Seven Years, Seven Lessons

Seven years ago, I joined RTB House not knowing quite where the journey would take me. Now, hitting that milestone, I wanted to mark it in a way that felt meaningful rather than self-congratulatory—which, if you know me, means turning the question outward rather than inward.

I asked the people who had worked alongside me—colleagues, clients, and partners across many years and many time zones—to tell me honestly what they had observed. Their responses were generous, specific, and in some cases, surprising. Seven themes emerged from what they shared, and I sat down with Jonathan Elliott to explore them.

What follows is that conversation, along with some of the words that inspired it. I am genuinely grateful to everyone who contributed.

“Anna is a true star when it comes to partnerships. She’s one of those unique individuals who always makes you feel included and always rises to the occasion.”

- Ravit Ross, Chief Revenue Officer, Start.io

“She’s a pro at enabling the seemingly impossible and overcoming all fears. Walking past security to talk to a high-profile speaker at an event as if it is exactly what is supposed to happen? You got it!”

- Daniel Voloz, Business Development Director DACH, RTB House

“Being around Anna makes life feel lighter. She has a remarkable ability to make the hardest days feel manageable and meaningful. She helps the people in her life to thrive.”

- Emma Poulsen, Associate Consultant, Bain & Company 

“She’s great at creating genuine connections. She takes the time to truly understand our pain points and business model, and works alongside our team to find the best possible solutions. That’s an invaluable skill set.”

- Angela Clark, Advisory Board Member, Women in Retail Leadership Circle; ex-Patagonia VP of Digital

“Anna’s the best: ambitious, determined, and always persistent… we’ve had lots of fun together over the years at industry events.”

- Steve Haffner, Cofounder, KAYAK

Jonathan Elliott: Anna, what was the thinking behind such a thorough reflection to mark your seventh anniversary with RTB House?

Anna Jankowska Rowe: It was a deliberate exercise. The inner monologue we maintain about our own performance is useful, but it is also incomplete. We interpret our behavior through the lens of our intentions—and those intentions are invisible to everyone else. The only reliable way to understand your actual impact is to create the conditions in which the people who matter most feel genuinely safe enough to be honest with you.

This was a quality review focused on the human dimension of the work—something harder to measure than revenue or client retention. I know my results. I track them, I own them, and I’m satisfied with them. But how people experience working with you—whether they grow, feel respected, and would choose to work with you again—requires a different kind of audit entirely.

The question I was really asking was something closer to: “Am I the kind of professional, and the kind of person, that I actually want to be?” In my experience, that question and the performance question are related but distinct. The gap between them is worth acknowledging.

I maintain that being a good leader and being a good person are the same project. I am aware that sounds idealistic, but it is also accurate.

Lesson 1: Radical transparency builds trust faster than perfection

“Of course, the most difficult situations are those when the product or results do not meet business expectations, and you have to defend them from a business and relationship perspective… Anna has always been able to handle that positively.”

- Robert Dyczkowski, CEO, RTB House

“Anna insisted that we had to be completely transparent… In the end, there were no major problems, the client understood, and we continued the campaign.”

- Kuba Witkowski, Head of Campaigns Performance Improvement Center, RTB House

JE: These observations both talk about a specific situation, but they may say something about your approach to transparency in general. Can you tell us more about that?

AJR: In complex, long-running partnerships, things will go wrong. Models shift. Data behaves unexpectedly. Technical issues surface that nobody anticipated. Difficulties are common when working at the edge of what is technically possible. The question is what you do when they arise.

The instinct to manage information, hold back until you have a solution, or frame the problem as smaller than it is almost always makes things worse. Partners are perceptive; they sense when something is being handled around them rather than with them. The moment they feel that, the relationship shifts from a partnership to something much more guarded.

What I’ve found works—and the research on trust repair consistently supports this—is the opposite: get there first, be specific about what happened, take clear ownership, and be equally clear about what comes next. “Transparency under pressure” is what transforms a setback into a signal of reliability. Clients need to understand that when we bring them a problem, we are already working on the solution—that changes the nature of the conversation entirely.

JE: So, the client’s confidence in you goes up when they see how you react when things go wrong…

AJR: I’d go even further. If the foundations of a partnership are solid, a challenge handled honestly can become a proof point rather than a liability. Relationships where genuine transparency has been applied through a difficult moment tend to emerge stronger. Trust that is tested and holds is more durable than trust that has never been tested at all. The psychological research on how trust functions between people bears this out; repair, done well, tends to produce a more robust bond than the original.

Lesson 2: Relationships are the real infrastructure of business

“Anna is able to be completely present in the here and now. When she talks to someone, that person feels seen and heard. This is unique in a world where it is the norm to talk to someone while scrolling or listening to music on AirPods.”

- Mateusz Kołodziejski, CMO, GetResponse; ex-RTB House Global Head of Marketing

“No one reads the subtle signals sent by the other side better than she does.”

- Adrian Rybicki, Executive Vice President of Operations US, RTB House

“She prioritizes people over the deal and trusts the relationship to follow.”

