The laws of good writing

Blanka Čechová, Writer. Photo: Ivana Zorić

When you look at Blanka Čechová‘s biography, you may wonder, how is it even possible that you haven’t heard about her before: her first book got published when she was nineteen. After graduating from law, she launched an impressive career at the European Court of Human Rights and then at a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Later, she got admitted as the first non-native speaker to the Master in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. As a writer, she worked with Ladislav Smoljak, Jiri Menzel or Juraj Jakubisko, she taught writing to lawyers and bankers, and along the way, she wrote another four marvellous books.

Question one: how did you manage to squeeze all of the diverse and demanding activities into your life so far?

Easy: I was doing things, not making connections. Which might have been wrong in many ways, but I simply followed my passion and I stubbornly wanted to make a difference, no matter how much of a cliché this sounds. I don’t deny that this required certain sacrifice. I missed uncounted trips, parties, coffees and grand-openings. You may know the famous Oscar Wilde quote: he was once approached at a party by a lady, who asked him “Why is it that the poor writers are always so entertaining while the good writers tend to be boring?” And Oscar Wilde replied – “This is because the poor writers live the life they cannot write about, while the good writers write about the life they cannot live.” Writing is an incredibly time consuming activity, and it requires a lot of courage, if you are serious about it. Even that kind of courage to face a lifetime of being misunderstood, years of failure.

You were a successful lawyer before your fulltime writing career, though. Looking back, how do you feel about your years in international organizations?  

I was blessed to get to relatively high-profile jobs at a very young age, so my naivety about how the world functions was tested and crushed early in life. Which was great. Experiencing ruthless bureaucrats and rives of public money going the wrong way tries one’s idealism and motivation, it forces you to see the thin line between a moral compromise and a moral failure. Everybody reacts in a different way to this, but it is true that only few give up the salary, benefits and status. Of course, there are great projects and fantastic people, too, but mostly on the ground level – the minds of the chief officers are too often corrupt and self-indulged. It is zero responsibility, great income and countless privileges. For me, the disillusionment was devastating, particularly in Kosovo, where I saw so much injustice, crime and poverty, and no matter how much I tried, I was completely powerless. Finally, I resigned and to turn my experience into something constructive, I wrote Total Balkans, a bitter humour novel that explores the topic of individual versus an institution at a field mission and poses the heretic question whether democratization, as we know it, makes sense at all. The positive response I keep getting from my readers, is actually overwhelming. I am honoured that some very distinguished and well-read people have ranked the book among their top ten. It is one of the favourite books of Zdeněk Svěrák.

After you quit your job at the Kosovo mission, you worked as assistant director to Ladislav Smoljak in the Jára Cimrman Theater. How does a lawyer get a job like this?

Through the law faculty, in fact. For years, I had hoped to make an interview with Vojtěch Cepl, the former constitutional judge. He kept refusing to talk to me, and finally he said – I won’t tell you anything, but I will introduce you to someone, who is absolutely worth to be interviewed. The next day, he took me to a lunch with the renowned actor-director Ladislav Smoljak. We became friends and close collaborators, Ladislav even wrote a letter of recommendation to the University of Oxford during admissions to the creative writing program. He was a fantastic, strict and attentive mentor. In return, I kept interviewing him for almost five years and finally published a book of our talks on theater, politics and life.

You mentioned Oxford and your creative writing studies. How did it help you develop as a writer?

Immensely. The major difference of the Oxford program from other writing courses is that you are forced to write one of the major assignments in a genre that you would normally avoid. This way, I had to write a collection of poetry. A huge, incredible challenge, countless nights up, shelves of books I had to read and re-read, poets I had to explore, understand, and fall in love with. It has incredibly enriched my prose writing, even my screenwriting skills. When I coach people who want to improve their writing, I insist they read a poem a day. In ten days, you see a difference – in their writing and, more importantly, in their mindset.

So you believe that writing can be taught?

Absolutely. You can train the skill, you can expand your vocabulary, you can even improve your language sensitivity. Of course, you can’t improve talent, you are either born with it or not. It is like in music: although you can’t learn to have a perfect pitch, you can train the fingers and the ear. And, what is more significant, you can build your confidence. I experience this in my courses of administrative writing for judges, lawyers and bankers: I use adapted methods from creative writing programs, so the people, who normally write only annual reports and judgments feel like real writers for a while. Primarily, though, I teach them how to write well and fast, how not to get stuck and how to like the writing process.

Can you actually live off your book writing or do you have to keep a job on the side?

Some of my books sold reasonably well, my latest book – The Return of the Adriatic Bride – was actually a job I did in collaboration with a travel agency, that liked the genre, and wished to pre-order my new book as their gift to a number of their loyal clients and partners. It worked fantastically: I got a deadline and an immediate motivation to write, and I got the money, so I could afford to write for several weeks and decline other jobs. This was exceptional, though. Otherwise, I do all sorts of things. Apart from the writing coaching, I play the violin at a Dalmatian folklore ensemble in Dubrovnik, where we spend most of the year. At one point, I used to sell dumplings at a farmer’s market, to pick olives and grapes during the harvest. Now I am hoping to get hired to act as one of the angry village women among the extras in Robin Hood: Origins, a movie produced by Leonardo DiCaprio and filmed in Dubrovnik. A very diverse work experience that you can’t really put in your CV. But it does make one a more versatile person and writer. But to answer your question: no, unless you publish a bestseller, preferably on the English-speaking market, you can’t comfortably live off pure writing. I just put the English translation of Total Balkans on Amazon, though, so let’s see what happens now.

You live near Dubrovnik, but you often travel to Prague. Are Croatians and Czechs very different? And why is Dalmatia so attractive for Czech tourists?

The “near Dubrovnik” is very significant: we live at the village, where my husband was born – a very traditional, conservative and rural environment. And, you know, I used to be a city girl, so when I got asked to go collect the eggs from the henhouse or to pluck a wild quail, I panicked. At my readings for Czech tourists during the summer, I often say, that we love Croats and Dalmatians because we get mislead by our similarities – our languages are similar, as is our sense of humour, we share the same experience with communism. But try to come here off season and stay several months: you will see that Dalmatia is so mysterious and distant from us like, say, Iran. You’ll get shocked every day, in the most positive and the most negative way, and at the end you will either run or stay. I stayed: I feel connected to the sea and to the people, who are both irritating and authentic, over-traditional and brotherly, complicated and cheerful. I like the slower pace of life in Dubrovnik. In fact, one is kind of required to slow down here, as being a workaholic is considered rude and inappropriate. You are required to have time for life – be it family parties or staring at the sea out of your fishing boat.

Any tips prior to the season?

If you take the A1 Croatian highway to get to Dalmatia, stop by the yellow Tifon gas station and buy the Adriatic Bride books. J And if you get all the way down to Dubrovnik or Pelješac, drop me an email – I love meeting my readers, and actually I like to say that I am such kind of writer who knows most of her readers personally.

What is your next chapter?

I am the mother of two wonderful little ladies, so above all, I need to learn how to make a Dutch braid, a Lego-shaped birthday cake and to learn the lyrics of all the songs from Frozen. In the pauses, when I don’t hop between blueberry pancakes and playdough castles, I would like to finish the third part of the Adriatic Bride series and see Total Balkans sell in its English and Serbian versions.

By Linda Štucbartová

Three Careers in One: Executive Coach, CEO and Gallery Owner

Daniel Wahrenberger, Executive Coach, CEO and Gallery Owner

Daniel Wahrenberger has owned a gallery for more than 20 years, worked as CEO, Interim Manager and he has also had a coaching and consultancy company for 15 years. He has worked in more than 23 countries, in Europe, Americas and Asia.

Daniel, welcome to the heart of Europe. For two and half years you also have been supporting companies in Prague. How do you enjoy it?

Beforehand I have never worked in the Czech Republic – just knew it from vacation. I have been very positively surprised about the great business environment and infrastructure of this country. Easily reached by public transportation, quality of staff, security, standard and last but not least costs. I think the Czech Republic should invest much more effort in making this great market place more known – not just in Europe also in the US and especially in Asia. Many companies from other continents plan to expand into Europe – and why not founding the European representation or company in the Czech Republic or Slovakia. The package of advantages is huge and many metropolises would have difficulties to compete.

In Bratislava, I started to work over ten years ago. One of my clients was involved in a business service center in Bratislava and I was involved in the foundation and start-up.

Daniel, seeing you, your energy and passion, one can easily compare your career to a joyride…How would you describe it yourself?

Being Swiss, I will naturally use the example of downhill skiing, making also a link to the Czech Republic, as the Alpine Ski World Championship in St. Moritz took place recently. I believe many Czech people followed this event quite closely, as it was the last Championship for your excellent skier Šárka Strachová. So, I compare my career to the giant slalom. I have been enjoying various energetic bends, always having a clear goal in sight, parallel to the finishing line. I have never been attached to a particular position or a brand or a function. My priority was not to focus on “what am I doing” but instead on “how am I performing and achieving goals”.

Whenever a person loses an intrinsic motivation and enjoyment, the overall satisfaction is difficult to be attained. When that happens, you literally stand still in your professional and personal development.

Passion – no matter how much of a buzz word nowadays it may seem – passion has always been my real driver and the source of my energy. When passion and profession blend together, the outcome guarantees real fervour. And I put this very fervour into every mandate and every job; as an underwriter, a project manager, a head of IT or HR department, an executive coach and a gallery owner. Whenever I started to realize that my passion was decreasing, it was a signal to me that I have to change something. Immediately.

Life After Life

Mirek Topolánek, former Prime Minister, Expert Director, Eustream company

Mirek Topolánek seldom allows to be interviewed and only under the condition that politics will not be discussed at all.  When you meet him in person, it becomes clear that his natural passion to make an impact does not allow much space for personal issues.  Clearly, Mirek Topolánek is a natural leader.  He is still charismatic and authentic.  On the other hand, when compared to his media image, he is less reserved, he listens, he has gentleman’s manners and he is sharply sincere.  Our meeting over a cup of coffee lasted for more than two hours, for me inspiring ones.  I believe that Mirek Topolánek and his involvement in politics does not represent a closed chapter.   

How is the life after you leave the politics?

It is interesting that you have chosen the name of the chapter in my book as a title.  The topic that I have truly lived and had a chance to reflect upon.  For a politician, it is really difficult to leave politics, particularly in an involuntary manner, when he is not ready to leave.  On the other hand, which politician is ready to leave politics?  Politicians feel that they are a messiah type figure, and that they should last in politics until the end of their days and then become canonised.  I also had the feeling that I left too early, before finishing my “masterpiece”.  On top of that, the Czechs, being both the most egalitarian and envious small nation in Europe, desire that politicians either end up at the Unemployment Office or in the Moldau River.  Czechs do not appreciate their elites, since they lost them due to several immigration waves, they ostracize them and fail to acknowledge them.  The elites since 1989 belong to the last group.  So after falling from the top, I have not been rocking in a safety net or cuddling in the safe warm nest.  People who looked like friends had the tendency to cross to the other side of the pavement, they did not look into my eyes and some of them reacted even worse…Then, one learns to appreciate those who did not like him but their behaviour did not get worse and even those who helped him.  No one wants to employ you.  No one wants to have anything in common with you.  Just one example to illustrate.  I had a discussion regarding the management contract in Slovenské elektrárny with the president of ENEL Company in Rome.  He asked me disbelievingly?  “Do you still wanna work”?  Yes, Fulvio, I have to provide for my family.  And so he tried again: “Wouldn’t just a consulting contract be sufficient?”  He did not believe me.  I had to persuade him that it works like that and I simply had to work.  Such story demonstrates a different point of view and attitude in some traditional West European countries.  A politician either becomes a senator or he is appointed to a prepared position.  Or he is simply rich enough.  People do not have to agree with that particular top politician, but they respect the fact that he has dedicated a part of his life to his country.  They perceive it as a recognition of his work and as a reward for his willingness to bear responsibility.  The second reason is much more pragmatic.  When a politician gets a chance to contribute elsewhere, the higher is the probability that he will continue to mess in politics.  But there are exceptions, such as Silvio Berlusconi.  My story has a typical Czech ending.  One investigative journalist had found out, “leaked the information on the website”, Italian journals printed out the story, Italians got scared and that was the end to my contract.  Funnily enough, I have returned in another way, due to the partial ownership of EPH company in Slovenské elektrárny, so I have returned, albeit in another time and indirectly.

So what have been you doing?

I left for abroad to clear my head in my private, civil and working life.  Actually, I had to learn again how to work on a PC, how to use a printer, scanner, Excel and PowerPoint.  And how to stop commanding…You are quite powerless when in top politics.  Around you they do everything on your behalf, they hold your hand and create a feeling of being indispensable.  You need to learn how to live a normal civil life, go shopping, walk your kids to a kindergarten.  Stories how politicians do not know how to buy a tram ticket are far from being exaggerated.

I made a decision to dedicate my energy to the three following areas:  I will find a job that will provide sufficient means and that I will enjoy; I will take better care of my family, since it is the family that suffers most from politics; and last but not least, I am going to enjoy my life.  After almost seven years, I can humbly claim to a certain degree that except for the last point, I have succeeded in the first two.

So was it a real “sabbatical”?  Well, from my experience as an executive coach, I cannot believe that everything went smoothly and that from maximum stress suddenly you managed to switch to inner peace and harmony. 

I confess that after two weeks I was in panic due to not working, and after one month I felt powerless due to what was going on.  After two months I was bored to death and hungry to face new challenges.  Then I had to return.  No one would believe that it took a year until I managed to get rid of the inner feeling of responsibility “for the country and for the people”.

Perhaps it sounds exaggerated.  You are right, to get rid of being restless and learn how to get rest was the hardest work.  You run at the full speed in some kind of a never-ending race, you work 15 hours per day, you sleep three hours, you are under permanent pressure without the liberating feeling of victory.  And suddenly nothing…Emptiness.  I would compare my situation to a professional athlete.  The moment he ceases his full engagement in sport, including daily workouts and he does not start doing something else, he starts to have health issues, problems with alcohol and he cannot make the transition.  I was aware of all risks and I made a decision not to be a failure.  Besides, when I was leaving politics, I was really severely sick.  Next to common civilization diseases, such as high cholesterol, diabetes, high fat level in blood, I had lung problems leading to beginning of sepsis.  Until then I did not have time and strength to take care of my personal problems.  So I decided to commit a complete “brainwash” and change the life style.  Suddenly, instead of hundreds of people, who had been shaking hands with me, I was surrounded by few individuals, who have accompanied me throughout my whole life.  I have also changed hobbies.  When I was 54, I started to play ice-hockey and I still play it, I have discovered a new bunch of people and I really enjoy it.

What is your position in an ice-hockey team?

The ice-hockey today is based on the returning left back winger.  But I am the left winger, non-returning one…(loud laughter)…I cannot keep up.

But let me get back to my “return” to life.  I experienced one particular moment feeling as a craftsman exam in a civil life.  That was the time, when I was able to use email, phone, DHL and scanner to buy a car on a leasing contract and that car was waiting for me in front of my life after I returned from Italy.  I was proud then.  Today, I see the episode ridiculous.              

What about a job?

That was a bit complicated and it had its own dynamics.  After I entered politics I passed the managed of my rather successful companies on and later sold them.  I was being naïve and I thought this is the way it is supposed to be done.  Today, those who are currently powerful?, are proving me wrong.  They are in charge of big companies and simultaneously involved in top politics.  I do not trust them.  Based on my own experience, I believe that if someone is to perform a task on 150%, he cannot have any other responsibility.  However, then I had nowhere to return…At last, there were few people who respected me, who were aware about my expert experience, contacts and reputation.  I delivered some good work on consulting contracts; those eventually resulted in a management position in Ostrava.  I had to travel a lot.  Dozens of trips to Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Far East.  Especially in Africa, many countries were not considered safe and so people do not to travel there often.  I was in Angola, Uganda, Ghana, South Sudan where the war broke out just after signing a contract, North Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia.  Then came Egypt, Moldova, Vietnam, Ecuador, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Turkey and so on… I enjoyed it and I was bringing a visible added value.  And now I could make the cut and use the fairy tale sentence: and suddenly I met Dan Křetínský. (laughter)

Dan had the courage to face the Czech stereotypes – he gave me a big chance and responsibility.   At first, I started as the Chairman of the Association of District Heating, then I covered Slovakia, being at NAFTA company.  During the last two years, I have been a member of the Board and Expert Director of the Foreign Relations at Eustream company, a key player in the gas transit in Europe.  I do not travel outside Europe, but constantly within Europe.  By the way, coming from Prague Chodov to Prague Holešovice is as demanding as travelling to Bulgaria or Romania.  The work is truly interesting; I am grateful to Dan for the opportunity.  I am able to devote myself to the energy industry as the topic that I have been pursuing for my whole life and I have my freedom.  I make my living and I am fulfilled.

You seem to enjoy travelling a lot, you make a living and it is fulfilling at the same time. Do you miss the special air plane?  Do you fly economy class?

You cannot possibly imagine the difference.  There is a special bed, shower, comfortable seats in the special air plane for the prime minister and there is a red carpet awaiting you on the arrival.  You do not have to take care of anything and no one searches you nor touches you at the airport.  I think I could write a book “Pains and pleasures flying in economy class” with the subtitle “How to become a terrorist fast and easy”.  As an experienced traveller, I try to secure the business class for the poor – the emergency seat. Now, you have to pay extra.  Instead of the airline companies paying me for bearing the responsibility in case of an emergency, they charge me extra.  There are security checks everywhere.  Barefoot, with falling trousers I show my hands for the anti-explosive detection test.  Usama Bin Ladin won.  The failure of the Western civilization is evident.  We made it difficult for ourselves, since terrorist attacks nowadays take place in a different form, in different places, as we could witness in Berlin.  My book on travelling would include the stories about how I was about to be arrested, denied a flight, where I was checked, touched or had to take my shoes off.  As I work in Bratislava, I tend to perceive most of the travels within Europe just as commuting to work.  I learned how not to get disturbed.  I have my own rituals, I tend to write a lot, read or listen to music.  Whenever I feel the bump as the airplane touches the runway, I feel I need an extra hour to complete all the tasks.  My wife pressures me to wear compress socks as I turned 60 as embolism prevention, but I tend to disregard it.  Yes, I still enjoy travelling.

Do you miss politics?        

