Creating a wider sense of prosperity
Updated: 1 day ago
Autonomy with purpose? For Sergiu Manea, chief executive at BCR, upwilling creates an exciting combination between leading yourself, leading others and building organisational capital
Upwilling is a book that Sergiu Manea isn’t going to put down soon. He’s already read it twice. He’s chief executive at Romania’s second largest bank, BCR, where he first led a turnaround, then took it digital and is now encouraging a wider sense of purpose in helping customers take care of their financial lives.
‘The book comes at a good moment for us when we are trying to simplify the organisation, giving pride back to specialists and giving them the autonomy to act.’
‘As an upwiller, you get autonomy and with a drop of courage you gain independence. That’s why I’m so excited about this book.’
The first time he read it he thought, ‘my goodness, this explains a lot about physiology, psychology and organisational behaviour. I was dominated by the wish to remember everything because I thought it was so smart.’
He then reached the end with the playlists of songs and the summary of the common language of upwilling. ‘I realised I had to read it again because it’s not about remembering what’s written. It’s about actually feeling and explaining certain dynamics within your body, within your brain and within your soul.’
He liked the book’s progression from leading yourself to leading others and then building organisational capital. For him, independence isn’t about insularisation or solitude. It’s about creating a welcoming ecosystem with values that make an impact. That’s why he is going to keep reading the book.
He was also drawn by the concept of we as a system, which describes how relationships are built. ‘Prosperity is measured in more ways than the material’, he says. ‘For the young today, social capital seems particularly weak.’
At BCR, he’s talking to his people and culture teams about the idea of creating prosperity within a decentralised system. ‘My intention is to see how upwilling threads into the career paths and the decision-making of people who are joining us.’
• ‘Upwilling: Creating the magic of we in uncertain times’ by Iva Biondic, Novaro Publishing, September 2026, further details here or at novaropublishing.com/upwilling.
