Maxim Behar: Don’t Be Misled — We Are Not Living in a Crisis. This Is Our New Reality, and We Must Adapt

When a new generation enters Parliament—one that wants Bulgaria to be united and courteous—people will start smiling more often and greeting each other politely

- The things you gift yourself are always the most precious – in February I will begin training at a space center.

On the eve of Dr. Maxim Behar’s 70th birthday, H.M. King Simeon II, in his capacity as Grand Master of the Royal Dynastic Order of St. Alexander, awarded him the Commander’s Cross of the order and wished him mnogaya i blagaya leta — many blessed years.

Maxim Behar was born on December 10, 1955, in the city of Shumen. He is the only expert from Eastern Europe inducted into the Global PR Hall of Fame in London. Until 2017, he served as President of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), and he now presides over the World Communication Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He holds a degree in International Economics from the University of Economics in Prague and completed leadership training at Harvard Kennedy School. In 2024, he earned his PhD in Public Communications from Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski.” Since 2004, he has served as the Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Seychelles in Bulgaria.

– One of the most important functions of PR is to manage crises, yet in Bulgaria society has long felt as though we live in a constant state of crisis — political, economic, spiritual, even everyday. Where is the way out, Mr. Behar?

– Don’t be misled into thinking that we are living in a crisis. This is not a crisis — this will be our life from now on. Indefinitely. And we must adapt.

The world is changing before our eyes in dramatic ways — several wars, a sharp shift in how we perceive what we used to call “democracy,” billions of people gaining access to (social) media and the ability to create their own news and content, and the enormous risk that much of it may be false, aggressive, or uncompromising.

All of these factors will confront us with “crises” every minute, until we eventually stop noticing them and they become part of our daily routine. And this is precisely where the role of the PR profession becomes increasingly important — both in public life and in business.

We are no longer simply consultants; we are the people who make decisions — sometimes instantaneous ones — on behalf of our clients, teams, and partners. No one today has the time for us to give advice and then wait a day or two for them to decide.

We, the PR experts, must make the decisions ourselves. And this now requires an entirely different type of preparation, education, knowledge, and professional skillset.

– How important is political PR today, and is there a need for a new “Club of Seniors”? Years ago, you and several prominent colleagues — PR advisers to different political forces — united under this name to discuss best practices.

– Back then we were six people — Neri Terzieva, Diana Damyanova, Jimmy Naydenov, Misho Mihaylov, Yuri Aslanov, and myself. Two of them have already “flown away” — Neri and Jimmy are no longer with us. But what brought us together was not just political marketing, but the desire to send a message to politicians that they must treat their opponents intelligently and professionally.

No “club” today can change the situation in Bulgaria — the rough, vulgar tone, the aggression, the reckless insults dominate not only social media and television studios, but especially Parliament.

When one day a new generation enters Parliament — people who want Bulgaria to be united and courteous, warm and productive — then things will calm down, and people will begin to smile more often and greet each other politely.

– Your entire professional career — both as a journalist and as a PR expert — has been connected to storytelling. What is the “good story” of Bulgaria?

During one of my meetings with the current British King Charles III, he turned to me and asked what I believed was the greatest advantage Bulgaria could present to the world. I countered with the same question, explaining that I knew my own answer, but I wanted to hear his — because that was far more important.

Prince Charles (at the time) thought for a moment and replied that, in his view, our greatest asset were our magnificent high mountains. I immediately told him that yes, they are indeed beautiful — but there are mountains in Switzerland, Austria, Spain, Germany… Hardly something that would surprise the world. Then he suggested the beaches, the sea.

“Well,” I said, “Greece, Italy, the Adriatic, the islands — they all have beautiful beaches too.”

Charles looked at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.

I looked him straight in the eyes and said just one word: People.
And then, for an hour, I told him about John Atanasoff, Gena Dimitrova, Ralitsa Vassileva, Sonya Yoncheva, Vesko Eschkenazy, Dimitar Berbatov, Hristo Stoichkov — and about the rescue of the Bulgarian Jews during World War II, in which his relative Tsar Boris III also played a role.

For me, this is Bulgaria’s good story — its people: successful or not, wealthy or poor, young and old.

I have travelled everywhere — I’ve said it countless times — and nowhere have I seen so many young, intelligent, well-educated, and motivated people as in Bulgaria. These are the people you meet on the street, my colleagues at M3 Communications Group, Inc., the hundreds of thousands who returned to Bulgaria during the pandemic and stayed, and their parents who carried the hardest years of the transition on their backs.

All these people need leaders with modern thinking — leaders who govern the country transparently, intelligently, and with freshness. Only such leaders can pull Bulgaria out of the endless election cycles and the exhausting negative rhetoric.

