1. Where did your route in to the industry begin?
For me it began in Russia. I had visited Russia with a previous employer and wanted to
return there to find out more about the country and the changes it was going through.
So in 1995 I planned a 3 month trip to explore the place and improve my language
skills. By this time I had been in the military for 13 years and saw my trip to Russia as a
way of opening up my world. Being a foreigner in the former Soviet Union at that time
was exciting, it was a huge cultural change, but it was fun to be in a completely different
environment. I completed a 3 month language course in St Petersburg and then found
a one year MBA program that interested me. When I had completed this I decided I
wanted to stay in Russia to work. I had an interview with Kelly to be the Branch Manager
for the St Petersburg branch, got the job and that’s where it all began! I was eventually
promoted to General Manager for Russia and spent a couple of years living in Moscow.
After a total of 7 years of being in Russia I was ready to experience something else new
and out of the blue my boss asked me to fill the General Manager vacancy in Germany.
So with no prior knowledge of the country or language off we went! Again I had to
adapt to significant cultural differences, as well as a very different business climate.
From 2008 I spent around 5 years working as the Professional and Technical lead for
Europe, before recently becoming the Regional General Manager for Northern, Central
and Eastern Europe.
As a leader how do you motivate people to work through a tough time?
You must accept that there are different groups of people. There are those who are on
board with your goals and inspired by what you are trying to achieve and there are those
who decide very early on that they don’t wish to be a part of the journey. Unfortunately,
the latter tend not to stay around too long but this leaves you with a willing, positive
workforce. And these are the people who want a chance, a good plan and access to the
resources they need to reach their potential and move the business forward. And as long
as you provide these things people will work themselves through a tough time and begin
to thrive.
What qualities must you have to be able to successfully manage change?
What are your proudest
achievements in your career to date?
I am most proud about the part I played
in turning around the German business
back in 2003. We were under a huge
amount of pressure to change the dynamic
of the leadership team and make this
part of the business profitable. Building
a foundation for future growth was an
incredible challenge and took longer than
I had expected but by 2005 Germany had
become the most profitable operation in
Europe. The roots of success had grown so
deeply that when I left the leadership team
in 2008, they no longer needed me and
continued to motor ahead.
This is My Story
To manage
change you must
not only be open
to change but
like change
Be open-minded,
something
unexpectedly cool
may happen
tomorrow
Hold on to
your core values
but adapt your
outward approach
to fit your
environment
Be flexible
and embrace
new ideas
Don’t be afraid
to fail, just learn
from your mistakes
and try not to
repeat them
What career path did you
want to follow when you
were at high school?
When I was at school I had pretty clear
cut ideas on life, what was right and
wrong, good and bad. I decided early on I
wanted to be a military officer as I wanted
to be a ‘good guy’. At this time it was the
midst of the Cold War and the Americans
and NATO were fighting the ‘bad guys’;
the Soviet Union. The ironic thing is I later
married a girl who was born in the Soviet
Union. I learned pretty quickly that there
are two sides to every story!
If you could, what advice would you
give to your 16 year old self?
I would make myself aware that things are
rarely as black and white as they appear
- and that just because something seems
a certain way, not to accept that’s how
it really is. I would also tell myself not to
over-plan my life; being too focussed
on a certain path can mean missing
exciting possibilities
along the way.
How are you passionate about
outside of work?
With 3 kids under the age of 10 most of my
free time is family time. It doesn’t leave a
great deal of time for personal interests but
I had a chance for that before my kids and I
wouldn’t change this stage of
our family life for
the world!
Matt Igel,
Regional General Manager
Northern Central
and Eastern Europe