Iggy Domagalski: Insecurity, Vulnerability & Building a Values-Driven Culture

Apr 5

Iggy Domagalski

CEO at Tundra Process Solutions Ltd.

Iggy Domagalski, CEO at Tundra Process Solutions, shared how he developed his love for business from his parents in childhood. He explained how his small businesses as a teenager put him through college and his career journey from Investor's Group to running a mid-sized industrial company.

Iggy Domagalski explained how bad decisions and investments had almost rendered Tundra bankrupt a couple of times. He shared some of the crucial lessons he learned through those near-bankrupt situations. Listen in to learn the importance of being cautious with business opportunities that don't align with your company's mission, purpose, and values.

Iggy Domagalski talked about Tundra's acquisition by Wajax. He explained how Tundra is going to benefit from the acquisition and how they are prepared to handle the changes. Listen in to learn how leadership roles change once a company is acquired.

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The Executive Commute Podcast with Jayson Krause: Show Notes

Insecurity, Vulnerability & Building a Values-Driven Culture

Bio: Iggy Domagalski

Iggy Domagalski is CEO of Tundra Process Solutions, a Western Canadian distributor of diverse industrial process equipment.

Prior to Tundra, Iggy started his career in Finance at Investors Group and Richardson GMP in Winnipeg, and later became President of Western Industrial, an air compressor manufacturer in Vancouver.

Iggy is an avid community fundraiser and has served on the boards of the Learning Disabilities Association, the International Society of Automation, and the Kids Cancer Care Foundation.

Iggy holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Asper School of Business, where there is an award in his name that was created by his fellow students, and has been given away annually since 2004.

He has been named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, and one of Canada’s 50 Most Inspirational Entrepreneurs.

Part 1: The Early Days

Quotes

“I like to work hard and take our business seriously, but not at the expense of our family.”
“I always liked business maybe because my parents instilled it in me or maybe it was just something that fit my nature.”
“I liked all the different things that went into business: I liked that it wasn’t just one thing.”
“You’re much more efficient when you can get others to do the work that they’re great at that you’re not great at.”
“There’s a formal part to mentorship where you have to click and make sure that the skills match, and then there’s just the chemistry and either you like each other, or you don’t.”

Summary

We started the interview with Iggy describing the beginning of his childhood from Poland to living in a refugee camp in Austria, to later moving to Winnipeg. His parents eventually became small business owners after moving to Canada, which is where he picked up his love for business. He explained his parents’ experience after taking the leap from rich Polish business owners to refugees.

Iggy recalled the lesson of balancing work and life that he learned from his parents. He believes that business should be taken seriously, but not at the expense of time with family. That is a core value that he has carried over to the company he leads.

He explained how he takes cues from people when he’s stressed from work as he’s not good at figuring out his need to take a break. He always liked the diversity in business and believes that it probably fitted his nature, which is why he went to school to learn about numbers. He started small businesses as a teenager with some doing well enough to put him through college.

One of the biggest lessons that Iggy has learned through business is to surround himself with people who’re smarter than him, and that can do things that he cannot do to find business success. He used to believe that as a leader, he needed to learn and be better at everything, which didn’t work well. He has mastered the skill of sticking to what he knows about the business and letting go of what he doesn’t know to his very able team. He explained how he was discovered by the man who ended up being his lifelong mentor in business.

He went on to explain his excitement after being named Canada’s Top Forty Under Forty and how it helped him build relationships.

Timeline

[3:28] Iggy’s childhood from Poland to Canada and gaining an interest in business.
[7:31] The lesson of balancing work and family time that Iggy borrowed from his parents.
[9:51] Iggy’s love for business and how he achieved his goals by studying and following through.
[12:55] The lesson of delegating business tasks as a manager to those who can do it better than you.
[15:37] He talked about his first job in investing, meeting his lifelong mentor, and running Tundra.
[19:52] He described the qualities that he believes his mentor saw in him.
[21:26] Iggy’s experience after being named Canada’s Top Forty Under Forty.

