I recently went one on one with Predrag Lesic, CEO of Domain.ME.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Predrag: I started out in this business as a young junior programmer and took advantage of every opportunity to learn and expand my knowledge. In just the last seven years I have had five employers. With each change I faced new challenges and learned to solve new problems. Teamwork seems to always be the biggest obstacle as many people in this industry are just out for themselves, but when teamwork occurs big things start to happen.

There are two things I remain focused on. The first is believing that a project will succeed. The second is to always self-reflect after a project is complete. I think these two things gave me an advantage over other people when it comes to leadership. People are keen to stop and give up when they face some barriers which do not help them develop a much-needed winning attitude. Instead of giving up, people should self-reflect and try to learn from their own mistakes in order to continue to progress.

As I continued to progress throughout my career, my experience presented me with the opportunity to lead and since I had watched so many leaders do things the wrong way I knew exactly how I would run my own team. Leading is not an instrument for enforcement over people but rather an instrument for discussion and cooperation where the leader has a slightly different task than others: finding the right people for the right tasks.

To sum it all up, for me personal growth has always been strongly connected with the experiences I have faced on my personal journey. The truth is, we may call it experience, but that’s just a word for the process during which you learn to solve the problems you are facing. 

Adam: In your experience, what are the key steps to growing and scaling your business?

Predrag: Scaling a business is not an easy task. It’s many things. It’s about capacity and capability. There’s a lot of evaluating and planning involved. Not to mention you have to hire staff, deploy new technologies, add equipment and facilities. None of these come free. 

In my experience, the key step is determining the most important factors. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. This is what influences growth the most. After that you have to adapt to the market and make sure these specific KPIs are rising. 

For example - Let’s say you have a blog about a specific topic. One of the KPIs should be creating a thread at a well-established forum of that same particular topic. It should include a link to your blog post, and it should spark conversation on the forum so users will go visit a blog post on your website.  

Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading, and managing teams?

Predrag: When it comes to the teams, KPI’s should be in your mind all the time. To get there, there are a few questions executives have to ask themselves:

1. What skills do we need to accomplish tasks that are connected to these KPI’s?

2. How many people are needed to accomplish goals for these KPI’s?

3. Are the people aware of their duties and how do they feel?

4. What kind of employee evolution should be applied?

After you answer the first question, the second one should give you the optimal team size. What you should have in mind is that one can have more than one skill needed for the team. They just have to complement each other. Also, the size of the team is not just a number, it’s more of a journey of finding the ideal number of people with interconnected skills that work perfectly together. 

Now, the second most important thing is to decide who is in charge. Not overall, but of the particular parts of the process. If the same team has several activities, the leader of the particular activity is the one all the other employees are working for. 

So the first thing you should do after you decide on a number of activities is to choose activity leaders. There should be as many as there are activities. The importance of this is so people will understand and learn more about being a leader and making tough decisions. At the same time, they learn how to serve others on the tasks where their knowledge or expertise is needed. 

And then there’s the question of employee evolution. A saturation point comes in life when the once interesting and exciting task becomes a task to finish. You probably noticed this around you. It happens when people do the same thing over a long period of time. That’s where employee evolution comes in. I’m calling it an evolution as I think people should somehow find a way to switch jobs internally. Either vertical as a promotion or horizontal as they get some new education. Changing jobs inside your current company can have some great benefits. Of course, there is always the possibility of letting people leave the company. In its own way, it also helps them to grow.

Adam: What are the most important trends in technology that leaders should be aware of and understand? What should they understand about them?

Predrag: Well, in the hard times of COVID, the most important thing is to understand people’s needs in terms of socializing. We have great tools helping us to work from any location on this planet, but we must not forget that we are still humans and we need human interaction. So, my major message would be, find a way for people to work in hybrid mode, at least while we are still in the pandemic mode. Meaning, combine work from home and office in a way that employees feel good about. You may find it can be crucial for productivity as well as the happiness of people who work at your company. 

And, who knows? It may turn out that this hybrid work will last once the pandemic is over. In that case, your team will be already prepared for the new normal.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? 

Predrag: Being an effective leader means finding the right position for every employee. I cannot stress enough the importance of it. You may have the best team in the world but if you don’t make sure each member of the team is filling the right seat, you may not get the best out of your team.

The right people in the right positions make all the difference. I mean it. 

Adam: How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?

Predrag: Self-assessment. Repeated every year.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

1. Give your newcomers a short introductory course about the business, team structure and let them know what is expected from them, and then leave them to learn to swim with others.

2. Give your employees a space to lead.

3. Refresh your team from time to time i.e. 10% per year if possible

Adam: What are your best tips on the topics of sales, marketing, and branding?

Predrag: You probably heard this a hundred times before, but aim to build a strong online presence. Target your market, think analytically. Identify what makes you different. These are some of the most important things. Don’t forget to brand yourself and everything you do. 

Branding is equally important for both small and large businesses. Many business owners perceive branding as just a logo but there is more to it than that. It keeps you current in your chosen field, opens doors for you, and creates a lasting impression on clients.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Predrag: People come and go and that is normal. I always felt bad when someone had to leave the team because he or she was the weakest link. But then I heard a rule that the bottom 10% of the workforce should be replaced every year. It’s a part of a continuous improvement process. This has opened my eyes and made things a little easier. Also, there is this personal opinion I have. I may even call it a rule since I think it’s important and I share it with everyone - don’t stop until you find the team that fits you, the one where you will perform your best. Finding the right people to form a truly great team is hard. They have to fill in the gaps for each other. Their working relationship should be based on trust. Spending time with people that don’t belong to the team is a complete waste of time.


Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.

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