Meet IEDC Alumni - IEDC - Bled School of Management

IEDC Alumni Success Story
Date: 31. 01. 2014
Andrej Ivančič, IEDC Alumnus:
“ELIMINATE EVERYTHING UNNECESSARY
AND THEN SIMPLIFY WHAT'S LEFT”
IEDC alumnus Mr. Andrej Ivančič completed Presidents' MBA at IEDC-Bled School of Management. He is a
Director at ITW Metalflex. Nowadays, there are 345 people employed in ITW Metalflex Tolmin and Pečine
plant. ITW Metalflex supplies components for all key producers of household appliances all over the
world, such as ACC, Arcelik, Bosch-Siemens, Candy, Electrolux, Fagor Brandt, GE, Gorenje, Haier, Indesit,
LG, Samsung, Vestel, Whirlpool etc. Mr. Ivančič was also one of three candidates for the award Young
Manager of the Year 2013.
Complied by: Tonja Blatnik, Head of Corporate Communications, IEDC-Bled School of Management
When you took over this position,
you were 'only' 30 years old. How
hard was it for you?
Sometimes it's harder to achieve
authority and trust among the team
if you are younger than them. Since I
took over the position of a business
unit manager in the company
where I had worked as a financial
controller for 5 years before that,
it wasn't that hard. However, it
is important that you know the
business as much as possible and
get close to the customers.
You finished MBA at IEDC. What
was your most important take
away from the studies?
I did Presidents’ MBA and making
my own project was probably
among the most intense parts of
the study. Beside this I have great
memories from Iceland where we
did Roundtables event, a unique
way to go away, re-think about
yourself and meet new people.
How important is it to have
international experience in order
to run business successfully. You
have been working with China,
Italy, USA...
ITW Metalflex is a part of
big corporation and having
international experience is a must
in order to run it good. Beside this
more than 90 % of our revenue
comes from export. The key in
working across different cultures,
in my opinion, is to focus on
similarities and not on differences.
This makes your life easier.
ABOUT ANDREJ
• Born in 1981
• Hobbies: Mainly sports; skiing,
mountain biking, cross country
running and motocross
• Motto: Every leader has to
learn something new every
day.
One of you values is also simplicity.
Could you explain it a bit?
It’s not only my value, simplicity
besides integrity, trust, respect
and shared risk is also one of the
fundamentals of our corporation
Illinois Tool Works (ITW) from
Chicago. The point is not only to
simplify a process, but to eliminate
everything unnecessary first and
then simplify what is left.
What motivates you and your
team to endure under challenging
circumstances?
Personally, I lead at my best when
I see a big task and I know that I
will learn something new from it.
So today’s environment is like a
motivator for me and I think my
team has similar drivers.
If you should describe the way you
lead people in only one word or
one sentence, which one would
you choose?
Respect and trust.

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