Chief Change Officer
#186 Irina Filippova: From Diplomacy in Russia to Decarbonization in the US
Wed, 19 Feb 2025
Irina Filippova has a knack for reinvention—first as a diplomat, then as an energy leader, and always as someone who dives headfirst into big challenges. Born in Moscow to a nuclear scientist, she took a detour from atoms to alliances before landing at BP, where she’s now electrifying fleets and turning gas stations into sustainability hubs. Change is her comfort zone, and with her signature mix of diplomacy, curiosity, and humor, she’s proving that career pivots can be both bold and brilliant. Key Highlights of Our Interview: Moscow Roots and Global Aspirations “I grew up surrounded by science—my father was a nuclear scientist—but my passion was languages and cultures. Choosing diplomacy as a career was a bold step, especially for a woman in Moscow, but it opened doors to a world of possibilities.” A Curiosity-Led Career Path “My journey has been anything but linear. At 35, I realized I wasn’t drawn to the idea of a traditional career path. Instead, I wanted to explore different facets of energy, leading me from corporate giants to startups—and each step fueled my curiosity further.” Turning the Lens Inward “I initially focused on the need for external leaders to change, but studying psychology at the Carl Jung Institute revealed a profound truth: the change had to start within me. Only by addressing my own internal growth could I effectively guide others.” Solving the Fleet Transition Equation “Fleet owners face a daunting challenge: embracing electrification without losing focus on their core business. Our mission is to handle everything from sourcing energy to ensuring reliability, allowing them to electrify without added burdens.” _________________________ Connect with us: Host: Vince Chan | Guest: Irina Filippova --Chief Change Officer-- Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself. Open a World of Deep Human Intelligence for Growth Progressives, Visionary Underdogs, Transformation Gurus & Bold Hearts. 6 Million+ All-Time Downloads. Reaching 80+ Countries Daily. Global Top 3% Podcast. Top 10 US Business. Top 1 US Careers. >>>100,000+ subscribers are outgrowing. Act Today.<<< --Chief Change Officer--Change Ambitiously. Outgrow Yourself.Open a World of Expansive Human Intelligencefor Transformation Gurus, Black Sheep,Unsung Visionaries & Bold Hearts.12 Million+ All-Time Downloads.Reaching 80+ Countries Daily.Global Top 3% Podcast.Top 10 US Business.Top 1 US Careers.>>>140,000+ are outgrowing. Act Today.<<<
Chapter 1: Who is Irina Filippova and what is her journey?
This episode tells the story of a self-starter who never settles, who is constantly in search of change, who combines curiosity and courage with a profound sense of integrity, now becoming a force for change. Irina Filipov, the COO and co-founder of an energy transition company backed by BlackRock. We met more than 20 years ago at Yale. We are MBA classmates.
Right from the start, her clear and persuasive way of speaking really caught my attention. It's not just that she is a well-trained diplomat, fluent in five languages. She possesses a clarity of thought and the ability to communicate her ideas with strong conviction. You will surely sense this conviction throughout our conversation.
Irina was born into a family led by a nuclear scientist in Russia. Yet her interests led her elsewhere, in particular to international relations and eventually a diplomat career in the States. Her journey didn't stop there. She wanted to pursue a business career, so she went to Yale and transitioned into the energy sector with BP in London.
Chapter 2: How did Irina transition from diplomacy to the energy sector?
But the corporate world couldn't contain her ambition for law. Irina transitioned from a comfortable corporate position during the credit crisis to spearhead new ventures, at some point becoming a change leadership consultant for CEOs and senior leaders. Then a few years back during COVID, she and her team were setting up a new venture.
As we speak today, they are crafting a new paradigm in the energy sector. The mission is to disrupt the transportation industry in the States with innovative energy solutions. Towards the end of our conversation, Irina will share invaluable advice for the younger generation who are passionate about creating global change for the greater good. Here comes Irina Filipov.
Thanks for having me, Vince. It's a pleasure. I grew up in Moscow, as you know. My father was a nuclear scientist, so he was in energy. But I was not. I was interested in languages. And when the time came to choose a career, I truly wanted a career that would expose me to different cultures and the way the world works. worked as it were.
