Maria Protasova is a technique chief with over eight years of expertise throughout consulting and business. A Huge Three administration marketing consultant based mostly in New York, she has led large-scale transformation tasks for Fortune 500 shoppers, spanning sectors from oil and gasoline to client items and training. Maria’s superpower lies in her capability to navigate complexity, deliver cross-functional groups collectively, and create lasting, real-world impression – irrespective of the business, subject, or geography.
Earlier than getting into consulting, Maria was chosen for the Mars Management Expertise – a world improvement program designed to organize future CEOs. Her journey, marked by curiosity, adaptability, and a want to transcend the floor, displays what it means to be a contemporary strategic chief: grounded in enterprise fundamentals, fluent in human dynamics, and unafraid to step outdoors her consolation zone.
Maria, you’ve labored throughout industries and capabilities—what attracts you to this sort of selection?
Selection, for me, is what retains my work significant and dynamic. I’ve at all times been pushed by actual impression. Whether or not it’s optimizing provide chains or bettering nationwide training technique, I’m most engaged after I can see the connection between high-level selections and what’s occurring on the bottom. That’s why I’ve deliberately constructed a profession that spans sectors, geographies, and capabilities. The issues could look totally different on the floor, however the ability set—breaking issues down, listening to the fitting individuals, structuring complexity—stays the identical.
Let’s speak about your expertise at Mars. What was the Mars Management Expertise, and what did it train you?
The Mars Management Expertise is a rotational program designed to develop future common managers and CEOs. It’s extremely selective and centered on offering actual enterprise management expertise from day one. The philosophy is easy however highly effective: a real chief wants to grasp the whole enterprise—not only one operate. Meaning getting into very totally different roles and environments, usually outdoors your consolation zone.
In my second yr, I relocated to a manufacturing facility in one other metropolis to work on-site. That meant shifting from workplace life—technique decks, stakeholder alignment—to working with operators and engineers, understanding manufacturing traces, high quality assurance, and the day-to-day rhythm of producing. It was difficult, however extremely highly effective. It taught me that management isn’t nearly having a imaginative and prescient—it’s about really understanding the individuals and methods that deliver that imaginative and prescient to life.
How does that have affect your consulting work as we speak?
It set the inspiration for the way I strategy issues as we speak. At Mars, I discovered to see a company as a system of interconnected elements—and to respect each hyperlink in that system. Consulting took that perspective even additional. It pushed me to look not simply throughout capabilities, however throughout industries. On this subject, particularly on the Huge Three degree, you’re anticipated to shortly rise up to hurry in totally new contexts, enterprise fashions, and groups. In the future I may be growing a nationwide training technique; two weeks later, I’m optimizing spare elements stock for a producing shopper. It’s a wild shift—however the muscle you construct by way of these experiences helps you adapt quick.
That’s the place my background makes an actual distinction. I understand how to ask the fitting questions, establish the operational core of a problem, and produce collectively cross-functional views to design options that work in the actual world—not simply on paper.
What has been most essential in constructing a world profession?
For me, the important thing has been studying learn how to shortly perceive the “guidelines of the sport” in numerous cultures—not simply when it comes to processes, however in how individuals talk, construct belief, and make selections. After I moved from Russia to the U.S., I observed a delicate however essential shift: communication right here tends to be framed extra positively and collaboratively, with a robust concentrate on encouragement and alignment—particularly in group settings. Direct suggestions nonetheless exists, in fact, nevertheless it’s usually delivered in a extra nuanced approach. Meaning studying to learn between the traces turns into simply as essential as listening to what’s stated.
In consulting particularly, it’s important to grasp learn how to talk your worth, learn how to learn the room, and learn how to navigate casual dynamics in a tradition the place relationships usually converse louder than titles. It’s not nearly enterprise logic; it’s about individuals dynamics. And the core strategy stays the identical: observe, pay attention, adapt, and construct belief shortly.
What has consulting taught you about fixing advanced issues?
One of the priceless classes I’ve discovered in consulting is that nearly any drawback turns into solvable when you break it down the fitting approach. You don’t must have all of the solutions from the beginning—however you do want a construction, a transparent set of questions, and the self-discipline to observe the logic.
Consulting taught me learn how to navigate ambiguity with confidence. When confronted with a problem in a totally new business or operate, I don’t panic—I step again, establish the core drivers, speak to the individuals closest to the problem, and construct an answer piece by piece. That toolkit—structured pondering, energetic listening, speedy synthesis—is one thing I now carry into each a part of my work.
What do you assume is extra essential as we speak—specialization or breadth?
Each are priceless, however for those who aspire to government management, breadth turns into important. You don’t must be the deepest knowledgeable in each subject, however you do must know learn how to perceive a brand new subject shortly, ask the fitting questions, and information specialists towards a standard aim. My very own journey has at all times been about studying to see the entire image. And that perspective is what makes a strategist not simply insightful, however impactful.
What recommendation would you give to somebody who aspires to turn out to be a CEO sooner or later?
- Step outdoors your lane early and infrequently. The strongest leaders I’ve labored with didn’t keep confined to their operate—they intentionally sought out experiences throughout the enterprise. Whether or not in operations, business, or provide chain, understanding how totally different elements of a company join offers you the system-level pondering each CEO wants.
- Study to steer by way of others. As your scope grows, success turns into much less about your individual experience and extra about how successfully you empower and align others. That requires constructing belief, creating readability, and speaking with intent. Affect—not management—is your strongest device.
- Keep curious, particularly while you’re assured. The simplest CEOs I’ve seen don’t fake to know every little thing. They ask sharp questions, search out dissenting views, and keep open to new views. Curiosity, particularly on the high, is what retains management related—and retains organizations shifting ahead. The trail to the highest isn’t nearly climbing — it’s about seeing extra, listening higher, and pondering broader.
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