“So what are you working on these days? What’s on your mind?”

This is usually my go-to question when meeting friends, acquaintances, or business partners—partly because I’m genuinely curious, and partly because everyone loves talking about themselves. I listen to an update or two, they return the question, and then we move on to whatever brought us together in the first place.

But it didn’t go quite so smoothly when I met Vladislav Radak the other day at Bonn. While waiting for him, I vaguely remembered him from RTS’s Program for Youth, where I’d first seen him back in 2008. At the time, he’d just published his first novel—or was it several? “What a pretentious guy,” I’d thought back then. (I’d thought this, mind you, while working on a similar program—just on radio.) Later, I caught him at a TEDx talk arguing that “math just has bad PR,” and his name kept popping up in other contexts I couldn’t quite place. So I did what anyone would do—I Googled him. Novelist, mathematician, classical musician… and then an agency report: “Radak wins prestigious award in New York for best young director for a film he made at 18, for which he also wrote the script and music.” Come on, you can’t just go around calling yourself a director like that! (Though I’d proudly declared myself one on day one—no, hour one—after enrolling in film school.) And just like that, Google helped me cement my impression of this “pretentious guy”—another former youth show host and self-proclaimed director—before he’d even arrived.

“So what are you working on? What’s on your mind?”

For the next few hours, we dissected career highs and lows, workplace challenges and solutions, but mostly how life is hard, unfair, and generally devoid of perspective. At some point, I had to stop and think: Vladislav now works as a consultant at one of the world’s top firms and teaches at TU Dortmund. He’s happily married. And I’m no slouch in the achievements department either. So what the hell is the problem?

What connects us isn’t just our past careers—it’s our generation. Millennials. And not just any millennials, but the kind who started serious work before adulthood, achieved results, and now live lives we’ve chosen and built ourselves. Yet none of that has stopped us from sharing the same existential dread as our peers.

Globally, 73% of millennials don’t believe political elites have any positive impact on world affairs. A third of those surveyed across 42 countries don’t trust traditional media as a source of information. And the 2019 Deloitte Millennial Survey, published this May, paints a bleak picture: young people worldwide are disillusioned with institutions, distrust companies and their motives, and are overwhelmingly pessimistic about socioeconomic progress. Only 26% believe their country’s economic situation will improve in the next year. Half have no confidence in their personal finances and would quit their current job in a heartbeat.

All of this echoes in our conversation. Suddenly, the “pretentious guy” across from me feels like someone I fundamentally understand. Maybe because we both went through struggles far beyond our years early on, and now, in our thirties, we have the time and luxury to lament fate. (Said lament, by the way, happens in a swanky 17th-floor bar overlooking the Rhine, where neither of us asks how much anything costs or who’s paying as we order drink after drink. Turns out existential dread is more of a generational quirk than an actual crisis.)

“So what are you working on? What’s on your mind?”

“On myself. Every day,” I say. On trying to see where I am and what I have as success—on not letting the creeping sense of doom that seems to curse millennials ruin my life, plans, career, relationships. With that, we toast—me and Vladislav, the wunderkind from Palilula. I don’t say a word in the Uber back to my hotel, thinking maybe we should’ve had one more drink. That would’ve been… just right.

Is this my life now? Forever feeling like success is “just a little more” out of reach? The worry cuts deep. But then again—it’s all up to me.

Mentorship must ‘stir a man to greater strength and put courage in his heart.’

“No longer, Telemachus, will you be foolish or weak,
if the bold courage of your father has taken root in your heart—
the same courage with which he fought and spoke.
Then your journey will not fail, nor will it be in vain.”

These words, from the second book of Homer’s Odyssey (in Toma Maretić’s famed translation), are spoken by Mentor—Odysseus’ old friend—to the hero’s son, Telemachus. Before setting sail, Odysseus entrusted Mentor with “his whole household, to guard all things steadfastly.” But he also gave him something far more precious: his son. Mentor’s task was to embolden the boy, to guide him on a heroic path, to be a second father.

And 2,800 years later, this remains one of the purest definitions of mentorship. Odysseus was gone for two decades, yet his trust was so absolute that a single name became synonymous with an entire noble calling. Mentorship is crucial for anyone striving to advance—not just in their career, but in life itself.

Why Mentorship Wins

Over two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies have mentorship programs. Their employees are five times more likely to get promoted, and long-term retention jumps by 20%. For millennials, the numbers are even starker: half are more likely to stay past five years if their company offers strong mentorship (Deloitte Millennial Survey, 2016).

And it’s not just for beginners. A Harvard Business Review study (Suzanne de Janasz & Maury Peiperl) found that 84% of U.S. CEOs credit mentors with helping them avoid costly mistakes, while 69% say they make better decisions because of them.

Serbia’s Mentorship Stars

Even here, we have standout programs. Two of the best—run by the American Chamber of Commerce and the Serbian Association of Managers (SAM)—target young managers and final-year business students. Hundreds have passed through these programs, gaining skills, networks, and market savvy from mentors they’d otherwise never access: tech experts, corporate leaders, communication gurus. Recently, SAM even opened mentorship to exceptional entrepreneurs and startup founders—a chance the first two cohorts seized eagerly. Combined, these programs have reached nearly 500 young talents and seasoned professionals.