It is rather abroad where I am asked this question.  I say:  I am not powerful anymore?, I am only a little bit influential.”  That is a big difference.  I do not miss politics.  I miss the power.  I admit that when I was active in politics, I did not know how to make use of it. On the other hand, gas and the connected issues are political and geopolitical.  In this sense, I have never ceased being involved in politics.

By Linda Štucbartová

One woman, two roles, two children and one big vision

Andrea Hepnerová, Director of SAP Services

Andrea, you mentioned that your career probably started by a programming course that you considered a great step out of your comfort zone.  How do you see this rather direct push in times when the approach has shifted to the development of natural talent where we already excel rather than improving weak areas?   

In fact, there were more courses like that and they were part of an elaborate training system of a company that understood the need to bring all fresh consultants to the same starting level.  Indeed, it was a huge step out of my comfort zone.  However, from today’s perspective, I keep remembering the victorious feeling after we succeeded carrying out “the string test“ for the first time. In addition to the distinct feeling of personal accomplishment, throughout the programming experience, we also learned to value teamwork. We could taste, in a realistic high-stress business simulation, how particularly important and significantly more difficult it is for an individual to perform successfully, yet also as a team player. This was an invaluable experience that came in handy in many further projects.  Looking back, I consider it a great benefit.  Is there any better or more suitable time for pushing your limits of development other than when you are young, even at the price of possible discomfort?  Specialization usually follows later throughout the various stages of one’s career.  This being said, one must bear in mind that there are exceptions.

When one compares the world of science with the world of humanities, while the first one has many perspectives despite being difficult, it is the other that seems to lure young people in the Czech Republic. Do you see such clash or conflict of disciplines? 

I am not familiar with any particular research that would confirm the above stated preference towards humanities or diminishing interest in the technical disciplines.  Such reality might be explained by the way science is being taught at both elementary and high schools and there is definitely room for improvement.  I do not dare to judge whether there is more opportunity for humanities or for science disciplines. We need to see beyond the current horizon into several decades in the future, imagining the people who are studying today, will eventually be part of the active workforce.  Speaking for my industry, today, it might seem that technology and IT are “the disciplines”, particularly when it comes to the latest societal development, labelled as “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” or the “Industry 4.0”.  As the speed of our lives has increased, mobile technologies, social networks, and virtual reality are becoming natural components of our lives. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Internet of Things are the hype buzzwords of today. Development of microservices is creeping in the open window of opportunities to leverage all these data quantities in fantastic apps based on intelligent predictions and automated steps in the chain, with possibly minimal or no human interference.  This being said, we remain human beings with all of our basic needs and desires.  The famous Maslow pyramid of human needs is still a valid and applied scheme.  So if you see people preferring humanities, I would argue that it might be seen as a compensation for too many technological aspects in our lives… But again, I cannot confirm a statistical correlation in the statement.

You have experienced an interesting career shift.  After working for SAP, you left and founded a company and then you returned to SAP.  Today, you often act as “an ambassador” for large corporations, since they seem highly unpopular for the youngest generation when compared to start-ups and their “ethos”.  Do you often find yourself going “against the current”?   

The start-up theme is quite popular nowadays.  Negative connotation of corporations is to a great extent influenced by the media and so young people tend to prefer start-ups to corporations.  The overall perception created is that a young person might better avoid joining a corporation, otherwise he/she would be literally swallowed and become an anonymous cog in the wheel.  On the other hand, the start-up scene is venerated as the environment in which one can be truly oneself, act for oneself and progress faster.  Again, I am going to challenge such a popular notion.  How many students at the moment of making the decision whether to work for a start-up or a corporation have any direct experience with working for a corporation?  What about the statistics?  There are many start-ups, but only a handful of them manage to exist in the mid-term perspective. And then there are start-ups that are sponsored, nurtured, and supported by all available means of rich corporations. Usually, this relationship is mutually beneficial – the corporations gain a source of fresh innovation, while the start-up gets access to funding and often to the customer base and marketing of the corporation.  Personally, I believe that both experiences, both worlds, the start-up as well as the corporate, are great.  And, I am grateful for having worked in both.

Your view as of me going upstream is a good one.  More than 10 years ago, when I was selecting a school with a good executive MBA program, I chose Thunderbird University.  Besides having an excellent academic program focused on international management, the school culture is based on diversity and promoting the uniqueness of each student.  We call ourselves “misfits” and it is not a negative statement.  We just have a natural tendency to see and manage things differently than the mainstream.  So what seems upstream to you looks okay or natural to me.

You are a strong supporter of women leadership and diversity.  Why has diversity become such polarizing issue in the Czech Republic?

I support the notion that diversity as a variety is healthy and enriching in every society.  However, only under the condition that it is being managed.  If there are vague or no rules and outlines, then diversity becomes a nuisance and eventually a threat. I believe that it is the fear of the unknown that prevents people in the Czech Republic from framing diversity positively and enjoying its benefits. Let me give you an example of what I mean by managed diversity. At SAP Services, we have colleagues from over 30 countries. So, naturally, our required communication language is English. Also for the Czech-speaking majority that is the rule.  At the same time, the nature of the service sector attracts more females than males, which results in a roughly 70:30 female-to- male workforce ratio. So, we keep this ratio in the management as well…  If there is a framework that outlines the conditions of the game as well as their consistent application, then diversity brings many positive benefits to a company.  Employing differently abled colleagues helps strengthening the team and increases employee engagement. Employing various age groups brings an opportunity to learn and to be inspired from one another.  Companies that care about gender diversity have a proven record of being more innovative, care about their customers’ needs, and have a better relationship with their employees.  At SAP, we have a diversity element in each team and thanks to numerous programs and projects, such as Autism at Work or SAP Pride, we are richer and more successful.

How do you manage your energy and enthusiasm? I know that not only do you handle two positions simultaneously, you also connect various spheres, you are a mother of two children…What do you do and also, what do you tend not to do?

Well, I do not have a patent or a recipe. In general, I try maximizing the time spent on topics and things that I am passionate about, and minimize, delegate, or completely outsource those areas that I do not like. Still, I get up early and go to bed late and tend to catch up with the sleep deficit during the weekends.  Working from home helps, especially when a day looks like a long chain of confcalls.  Having a family and friends is very important for me, I am lucky and grateful to have a few good old friends, whom I love, and our relations are not maintenance heavy. My children can call me anytime and they also often come to my office after school and then we go home together.  I try not to work in the evenings, and definitely avoid chasing after e-mails.

Blending the two most important roles – the professional one and the one of a mother – is an issue that is also relevant to most of my female colleagues at SAP Services.  I am proud to say that we have 67% of women in management positions.  Contrary to other companies, there is no leaking pipeline in terms of women reaching senior positions at SAP.   We try to support as much as possible the above mentioned blending of roles by various means.  In addition to shorter working schemes allowing flexible and part-time home-office work, we also have a fully equipped children’s corner for toddlers as well as pre-school-age children.  Toilets with baby-changing diaper units as well as comfortable breast-feeding areas have been designed as a natural part of our new office space.

Let me ask about your initiative, project Autism at Work, that can be considered your third child.  Last year, you proudly presented this initiative at the Conference dedicated to Social Development Goals.  How is this child, or project, doing?  

Thanks for asking, it is doing pretty well.  From a baby project, it has grown into a big program, based on a revolutionary approach to recruitment, education, and employment of people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) particularly those having Asperger syndrome.  The program is moving ahead thanks to the support from the whole team.  The idea of employing people with Asperger in IT positions originated in Germany in 2013, but in Prague we applied it to employees in other roles, not only IT positions.  Besides Germany and the Czech Republic, it has been launched in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, India, and Ireland. SAP has a goal to have 1% of employees with ASD globally by 2020, which corresponds to the total amount of people on the spectrum in the general population.  It is necessary to say that a candidate with ASD is hired for the same position, as any other candidate would be.  Colleagues on the spectrum share offices with other neuro-typical colleagues with whom they consult not only for work-related issues, but also personal matters.

What are your plans for 2017?  What are you looking forward to?

At SAP Services, we are looking forward to go “cloud” with HR systems; a global project such as this is a great platform for collaboration between diverse local, global, business, and IT teams and most of my staff participates in this creative exchange…  Locally, our cooperation with several universities promises relevant talent feed channels.  In January, we completed three assessment centres for the “Talent Incubator‘ – our pool of our youngest colleagues…

We are continuing to implement robots for the automation of certain tasks at SAP Services, which will bring another positive change, such as routine work being performed by machines, so people can profit from more creative jobs and tasks that would contribute to their development.  I am sure it is going to be another exciting year.

By Linda Štucbartová

Andrea has been managing SAP Services in Prague since 2010. SAP Services is a daughter company of the major German software leader SAP. Established in Prague in 2004 with the aim to provide business shared services to the SAP branches throughout EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa),SAP Services has grown into being the largest global service center of SAP.

Besides financial and business results, one of Andrea’s foremost priorities today is the continuous strive for sustainable social innovation through diversity engagement programs.

Andrea’s concurrent role at SAP is Global Head of Data management within Human Resources data domain. This role is means leading a robust data management delivery team, as well as leading an HR data governance, data protection and privacy and any compliance topics. This role, besides its focus on delivery, is requiring constant innovation as well as continuous improvement in all of its aspects, processes as well as IT systems.

Andrea is also a member of the Board of Directors of ABSL (Association of Business Services Leaders) Czech Republic, where she focuses on human resources topics that form a natural common platform for exchange and cooperation among most of the ABSL member companies in the Czech Republic.

Prior to managing SAP Services, Andrea implemented SAP software and provided software consulting services through Accenture and other local SAP partners to various clients in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, and an Executive MBA degree in International Management from Thunderbird, Global School of Business, in Glendale-Phoenix, AZ, USA.

Andrea has two sons and lives with her family in the countryside outside Prague. She loves to sing and dance, do sports, read books, travel for fun and occasionally cook for friends or family.

AMBASSADORS WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

LTC Magdalena Dvořáková

How do you perceive the today’s world?

I perceive the today’s world as very fast, connected, demanding in every possible and diverse way. Social and international relations, politics, media, industry, medicine, or arts and fashion – all of it is moving forward so fast and it is hard to keep track if you are just observing. I am very happy that I can be a part of it in my own way. This refers to not just my current job but to my military service as well.

If I had been born hundred years ago I wouldn’t even have had right to vote in my own country. Today I am an officer of Czech Armed Forces and a member of the NATO Staff.

How do you perceive the Czech Republic in the today’s world?

In general, the Czech Republic is a small country but with great potential to stand out compared to the others. For its tourist sights, high profile leaders/personalities (NATO CMC is currently General Petr Pavel), writers (Kundera, Hrabal – I hear a lot about them from my colleagues), musicians, politicians, inventors, athletes (in Brussels the most admired athlete is Emil Zatopek), or beer and crystal glass, castles, the Prague’s astronomical clock. You name it…

I am proud to be Czech for all the above and more.

What is according to you the most important mission of NATO in the 21^st century?

NATO’s main purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. That purpose is as relevant today as it has ever been. The most important mission of NATO in the 21^st century is to promote the democratic values and to encourage further cooperation in defence and security issues to prevent any conflict and to adapt to a rapidly changing security environment.

What is your current task at NATO?

I currently work as the International Military Staff Gender Advisor at NATO Headquarters. My main tasks are to advise the Director General and his International Military Staff on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 – Women, Peace and Security and Gender perspectives; I am also the secretary for the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives which brings together national delegates from NATO member and partner nations, subject matter experts and academics to discuss the latest progress and issues in this field. In addition, I coordinate with my fellow gender advisors at other NATO commands, facilitate dialogue with my counterparts from UN and EU and other international organisations and NGOs.

What was your biggest career challenge?

I will repeat a little what my colleagues say, but the biggest challenge is to do the right thing, the right way. My job is to mainstream gender perspectives. It may sound easy – human rights are women’s rights and therefore it is fundamental to support women’s rights in every way. Yet, to do the right thing might mean something different for every country. While in some corner of the world it is a question of survival, in the other it is a matter of gender pay gap and equal opportunities. In both cases, it is essential that it is addressed.

Many people immediately associate the gender agenda only with women. Equal opportunities mean we should provide the same chances to both genders and equality with regards to their lives, rights, jobs, medical care, and education. Last year we organized a workshop on conflict-related sexual and gender based violence at NATO. One of the speakers said that the worst thing to do to the gender agenda and to women, is to treat them as a special project.

Gender means both – men and women, boys and girls. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security adopted unanimously by the NATO member nations in 2000 recognises the disproportionate impact that war and conflict have on women and children and highlights the fact that historically women have been left out of peace processes and stabilisation efforts. The resolution and the other seven related resolutions call for a full and equal participation of women at all levels ranging from conflict prevention to post-conflict reconstruction.

To transform these commitments into actions requires a long-term and demanding engagement. I am happy I am able to take an active part in this endeavour.

We both attended a working lunch at the US Embassy, discussing the role of Army in supporting diversity.  This issue is also important to NATO.  What are the best practices that you see the Czech Republic would benefit from?

Czech Armed Forces, when compared with the other NATO nations’ armed forces, are statistically above the average with their 13% of women in military. On the other hand, compared to other countries, we have very few women in decision-making or command positions. I believe it is not a matter just for the Czech Armed Forces. It shows the cultural and social stereotypes and how we deal with that on a regular basis in the Czech Republic. One side of the coin is that women have to really prove themselves and also sometimes make decisions which are not necessarily a compromise but simply either/or between two options – family or career because the rigid system doesn’t provide any alternative to them. The other side is that women also have their own stereotypes that pull them away from going after their career and so simply give up too early or don’t have the ambition to be the pioneer. In military this is more visible because it is a very male dominated field. However, in order not to come across as too critical, in the Czech Armed Forces there is less and less of the ‘First Ever’ to concur and women are an integral part of the service.

As for the best practice for NATO, I would suggest calling for flexibility, proactivity and also the opportunity to share experiences. Although the progress at NATO is slow (NATO’s average of women in military is currently 10.8% and that represents 3.7% increase since 1999), this is the joint progress of 28 nations. NATO is about member states, but also cooperation and continuous discussion amongst them. We don’t have to always invent the actions, there are many programmes already are in place that can be easily adapted to become achievable and practical in the Czech Republic.

Can you predict your next career step?

I have no idea what my next assignment will be and that is what I like about the military life – the challenge of a new task. I have still two more years to serve at the NATO Headquarters and guessing what my options may be is too premature. Anytime I actually made plans for next step in my career I have received an offer I couldn’t refuse and you know what that means. Not making a reference to Godfather but knowing that such an offer will never come again. I hope that in my next assignment I will be able to use the experience and expertise I have learnt when working for NATO and build on it.

How do you manage to keep work-life balance while at the “service”?

Managing the work and personal life is essential to deliver the best of you, at any job. The family is what gives you the strength and support. Friends and hobbies bring you the diverse viewpoint you may start to lose when you are too overwhelmed by your job. This balance in military service is a matter of life and death sometimes, especially when you are deployed. At every medal parade after the return from deployment, the contingent commander and high ranked representatives of the General Staff always recognize the role of and thank to the spouses of the soldiers in their speeches. The deployment is without a doubt a mission for them as well, though being at home. Being deployed and knowing all is well at home gives the soldiers – female or male – the inner strength to deal with whatever the mission brings to them and helps them stay focused on tasks.

In my case, I was always supported by my family in my military career. It was not easy to leave them sometimes but thanks to the today’s technology you can be in touch almost anywhere at any time.

Besides that, I have always had friends and other activities which distract me from getting too much into the military routine. Although I am military, it doesn’t fully define me. There are many the other layers that make me who I am as well.

What are your final words for Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

The world population is comprised of both men and women. Family, society and the state is built up by men and women. Let’s keep that always in mind and support the gender equality and diversity.

By Linda Štucbartová

“Robotic Surgery is the Most Sophisticated”

Jiří Kočárek, M.D. PhD. – Head Physician at Urology Department, Military University Hospital Prague

Dear Mr. Kočárek, I will begin by congratulations.  The Military University Hospital has been ranked the best hospital in the Czech Republic according to the project conducted by the Health Care Institute.  The aim of the project was to establish ranking of Czech hospitals according to safety, and satisfaction of both employees and patients.  In order to do so, a Balanced Scorecard approach, known in many commercial organizations, was used.  From the above said, you need to have not only the highest medical qualification, but also the management one. How do you balance both?  What capacity do you dedicate to patients, to students and to running the department?

I was really pleased to get the award.  I am really happy to see that patients of the Military University Hospital appreciate our work.  However, it is rather a big commitment for the future.  Today, we are already facing the challenge of too many new patients coming in, since everyone “wants” to have own surgery being done at the best hospital.  Every day, we need to fight the challenge concerning our capacity to accept patients to a ward, the number of people we are able to perform a surgery on given the capacity of central surgery theatres and then the availability of hospital beds.  Within the context of the situation, we are continuously suffering the lack of nursing staff.  During the last six months, on monthly basis, we have repeatedly had to address the issue whether we’d have enough nurses to secure running of the department for the upcoming month.  I do not want to complain but it would be great to have the opportunity to offer some extra benefits to the staff in “the best hospital”, so we would have more time to dedicate to medical issues.  On the other hand, I do not find challenging to be able to balance managing the department, caring for patients and teaching students, as I enjoy doing it all and to a certain extent I do not consider it work in the proper sense of the word.  Teaching and passing own my own experience to younger colleagues is rather a nice duty.  There is one thing that comes to mind and that is gender imbalance.  That is a real problem.  If you ask me how much time I spend at work, I will not answer directly, as my wife could come across the article.  However, she got used to the fact that during the weekdays, my family does not get to see me much.  I try to devote weekends to my family and so I start working only after my children fall asleep.

Lately, there is a hot topic related to young Czech medical doctors leaving for abroad.  You had the opportunity of internships in the US, France and Germany.  Have you personally considered leaving the country?  And leaving aside remuneration, are the conditions similar when you compare current situation in hospitals in the Czech Republic and abroad?

I consider not only young doctors but also other personnel leaving for abroad due to financial conditions a big problem.  Lack of qualified Czech doctors makes us employ doctors coming from countries East of the Czech Republic who are willing to work for “the Czech salary”.  I believe that every doctor should have the opportunity to take part in several internships abroad.  I was particularly lucky to have the opportunity to visit some outstanding urological departments both in Europe and in the US.  In a certain way, I still benefit from these stays, regarding not only practical experience but also personal contacts.  I would not say that I have not considered leaving for abroad, but particularly after 1989, such thinking was less frequent.  And as to the question of comparing the Czech medicine, I cannot compare the total discipline as such.  However, Czech urology and Czech robotics surgery are comparable to the best departments in the West.

