Career Story: Marijan Mumdziev, Amodo

November 30, 2016

Global Executive MBA alumnus

What stages in your life have had the greatest impact on you and why?

It has always been the time when I was active as an entrepreneur. As a corporate employee, you are considered to be good if you know how to “walk the talk”. As an entrepreneur, nobody cares about you talking. You just run instead. These are the times when you learn and develop fastest.

Did you originally want to pursue a different career? If so, what made you change your plans?

Early on in the career, an individual has a number of options he can pursue. However, initial career plans often change. For me, it took 15 years to get a clear understanding of the environment where I perform best and where I contribute the most. Learning about my strengths and weaknesses made me reconsider my career choices and start pursuing the new path with maximum commitment.

How and why did you come to work for Amodo?

A couple of interesting early-stage companies in the region caught my attention in the past few years. Amodo was one of them. When the opportunity to buyout one of the co-founders unexpectedly came, I decided to take it. Soon afterwards, I took over as the CEO of the company. I decided to take on this challenge as it was a unique opportunity to disrupt an industry that needs disruption the most.

What has changed in your career as a result of your MBA degree?

As a graduate of an electrical engineering university, I seriously lacked some of the business skills early on in my career. I started looking for the right business programs for myself and very early on found the best match in the WU Executive MBA program.

Ever since I finished the class of 2011 (the best class ever :-)), I started a new business life. I spent some more years in the corporate world, and very soon afterwards started working as an independent consultant for the executive boards of some leading telco companies in the region. Finally, I ended up running my own company, where I apply on a daily basis the knowledge acquired during my MBA education.

What was your biggest professional/personal success?

I enjoyed my last corporate assignment a lot. I was working with top-tier executives, had very challenging responsibilities, had a great compensation package and was successful in my job. Then I learned – it is not what I want. What I want is to be an entrepreneur again, create new values and build a business from an early stage onwards. I resigned my last corporate position, without having a clear understanding of how I was to achieve this goal, but it was clear – this is what I want. To make such a leap of faith and change overnight from corporate certainty and comfort into something completely new and uncertain takes courage. That is what I consider to be my biggest professional and personal success.

What are your goals for the coming year?

I feel lucky to be able to say that the things I absolutely want to do are part of my daily tasks today. My goal for the coming years is to bring pride and pleasure to my employees and value to my customers. Nothing else matters.

What do you consider a “great luxury”?

Education. The world around us is changing crazy fast; we have limited time, and yet so many things to learn. Personal growth is the single most important thing in a darwinistic society today, and education is a fast forward for it. 

What was the last book you really enjoyed?

Case in Point by Marc P. Consentino J. Seriously, I find it an easy read, extremely interesting since it’s covering realistic scenarios and useful for business life.

How would you characterize your philosophy of leadership? Has it been influenced by a leadership role model?

Orchestration.

Leadership in high-tech industries still suffers from legacy authoritative and ego-driven leadership approaches. We work in a high tech industry, and every single one of my employees and colleagues is, and must be, a highly intelligent and competent individual. They are top experts in their respective fields and can be extremely productive and creative in the right environment. My job is to create that environment for them. Having virtually no churn among the full-time employees over the past three years, is something I am very proud of. In combination with satisfied clients and continual growth, I believe I managed to orchestrate the business environment in the right way.

How do you recharge your batteries when you are not pursuing your demanding career?

I enjoy having a quality read time. Ideally in a motivating environment with a good view. I make myself a coffee and read Case in Point by Marc P. Consentino.

If you could change places with anyone for a day, who would it be?

It would be with my parents. Parents are so important to us, and yet so commonly we do not understand each other. They come from different worlds, and learning about these differences would help me to improve my bonds with them, but also my bonds with my children.

Why would you recommend the Global Executive MBA of the WU Executive Academy? What did you like the most?

Recommending the WU Executive MBA is not about recommending the school, it is about recommending the experience. The experience I had with the Executive MBA was one of the most valuable I had in my life. You learn, travel, have fun and meet amazing people. Only once you get the final degree you become aware it is a school program. The value is for life, however. Some of my dearest friends today, come from the Executive MBA program. They are part of the short selected highly developed individuals you can have a great laugh with, constantly learn new things from and, if you like, also do business with.