean, the most important advice I would give myself.
(15:20-15:42) Joe Dimino
So let's say you walked into a room of everybody that's known you throughout your career in a professional business sense. And you went to a podium and you had to tell them one fun story about your life. Maybe a wonderful place you traveled to jumping out of an airplane. Just a seminal experience that might humanize you a little bit to that room. What would be a fun story you would tell that group?
(15:44-16:11) Daria Rudnik
Well, since you mentioned jump out of the airplane, I have exactly that story. I was traveling, I was hiking on the hills of Kamchatka volcanoes. And with a lot of volcanoes, we were like hiking up and down. And at some point I was meditating at like one of the volcanoes. And the energy there feels, I mean, it feels really, really great. A lot of hills and mountains and nature, and it feels so powerful.
(16:11-16:30) Daria Rudnik
So I did that one meditation, and then we went back. Next month, I jumped with a parachute. And the same month, I bought a car and started driving. I had my driving license, but I didn't drive, and I was kind of afraid of that. But after that meditation, I did two of the most crazy things I never thought I would do.
(16:31-16:53) Joe Dimino
That's wonderful. So at the end of the day, everyone has a perception of you. Family, friends, all of your clients, everyone that gets your books, everyone that knows you, but you run the show. What's your perception of you? Who do you think you are? I think I'm someone who wants to help people.
(16:55-17:16) Daria Rudnik
But maybe not because of them, but because it helps me feel that I'm doing something meaningful. And having meaning in life is very important. And the hardest part of my life is when I was losing meaning. What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? So I like having this meaning in my life. It gives me strength.
(17:17-17:40) Joe Dimino
So I have to know, coming from Russia, being in Israel, those are two regions of the world that have historically had levels of strife and conflict and overcoming and just so many things. We're doing that in America right now, where there's a lot of things that are coming out of here. Do you wake up hopeful every day? Where's your level of hope on this planet in 2026?
(17:40-18:07) Daria Rudnik
Oh, I do. I do wake up hopeful every day because otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to live in those places. But I do believe in the greatness of humans and that we can overcome a lot of things. I mean, we've gone so far, but we've been like through very hard times as humanity. And now here we are with AI and healthcare and everything. And
(18:07-18:37) Joe Dimino
Yeah, we're still humans. We make mistakes, but if we're kinder to each other, we'll make it. So I have to know, as someone that's into AI, if you could get into a time machine and either go into the future 20 years from now and see what's going on, or go back in time and see one event that happened in human history, where would you go? What would you love to see? I want to see the future, definitely. Okay. How far into the future?
(18:38-19:05) Joe Dimino
100 years. Wow. So when I was a kid, I remember the Jetsons and I thought we were going to be flying cars. Thank God we're not. We're already dangerous enough on the ground. So do you think we're going to get to this automated point? What's your I mean, like when you close your eyes and think 100 years from now, what's going to ultimately be the big differences? What do you think is going to be like, what do you think it's going to look like?
(19:06-19:25) Daria Rudnik
For me, it's space. Getting off this blue rock. Space travel. I don't know whether there'll be any connections with other civilizations or not, but being out understanding more about the space, which will give us more understanding about ourselves.
(19:25-19:54) Daria Rudnik
That's wonderful. So if anybody wants to pick up a copy of your new book, if you want to hold it up clicking, if anybody wants to hire you, if anybody wants to reach out, any of the other wonderful work that you're doing, where do they go? Well, there are two places. Go on LinkedIn and connect with them on LinkedIn. I'm very open to connections and messages in DMs. Ask me any questions you have. And obviously go to my website, daddyarooding.com, where you have all the information about my book, my newsletter, and everything that I do.
(19:55-20:08) Joe Dimino
Okay, I will put all these links in the show notes. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking a minute out today. It's a wonderful story. Have a wonderful new year. Well, thank you, Joey. The questions are really interesting. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's been wonderful.
