Exceptional

Profile: Nowy Styl Group
10
“Originally,
we ran the
business like a
family-owned
company.”
“When the company started growing,
I was more focused on practical matters,
while Adam was more open to taking risks
and making new investments,” Jerzy
explains. “It was an excellent mixture.
We argue and fight sometimes, but we
always look for a solution somewhere
in the middle. That helped us to grow
the company.”
A significant step forward came in
2008. “Originally, we ran the business
like a family-owned company,” says
Adam. “But, 16 years after we registered
it, we realized that we needed to
professionalize the management in order
to take advantage of even more growth opportunities.”
So the brothers started bringing in new people, and
with them came fresh
ideas. “It wasn’t hard to
give up control of the
business,” says Jerzy.
“Nobody had to convince
us. It was our decision.
“We argue and fight
sometimes, but we always
look for a solution.”
We knew that, to reach the next level, we had to make
these changes.”
Proud Poles
Both men are decidedly grounded in their attitudes
and modest about what they have achieved. Sons of
a production manager at a glass factory, the brothers
witnessed Poland’s economic coming of age after
the end of the Communist era, and
contributed to it. But Adam remembers
a time when others tried to dismiss their
competence and capabilities simply
because they were from Eastern Europe.
“At first, it was hard to be taken
seriously,” he says. “A typical reaction
was: ‘What, you’re from Poland? You
build chairs? How would you know how to
do that?’ There was a kind of snobbery
back then, which is not the case today.”
Now, when Jerzy takes foreign visitors