ILC International

20/03/2026

under - a pause worth taking with Petar Švarc. 🚦

The odd romantic aside, all of us traffic partakers want to arrive somewhere 🚗

That's our goal, and there are many ways to get there. Not just the choice of route, but what type of experience our journey will be.

There are things that influence the journey which we cannot change, e.g. traffic, road and weather conditions and other drivers' decisions. As we cannot influence them, better to think about the ones we can.

Wonderful opportunities await:
Music, audiobook, or the sounds of the engine?
Passive co-existence in a small space or reaching out to pinch a cheek?
Phoning a friend or contemplating an itchy topic?
Getting to the destination in a hurry or in style?

⬆️ Let's focus on that last one.

⚡ Getting somewhere fast is enticing, but barring emergencies (wishing that on nobody) for no defensible reasons. Several minutes saved no sooner wasted in doom scrolling, bragging, or other bad habit of choice. Stroking the ego whooshing past "losers".

Chasing the thrill of operating powerful machinery, i.e. satisfying an appetite for speed, power, control.

Very few drivers stick to an aggressive style for more than a few years.
Focus on comfort, purpose, and consciuos selection of controllables listed above. In essence, understanding the value of arriving well, rather than fast. ✅

By now, the analogy with other life's endeavors may be evident: growing a business, raising kids, completing a pet project.
🎯The journey to any goal we set out to achieve isn't that different.

Dizzying developments in the AI race, most notably the Anthropic vs Department of War (formerly known as Department of Defense) negotiations in the US is a fascinating example. A company competing in humanity's race of the era wanting to get there well, while others are pushing the gas pedal to the floor for reasons similar to that of an overly eager, inexperienced driver.

How would you prefer to arrive? 💭

16/03/2026

Top 10 selected developments in psychology and neuroscience that can equip us with more critical thinking abilities.

Happy Monday!

13/03/2026

| Valentina Dolmova, PhD
I’ve been thinking a lot about our March topic: Emotional Regulation.

Before writing this reflection, I asked my partner what he thought the phrase meant. His immediate response was:
“What the hell does this refer to?” - fair!

Emotional regulation = an ability to manage emotional responses so they are appropriate, flexible, and goal-oriented.
It’s a concept shared across psychology, neuroscience, and psychiatry.

Yet the word “regulation” gets a bad rep these days.

In 2026 we celebrate ideas like authenticity, flow, and showing up as your true self. On the surface, that can sound like the opposite of “regulating”.

But there’s an interesting paradox. Society still expects us to respond in the “right” way.
• Be calm, cool, and collected - not cold or controlling.
• Be fun, free, and friendly - but keep the fierce or confrontational parts hidden.
• Be logical and level-headed - but don’t show the lost, longing sides.

‼️In other words, we expect emotional mastery to look effortless.

My partner believes it simply comes “naturally” to some people.

“If emotions take over, you lose control,” he says. “And when you lose control, bad things happen. When you’re in control, good things follow.”

My experience has been very different.

• I’ve been the child who put a “Do Not Enter” sign on her bedroom door.
• The teenager who snuck out at night to see her boyfriend.
• The young adult who fought passionately for justice, often literally.
• I’ve moved countries twice for love.
• And I eventually created a whole company out of frustration with how the world worked - particularly the injustice of seeing talented, high-performing people not being supported to reach the top.

In other words, I’ve made many decisions driven by emotion.

And here’s the important part: Emotions are temporary. Decisions aren’t.

Over the years I built what I now think of as a life-saving raft: emotional regulation.
Not as a natural talent but as a skill!

A skill developed through:
• reading widely
• learning practical frameworks
• asking better questions in difficult moments
• practicing breathing and reflection
• adopting philosophical perspectives that help make sense of events

None of the books or trainings used the term “emotional regulation.” But they all equipped me with strategies I now use every day.

This collection of skills allows me to feel deeply and lead clearly.

For me real strength doesn’t come from suppressing emotions. It comes from allowing emotions to exist without letting them dictate responses.

So my reflection is this:

👉 Emotional regulation doesn’t contradict authenticity.
👉 It doesn’t block flow.

It actually makes both possible.
And perhaps most importantly:

It’s not a personality trait.
It’s a capability. One that can be learned, practiced, and strengthened over time.
Continue being “emotional” 🙂

10/03/2026

“Know Thyself”
A call that, in the analytic space, reveals its paradox - for what we resist knowing is precisely what insists on speaking.

You are invited to trace the gaps in your self-knowledge and attend to what emerges beyond the rationale: dreams, fantasies, contradictions.

🧩Simply trying to “be yourself” may prove impossible.

What endures instead is the curiosity to dwell within our own unknowability...

In our upcoming online workshop, Know Thyself is a Trap: From Knowing to Becoming, Tsvetomila Boradjieva invites participants to question a familiar assumption:

➡️ more self-knowledge automatically leads to change.

Many of us dive deeply into self-exploration: analysing, reflecting, tracing the roots of our inner conflicts. Yet insight alone does not always dissolve suffering. Sometimes, knowledge itself becomes a defence — a way of circling the same patterns without transformation.