There is one more primacy for the Military University Hospital in Prague.  As the first hospital in the region, it was awarded the Joint Commission International accreditation which is awarded for the highest quality of hospital care.  What are the additional requirements for the doctors and medical staff?

This accreditation brought current US standards that are connected not only to the medical care.  Overall, it resulted in higher safety for patients to the detriment of higher financial costs and an enormous growth in bureaucracy.

Your hospital is also known for the use of robots. How do you see the future of medicine from the robotics perspective?

I have been interested in robotic surgery since 2005.  Since then, the robotics technology has developed and today we are equipped already with the fourth generation of robotic systems.  Robotic surgery is nowadays the most sophisticated technology used in the surgery medicine.  Twelve years ago, we walked over the doorstep leading to a new era characterized by artificial intelligence becoming an interface between a surgeon’s hand and a patient’s body, a move that was unprecedented.  Despite some negative opinions in the beginning and due to the rising number of publications, robotic surgery has become an integral part not only of urology, but also surgery as such, gynaecology as well as of other disciplines.  It was proven that technical advantages of robotic machines can overcome many limitations of classical and laparoscopic surgery (operative) and that they considerably advance the learning process.  The undisputed benefit for both patients and those who cover the costs is represented by limiting traumatization of tissues during the surgery, lowering the possibility of complications, lowering blood loss and the need for blood transfusion, lowering after-surgery pain and discomfort, shorter hospitalization period, faster recovery and return to a normal life.  In the upcoming years, we can therefore expect a fast development of new robotic centres.  Such trend will be supported by the increasing interest of our patients to use robotic technologies during surgeries and also the new competing products from producers of robotic systems into any particular surgery discipline.

Now, let us discuss a more serious issue, the prostate tumour as the most frequent tumour for men’s population.  How is the Czech Republic doing in the area of prevention?  When I compare the situation with breast cancer for women, a lot has been achieved with regards to prevention check ups and awareness about both prevention and treatment.

The prostate carcinoma is according to the statistics the highest tumour disease in developed countries.  It is a disease that has also the highest incidents of detected cases.  Men usually do not like to go and have check-ups and therefore, they underestimate the need for the prostate to be checked.  They feel healthy, they do not see value in the importance of prevention or they do not anything about it.  Therefore, a number of Czechs having the prostate cancer will continue to rise.  Despite the common claim, prostate cancer is not linked to a senior age.  All men reaching the age around 40 should pay attention to preventive care.  Men aged 50 and older should have a regular check-up once a year, either by a general practitioner or a specialized urologist.  In order to detect the disease early, sometimes a simple blood test is sufficient, since the experts are looking for a specific antigen, which if increased, can signal the prostate cancer.  It is true that early detected prostate carcinoma can be cured completely with the use of robotic technology.

Let me mention one sadder Czech primacy in the world, this one concerning kidney tumour.  What is your recommendation? 

There are more than 3000 new incidents of kidney tumours detected each year which per capita truly places us at the sad first place in the world.  Thanks to a wide-spread network of ultrasound and CT devices, more than a half of these diagnosed cases are at the early stage where we can perform a resection of a tumour and keep the healthy part of the kidney.  Leaving the maximum functional kidney parenchyma has a big importance for patient’s health and favourably influences the active life span.  Naturally, robotic technology is very much helping us in these types of surgeries.  In general, we can claim that in the early stage kidney cancer does not pose any complications.  As the tumour grows, there can be an incidence of blood in the urine.  This is the most frequent symptom that brings a patient to see his doctor.  Sometimes, the bleeding occurs without any other symptoms.  It is important to state that each time, the incidence of blood in urine should be checked.  The next common syndrome is the pain in the lumbar area or sometimes a palpable tumour.  Anyone having a symptom mentioned above should see his general practitioner or a urologists. The early detection of a tumour gives us a higher probability for complete recovery.

Medical doctors are being regarded role-models for their patients.  Have you made any special resolution for 2017?  And what is your recommendation concerning healthy lifestyle and work-life balance?

I would like to mention my resolution with regards to shortening my “stays” in hospital, spend more weekends with my family and going to the mountains more often.  This winter has been very conducive to do so; my five-year old son has begun to chase his older sisters at the slopes.  For the sake of children, but not only for them, I am very happy that smoking in public places will be finally completely banned.  Every day, I see patients diagnosed with urine bladder carcinoma and most of them have admitted either active or passive smoking.  I generally recommend active relaxation, moderation when it comes to food but plenty of fluids.  When it comes to alcohol, I recommend to drink in moderation, which is unfortunately lacking sometimes.

By Linda Štucbartová

“Nanotechnology represents a promising industry”

Jiří Kůs, Chairman of the Czech Association of Nanotechnology Industry, Photo: Archive

You are the Chairman of the Czech Association of Nanotechnology Industry and also an evangelist of the 3^rd Industrial Revolution concept.  After completing university studies in industrial technology, you also studied sociology and psychology.  Having the background in all the above mentioned disciplines, how do you perceive the today’s world and society?

It is clear that we are on the verge of many great changes.  As these are linked to technologies, we can label them as the 3^rd Industrial Revolution.   At the same time, such a change will influence the social system, politics and eventually each and every aspect of a human life on the planet.  On one side of the imaginary chessboard we will find technological miracles in the form of the nano-thin invisible layer bringing about energies at no cost.  The price of solar panels has been declining exponentially.  In Australia, there is already technology that enables industrial printing of solar panels on a pliant sheet/ bendable foil.  Each device and each object, including our clothing, will be possible to manufacture own energy.  Energy will be derived from the sun, from the movement and from the interaction of advanced biomaterials.

The other side of the chessboard is the global digital network.  The number of internet users has been skyrocketing.  Each object will have not only its physical shape, but also a digital shape.  At the same time, life will become more local, given the possibilities of 3D or 4D printing, as we will be able to print objects needed for our daily life; food production will also become more local, as well as energy production.   Political discussions will not revolve around the right vs. left but rather centralization vs. decentralization, control and censorship of data vs. freedom.

Nanotechnologies represent a fast growing industry that covers areas from energy, textiles, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and many others…What else will be nano?

In 1949, the prestigious magazine Popular Mechanics forecast that in the future computers might weight less than 1,5 tons.  Well, they were wrong and nowadays we might consider it a good joke.  However, we need to realize that some key technologies which will significantly impact people’s lives in the next 20 years, so rather near future, have not yet been discovered.  Nowadays, there already exist certain outcomes of research with all possible consequence so hard to imagine when put in practice.  Just to name one example.  What about discovering that the substance bringing energy to cells of a human body can be also used to supply energy to the next generation of supercomputers. Will we have living biological supercomputers with no need of an external energy supply like batteries or electrical network?  Recently, there was a certain technology developed that can detect a DNA molecule with the help of a mobile and a small module with a nanochip.  Does it sound like an episode from Startrek series?

How successful is the Czech Republic in the sphere of nanotechnologies compared to the world?

Let me go back in history, to 1963, and ‘I have a dream’ speech by Martin Luther King.  I believe there is synchronicity, since I was born in 1963.  I have my dream just now, in 2017. A dream about a small country in the heart of Europe where I have lived for 50 years.  I am not a politician; I doubt that Czech politicians have ever dreamt or that they even know how to dream.  My dream is to see the small Czech Republic perceived in the world of technologies like a pearl.  Czech is nano is a slogan that each journalist, politician and businessman is familiar with.  Czech nanofibers from Liberec are spread all over the world.  The air on the planet is being cleaned by the Czech discovery of fotocatalyctic nanocoating.  Some developing countries no more suffer from water shortage, since it is provided thanks to unique Czech mobile hydroplants based on solar energy and nano-membrane filtration.  Moreover, it is able to provide clean water free from E.coli bacteria, which is considered close to a miracle.

The Czech Republic has also become a symbol for post-modern eco-urbanism and local energetics of the 21^st century.  There is much more to explore than the Prague Castle panorama or the medieval Castle of Karlštejn.  Tourists are looking for a lifestyle inspiration in the Czech Republic, the so-called localization principle.  Each house is capable of generating all energy needed for its own consumption, storage in 3D nanobateries, being the Czech patent are obviously helping.  Each village and each town has community gardens and the principle of localization has been applied with regards to the food.  Try to supply yourself with everything you consume.  We have fewer roads in desperate need to repair and healthier population.  Mobility in cities is provided by autonomous electrocars.  There is a perfect lifestyle.  The world just envies us.

Concerning nanotechnology, in nanofibre technology we are much further than Israel or the US.  We have many patents. And as I travelled all over the world, I was also pleased that most advanced laboratories use the microscopes from Brno!  In addition to several expert laboratories dedicated to the research in nanotechnologies, we have several dozen companies producing nanotechnology-based products.  We have nanofibre filters and membranes, antiallergic beddings, nanocoating cleaning the air, protection of goods and documents thanks to the nanodots, nano water filters, nano structures used in medicine etc.  The Czech Republic proudly holds several patents in the whole industry.  However, these companies lack means for stronger marketing.  Therefore, we have established The Association of Czech Nanotechnology Industry.

But you have already started to fulfil your nano dream…

One should fulfil one’s own dreams.  Some years ago I managed to persuade one of my friends to jointly establish a nano company.  At the beginning there was a vague idea to set up a trading company but at the end by coincidence we became the manufacturer of anti dust-mite beddings with the Czech nanofiber membrane.  After researching the market, we realized that we are the first and only company having such goods in the  market worldwide.  We were happy about our innovative idea and we started developing products, which we finalized in 2015. At the same time we launched sales and marketing campaigns.  The Czech Republic is going to be nano!

Well, having done several interviews with representatives of SMEs, I know the continuation is unlikely to be a bed of roses…

The reality is that there is little awareness on various levels – public, state and investor levels – about nanotechnology.  The same is true about assistance with marketing abroad.  It is important to change that.  I also regard crucial to start with education of pupils and students so we have a new upcoming generation of nanoscientists.  Let us visit schools and show teachers how the latest technologies are working. Let us hold conferences for both experts and the public and launch nanodays in big cities.  Let us live up to the slogan that appeared in the New York Times a couple years ago:  The Czech Republic is NANO!

There is often a mention of projects which should apply to receive either state or EU funding, however, these are not designed for start-ups.  They require at least three years of proven existence.  Therefore, I support the view that such projects rather tend to help bigger, already established companies.  When it comes to banks, the conditions are similar.  By the way, such situation is the same all over Europe.  In the US, there is a much higher availability of joint venture capital or business angels funds which are not afraid to invest in projects that might appear a bit risky in the beginning.  In the Czech Republic, the main interest is to invest into real estate or IT.  Nevertheless, nanotechnology represents a promising industry and it yields high return on investment, but one needs 5-7 years’ horizon.

What are your final words to Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Technology revolution is a big chance for small countries that have a bunch of creative people and we should use this opportunity.  My appeal also goes to potential investors – do not be afraid to invest into technological companies.  Material technologies are the key drivers for other industries and you will certainly get your money back, and multiplied.

Last but not least, let us be proud of what we have and what we have achieved in the Czech Republic.  I was a bit sadden to see Czech newspapers speculate immediately with great enthusiasm about a possible Tesla investment in our country but a Czech invention, a unique 3D nanotech battery, has not been interesting enough for them for a very long time.

Let us not only admire things from abroad, and let us not underestimate ourselves.  In the Czech Republic we have so much to be proud of! The Czech Republic is NANO!

By Linda Štucbartová

“Make an impact that matters”

Diana Rádl Rogerová, Office Managing Partner, Deloitte, Photo: Archive

Despite the freezing weather and melancholic mood, so typical for the Czech winter period, Diana Rádl Rogerová never ceases to smile. Cuban blood in her veins explains that only to an extent.  What counts much more is her personal determination and her attitude that she does not allow her energy to be sucked out.  She destroys the myth about people in audit not being fun to be around and she claims that audit has to be sexy even for the clients.  She shares openly the fact that she does not want to have the position of Managing Partner in Deloitte forever because she is always interested in trying out new things.  As part of her childhood dreams, she tried ballet, and during adult years she was pursuing singing.  Currently, she is looking forward to start playing piano and dreams about playing a grand piano in public premises one day.  On the top of her demanding work, she is also raising a son.  Even though she has most likely given a dozen of interviews, after assuming her new role, she did not forget to thank me and mentioned she had enjoyed talking to me.

You have been appointed to the position of Managing Partner in Deloitte after working for Deloitte for almost 21 years.  How has the company changed over the two decades and how have you personally changed?

Well, speaking of such a long employment history in one company, I tend to remind myself of experts claiming that after so many years spent in one company, a person is not suitable to join a labour market again.  (Particularly when I carry out interviews or when I read articles.)

On the other hand, the company itself has changed significantly.  When I joined Deloitte in 1996, it had 50 employees, now we have 900.  I like to tell my son, who is used to playing on IPad since early childhood, that in the beginning we had no computers.  Audit and taxes represented the main specializations in that era.  Today, we are mainly consultancy driven.  It is the very specialization on consulting that allows us to create an environment where everyone can find and develop their own talent.  This is also the reason why I have stayed in one company for so long.  There are not many companies allowing employees to try various spectre of activities and have the opportunity to change tasks or even industries.  Gradually, I have gained experience in finances, real-estate, audit, be it on the level of the Czech Republic or even the regional one.  There is an enormous extent and level of the knowledge present in the company.  That is what keeps me here.  I am still with the same company but I’ve done so many different things over the time.  By the same token, I cannot imagine being on the position of Office Managing Partner forever.  I believe that such positions should rotate due to the fact that each person brings a new drive and innovation.  I love changes and trying out new things.  The other thing that keeps me here is the environment that allows to make mistakes.  Our inner position in the company equals to us wanting to achieve A levels; however, in order to get there, we sometimes need to make mistakes.  I also had the opportunity to work for a client when I was seconded from Deloitte to join “Všeobecná Úvěrová Banka/ Bank of Intessa”-  I regard the opportunity to get a client’s perspective quite essential and therefore I support such opportunities for my colleagues as well.

Deloitte is known for a friendly atmosphere…What else makes you different?

Friendly atmosphere is most appreciated and also mentioned by colleagues who have been at Deloitte for a while.  My principle is not to slander our competition.  Therefore, I never claim that my services are better than theirs, since I am not a client who can make such a statement. I am not interested in comparing myself to competition, I am interested in bringing different services.  And it is the use of technologies that makes us different.  With the technologies one should not only understand consultancy work with regard to projects implementation.  We have also begun to use technologies in audit and tax, so clients are having more fun dealing with the mundane tasks.  One would not be interested in mere invoices cross-checking for a longer period of time.  Our group of partners invests a lot of time and energy into thinking how to make such work more “sexy” and how to bring additional value to our clients.  I am proud to say that some of our technological tools developed in Prague will be introduced on a global level.  We try to have a mind-set that would be based on a difference with regard to the use of innovation and technologies.  Our Global CEO Punit Renjen claims that it is not our sub-brand Deloitte Digital that matters but the reality that we want to become “Digital Deloitte”.  The world is changing and so are we.  Therefore, we want to become an undisputed leader with respect to the use of technologies.  Since we are discussing changes, I would like to mention the speed that has been steadily increasing due to which we need not only young people and their drive, but also general knowledge and calmness of senior partners.  I am myself inspired while talking to our French senior partner Frederic Maziere who is willing to share his career journey with me.  It not only interests me but also fills me with energy.  I have the overall tendency to look at the bright side and not to have my energy sucked.

Let us now look at the bright side of the upcoming generation of the workforce, the generation Y or the so called Millennials.  It seems that they are quite an enigma to many – to HR experts, managers, training and development professionals and in fact, to all of us as parents.

This generation is truly different.  I do not think that it is the values that are different, it is rather the life style.  My Cuban ancestry confirms to me that it is their lifestyle that is better.  You often hear that there is a different attitude in Spain or Latin America but it is not true.  People work a lot in these countries, however differently.  I have nicknamed this generation as a Latin generation and I respect the fact that they need to manage time so they can do other things than just work.  I believe that most of us want that as well; however, we are not used to sharing it openly.  That is the essential difference.  New generation is not afraid to ask.  The disadvantage is that they often ask for many things at the same time.  But that is our fault since we are the ones raising them.  We give them a lot, too much.  And we commit one more mistake, we are being protectionist.  Therefore, young people demand independence on one hand, however, they also demand being led and supported on the other hand.  In reality, independence is not possible without responsibility.  This statement only brings me to my previous claim that the young ones are just mirroring the way they were raised.

So what elements do you perceive as essential for the efficient leadership managing various generations?

I see three factors.  The first one, flexibility, was already mentioned.  The second one is the trend encompassed by the English term well-being.  Such trend is not only about a permanent smile but about satisfaction at work, the feeling of belonging somewhere.  Deloitte fulfils all the conditions.  We have never created any hierarchy, people communicate freely, we have never paid attention to differences between an assistant and a partner of the company.  Naturally, our responsibilities differ.  The third factor is represented by the environment that allows people do develop and to fulfil their potential.  For me, people always come first.  Whenever you take care about relations, the results in terms of figures will follow.  Allow me my personal remark with regard to diversity and different leadership style as to men vs. women.  I personally feel that women have bigger tendency to connect to the company and to bring about the culture change.  Men are more efficient with regard to dramatic changes or crises.  Currently, in Deloitte, we mainly need to connect in order to be more flexible and use the synergies.  Simply, each period needs a different leadership.  This is also linked to the fact that we should not consider a step aside or leaving a position a failure or a negative trend.  On the contrary, even faster rotations on the position of Office Managing Partner will be beneficiary, since every newcomer will bring a new vision and energy.

You have mentioned personal well-being, so how do you walk the talk?

I stick to two basic rules.  Whatever I truly want, I manage.  Everything is about priorities.  The second rule is that nothing has to be perfect.  I know that I want to accomplish excellent work but I also know that not hammering out the last unsubstantial detail will not bring the world down. Perhaps others will even not notice such a minor omission. I am not a fan of perfectionism. I enjoy doing sports, skiing, running, biking.  Every weekend I go to the mountains in Harrachov, downhill skiing and cross-country skiing. I run four times per week, last year I was running almost everyday.  I am supported at home.  I still believe that two-career marriage is possible but respect and true division of household chores must be at the heart of it.  I successfully managed to find a husband who understands all of the above.  Despite the fact that he has his own career and business, we share household duties and also child care equally.  Many men in the Czech Republic are quite indolent so they offer their wives to stay at home to take care of children and the household.  Even though I love my job, I would quit should my family suffer.  Such perception gives me the oversight and makes me calm.

