Mihai Neagu, CEO SanoVita: “Success doesn’t come from spectacular decisions, but from smaller decisions made correctly”

Mihai Neagu discusses leadership, people, performance, adaptability and education, explaining why sustainable success starts with investing in people.

C&B: What is the mission you have taken on through your work?

Mihai Neagu: I believe that a leader’s mission is not about scaling businesses or improving profitability, but about creating value that remains within the organization. The mission is not to create profitable companies but, rather, to develop people and teams that inspire trust among consumers and within the community. Successful results should be reflected in the growth and development of people alongside the company and in the way they manage to positively influence the lives of those around them.

At the same time, I believe that we have a responsibility to demonstrate that performance and values can go hand in hand and must go hand in hand. When you put people, quality, and integrity at the center of your decisions, you build not only a strong business but also one that is resilient over time, in the long term, and this is the direction I have decided to follow.

C&B: What is the most important problem you see today in the field you work in, and how do you think it can be solved?

Mihai Neagu: We are living at a different intensity and at a different pace, and I believe that the main challenge is no longer the lack of opportunities, but the speed at which the world is changing. We have consumers who frequently change their preferences, technologies that are advancing at an astonishing pace, and in this entire context, competition is becoming more intense. Here lies the risk that organizations that choose to remain anchored in the successful models of the past are the companies that risk losing touch with reality.

The solution does not lie in trying to control change but, rather, in how we manage to build organizations that continuously learn. In this sense, adaptability must become an essential skill, and this can be reflected in constant investments in people, processes, and organizational culture.

Leaders must create an environment in which people have the courage to come up with new ideas, experiment and, why not, even make mistakes when learning something new. Organizations that continue to penalize mistakes will always evolve more slowly (if they evolve at all) than those that turn every mistake into a learning opportunity.

C&B: What is the most valuable lesson you have learned throughout your experience and that you believe is worth passing on?

Mihai Neagu: Success does not come from spectacular decisions, but from smaller decisions made correctly and against the background of clearly demonstrated consistency. Success does not appear all at once but is built over time, so it becomes visible throughout the decision-making processes and takes shape at a more distant point in time.

Regardless of the companies I have worked for, I have learned that people make the difference. And this is not a cliché, but the common denominator shared by the successful organizations I have been part of. You can have the best strategies, the most substantial material resources, and the most ambitious plans, but without a team that shares the same dream and believes in the same direction, taking responsibility for its results, the organization’s success or objectives will remain merely an idea expressed in a document.

Technology and markets change, but a united, motivated team with strong skills will always find solutions to the challenges of the moment. In this regard, my advice remains the same one I give every time I have the opportunity: Invest in people before anything else!

C&B: If you had the opportunity to change one single thing in Romania, what would it be and why?

Mihai Neagu: I would change the perception of education. We live with the idea that education ends once we complete high school, university, or postgraduate studies, when in fact learning should be part of our lives and should be a continuous process that we maintain throughout our entire lifetime.

Everything around us is changing and, consequently, so are the skills required for certain tasks. We have an obligation to ourselves to understand that the most important investment is the one we make in ourselves, and continuous learning helps us become adaptable and evolve at the same pace as everything that changes around us.

I would certainly cultivate a collective mindset regarding continuous learning, and I am convinced that if we managed to achieve this, we would see obvious benefits for society in areas such as the economy, healthcare, administration, or education, not to mention entrepreneurship, which has, as we can see, become Romania’s economic engine.

To better summarize the points above, I believe we should reflect on the words of Nelson Mandela: “Education is the most powerfull wapon which you can use to change the world.”

C&B: How can we work together to help people, companies, and communities develop better?

Mihai Neagu: A successful future belongs to organizations and communities that choose to build together rather than separately. Sharing our own experiences does not only help people or communities, but also contributes to our own personal development. Organizations are not responsible for investing only in technology and economic performance, but (first and foremost) in the development of people.

People must take responsibility for their own development, while communities must encourage the exchange of ideas, collaboration, and the sharing of their own experiences, so that the pace of learning can reach a different speed.

In the same vein, trust must once again become part of our lives because, otherwise, the lack of it perpetuates barriers between people, communities, and organizations. Without trust, no project can have a solid foundation.

In a world of constant change, Mihai Neagu highlights the importance of people-centered leadership, adaptability and continuous learning. From performance and values to trust, education and team development, long-term success is built through consistent decisions and investment in people. For organizations that want to remain relevant, developing their people and embracing continuous learning are becoming essential.