Well, excellent. I'm ready. All right. Well, it's wonderful to meet you. Thank you so much for taking a minute out today. Well, thanks for having me. Absolutely. So before we get into your work and your world, I want to know this. Six years ago, this pandemic was changing the world. How did you get through that era and how did it change the way that you live and work today?
(00:21-00:49) Daria Rudnik
Well, for me, it was, I mean, I know it was hard for most people, but for me, it was a good change to like being connected with so many people all over the world. And it completely changed the way I work. I mean, I'm full remote now. So let's, let's get into the heart and soul of your work right now. I'm going to put you in front of a bunch of 12 year olds in a school. It's career day. And one of the kids wants to know what you do for a living. How do you explain what you do for a living?
(00:51-01:14) Daria Rudnik
Well, I help their parents have fun at work, to be honest. I mean, really, I want people to feel well at work. So I work with managers that motivate and engage, not motivate and engage, but help people feel well at work and produce meaningful results so that everyone is happy. So when you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? What was your dream job?
(01:16-01:34) Daria Rudnik
Well, at some point I wanted to be a ballerina. I grew up in Moscow, Russia, and ballet is a big thing, and I didn't want to be a ballerina, but I wasn't a small girl. I was kind of plump, big girl, but still I was jumping around. Yeah.
(01:34-01:50) Joe Dimino
So talk to me a little bit about what kinds of seeds were planted early on in your life that made you become a coach, that made you be around executives and be a team architect and help people find their destiny and a better work environment.
(01:51-02:20) Daria Rudnik
I never planned that. And it was through various connections with different people who shared some of their personal stories and some of the learnings that they had. I said, oh, wow, that's interesting. I want to try that. That's how I found out about NLP. And then that's how I found out about what HR people do and what's learning and development and what's training. And then kind of moving from one mentor or one inspiring person to another. That's how I got here.
(02:20-02:30) Joe Dimino
So talk to me a little bit about your geographical migration. So you talked about Russia in the beginning. When did you when did you get to Israel kind of how have you traveled geographically?
(02:31-03:01) Daria Rudnik
Well, I'm originally from Russia. Most of my work, like corporate experience was in Moscow. I worked for some international companies. So I had experience of working in the U.S. I worked with some Latin American countries, some European countries. And then about like three and a half years ago, we moved with my family. We moved to Israel. So, yeah, now I'm happy to work remotely with all like the world and many, many countries.
(03:01-03:15) Joe Dimino
Japan, Australia, US, everything. Wow. So prior to becoming a coach, what was one of your favorite job experiences that made you feel like you wanted to help people get to that place that you were at?
(03:16-03:35) Daria Rudnik
I was lucky. I mean, during my career, I was really lucky to work with some amazing companies like Deloitte, which was great. They had great culture. They had great learning experience for people. And I was there as a learning expert. And then I worked for some companies, some startups that really valued...
(03:35-04:04) Daria Rudnik
people and culture. And they were talking about how important the culture is. And I saw how strong culture within those organizations actually helps those companies survive some multiple disruptions and be the best customer service provider within this area, within the whole Russia. So yeah, that's how I learned how important culture is and how it's important to build those cultures. So talk to me a little bit about
(04:07-04:27) Joe Dimino
A little bit about a hero or an inspirational force that's allowed you to find your job right now, to find your role in the professional world. Who's been that for you? The role? Well, no. Who's been an inspiration or a hero in your life that's allowed you to find your job, to find your place?
(04:28-04:58) Daria Rudnik
Well, I can't name one person. Like, as I mentioned, there were different people. Like at some point there was like one of the friends in college and then there was one of the trainers that taught me NLP and taught me how to do trainings. And there was my manager. And then there was the CEO of the startup that I mentioned. So these are the people and I learned from them. I can't name like one person.
