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Tamara Sušanj Šulentić
Episode · #277

PSIHOLOGIJA USPJEHA Tamara Sušanj Šulentić

Guest Tamara Sušanj ŠulentićHosted by Tanja PuretaMay 3, 2026
About this episode
What you'll hear in this conversation

The conventional wisdom often places financial results at the pinnacle of organizational success, treating them as the ultimate measure. But what if those numbers are merely a symptom, and the true engine lies elsewhere? Tamara Sušanj Šulentić, Pliva's Director of Communications, argues that communication isn't just a supporting function; it’s a direct determinant of market performance and employee engagement. A psychologist by training, Sušanj Šulentić describes her role as "applied psychology," viewing the corporate landscape through a lens of human behavior and perception. She explains how aligning internal and external messages creates credibility, and how a lack of it can quickly create significant problems for an organization, even if the effects aren't immediately visible. This conversation will prompt you to reconsider how you measure organizational health. You’ll walk away understanding that effective communication isn’t a nice-to-have, but the bedrock upon which all other successes are built—and how to identify when it's failing.

Insights from the conversation
What to take from this episode
01
Research consistently shows a strong link between successful communication efforts and financial success, market performance, and overall employee well-being. The connection isn't just anecdotal; it's a measurable cause-and-effect, and a breakdown in communication, though not immediately apparent, will inevitably affect an organization's results.
02
Tamara Sušanj Šulentić, a psychologist, consciously chose her path and now sees her role as Director of Communications as "applied psychology." Communication isn't just about crafting messages; it is fundamentally about understanding human behavior, perception, and motivation. Your ability to connect with people dictates your ability to communicate effectively.
03
Organizations communicate through many channels—informal and formal, written and verbal, vertical and horizontal—to diverse audiences, from production line workers to government bodies. All these messages must be coherent and consistent; any misalignment between what you say to one group and another will quickly lead to rumors, dissatisfaction, and open conflict.
04
Pliva continuously conducts internal and external research to understand how others perceive them and how they see themselves, then aligns these views to build credibility. Credibility isn't something you declare; it's something you earn through a constant feedback loop, actively monitoring both self-perception and external perception, then adjusting your actions and messages to bridge any gaps.
05
Sušanj Šulentić points to Pliva's consistent ranking as a desired employer and the public's trust in their products and work as key indicators of communication success. The true measure of whether your communication works isn't what you say about yourself, but what others—especially employees and customers—say, feel, and believe about your organization.
06
While "actions speak louder than words," Sušanj Šulentić reminds us that actions are themselves a form of communication, and in a world saturated with information, an organization must make itself known. Even if your work is excellent, it will go unnoticed if you don't actively communicate your existence and values; it is not self-praise, but a necessary effort to cut through the noise and engage an audience.
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