Business Leaders interview: Alex Popescu

Tell us a little about yourself and your business.

I am Alex Popescu, Founder and CEO of AP&Co. Hospitality.

We are an investments management and consulting company, headquartered in Dubai, UAE, that offers very practical solutions and a pragmatic approach. We tackle everything hospitality-related from concepts creation, investment portfolios, strategy, pre-opening to day-to-day operational management.

We are a newly founded venture, circa 140 people.

What motivates you in your work and what do you find most fulfilling about being a business leader?

Being able to deliver creative and sustainable solutions that morph into success stories.

How did you develop your leadership skills and how would you define your leadership style?

By being a sponge and making sure that wherever I worked I got the most out of each role. I am constantly looking for A-players and surrounding myself with people smarter than me.

Innovating is crucial in our very diverse industry. How do you stay ahead of trends and incorporate them into your global strategy?

Observing and having a consistent mentality of challenging the status quo. We benchmark and our priority is how to make it better.

What do you consider to be the key component(s) of effective business operational development?

People vs. WIFT (What’s In it For Them).

How do you approach identifying areas for improvement within a company’s operations?

By analysing the review platforms and making it our mission to speak to the teams and patrons as much as possible.

Where do you think the most promising investments should be focusing on and/or made on?

People always.

What is or are your biggest career achievement(s)

Having been able to make the move from employment to entrepreneurship.

Do you have examples where your leadership made a difference? If so, what were they? 

Being able to spot problems proactively and being ahead of the game.

What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?

You have something to learn from anyone, even if it’s a janitor or a Finance Director.

How did you identify and seize opportunities for advancement in your career?

There are always 3 simple scenarios:

• You do less – you get fired
• You do your job – you stay in your role
• You do more – you grow

I consistently aimed at being the latter

Have you achieved everything you wanted in your career so far? 

No, we have tremendous milestones to be achieved, with the goal of bringing extensive value to our clients, people and communities.

How important is personal development to your success, and how do you approach it?

Crucial, I always listen carefully and follow what I think is best.

How do you prioritise tasks when everything feels like a priority?

By having clear systems and processes in place.

What was the hardest decision you have taken as a leader?

Having to fire people unfortunately.

What steps do you take to measure your own performance?

Consistently asking for feedback from clients and our people informally. Formally, we have feedback forms that we send out upon projects completion for clients and yearly team satisfaction reviews.

What does success mean for you as a business leader?

Getting to a point where you can help others.