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Episode 63: Ordinary People, Exceptional Work: Inside the Culture That Built SOLA with Rod Watkins

11 minutes ago
2 min read

What does it take to build a culture where ordinary people can do exceptional work and what happens when that culture begins to change?


In Part 2 of our three-part series, Rod Watkins, former Technical Director and Group General Manager of SOLA, shares how the company kept up with 40% year-on-year growth, the product gap that helped push its owners to sell, and what changed when Pilkington took over.

Along the way, Rod paints a picture of the kind of culture that gets ordinary people doing exceptional work: how long it takes to build, and how quickly it can disappear. If you're building a team in your own practice, there's plenty here to take away.

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About the Guests:

Rod Watkins has spent over five decades at the intersection of optics, science and industry. After lecturing in optometry at the University of Melbourne in 1969, Rod joined SOLA International in 1970, where he spent the next 14 years as Group General Manager – Technical, helping steer the Adelaide-born company through its transformation from a small optometry practice offshoot into one of the world's largest ophthalmic lens manufacturers. In 1987, he founded Scan Optics Pty Ltd, leading the company as CEO for over two decades until 2008. Since 2011, Rod has held an Associate Professor position at Flinders University, continuing to shape the next generation of optical thinking.


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Key Topics with Timestamps:

4:11 - Life after the sale of SOLA

8:22 - Factors that influenced Laubman and Pank’s decision to sell

10:47 - Pilkington's management philosophy

13:39 - Building a business is different from buying one

15:27 - How SOLA managed 40% year-on-year growth

17:54 - The challenges behind SOLA’s global growth18:54 - SOLA's greatest strength

20:22 - What changed after the Pilkington acquisition

22:32 - Sola was built by ordinary people who stepped up 

24:57 - The challenge of doing global business before


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