Ass. Prof. Dr. Anna Rostomyan: Across Classrooms, Cultures, and Conversations
Leadership is often discussed in terms of strategy, performance, and results, yet its deepest influence is rooted in something far more personal: the ability to understand people. Across classrooms, boardrooms, research institutions, and entrepreneurial ventures, the most meaningful leadership is built through communication, emotional awareness, social awareness, emotional intelligence, and the capacity to connect across cultures. Ass. Prof. Dr. Anna Rostomyan has dedicated her career to exploring these dimensions of human behaviour and human psychology, bringing together academic rigor and practical insight in a way that resonates with professionals, students, and organizations around the world.
An assistant professor, researcher, PhD mentor, reviewer, translator, entrepreneur, angel investor, and internationally recognized author, Dr. Anna Rostomyan has written seven books on business communication and management, cross-cultural communication, emotional intelligence, and leadership, along with more than 100 publications focused largely on business psychology and the role emotions play in both personal and professional life, also including children’s fairy tales. Her work has reached readers from over 100 nationalities across the Globe, while her collaborations with students, co-authors, fellow researchers, and colleagues across different countries have given her a truly global perspective. In 2021, she expanded her impact by launching her own entrepreneurial venture, offering emotional intelligence coaching and educational consultancy services, while also contributing as Communications and Marketing Manager in her family-owned business.
In this conversation with The Prime Today, Dr. Anna Rostomyan shares the journey that has shaped both her life and her career, from academia and research to entrepreneurship and leadership. She speaks about the experiences, challenges, and values that continue to guide her work across education, business, science, and international collaboration.
What inspired you to start your business or career?
I was born and raised in a family of intellectuals and academics who instilled in me my genuine desire, love, and passion for the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom. While doing my master’s degree in English language, I started working as an intern at “Porsche Center Yerevan” doing multilingual translations, being proficient in 5 languages, including English, German, French, Russian (bilingual) and Armenian (native), later becoming responsible for the reception and afterwards being promoted to the position of HR manager at the aforementioned company.
After I graduated from Yerevan State University with the highest grades, receiving a BA degree with honours and a Master’s degree with excellence, being among the top 10 of the class, and being recognized as the best BA student of the faculty of Romance and Germanic Philology, as well as being awarded a certificate as the best translator from the Department of Russian Philology of Yerevan State University after a contest and the best debater at the American University of Armenia after a tournament and after I organized a debate club of my own at School N8 after Alexander Poushkin, I decided to pursue a PhD journey since almost everyone in my family holds a PhD degree mostly in physics and mathematics.
Though being strong in mathematics too, I decided to follow my mother’s path, who is a linguist, having a strong sense for and aptitude in languages, and defended my PhD on the linguo-cognitive analysis of verbal and non-verbal expressions of emotions, especially focusing on the peculiarities of the English language. I defended my PhD degree with the highest grades and excellence with all the anonymous positive votes of the jury, receiving outstanding feedback from the jury members and reviewers. I should also like to note that while doing my PhD, I was honoured and privileged to receive a PhD research fellowship grant of excellence from the Academic Swiss Caucasus Net and had the great chance to conduct a part of my PhD research at the amazing University of Fribourg in Switzerland.
During the pandemic, I decided to share my experience after successfully having followed a PhD path with the wider audience, so I opened an individual entrepreneurship, became a PhD mentor at the Swiss School of Business Research (Switzerland) and had the greatest chance to advise and mentor business professionals from across the globe to follow efficiently their PhD journey and successfully defend their degrees, get published globally, and eventually get promoted in their professions.
What does success mean to you personally?
For some people success is directly and merely linked with generating income and gaining tangible financial assets. For me personally, apart from this, it is highly essential to thrive both personally and professionally, to everyday become the better version of myself, to make a positive impact in this world, and to bring up the next generation of future leaders, striving towards making this world a better place while also assisting my colleagues, friends, and students to find their best selves and succeed in their endeavours, since for all of us to excel in this life, we should be the greatest cheerleaders for our dearest people standing close to us and making them feel seen, cherished, supported, acknowledged, loved, cared for, assisted, and protected.
What have been the biggest challenges in your journey?
Coming from a developing country as Armenia is, I have struggled for quite a while to get global recognition and success in my field. Nonetheless, I have to note that being partly raised up in Germany, having attended a school and university there, having had the chance to do a part of my research in Switzerland, as well as having participated in international conferences, and getting published globally have greatly assisted me in my achievements.