Part 2: Hitting Rock Bottom

Quotes:

“Be open to changing your mind and letting your people know that you don’t always have the answer.”
“Younger people in their career often downplay the risks and put a lot more weight on the reward side of business opportunities.”
“Good, smart, calculated risk is a good thing to do as long as you understand what the downside is.”
“Saying no to more things and being awesome at the things we’re doing and fully understanding the risk has been some big lessons for us.

Summary

Iggy described the few times they almost went bankrupt at Tundra due to his poor decisions and bad investments. He’s also had had to shut down some other parts of the business to keep Tundra standing. The hardest thing about those situations is having to lay off people to save the business.

He has always been trusted by his team to lead them even after the business almost went bankrupt. He’s the type of leader that isn’t afraid of showing vulnerability when things don’t work out. His team is aware that he’s always open to changing his mind to better ideas, especially from them.

Iggy explained why he believes that younger people in their careers often downplay risks and put more weight on business opportunities. Taking risks is a good thing in itself, but Iggy advises young entrepreneurs to get a fuller understanding of the possibility of risk before taking on a business opportunity. He loved to take on many opportunities in his early days but has now become more disciplined in saying no and only going after the best ones. He has made peace with saying no to non-lucrative opportunities to keep the business safe. As a leader, to measure business risk, you have to ask yourself if it fully aligns with the big guiding principle of your business.

A business needs to have a mission, purpose, and values by taking time to create them to help guide you in business’ and that resonates with the people you deal with. Iggy named and described the mission, purpose, and values of Tundra.

Iggy described some of the learning culture practices that he’s embraced at Tundra for all the stakeholders. Most of his employees have learning goals that are supported internally and are always paid for if taken outside Tundra. They encourage employees to make time for at least 50 hours of learning each year.

Episode Timeline:

[2:19] How bad management decisions and investments led to almost bankrupt situations at Tundra.
[4:12] Why laying people off after business failure due to bad decisions is the most challenging part.
[6:20] Learning to balance between being a vulnerable and a strong leader.
[8:00] When to consider and when to decline business opportunities and risks.
[10:57] How to measure the importance or nonimportance of a business risk before taking it on.
[15:36] The extensive learning culture they have at Tundra.
[18:34] How Iggy encourages the staff to find time to sharpen their minds.

Part 3: Tundra’s Acquisition+ The Future+ a Rapid-Fire Question Session

Quotes:

“I am more excited than fearful for the future.”
“I am happy to be part of a bigger company where we can make an impact on more people.”
“I’m inspired by a bright future for Canada, I think it’s going to be pretty good here over the next decade.”
“If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.”

Summary

Iggy described the grueling moments of the Tundra’s acquisition and the exhilarating day after the transaction was done. There were doubts at some points on whether it was the right decision they were making for the business but later found out that it was the perfect decision. Wajax complimented everything about Tundra in terms of product offering, geography, and culture. He described the whole acquisition as the best move that Tundra could have taken.

He explained how his role will change after the acquisition due to additional resources and with a new boss. He is more excited for the future changes than fearful. His leadership role will be about helping Tundra deal with the changes that will be coming with Wajax. He’ll also have to learn how to deal with working at a public company.

Iggy is an eternal optimist and is inspired by the fact that he’s now part of a bigger company and can make more impact on more people. He’s very optimistic about Western Canada’s economy and the overall Canadian oil and gas industry for the next decade.

In the end, Iggy answered some rapid-fire questions. Here he answered questions with one sentence and straight-to-the-point answers. Thank you for listening to this 3-part value-packed interview with business and leadership advice!

Episode Timeline:

[2:22] The grueling days of Tundra’s acquisition moments.
[4:23] He explained why selling Tundra was the best long-term move for them.
[8:32] Iggy’s expectation for his leadership role as the CEO of Tundra after the acquisition.
[11:25] He explained his optimism in the oil and gas industry and the overall Canadian economy.
[14:13] Iggy answered some rapid-fire questions from Jayson.