The Catch: Mentorship Isn’t About Numbers

But mentorship is more than metrics. Take The Odyssey itself: by the time the epic really gets going, Mentor has already failed. Odysseus’ house is overrun by Penelope’s suitors, the storerooms are looted, Telemachus flees by sea, and Mentor? Nowhere to be found. So why, then, do we name this role after such a lackluster figure?

The answer hides in the text: “Athena took Mentor’s form, his voice, his very frame.” Though Mentor had the credentials—age, wisdom, noble birth—it was Athena, goddess of wisdom, disguised as him, who truly stirred Telemachus’ courage.

The Real Lesson

Being a mentor isn’t about titles or experience. It’s about becoming the vessel—the “Athena”—who helps someone discover their own menos (heroic strength), shatter their self-imposed limits, and find courage they didn’t know they had. As Athena herself says, mentorship exists to “stir a man to greater strength and put courage in his heart.”

So—who’s your Athena? And whose will you be?

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

fotograf/kinja

Ako:

  • radiš na terenu i u studiju;
  • fotografiraš grupe ljudi i pojednice;
  • fotografiraš razne korporativne događaje i konferencije; 
  • imaš minimum 2 godine radnog iskustva, portfolio (listu primjera rada) i profesionalnu opremu,

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

narator/ica

Ako:

  • tvoj glas i intepretacija ostavljaju upečatljiv utisak; 
  • imaš iskustvo u pozajmljivanju glasa u korporativnim ili promotivnim filmovima, YouTube video ili online tutorijalima, dokumentarnim filmovima, TV emisijama, radijskim i/ili programskim najavama;
  • imaš minimum 2 godine radnog iskustva i portfolio (listu primjera rada),

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

animator/ica

Ako:

  • kreativna si osoba i lako komuniciraš svoje ideje;
  • razumiješ različite tehnike animacije, pripovjedanja i razvoja karaktera;
  • izvrsno koristiš softvere i razne alate za izradu 2D i 3D animacija, stop motiona, white boarda i slično;
  • imaš minimum 3 godine iskustva rada na animacijama i portfolio (listu primjera rada),

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

snimatelj/ica zvuka

Ako:

  • imaš iskustvo u snimanju zvuka;
  • snimaš izjave, dijaloge, govore, konferencije, muziku i ostalo na terenu i u studiju;
  • obavljaš i posebna snimanja zvučnih efekata, naracije i slično;
  • imaš minimum 3 godine iskustva rada i portfolio (listu primjera rada) i posjeduješ svoju opremu za snimanje audio-zapisa, 

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

dizajner/ica zvuka

Ako:

  • oblikuješ, produciraš, snimaš, edituješ, miksuješ,  dizajniraš zvuk na filmu, TV-u, radiju, u pozorištu i aranžiraš različita zvučno-muzička dela i procese;
  • imaš minimum 3 godine radnog iskustva  i porftolio (listu primera rada),

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

snimatelj/ica

Ako:

  • vješto, iskusno i kreativno snimaš profesionalnim digitalnim kamerama i DSLR aparatima;
  • snimaš zvuk bežičnim i žičanim bubicama, “madonama” i mikrofonima;
  • imaš iskustvo rada na terenu i u studiju;
  • imaš minimum 3 godine radnog iskustva, portfolio (listu primjera rada) i posjeduješ svoju opremu za snimanje audiovizualnog zapisa,

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

videograf/kinja

Ako:

  • imaš iskustva u kreiranju videa i kreativna si osoba;
  • snimaš, režiraš, montiraš, produciraš i arhiviraš fotografije i video-zapise;
  • radiš u softverskom paketu Adobe za audiovizualnu produkciju (Premiere, After Effects, Audition) i/ili slično;
  • snimaš fotografije i video-zapise visokog kvaliteta;
  • poznaješ engleski i naš jezik,

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.

Propulsion TRAŽI iskusne eksterne suradnike u Beogradu i Sarajevu koji bi se pridružili našem audiovizualnom produkcijskom timu!

Propulsion je komunikacijska organizacija specijalizirana za inovativne društveno angažirane kampanje i projekte. Niz dosadašnjih kampanja uspješno su komunicirale kulturne i društvene vrijednosti sa specifičnim fokusom na podizanje društvenih vrijednosti kod mladih, širom Jugoistočne Evrope.

Propulsion traži eksterne saradnike za sledeću poziciju:

scenarista/ica

Ako:

  • imaš iskustva u pisanju scenarija;
  • pišeš scenarija za kratkometražne i dugometražne dokumentarne filmove, korporativne, promotivne filmove, YouTube i online videe i tutorijale, TV emisije i/ili slično;
  • imaš minimum 3 godine radnog iskustva i portfolio (listu primjera rada),

popuni sledeći formular i pošalji nam prijavu:

Konkurs traje do ponoći 02.02.2020. godine.