CEO Trainee– Why every CEO should have one

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In the first of our series on the CEO trainee role, we talk to CEO Dimitris Gioulekas about what’s involved and the benefits of having a working partner onboard.

Unique opportunity for all parties
We introduced the CEO trainee role in 2020 at Knightec because we saw a unique opportunity to create value at every level – for the company, senior management, myself, and not least the person in the trainee role. Knightec has grown considerably in the last few years, from 400 to over 800 colleagues, as have my responsibilities but my available time obviously hasn’t. Having a trainee CEO who can share the workload, has proved to be the ideal solution.

It’s a CEO role
People might look at the word trainee and think that this is someone doing the tasks that I don’t have time to do, but that’s not the Knightec way. It’s more like a partnership, we work closely on small and big decisions – analyzing reports, brainstorming, and challenging one another. This is not an assistant role. It’s a CEO role. As the CEO Trainee, you are given the support you need to succeed, but you must have a can-do attitude and be able to take the initiative.

Full transparency, trust and commitment
Of course, this isn’t for everyone or every company. Knightec is a modern company with a future-looking mindset. That’s important if you are going to invite a relatively fresh-out-of-school individual into an active role at the highest echelons of a large company. The CEO trainee sits in and contributes to Steering Group and Board meetings, they are also involved in multi-million dollar contract discussions, key recruitments, merger and acquisition planning, you name it. It’s full transparency, full trust, and full commitment – from both sides.

Strong product cyber security offering
“Right now, for instance, I believe there is a rapid growth potential for our product cyber security offering. As more and more products become connected to the internet and each other, security becomes more critical – both from a regulatory and an end-customer perspective. We are in a great position to support many companies industry-wide with this. Exciting things are also happening in machine vision as it transcends from product lines to actual products as part of an automated inspection and preventative maintenance program.”

Shared learnings
It’s obviously not a walk in the park. Whoever takes on the role must be inquisitive, a fast learner, dedicated, and able to handle a lot of responsibility. Working with strategic and operative decisions that impact the organization is challenging but also exciting. It’s something we do together with mutual respect for each other’s opinions. For me, it’s a learning curve on both sides. Young people bring a different mindset and new ideas to the table, providing valuable new insights to me, senior management and the board. They force us to challenge our preconceptions, which bring added value.

Mutual development
Over the past year, Thomas, our current CEO Trainee, has been an incredible help to me and the company. We’ve worked together 100 percent. People have even commented it’s like having two Dimitris at the company! If I haven’t been available Thomas has. We’ve taken easy and difficult decisions together. I’ve developed, he’s developed and so has the company.

Soon Thomas will be moving into a new role at Knightec as a Business Controller, and he is extremely well prepared for this role. I’m now looking forward to working with Anna, his successor.

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