Maxim Behar: Formula 1 in the World of PR – Passion, Vision, and Success Without Compromise

The successful PR expert shares lessons from over 30 years in communications, his journey from a small apartment to a global business, and why your dreams should be big enough to scare you.

Introduce yourself in a few words…
My name is Maxim Behar. I’ve been running a large public communications and digital services company for over 30 years – M3 Communications Group, Inc. I strive to create new standards in our industry, not just in Bulgaria but globally. I’m the President of the World Communications Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia.

How would you describe your career in a few words?
Exciting, very challenging – a 24/7 job in an extremely dynamic field that has completely transformed over the last decade. I started alone in a small rented apartment in downtown Sofia. Now, we have a huge portfolio of highly prestigious clients, served by dozens of amazing experts in my company.

What was the most important decision that shaped your path?
It wasn’t really a decision—more like karma. I’ve wanted to do this since my student years: connecting people, owning media, creating texts and content… It all happened gradually, almost imperceptibly, and forever. On a global scale, too. It came through hard work, imagination, proactivity, and innovation. I don’t regret a single day in the company—every lesson, every meeting with the team and clients, every project. It’s been a fantastically interesting journey.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career that no one told you?
I wanted to know everything about this phenomenal business—Public Relations. But no one in Bulgaria even knew what it was over 30 years ago. There were no social media, just a clunky and incomplete internet with noisy modems that hissed more than they connected. I truly wanted to know it all. I stood in a huge line outside the American Embassy for a visa, borrowed some money from my father, flew to New York, and spent a month traveling across ten states to meet with PR firms. That’s how I learned—at least the standards of the time. Since then, I’ve learned new things every single day. Literally every day.

How can someone figure out what profession is right for them?
Only when you turn your hobby into a profession will you never have to work a single day in your life. That’s exactly what happened to me. I call my job by other names—pleasure, challenge, adventure... Sometimes I feel like I’m driving a Formula 1 car at the office, sometimes a fighter jet, but never a turtle or a snail. I want to be laps ahead of everyone else in the business, the profession, the details, the projects… That fills me with adrenaline and makes my life fantastic! That’s when you know the profession is right for you—you feel it every day, every hour.

What skills do you believe will be crucial over the next 10 years?
The three P’s – Precision, Principles (Integrity), and Proactivity. With them, anyone can succeed. You just have to stick to them and have dreams—big and bold dreams that make your legs tremble with excitement and make you wonder whether they’re even sane.

How do we build a useful network of contacts without seeming opportunistic?
By intelligently highlighting what we can do, how we think, and the vision we have on various issues. By being positive, constructive, and logical. Then future contacts will think, “Hmm… Interesting. I definitely need to meet this person.” It all depends entirely on us—on all of you.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in your career, and what did you learn from it?
I make mistakes every day, but I don’t learn from them. What’s there to learn from mistakes? Obviously, you try not to repeat them. I only learn from my successes. I analyze them in detail and draw conclusions on how to achieve even greater successes. That’s my personal motto. I wrote about it in one of my books over 15 years ago. I’ve never seen it written anywhere else in the world, so I consider it revolutionary—and it gives me a huge advantage.

How can we recognize a toxic work environment, and when is it time to leave?
You can feel it in the air. It becomes toxic, tense, unbearable. My advice: leave immediately. That feeling will never go away and will never get better. Sooner or later, you’ll leave anyway. Best to do it early.

What would you do differently if you could start over?
I might stay a little more in the background instead of always being front and center in my company—but I didn’t have much of a choice. I came from journalism, and that automatically made me a public and recognizable figure. But overall, I wouldn’t change a thing—I’d take the same path. Sometimes I wish I were a bit less emotional, a bit calmer in my reactions, but then I tell myself: “If you stay quiet now, you’re not the real Maxim…” You have to be real, genuine, and honest.

How do you stay motivated during times of stagnation?
I’ve never had such moments. And I don’t recommend anyone to have them. Sky is the limit. What stagnation? When? Why?

How do we achieve balance between professional and personal life?
There’s only one recipe—when you enjoy both “lives”; when at home you have a partner who understands that your career matters, and at work you have good colleagues who respect your personal life. To some extent, I’ve achieved that.

When is it time to change your career, not just your job?
The moment you get bored or lose interest in what you’re doing.

If you could give just one piece of advice to those seeking success, what would it be?
If your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough. But that’s only for those who are truly seeking success—in business and in life.

What’s your definition of a “successful career”?
Waking up every morning and going to the office with pleasure, curiosity, and motivation. Nothing more.

You can find the original article here as the source.