(04:59-05:24) Joe Dimino
So you've written books on AI, you've co-authored the AI revolution. Talk to me a little bit about, you know, the thing about AI is that it's moving so fast. It's just blindingly fast. What is your take on AI in the workplace? Do you believe that it's going to automate things? What do you see AI doing in the workforce as we move forward?
(05:26-05:48) Daria Rudnik
Well, I mean, I love the topic and I love the question. AI is not technical change. It's not a technical transformation. We've been through digital transformation where there was a lot of tech, but there was also a lot of change management and resistance and fear. And compared with AI, there was nothing. There was a lot of fear when it comes to AI. People are afraid that it will replace them.
(05:48-06:13) Daria Rudnik
There is a lot of, like, it changes how teams work, how organizations work. It changes the workplace dynamics because not only, like, things are being automated, our thinking process sometimes is becoming automated. And we don't want that. We want to keep the human judgment to ourselves. And sometimes at some point, we kind of dedicate too much. We offload too much to AI. And at that point, we...
(06:13-06:42) Daria Rudnik
We lose connection to our work. We lose judgment. We lose engagement. And I work with teams who've been through that process of losing motivation and engagement because they're delegated too much to AI. So we need to be really mindful about how we integrate AI in our workplace because it is going to stay there and it's going to change how we work together. So having those people in the loop and keeping human judgment to ourselves is a critical thing when it comes to AI transformation. Yeah.
(06:43-07:08) Joe Dimino
The other part of A.I. is that there's this fear that it could become a negative force on this planet. It could do really bad things. What's your take on that? I mean, and that's a common question. It's a common fear. We've seen it in Hollywood movies. It's just we know how human beings work. But what's your beat on it? Do you think we'll continue to harness it as humans or do you think there's a chance that it might supersede our expectations?
(07:10-07:31) Joe Dimino
We have so many things that can destroy humanity, like honestly. And this is just another one. It's how we use it. Yeah. Well, I heard someone say at one point, AI is going to be a reflection of humanity. And I think overwhelmingly humanity is good. There's a lot of good things that happen every day.
(07:31-07:57) Joe Dimino
And if it's a reflection of that, then hopefully we have hope for the future for it. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I do have faith in humans and that AI and people can collaborate for better future. So let me ask you this. If you could meet a coach or like a business mind, sit down, have lunch, ask questions that might help you on your journey. Anybody on the planet, who would you love to meet and talk to?
(07:59-08:26) Daria Rudnik
There are two people. I'd love to have a conversation with Marshall Goldsmith and Dori Clark. What would you want to know? What would be some questions you would ask? I think Marshall Goldsmith is a marketing genius. I mean, I don't know him as a coach, but the way he works and he builds network is just amazing. And I'd love to learn how he builds those networks and what are they...
(08:27-08:44) Daria Rudnik
He shares it online a lot, but kind of having this access to the source of this wisdom would be great. And Dori, she's also a lot about networking and marketing and being out there for people and building relationship and building presence online.
(08:45-09:13) Joe Dimino
So the one thing that you're doing as a coach is you're helping people have confidence in coaches and how that works. What was the first coach that you had that made you love this pursuit of being a coach? So there was a transformational coaching training that I took. I don't do transformational coaching. I'm more on the leadership coaching and behavior side, but that's where I experienced...
(09:14-09:40) Daria Rudnik
how we can broaden perspective. So how we can see not just what is in front of us, but like broader and broader and broader and how that perspective actually helps us, it helped me to see other ways of behaving, other ways of feeling, other ways, like there's so many other ways of doing things when you have this broader perspective. And that's when I thought, okay, that's interesting. I want to explore more. I want to find out more about that.
(09:41-10:03) Joe Dimino
What's been one of the most memorable client experiences that you had? Maybe it was difficult. Maybe you thought the road was going to be really almost too much to bear, but it turned out and it worked out. Do you have a client success story like that? I do have a lot of very interesting client stories and it's hard to pick one. I know one.
(10:05-10:22) Daria Rudnik
And I like it because when we met, he was a tech executive in a multinational company and he didn't know what's next. And one of the thoughts, okay, what's my next career step?
