A Note from Our Chairwoman

To the Leaders We Work With,

I’ve always been more interested in why people act the way they do than in what they say they intend to do.

Over time, that interest became something more than curiosity. It became a pattern I couldn’t unsee — across roles, industries, and situations where outcomes depended on people responding to change.

Again and again, I watched behavior carry more truth than plans, explanations, or stated goals. And the longer I paid attention, the clearer it became that most of what we call resistance or failure is actually the predictable result of the conditions people are already in.

That lens has shaped every decision I’ve made since.

But that instinct was shaped very early in my life. Not by formal education or years of research or extensive experience. It was embedded into my childhood. Changing the way I view and behave in the world, even today. 

I grew up in Kosovo during a period of civil unrest, where fear, uncertainty, and survival governed behavior. When my family relocated to the United States, I, then, experienced a jarring contrast — not just culturally, but psychologically. The same world could feel radically different depending on what people believed was at risk, what they trusted, and what they felt they had control over.

That dissonance stayed with me.

Growing up in Chicago, I became increasingly curious about how people internalize, digest and interpret language, syntax, and environment. How they make sense of their world and act on those notions and feelings— especially under pressure. That curiosity led me toward psychology and human behavior, and later into roles across sales, marketing, and analytics. Not because I was drawn to tactics, but because those were the places where behavior was constantly being explained away instead of understood.

Over time, a pattern became impossible to ignore.

I watched capable leaders make thoughtful, well-intended decisions — backed by data, strategy, and investment — only to see outcomes stall or drift once people were involved. When behavior didn’t change, the explanation was almost always the same: resistance, misalignment, lack of buy-in, poor execution. But those explanations never felt sufficient. They described the symptom, not the cause.

What I kept seeing was this: the behavior leaders were trying to change had already been shaped — emotionally, mentally, and experientially — long before any initiative began. People weren’t being irrational or difficult. They were responding to the conditions they were already in. By the time leaders stepped in, the system had done its work.

That realization fundamentally changed how I approached the problem.

If you don’t understand how current behavior was created, any attempt to change it becomes an act of force or hope. Pressure increases. Communication intensifies. New initiatives pile on top of old ones. And still, the same patterns resurface — often the moment attention moves elsewhere.

Blue Monarch Group was built to work before you reach that point.

We begin with research that explains how behavior came to be, so leaders can see clearly rather than guess. From there, we focus on reshaping the emotional and mental conditions people are responding to — meeting them where they are and helping them arrive at a new destination that feels coherent and possible. And once that shift has occurred, we design experiences that embed the behavior so it becomes stable, familiar, and lasting.

This work isn’t about persuading people or “managing” change or manipulating an audience. It’s about changing the conditions that shape behavior in the first place — so progress doesn’t rely on pressure, reminders, or constant oversight. It endures rough patches, fosters unity and drives toward organization and commercial goals.

Looking ahead, I believe this kind of work will only become more necessary. As systems, technology and intelligence grow more complex and the pace of change accelerates, the cost of misunderstanding human behavior will continue to rise. Organizations that learn to work with behavior — rather than against it — will be the ones that endure.

That is the future BMG is built for, and the work I remain deeply committed to.

Ellza Malok

Chairwoman, Blue Monarch Group