Today we’d like to introduce you to Thea Polancic.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Thea. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started as most people do – with a graduate degree in Russian Art! Well, maybe most people don’t, but I did actually begin my professional career as a graduate student in Russian Culture. I spent the second half of the 90s in Moscow and St. Petersburg, writing my dissertation… While I was there, I took a job with Caterpillar to help pay the bills – and discovered that I had a knack for business and really enjoyed it.
I ended up working for CAT, setting up a manufacturing joint venture, negotiating contracts in Siberia, and managing the Moscow office. Eventually, I left Caterpillar and started my own technology sales and consulting company. Somewhere along the way I also decided I’d rather buy art than write about it, and left graduate school for good. My day job became my career.
By the end of the 90s, I decided it was time to come home. I came back to Chicago and joined a consulting firm. In 2002, I quit and with three partners started our own firm. Now, ClearSpace is celebrating its 15th year anniversary in the field of high-performance coaching and team development. We’ve worked with companies and clients across the US and around the world helping to create more conscious, caring and effective leaders and incredibly successful organizations.
We also spun off a sister company, Tiara International in 2008, which provides coaching programs and resources to help women lead lives that inspire them. Tiara has an incredible network of coaches from Los Angeles to Amsterdam and has impacted the lives of hundreds of women all over the world.
Along the way, I began to feel like it wasn’t enough to spend my time just trying to win the game of being successful in business – even though our work felt meaningful and important. I embarked on a journey to figure out my higher purpose and discovered I was incredibly inspired by the power of business as a force for good in the world. I knew that we had many clients who felt this way too but weren’t connected to each other and a larger movement.
So with my leadership, a group of us founded the Chicago Chapter of the Conscious Capitalism movement. We are now the first, largest, most robust chapter of what has grown to a 40 chapter movement around the world. With an entire volunteer leadership team, we bring people together every month to share their stories, learn and combine purpose and profit to make Chicago a city of beauty, happiness, and prosperity. We have plenty of work to do!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road the entire time… We’ve had many exciting, proud moments as well as challenging times. The downturn in 2010 was incredibly challenging – a truly scary time for many people, but it was especially challenging to stay positive and optimistic as the owner of my own business. I emerged a smarter, stronger businessperson with a stronger company, but it definitely wasn’t my favorite time.
ClearSpace – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I have two companies: ClearSpace is a consulting firm that specializes in high-performance team building programs for CEOs and their teams. We combine best practices and cutting-edge methods in leadership, teaming and adult development to transform people and organizations from the inside out.
We were purpose-driven before it was cool, and for the past 15 years have been helping to create more conscious, caring and effective leaders, teams and organizations. Our purpose is to help business be a force for good in the world. In 2008, we started a sister company, Tiara International, which specializes in virtual and in-person women’s coaching programs. Tiara does amazing work around the world and on the web!
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
ClearSpace is celebrating its 15 year anniversary this year! I’m really proud that we had the courage to quit our jobs, start our own firm and have made it this far. I have three partners who are wonderful, talented, caring, conscious human beings and our work have made a lasting difference in the lives of many, many people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.clearspace.net
- Email: info@clearspace.net
- Twitter: @tdpolancic
- Other: www.tiaracoaching.com and consciouscapitalismchicago.org
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