(10:22-10:47) Daria Rudnik
and through some conversations and reflections and exploring like having this broader perspective we actually came to the idea that like he doesn't need to like find another job what he really wants is helping people and sharing his expertise and he launched like he established his own consulting company and now he's running his consulting business with some of the folks that he like invited to to on this journey with him and
(10:47-11:12) Joe Dimino
And I think that's that's great because, well, first of all, he found out what he loves doing best and started doing that. And he also invited people to come along. So what is it in the morning when that alarm clock goes off? What gives you the energy to do this job at a high level? And obviously, when you're coaching, you have to get to the head of your client and there can be some messy stuff. How do you protect yourself, take care of your soul and do your job at a high level every day?
(11:15-11:44) Daria Rudnik
There was one thing that helps me a lot. I practice Tai Chi. I started doing that like a few months ago. I mean, it's not even a year, but I feel how powerful it is in terms of feeling my body and feeling the tensions in my body and kind of feeling more centered and calm and clear my head. So it's not just like physical exercises, but it's a mindfulness practice for me. And I absolutely love it.
(11:45-12:07) Joe Dimino
So let me ask you this. Of everything that you've accomplished professionally on your timeline, what are you the proudest of? Oh, my recent. The most recent is my book. Yes. Talk to me about your book. How did the book idea come about? How good does it feel that it's out? Give me an overview of the book.
(12:08-12:36) Daria Rudnik
Well, I always wanted to write a book. I think I have a friend who wrote a book. And I was thinking, okay, well, what should I write about? What should I write about? And then I thought, since I work with teams, I wanna write about teams. And I wanna write something for team leaders that will help them build amazing teams, even when I'm not around, when they don't have me. They can just read the book, do some stuff, have better teams and better culture. And I started to write this book
(12:37-13:02) Daria Rudnik
I think it was like 2020. I didn't finish it then. Then I said it again in 2022. Didn't finish it. But then 2024, it looks like every two years, I started writing that again. Like this last August, August 25, it came out live and now I have it and it feels great.
(13:02-13:23) Daria Rudnik
So when you actually got the box full of the books for the first time, what was that feeling like when you saw it happen? That I have... First of all, I've reached my goal and I love taking the box. Here it is. That I have something that I can...
(13:23-13:48) Daria Rudnik
I mean, it actually helps me to speak about what I do and to share my tools and knowledge. And so whenever someone asks me, okay, how do I do that? I say, okay, I have that in my book. It's like on page this, you can read about five levels of team trust. It's very clear. Go there. You'll find it there. Or like, how do I do a team charter? It's in my book. Here is a workshop scenario, how you do a team charter with your team.
(13:48-14:14) Daria Rudnik
So it helped me structure my tools and framework so that I can share it with other people, whether it's a book or just like talking about that. So it feels good. So when you think about the word retirement, what comes in your mind? You know, we get mired in our careers and that word retirement looms out there. What do you think about when you hear that word retirement? I think about writing more books. Yeah.
(14:15-14:37) Joe Dimino
Yeah. So let's say you had a dream tonight and you ran into the 18 year old version of you and you walked into a room and you had like a movie projector and you played like a 60 second highlight clip of your life and said that's how your life has turned out so far. But that young version of you believe that your life has turned out the way it has. Yeah. Yeah.
(14:37-15:01) Daria Rudnik
yeah i'm like i had very high expectations of myself like all the time so when i see like i i was a chief people officer i have a great family i moved to another country like i probably say oh yeah that's what i was that's that's me would you give that young virgin any advice yeah absolutely keep your contacts live i mean
(15:03-15:19) Daria Rudnik
Networking is not just talking to people, meeting people, and then forgetting about them when you change a job. But whenever you change a job, whenever you meet interesting people, keep those connections live. That's the biggest, I mean, the most important advice I would give myself.
