The Unyielding Engine of Leadership. From the Workshop to the Top
www.posiv.cz ǀ 19
POSITIV MAN
The Unyielding Engine of Leadership.
From the Workshop
to the Top
Roman Valný has dedicated the past thirty years of his professional life to the producon
of electric motors, and today he heads the Czech branch of Innomocs. He has worked his way
through every level of the company – from tesng on the assembly oor to the posion of CEO.
He now oversees six sites and nearly four thousand employees, guiding the company towards
greater eciency through digitalisaon, automaon, and innovaon. Yet alongside strategic
leadership, he connues to value people – personal contact with colleagues remains an important
source of energy for him even today.
You started out in 1995 as a worker
at the Frenštát plant of what was
then Siemens, and today you lead its
successor, Innomotics. What has this
journey given you – and what has
it taken away?
Yes, it’s been 30 years now since
I first connected my working life with
the production of electric motors – first here
in Frenštát and Ostrava, and for some time
abroad as well as at the Mohelnice plant,
where I worked as Head of Production.
To be honest, in the daily rush of work,
you often don’t see any progress and can
feel like you’re just drowning in problems,
leaving nothing of real significance behind.
But when I take a moment to stop and look
back at what we’ve managed to achieve
together over these past 30 years, I see
incredible results from our efforts.
And what has this journey given
me personally? It’s honestly a lot – I don’t
even know if I can list everything. When
I think back to my beginnings, fresh out
of secondary school, I was an inexperienced
kid with no knowledge of motors,
processes, or foreign languages. So,
in a way, this journey gave me everything.
It gave me experience, expert knowledge
in the field of electric motors, and I learned
two major world languages – without
which I might still be working in the
same workshop I started in. It also gave
me confidence, perspective, and, last
but not least, many great colleagues – some
of whom have become close friends. Since
I spent several years as Head of Global
Service, I’ve also had the opportunity
to see much of the world and experience
different cultures, from America to Asia.
And what has it taken from me? I believe
every situation – even the negative ones
– helps you grow. Sure, I probably don’t
have as much free time as I did when I used
to come home at three in the afternoon
after a shift, but that’s part of the managerial
role – working late into the evening at times,
especially in a managing director position.