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Diana Kobas Dešković
Episode · #19

POSLOVNA ŽENA Diana Kobas Dešković

Guest Diana Kobas DeškovićHosted by Dea OlupMay 3, 2026
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation

The traditional corporate ladder often presumes a linear, uninterrupted climb, rarely accounting for the shifts in personal life that affect professionals, especially women. Diana Kobas Dešković, a psychologist and entrepreneur, has spent her career challenging this assumption. She realized that while companies often talk about work-life balance, few genuinely address the systemic biases that prevent women from achieving equal career opportunities, particularly after starting a family. Her Mamforce method offers a structured approach to dismantle these barriers, focusing on cultural shifts and flexible work arrangements. As she puts it, the goal is to ensure "women have equal career development opportunities as their male colleagues." Listeners will walk away with a clearer understanding of how personal experience can illuminate a global business need, and why true flexibility requires more than just policy — it demands a fundamental change in how we perceive productivity and commitment.

Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
Diana Kobas Dešković emphasizes that the first three to five years of a career are critical, not just for skill acquisition, but for shaping one's entire professional philosophy and goals. Where you begin sets the trajectory: those foundational years determine your working habits, your relationship with your role, and even your long-term personal objectives.
02
While at Pliva, Diana spearheaded "Pliva Zdravlje," an initiative to shift the company's public perception from a financial entity to a health and wellness partner, promoting healthy living over specific products. Companies focused on tangible products often miss the deeper opportunity to connect with customers by promoting the underlying purpose — sometimes the most impactful brand extension is a narrative shift.
03
Becoming a mother for the second time in 2008, just as the economic crisis hit, forced Diana to confront the challenge of work-life balance firsthand, revealing it as a widespread issue, not just a personal one. Personal struggles, especially those intensified by external pressures like an economic downturn, can reveal overlooked market needs and become the genesis of a new business concept.
04
Diana's initial idea for Mamforce was to connect skilled women seeking flexible work with employers who needed their expertise but couldn't afford full-time top executives. Sometimes the simplest solution to a market gap — directly connecting supply and demand — fails because the market isn't ready for the underlying cultural shift it implies.
05
When her initial concept for flexible work placements met significant resistance from established business leaders who couldn't grasp flexible hours or remote work, Diana realized the problem wasn't a lack of supply or demand. If your market struggles to accept a new operational model, the real barrier isn't a lack of understanding of the benefits, but a deeper cultural resistance to changing established norms of how work gets done.
06
Diana pivoted from directly connecting flexible workers to developing Mamforce as a methodology for organizational cultural change, drawing on her psychology background and previous corporate experience. When a direct market solution is rejected due to entrenched cultural norms, the path forward is often to shift from offering a service to providing a structured methodology for internal cultural transformation.
07
The Mamforce method emphasizes not only flexible work arrangements (hours, location) but also a change in organizational culture so that flexible workers are not perceived as less committed or less productive. True workplace flexibility isn't just about implementing new policies; it requires dismantling the implicit bias that views non-traditional work arrangements as a sign of lesser dedication.
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