Meet Ivan Sljivar

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ivan Sljivar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ivan below.

Ivan, thrilled to have you on the platform as I think our readers can really benefit from your insights and experiences. In particular, we’d love to hear about how you think about burnout, avoiding or overcoming burnout, etc.

For years, I believed success was simple: move faster, climb higher, never stop.
As long as I kept delivering results, I thought everything else would fall into place.

But somewhere between the early morning commutes, late-night stress, and endless deadlines, something inside me started to fade.

At first, I told myself it was just fatigue.
But the truth was deeper, it was a disconnection.
I had mastered every system… except my own life.

When burnout finally hit, it didn’t arrive with noise or drama.
It came quietly, through numb mornings, restless nights, and a growing distance between who I was and what I was doing.

That’s when I began to ask harder questions.

What does success cost when it comes at the expense of your health, your clarity, your relationships?
What’s the point of managing million-dollar projects if you’re losing direction in your own life?

That moment became a turning point.
I began experimenting with new ways to work, not harder, but truer.

I built my own PM Reset Framework, drawing from decision science, agile principles, and emotional intelligence. Slowly, I found harmony again. I learned to plan without pressure and grow without losing presence.

That same framework became the foundation of my Life-Work Harmony Career Transformation Accelerator, designed to help mid-career professionals, especially project managers, move from burnout to life-work harmony.

Because resilience isn’t about pushing harder.
It’s about learning to reset, from within.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Today, I’m a PM Career Transformation Strategist and experienced certified agile project management practitioner/coach, focused on helping project managers and others in similar leadership roles rediscover their career purpose and direction in uncertain times.

What excites me most is watching someone realize: they’re not stuck, they’re just misaligned.
Once they reconnect to their inner compass, everything begins to move again.

In my programs and workshops, I walk people through a four-part framework:

1. Discover your career calling/purpose through reflective/guiding questions.
2. Make strategic career path decisions with structured tools.
3. Set visual SMART goals for the upcoming period.
4. Build resilient habits that sustain long-term performance and harmony.

My approach blends analytical rigor with human-centered leadership, helping people design careers that serve their lives, not consume them.

This message also drives my speaking work, where I share how project professionals can integrate emotional intelligence, AI-assisted decision frameworks, and people-powered collaboration systems to lead with courage and clarity in a world that never stops changing.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

When I look back, three qualities have shaped every breakthrough in my life and career, and they remain the foundation of how I coach and lead today.

1. Clarity

The courage to pause and ask, What truly matters now?
Clarity doesn’t come from overthinking, it comes from alignment.
If you’re early in your journey, don’t chase certainty. Get curious about your direction.

2. Resilience

Not the “tough it out” kind, the reflective kind.
The ability to recover by re-centering, not just enduring.
When things feel off-course, slow down. Reflect. Realign.
That’s where your strength really grows.

3. Empathy

The quiet force that turns leadership into service.
Empathy lets you see beyond deliverables, to the people and purpose behind them.
Practice it daily: listen, pause, and meet people where they are, including yourself.

If you cultivate these three, clarity, resilience, and empathy, you won’t just grow your career.
You’ll design a life that sustains it.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I’m always open to meaningful collaboration with:

Universities and career services teams preparing students for strategic, purpose-driven careers.
PMI chapters and professional networks seeking guest speakers or workshop facilitators who connect career development with personal wellbeing.
Organizations and HR leaders ready to prevent burnout and build human-centered leadership cultures.
Fellow educators, program creators and changemakers who share the mission of redefining success through purpose, clarity and harmony.

If that sounds like you, let’s connect.
Whether through online workshops, webinars, or collaborative programs, I love creating experiences that help professionals rediscover purpose and design careers that align with their values.

Anyone who feels aligned with this message can reach me directly through LinkedIn (Ivan Sljivar) or via [email protected] as I’m always happy to explore meaningful collaboration. Together, we can help more people master uncertainty, not by working harder, but by choosing more consciously.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivansljivar/