Management Today's Leadership Lessons · 2026-06-05 · 26 min
On this week’s episode, we hear from Ivan Doruda, CEO of native advertising platform MGID. Doruda was plotting a new venture when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in early 2022 and over the next couple of years served in the army as a reconnaissance soldier, then a drone operator, before rising to become a commanding officer. In the episode, we talk about the different ways in which his military service has impacted on his view of leadership and the existing skills and qualities that helped him on the frontline. He says that faced with an extraordinary situation, “you can still adapt your lessons and experience from previous times, even to circumstances like those”. Doruda also explains how his return to the ad world - in the shape of a job as managing director of the Ukrainian division of GroupM (now WPP Media) - provided the anchor for his readjustment to civilian life. To this day, he says he is “incredibly thankful” to WPP for taking a chance on a veteran. Then, last year, Doruda took up the role of CEO of MGID, the global advertising platform he first joined 15 years ago.
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