Job Shadowing: Leadership in Oni Communications x Agrino, Insight Agency

5 min readJul 1, 2024

As part of the Advertising and Public Relations Laboratory Course VIII: Leadership and Emotional Intelligence, we were assigned a project on Job Shadowing. Αs a group and in order to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible on this particular topic, we decided to observe and get to know thoroughly two different leaders, that founded together a very strong leadership initiative.

We started the process by doing thorough research and preparation on the candidates that we found the most attractive in terms of their work, experience and views. This way, we chose to work with and contacted Mr. Agis Pistiolas, owner and Ceo of Agrino, and Mrs. Anna Karagioule, owner and Ceo of Oni Communications and the public relations agency of Agrino, to schedule the necessary meetings.

So we visited the offices of Agrino, to follow the work of the two leaders we selected and the truth is that through the answers they gave us, they inspired us and helped us significantly to understand the importance of a leader nowadays, as well as the necessary characteristics he or she must possess.

In detail, on Wednesday 29 June 2024, our team, Insight Agency, was at the offices of Agrino in Lykovrisi. There, we were welcomed by Ms. Anna Karagioulet and we were given a tour of the company’s offices and their warehouses. Apart from Mrs. Anna Karagioules, however, we met several members of the Agrino team and watched how they operate. Somehow, even before we met Mr. Pistiola, we had learned how his team is structured and works.

As soon as it was time for the interview, we went into the conference room to firstly interview Mrs. Karagioule and Oni Communications. It was not long before we realized that this was an imposing, yet gracious presence with all the desire to discuss her work and advise us on our future entry into the job market, which was reflected in her and her company’s motto: “It’s not business, it’s personal.”

As for the company that is a leader in the Corporate Public Relations industry, we were informed that it is a PR and digital marketing company founded in 2009 and has a stable and strong clientele, with the majority of them being in the food & beverage industry and beyond. In fact, when asked “What is the competitive advantage you have over other PR firms of the same or greater size?” Mrs. Karagioule stated that the “secret” lies in the emphasis on building trusting relationships with each client and the priority they give them at all times, but also in responding immediately to crises, which is particularly difficult for large companies that maintain a more impersonal character.

The network of interpersonal relationships that Oni Communications has built thanks to Mrs. Karagiule’s leadership skills is therefore essential, as she explained to us, for crisis management, especially with the major role that social media plays in crises these days. She supports honesty and directness with the public whenever possible. Her advice to us for our future professional rehabilitation is to tap into the high potential we possess as Gen Z through dedication to our work and steadiness in our actions.

On the other hand, in the second consecutive visit to Agrino’s offices we had the honour to meet Mr. Agis Pistiolas, the CEO of the company. He described to us how he took over the reins in the second generation of the founders and the difficulties he faced as a leader. We discussed with him the responsibilities, the difficulties and his strategy, focusing on ergonomics, which he told us he tries to implement in most areas. Specifically, he told us that “Innovation is the key” and it is what has developed the company into what it is today, namely the biggest Greek power in rice and its derivatives. This, of course, is also due to the constant updating and maintaining the high quality of the products, i.e. the tools they use as a company to manage potential crises.

Mr. Pistiolas also pays particular attention to the strong interpersonal relationships he develops with his associates: From his biggest client to the people who work in the rice fields in Agrinio, where he comes from, he invests in trust and even friendship. It is with this vision of teamwork and innovation, therefore, that he founded the initiative ELLA-DIKA MAS, of which Mrs. Karagioule is the board member. When asked about the content of this initiative, she replied that: “The ELLA-DIKA MAS initiative consists of a community of extroverted, productive-processing enterprises of Greek ownership and aims to promote and promote the modern, entrepreneurial and productive culture of our country.”

To sum up, what stood out for us in this project is the fact that the biggest leaders of competing companies decided to prioritize their common vision and to put aside their own self-interest to a certain extent. So it is indeed remarkable how teamwork and cooperation are ultimately essential skills that a successful leader must have. However, if we had to come to a conclusion, it would be that although each leader has his/her own personal characteristics and priorities, there are some common threads that make him/her successful. These axes may be interpersonal and communication skills, the goal of innovation, flexibility and adaptability, creating new goals and managing crises well. The main thing, however, that we took away from the conversation with these two leaders is the encouragement to show loyalty and fair play in the field we will be working in.

Link to our video, presentation sample, Social Media posts

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