Dom Rowell of Lingoda: Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO

Success is a habit. You need to create an environment where everyone is striving for excellence every day. You have to create that culture and put in place people who can perform in that environment.

As a part of our series called ‘Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO’ we had the pleasure of interviewing Dominic “Dom” Rowell.

Dom Rowell is a passionate brand and business builder who loves to embrace technology and create disruptive business models.

Dom has more than 20 years of leadership experience in companies spanning consumer goods, retail, media and asset management. He has a proven track record in General and P&L Management, Digital Transformation, Brand Strategy and Management, Innovation, Pricing, and Demand Generation, as well as building & sustaining high-performing teams.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?

I’ve worked for decades in consumer goods, retail, media and even student accommodation, so I’ve gathered a lot of experience which has shaped my skills and personality as a leader — from brand management to a competitive “trading” mentality. But my passion has been for digital products, and how we better meet the needs of customers through a combination of technology and humanity. Until Lingoda, that was only a part of my day job — from the transformation of travel guides to selling cinema tickets; so to lead a Berlin-based startup with the potential to change lives through language learning and technology was a dream come true.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

In week one, I addressed all staff from our office in Berlin from my laptop. As Lingoda grew rapidly during COVID and expanded its staff based on a bias to remote working, it was a necessity, but I could not read the audience and felt no connection to how people felt. It took months to really gauge how “Lingodis” were feeling. It remains a key challenge to how we best lead, support and inspire a workforce that is biased to remote learning.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I can’t give you a funny one. Sorry! But I know my only regret in the first months was not backing my instincts on a couple of topics. Conversely, some of the best decisions I made were based on instinct — from backing ideas to backing people — and we have succeeded as a consequence. When you have the experience, you often recognise situations you’ve encountered before. These shape your instincts, supporting the need to back yourself.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Yes, my wife Lucy. She has made many sacrifices throughout the years to support me. She’s super clever and ambitious, but we live in London and I spend the majority of my working week in Berlin, leaving Lucy to look after our three young daughters. It’s hard enough balancing business life with family life, but I could not have this Lingoda adventure without her support.

Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?

Early on at Lingoda, we could see exponential growth and a pathway to profitability in one business unit. We needed to capitalize on that opportunity with finite resources like talent, cash and management focus. Advice and encouragement internally and externally suggested to step back from pushing on a number of fronts and to consolidate resources behind one business unit. Instead, I kept options open because I could see the potential in other areas. So, although we ran at different speeds across Lingoda’s portfolio, we kept prospecting for growth opportunities. Now we have a diverse portfolio we can leverage and we are not dependent on one product, business unit or customer. And we have achieved that without compromising on the growth rate of our star business unit.

Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Most of our readers — in fact, most people — think they have a pretty good idea of what a CEO or executive does. But in just a few words can you explain what a chief executive does that is different from the responsibilities of the other leaders?

Take responsibility for recognising the full potential of your business, your brand and your people.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a CEO or executive? Can you explain what you mean?

“It’s lonely at the top.” It can be for sure, especially when you are ultimately accountable for the well-being of the business, the brand and your people. But with the right Chairman, Investors, Board of Directors, Leadership Group, and a passionate and engaged workforce (not to mention friends and family), I find you’re rarely lacking in good company and there is no lack of advice!

What is the most striking difference between your actual job and how you thought the job would be?

The emphasis and time needed on people. We have had a really good 12 months and the financial metrics are strong, but to take the organisation to the next level and recognise Lingoda’s potential we need to be able to maximise the potential of our people so that we can scale at pace and without compromise to the quality we offer. That means we need a motivated, engaged and talented team.

Do you think everyone is cut out to be an executive? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful executive and what type of person should avoid aspiring to be an executive? Can you explain what you mean?

No, I don’t. The specific answer depends on the nature of an organisation and what it needs from its executives. I’ve worked for U.S. corporations (PepsiCo & McDonald’s), British institutions (BBC Worldwide & Sainsbury’s) and founder-operated businesses (Vue), and they all have different expectations from an ‘executive.’ You may be a cog in a machine with limited influence on strategy, or you might be having to make big autonomous decisions. But across all those experiences, I think it is critical that an executive can lead by example, take decisions, adapt to challenges and listen to the right people.

What advice would you give to other business leaders to help create a fantastic work culture? Can you share a story or an example?

Actions speak louder than words. As a leader, you set the tone. How you act influences the behaviours of the people that work with you and how they treat the people that work for them.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

I’ve always stayed the longest in companies that have a purpose beyond making money. Whether that is making the world a better place through learning a language or traveling, the mental ‘break’ of going to the cinema and losing yourself in a movie or campaigning for better quality food. I’ve not been as motivated to hang around when a company has lacked a purpose that does not encourage making the world a better place.

Fantastic. Here is the primary question of our interview. What are your “Five Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became A CEO” and why?

1. Believe you can turn danger into opportunity. Plans are bound to be imperfect, as much as we’d love to predict the future to create a bulletproof budget or 3-year plan. But the world just doesn’t work like that. In the year since I started at Lingoda, we have been impacted by massive external changes — from ChatGPT and the invasion of Ukraine to the increasing cost of borrowing and clients making changes to internal processes. This creates short-term disruption, but as a leadership team we have successfully adapted to these challenges.
2. Let go (a little!). There will be moments when you need to be calling the shots, but that behaviour doesn’t scale. In empowering people there will be moments of disappointment, but you’ll learn about your team’s strengths and weaknesses. You’ll work out when you do need to grab the steering wheel and when you just need a gentle hand on the tiller. You’ll work out the people that fit.
3. Success is a habit. You need to create an environment where everyone is striving for excellence every day. You have to create that culture and put in place people who can perform in that environment.
4. Be patient. I’m impatient by nature, and I work in a PE/ VC environment with impatient shareholders. We want quick wins and sexy products and exponential growth, but a company is an organism that needs time to adapt to a new way of doing things and new ideas. People need to experience success and feel good about what they’re doing. Once that’s set, it’s easier to accelerate.
5. Remind yourself (and your people) why we exist as a company. What is our purpose beyond making money? And how does that align to making money? You need to unite the two to motivate an entire organisation. The purpose is permanent and transcends numbers, helping you navigate the inevitable highs and lows of financial performance.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

Developed countries have a need for global talent, driven by their economic success, economic ambition and ageing populations. On the flip side, you have a global population working incredibly hard to better themselves. But matching global talent to international opportunities does not happen by accident; governments and business need to collaborate to make that happen. This is where Lingoda is making a humble contribution today by training international nurses, software engineers and electricians to further their careers and adapt to life in Germany. Through the power of language learning we are in a position of being able to make this happen, with the support of a very positive attitude to migration in Germany. It’s a movement, capability and attitude I would love to export across the world.

Can you please give us your favourite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Excellence is not a singular act but a habit. You are what you do repeatedly.” -Shaquille O’Neal

I think that is a great quote for life and business. Our characters are judged on the consistency with which we tackle life, you don’t want the highs to be an aberration, you want to build great habits that make a difference and leave a legacy.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them

This one might not resonate in the U.S.! But it would be the leadership group that has transformed Test Match cricket in England. Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are a triumvirate who have rapidly and radically overhauled the success of England’s cricket team, making the format attractive again on a global scale — and amongst kids in particular. They have probably rescued Test Cricket and lifted the mood of a nation with the way they play. I marvel at not just the bravery, and the speed of success and culture change, but achieved it with pretty much the same pool of players as they inherited.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.