How did you overcome the challenges you faced?
I kept on believing in my accomplishments, in my skills, in my aptitude, in my future, and in my strong desire to become an internationally recognized professor, author, and researcher, never giving up on my dreams. This has helped me sail through the challenges since, as they truly say, “We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.” And additionally, I can state that we should never lose sight of the shore (namely, our goals and dreams).
What key decision has had the biggest impact on your success?
I should definitively state to pursue a PhD journey and bring novelty into science. Also, pursuing an academic path while also bridging academia and the business worlds.
How do you stay ahead in today’s competitive business environment?
I never compete with others. I am a strong believer that a flower should just bloom. If we bring our strengths to the table, always preserve a strong hope for the better, and assist others in finding their own strengths, working as a team as well as working on improving our very own skills individually and collectively, we all will stay ahead of the game of success.
What role does innovation play in your business?
I believe that innovation should go hand-in-hand with business since we cannot stay afloat if we do not take into account the demands and novelties of the modern times. For example, currently my main research is focused on the benefits of emotion AI in successful human-machine communications, that is, the way machines empathically respond to human emotions, needs, demands, and expectations, which creates a trustworthy space for humans to interact with machines.
How do you build and motivate a strong team?
I always try to point out their strengths, to praise accomplishments, and to see and acknowledge their work well done. If, however, I need to provide feedback, I always try to make it constructive, not critical, for others to see chances, not obstacles. I build and motivate a strong team by setting clear goals, communicating openly, recognizing achievements, and giving people ownership of their work. I also encourage and foster fruitful collaboration, support professional growth, and lead by example.
What leadership qualities do you believe are most important today?
I believe that for modern times, leaders should embrace innovation and be AI-savvy as well as adapt their leadership style in line with the situation, following the principles of situational leadership in terms of adjusting how much guidance they provide to their teams depending on the latter’s willingness and preparedness.
Apart from this, I strongly believe that self-leadership should be the guiding light for any leader in the way they become self-aware of their very own emotions and needs, desires, expectations, and motivations, as well as equip them with various tools and techniques to manage themselves in the first place, since, in my opinion, we cannot lead our teams the best way we can if we do not lead ourselves in the first place.
How has technology influenced the way you do business?
Being mostly an educator, I can state that technology has significantly changed how educators operate by making teaching, communication, mentoring, guidance, and administration more efficient and accessible.
Digital learning platforms, video conferencing, and educational apps allow educators nowadays to teach students remotely and personalize learning, as well as assist in selecting topics for discussion. Indeed, I myself have seen the benefits of technical innovation having worked at various esteemed European business schools and universities of applied sciences. Yet, it is my strong belief that we should not over-rely solely on intelligent technologies but instead should go more for co-creation with technology that should, in the first place, enhance human skills, not replace them.
Overall, I can say that technology has shifted education toward a more flexible, connected, personalized, and data-driven business model and we should view it as an advancement.
What is your vision for your business in the coming years?
My own vision for the coming years is to build a sustainable, innovative, inspiring, successful, productive, and technology-driven business that creates meaningful value for our customers, consumers, students, and the global community at large.
What advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders?
Find your strength, what makes you different and stand out in the market, and what you can bring to the table that the prospective consumers have the need for, and do not be afraid of being seen and delivering value.
Besides, my personal advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders will be to stay focused on their own vision and mission, since it will serve as a guiding lighthouse for them, while also remaining open to learning and adapting to new situations. From my own experience, I can tell that success requires patience, resilience, passion, and a willingness to take calculated risks. It is also very important to build strong relationships with your network that will push you forward and assist you in your personal growth journey; also, listen to the needs of your customers, be creative, embrace technology, and surround yourself with people who share your values and goals.
Most importantly, learn from setbacks, stay committed to continuous improvement, believe in yourselves, and create value for others rather than only focusing on profit.
What would you like your legacy in the business world to be?
I strive towards guiding my students theoretically, as well as sharing with them my own research and expertise from the business field, having worked at various local banks, becoming an angel investor, and being the communication and marketing manager at my father’s oil-importing company and gaining first-hand experience on how theory works at its best in practice and guiding them to apply the provided academic principles in the business field, as well as advising them to be responsible, caring, devoted, driven, motivated, self-aware, and socially aware successful business professionals who do business not only for financial gains but also for the overall benefit of society at large.