Beata Drzazga, a woman from the list of 100 women of 2022 by Forbes magazine, talks about whether you need to be a Visionary for our projects to be successful, or whether it is enough to just have experience. A visionary entrepreneur, founder of many companies and a speaker at business conferences in Poland and around the world.
Should an entrepreneur also be a visionary or is it better if he is only a strategist?
First of all, he should be a Visionary, because vision is connected with strategy. The strategy must be linked to the vision. We must not confuse this vision with visionary. The vision of an entrepreneur is that you see something you are planning, then you choose the right strategy and include the team that implements it. Visionary, on the other hand, is something that is new, it is the introduction of something that does not exist yet, which is different from anything that has been created so far. When I started the creation of BetaMed SA, I thought to myself why nobody introduces new possibilities of caring for patients, e.g. in their homes. I began to have visions of what such a service for patients would look like and what value it would be for the health market in Poland. Just as in various services staff are trained on how to take care of customers, so in health care the same should apply to patient care.
A visionary is successful when he is guided by imagination or experience?
Above all, imagination. Even if someone is young and lacks experience, they should first have an idea, a vision. Everyone will gain experience by working and creating something. But we must already have imagination and an idea when we start our own business. Of course, it is also the case that if you are an experienced entrepreneur, you go your own way, then suddenly something enlightens you and you have an idea for a new business. But I am of the opinion that in order to call ourselves a visionary, we must be born with it and introduce ideas into the world that have not yet existed.
Why do they say Mrs. Visionary?
All my life I want to change something, improve it, I have visions of how something could be more useful, useful, pleasant or more functional, something that no one has invented yet. I love setting new trends, being the doyen of these trends. And I dream that my effort will not go to waste, that my ideas will be useful to others. I was very pleased when it was confirmed by St. pm. Mr. Janusz Bryzek, a Polish scientist and entrepreneur, an engineer from Silicon Valley, said to me – Beata, what you have created and what you are still creating is no wonder because you are simply a Visionary.
Are we born a visionary or do we become by observing the world?
I guess anyway. After myself, I can say that I was born a Visionary, I was born with a passion for caring for the elderly, suffering people and as a girl I imagined how to help them, how to make their lives better. Later, when I started working in the health service, I started gaining experience, I began to imagine how this care could be improved in nursing facilities. I knew everyone would benefit from it. But I think that someone with the observation of the world can become a Visionary if he already had these features.
Where to look for inspiration to have visions?
You have to look at other people, what path they went through to create something. But most of all, look at the market, what it needs and what the world doesn’t have yet. Then try to visualize and create it yourself. But most of all, you need to have the will to create something, to have an incredible conviction that it makes sense. Every time I start creating something, I get such wings that I tell my children “I feel as if I had the world in my hands”. My family loves this joy, the twinkle in my eye.
Why do so many visionaries fail and never recover?
Because they quickly lose faith in themselves. They have too much “inner parent” and not enough “child”. The child is trusting and is not easily discouraged from his dreams. The “parent” is someone who constantly criticizes us, warns us, threatens us with the consequences of failure. These features inhibit our development, add disbelief to us, fuel the awareness of risk. And someone who has a lot of “inner child”, but above all a lot of “adult” is more often positive and braver in action.