So I chose a career in diplomacy, which was a very tall task for, first of all, a female. Typically, career in diplomacy would be reserved to men. But I did succeed in entering the very exclusive Moscow State Institute for International Relations, and I was studying international law.
when I had the opportunity to travel to the United States and see how, if you will, human rights practices worked in reality. And this is where my big journey began, as it were. So the career evolved. I went actually on to work for a UN think tank and peace and conflict resolution. I did that for about five years. And while it was a very, very interesting time,
in world politics, being a young person living in New York City, surrounded by kind of all the mystery of international relations. I was looking for something more challenging and potentially even more substantive as I was thinking about my future. So I decided to apply to a business school and of course a business school like Yale, a school of management.
stands out, certainly stood out for me because of their mission and the focus on leadership for business and society. And that helped me articulate where I saw myself heading as an adult, as a mature professional. I truly wanted to make a difference for society, for global society, as it were. But I also was interested in the mechanic of the business in terms of solving problems
some of the challenges that we're facing, not only the mechanism of politics that I was exposed to before. So that's how the journey started as it were. That's when we met at Yale. And when I was enrolled as an MBA student, I did not necessarily have a very clear idea of a path. If you recall, there were tracks, a finance track, a consulting track, a marketing track, a nonprofit track.
I did not see myself fully on any of the tracks because somehow that definition seemed a bit limiting. So I went down a limp. I got an airplane ticket to London during my spring break in the first year, and I went and introduced myself to BP. That was then becoming a leader in not only energy, but energy writ large.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of courage in leadership according to Irina?
In order to be successful in being independent or running a small business, you do have to be very curious about industry trends. You have to be open to building partnerships, relationships, collaborations with others. You have to continuously find ways to in which you can create value, not just for yourself, but for others in the ecosystem.
So those components really lead, I believe, successful entrepreneurs to more success. I've also observed, I've observed a lot being in these different environments and these different spaces. And unfortunately, we don't see a lot of great examples of leadership on either side. I believe in the US culture, there is a bit of a glorification of the entrepreneur.
We hear all these great stories about unicorns becoming successful overnight. And therefore there is this mystery and mystique of what it takes to build a successful enterprise. And I believe that unfortunately gives rise to tendencies that are not necessarily healthy and don't lead to long-term sustained success for entrepreneurs.
Because again, folks think that if they kind of somehow outsmart the market and become very popular, that somehow is going to get them from point A to point B. And of course, we've seen a lot of unfortunate consequences of that kind of thinking.
Let me summarize. You are a self-starter. You also have a strong sense of intellectual curiosity. These two forces are self-reinforcing. You are curious about new trends, new changes.
You're not afraid of breaking through barriers, try something new, something different to self-start, to get your curiosity fulfilled, but at the same time to move ahead of the game, or I would say to set up the rules of the game yourself. Yet, I think there's one missing piece. It's courage. It takes courage for you to venture out there, for you to self-start without knowing all the unknown.
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Chapter 4: How did Irina's career reflect her values of integrity and curiosity?
So in your eyes, what is courage? What is courageous leadership, especially for a woman leader?
In my mind, Vance, the word leader equals the word courage. There is no leadership without courage. And even though I believe we don't necessarily have a lot of examples of courageous leadership, those who show courage are the true leaders. Did it take courage for me to make the transition from BP to an early stage startup?
Probably, probably some courage, but I would say more curiosity on my part. Like I said before, I was not wedded to a particular structure of my career. I was not wedded to going from one stage to the next in a very precise way. I always desired to have more freedom and more control over my own destiny, as it were. So that, to me, was very natural.
That transition was very natural, even though it happened in the midst of the global financial crisis in 2008. So anyone thinking rationally about this would say, well, why wouldn't you just stay with a safe, secure career where you were progressing just fine in a large company versus going kind of off on your own into the unknown. But to me, that wasn't really the dilemma.
I was attracted by the opportunity of meeting a challenge. My desire was to meet that challenge and to bring all my skills and experiences to bear on meeting that challenge. And if I could do that in the context of a small enterprise, like-minded individuals, great, fantastic. If I had to venture off on my own, then that's how it had to be. So I see courage really as a way of being rather than
kind of a quality that you have to have. It's just a way in which you get from one place to the next. And you do have to sometimes jump over large chasms. But in doing so, you have to have a vision of bridging areas that don't really bridge easily. The business that we are now, for example, we're in now, the business of
Electrifying transportation involves two very established industries, energy and transportation, going through a transformation. And as both of them are changing at the same time and fundamentally, we're here to really bridge everything that they're going through and create an opportunity for fleets to electrify successfully.