- Kumar Amrendra, Founder, KaiSignals; ex-Sky Head of Digital Marketing, Planning, and Data Science

JE: Mateusz’s observation suggests that the capacity to be fully engaged with the person in front of you is almost a competitive advantage in the current professional environment. Would you agree with that?

AJR: Presence communicates—at a level people register before they’ve consciously processed it—that “you matter enough to have my full attention.” In my experience, that carries real weight. Everything I know about trust and rapport in teams shows that genuine attentiveness produces measurable physiological responses: it lowers defenses, creates the conditions for honest exchange, and makes the conversation qualitatively different from what it would otherwise be.

The practical dimension is equally important. If someone tells you something significant in a meeting and you return two weeks later, apparently having retained nothing, you have sent a message, quite clearly, that the exchange was disposable. People then draw conclusions about whether they can trust you with what actually matters to them.

The leaders who build the deepest professional relationships are almost always the ones who consistently and reliably make the other person feel they are being taken seriously. It sounds obvious when you say it, but it is surprisingly difficult to sustain.

Lesson 3: "No" can be an act of integrity

“I also love Anna’s ‘no bullshit’ approach. When someone tries to pull a fast one, scheme, or take advantage of her kindness, Anna clearly sets boundaries. This further demonstrates how professional she is.”

- Kaja Pryczkowska, Marketing Project Manager, RTB House

“Her approach to a well-placed ‘no’ reveals the ethical thinking underneath. She views it as valuable information or as a foundation for longer-term trust. Upholding principles under pressure requires conviction, and adding warmth to that conviction results in something truly rare at a senior level.”

- Kumar Amrendra, Founder, KaiSignals; ex-Sky Head of Digital Marketing, Planning, and Data Science

JE: Warmth and generosity can be a professional vulnerability if they don’t have limits. Let’s talk about the skill involved in setting boundaries while building positive relationships.

AJR: The boundary and the relationship strengthen each other. The people who trust me most are those who know exactly where I stand. There is no ambiguity about what I will and won’t agree to, no wondering whether my “yes” actually means "yes, but I have reservations that I'm not sharing." That clarity is a form of respect for the other person, even when the answer is no.

In my experience, directness requires more courage at the beginning than later. The first time you tell someone something they don’t want to hear, there is friction. By the tenth time, they have understood something important: that you respect them enough to be honest. They usually become honest in return. The relationship acquires depth; it runs on substance rather than performance.

I think of this as the signal-to-noise ratio in professional communication. Most interactions accumulate noise: managed impressions, diplomatic hedging, things left tactfully unsaid. The relationships that actually work—the ones that deliver over time—are those where the signal is clear. That requires a willingness to say difficult things with care, and with enough precision that they retain their meaning.

Lesson 4: Growth is not a destination

“I remember that in the early years, Anna was basically jumping from one plane to another… Over time, Anna began to take a more conscious approach to where to get involved and who to work with. [...] I watched this evolution with great curiosity and found it inspiring.”

- Mateusz Kołodziejski, CMO, GetResponse; ex-RTB House Global Head of Marketing

“I’ve seen Anna evolve from being goal-driven to purpose-driven. I’ve witnessed the deeper impact that has on the business relationships Anna builds both inside and outside the company.”

- Edo Povel, Country Manager BNX, RTB House

“When we first met, Anna had a lot to prove… Nowadays, Anna doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone—her work and results speak for themselves. Her relationships in the industry are incredible.”

- Bradley Collins, Co-Founder & CEO, LegalTechTalk; ex-World Retail Congress

JE: Edo’s observation carries real weight. “Goal-driven” and “purpose-driven” aren’t simply different levels of ambition; they describe fundamentally different orientations to work. What does that shift feel like from the inside, and what made it possible?

AJR: You have to earn the right to operate at the second level. The goal-driven phase builds credibility, creating space for something larger. For me, that meant delivering consistently at the highest level I could sustain until the results were no longer in question. That foundation matters. Purpose, without it, remains aspirational.

Once that foundation is secure, something shifts. The question evolves from "what do I need to achieve?" to "what kind of professional and person do I want to be?" That is a more interesting question, and a harder one. It asks you to look outward as well as upward—to hold yourself accountable for whether the people around you are growing, being seen, and being supported in ways that matter.

JE: As you become more senior, you gain more visibility. How do you feel about becoming a reference point against which other people calibrate themselves?

AJR: That’s the aspect of seniority I take most seriously. Purpose-driven leadership means creating the conditions in which the people around you can find their own answers. The higher you rise, the more responsibility you carry for those whose careers are in your orbit. They need someone to take their ambitions seriously, to make their development feel like it matters. It’s important to show, by example, that it is possible to do this work with both rigor and genuine humanity.

Lesson 5: Real leadership is measured by the growth of the people around you

“The real breakthrough was understanding that I was bringing her perspective as well. It was, and always has been, a two-way street. Anna empowered me to be fully Emma every single day.”