– You often say you have travelled everywhere. But how long is the journey from Shumen to Space? For your 70th birthday, you gave yourself an extraordinary gift — a full week at NASA’s training center, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama. I must say, I admire your energy. When will this happen, and what do you expect to learn?

– The journey from my beautiful hometown Shumen to Space is not that long, as long as you have the desire, the luck, the persistence, and the joy to walk that path. Time is not what matters — what matters is achieving your goal.
For many years, my guiding motto, even in my everyday work, has been: “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”

Naturally, neither turning 70 nor my “gift” of undergoing full astronaut training frightens me — but both are, indeed, challenges!

– How did such an adventure (or rather, challenge) come to your mind? What were the requirements for you to be accepted, and what do you expect from this week in space training?

– I thought for a long time about what to gift myself, because the things you give yourself are always the most precious.
I went through countless ideas — I have an astonishing number of international awards for all sorts of achievements, and there is no space left in my office or home to place them. I have jumped from 4,200 meters with a parachute, flown with a paraglider from the highest peak in the Czech Republic — Snezka (1603 m), walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain with my wife Veneta all the way to Santiago de Compostela and wrote a beautiful book about it; I won “The Cherry on the Cake”; I published a culinary book with Seychellois recipes which received a major award at the world exhibition for culinary books in Abu Dhabi; I am the only Eastern European included in the Global PR Hall of Fame in London; my book The Global PR Revolution, published in the US, is currently ranked second on BookAuthority’s list of the “Best PR Books of All Time”; I reached number one in the American rap charts with a song I recorded with Misho Shamara and his son; I completed Harvard Kennedy School; I earned a doctorate in media and communications at Sofia University…

And then I told myself: maybe the only thing left is Space!
I couldn’t wait to put on the spacesuit and begin real training as early as next February. I filled out a long application form, completed an online interview, committed to undergoing full medical examinations upon arrival, and agreed to live in a room with about a dozen people on bunk beds — apparently quite close to real conditions in space.

I carefully reviewed the training modules: there are all kinds of exercises — extensive theory and practice, working in a zero-gravity environment, “exiting” the spacecraft to repair a malfunction, and many other completely new experiences for me. I expect to go through unforgettable, intense, and very demanding days.

– How did your path in journalism begin? You experienced both the totalitarian era and the democratic one. What were the differences and the challenges?

– The profession chose me — not the other way around.
It was always in my mind. While I worked for five years as a locksmith in a Sofia machinery plant, I read every newspaper from the first to the last page, wrote short articles secretly on sheets from a school notebook, read them to myself, and hid them so no one could find them. One day the factory sent me to an educational course, and there I met Professor Vesela Tabakova from the Faculty of Journalism. She asked me to send her that notebook.

The next day she called me and said:
“Maksim, you must start writing for newspapers — immediately.”

A few years later — by then I was studying in Prague — I randomly met a man in a café who headed the international department of Mládý Svět, the most widely read magazine in Czechoslovakia at the time. He casually mentioned that they needed stories from Bulgaria. That was the beginning.

I returned to Bulgaria and immediately started as a trainee at Rabotnichesko Delo, then as a correspondent in Shumen, and later in Warsaw.

After that, communism collapsed like dominoes — in a single day across Eastern Europe — and together with my wonderful friend Valeri Zapryanov we created the truly free and beautiful newspaper we had always dreamed of: Standart. And I’m happy it still exists today.

Of course, the difference was enormous. Under the understandable rigidity of the communist era in Bulgaria, suddenly Standart opened the doors to free and intelligent journalism. We gave a platform to everyone, but we checked information three times to ensure it was correct before publishing.

Let me emphasize — those were different times, with different media. And they will never return.

– Why did you transition into PR?

– It happened logically and almost naturally.
I clearly remember Winston Churchill’s words: “With journalism you can achieve a great deal, but you must know exactly when to step away from it.”

I started in a very small apartment in the center of Sofia, without really knowing where I was headed. I only knew one thing — that I should do what I was good at: advising businesses on how to present themselves better and more clearly to the media.

Over the years, this work drew me in completely. And when online media began to overpower traditional media, our business started changing literally every day. That’s when I realized that this would be my life forever.

– What are the PR principles you followed to build an international career?

– I didn’t follow any special rules.
I worked 20 hours a day, every day, with no days off. Seven days a week. I read constantly and I learned constantly. Even today, every morning I get up at 7:01 — the one minute is symbolic; I always want to be number one — make myself a coffee, and spend at least half an hour reading new articles, case studies, interviews, anything new related to my profession. But this isn’t some imposed discipline — I simply find it fascinating and challenging.