What about men?  Do you find that they are also concerned?

I believe I am lucky being surrounded by nice people.  I know many men who deal with such issues seriously.  In Deloitte, we have two partners who took a half a year sabbatical leave to take care of their family.  As the saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”.  Either I have attracted them or they have attracted me.  This brings us back to the issue of flexible working schemes not only for women but for all those who need it. The fact that I do not see any differences in Deloitte, does not mean that I do not perceive some stereotypes harming women in a Czech society as a whole.  It is partly due to the culture and partly due to the fact that women are reluctant to ask for many things, particularly support of any kind.  They rather perform tasks on their own than asking for help.  But even this is changing, to some extent thanks to foreigners who come to live here.  The world is changing, and so are we.

Your motto is:  “Make an impact that matters”.  In Deloitte, you support women, charity, design…Is there a common denominator to all these activities?

Our aim is that people perceive that it is not only the world of business that matters.  The role of business is to support other projects.  In case you are successful, help others be successful too.  It is not about different worlds, but communicating vessels.  It leads us to the concept of creative out of the box thinking, when you do not think about yourself but also about others.

The above mentioned projects are fulfilling, give us energy and we have fun while contributing.  It is beautiful to support arts or charity.  We do not mention it publicly, because we support charity in order to give it support and not to talk about it.  Values that you support are translated into business directly, for example in the form of ethical business.  The support of art is directly linked to innovation that I have already spoken about.  Art is always innovative, since it gives you chance to view the world differently.

We meet at the beginning of 2017…What do you wish others?

Satisfaction.  It is a simple answer, as long as you are satisfied, everything is possible.

By Linda Štucbartová

“Director of the American Jewish Committee in Israel in an Exclusive Interview for Czech and Slovak Leaders”

How does it happen that a woman from Prague gets to personally interview a former Head of the Interactive Media Branch of the Israeli Defence Forces and current Director of the American Jewish Committee? The process of getting to know Avital confirmed my favourite quotation from Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman on the Supreme Court, who said: “We don’t accomplish anything in this world alone. Whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one’s life – all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that create something.” After interviewing H.E. Ivo Schwarz, the Czech Ambassador to Israel, I approached him with my desire to interview interesting Israeli women. Mr. Schwarz kindly sent me a few suggestions. And then on my private visit to Israel, I met Avital and her assistant and so there were three women who met at the end of November, on a sunny day in Tel Aviv, which equals a grey and cold day in Prague, discussing the current Middle East perspective, security challenges and dangers of targeting civilian populations and Israeli lessons learned that could be applied in Europe, going far beyond the testing of sirens…

Your Excellency, Mr. Schwarz, thank you very much! Note to the readers: the fact that the interview took place prior to the Berlin lorry attack does not make it less relevant, quite the contrary!

Mrs. Leibovitch, how do you see the today’s world from the Middle East perspective?

When looking at the Middle East and the lack of stability we have been experiencing during the last couple years, you realise that the Israel’s geographical location serves as a buffer. As a buffer from the extreme wave of terror to cover the entire area. The fact that Israel is stable and does not allow the terror to get inside its boarders truly serves as a physical buffer. And particularly these days, there are many ways that the world can benefit from our experience and I am going to mention a few examples. In 1991, Israel was attacked by Sadam Hussein during the Gulf War. We were standing on the roof tops, watching scuds being red toward our cities. It was then when Israel came to understanding that the real targets for the terror groups – no matter where they are – are the public, the civilians. Despite the fact that there are strategic facilities in every country, the number one aim of terror groups and terror countries is the civilians. That is why Israel established a body called the Home Front Command that deals with civilians, gives them methods of protecting themselves and issues regulations. After tragedies in France and in Germany, we see that these countries lack similar mechanisms, so there is a lot of chaos, misunderstanding and speculation, which is the worst. Speculation often leads to fear. When you have a body, such as Home Front Command, this body conveys messages to civilians, for example, go to shelters, now you can leave the shelters or there will be an update in one hour. Europe can obviously learn this from Israel. This of course requires discipline from the population. So in Israel, we have an annual exercise. During this exercise, every Israeli is required to identify the nearest shelter, whether at work, school, university or at home. By doing this, people are aware and not confused when something happens. The second critical thing is the country division into zones. Each city, each village, has a code number. When that code is being activated, only the residents of the area will be required to behave in a special way. By the way, this can be applied both to natural disasters and rocket attacks. My personal example is that I live in a city called Rosh Ha’ayin and the code number is 170. When that number is activated, mentioned for example on the radio, TV or through sirens, all people in the 170 zone go to shelters, while the rest of the country can behave normally. We do not see that in Europe today. There is a very strong mood of tension after the attacks, everybody is locked at home and it is hard to resume life. In Israel, we also have a red colour application for the mobile phones. This application is synchronised with the alert and siren system. As you can see, there is a 219 area and on October 24, there was a rocket red from Gaza to the 219 area. So the instructions with regards what to do were valid for that area. Likewise, we had another attack on October 6 on the 228 area, and on October 5 on 220. This application also mentions when the Home Front Command drill and emergency sirens testing take place. The system is much wider and our expertise can be shared with Europe and the rest of the world. By the way, I had the opportunity to verify Avital’s words the very next day. While strolling Tel Aviv on a bike, I had the opportunity to witness a spontaneous yet perceived as an organised and efficient reaction of people quickly looking for cover and escaping open public spaces in a situation that eventually proved to be only a café fight but originally was mistaken for a terror attack.

Thank you very much for the expertise and specific suggestions. It seems to me that we started and stopped with the sirens testing. But let us return to the current security situation, what other challenges do you see and we in Europe fail to see?

The next thing I would like to mention is the number of Israelis who went to Syria and joined ISIS, which is very low, less than 50. All they have to do, is to get a car, drive for a few hours, reach the boarder and climb over the fence. Rather an easy way. What do we see in Europe? We see thousands and thousands and thousands people who need to make a lot of effort, find a contact, board a plane and so on…In other words, Israel has been able to control the radicalisation and that is another asset that we have.

A lot of radicalisation is linked to social media, but it takes place also elsewhere, as there can be radical sermons at religious places (sic!), there can be incitements found in religious textbooks at schools and many other options. But the main issue is our ability to contain it and the low numbers indicate that we are successful.

From what you are saying, there seems to be a big gap between the Middle East perspective and the rest of the world.

If you look around, there was not any peace process that has had a Western or a European involvement and has succeeded. It just did not exist. That confirms the big gap between what can be seen from here and what can be seen from other Western countries. Arab spring is an example. In Israel, no one has referred to it as the Arab spring. We never see the spring of a radical organisation such as Muslim brotherhood coming to power. We knew the charter, we knew the agenda and therefore we never called it a spring. So what if one million people went to Tahrir square, but there were still 89 million people who stayed at home! And Muslim brotherhood is affiliated with Hamas and vice versa. Their agenda is certainly not peace, brotherhood and love for all humankind. We knew that because over the last 15 years we have been attacked by 15 000 rockets. As you can see, different perspectives are very confusing and misleading. So we are back to the question where is the Western world and its foreign policy in the Middle East.

Well, the rather sad truth is that the Israeli and Western perspectives are widening instead of coming closer…How do you perceive it?

I feel there is a vacuum in the Middle East and it will be filled with another player. It will not stay a vacuum, this is the rule of the international politics, especially in the Middle East. There are many interests of many countries and many players, interests of oil, gas, territory…I will give you another example. Syria. We call it Syria. We continue to call it Syria. But there is no Syria. It is not really a country anymore. The fragmentation is such that we cannot speak about an entity. Six to seven years ago, the number of terror groups in Syria was around seven to eight, today you have eight times more. Today, the president is controlling two or three areas or cities but not the rest of the country. You have very strong Iranian footprints in the area, in Syria, in Lebanon in the shape of Hizballah, in Gaza in the shape of Hamas who is also trying to reach the West Bank. Israel was affected by the conflict in Syria. Israel was attacked by two types of an attack. One type was an error fire when fighting took place too close to the boarder and spilled over to the Israeli side but there were also incidents of an intentional fire. But Israel having its experience for many years decided to “get even”. The equation is whenever fire is opened, we will retaliate. There were no meetings, parliament discussions and further waiting necessary, as we are here and we need to protect this boarder. So we were shaping the situation, preventing the escalation. This is our experience and it has worked.

From various and differing perspectives, let us now discuss the role of media and particularly social media, as these shape the public opinion.

In September 2015, few extreme Muslim organisations spread a narrative saying that Israel was trying to change the status quo of the Temple Mount, a holy place for all religions. There is a law in Israel from 1967, giving a special status to this and other religious places and the law says that the only ones who can pray there are Muslims. Non-Muslims cannot pray and visit at certain days and hours. We are a democracy and few Kneset members decided to make more noise about their visit, which created some noise on the other side, which resulted in four days of violence at the Temple Mount in which young Palestinians geared up metal rods, wooden furniture which they burned in order to create a big drama. The situation was quiet after four days but the narrative was out in the open. The social media and the conventional media was all filled with the narrative that Israel has tried to change the status quo at the Temple Mount and we found ourselves in situation which led to four types of terror attack. The first type, the most common was stabbing knives. It was all over the country, although most attacks took place either in Jerusalem or in the settlement areas. The second type was running over people at the bus stops with a vehicle. With a knife, you can target just one person, with a vehicle you get “more efficient”. The third type was hurling rocks, when you drive fast and there comes a rock, it can lead to deadly injuries and the last type is about using light fire. As a result of these attacks, 35 people lost their lives and approximately 400 were wounded.

My office is in Jerusalem and most attacks happen in Jerusalem. However, you cannot look back every minute to watch whether someone else is searching in his back pack to take out the knife…Is there a prototype of a perpetrator? No. It can be a 14 year old girl or a 65 year old grand-father or 40 year old lawyer.

Well, it seems to me that we have been a bit spoiled in Europe with regards to the security situation and we also will have to adjust.

This brings me to the point of resilience of people who live here. I think people who live in Israel have in common a lot of optimism, a lot of resilience and patriotism. And one thing that makes Israel different from the region is that Israel is building a country while building a society. It is in the genes, in the mentality. That is why you see a lot of development in the cyber world, in the start-up world, in the agriculture world. This is why if you come here in five years, you will not recognise a lot of the country because of the infrastructure development all the time. This is something which makes us very young despite our age and successful.

By Linda Štucbartová

“Aging is a gift and a chance for the whole society.”

CEO, Center of Gerontology,

Prague Vice-Dean for International Relations, Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague

CELLO-ILO-CZ – Centre of Expertise in Longevity and Long-Term Care

Member of International Longevity Center Global Alliance

Visiting Professor, University of the West of Scotland 

Assoc. Prof. Iva Holmerová, M.D.,Ph.D.

Despite the fact that the population as such is aging, the cult of youth seems to dominate. Will there be a cult of an old age?

You are right that the cult of youth prevails in the Czech Republic. For example, if we compare Czech and foreign television programmes, we see that the average age of anchor men and anchor women is higher in Western and Nordic countries than in ours. Older people are on the TV screen more common out there. And this is not true only about TV, but it also applies to professions where mostly young people are represented in the Czech Republic, such as secretaries or assistants, project managers, but also flight attendants. It seems to me that in many areas we are on the right track towards the western society but in terms of respect to diversity, and “otherness”, including the age, we still have a long way to go.

Reaching an advanced age is an achievement of a person as an individual, who has been able to successfully deal with and sometimes even fight with one’s own life. It is thanks to the environment in which people live; in wealthy societies people live longer and they also get better healthcare. With all these gifts and accomplishments, both on a social and individual level, we tend to live longer than any previous generation ever had. And paradoxically, we are starting to complain about the fact and what problems aging brings, and so on. Fortunately, this querulous language is less and less common in developed countries, and people there are more aware that aging is a gift and a chance for the whole society.

Throughout the history when only a few individuals managed to reach an advance age, these people then were generally respected for their wisdom and experience. Ultimately the Senate was created as an institution that gathered older and more experienced individuals. And going even further in history, in Stone Age, aging was actually an evolutionary advantage; it represented the transfer of practical experience and skills from generation to generation, especially from the generation of grandparents to grandchildren. Whether we will create a cult of older age, I cannot answer. But I do not think it would be a loss. I am not a fan of cults, not even the “pseudo-cult” of youth. I think our society should respect all of us.

With regards to mental fitness, is there a truth to popular saying what comes around, goes around? What can nowadays people in their forties (and others) do to slow down brain aging?

There is a simple answer to this question. We should continue to learn, getting to know new things and new people, and also continue to be active both physically and mentally – and keep working. We should have a healthy diet. Live well. Life stories of people reaching longevity show that these people have become artists of life they have managed to come to terms with and these terms were not easy at all times.

Besides gerontology, you also address the issue of Alzheimer’s disease and you frequently mention that Oskar Fischer, a Prague psychiatrist, was the one to make the discovery. So the Czechs were at the top once the disease was discovered. As a complete contrast, I was puzzled by the news that the population of two million seniors is served by 440 gerontologists in the Czech Republic.

Yes, the role of physician Oskar Fischer from Prague was important. Oskar Fischer also published his work in 1907, the same year when Alois Alzheimer published a famous case study of his patient Augusta D. Oskar Fischer had already a whole group consisting of twelve patients. Despite this fact, the disease was later named after Alois Alzheimer. That is why me but also other colleagues, who are dealing with the problems of dementia, consider necessary and important to continue to remind others about the work of Oskar Fischer, both at home and abroad.

Considering the current situation, we have gone through a really tough year. There was a chance that geriatrics would be cancelled as an independent discipline after many years. This danger is probably over. There are medical fields which are important, not only in the care of elderly people, but also for the chronically ill, the number of which is also increasing.

The actual number of geriatricians is not the most serious problem. It is rather about the scope of work. Geriatrics never aspired to replace the work of general practitioners or internists. It is a discipline that is focused on specific age-related diseases, deals with functional status and possibilities for improvement, geriatric syndromes, especially fragility and cognitive disorders. Geriatricians should operate mainly in hospitals, coordinate the interdisciplinary teams at clinics, in larger care facilities. In the facilities providing long-term care, there should be geriatric practitioners or those who were trained in long-term care medicine. They all should promote a better quality of care for elderly patients, at all levels. That is the vision of the geriatric professional association. Our population will continue to get older, and one of the ways to face this situation is to maintain the good functional condition until the highest age possible.

Age diversity and the fact that for the first time in history the workplace brings together four generations working together at the same time, both topics have become frequently discussed issues for large corporations. Besides reverse mentoring and age diverse work groups, what are other trends with regards to the senior population that you see applicable in the business sphere?

I’m not an economist, so I will just add a few observations. It is widely known that the multigenerational work teams are more successful, and there is a lot of scientific evidence for it. That, of course, is very well known by big corporations (often in contrast to politicians) and addressing the issue improves their public image. Moreover, the often mentioned cliché that older people are “obstructing” positions on the labour market to the detriment of younger people, is not true at all. British Foresight Programme that I had the opportunity to attend showed in its findings that older and younger workers are rather complementary than competitive and they get along very well. Younger people are faster and better use new technologies, while older ones are slower but have the experience, which prevents repeating unnecessary steps, they also see and solve problems in a broader context, and thanks to the older ones not being so eager, they usually do not need to have control over many resources, vast projects or large teams of people, and if they do so, they do it more wisely and efficiently.

The media image of older people is in sharp contrast to the benefits that older people bring. If they are portrayed at all, they are mentioned as retirees, pensioners, the sick or the gullible ones that trust and become prey to liars and cheaters. Unfortunately, such statements often come even from politicians. The only positive message I found recently about seniors was in a commercial magazine promoting life and pension scheme insurance. I think that was rather sad…

You’re absolutely right, when we look at advertisement, older people are presented with the products dealing with constipation, incontinence, joint problems, dentures, etc. Luckily, flatulence has a multigenerational dimension. What a sad joke. I think we all just need to start being more aware and so start changing and challenging the media image. This should be a task for the public media, since we are all their licence payers. And there should be more engagement of various committees for public radio and television broadcasting, as these institutions should fulfil their supervisory role and pay attention to this aspect. One aspect that I find very important and underestimated is the use of language. Therefore, in the community of Alzheimer societies and among experts dealing with this expertise it is not appropriate to talk about a demented person as it can mean stupid. First of all, they are people, people with dementia or even better people living with dementia. However, this is not problem only in the Czech Republic. I see the situation improving here. The pensioner is now used mainly in the context of a pension scheme, not as a label for an older person. English has a similarly ugly term – the elderly – but it is still being used instead of the more correct form “older”. When I was in London, I saw places designated just for “the elderly”.

I found myself in a situation when I experienced the fate of the so-called “sandwich generation”, i.e. suddenly besides taking care of small children and working full-time, I had to provide a care for my aging and sick parents. I had to leave the company as they did not provide any flexibility that would help me to deal with the situation. There are only few part-time jobs in the Czech Republic, as well as lack of adequate facilities for respite care, which is contrary to the demographic trends as these situations will tend to increase. What are your recommendations?

I feel that in this country we work like crazy. Low salaries in many occupations are compensated by longer working hours or several combined working schemes. I know it from the academic environment, where salaries are so shamefully low that it is needed to seek opportunities to support yourself and your family from other sources on top of your work, such as grants, additional contracts and so on. This obviously has many negative impacts. You are correct that parttime employment does not practically exist in the Czech Republic. My recommendation is that people should be paid decently for their work, take it seriously and concentrate, and do it well. Talking about support and the so-called respite services is another big topic that goes beyond our interview. It is very good that currently there exists financial contribution for the care of those who need long-term help and support, but that is not enough. We need to have the right spectrum of services that could respond flexibly to the needs of people and their carers from family. Many caring families unnecessarily and prematurely deplete their forces and then choose institutional care solution, which is sometimes necessary, but it should be a rather extreme solution in a situation where other solutions are not possible. Most of us want to live at home. This is true regardless of age and disability or illness.