Together, we will explore:
🔹 Why self-awareness can become a trap rather than a path to change
🔹 Freud’s models of the psychic apparatus and how different systems of the mind seek equilibrium
🔹 How psychoanalytic ideas connect with ancient philosophy, Buddhism, and contemporary neuroscience

Open to anyone curious about the human mind — whether you feel stuck in your own patterns or want to deepen your perspective as a practitioner.
..

Know Thyself is a Trap: From Knowing to Becoming

📅 March 20, 2026 | 12:30–14:00 EET
📍 Online
🎙️ Led by Tsvetomila Boradjieva
👉 Check out the event and register to join us:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1227851075450042

08/03/2026

🇪🇺🇧🇬📈💐As a female-led business we want to say Happy International Women’s Day to all women and wish them the continued strenght and courage to keep running the world!

Here are some stats for us all:

•🇪🇺Women make up fewer than one-third of all entrepreneurs in Europe. 🇧🇬1 in 3 in Bulgaria - slightly better.
• 🇪🇺In startup ecosystems, only about 10% of founders/CEOs receiving venture capital are women.
• Meanwhile, in 🇧🇬 and specifically in high-tech sectors, about 41% of entrepreneurs are women, which is a relatively strong representation compared with many other European countries.

There is much more room to acknowledge (through real actions) the weight of contribution that we, women bring to economies, businesses, homes, relationships, communities, diplomacy and much more.

Beyond the stats 📈, it is fair to say that when it comes to entrepreneurial and leadership skills such as multitasking, keeping a constant focus on what’s important, decision-making under stress, collaborative engagement, democratic approaches and much more - women are well equipped across the board.
👏

06/03/2026

We decided to dedicate March to exploring emotional regulation for high performers. The subtle skills that keep us steady under pressure. This week, Daria Khodakivska shares her reflections in
..
⚡ You can not allow yourself to overthink when in motion. In my case, roller skating.

You can't freeze, you can't stiffen up, you can't panic, because if you do, you will fall. It is inevitable.

What you can do is soften, adjust, and respond. You simply don’t have time to stop and think it all the way through. When what seems like a bottomless pit appears out of nowhere, you have only two choices - jump or brake. But what you really need is a cold head to make either.

I didn't start roller skating to "train the emotional regulation", but this was a pleasant side effect.

The main lesson I've assimilated after dozens of falls (some leaving scars) is that control is not what keeps me upright. Responsiveness is.

⏱️ There is always a split second before braking too hard, before jumping blindly, before losing balance
🧠There is always a split second before defending yourself, becoming reactive, spiraling into self-criticism

And that split second is everything. It is the space where choice lives.

Just because your body wants to tense doesn’t mean you have to harden. In that tiny pause, you get to ask:

➡️Is this a real threat or just unfamiliar terrain?

You’re still moving. The ground is still uncertain.
But you’re no longer fighting the motion.

01/03/2026

On 1st of March, we wear the martenitsa as a symbol of health, renewal, and hope. ❤️🌱🌿

But in times shaped by continued political tension and war, it feels (yet again), unsuitable to say “Happy Baba Marta”.

What we want to share is this - we know the real work with leaders and high-potentials is deeper. It involves:
• Choosing love over fear.
• Having the courage to speak the truth.
• Contributing to profound self-awareness.
• Standing for honesty in leadership - and in ourselves.

For us, January and February pushed us, stretched us, and strengthened us. They’ve been some of the busiest months in ILC’s journey which is an indication that we are doing what’s right for the climate and produce results. This made us productive, focused, and yes… it was our strongest year beginning financially.

This growth brings responsibility!
We wish ourselves, and all of you:
Energy.
Courage.
Clarity.
Strenght.
And an unshakable dedication to what truly matters.

Let’s build consciously.
Let’s lead with honesty.
Let’s grow meaningfully.

- Team ILC

27/02/2026

Petar Švarc I

🚗 Traffic is a remarkable coordination problem.
Millions of strangers sharing the road with minimal oversight.

Thousands of potential collisions on any commute. Yet most of us arrive safely. No central authority directs it. So, how does it happen? Why do we cooperate?

I'd say three things:
1) Self-preservation. Nobody wants to crash. ⚠️
2) Internalized norms. We follow rules automatically, and when formal rules don't fit (like traffic lights in some cities I’ve visited), we adapt shared informal ones.
3) Reciprocity. Today I let a stranger merge, tomorrow I get the same treatment. 🤝

The system works because cooperation's benefits are immediate and personal, conditioning us into a habit of collaboration.

Where things break down is when these mechanisms strain. Driving under time pressure, when no one is looking (if there is such a thing anymore), through information gaps or inexperience, or from stress and fatigue. What may seem like selfish "defection" is often someone depleted or desperate, not thinking straight. And everyone's got the right to a bad day, that's why we should keep our senses sharp when driving.