So again, this is an opportunity and this is seeing how you can actually connect the dots in the midst of the storm, for lack of a better term, in the midst of this big major transition and transformation. I would say that most courageous leaders in my mind are those who actually stick to the promises that they make to their people, to the organization that they run.
Those who continue to deliver on the promises they made to their investors and funders, people who back them, back their idea. And those who continue to deliver value to those who use their products and services, their company's products and services. That's called integrity. And sometimes integrity takes courage.
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Chapter 5: How does Irina approach change leadership and management?
and standing your ground, but being flexible at the same time and seeing opportunities and bringing those opportunities to bear on shaping the mission of, of your existing enterprise. So I don't know if I answered fully your question around courage and leadership, but to me, again, leadership is courage and courage is leadership. One is impossible without the other.
And it really just means staying in integrity with yourself, with what you say and what you do.
Absolutely. You've answered the question with so much authenticity and truth in that. I like what you said about courage equals leadership. Leadership equals courage. Although some leaders mistake, misinterpret Being courageous, meaning that they can just do whatever they want without thinking ahead of potential consequences on them and people around them.
So they are taking risks without being thoughtful about the consequences, the impact they create. That actually I call stability, not courageous leadership. I also like what you said about integrity. We've seen a lot of cases in business and politics in which leaders lack integrity in what they do and what they say.
Our world needs more leaders who are like you, who value as well as practice integrity in talk and in walk. Now, let's look at another C word, change. This podcast is called Chief Change Officer. Change is the central theme in all of our interviews.
I know at some point in your career life, you've been a consultant in change leadership and management, working with a lot of senior leaders, CEOs, and the teams. Tell us more about your experience there in helping others to build a mission for change and to execute on it.
Sure. Well, I've ventured into this change area primarily because I wanted to see the change in leadership of large companies, leadership on the political arena in terms of achieving our decarbonization goals. And I guess I wasn't seeing enough persistence, enough integrity in getting through the transitions that we had to get through as quickly as we needed to get through them.
So I told myself something has to change, something in the way these leaders think and act has to change. But notice, I was thinking about those leaders out there, leaders that I was observing at a very senior level in corporate worlds, in entrepreneurial worlds. But what actually needed to happen, the change needed to happen within myself.
I studied psychology at the Carl Jung Institute in Zurich, and that's where I first had the insight, not without help from a very accomplished depth psychologist to actually see the need that you're perceiving out there as being actually very internalized. with yourself.
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Chapter 6: What lessons did Irina learn from her experience in change leadership?
to act according to their beliefs rather than according to what common thinking may suggest they do. and really follow through, as it were, on the ideas that they had. So that was a period in my life where, again, this reflection around what's happening around me in the world, on the world stage, actually had to all transpire within myself.
Otherwise, I could not be effective as an advisor, as a consultant to established, companies as well as to entrepreneurial companies and their leaders in terms of what they needed to do to make a difference, to make a difference to their strategy, to make a difference to their positioning, to create a better service or a better product for this world.
But it all again comes back to each person's individual values and the ability to live according to those values and bring those values to bear on what it was that they're building staying in integrity.
So much so about the change you've experienced and also what you believe in change. Now, let's take a step further to talk about another kind of change that you are really passionate about, which is energy transition. As we speak, you and your team are building a new paradigm in energy transition. Tell us about the vision of you and your team.
Whose problem you're trying to solve and what exactly is this problem? Inspire us, educate us. Like we're five years old. Tell us more about what you're trying to do at this moment and what's the impact you're trying to make.
As I've already mentioned, the world of transportation and the world of energy are going through a tremendous transition. All the major automotive original equipment manufacturers actually voted in favor of electrification of ground transport.
Which means that they are very busy investing in battery research, investing in designing and manufacturing new models of electric vehicles from class one to class eight. So from passenger vehicles all the way to the semis and buses. This revolution in transportation is happening. And it's aided.
by the revolution that's happening in parallel around energy, the source of energy for this transportation, which is no longer your conventional oil and gas, right? This is now at the switch that's happening from conventional oil and gas to electric power. You could argue that the sources of electricity may come from conventional sources as well. That is true.
However, as we've seen over the past two decades, renewable sources of electricity are continuing to grow, making it cheaper, making it reliable, and of course, making it cleaner. most importantly.
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