C&B: How would you describe yourself in a single sentence that would capture the attention of someone who doesn’t know you?

Gheorghe Piperea: I am less interested in capturing someone’s attention in the moment. What truly matters to me is being able to leave a lasting impression in people’s memory. I am deeply inspired by an ancient Egyptian saying: “Remember me, and I shall live.”

C&B: Looking back, what has been the common thread guiding your professional journey?

Gheorghe Piperea: To rise above my circumstances, to be able to carry, with humility, the burdens of those I care about. Never to forget the past, never to miss the present, and never to give up on the future.

C&B: What was a difficult moment or failure that truly changed you?

Gheorghe Piperea: At the beginning of the collective lawsuits against banks (2010), I lost a series of five injunction proceedings. It took more than two years before I eventually won the cases on their merits. (An injunction is an emergency legal procedure in which the judge only assesses the appearance of the case rather than the facts themselves—a mechanism intended for situations that cannot tolerate delay.)

At that time, many people lost what little trust they had in me (and, more broadly, in the courts), while those paid by the banks to demonize their opponents happily collected their money.

What went wrong? Probably my excessive confidence back then in the emotional impact that collective lawsuits could have.

More than ten years later, the Court of Justice of the European Union proved me right: those emergency procedures would actually have benefited the banks as well. The amounts banks eventually had to pay their clients, along with the wave of collective lawsuits that followed, would have been significantly smaller, and public trust in the banking system would not have evaporated.

How did that failure affect me? Everyone around me was discouraged and intimidated. I had no choice but to become even more determined. I became public enemy number one for the banks—and I still am today—but I defeated an army of tanks with nothing but a sword in my hand.

C&B: What is one courageous—or perhaps counterintuitive—decision that significantly shaped your career?

Gheorghe Piperea: My decision in 1998 to pursue a joint PhD at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and the University of Bucharest. It took six years longer than I had expected, but it proved decisive both for my academic career and for my professional life.

In 2005, when I earned my doctorate in Paris, I also became an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bucharest. By the age of 39, in 2009, I was already a full professor and a PhD supervisor.

C&B: How have you changed over time as a leader and as a professional?

Gheorghe Piperea: I believe I have become more reserved, perhaps stricter, certainly more intimidating. Yet I have never wanted to stop being an ordinary person. That is why some people say things like, “Look at him—who does he think he is, criticizing Isărescu, wanting to bring Ursula down, telling us what the law is?” Perhaps, within their own bubble, nobody has that kind of courage.

The wrinkles on my forehead come from the constant pressure every Monday brings—the responsibility of providing work and livelihoods for a large number of people.

You know, it’s like the myth of Sisyphus: the gods condemned him to climb a mountain carrying an enormous boulder on his shoulders, only for it to roll back down every time he reached the summit, forcing him to begin again. Imagine that, sooner or later, all of us reach that summit and are condemned to start over with that same boulder on our backs. What do you think we would look like in an unedited photograph taken in those moments of astonishment followed by resignation?

C&B: What do you think the people who work closely with you say about you—beyond your public image?

Gheorghe Piperea: Some of the younger ones probably see me as rather intimidating at first, but they eventually get used to me. Those who have known me for a long time trust me—or at least I believe they do, judging by the way they behave.

As Gheorghe Hagi once said: “I wasn’t born simply to live; I was born to be a winner.” If there’s one thing I’d like the younger generation to learn from me, perhaps that’s it.

C&B: What genuinely sets you apart in the way you build or lead?

Gheorghe Piperea: I never make promises I don’t intend to keep, and I do not lie. I don’t choose only the tasks that are easy or virtually guaranteed to succeed. If I had done that, I would never have become a law professor, I would never have taken on collective lawsuits against banks, and I would never have become a Member of the European Parliament.

In my relationships with others—especially with friends and allies—I choose to trust first. It is true, however, that very few people who betray my trust ever become my friends or allies again.

The way I build or lead is neither a formula nor a model. I simply prefer to act more like an older brother than an authoritarian boss obsessed with control and afraid that someone might replace him.

The kind of competition I believe in is cooperative, a win-win approach, rather than a zero-sum game where one person’s gain means everyone else’s loss. I apply the same philosophy in my academic work, in teaching, and in politics as well.

C&B: How has today’s context—technology, AI, and the economy—changed the way you work?

Gheorghe Piperea: Other than the fact that I write by hand less and less—and with increasingly poor handwriting—it hasn’t changed me much at all. I see technology, including digital tools and AI, as just that: tools, nothing more. (Although I would say that AI could soon evolve from being a tool into becoming the master, but that’s a different discussion.)

The current context, including the economy, should not alter our condition as God’s creation—as free human beings made in His image and likeness. Nor should it make us less humble, more arrogant, or more inclined toward hedonism and cynicism.

The comfort I have enjoyed over the past 26 years, since becoming a lawyer with many collaborators and a certain level of public recognition, has not made me complacent or self-indulgent. I am exactly the same person I was in 1989, when I was serving in the military, witnessing the Revolution firsthand, and dreaming of… rotisserie chicken.

C&B: Is there a habit or routine that has significantly influenced your performance?

Gheorghe Piperea: Yes—unfortunately, I write on social media far too often.

Between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning, I have developed a real ritual: over a cup of coffee, which I drink alone because no one else at home wakes up that early, I write long—and often rather tedious—posts.

The positive side is that writing posts is a lot like playing chess. It trains your mind, disciplines your emotions, helps organize your days and weeks, and even brings a certain order—or disorder—to your business affairs.

C&B: What principles guide your most important decisions?

Gheorghe Piperea: Don’t be afraid of failure—be bold. Trust in God, but don’t forget to tie up your horse. Don’t let trolls discourage you, and don’t let praise intoxicate you. Never give up. Leave no one behind.

C&B: How do you see your field evolving over the next three to five years?

Gheorghe Piperea: I have only one real concern: that our profession—a profession that has accompanied ordinary people and society’s elites for thousands of years—might one day be abandoned in favor of artificial intelligence.

Yet in the medium and long term, the world will always need lawyers, because it will always need justice and the rule of law as the foundation and safeguard of social peace.

C&B: What role do you intend to play in that evolution?

Gheorghe Piperea: I will remain the professor and lawyer I have always been, but also a voice—hopefully not one crying in the wilderness—against the dangers of technological totalitarianism and social polarization, which inevitably leads to war. Humanity never seems to learn from history, and that is why it remains condemned to repeat it.

C&B: What genuine advice would you give to someone who wants to build something meaningful today?

Gheorghe Piperea: Always seek the meaning of life in the world around you. Stay grounded in your own time and your own people. Don’t waste too much energy trying to attract attention or satisfy your immediate physical needs. Instead, strive to live in the memory of those you care about, and you will find favor in the eyes of God.

C&B: What is an uncomfortable truth about your field that very few people are willing to say out loud?

Gheorghe Piperea: Money is the devil’s eye. It is the price of injustice and of the Faustian bargain—especially within the justice system. Too often, people today forget that the most valuable things in life cannot be bought at any price.

This interview with Gheorghe Piperea provides valuable insights into leadership, the legal profession, entrepreneurship, decision-making and the impact of artificial intelligence on the future. From collective lawsuits against banks and career-defining challenges to education, values and social responsibility, the conversation offers practical lessons for entrepreneurs, business leaders, legal professionals and anyone interested in the future of business, law and society.

The post Gheorghe Piperea on leadership, justice and Artificial Intelligence: “Don’t be afraid of failure—be bold.” appeared first on careers-business.com.