For Denis Donohoe being bi-lingual paved the way for a career that brought him from Ireland to Asia through the UK and Eastern Europe and back to Ireland.
It is a career that involved various management and marketing roles in the world of cosmetics, confectionary, football and charities.
To land his first major work placement he used his love and fluency in French to target French companies in Ireland and found himself in Vichy, a brand the International company L’Oréal. He rose through the ranks as Deputy General Manager Ireland, General Manager Poland, Deputy Regional Director-East Europe and Nordic Countries, Regional Director-Asia and Managing Director -UK & Ireland. However as the final logical move was a senior role in head office in Paris, probably the first non-French person to achieve that status he decided to return to Ireland, mainly as he had a young family at the time.
Before returning he had a short stint as Global Head – Wholesale and Distribution with Crabtree and Evelyn in London where he helped develop the company’s international network of distributors.
Back in Ireland he did an MBA and was the lured by an Executive Search person to apply for a job as Commercial Director of Lir Chocolates. Helping to double Lir’s export sales in two years earned the company nominations in every Irish export awards in 2019.
However spending three hours every day driving from Dublin to Navan and back was a key issue in making another career change when an Executive Seach person entered his life again. Knowing that he was a lifelong supporter of Shamrock Rovers FC he was brought in as CEO of the football club and there learned to the intricacies of event management.
The benefit of becoming known and networking then led to a place on the board of a charity, Village Counselling Service in Tallaght, County Dublin.
In between he bought and then sold a beauty salon in Dalkey, Co. Dublin..
One key lesson Denis has learned in his career is to under promise and over-deliver. If you don’t perform the consequences cascade everywhere, he says. You are adding pressure on those you report to who may have to report to someone further up the management ladder and perhaps your peers/colleagues who may have to have to take on additional work to put right the non-delivery. As he says that the closer you get to the top of an organisation the greater the pressure to deliver.
A great example from Denis in how to have respect for your colleagues came in his move to Poland where his Polish was non-existent. But to ensure that his Polish colleagues who had no English or French were not at a disadvantage he did an intensive course in Polish.
This episode provides an intriguing look into the workings of a global organisation and how how being adaptable can help you move up the corporate ladder and switch careers if circumstances change or luck comes calling.
","author_name":"Jim Walsh"}