Meet an iconic personality, Maxim Behar, the CEO and Chairman of M3 Communications Group, Inc. With a career spanning more than three decades, Maxim is well-known for his experience in the PR Industry. He is a globally recognised expert in media relations, social media, corporate affairs, and crisis management. He is a multi-faceted leader fulfilling many roles and responsibilities with utmost dedication and passion. He is an author, public speaker, lecturer, active diplomat, President, Fellow of the Public Relations and Communications Association, and more. As a passionate and influential PR professional, Maxim Behar has a mission to shape the public communications business’s future and promote ethical and effective practices worldwide.
In this interview, Maxim talks about his long-standing professional journey, his company and its offerings, the challenges he faced and overcame, his aspirations and achievements, key advice for budding entrepreneurs, and more.
Can you share a brief overview of your professional journey and how you started in your field?
Started my career as a machinery worker in a small factory, then graduated international business in Prague, Czech Republic, where my father was sent on a diplomatic mission. It was quite exciting, but I felt that my heart was in journalism and I spent some 10 years in a newspaper and decided to start my communications company in a small kitchen back in 1994. For all those 30 years, I and my team have turned M3 Communications Group, Inc. into a brilliant machine for innovative projects and leadership in the Public Relations business globally. In the meantime I graduated from a couple of great universities all over the world – Seattle, Yokohama, London… and the most significant for me was graduating successfully from Harvard Kennedy School Executive Program on Leadership Decision-making.
Throughout the years I had hundreds of awards and peaks climbed and when it happened always, we were looking for the next peak to reach. And it has never been easy. M3 Communications Group, Inc. is now a benchmark of high precision in Public Relations business and a very high level of innovation and creativity. It has been announced best consultancy in Eastern Europe by The Holmes Report and was nominated in 2021 among the Best PR companies in Europe by PRWeek, where in 2020, 2022 and 2024 I was announced as Best PR Professional in Europe. Great recognitions mark successful stops on the journey to the top, which is different and higher every year.
As both an individual and a professional, what core aims and ideals do you prioritize that shape your decision-making and work approach?
The new times brought to us new challenges, especially in the business of public communications. Sometimes I combine the three main responsibilities– founder, leader, and manager. I am trying constantly to make a difference between them in different projects and timings, but during difficult and most important – unpredictable times each leader must understand his or her responsibilities. In my daily work, I rely on the Board of Management members and each of them has specific tasks to control or support. But very often, we have 5 or 10-minute Zoom meetings and coordinate important decisions or client projects. This is one of the great advantages of modern management via online platforms. In
“previous life” to get the Board for a meeting it may take at least one day for preparation and adjusting the timing between members. Now, and undoubtedly this will be the future, it takes minutes to see each other online as we all are available in front of our laptops anyway. This created a revolution in modern communications indeed and to my deep surprise, not so many people understand this fact. So, this is now the starting point. And having in mind it, in the Public Relations business today ideas are limitless and we use this concept every single day. Clients are happy and the team has much more motivation to climb new peaks in business. And often I say – when people climb a new higher peak what they usually do is look down to see how far they went and to pump a little bit of their self-confidence. On the contrary – when I do this, I always look up, to see the next much higher peak and to start planning how to climb it.
What sets you apart from your competitors in the industry? How do you differentiate your approach to create a unique value for your clients?
It is just one word. Precision. And of course – we can add creativity, research, strategy, planning and whatever we want. But today with our precision any creative idea will go to the recycle bin or could be devastated. And let me add ne more – speed! Speed of making decisions, speed of answering emails or any other communication channels, speed of achieving results and getting on board to the next success.
Could you highlight the top-notch offerings of your company that clients find most compelling?
Great creative ideas, cross borders services and innovation in the technology. AI is not enough these days, we must implement our natural intelligence and then provide services which bring results.
What are the long-term objectives you have set for your company, and where do you envision the growth and evolution of your business in the coming years?
It is quite simple – we would like to improve our abilities to adapt to every new technology or communications tool and to be more effective internationally. Especially in the field of social media and video production.
Can you provide insights into some of your ongoing projects? What makes these projects particularly exciting or challenging?
The company operates currently with more than 45 clients, the majority of them big international corporations and – of course – we have important projects every week – brand awareness, crisis management, video production and social media management. To be precise – we, at M3 Communications Group, Inc. never divided projects into big or small, into more and less important. Of course – we always have priorities in our projects and developments and these days the most important task is how to make artificial intelligence work successfully with the natural intelligence of the team. We are testing different options and with great satisfaction, I can say that the team of the company has significant achievements in that direction.
Inspiration and Influences: Who in your life serves as a significant source of inspiration, and how have they influenced your career and personal development?
The people I met, the books I read and the projects I’ve done. These are the sources of the inspiration. I met hundreds of important people, kings and queens, prime ministers and presidents, CEOs of global corporations and also every day I meet ordinary people on the streets, in the shops, at the fitness or in the restaurants. From all of them, I take lessons, some intentionally, others – just by accident. I have a saying that people must learn not from their mistakes or failures, but from their success. When you have a failure, OK, this is clear, you can analyse why and how it happened, you may have a strategy not to make the same mistake again… And that’s it! But if you stay just for a couple of minutes thinking about how you achieved success, then the chance to make another one must grater much bigger. Generally, I think that analysing successes is much more productive and useful than doing the same things for failures.
Share some notable recognition and accreditation received by both yourself and your organization. How have these accolades contributed to your professional journey?
Just for 2024, we were nominated for Best PR Agency in Europe by the global industry leader PR Week, then Agency of the Year in the local Bright Awards, Brand of the Year for 2024 and also M3 Communications Group, Inc. has been announced Company of the Year. Throughout the years we have been nominated many times for Best PR Company in Europe by PR Week, Best Consultancy in Eastern Europe by The Holmes Report, Best PR Agency in the World by Stevie Awards and many others. I was inducted into the PR Hall of Fame in London, UK and also received hundreds of global awards. This is just proof of the great work we have done all those years and also proof of the most important value I mentioned in one of my previous answers: precision!
Reflecting on your career, what have been the most formidable obstacles you faced, and how did you overcome them?
Obstacles we have every day, every week. We overcome them with a simple belief that we are true professionals and the only way to success is to do our job precisely and ethically. If we do this, all the rest come to the place very soon.
How do you define success in your career, and how long did it take for you to achieve what you consider a successful position in your field?
Oh… there are so many definitions of success these days. For me, just personally for me, only happy people might be successful. And at the end of the day, the final target for each business person must be happiness, which never means money. Might be slightly naïve, but this is my belief in life – money is important only to develop your business and to live better, but it cannot bring happiness. If you go every day to your office with new ideas and great motivation – then you are happy, if you love your job and your team, if you improve yourself every day – then again you are happy. And only happy people might be successful.
What advice would you offer to the next generation of aspiring leaders, especially those looking to enter the public relations and communications industry?
There is no universal advice at all. But I will try to share one, which I created about two decades ago I still think it might be universal though – the rule of 3S – Speed, Simplicity and Self Confidence. First – speed nowadays is very, very important – the speed of making decisions, of providing successful projects, of answering emails even… Simplicity – no doubt is a key point if you want to do your job properly. We are overloaded with hundreds of tasks every day, with thousands and news and millions of items with information… Every day, literary! Then we must have our priorities, to make all tasks simple and clear. And final – the self-confidence. I do not know at least one successful business person who does not have strong self-confidence – to be the best in service, to be the best in learning, to be innovative and perfect. So, remember – the 3S can work perfectly for everyone today and in the future!
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