Your last words for readers of the magazine Czech and Slovak Leaders…

Aging is a normal process and aging is a normal part of our lives. It is, or it should be, the period of maturity. The fact that our society is getting older is the result of many positive factors. Disease and disability are not necessarily an integral part of an older age, but naturally they appear more often with age. Attitude to older people, providing adequate services and enabling them to live as long as possible in an environment where they want to live in, all this is a sign of a developed culture and society. We should be a society not only for children and healthy adults, but also for those who need our care and support.

By Linda Štucbartová

The Power of Argumentation

Radek Pokorný

Are you interested in a life story of a person whose media image is based on close relationship with the Prime Minister, the fact that he drives a Tesla car, his birthday parties are held in Rudolfinum and the list of attendees is always discussed by the media long after? To my request for an interview he reacted quickly and positively. During the interview he was focused and his replies to my questions were really broad, touching the area of philosophy, literature, as well as historical film… Meet Radek Pokorný, for many a controversial advocate, founder of a successful law office, chairman of the Court of Arbitration, Moravian who is proud of his origin. What is his perception of today’s situation in advocacy and why wouldn’t he recommend it to his children?

The first question is going to be a bit unusual. Besides the Czech flag, the entrance to your new premises is also marked by the flag of the European Union. Is this because of your clients?

No, we have had this flag since the Czech Republic joined the EU in 2004 because I am a big supporter of the European integration. I consider it a dream come true of Masaryk, Beneš, and many others. With regards to our history and the size of our country, it is simply not possible to speak about some independence.

Your life story of a boy from the lodge coming to the circles of the big Prague advocacy could serve as an inspiration for writing a novel…

I don’t hide the fact that I had started as a sheep herdsman, cutting grass on the meadows, growing potatoes and garlic. I am a countryman. My father, originally a forester, also graduated from the law faculty true distance learning. I chose law studies as a combination of the possibility to use intellectual abilities, enjoying a certain level of freedom, and at the same time a possibility to make money another way than selling because I don’t consider myself a pure salesman, in a sense cheaply buy – costly sell. The system of hourly rates, which you first agree about and then you focus on the work itself, suits me well. The first big break point for me was switching from the law studies in Brno to Prague. Till that time, I visited Prague just twice for a short trip. I remember when I needed to go from the Faculty of Law to Wenceslas Square I used to go through Národní třída because I remembered this way from my trips. After November 17 another break point came when I got an opportunity to start working in the Czechoslovak Federal Assembly as an assistant. Then I worked as an associate for Pavel Rychetský for three years and immediately after I founded my own office. I wanted to try standing on my own feet.

However, you wouldn’t recommend law studies to your children…

My children are still relatively young, but already now you can see that my son is interested in computers and daughter in biology and new technologies. It looks like they will be active in the fields which are considered perspective these days. After twenty years when advocacy was profitable, now it acquired the position of a commodity where the price pressure is enormous and nobody is asking about the quality anymore. The time when top advocates went rich is gone. During my carrier, I could see that lawyers were first authorised by general managers, then senior attorneys, and today our partners are mostly buyers who buy everything from toilet paper to legal services and find pleasure in negotiating the fixed rates. Those who assign the tasks do not intend to work for the company for long either and their priority is to save as well. I am amazed that half of the best grammar school students still want to study law, it seems they don’t have the market feedback yet. Looking at the current developments, I believe that especially advocacy will list among endangered professions.

Your business card carries a motto “the power of argumentation”. So, it is not about the arguments anymore?

Less and less… Everything which becomes a commodity is about the price… Have a look around the Czech supermarkets. Arguments are considered by a private client or a client who is helpless and comes from abroad. But if the higher cost of services is approved by a common buyer for example in the bank, he will be suspected of support or favouritism. And since most agreements don’t become subject of argument anyway, the quality is actually not even recognised. And if they do become subjects of argument, then it takes a long time before the quality is proved and it is always possible to blame it on somebody else. I don’t say it is the clients’ fault. The market says that price became an important part of purchasing services including commercial law services. Remember the film “Love among the rain drops” and the character of a shoemaker with his quality shoes who was not able to face the pressure and competition of less quality but cheap shoes from Baťa. Not even the fact that he ran interesting performances, in today’s terminology, in front of his shop could help him. Luckily, our clients are still able to feel the value added, but if this was going to change, I openly declare that I would leave the office to my colleagues and choose an early retirement. Under the conditions when I know that I have exactly four hours for a concrete task, I don’t want to work.

How does it feel to be on the top for twenty years?

I don’t know if I have been on the top for twenty years… Rather the work as such is demanding. I agree with the opinion that success consists of 10-20% of your diligence, 10-20% of your talent, and the rest is about luck. By the way, this is nicely described in the book “Beauty of randomness”. The luck is simply essential. I have personally reached a crossroads several times. For example when we worked for advertising agencies a lot and around 2000 the multinational companies started buying out the Czech advertising agencies and we got a proposal from one auditor company to become their partner in legal services. I was thinking about it a lot, I was afraid the Czech advocacy could end up the same way as those advertising agencies. We did not accept the offer and I am glad for that. At that moment I was deciding more or less intuitively, but I can feel that luck played a big role back then. It is also about personal meetings. It happens that you accidentally meet someone and a few years later you meet him again and he needs something. If the circumstances had ganged up, it could have finished completely differently. And on top of that, football is played till the very last minute, so the story is still open.

Is it necessary that a good lawyer is controversial?

When somebody loses something, he usually does not admit. People are projecting a client into his lawyer. We are not engaged in criminal law, so nobody can accuse me from saving a murderer. On the other hand, we represent the cases which are controversial: D47 or ŠKODA Transportation against Czech Railways, and other companies. You are so to say first at hand and I perceive that as a part of hourly rates. Sometimes, I try to disprove some statements in the media, but there is no interest. It simply is part of this work, otherwise you can’t do it.

Can we split advocates into those who are rather on the side of the state and those who stand against it?

It often changes. We don’t work for the state, the only subject which is an exception is ČEZ because we have specialised in energy since 1998 and for example in the area of nuclear safety you won´t find another client. We have never worked for the state, ministries, regions, or public sector and we will never do. My mentor Pavel Rychetský used to tell me that “the client is the biggest enemy” and in case of the state when the ministers, presidents of regions, or mayors change, it is you who is so to say “first at hand”. When your life is being made difficult by the adverse party or the third party, you can handle that, but if it is your client, it gets much more difficult. I don’t want to get in the situation when I will have to say to my client something about his predecessor in the position. And we already mentioned the pressure on cost, many offices which depended on the contracts from the public sector got into existential problems.

You mentioned Pavel Rychetský as your mentor, who and how do you mentor? And which way do you manage your office?

We need quite many associates, so despite my view regarding the future of advocacy, I don’t discourage young people from it so much. However, I openly point out that the perspective is problematic. Our office, which has 40 lawyers, is based on people who never worked anywhere else. All my attorneys and senior attorneys have been with us since school. Therefore the office holds tightly together, which is what I always really strived for. I think, there are hundreds of good people, they know everything more or less the same. I don’t really believe when someone says that he is a genius in something. If a person is not stupid and gets quality work, then you always reach a certain level. However, I strongly believe that people differ in their characters and mutual behaviour. That’s why I have never pulled over people from other offices and I have never wanted people who already had a job experience before. I often talk to senior attorneys because life is complex and not many people want to see that. Advocacy is rather specific in the fact that quite many things you have to discover yourself. However, it may be speeded up and an individual does not have to touch every fire. I have myself already quoted Pavel Rychetský or Pavel Vorák, who returned from America at the early 90s and taught me that “in the politics it is not the facts that matter but what people think about the facts”. First, I found it very cynical and after some time I think that the statement applies not only to politics. It takes a long time before a person learns that slander can turn the world more than anything else. I share these things and it depends on everybody what they take from it.

What about advocacy and women?

My experience shows that women tend to be more complicated, but if they turn out well, they are the best. I started the office with many women. Together with Lenka Zdvíhalová we were starting up the work for ČSOB after the IPB fall. Šárka Marková started M and A transactions for ČEZ, Lenka Knopová was in charge of a law suit against Setuza. Women tend to intriguing, but let me repeat again that those who turn out well are not only professionally capable and very careful, but also loyal and they don´t have a so-called secondary agenda. I am proud that I have more than a half of women in leading positions. I also believe that women should stay at home longest possible, preferably forever, but if they don´t want to be at home, we offer 6-hour employment too. But only for those who already worked here. I am proud of my team and that is the reason why I still want to continue working.

What makes you happy in your personal life?

Family… I didn’t have time for more. I am glad that I did not miss my children’s childhood. It was at the expense of specific hobbies which I don’t have many of. I like wine and reading. More hobbies would be at the expense of the family, which I didn’t want.

So, no dreams waiting to be fulfilled?

Well, I came to Prague and stayed in a flat with no heating. There was 7 °C and I crawled into my sleeping bag and on New Year’s Eve 1992 used the oven in the kitchen as my heating and read “Development of state” from Peroutka. So, for me a dream come true is that I did not get lost in Prague and I can be independent. Except for working for Pavel Rychetský, I have actually never been employed. And I still have the same wife, which is also fine.

By Linda Štucbartová

Photo: Archive

On the origins and traditions, duties and pleasures

JUDr. Dominika Kolowrat-Krakowská

Your life story is really interesting. You graduated from a Law University, became an advocate and then got engaged in fashion business. You met Tomáš Kolowrat and after he died, you turned to asset management. I wonder to what extent it was your choice and how big the influence of your call of duty, and the responsibility toward family traditions and your origins, were. I know that life is not an “if game”; however, if you had got the chance, would you have decided differently?

You are absolutely correct, life does not play “if game” and I approach all the obstacles that destiny puts across my way as challenges which I have to humbly accept and try to deal with as best as I can, so that “at the end of the day” I can stop, look behind and tell myself: you did the best you could.

Some events really were not my choice. I am not the type who cries over her destiny adversity. I am rather grateful for the fact that nothing is decided in advance and all unexpected occasions taught me something new. I would have never imagined that one day I would be dealing with a forest business plan, beaver protection, asset management or palace insurance, and a number of charity projects. And this is just a little part of the real scope of my activities.

So, the saying “noblesse oblige” or origins obliges is still valid in the 21st century? How do you fulfil this obligation?

Let me amend that saying a bit to “promise obliges”. I promised to my life partner, František Tomáš Kolowrat-Krakowský, on his last day that I would take care of everything: of our under-aged children, family assets, restitution claims, charity, there were many things to deal with. And I kept that promise and believe that Tomáš is satisfied…

I often notice that nothing stands nowadays; a word given has no value. I personally strive to meet all my obligations, to behave so that I fully meet the trust bestowed on me by Tomáš and our children. I would be really glad if such terms like “honour” and “decency” which are perceived rather as a weakness than a strength or natural trait would rehabilitate again.

Traditional noble families, besides bringing innovations, paid attention to asset management and its aggrandizing like good economists, put in today’s terms. How do you personally perceive this life mission and overall social context and conditions under which you fulfil the task?

I perceive this tradition mainly as a responsibility to my ancestors, to the “roots”, my children, and society in which I live and act. Tradition is not an obsolete thing at all, it is not fossilised and dysfunctional. On the contrary, after all these years I have been managing family assets, I again experience concluding agreements by a “handshake”.

This is truly the right tradition showing not being ashamed of my behaviour, enjoying trust from people around me and prospering as well as increasing wealth under these conditions. Not by deception, by making quick profit at the cost of disappointing a business partner because I have, simply put, “fleeced him out of his money”. If this model was adopted by the majority in our society, our little country would enjoy really good times.

Let’s move from the profit-making activities to the sponsoring ones. The list of your charity projects is unbelievably long and almost took me back to medieval times when aristocracy supported art, music, and theatre. In your case, it is the support of artists through the project Young Czechoslovak Artists, support of a theatre and cooperation with the Prague Shakespeare Company, support of children and disadvantaged people through the Endowment Fund Kolowrátek, a horse riding project… How do you select the projects and is there a new one you would like to include?

I was always interested in the lives of concrete people; we have never contributed – no, it is not plural majestatis and I am speaking about “our” Endowment Fund Kolowrátek – in a blanket manner, without a concrete “receiver”. Gradually (besides the partners who have been supported by Kolowrat-Krakowská family already for hundreds of years, like the National Theatre) we have focused on young people, partly those who are disadvantaged at the starting line, especially disabled children from socially disadvantaged families, and partly those who on the contrary received a lot, they are exceptionally gifted, but they do not have means to be able to develop their talents appropriately.

I perceive you as a very brave woman with a great inner strength. Taking over the asset management after your partner’s death, bringing up two little children. Where did your inner strength come from?

My children and mum were the biggest help. They, as well as my friends and colleagues, were giving me energy. I am a life optimist and of course I also believe that Tomáš is still with me and keeps his fingers crossed…

Endowment Fund Kolowrátek

How do you generally perceive the situation of women and widowed women at present?

First of all, it is of paramount importance at what age or what life situation a woman becomes a widow or what the reasons for her living without a partner are. However, I generally believe in the saying “He who does not strive after his happiness shall have none”. So, if I have healthy hands and head, I can manage practically anything. I always find amusing to hear some women, or rather their self-proclaimed speakers from the political field, crying: we want more rights, more possibilities, more leading positions and chairs on the boards. But this is not the case. On the other hand, I would be offended if I received – by strange quotas – some advantage or priority at the expense of somebody who is more capable than me. Yes, the Bible has always emphasised protection of orphans and widows because they had no support at all. But fortunately, it is not this way anymore. Life simply goes on and I can’t freeze in the moment when I (and my children) lost the closest person 12 years ago…

What makes you happy and what are you looking forward to?

I have reasons to be happy every day and I am looking forward to every new positive challenge. It is very important to find something nice every day, be it just the smallest thing which somebody else wouldn’t think it’s even worth mentioning…

By Linda Štucbartová

Photo By Michal Linhart

“I do not only set targets for myself, I fulfil them.”

Roman Knap, Managing Director SAP, Czech Republic

When I interview leading personalities from IT corporations I sometimes feel like being on a different planet. This is not only due to the range of topics related to new technologies, disruptive trends and discussions about cloud or IoT (internet of things), but also due to many of these being beyond common comprehension of most users. I very much appreciate positive energy, optimism and passion that leaders in IT authentically show. Interviewing and photo shooting Mr. Roman Knap, MD SAP Czech Republic, was no exception.

As we come to the end of 2016, let us begin with a review. How was 2016 from the IT and SAP perspective?

This year has been for us, as well as for our competitors, very successful. As the economy is growing, so is our industry. Today, all investments and projects are linked to IT in one way or the other. Even in areas that are not primarily linked to IT, we cannot avoid IT completely, be it on a private or business level, and it is essential to make this clear. Based on this reasoning, when SAP is doing well, both our partners and also our competitors prosper. I am always being careful when someone claims he is doing fine while the rest of the industry is negatively affected.

Talking about competition, is there still such thing in IT? In this field, many former competitors were forced to collaborate, so it seems that the paradigm shift from collaboration to completion has proven to be working…

Yes, competition still exists; however, now we talk about a new type of competition. After a period of consolidation and purchases of smaller players by large multinational corporations, new competition has emerged in the form of dynamic, young start-up companies. These new players and challenges have built their business using IT principles. Multinationals usually react in two ways, either they try to change the way they themselves operate to become more flexible and dynamic, or they start to support young companies to secure markets also for themselves. And so we are back to the claim that IT technologies are backing up all ideas and projects and so everybody is using technologies from big IT companies.

Your saying “there is fun in IT” has attracted a lot attention. I had the opportunity to attend the SAP Forum in September and I can confirm that it was a lot of fun. The computer selected a beer for me, when using 3D glasses I was able to ride on a scary roller-coaster and I passed the test proving I am not suffering from IT dementia…

This statement has been quoted quite often and I have the feeling that there is even more fun than ever in IT. When I was appointed the MD of SAP in the Czech Republic, after being MD in Slovakia, I had two priorities. The first one was to give SAP a human face. The second priority was to invite people from other industries to collaborate, so the labelling “these are those from IT” would not be valid anymore. And such approach has also affected the way we organise our events. We started to pay more attention to people coming from various backgrounds and industries and directly from our customers, we stopped using IT language, those facilitating our events are not from IT and to our regular SAP Forum in spring we invite various customers to speak about their user experience. The feedback from customers confirms that our different approach is working. Before, they had no clue how much fun they can have with us, how much interesting and also enjoyable the IT segment as such can be. And as we discussed diversity of backgrounds, I would like to mention also gender diversity. I am proud to announce that SAP has gained the global certification for its gender equality and the Czech Republic was one of the branches that met the criteria.

Let us now take the pink glasses off for a while. It is a sad fact that the Czech Republic, albeit a leader in exporting digital technologies, cannot IT use efficiently. How can we improve the use of IT in the public sector?

Well, even this situation can be viewed as an opportunity. This can be a role just for us. I personally do not believe in voluminous strategic documents, as these might be great projects only for consulting companies, the reality is simply different. Many things have already been designed and discussed, so why starting from scratch over and over again? I believe that it is important to start with baby steps. We have enough visions and strategies, so let us start implementing them. Alternative solutions will always exist. It is only an illusion to divide the project part from the realisation part. And one more thing is important – to set an example. If top leaders start using technologies and so will start explaining the benefits to others, everything will be easier. Right now, with regards to the young generation not willing to participate in the elections, e-government is often cited as a solution. As a citizen, I know how I am being served. I still have to run to various offices. Information is not shared. I do not see my balance account vis-à-vis (towards the state). Starting a business is a very lengthy and complicated procedure, which becomes even more difficult in case of a foreign body that wants to start own subsidiary here.

Your optimistic approach is also based on the claim that the Czech Republic is an attractive country. Compared to the others, you do not cry over the lack of qualified IT specialists since you are able to attract enough foreigners to come and work here.

The Czech Republic is attractive thanks to its location, history and I often stress that we have many clever and educated people here. It is true that as SAP is growing we would need even more people, because we ran out of local sources. All foreign employees confirm that they have a good life in the Czech Republic. It is a safe country with good infrastructure and the cost of living is not enormously high. So most of the conditions needed for people to feel good are fulfilled.

By now, I truly perceive that optimism and positive approach is inherent to you. However, it is often the difficult moments that define great leaders, the moments when one has to overcome a barrier. Which moments do you recall as transformative and challenging ones?