A few years ago in Davos, around 10 p.m., just as I was going to bed, I received a very worried phone call. A key speaker had missed his flight, and they asked me to replace him at 9 a.m. the next morning — on any topic I chose.
I laughed, drank a glass of wine, and prepared a very personal presentation titled “The PR Expert Never Ages.” I still believe that.

One of my most valuable principles — one that I created and apply every day — is:
“Even the worst decision is better than no decision at all.”

I make dozens of decisions every day. I often make mistakes, but I never leave things hanging in the air. Unresolved issues only become worse. I often tell my colleagues in the company:

“We don’t sell services, communications, or texts to our clients. We sell… trust.”

Today, trust is the most valuable capital. And if you leave your decisions pending for days, you lose trust — first in yourself, and then in your team and your clients.

– In your book The Global PR Revolution, you predicted many of the changes that later happened in communications. Is something revolutionary coming now as well? What are your forecasts for the media, advertising, and social networks?

– It is already happening — artificial intelligence!
A new generation is emerging, and I don’t believe it will continue to rely primarily on natural intelligence. And I see nothing wrong with that. It is far better for them to master artificial intelligence perfectly than to know nothing at all.

Many years ago in school, we were given very difficult tasks. When I pulled out a small calculator to help myself, the teacher confiscated it and threw me out of class. To this day, I don’t know why.

It is exactly the same with artificial intelligence — it will only help us, and we must use it to the fullest.

In a year or two, it will become our primary source not only of information but also of analysis and forecasting. It will shape our decisions.

And these are only good news.

– Throughout your life you have worked on many large-scale ideas and projects, yet there is always a subtle thread that leads back to your hometown, Shumen. You even founded the association “Shumenci” for all people from Shumen living elsewhere, to build a bridge between them and the city. Why do you love Shumen so much?

– Shumen is exceptional, and its people are exceptional — intelligent, freedom-loving, honest, and hardworking.
And it’s not only because of all the “firsts” we proudly associate with our city — the first theatrical performance in Bulgaria, the first symphony orchestra, the first beer brewing (revolutionized by Lajos Kossuth)...

We are people who genuinely rejoice in our city, and we are so deeply in love with it that we are ready to work day and night just to see it thrive.

Today Shumen is one of the most highly developed industrial cities in Bulgaria, and that is thanks to the local businesses, to all the people of Shumen.

Not to mention that the city’s anthem is called “From Here Begins Bulgaria.”

– Years ago, after graduating from university, you started working for a newspaper in Sofia but soon returned to Shumen. Why?

– It happened by chance.
A correspondent position in Shumen opened up, and when I went to my editor-in-chief in Sofia to ask to be assigned there, he initially couldn’t believe it.

I have never regretted it — those were some of the most wonderful years of my life.
And even now, yes, even now, I would gladly return to live there again.

– What was your childhood like? Were you obedient or mischievous?

– Very mischievous. Extremely.
I was 13 when my mother died in a car accident — my father survived. He was an incredibly busy man, managing the legendary company “Balkankar” for nearly two decades, traveling around the world to sell Bulgarian electric forklifts, and doing it exceptionally well.

Somehow, because I didn’t have very strict supervision, countless ideas constantly bloomed in my head.

A few months after my mother passed away, my father called me into our small kitchen in the “Buxton” neighborhood and said:
“Maksim, this cannot continue. Tomorrow you’re going before the professors so they can issue you a work permit.”

And so it began — I spent a few hours in a dark corridor undergoing the required assessments to receive permission to work four hours a day. That’s how I ended up in the “Serdika” factory, digging slag for storefront displays of the time.

Later, they moved me to a machinery plant where I spent five wonderful years.
I still keep the legends of that enormous industry in my mind — and the first typewriter my father gave me for my 25th birthday.

– You often share photos from family gatherings and reunions on social media. Who taught you to preserve your family heritage?

– You simply cannot help but honor — even revere — your family, your origins, your lineage. These are the most important things in my life.
I have a wonderful family and incredible relatives in Shumen, in Israel, in the United States, in Spain — all over the world. We support each other immensely. Sometimes my children and I argue for hours; we disagree on countless things, and that is the most normal thing in the world — but it is precisely through these arguments that we become even closer.

Two years ago, I tried — as much as I could — to organize a family reunion on Vitosha Mountain. Forty-eight people came: from Bulgaria, Israel, and the United States. I hope that number will grow in the future.

I also often travel to the Spanish town of Béjar, near Salamanca, which is believed to be the birthplace of my ancestors, expelled by the queen in 1492 because they refused to convert to Catholicism.

In addition to being an honorary citizen of my hometown Shumen, I am also a recipient of Béjar’s Medal of Merit.