- Emma Poulsen, Associate Consultant, Bain & Company

“Showing patience and understanding translates into better relationships with colleagues and, ultimately, a greater willingness on their part to learn.”

- Adrian Rybicki, Executive Vice President of Operations US, RTB House

“She willingly gives advice, conducts ‘mini mentoring,’ and helps me and other less experienced colleagues develop our sales, relationship, and leadership skills.”

- Kuba Witkowski, Head of Campaigns Performance Improvement Center, RTB House

“Anna is a pro at many things, but the number one is how she provides a safe space for anyone she comes into contact with to completely be themselves.”

- Bradley Collins, Co-Founder & CEO, LegalTechTalk; ex-World Retail Congress

JE: People seem to view you as a mentor. What would you say is the biggest thing about helping others develop?

AJR: The most important things you can offer someone who is developing are time and genuine attention. What I’ve observed in the relationships that matter most to me is that a mentoring dynamic, properly understood, runs in both directions. The people I’ve watched grow have taught me things about where my assumptions have become outdated, how the industry looks from a different vantage point, and where I have developed blind spots. 

What experience gives you in depth, it sometimes takes from you in peripheral vision. People newer to the field often see certain things with a clarity that experience, paradoxically, can obscure.

And what makes those exchanges genuinely reciprocal is specificity. I don’t tell someone, "I learn so much from you," which may be true, but also sounds like a bland statement that carries no weight. I tell them, exactly and explicitly, what shifted in my thinking because of something they showed me, and why it mattered. That specificity is what makes someone feel genuinely valued rather than simply appreciated.

Lesson 6: How you recover defines you more than how you win

“After numerous years of trying to get hold of a prospect, we finally got a chance to talk to them, and that was one of the most intense calls I had ever been on… some two years later, we ultimately managed to get it done… we’re live with that customer, and they’re very satisfied with our work.”

- Daniel Voloz, Business Development Director DACH, RTB House

“Anna and I have had plenty of awkward moments together early on—especially stopping senior executives right after they came off stage at conferences. Over the years, I’ve seen Anna grow into someone who’s incredibly strong at building authentic executive-level relationships.”

- Dason Allen, Regional Vice President, Enterprise Sales US, RTB House

“When I made a mistake, Anna showed tolerance and patience; she didn’t display any anger or frustration. She had an ‘okay, what can we do about it now’ approach.”

- Kaja Pryczkowska, Marketing Projects Manager, RTB House

JE: These quotes describe someone with a healthy attitude to failure and obstacles. Have you always had this composed reaction to difficulties?

AJR: I think it comes from something specific: talking openly and consistently about failure—the dark scenarios, the moments of genuine doubt—because I actually believe that mistakes carry information that is solid gold if you know how to handle it. They tell you something precise about where a system, a process, or a relationship needs attention. Concealing them, or treating them as occasions for damage limitation, destroys that information and leaves the people around you with the false impression that setbacks are exceptional rather than navigable.

The practical effect of that consistency is significant. When something does go wrong, the people around me already know how I will respond. There is no recalibration required, no anxiety about the temperature in the room. That predictability, in itself, is a form of leadership. People can concentrate on solving the problem rather than managing the atmosphere.

Lesson 7: Purpose builds legacy, ambition builds success

“As we go through life, the non-essential loses importance, and we focus instead on the fundamental things that truly matter—our people, our relationships, our own integrity. Work is simply a stage, and outcomes on this stage are important, but not at the expense of the above.”

- Dan Slivjanovski, CMO, DoubleVerify

“She clearly understands that the best partnerships take time, and for a brand like Patagonia, this approach aligns with our values and the way we work.”

- Angela Clark, Women in Retail Leadership Circle; ex-Patagonia VP of Digital, Advisory Board Member

“In the years I’ve known her, she’s gotten even more confident in her own skin and capabilities. That isn’t a trivial task, especially for women leaders.”

- Ravit Ross, Chief Revenue Officer, Start.io

JE: Is it fair to say that—as these quotes suggest—we become more confident and composed as we settle into our careers, and then we stop looking at the immediate issues so closely and start pondering the bigger things around us?

AJR: Dan articulates something I’ve come to believe completely: that with time, the non-essential falls away through discernment. You get better—gradually, but not without effort—at distinguishing the things that actually matter from the things that merely feel urgent. That is a skill, one we can improve with practice and with the accumulated weight of real experience.

The next phase is about directing that discernment outward as much as inward. I want to be more present—genuinely and substantively present—for the people around me who are performing at a high level and who have more potential than they have yet had the conditions to express. The more experience you accumulate, the more clearly you see that the return on investing in people is not linear. It compounds. What you give, thoughtfully and specifically, tends to come back in ways that are neither predictable nor proportionate.

The lesson I would offer to a younger version of myself is this: the urgency you feel is real, and it will also pass. The present moment, properly attended to, contains more than the plans you are making for it. Be deliberate about how you spend your time and with whom. Those choices, made consistently over time, become the career and the life you actually wanted.