The question in the title smells like click-bait, I must admit. But no matter how unreal the action in question may sound, it really took place, I have evidence, although everything happened in a completely unexpected form and context. In short, I was lucky, something that makes me think of a contradiction between two Romanian proverbs: “stupid to be, luck to have” vs. “luck is with the best”. The paths of Romanian popular wisdom are complex, but even so, let’s get back to the topic. What was I looking for at the same table with Jim Rowan, CEO and President of Volvo Cars?
It all started with a press event organized by parent company Volvo Cars in Sweden, an event dedicated to journalists from all over the globe, to present the new rear-wheel drive powertrains for the all-electric XC40 and C40 models. At first glance, an ordinary action in post-pandemic conditions. As a result, the Importer of Volvo Cars from Romania raised the hand to participate with two distinguished local journalists at this event and received the acceptance. According to protocol, journalists are accompanied by a representative of the Importer. Since in our marketing team two people can fulfill this function, my colleague Andy, the one with more trips to Sweden, was kind enough to donate this trip to me. How travel is my second name, I said yes.
In the plan of this event, in addition to the journalists’ testing of the two updated models mentioned above, we also included, with the help of our colleague Viktorija, a trip to the Volvo Brand Experience Center near the factory in Gothenburg, a premiere presentation of the new model, the EX90, that had not yet reached Romanian lands plus a presentation of a wireless charging system for electric cars. Already quite a lot of attractions, all in just 2 days. So, Viktorija, who at the time of this trip is helping us from the position of Head of Marketing & PR of Volvo Cars Importers in the EMEA region (approx. 40 countries), is pretty cool.
Well, we did our job, we selected and briefed two journalists to enjoy the above and as another popular saying says, we reached the position where: the plan is made, we’re ready to execute it. Mind you, up to this point, Jim Rowan had absolutely nothing to do with our activity, a CEO usually has much more important things to do.
All good and well, the day of departure comes to board the plane to Gothenburg with a stopover in Vienna. Although at that moment between Romania and Austria at the political level the waters were a bit agitated because of the Schengen area, when I landed in Austria I had two surprises.
The first was when, once I opened the phone, I received messages from both Viktorija and my colleague Andy, saying that Jim Rowan might be coming to the dinner scheduled with our journalist groups from Romania and Bulgaria, tonight. Play it! Those deep questions had already started in my mind: Wait a minute, what is Jim doing at the table with us? Does he want something from Romania? But what does he want from Romania with me and two journalists? Anyway, his presence was questionable so I told myself it must be just a straw fire. He must have misunderstood when they asked him and said yes, or something like that, let’s keep calm. I sent it to everyone: no problem, we are ready for Jim, confident that nothing out of the ordinary will happen.
Then we get off the plane nicely and get on the bus that should have taken us back to the airport. The thing is that between the two flights we only had half an hour, a short time, but with a bit of effort, doable. And here came the second surprise, in the form of a gentleman who came to ask on the bus who was going to Gothenburg. We raised our hand and he invited us to get off the bus. There were neither masked men nor policemen outside, so I went down with confidence. Apparently, people noticed that we had little time between flights, put us in a van, rushed us through passport control and brought us in the same van to the landing of the plane that was going to take us in Gothenburg. Have they also heard that Jim and us might be having dinner tonight and want to make sure we get there? I don’t know, but you feel a little important when something like this happens to you.
Then we land nicely in Sweden, arrive at the hotel, meet Viktorija who tells us it’s safe, Jim is coming to dinner with us. I stopped trying to understand why and was like, cool bro. Apparently Viktorija, who has worked at Volvo HQ for several years, met Jim on the stairs and simply asked: I’m having dinner with some journalists from Romania and Bulgaria tonight, do you want to come? See what the power of dialogue can do on the stairs. Or maybe not, maybe there’s another conspiracy in between, who knows?
Now the movies in my head started, how to behave, let’s tell him how good and beautiful it is in Romania, how can we tell him more and more. And here comes the reason why I wanted to write this article.
Folks, I don’t know what it’s like to run a company with more than 40,000 employees, which generates revenues of 30 billion euros per year, but I can honestly say that I entered the restaurant and our Jim Rowan was sitting quietly at the bar with a portion of pasta in front of him, probably talking on the phone. He asked Viktorija to go and seat us at the table and then he would join us. So, 40 thousand employees and 30 billion EUR, and after 10 minutes he came to our table with a glass of red wine, as if we had known each other for about 10 years. No arrogance, I don’t know how to tell you, but not at all. You look at most CEOs and see them oozing importance through attitude and posture, you don’t approach them from your level. Well, not our Jim. I didn’t think for a second that he wanted to tell us that he’s the CEO and we’re under him. I have to admit, this shocked me.
Further to play the devil’s advocate, I can say that if he is not genuine, he is a very good actor. But then I wonder, what reason would he have to come and play theater with Romania and Bulgaria. Really, we sell in Romania around 1000 cars per year out of 600,000, we are 0.16% of the 30 billion. If he were that standard CEO with PR star valences, he wouldn’t move for something like this, at first glance. Rather, that’s the real Jim Rowan, a CEO who sees a young woman trying to do her best at his company and doesn’t hesitate to help her when asked.
And this opinion is reinforced by all the discussions I had with him for 30 minutes. He asked us about our countries, apparently in Romania he was several times in the western part of the country with trips in a role he had previously. He told us about his family, about the interesting things he found at Volvo. He told us how in his first week on the job he went to the Volvo Museum and was asked to pay the entrance fee, without any kind of discount or favor because he was the CEO.
All in all, it was a dinner that showed me that this concept of company culture really exists when it comes to the good stuff. Here in Romania, when we talk about the culture of a company, we tend to bring out only the bad things, which undoubtedly find their place everywhere. But in Sweden, I had the chance to see and understand that this culture of reality and presence exists, without people giving themselves more importance than they have or looking at you and thinking about other things. Simple, genuine, that’s what I saw in Jim Rowan, and if I ever got to run any kind of company small or large in this life, I’d want to be as genuine and open as he is.
Finally, after about 30 minutes, Jim got up from the table because he was going to a meeting with colleagues from the US, we remembered who we are and where we come from and continued our dinner, happy that we had the company of the President of Volvo Cars.
In the end, this is how I ended up having dinner with Jim Rowan, and because I told you that I have proof, I leave you below a selfie with him and the clip of the story of the experience by Dan Cadar, one of the journalists with whom I traveled in Sweden.
