They invited me to participate in their most exclusive internal leadership development program – ‘12 Future Stars of Leo Burnett.’ Out of more than eighty thousand people across the world, they chose twelve of us. That selection brought pride, but even more so – a sense of responsibility.
I soon realized this wasn’t just another ‘training.’ It was a program unlike any seminar or corporate workshop I’d experienced. It wasn’t just designed to improve our skills – it was meant to change the way we think, decide, and live.
Travel and Training – A Mosaic of Experiences
The program lasted nearly two years. Every three months, we gathered in different European cities – from London to Prague, from Milan to Marbella. Each meeting was a new stage, the next level of a ‘game.’
Before every session, we received assignments and materials to master. Preparation was no formality – it was serious. And when we finally met in person, it all turned into intense workshops, simulations, and dialogues that pushed you. Each module was carefully crafted: leadership, agency management, the art of negotiation, finance, creative strategy… and even psychology.
But it wasn’t just about knowledge. It was an emotional, even spiritual process. A kind of inner shift you can’t quite explain. Because when you spend two years with eleven other people from different countries – sharing similar ambitions, questions, and doubts – you form a unique kind of bond. We weren’t just future leaders – we were companions in a deep personal transformation.
Marbella – A Psychological Workshop as Ritual
I remember it was early autumn when we gathered in Marbella. A city you typically imagine as a luxurious holiday destination became the stage for one of the most profound experiences of my life. The psychological module was led by two British psychologists. Quiet, calm, but completely present. They had a kind of inner authority that came not from their role, but from understanding.
Although it was a beautiful sunny day outside, the conference room where we worked that day was darkened with thick curtains. The floor was covered with soft carpets, and pillows were scattered all around, as if inviting us to lower ourselves – not just physically, but internally. Soft meditative music played from the speakers. We lay down with our eyes closed, while one of those voices – gentle but firm – guided us into a state between sleep and wakefulness. They spoke slowly, rhythmically, as if both lulling and awakening us on a deeper level of consciousness.
At one point, the voice said: ‘Imagine you are rising above the hotel. Then above Marbella. Then Spain. Europe. And finally – the planet.’ In that imagined flight, I saw Earth from above, from space. It was beautiful, peaceful, blue. At that moment, I would say I was in a kind of blissful trance.
But then the tone changed. We were told to return – but ten years into the future. To descend not into the present, but into our own future. To meet ourselves and see where we are, what we’re doing, who we’ve become. That’s when everything started to change.
Vision of the Future – A Meeting with Myself
As I eagerly descended back to Earth in that vivid visualization, which felt so real I could feel it in my entire body, I expected to land in a large corporate building, in an even bigger agency, with more floors, more teams, and hundreds of employees I no longer recognized.
At that time, it made sense. I was already running the most successful and profitable creative agency in the region, with over a hundred people and clients from about ten countries. If I was going ten years ahead, surely everything would be even bigger. Broader. Grander. But the scene I encountered was completely different.
I found myself in an elegant, light-filled office in Belgrade. The windows were like glass walls, offering an open view of the city that, from that vantage point, seemed quieter, more distant – almost unreal. As if the city had remained somewhere down below, and I had stepped a level above the everyday. Minimalist interior, Italian furniture, the latest Apple computers. Silence, peace, and ease. And only seven or eight people. Nothing that resembled the buzzing marketing agency I had, until that week in Marbella, called my world. No hustle, no phones ringing, no one rushing from briefings to presentations. Everything breathed differently. Everyone was smiling, calm. Among them, a secretary greeted me warmly and said to wait – ‘Miša will see you shortly.’
I entered Miša’s office. A bright, modern space in impeccable order. On the desk, only one iMac with a large screen, an iPad, and nothing more. No papers, no folders, no chaos. And behind the desk – me. In a white suit, smiling, serene. My first reaction was complete confusion. Had I died? Was this some business version of heaven?
But the moment I heard his (my) voice, everything changed. The sound of my voice, but without tension. Without doubt. Authentically mine. Just calmer.
A Conversation with Myself – The Key Insight
I sat across from myself – my future self – and the first question I asked was: ‘Where is everyone?’ I expected teams, energy, creative chaos. Instead, I found silence, order, peace.
The future me looked at me with a gentle smile and said, ‘I sold the agency to Publicis. I opened a consulting firm with a partner. We work differently. And I’m happy. Everything’s flowing.’ I paused. I didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t the scenario I expected.
Then I asked the question that, at that moment, felt most important: ‘How do I get here? How do I reach this place of peace and fulfillment?’. Miša in the white suit smiled and said, ‘There’s only one thing you must hold on to. If you do that, you’ll arrive.’ I nodded instantly, even though I had no idea what he meant.