Traffic reveals something hopeful about human nature. When incentives align - we're quite good at cooperating without heavy enforcement. Experience teaches drivers that "defection" gains are marginal while creating needless costly risks.

Replace "merging lanes" with "inter-company interests", for example. The dynamics are strikingly similar. Collaboration works when:
➝ Mutual benefit is clear
➝ Defection carries visible costs
➝ Interactions repeat (building reciprocity)
➝ Norms become habits, not constant negotiations

The difference? 🧭In traffic, consequences are instant. In organizations, they're often delayed — which is why culture and leadership matter. Culture either reinforces or erodes cooperation. Leadership sets which norms become automatic.

🎬 See the video where I was in a line of strangers patiently agreeing on a simple strategy to resolve a jam: "You go, then I go." The cooperation miracle went on for some time before I started recording.

Traffic works because we're pretty decent and it makes sense to cooperate. The challenge in any organization is creating conditions where that same intuition kicks in. 🔁

20/02/2026

Katerina Georgieva I The Question I Forgot to Ask Myself

A while back, reflecting on a training session Valentinal led, one idea quietly stayed with me - not because it was new, but because I needed that reminder at exactly that moment.

The distinction between a goal 🎯 and an intention 🌿

The goal is what you're working toward - an external, measurable outcome you want to achieve. The intention is something more personal… it belongs to you, it's meaningful to you, and it doesn't need to make sense to anyone else. It's about how you want to show up and what you want to feel, not just what you want to achieve. While it's easy to assume the intention is obvious, hidden somewhere inside the goal, it rarely is. It deserves its own moment of clarity. ✨

☕ One Monday morning, that thought came back to me, and I decided to apply it to something very ordinary: how I set up my week.

I decided to apply this idea in a slightly different context: how I start my week.
Most of us open Monday with a list of to-dos, priorities, and milestones. 📝
I've always set a weekly intention too, but I'll admit, it became somewhat automatic. It usually sounded like: I need focus. I need patience. I need to push through. Functional. Useful. But not exactly inspiring.

Last week felt different before it even started. Weeks of juggling work, personal projects, kids, sport - it had started to feel draining, robotic, a little colorless. The to-do list was there, the priorities were clear, and the "obvious" intention was discipline and focus. But something felt missing.

So I paused ⏸️ and asked myself: What do I actually need this week - beyond the tasks?

The answer surprised me a little: Joy. Not productivity. Not endurance. Just joy.

I set that as my intention. Whatever I was doing, I wanted to find a way to enjoy it, to have fun, or at least let some lightness in. There were moments when it felt completely at odds with the situation - and I held onto it anyway. The joy wasn't loud, and it was probably invisible to the people around me. But the week felt lighter. And everything that needed to get done got done.

So today I want to invite you to think about your intention for tomorrow - not what you need to achieve, but what you need to feel. 🤍
🔶What word would you want to carry with you through the day?
🔶And what might shift if you simply lived tomorrow with that word in mind?

Just try it and observe.

📸 Photo: Personal archive | Our dog Aya, showing what a joy intention looks like when you don't overthink it

19/02/2026

What’s your take on this?

🌱 Growth forces separation whether you like it or not.

Higher standards expose what no longer belongs.

Some conversations stop making sense.

Some routines feel embarrassing to repeat.

Some relationships stall your momentum.

That’s not betrayal.

That’s evolution.

If you try to carry everything forward, you carry nothing well.

Let go cleanly.

Becoming your best self requires fewer attachments, not more.❤️

18/02/2026

In our community, conversations about how pressure is shaping the way we work are becoming more and more present. In the reflection below, Natelie Ola-Adenekan brings a thoughtful and deeply human perspective to a question many leaders and teams in our network are currently exploring 👇

____

A question I’ve been sitting with recently:

Why do smart, capable teams sometimes make poorer decisions when things get busy?

It’s hardly because they suddenly lost their ability; more often, it’s because pressure changes how people think.

Under strain, conversations get shorter, curiosity reduces, people default to what feels safe, and slowly, creativity gives way to urgency.

But from the outside, it can look like:
👉 Lack of ownership
👉 Poor communication
👉 Low accountability

But psychologically, something else may be happening. When uncertainty increases, safety decreases, and when safety decreases, thinking narrows.

🌿 That’s not a weakness, it’s human.

This week, I will be hosting a webinar: “Organisations Under Pressure: A Psychological Systems View.”

We will explore:
🔄 Why behaviour shifts across entire systems
🌐 How pressure spreads beyond workload
👀 What leaders unknowingly signal during uncertainty
🔍 And practical, evidence-informed ways to create steadiness without adding more control

If you have ever wondered why teams feel different when the pressure rises, this session will give you a new lens.

Pressure is inevitable, but how we interpret it makes all the difference.

Can't wait to see you there!

_____
Organisations Under Pressure: A Psychological Systems View
📅 February 20, 2026
📍 Online | Zoom
🎙️ Led by Natelie Ola-Adenekan
👉 Check out the event and register to join us: https://fb.me/e/7j1Oj3KzW