I remember that when five years ago I was appointed a new MD of SAP in Slovakia, it was a new country for me, a new team and a company that had no history on the market. At this moment all people coming to me were mentioning all possible problems which could arise. I was warned that the Slovaks rarely accept Czech managers, I was told how specific a Slovak market is, and how MD is the position with the least stability, even with the negative affects on the personal life and much more… All various risks in many forms. However, for me, this was an enormous opportunity. How many times can you get such a challenge? What was the worse thing that could happen? To return back to the Czech Republic. Personally, I really like Slovakia and I really enjoyed working there. I was able to get the support from the team, build relations with customers and so I started to build upon the first successes. I promised my team maximum support in return for the support from them. And together we were really successful.

What is your definition of a leader? And do you see leaders around?

Each leadership training starts with a definition and so I could also cite a few. However, I would like to make a parallel to a good salesperson. A good salesperson is the one who customers like to buy from. Well, and a good leader is the one who is being followed with joy. I see many leaders around myself at SAP and I like to learn from them. As long as they are on their positions, I have a reason to believe that everything will be ok. You know, IT environment is truly unique. Making a parallel to IT from the point of implementation of a complicated system, you work on a testing system and when everything runs smoothly then you apply it in real case scenario. Can you give me any other industry where you can do the same? Can a doctor afford to test a new approach on a patient? Or an architect or an engineer?

Let us discuss the theme of Corporate Social Responsibility that we share. Nowadays, corporations, thanks to their activities in this sphere, are considered bearers of value of civil society.

Our mission is “Run simple to improve people’s lives” and this can be fulfilled in many ways. One of them might be enabling creative people world-wide to fulfil their vision for SAP company. The second level might be represented by charity or volunteering. Each October, we have “a month of service” when employees take part in a specific project to help raise money for charity organisations. We are glad to see how many and how much employees are interested. As I have already mentioned, I very much appreciate being recognised for the diversity and the certification we have received is the proof. The third level of best practice is best documented by the project Autism at work. At SAP Services (former SAP BSCE) we employ people with autism at various positions. The main motif of this programme is not CSR as such but the unique chance to hire very talented people. These people will on the other hand get an interesting and stable job, so it is a truly win-win situation. Large corporations simply must lead by example and prove that embracing diversity brings benefits to all concerned. I am personally a Board member of Junior Achievement. I have already been involved in Slovakia and now I am looking forward to continuing the cooperation.

And now the last question – where do you see yourself and SAP in twenty years?

Such long term horizon is a bit hard to grasp for me. Allow me to simplify it as we all know that corporations tend to operate on a quarterly basis. Personally? As opposed to some determined people, I do not set targets for myself, I’d rather fulfil them. In order to be able to fulfil the targets, I need to work with teams in such an environment that enables me to react in a flexible manner to a fast changing environment. And SAP is definitely such an organisation. I am not afraid that in a couple years our products will be outdated. It is incredible to be able to witness the transformation we have been able to partake during last five to ten years. And this is true from the point of view of products, customer communication or market reputation. SAP is no longer a system tracking late invoice payments, accounting financial consolidation or materials used. Now, SAP is present and active in areas that were not connected to IT at all, such as health care or sport: for example, the link between SAP and football, ice hockey or tennis is common. Czech people must be happy to know that SAP has the solutions as to how improve efficiency and performance of a football team. Analysing game situations increases the quality of training and helps in video-coaching. During the ice-hockey world championship there were cameras installed analysing game situations. This helps not only coaches during training but also fans who can access real-time statistics and so they are able to enjoy the match much more. Strategies are again backed up by data. No coach can afford that players just skate in the arena without having necessary information. SAP was the only sponsor of Ice-hockey World Cup. I can share another example – from the Formula 1 environment. In each racing car from McLarenHonda is more than 200 sensors sending information to technicians. Processing and visualisation of 50 MB data runs on SAP HANA in real time. All these are examples of positive disruption mentioned by Stefan Höchbauer. For me personally, the topic of Industry 4.0 is fascinating. Such topic is as attractive as sport because it affects the whole society. I would rather use the term initiative Society 4.0, as this agenda talks about education, employee qualification, changes at the workplace, implementing new technologies in production, making use of Internet of Things and overall robotic automation. Until now, there have been machines working on one side and humans on the other side. The next wave will affect the very direct collaboration between machines and people. I am looking forward to technological innovation programmes that will help to prepare society for all these changes. I hope that by now I have managed to persuade readers that IT is everywhere but it is now about experiences. I personally very much enjoy the industry and I am looking forward to enjoying it even more in 20 years.

By Linda Štucbartová

Photo By Vladimír Weiss

Note. See also our interview with Stefan Höchbauer

“Prague Is A Success Story For SAP”

Stefan Ries, Chief Human Resources Officer, SAP

Visits of Board Members of Global Corporations to headquarters can be compared to visits of state level representatives. While certain meet Prime Ministers, demand red carpet protocol and expect all the flashlights shining on them, others come to listen, acknowledge and shine the light on others. Stefan Ries belongs to the second category. Came on time, perfectly prepared, smiling and shared his views not only on SAP’s purpose, but also on trends and the latest developments in HR and technology business. Moreover, he was genuinely appreciative of all the achievements and growth SAP has achieved in the Czech Republic.

It was a very special day for SAP, as they were officially opening a new office centre at the Metronom Building in Prague 5. The offices were designed according to the latest trends “Future at Work” reflecting global 24/7 connectivity, enabled by cloud and complex infrastructure. For Stefan, the notion of work-life balance is outdated, as there is truly life balance in reality.

To me, he represents a living symbol of an authentic leader of the 21st century, winning both minds and hearts of all people around. Stefan Ries, Chief Human Resources Officer and Labour Relations Director, is also a member of the Executive Board of SAP with global responsibility for Human Resources. He was appointed to the Executive Board of SAP in April 2016. He was born in Bavaria, and is currently based in Walldorf, Germany. His career path has taken him through various functions at IT companies such as Microsoft, Compaq and SAP and he also spent four years at Egon Zehnder International as a member of High Technologies/Information Technologies Practice Group. His passion themes include diversity, innovation, talent management and sustainable workforce.

Mr. Ries, it is a true privilege to interview you, as we both share passion for many HR issues. As Chief Human Resources Officer and a Member of the Executive Board, which global HR strategies do you find the most relevant for 2017?

First of all, let me thank you for the opportunity to meet and I am especially glad to be here in Prague as Prague, and the Czech Republic in general, represent a very special place for SAP. We, as a company, find ourselves in a very fortunate situation as the company is growing. Our growth is fast not only thanks to the growth of the industry in general, but we in SAP have managed to outperform that. All the subjects that have been already covered by my colleagues in previous interviews, such as cloud computing, big data, smart data, artificial intelligence – these are the key relevant topics for us from the business perspective. However, moving to the cloud has to be reflected also from the HR strategy point of view. The cloud strategy is important, because customers see the benefits of faster implementation cycles, robust best in cloud solutions can be implemented very easily and software development having much faster cycle time. Now, let me address the HR perspective. The first key topic for us, but also for many our customers is linked to business transformation and how we can support that while keeping a motivated and excited workforce. The second topic is linked to the talent and how to make sure that we are continuously seen as the employer of choice and how we can retain talent. Leadership development comes as the third topic; in terms of SAP environment, we currently have 85,000 employees worldwide and 7,500 managers and leaders who are the key drivers of the business transformation. Learning comes next, as during the business transformation we need to make sure the organisation as well as the individuals continuously learn. Last year, we spent 100 mil EUR on learning exclusively and this year we are planning to spend 140 mil EUR and the trend will continue. It is a large sum but we see this investment as necessary. Last but not least comes the issue of sustainability of people , comprising of all activities associated with diversity and inclusion. I am happy to share with you later more about latest initiative, Business Beyond Bias. We combine the latest technology and machine learning to select the best talents for your organisation in order to reduce unconscious bias when looking at CVs and much more…

Let us now move from the global perspective to the special position of the Czech Republic…

I remember that in 2004, which is only 12 years ago, I was sitting just on the opposite side of the street, having the pleasure to open our shared service centre that had 25 employees! Today, I am back to open a new building for 1,700 employees. That is an incredible success story. Not only from the HR perspective as we are proud to find excellent talent that we are employing both in the Czech Republic as well as abroad, but also from the business perspective. In Prague we have a human resources shared centre. Last year, we decided to have a small special team to help with on-boarding all new hires across the world. At the beginning, almost everybody thought that this was complete madness to try to ensure that everybody has a good on-boarding experience all the way from Tokyo, Japan to Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. But today, we see that it works. We have very positive employee feedback and customer satisfaction rates and both speak a lot not only about the quality of the work but about the contribution of the Czech Republic for SAP world. And we look forward to further supporting the unbelievable success of the last decade.

Thank you for your words of appreciation, it all sounds very nice. However, Prague is a place for many subsidiaries and from my own experience the relationships between headquarters and a subsidiary can sometimes have rather challenging nature, perhaps resembling a mother-daughter relationship during the time of adolescence…

I have been involved in the HR for 26 years, so I truly know what you are talking about. We tend to see that the headquarters have a gravity around the location and as a subsidiary you might feel either detached or attached. In our case, it is different. Out of 85,000 employees, only 17,500 are based in Germany, the rest is abroad. There is no gravity around Walldorf as being the heart of SAP. We have so many hearts around the world and we love to support the distributive “power”, in the absence of a better word, for all of our organisations. I have already mentioned the example of Prague and on-boarding processes, which in fact has become a headquarter itself since it has the expertise and accountability to drive certain processes.

I myself experienced the stereotypical challenging relationship headquarters vs. subsidiary when working for American companies, but it is not the case in SAP.

I think the issue at stake is the identity. Prague for us has a huge identity. We stand not only for shared services but also consultative services, such as on-boarding but also payroll. Again, it is our team in Prague that runs payroll for the rest of the world, and the same is true for data management and many other functions.

We are meeting at the occasion of opening new premises at Metronom building that reflect the trends associated with the theme Future of Work. What are some specific elements linked to this notion?

We like to share our best practices with others and that is also the reason why we have invested a lot of money and space into a new building that will allow us to accommodate, in addition to employees, both guests and customers. I have never heard anyone leaving Prague without being amazed by its success story. We therefore leverage our experience when we talk about our HR software, called SAP SuccessFactors, since customers can touch, look and feel people but also system solutions in one place. Trust is the essential component, I call it the ultimate currency, to the Future at Work concept. It is important to establish the business environment that gives a person complete trust with regards to tasks and responsibilities. That is why we do not see much sense in introducing any time keeping record system. Is that easy to introduce something within a company having 85,000 workforce members? No, you still need some hierarchy to make sure that the strategy will be linked to individuals’ tasks and responsibilities. Given the latest technology, we can perform our roles and tasks anytime, anywhere. You are just given a task and trust. The rest is up to you. However, when you look around these nice and modern premises, we also consider important coming to work to connect and network. You cannot create only in isolation and continuously work from home. As an organisation, you are only as smart as the collective wisdom of the individuals together. I am a strong believer in the future of the work consisting of new usage of technology, working from various places, including abroad, independent work but also team collaboration. Therefore, offices where people come, meet and connect together, will be still needed. But with technology and connectivity comes also a need and responsibility to recharge the batteries. We could easily come and work 24/7 but that is not the right balance. I do not believe in work-life balance, as I think it is the life balance that is desirable. The key element is to educate leaders and managers to have a dialogue with employees as to have the clear understanding of the expectations from one another. Receiving an email during the weekend from an executive does not mean answering it during the weekend because there is a need to recharge the batteries, spend time with family. I really try hard to keep my weekends free for the family, unless there is a case of emergency. I am also trying to find some time during the weekdays, be it either in the morning or evening to make sure I also recharge my battery.

I am not a fan when the government tries to get involved and set conditions. I have recently met with the German Minister of Labour about the need for a mechanism that would switch off the devices by 7 or 8 pm. And my reply was simple: Excuse me, but in which world are you living? Look at the youngest generations, being born and raised with social media. Do you really believe that they will join our company if they know that by beginning of the evening their devices will be switched off ? And as we are connected around the world that will never happen.

We are both passionate about diversity and inclusion. You have just launched Business Beyond Bias program. What results are you expecting?

Over the last couple of years, SAP was very successful in diversity and inclusion. We also received the Economic Dividends for Gender Equality (EDGE) certificate in March 2016. Being a leader, many companies look at us and ask why we are doing that. And the answer is simple. We have such a wonderful experience with diverse workforce and we know that such diverse workforce also represents our customer base. Our customers cannot be treated as a one-size-fits-all organisation, they are super diverse themselves and that is what we need to reflect. We think in terms of a number of locations where we are based, how many nations we address and referring back to our debate on headquarters, there are more than 85 nationalities in Germany alone. This is something special. In the past and particularly in Europe, diversity has been a lot associated with gender diversity. We have managed to overcome that notion. We have a great initiative that hires people with autism, currently we employ more than 150 of them around the world. Last year, during the refugee crisis, when thousands of people were coming to Germany, we used the welcoming DNA we have and now we work with more than 150 students and interns working.

Business Beyond Bias is a programme that allows to overcome personal bias during the recruitment process. To be more specific, just imagine that you have got several CVs in front of you and there is a candidate who got a degree at the same university as you had. Well, most probably, based on your bias, this person will make it to the next round of the selection process. Because just by the definition that you come from the same university, you have a bias. The second example will be about a job description. Think about a nurse. Is it written for a women-nurse or a male-nurse? So, again there is a gender bias because we prefer nurse with female gender.

Now, using the latest software technology called machine learning in combination with HR software, called SAP SuccessFactors, you can eliminate the bias. How is it possible? The machine software will propose the first round of candidates for the interview. The person will still have to make the decision but based on the computer pre-selection, you will look at a completely different set of candidates. We have tested it ourselves with literally millions of data sets and it works. It helps you improve the process and not to disregard a certain part of the talent pool that was not considered before. Therefore, I do not agree with the complaints on war of talent or tiny talent pools. For me, this is not the case. The talent is there and we need to learn to look at them differently.

Speaking at the beginning of the advent period, what are your expectations and wishes for 2017?

SAP’s purpose is to improve people’s lives. That is our role within our broader ecosystem on this planet. We do not want to see people dying from diseases. Here, we can help with our technology: for example, with our technology SAP HANA we have connected all global cancer treatment centres around the world, so they have information about patients available. A doctor in Tokyo can, in real time and within seconds, consult and compare the symptoms to another patient, for example from Brazil. Just think about the massive power of data available and I hope that our technology will continue to help the people to improve their lives and ultimately to make a difference. Our employees are proud of that fact. Now we have five generations at the workplace, and particularly our youngest generation, the digital natives, want to contribute to the success of the company with an impact to the role and purpose in their lives.

For myself, I am looking forward to spending time with my family, recharging batteries and dealing with stress effectively. However, visiting all our locations around the world is extremely rewarding and energising for me, I love looking into SAP people’s eyes and seeing them proud and fulfilled.

By Linda Štucbartová

Photo By Vladimír Weiss

Note: See also our interview with Roman Knap, Managing Director, SAP Czech Republic

“Being Loyal to the Company is Paramount to Me”

Karel Feix, Managing Director, Kapsch, Czech Republic

My personal meeting with Mr. Karel Feix, who also has the nickname “Mr. Kapsch” due to the quarter of a century long history associated with the company on the Czech market, was very friendly. I admired his high working attitude as we were trying hard to find a suitable day to meet and finally we opted for Friday morning, 8 am. I was astonished to witness not only him being loyal towards the company, as this is rather rare quality in the Czech Republic but also him being very modest with regards to the early beginnings of the company.

This year, Kapsch is celebrating 25 years since it entered the Czech market. As you were the first employee, how do you recall the beginnings?

You have mentioned that the subsidiary in the Czech Republic is the most successful, both from the product portfolio point of view as well as its success. What are your relations with regards to the headquarters? Prague is a place for many subsidiaries of large corporations and from talking to top managers the relations between headquarters and subsidiaries are often far from being harmonious ones…          

It is a fact that after 25 years working for the company, I have become a part of its inventory and I will be glad to answer this question openly. Kapsch is a family-owned company, today owned by the fourth generation and currently there are three siblings, two brothers and one sister responsible for managing the company. The attitude of a family company from neighbouring Austria is much different from the attitude of US or British companies very often held by anonymous stock-holders. Although Kapsch is a global business, one can feel that family ties between employees and owners are still being present. Even the average time span of an employee is much longer. The fact that the owner is part of the executive management feels much more personal for me. My boss is simply Georg Kapsch as the main owner of the company. Approvals, processes, decision-making is much more simple, faster and flexible. Communication is also direct, according to the need we call each other every other day or once in two weeks. And another advantage is the possibility to invite Mr. Kapsch to key discussions, where as the owner he can give a personal guarantee to any offer. Personally, Mr. Kapsch visits the Czech Republic once or twice per year; he tends to be very busy as he also holds various other positions, such as the President of Austrian Industry Association.

From almost ideal relations, let me ask a question that I tend to ask frequently. Can you share with us the challenging moments in your career, as these are the ones that help us grow?

I will start with the crisis after the year 2000, which was not an economic one, but IT crisis. It was the time where the old order was coming to an end and older technologies were substituted with new ones. Kapsch as a company had an advantage of being in various segments and industries having a wide-range product portfolio and solutions, so thanks to the wide portfolio we managed and overcame the crisis. Already at that time we were offering solutions for railway and road transportation, in addition to enterprise solutions. We stood on several legs, so the old saying about diversification proved to be true again. Personally, my biggest accomplishment is the fact when I look back when we started from scratch and now we reach annual turnover 120-130m EUR, 2.5-3bn CZK. I tend to underline this fact to younger colleagues who join the company having the feeling to receive all benefits and bonuses. I remember well my own discussions with my parents when they used to say “Cherish the times you live in” but I still believe that it is essential to be modest and to remind oneself of the humble beginnings.

So how do you perceive the new generation, the so called millennials, coming to the workplace?        