And then he said something that truly surprised me: ‘Stop using your brain when making the most important decisions.’ I was confused. Did I hear that right? Haven’t we been taught all our lives to think, analyze, make rational decisions?
But he continued calmly, as if he had already answered: ‘The brain is good for everyday decisions. But for the big ones – the ones that change the course of your life – you have to turn it off. And listen to your gut.’ I was shocked. That didn’t sound like me. But at the same time – it was me. And at that moment, I heard that sentence from my own mouth for the first time:
‘I need to listen to my gut, not my head.’
He smiled and added: ‘If you want to be both successful and happy – and it’s silly to be successful and unhappy – you have to listen to your inner voice. And you only hear that voice when everything else falls silent. When the noise in your head quiets down.’ He looked at me and said in English: ‘Be yourself – and fear nothing.’
Back to the Present – The Meditation Ends
In the next moment, the psychologist’s voice began to gently bring us back. Her tone was softer, but firm. She called us home. The soft music still played. My eyes were closed, but I felt the lights gradually coming on. The room around me reappeared.
We ‘woke up’ slowly, each in our own rhythm. The room was filled with a silence that felt sacred. No one rushed. No one spoke. As if each of us had brought something so important from within that it couldn’t yet be spoken.
On the floor next to each of us was a postcard with a picture of pebbles stacked one on top of the other. There was no text, just a blank white space and an address – our own. Beside it, a pen. The psychologist asked us to write a message to ourselves. Not a rational one. Not a correct one. But the one we had heard from within. From our future self.
I picked up the pen but hesitated. The first thought that came to mind was the radical one: ‘Turn off your brain when it matters most.’ But it felt too direct. Maybe even harsh. I wasn’t ready to write that yet. In the end, I simply wrote two words – Be yourself.
The postcards were collected and mailed. Seven days later, I received a postcard from myself. It was a strange moment. A recognition of something that had happened somewhere between reality and the subconscious – and that left a mark I only understood later.
Years Later – Reality Confirms the Vision
The year was 2018. I was in a completely new space – not just physically, but in life. I had opened a consulting office with my partner in New Belgrade, in a building directly across from the Palace of Serbia. Glass walls, a great view, an interior designed with attention to every detail. Italian furniture, impeccable aesthetics, the latest Apple computers on the desks. It was one of the most beautifully designed offices in Belgrade, but what made it special wasn’t the form – it was the feeling.
That day, when I sat at the desk for the first time, something washed over me. I felt like I had already been there. Not physically – but mentally, visually, emotionally. That moment from Marbella returned. The image from the meditation was no longer imagination. It had become reality. Everything was there: the space, the atmosphere, the light, the peace… There weren’t a hundred people. Just a small team. But each of them was there for a reason. And more importantly – I was there, whole.
That’s when I understood: the scene I had seen eleven years earlier wasn’t a prediction. It was a signpost. It didn’t show me what would happen, but what could happen – if I had the courage to listen. Not to others. Not to the market. Not to logic. But to myself.
And that day, in 2018, I knew: I hadn’t ended up where I planned. I had arrived where I was meant to be.
Reflection – When the Inner Image Finally Reveals Itself
It took me years to understand what truly happened that day in Marbella. At first, I attributed it to good training, strong suggestion – perhaps even a trick of imagination. But today I know – it wasn’t an image someone else gave me. It was an image I had always carried inside. I had simply been given the chance to see it.
Psychology offers various models to explain such phenomena. Jung spoke of the ‘Self’ – not as an idealized version of oneself, but as our deepest, most complete being that always knows where it wants to go. The problem is – we often don’t hear it, because we’re listening to everything else. That inner Self quietly, yet persistently, guides us toward something that makes us whole.
Antonio Damasio showed that the body knows before the brain does. That what we call intuition – that feeling in the gut – isn’t empty mysticism, but neurological traces of emotion and experience. The most important decisions aren’t made rationally – they’re made viscerally. And often only logically justified afterward.
Viktor Frankl taught us that meaning is not something we find – it’s something we create. And that our lives gain strength only when we take responsibility for our own truth. Not what the world expects, but what we deeply know to be ours.
That’s why the first step is – becoming aware of where we’re going, even when we’re not consciously walking. Seeing where our unconscious compass is pointing and asking: Is this truly mine? If it is, support it. Consciously, courageously, fully. Because a person who can’t listen to themselves becomes an easy target for the whispers of everyone else.
With all this in mind, when I face an important decision today, I no longer ask what to do. I turn off my brain and trust my gut. I no longer seek the most important answers in numbers, analysis, or advice. I seek silence. Because only when everything falls quiet do I once again hear that voice from Marbella. Calm, clear, and unmistakably mine. And then I know… I haven’t lost my compass. I’m still on the path shown to me by the most important meeting of my life.
