Witold Kilijański

Director of business strategies of Teta

Witold Kilijański, 30, has spent his entire career working for the same company - a rarity in today's IT sector where employees job hop almost overnight. Fresh out of the Academy of Economy in Wrocław, where he specialized in management and marketing, he joined the Wrocław-based software firm Teta (then called Innovative Enterprise Teta) as a salesman specializing in contracts. Since then he has climbed the rungs of the corporate ladder and earlier this year landed in his current position as director of business strategies.

Along the way, Kilijański learned a few things about the software business. First, that it helps to speak the same non-tech language as your customers. He says that the fact that most of Teta's employees are not computer specialists has helped them to communicate better with their clients. He also learned that his strongest attributes - creativity, good listening skills and a solid knowledge of the software market - helped Teta's revenue grow from zł. 5.8 million ($1.3 million) in 1997 to zł. 30.5 million ($7.2 million) in 2001, the time during which he was the firm's marketing director and oversaw the introduction of several new software products.

Past notes:

1995 - Graduated from Wrocław's Academy of Economy

1995-1997 - Worked for Teta as a salesman specializing in contracts

1997-1999 - Teta's vice director of marketing

1999-2001 - Teta's marketing director

Word of advice:

"Undoubtedly, the largest threat (to the software sector) is recession and the decrease of expenditure on IT investments. Besides, those companies have to find their places on the globalizing market. The key to their success will be their ability to establish effective, stable and long-term ties with customers."