Well, they are different. They demand certain comfort and standard level in exchange for dedicating a certain amount of effort to the task. They often do not realise that others might have a different opinion based on own experience, such as the humble beginnings I have mentioned. On the other hand, I also understand that for young people it might be difficult not to receive immediately whatever they believe they are entitled to. It is difficult to explain such a thing to a person that has not lived without a mobile. However, I also want to add certain positive traits, such as the fact that young people are more advanced both theoretically but also with regards to language competencies, they have better understanding of working abroad, many of them have such experience, they are more confident when presenting. To the extent that confidence sometimes is more important than the real content. During recruitment interviews I often find them rather superficial? while we actually try to build expertise in the long term. We tend to reflect the family company environment in our hiring practices. Leaving after two years should not be the case in our company. We tend to search different kind of personalities, we value loyalty and on the other hand we try to offer long-term career perspective and feeling of certainty.

You do not seem to be a controversial person, however, you have become one in the media due to the toll system. How did you handle such situation?

I believe I was influenced by the fact that I was doing sports, I played tennis and competed at various tournaments. Sport taught me how to lose, how to learn from it and how to move on. Such was the attitude I used while building a company. I dedicated all my energy to it, I sacrificed a lot. At that time, we had small children and it was my wife who sacrificed her professional career, despite having economical background from the university. Until today, I hear the claims that I was not at home when needed. I definitely would not be able to achieve so much without the help from family and support from my wife. So I have identified with the company and naturally I enjoyed the success that was coming. When Kapsch was new to the market, we used to compete against the companies that were more established at the market, such as Siemens, Alcatel, Erickson and I very enjoyed winning against those multinationals. I remember then competing about the project Prague Airport and we were considered an outsider next to these big companies. Then we won and this project was not only prestigious but also very successful. Wining such a competition was for me much bigger satisfaction then the financial rewards. I just wanted to stress that I was ready to fight and to sacrifice.

The situation that arose with regards to the toll system was totally shocking. Making business with state administration is not easy by all means. But one realises how much other circumstances play role in case of such a large project. The politics was the most difficult for me. We were offering a technical solution that was not supposed to be a problem. There was a general consensus about the toll being introduced, at that time it was a world-wide trend.  Then not only interests of competing companies did enter into the game, but also the political interest and the issue has grown totally out of proportions. Kapsch has installed similar projects in Poland, Austria and even South Africa. The Czech project was unique in terms of its character in Central and Eastern Europe and turned into a unique battle. If I was to name one lesson learned that it would be the need not to underestimate dealing with the media.

We have focused on technical solution and on preparing the best offer possible and we even managed to complete the project in only nine months, which until today represents the world record for such a large project – yet, we underestimated the need to pay attention to the media. We left the space to our competitors or political opponents and until today we still bear the “stigma”. The fact there was not even a single failure in ten years of functioning – not even for one second – of the system proves that the system was very well prepared, in comparisons to all failures of other system at the civil service, banks, telco providers and other institutions…

What kept you there, present and moving forward during these challenging times?  Only a few people can feel how difficult it is to be chased by the media…

Let us come back to my family and the support I have already mentioned. In the Czech Republic I am the executive director and director of several companies, which presents an advantage so we can integrate and create synergies. The fact that I was personally linked to the company kept me going. For many people I was Mr. Kapsch, not Mr. Feix and such a tongue slip often happens from the side our partners. I took all negative articles in the media very personally, once there was even a photography of the house that my father-in-law built 40 years ago and which I helped finish under the title “This is how Kapsch’s managing director lives on the expense of state money”. Naturally, my wife and even my children at school were negatively affected and bothered. Such is the dark side of success. Then I realised how important for me it was to have a stable background, support from family, friend and even company. And to all others who might be facing such unpleasant situation I recommend to pay attention to careful presentation of real results of their own work in media. Success and being different is not forgiven in the Czech Republic, there are too many enemies.

As the year 2016 is coming to an end, what is your seasonal greeting?

I wish health and success to my close relatives, family and to my grandchildren. I really try to spend time with my grandchildren and being close to them gives me another view on the world and a different perspective when it comes to priorities. From the point of view of the company, I am very pleased to say that we are doing well and that we have had the 25^th year that was more successful than the previous one. I am glad that the company has a stable perspective and this is also thanks to the fact that the Czech economy is growing because that naturally helps the business. And to all of us I wish white Christmas and a pleasant winter!

By Linda Štucbartová

Exclusive Interview with a Potential Presidential Candidate

The Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine is proud to feature the first English interview with Mr. Michal Horáček after he announced in early November his decision to run for the office of the President in 2018.

Mr. Horáček is a Czech entrepreneur, lyricist, poet, writer, journalist and producer. From 2007 until 2010, he was a Chairman of the Czech Academy of Popular Music.

His life journey is quite remarkable. During the communist regime, he was a blue collar worker, but he started to be actively engaged in horse betting. His articles for English and American newspapers got him a journalistic scholarship and a study opportunity at the Macalester College in 1984.

In 1989, he founded, together with Michael Kocáb, a civic initiative MOST (Bridge) the aim of which was to mediate negotiations between communist power and independent bodies. In November 1989, the initiative brought together then communist minister Adamec and Václav Havel, as a representative of the Civic Forum. Horáček’s diary “How the Ice Broke”? (Jak pukaly ledy) became a sought-after firsthand account of 13 days of power transfer and breakdown of communist regime.

In 1990, together with his colleagues, he founded a Fortuna betting company. This company eventually established subsidiaries in Slovakia and Poland, and has become a multibillion turnover business. In 2004, Horáček sold the companies and stepped down as a Chairman of the Board.

Since 2005, he has been engaging in publishing, music and poetry projects. In 2011, he received his PhD in anthropology.

I personally met Horáček while studying at the Institute of Humanistic Studies. Although he drove a brand-new car and was dressed according to the latest fashion, he always came to classes on time and well prepared. He never acted superior and I enjoyed working with him translating sociological texts of Anthony Giddens. To my request for an interview, he responded quickly.

With regards to the presidential campaign, he declared that he will not accept any money to fund his campaign and he has established a transparent bank account. Neither does he wish to use any spokespersons or intermediaries. He made all documents regarding taxes and health public.

Meet the man whose motto is:

“I believe that every one of us needs respect: from other members of our community, and all the more so from the head of state. If we all respect each other, we will achieve a lot. In fact, I mostly believe in the following: We are capable of achieving much more…

Mr. Horáček, for over a year, you have been talking about your decision to become a presidential candidate. Then, in early November, you have confirmed your candidacy. Was there any particular decisive moment?

There was no particular moment, rather I see convergence of several various moments. Particularly those that have contributed to an increasingly unclear geopolitical position of the Czech Republic rather than as a reliable, self-confident and inspirational ally within NATO and the EU. Should I mention one particular moment, then it was the sub-servient declaration of the four highest state representatives of the Czech Republic towards China.

While your success and expertise in business is clear, your opponents often mention your little experience with regards to the foreign policy. How, in your opinion, is the Czech Republic perceived abroad now and how would you desire it to be perceived during your presidential mandate?

According to the Czech constitutional system, the president is not the one who articulates foreign policy. However, I would like to mention that even Václav Havel had no relevant experience until he became president.  Current Slovak president Mr. Andrej Kiska also lacked this experience and US president-elect Donald Trump is in the same position. As I have not been engaged in top politics, naturally, I cannot have the experience. However, I have got a diploma from American Studies at Macalester College in the US. I read and speak English, Russian and Italian. I have travelled in a rather non-tourist manner all over the world from Alaska to New Zealand, from Peru to Cambodia and I spent a lot of time in Africa.

I wish and I will do my best for the Czech Republic to become a transparent ally in the areas of foreign policy. The country that holds the interests of allies above the interest of those who are not our allies. And I wish the Czech Republic to return to being a reliable and trustworthy defender of universal human rights.

How do you perceive leadership as a topic and where do you see inspirational leaders in the Czech Republic, in Europe and in the world?

I find the topic of leadership an important issue for anyone who wishes to run for any top political position. By leadership I understand formulation of strong visions and their transmission in real politics, as well as the ability to persuade citizens to understand these visions and accepting them.

Speaking about leaders in today’s world, I consider inspiring the following types of political personalities: Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau, Slovak president Andrej Kiska and Czech politician Petr Gazdík.

Leader is shaped by not only moments of success but also and perhaps foremost by overcoming difficult moments. Which difficult moments would you single out? 

Being 64 years old, I have faced many difficult moments during my life journey. To mention a few: being imprisoned in the Ruzyně prison; ten years working as a warehouseman and a worker; pressure from the Czech Secret Police and my refusal to collaborate; establishing and running the Bridge (Most) initiative that brought representatives from independent initiatives and the communist government to a negotiation table; difficult moments while establishing companies outside of the Czech Republic (in Slovakia and Poland); ambiguous acceptance of art works that I cared about in public space; as well as  many personal situations, such as divorcing my wife of many years and a mother of our children.

As a diversity and leadership expert, I would like to ask you how you perceive issues concerning women, such as quotas, gender pay gap or low representation of women both in CEO positions and in top politics.

I consider the unequal position of women and men one of my key topics. I have included it in my “Candidate Programme”. I am not a proponent of quotas, as I believe they are principally offensive towards women. I definitely want to make sure that the pay gap and also pension schemes differences are not 18% lower for women, and I want to increase the number of current seven per cent women representation on board of directors in companies listed on the Prague Stock Exchange. I am certain that no society can afford to marginalise the majority of population (since there are 104 women to 100 men ratio in the Czech population) and so to miss the creativity, working attitude and ideas that bring added value.

What can people do in order to support you?

At first, they need to become familiar with my Programme. It is available at www.michalhoracek.cz and can be downloaded as a pdf. Then, they should come and join me in an open debate whenever I come to their town or village. I have already visited 180 such places and will continue to do so. And only then they can decide whether they want to help make my candidacy relevant, for example, by organising a collection of signatures on petition sheets.

There is a brief manual on my website. Involvement and help of each individual is important and precious to me, and I thank for any support. So far, more than 1,500 people have applied and others continue to sign up.

What are your final words to Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Take advantage of the opportunity of a direct presidential election that you successfully took back from career politicians.

Use your choice to make sure that your head of state is not prioritising particular interests from his/her previous career and is not marginalizing interests of those who have different opinions.  Demand a president, who is able to figure out what is beneficial for the Czech Republic, who has a vision and it is a long-term one. A president who would be non-partisan, or to be precise, who is not affiliated to any political party, but defends interests of all citizens without exceptions vigorously and consistently.

By Linda Štucbartová

NOTE: Due to time constraints, the interview was conducted remotely.

On Youth Orchestras and Music as Diplomacy and Partnership Opportunities

John Tregellas, The Prague Concert Co.

Have you ever thought about the parallels between a book and a concert? Do you know what it takes to bring over a large orchestra from overseas and make sure that it performs at the sold-out Smetana Hall?

Meet John Tregellas who is celebrating 25 years of living in Prague and successfully working in the realm of classical music. When you visit him in his office located in his beloved Vinohrady, you can immediately sense that he is the type of personality whose passion has turned into a full time job. He believes that “a concert is not only about those people who attend in person but it also exists outside the concert hall. People see posters, they read articles and blogs, they may talk about an event even if they weren’t there themselves – it’s like a bestseller that not everyone has read but which people are eager to discuss. Therefore, when a foreign orchestra comes to visit, it is not only a cultural event, it can also be a political event.” John Tregellas and his agency The Prague Concert Co. have been successful in presenting prestigious and innovative orchestras, such as the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces (in existence for 199 years) and the Turkish National Youth Philharmonic (also famous for projects such as the Laboratory of Democracy or Music That Unites). Not only does he introduce new orchestras, choirs and other musical ensembles to the Prague audience, but he himself sings with the Kühn Choir of Prague. Last but not least, thanks to the fact that Mr. Tregellas speaks both Czech and German fluently, he has become an expert on the region of Central Europe, covering the area from the Baltics to the Adriatic coast. Perhaps it is no coincidence that such an area corresponds to the Kingdom of Charles IV and it proves the saying that music and arts have no borders.

Mr. Tregellas, can you share with us your career journey that took you from the beautiful seaside county of Devon all the way to the City of Prague a quarter of a century ago?

The countryside of the Southwest of England is beautiful and I still love to go there but it was a bit of a small world for me. I had been influenced by travelling to continental Europe a lot since early childhood. I studied French, German and Czech at university in England. I chose Czech partly because of family connections – my ancestry goes back to Northern Moravia, to a village close to Králický Sněžník. When I attended my first Czech lesson at the age of 19, I did not know how profoundly it would influence the course of my future career. During the 1980s, I started visiting Czechoslovakia regularly. And early in 1990, after the Velvet Revolution, a friend of mine urged me to come over, saying that “anything was now possible”. After a few weeks’ consideration, I took her advice. Overnight, I became a journalist working for the English language division of Czechoslovak Radio which was very exciting. In addition to this European dimension, I must mention another passion of mine, which is classical music. I played and still play the piano, and spent a lot of time making music, singing in choirs, and so I had a lot of musical connections back in the UK. When I moved here, these people started to contact me asking for help with organising concert tours. One of my first big projects was to help organise and promote Vladimir Ashkenazy’s debut piano recital in the Czech Republic, which took place in the Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle as a benefit concert for the Václav Havel Foundation. As the number of musical projects continued to grow, I had to choose between journalism and concert promotion. I decided to follow my passion.

And so The Prague Concert Co. was born in 1994. What was it like being an entrepreneur in Prague in the early 1990s?

To sum up, it was me alone in a room without a phone. First, I had to find a suitable place and x it up, since there was very limited availability of office space at the time. I found a semi-basement room in Vinohrady, without a phone line. Not really an ideal way of starting an agency, without the possibility of receiving phone calls or faxes. And no mobile phones of course! As some readers might remember, to get a phone line back then was a lengthy and difficult process. So a friend of mine, living across the street, organised for his home phone line to be hooked up “unofficially” to my office, so that I could use it. However, it was a shared line with one of his neighbours. So when the neighbour was speaking, we were again cut off . It took about 18 months to improve the phone situation. As for geographical development, in the beginning, we focused on Prague but we quickly expanded our activities to take in the rest of the Czech Republic, Slovakia naturally came next, followed by Poland, Germany, Austria, Hungary and in recent years Slovenia and Croatia.

Naturally, the number of projects has risen. We dealt with about 10-15 tours per year in the early years, we now handle some 80 projects per year. With such a large number of touring ensembles, you need to identify those which are the most prestigious and give them a separate identity. Five years ago, we launched the Musica Orbis concert series which presents the most distinguished groups under a separate brand. In addition to the two orchestras already mentioned, the Staff Band of the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, Musica Orbis has presented the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra with their inspiring conductor Ben Zander and world-renowned cellist Natalia Gutman as soloist, the Wind Ensemble of the Eastman School of Music, the Eton Symphony Orchestra from Eton College, England, and the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra with soprano soloist and 5-times Grammy winner Dawn Upshaw. In 2017, we are looking forward to welcoming the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and the World Civic Orchestra amongst others. The latter is a fascinating group which brings together musicians from around the world to bridge cultural differences and they will be performing a newly commissioned work by Czech composer Jiří Trtík as well as the ever-popular Dvořák Violin Concerto.

You mentioned many projects that introduce young orchestras. What is it that you find special working with young musicians?

I feel very fortunate that my business has developed in this direction. Working with young musicians means working with people who have enormous reserves of talent, commitment and drive. There is a magical sparking moment when these young people come to perform in major concert halls and engage with great repertoire for the first time. This releases a palpable explosion of musical energy, which is what you can often feel at our concerts!

What is the secret to make sure these orchestras that are not widely well known manage to get the attention of the public and turn into sold out events?

Audience building is an important element of a promoter’s work. Our unique approach to this challenge was to form our Concert Club ten years ago. Today, we have more than 3500 core sympathisers in our database that spread our news further. They form an interested and enthusiastic community of people following classical music. This is a very powerful tool and thanks to e-mail communication with the majority of club members we can fill a concert hall within 48 hours. Our members are very loyal and respond fast. As a result, we are happy to work with other promoters to assist them in distributing tickets. Of course there are many ticket portals offering ticket distribution services, but our relationship with Concert Club members is a more personal one: they trust our recommendations and guarantee us good attendance at the events which we promote or co-organise.

Doshisha University Orchestra (Japan) in the Reduta Hall, Bratislava, Photo By: Michal Gschwandtner

You invite musicians from all over the world and they come. Are there any cultural differences they should be ready for when facing a Central European audience?

We present orchestras and choirs not only from English-speaking countries, but also from Africa, Turkey, Israel, Australia, Russia, China, Japan. And one thing that is special for the Czech Republic, to some extent for the region as a whole, is the particular type of audience response. This is generally a very informed, educated audience who will show their appreciation very thoroughly. Our visiting ensembles are often surprised that the audience will not let them leave the stage without an encore, or even two or three if they liked the performance. This may be different from what they would experience at home, so it is our role to advise them to have a few encores prepared. On the other hand we also need to recognize and respect the customs of our visiting groups. For example in the Chinese-Czech Music Festival that we have co-organized for the last 3 years, we have become attuned to the importance of ceremony in Chinese culture. Therefore all participating ensembles receive an official diploma on stage, ideally from a municipal representative at an official ceremony at the end of the festival day.

It is said that music has no borders but what is it like to bring over a 100-piece orchestra for a tour, not only in one country, but to the whole region?

The thought that music is a language that crosses borders is very nice as far as it goes, but when an orchestra actually crosses borders, then things get more complicated. So logistics is in fact the essence of our work. It is not glamorous and it does not make headlines but you need to get hundreds of little details right so that the orchestra, the conductor, the soloists and their instruments end up on stage at the right time in the best state of mind (for performers) and in perfect condition (for instruments). And then the conductor takes over and we can hopefully breathe a sigh of relief. Yet every minute on that journey can be jeopardised. Volcanic ash causes flights to be cancelled, airline staff go out on strike and ground entire fleets, a group coach gets caught up at a border crossing where refugees are blocking the route. Then there is the whole issue of instrument transportation. As air freight has become very expensive, we often need to rent instruments for our young players – imagine renting at the same time seven cellos, five double-basses, percussion, and a harp. These instruments are very valuable and we have to persuade the owners to trust us to take care of them – which means transporting them in air-conditioned comfort using experienced instrument handlers. Fortunately, with the EU customs union in place, our job has become much easier. In the old days, I had to send colleagues to the Czech- German border to explain to officials that we were not smuggling valuable instruments but just transporting part of a bonafide orchestra which had somehow got separated from its paperwork. Besides the logistics, we also have to manage many people’s expectations, whether those of musicians, executive directors, promoters or audiences. We have to prepare young musicians for the fact that they will be playing rented instruments which might be different to those they are used to. Much the same holds true for organs and organists. Choirs from the US often travel with their organists, but they are generally used to playing rather more modern instruments. And then we take them to a church in Prague that might have a 16th or 17th century organ. Even the way an orchestra comes on stage differs from country to country. Orchestral musicians in the US come on stage randomly, at the same time as the audience and start to warm up. In Europe, all the musicians process on together at the start of the performance.

