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D. Dontas (Knauf): We live in times with unique challenges

The energy crisis that started with the COVID-19 crisis and continued with the recent war between Russia and Ukraine, creates incredible challenges on multiple levels, according to Mr. Dimitris Dontas, Regional Manager of Knauf Greece, Cyprus, Algeria, Tunisia & Libya. In this context, he states that at the level of the Greek company “we have managed to limit the impact only on the cost factor, without affecting the supply of the market.”

– According to a NewTimes survey, Knauf is one of the gems of the Greek economy. How did the company become a pioneer in the building systems industry?

The secret of success is in business with values. At the Knauf Group, we place a non-negotiable importance on faithfully adhering to the group’s values, namely Humanity, Entrepreneurship, Cooperation and Commitment. These values ​​govern our daily life both in relation to our colleagues and our external partners, customers, suppliers.

We are a family business with a multinational organization, which operates worldwide, but we respect the values, needs, requirements and particularities of each country. This makes the Knauf group successful not only in Greece but also in every country where it operates. “Think globally, act locally”.

– How much has the company been affected by the international energy crisis?

The volatility brought to markets by the energy crisis that began with the COVID-19 crisis and continued with the recent war between Russia and Ukraine poses incredible challenges on multiple levels. It affects, in addition to energy prices, the adequacy and prices of basic raw materials, the entire operation of the supply chain, the balance of supply and demand. We live in times with unique challenges, global on the one hand but also with great differences from country to country.

At the level of the Greek company, we have managed to limit the impact only on the cost factor, without affecting the supply of the market. Ensuring the continuity of the supply of construction projects, small or large, with reliability, is important for the smooth operation of the construction industry.

– What emotions does the position of CEO itself evoke and how do you manage them?

The challenges a CEO faces are multi-dimensional and require composure, finesse and determination. The main quality of a successful CEO, however, is the creation of a climate of cooperation in the management team and its effectiveness in strengthening trust among its members. The role of the lone CEO of the past who made decisions alone is outdated, obsolete. Successful team management brings results and infuses the entire team with feelings of success and accomplishment, not just the CEO.

– How is a CEO educated, informed and exchanging opinions and best practices today?

The continuous development of the skills of any manager, let alone a CEO, is very important. Especially for a CEO, it is very important to participate in forums and discussions with people from other markets, in order to know strategies and approaches to problems from other sectors of the economy. The exchange of ideas and approaches at this level can provide excellent ideas for transforming business approaches or restructuring. The role of CEO clubs in this direction is catalytic because it offers an open communication platform between non-competing executives.

Of course, continuous training in soft skills, such as leadership, empathy, coaching, etc., is very important.

– What is the role of the CEO in retaining and developing his/her executives and who in attracting new executives from the market?

A company’s human resources are by far its biggest capital, its biggest wealth. The CEO from his position must lead, guide, inspire and develop his people. He must create the corporate culture so that his direct reports in turn do the same to their own reports. It is not something simple, to achieve it is a full-time job and requires commitment and faith in the development process. It is important to care and promote the ambition of your executives but also to strengthen the DNA of the company with young talented professionals, who will develop internally into future executives, imbued with the right culture. Establishing a corporate culture of succession planning at all levels of management is one of the key responsibilities of a successful CEO. In fact, creating a successor is the main responsibility of any manager, not just a CEO.

– A young executive who has the ambition to become a CEO, what would you advise him?

I will slightly paraphrase the question by answering what advice I would give to a new executive who aspires to be a successful CEO who will make a difference in the market. I will focus on the three main features that it should work on:

First of all, he must have patience and perseverance. The road to success is a marathon, not a sprint.

Secondly, he must make fair play a habit and his property. The successful CEO must live and operate with values ​​in the market, in the business and in his personal life.

Third, he must develop his empathy. Without empathy you cannot lead, inspire and direct people.

– What are the basic principles you think should govern a CEO’s relationships with his/her organization’s partners and suppliers and what has changed since the pandemic in this area?

The partners, customers and suppliers of a business are, in my opinion, integral members of the business family, as are all of its staff. They are all links in the same chain. Arguably, the pandemic has removed all these links with the risk of the chain becoming looser or even broken. So we need to develop and implement strategies that will restore communication to pre-pandemic levels. Investing in service level and indirectly but convincingly conveying the message of how important we consider these partners to our business are key strategies. The communication dimension (communication strategy) must be developed with particular care and implemented consistently.

Source: Capital

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