The Penki Kontinentai Group has been operating successfully for 20 years now. Its products are now sold in over 65 countries, and the company has subsidiaries in nine of them. We met Idrakas Dadasovas, the group's chairman of the board, to talk about the most important qualities that the boss of a successful company must possess.

In your opinion, what are the qualities that are crucial for the leader of a modern company?

No-one is born a leader, leadership is something to be learned. Being determined to reach your goals, being completely dedicated to your work, and knowing how to predict events—these are the qualities indispensable for achieving that. However, above all, I would emphasize competence, decisiveness, and intuition. When a person is determined to achieve results, becomes one with his or her job, and is self-confident and decisive, then he or she has everything needed to become a leader.

A modern leader must set himself or herself clear tasks and must by all means learn from his or her own mistakes. An uncommunicative and closed person will not be able to convince his or her team to follow him or her. True leaders must always be visible, and people around them must know that they can trust them. People like those superiors who are not afraid of responsibility, who can inspire their teams, and who easily recognize their mistakes.

The leader of a company is the main element in the entire hierarchy: he or she controls all the company's processes and is responsible for mistakes made by the other team members as well as for his or her own. The leader must prove by his or her own experience that it is only by being united that the team can achieve success. And this must be done naturally and in a simple way.

Both in my work and my life, I am guided by the principles of honesty and objectivity: if you have started making a move, then make it. Honesty and objectivity are extremely important. When you do what you really enjoy doing, when you put all your heart into your favorite activity, you cannot be unscrupulous. Not all of us like it when our shortcomings are being pointed at; this is particularly true about top and middle management. Nevertheless, a leader must remain objective, treating others with respect at the same time. If people trust you and have no doubt about your honesty and objectivity, then criticism does not really hurt that much.

And what are the points to remember when you are the boss of an international company, which employs people of various nationalities and cultures?

The boss of a company that operates in an international market must know the basic principles of his art and be aware of the differences between people from different countries. This is crucial if you want to be able to make optimal management decisions.

Now that companies are constantly seeking to expand their businesses, to become large multinational corporations, and the globalization of the economy is well underway, we are faced with many new problems, which concern organizational behavior and which have been caused by cultural differences. On one hand, with international economic ties broadeding and with economic and other kind of cooperation intensifying, countries are becoming increasingly close and their organizations are employing increasingly similar development strategies, technologies, production methods, and innovations. On the other hand, each country still keeps its own cultural values, which leads to differences in management culture.

What helps the Penki Kontinentai Group maintain its position of a market leader?

The thorough analysis of the market and our own activity has been key to our success. We have also been constantly searching for new opportunities, instead of trying to squeeze as much as possible from an existing situation.

What is no less important is the dynamic selection of the right business process management model, the honest attitude towards our clients and (the last, but not least) the strong management team. And another thing: we have never rested on our laurels. Self-criticism is crucial if you want to move forward and keep your leading position.

How important is innovation for the evolution of a company?

Innovation is not a virtue in itself. It is hard work, one that requires knowledge, creativity, and talent. If you want to survive under the conditions of extremely tough competition, what is the most important is to constantly increase the competitiveness of your products and services.

It is important to maintain a balance that would ensure an optimal quality-price ratio, which would allow you to concentrate on quality, to cut costs, and to improve service. If you don't have a competitive advantage, then you do not have a future. Companies must assess their competitiveness realistically and objectively and understand that innovation requires talent, creativity, and a constant search for people who have fresh ideas.

In your opinion, why cooperation with foreign partners is something worth doing?

When Lithuania had just regained its independence, Penki Kontinentai was one of the first private companied, those funded by Lithuanian capital, to start establishing relations with companies from other countries. Learning from the experience of international companies, meeting partnership requirements, passing certification, obtaining certificates for those qualified employees who interact with foreign partners—all this required from us that we try and reach the standards of such world leaders as Wincor Nixdorf, Cisco, Microsoft, and Unisys.

The fact that we have been working with large international companies for over 20 years provides us with self-confidence. If you want to operate in an international market, you must meet international standards and maintain the quality of your products and services at a high level. Our cooperation with foreign companies has always encouraged us to move forward, provided us with self-confidence and helped us make our business even more independent.

Your companies are successful, their developed products win international awards. What are your future goals?

I have been working in the area of data processing for over 40 years now. For this reason, for me the future is what is going to happen this evening. When planning your future, you must think in terms of short periods of time.

A couple of days ago, being extremely proud of our company's certified engineers, I invited them to have a photo taken together. I wanted them to realize that their certificates, issued by world-class companies, were important milestones in their lives. I consider every award received for a product as the recognition of the members of my team. Having received an award, they see the results of their work, realize their role in the process, start developing new, advanced products and set themselves even higher goals.

To conclude, I would like to add that to achieve something in life you must know very well what you want, express your opinion clearly and accurately and try not only to get yourself heard, but also to get yourself understood.