As far as this interview I had with Oana Dimitriu for Business24, following the announcement of my joining of R/GA Bucharest as General Manager, there is one thing I can say. It was one of the most engaging one I had in very long time. She did her homework really well (aka researched a lot), so she had many questions. Some were part of this interview, some were not. Below I chose a few highlights, but you can read the full version in Romanian on Business24 website.
Leaving Grapefruit was not easy as friendship was part of the package
What connects me to Grapefruit is not only the fond memories or the special projects we’ve worked on, but also the many friendships that have blossomed over the years—even before I joined the agency as Managing Director. Friendship has an intimacy that always belongs to those lucky enough to experience it—to speak about it publicly would be to betray that trust, and that wouldn’t be right. However, I can say with certainty that it was not an easy decision for me to take, nor was it easy for my friends and teammates to accept it.
Joining R/GA, the one I looked up to back in 2000
I didn’t seek out this change; I’d say it found me instead. I didn’t plan it, and I didn’t see it coming. After nearly 15 years spent training people and e-business departments and carrying out projects for the local digital industry, I believe that turning my attention to countries where the digital industry enjoys a privileged status is exactly what I needed professionally at this point in my career. When I started my career in this field, back in 2000, R/GA was one of the agencies I looked up to. The quality of their projects inspired us to bring the same level of excellence to the local projects we were working on.
On something I always paid attention … learning, team member career development and education
On giving up my free time due to my position as Member of R/GA’s Global Board and business travel:
I could say I’m already used to it, but I wouldn’t use the word «sacrifice». When you’re as motivated as I am, when you care about people, when you love what you do, then you see the good things in life. So «sacrifices» like the one you mentioned aren’t sacrifices at all—they’re decisions that are made and accepted as such
If I regret any of my professional life choices I made …
Absolutely not! I believe that when someone truly takes responsibility for the professional and personal decisions they make, whatever follows—whether pleasant or unpleasant, expected or completely unexpected—is integrated into daily life with a great deal of understanding and acceptance of everything that happens.