(15:20-15:42) Joe Dimino
So let's say you walked into a room of everybody that's known you throughout your career in a professional business sense. And you went to a podium and you had to tell them one fun story about your life. Maybe a wonderful place you traveled to jumping out of an airplane. Just a seminal experience that might humanize you a little bit to that room. What would be a fun story you would tell that group?
(15:44-16:11) Daria Rudnik
Well, since you mentioned jump out of the airplane, I have exactly that story. I was traveling, I was hiking on the hills of Kamchatka volcanoes. And with a lot of volcanoes, we were like hiking up and down. And at some point I was meditating at like one of the volcanoes. And the energy there feels, I mean, it feels really, really great. A lot of hills and mountains and nature, and it feels so powerful.
(16:11-16:30) Daria Rudnik
So I did that one meditation, and then we went back. Next month, I jumped with a parachute. And the same month, I bought a car and started driving. I had my driving license, but I didn't drive, and I was kind of afraid of that. But after that meditation, I did two of the most crazy things I never thought I would do.
(16:31-16:53) Joe Dimino
That's wonderful. So at the end of the day, everyone has a perception of you. Family, friends, all of your clients, everyone that gets your books, everyone that knows you, but you run the show. What's your perception of you? Who do you think you are? I think I'm someone who wants to help people.
(16:55-17:16) Daria Rudnik
But maybe not because of them, but because it helps me feel that I'm doing something meaningful. And having meaning in life is very important. And the hardest part of my life is when I was losing meaning. What am I doing here? Why am I doing this? So I like having this meaning in my life. It gives me strength.
(17:17-17:40) Joe Dimino
So I have to know, coming from Russia, being in Israel, those are two regions of the world that have historically had levels of strife and conflict and overcoming and just so many things. We're doing that in America right now, where there's a lot of things that are coming out of here. Do you wake up hopeful every day? Where's your level of hope on this planet in 2026?
(17:40-18:07) Daria Rudnik
Oh, I do. I do wake up hopeful every day because otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to live in those places. But I do believe in the greatness of humans and that we can overcome a lot of things. I mean, we've gone so far, but we've been like through very hard times as humanity. And now here we are with AI and healthcare and everything. And
(18:07-18:37) Joe Dimino
Yeah, we're still humans. We make mistakes, but if we're kinder to each other, we'll make it. So I have to know, as someone that's into AI, if you could get into a time machine and either go into the future 20 years from now and see what's going on, or go back in time and see one event that happened in human history, where would you go? What would you love to see? I want to see the future, definitely. Okay. How far into the future?
(18:38-19:05) Joe Dimino
100 years. Wow. So when I was a kid, I remember the Jetsons and I thought we were going to be flying cars. Thank God we're not. We're already dangerous enough on the ground. So do you think we're going to get to this automated point? What's your I mean, like when you close your eyes and think 100 years from now, what's going to ultimately be the big differences? What do you think is going to be like, what do you think it's going to look like?
(19:06-19:25) Daria Rudnik
For me, it's space. Getting off this blue rock. Space travel. I don't know whether there'll be any connections with other civilizations or not, but being out understanding more about the space, which will give us more understanding about ourselves.
(19:25-19:54) Daria Rudnik
That's wonderful. So if anybody wants to pick up a copy of your new book, if you want to hold it up clicking, if anybody wants to hire you, if anybody wants to reach out, any of the other wonderful work that you're doing, where do they go? Well, there are two places. Go on LinkedIn and connect with them on LinkedIn. I'm very open to connections and messages in DMs. Ask me any questions you have. And obviously go to my website, daddyarooding.com, where you have all the information about my book, my newsletter, and everything that I do.
(19:55-20:08) Joe Dimino
Okay, I will put all these links in the show notes. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking a minute out today. It's a wonderful story. Have a wonderful new year. Well, thank you, Joey. The questions are really interesting. Thank you. Thanks for having me. It's been wonderful.