Organisational Diagnosis & Strategy
Assessing culture, leadership, structures and processes; uncovering friction and organisational risk; setting priorities and building credible plans for change.
A life that cannot be reduced to a job title
Sofia Manso. Beyond the job title.
From leading people functions to advising organisations and teaching, Sofia Manso works where strategy, culture and human behaviour meet — and where ideas have to stand up to reality.
Humanity is not the opposite of strategy.
Sofia Manso · Experience and ideas
Understand the system. See the people within it.
Her background in Political Science shaped her understanding of power, structures and decisions. Psychology and Positive Psychology deepened her understanding of behaviour, relationships and what allows people and organisations to thrive.
A former Head of People at Grupo Bernardo da Costa, she founded Academia da Felicidade and now advises organisations on people, leadership and culture. She is also an author, university lecturer and international keynote speaker.
O Teu Próximo Passo draws on executive responsibility, consultancy and organisational development. It examines not just what organisations want to achieve, but how they operate — and what that costs the people inside them.
Inside the book
THE EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE THINKING
Understanding organisations from the inside. Questioning what keeps them running.
The gap between what an organisation says and what happens in practice is shaped by decisions, processes and relationships. You have to work inside that complexity to understand it.
Her work ranges from organisational diagnosis and strategic design to putting solutions into practice. The aim is not another set of recommendations, but changes leaders and teams can sustain in day-to-day work.
Processes & Implementation
Designing and introducing internal policies, working procedures, onboarding, people-management practices, performance indicators and follow-through mechanisms.
Leadership & Mentoring
Developing leaders and teams through mentoring, executive learning and practical support during change — grounded in trust, clarity, accountability and autonomy.
Teaching & Public Speaking
University teaching, professional certification programmes, keynotes and conferences in Portugal and abroad. Research, operational experience and critical thinking brought into the same room.
Different contexts. Challenges that intersect.
Industry & manufacturing Banking & financial services Services & operations Aviation
Experience across organisations in Portugal and international markets.MY WAY OF WORKING
“I bring intensity, optimism and a restlessness that only settles when the work has a purpose.
I lead Academia da Felicidade, but the title does not define me. What matters is how I see people inside organisations: not as resources to be managed, but as the people who make strategy possible. I bring evidence, science and structure to what too many still dismiss as intangible: wellbeing at work.
I am not interested in impressive organisation charts. I am interested in what happens behind them: the systems we accept, the decisions leaders make and the conditions people work in. I want to develop leaders who listen before they instruct, and workplaces where wellbeing is built into how work gets done.
My path has taken me through politics, aviation and entrepreneurship. There have been hard lessons as well as achievements. What has not changed is what I refuse to compromise: authenticity, freedom, commitment, loyalty, impact and meaning.
I have blind spots and I set high standards. Those standards come from respect for people who give a great deal to their work and deserve more than a payslip in return. I question assumptions. I build. And I want culture to be something people experience, not just something organisations describe.
SOFIA MANSO
Three principles
Humanity and high standards belong together.
01
Clarity.
Clarity begins by naming the problem, not covering it with reassuring language.
02
Accountability.
A good decision accounts for the result and the people who make it possible.
03
Choice.
Progress also depends on real choices — and on creating the conditions that make those choices possible.
Photo gallery
The people, places and conversations behind the work.
Portraits, events and encounters that show the work beyond the written page.
LET'S TAKE THE CONVERSATION FURTHER
A perspective worth bringing into the room.
Keynotes, interviews, panels and transformation projects shaped by first-hand experience and critical thinking.
Invite Sofia ↗WritingWork, identity, leadership and transformation
TeachingSkills development and critical thinking
ConsultingOrganisational culture, people management and wellbeing
FROM REFLECTION TO INTERVENTION
An important change often begins with a conversation.
For organisational diagnostics, culture and leadership projects, development programmes or an honest conversation about the future of work.