You have already touched upon the importance of partnerships when organizing a concert tour. So who are your partners and who are you looking for?

The enterprise is a collaborative one on many different levels, we partner with musicians, hotels, venues, other promoters when placing concerts outside of Prague, reliable local partners who share not only our enthusiasm for young musicians but also our production standards. In addition, concerts or projects above a certain level attract the attention of the diplomatic community which enhances the impact of the event.

For example this year we co-organized the Prague Regional Conference of WASBE (World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles), a major event involving over 1200 participants from 20 countries, 20 wind ensembles from 7 countries, 12 musicological lectures, 28 concerts (including a gala in the Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle)… naturally many partnerships had to be built to make it happen and all the embassies of the performing bands’ home countries were invited to join this unique event.

I also feel very strongly about supporting worthwhile initiatives in our community. We have promoted many benefit concerts to support Cesta domů (The Homecoming hospice), Portus (sheltered housing), Post Bellum and similar organizations. Such co-operation can be viewed as a two-way process since fundraising helps the organizations; on the other hand they raise awareness about the event and help to promote it. Much of the impetus for these relationships with charitable organisations comes from our own members of staff . Partnerships within our agency are also a dimension I am proud of. We are currently a team of 12 people, with various abilities and experience – from music to logistics, nance, marketing, linguistic competence, and a big dose of “people skills” spread around the office. All this has to pull together to create the perfect concert tour. But most of all, everyone needs to have that spark which makes them strive for the best results for each unique and exciting project which we undertake. And you have to have this in the back of your mind whether you are organizing transport, commissioning a poster layout, enhancing the atmosphere of a concert venue, because all of this comes together to create an overall impression both for your audience, and for your musicians.

What are your final words for the Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

I would like to stress the important role which cultural exchange plays as soft diplomacy. Musicians are cultural ambassadors and the message which they bring is all the more powerful because it does not need translation. We are happy to partner with embassies, cultural organisations and other institutions to enable local audiences to explore the cultural heritage of other countries. If you have an interesting musical project, please share it with us. Join us through our Concert Club, experience the unique atmosphere and energy of our orchestras, choirs and other music ensembles from around the world.

By Linda Štucbartová

http://www.concert.cz/

http://www.koncertniklub.cz/

---

The WASBE held its regional conference in Prague in July 2016. For several days, wind ensemble and orchestra leaders from many nations gathered in Prague to attend workshops and seminars and to hear some outstanding musical ensembles perform in three of the most spectacular concert halls in the world. All of this was beautifully organized by The Prague Concert Co. under the leadership of John Tregellas. Col. Václav Blahunek – Chief Conductor of the Prague Castle Guard and Czech Police Band – headed up the Steering Comittee. The conference was a huge success with capacity crowds at each event. I speak for all of the members of WASBE when I say thank you for providing such a wonderful artistic experience for all of us in your beautiful city.

William V. Johnson President, World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles

 
“New Career Challenge Came After My 59th Birthday Celebration”

Rostislav Dvořák

Did you know that the tradition of production co-operatives in the Czech lands dates back to the middle of 19^th century? That the longest functioning Moravian Central Office Brno has had an uninterrupted production since 1909? That 2012 was proclaimed the International Year of Cooperatives to underline the unique role of cooperatives for the economic development of a state, but also villages? And that the study undertaken by the EU Parliament Council for science, development and industry confirmed that cooperatives prove to be the most stable companies having the lowest fluctuation in both production and employment as opposed to other conventional types of enterprises?

The Union of Czech Production Co-operatives has a member base which consists of over 200 production co-operatives from across the entire Czech Republic. Production co-operatives are Czech firms and important exporters not only to the EU countries, but also to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Kuwait and other countries.

Meet Mr. Rostislav Dvořák, President of the Union of Czech Production Co-operatives. Prior to becoming President in 2011 and being re-elected in 2015, he was the President of the successful production co-operative “Vývoj Třešť”, a company with 300 employees. Our interview focused on the issue of production co-operatives that proved to be much more complex, thus demonstrating the complex and unique role of this type of enterprise, unfortunately not sufficiently acknowledged by either public or the media.

Mr. President, how would you describe your career journey and your current role?

I understand career as a period of growth to follow visions and aims. However, when you turn 60, then comes a period for us to use the acquired experience and attempt to apply it for the benefit of people or issues. Such was my purpose when I decided to sell the majority of shares in various companies and accepted the challenge to come to Prague to support Czech production co-operatives. It was not an easy decision, and even after two years in the office, I still had doubts. My father used to say: “Son, hold on to the chimney”, meaning do not get entangled in political issues or debates. Despite the fact that my function is not political, one third consists of important negotiations to achieve better entrepreneurial conditions for our members in civil sector as well as political representation on various levels – from the Office of the Government to regions and other bodies such as the Chamber of Commerce, Union of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and others – so there is politics involved to a certain extent. The remaining two thirds of activities are linked to managing our Union. We provide services to our co-operatives members, we help them with economic issues, cost and profit development and influence on the overall economic results. All these tasks are natural continuation of my involvement in the Vývoj Třešť cooperative.

Your interest in economics was not straightforward, you originally graduated from law school. But it was thanks to your economic strategy that the Vývoj Třešť proved to be such a successful co-operative.      

You are right, I have never worked either as a lawyer or in advocacy. However, I believe that the connection of both economic and law education was very useful and quite essential for my work I myself used to handle all the judicial matters that were truly essential to the functioning and even existential. This was particularly useful in the early 1990s when claims for property restitutions started, which had direct impact on the functioning of existence of many enterprises. Our company, in contrast with many others, had never lost any restitution claim brought to the court. When I joined the production co-operative in Třešť, this enterprise with 350 employees was of an average size; nowadays, it belongs to the largest enterprises in the region. We need to go back to the history and remind ourselves that at the beginning of 1990s the whole Czech market unprecedentedly opened to the whole world and Czech companies were not prepared to face such reality. 300,000 employee positions were lost in the textile and clothing industry alone. In total, one half of the production co-operatives disappeared. In Třešť, we realised that we cannot continue to supply the products which will be valued only for “hired labour”. At first, we concentrated on specialised products such as blazers for men, and as you can see, I am still proudly wearing the garments. Then we followed with special unique products, such as protection clothing for firemen, the police and even the army. We have managed to get NATO licences and certifications that until 2005 had been held by other two companies in the whole Europe. Thanks to such approach, the production co-operative has stable sales and today it belongs to the top enterprises in its field not only in the Czech Republic but also on the European scale. For eight years, I did not have vacations and I also used to work on Saturdays.

You are known for open and frequent criticism of the conditions for small and medium enterprises in the Czech Republic.

As I have already mentioned, in 1990s, there was a sharp decline of consumption of Czech goods. As much as this was substantiated with regards to electronics, design and consumer goods, unfortunately there were cases where our products were comparable to the ones coming from the West. I am quite bothered by the fact that our 100% food sovereignty was lowered to 50% and that we import too much low quality food products. Some companies went bankrupt, some companies decided to specialise on “hired labour” production for foreign companies. What we need to mention is that Czech companies did not receive any kind of support or protection, which is in sharp contrast to the approach with regards to foreign companies. The current industry structure is therefore a legacy of the beginning of transformation and as such it is very fragile and vulnerable in the context of the global open world. Not only are we dependent on direct foreign investments but we are also dependent on the one and only industry, which is the automotive one. Both dependencies bring severe risks when connected to economic crises. It would take a whole book to discuss this issue.

So how do you see the situation 27 years after the Velvet Revolution from the perspective of production co-operatives?

Production co-operatives are part of economy, like any other production company.  So when the economy is growing, the results of co-operatives follow the trend.  However, only few people realise the role and the tradition cooperatives have and play in the state economy. In sharp contrast to Great Britain, Austria or Germany,  cooperatives in the Czech Republic are perceived as a result of the so-called “collective agricultural socialisation” which gave existence to agricultural co-operatives. People do not know about production co-operatives that represent one type of enterprises, next to the limited liability companies and joint stock companies. Production co-operatives have historically belonged to the most stable organisations.  This is why the EU puts pressure on national governments so they pay attention and support production co-operatives and small and medium enterprises. In times of crises, they handle the challenges not only with regards to employment but also profits. Their production includes engineering, construction, automotive products, production of robots for processing industry, electro-installation materials, all types of furniture, cosmetics and drugstore goods, fashionable clothing for women, men and children, but also kitchen utensils, gardening tools, equipment for hunters, fishermen, the police and army. They also produce jewelry, Christmas decorations, toys – simply an inexhaustible range of products. The turnover of the largest cooperatives goes to several billions, and staff numbers range from hundreds to thousands employees. Our government and politicians should support these enterprises unless we want to be dependent on the decision making of foreign corporations regarding what to produce or even whether the production will remain in the Czech Republic at all. Therefore, we need to support the whole segment of SMEs with links to research and development, new technologies and marketing. We should help these companies find and develop production of own proprietary products, so they are not dependent on “hired labour” production.

Your final words for Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Your readers come from various spheres ranging from politicians and civil servants, to top personalities in management, cultural sphere, science, so it is difficult to make one appeal to fit all. I am not naïve to believe that people in general would make the overall society interest as a priority, since personal interests tend to prevail, even if people do not like to talk about it openly. That being the case, let us try to make sure that the society’s overall interest comes second and that we all will support it in a meaningful way. Such appeal goes to politicians, civil service administration, spheres ranging from culture to health, and all the way to us, representatives of employers who are the ones who create the value that enables to cover all social activities.

By Linda Štucbartová

“The Czech Republic is an incredible part of the world.”

Šárka Strachová

In 2012, Šárka’s life was under a direct threat due to a benign brain tumour which caused a complete metabolism failure. Despite this, she managed to return to professional skiing and again win the bronze medal in slalom in Beaver Creek in 2015. In September 2016, Šárka Strachová received the Silver Medal of the Czech Senate for her accomplishments.

When you meet Šárka in person, you see a person whose image is in sharp contrast with many “spoiled” sport stars. She is very modest and humble, yet manages to project inner strength, determination and hidden energy to excel in whatever she desires. On behalf of the Czech and Slovak Leaders magazine, we wish her a successful 2016 season!

“Man shall not live on bread alone”

Mons. prof. PhDr. Tomáš Halík, Th.D.

It was Václav Havel in 1998 who mentioned me as a possible successor to the press. We were close friends and we had been cooperating for many years. Since then I have been frequently asked about my willingness to become a presidential candidate. I tend to answer in the following consistent manner: I have very deeply assessed the pros and cons and still, the arguments against are stronger. I believe that for the Czech society I might be more useful in my current role. The role of a “public intellectual”, i.e. a writer, a priest and a university lecturer, gives me freedom of expression based on my moral sense and wisdom and I am completely free, having no constraints imposed by political institutions. During this very year, I have realised that I refuse to share hysterical and panic reactions against both refugees and Muslims (albeit scarce in our country), and I am against the mainstream opinion in the society. In order to win the votes in the atmosphere that is currently prevailing in the Czech society – and that is most likely not going to change within next two years – I would have to use the same proclamations as politically successful populists – something that counters my conscience and my experience that I have gathered travelling and studying all around the world. The ability to stay true to my conscience is the most precious thing above anything, including a presidential seat at the Prague Castle.

Since we are discussing speculations about you becoming a candidate, you mentioned that you would need to get a “dispens from Vatican” or “to be temporarily released from the priest service”. Can you be more specific with regards to priests and their involvement in active politics? You are also a part of a society, so you should have both rights – to vote but also to be elected.

According to the Czech constitution, a priest has the same rights as any other citizen.  However, the Canon law does not allow a priest to hold posts linked to political power while exercising priest service at the same time. In case he/she wants to become a candidate, a priest must ask the Bishop or the Pope for exception – the so-called dispens from the Codes of Cannon law or to give up priest service or priest office for a certain period (or definitively). Even if the priest gives up (or is released from) the priest office, the sacrament of priestly ordination stays. According to the Canon law such sacrament is “signum indelibilis (indelible sign)”, but he cannot perform tasks linked to ordination and he can be released from priest obligations, including celibacy.

For me, personally, the priest mission is a source of profound happiness. In my Academic Parish of Prague, that I have established, I have baptized more than 1000 adults, most of them being university students. This parish has become an important cultural centre and also a centre of an ecumenical and intercultural dialogue; we have had the opportunity to host many important Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist leaders, including Tibetan Dalai Lama. I feel a deep responsibility for such place, being a unique formation of cultural, spiritual and moral backgrounds of more than two generations of young people. That serves as a reason that I would consider the possibility to become a candidate for the president only in an extreme case – only if I had not seen someone else to defend similar values with a bigger or equal chance to be elected.

Now, let us discuss the second significant award – The Templeton Prize – you have received in 2014. The Templeton Prize is an equivalent to Nobel Prize for Religion and you have received it not only for your attitude during the totalitarian regime, but also for “an attempt to bridge a gap between different religions, for leading their protagonists for more conciliatory relations and for mutual understanding”. Are we truly on a way towards understanding or rather towards a big inter-religious conflict as could be judged given the recent summer incidents that were marked by the murder of a priest in France?

Secular societies have forgotten that religious symbols and religious rhetoric serves as an accumulator of an enormous energy, which can be used for both good and bad causes.  Just due to the very fact that religion, and now particularly Islam, is abused by criminals, it is essential to nurture an interreligious dialogue as well as a dialogue between religion and secular culture. Criminals from the so-called Islamic state, which has been strongly condemned by all important religious authorities of Islam, want to spark a conflict between the West and the Islamic world. They are assisted by those who cannot distinguish between Islam and jihad criminals. The majority of the current “jihadists” are not religious people, they usually know only few cut out sentences from the Koran. The point is not that religious Muslims are becoming radical, but rather that political radicals use religious rhetoric. This can change if the substantiated anger of the West against terrorists transforms into anger against Islam as such. The Catholic Church can play a significant role, since it can understand both sides – Islam on one hand side, as they have many values in common, and secular humanism on the other side, since this was born on the roots of Christianity. Therefore, the Catholic Church can help mutual understanding and help prevent disastrous conflict, and for that reason, I am very much engaged in this dialogue of cultures nowadays.

Being interviewed for the Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine, how do you define a leader yourself? How do you define leadership skills? And do you see enough leaders ready for challenging times in the Czech Republic, Europe and today’s world?

With regards to the Czech political scene, I do not see many leaders who could be true leaders, i.e. credible moral authorities, not only pragmatic power managers. I know many people who could grow to become leaders among young people, especially among those who studied and gained experience in the West. The challenge is that many capable individuals studying abroad at top universities do not wish to return home. They do not like the local political climate and particularly scandalous talks and views of Miloš Zeman and those who surround him who try to sway the helm from the West to the East.

As far as European scene is concerned, I value Angela Merkel and German president Joachim Gauck. By the way, Mr. Gauck is a former Christian pastor and Mrs. Merkel is a daughter of a pastor, similarly to Theresa May, Prime Minister of United Kingdom.

A leader, as opposed to a mere manager, is capable of forming a long-term vision and to get other people to support them, particularly by setting a personal example.  Unfortunately, in the current atmosphere, there are many successful political clowns and even hard psychopaths, such as Donald Trump.

Tomáš Halík and Václav Havel

Expanding on my previous question and you personally, how do you find the saying “no one is a Prophet in his own land”? Do you feel sad about the difference how accepted you are abroad and the kind of derogatory debate you face in the Czech Republic? Why Czechs do not value their elites sufficiently?

Yes, I feel sorry that instead of a substantial debate I have to face personal attacks and slander, prejudice, stupidity and hatred, especially in the anonymous environment of social networks. I feel sorrow when I imagine in what kind of a moral and spiritual world these people live so they are able to write such things. My father, a literary historian and a publisher of Karel Čapek’s files, once showed me a basket full of anonymous letters that Karel Čapek received prior to the World War II. And it was the very raid of the rabble that chased him to death. That style is quite similar to the style I receive from Czech anonymous writers. The hatred against intellectuals and critically thinking people is very much encouraged by president Zeman who knows that majority of educated people would not vote for him, so he constantly insults them, he calls them “coffee-house idlers” etc., uses feelings of inferiority and the worst there is in the society and human sub-consciousness. I did not agree with Václav Klaus and I do not agree with him almost on any issue, but at least, I feel that he truly believed in whatever he said.  With Mr. Zeman I feel that he says whatever will bring him votes and power.

I cannot judge to what extent such dirt is present in other countries, but based on the success of nationalists in Poland, Slovakia and Hungary, and the extent of support to Donald Trump in the USA, I believe that the Czech Republic is no exception. The growth of populism and demagogy in Europe is not less disconcerting to me as the growing number of refugees, jihad terrorism and dangerous imperial ambitions of the Putin’s regime. And just to add – I truly do not underestimate particularly Putin’s aim to control former Soviet satellites.

What are your final words for Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

I am in touch with numerous entrepreneurs in our country who understand that economic and political democracy depends on moral climate in society and such cultural biosphere depends on the courage of leading personalities to “sail against the tide” and to represent values through personal examples. If these are lacking, human society changes into an uninhabitable jungle. Relying on the “invisible market hand” causes the invisible corruption hand. We need reliable people who understand that “man shall not live on bread alone” and who are willing everyday to fight for the benefit of the whole society, bear responsibilities for the culture of interpersonal relationships without which no free society is conceivable.

By: Linda Štucbartová

“Authentic leadership has changed my attitude to life”

Czech and Slovak Leaders Following the Slovak EU Presidency

Silvia Gavorníková, Head of International Relations Department, Slovak Export Credit Agency EXIMBANKA SR

It is a pleasure and privilege to introduce you Mrs. Silvia Gavorníková, who is not only the Head of International Relations Department at Slovak Export Credit Agency EXIMBANKA SR (Export-Import Bank of the Slovak Republic) but also the Chairwoman of the OECD Working Party on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees. In addition, Mrs. Gavorníková finds time for self-development activities dedicated to authentic leadership and last but not least, her passion in horse-riding resulted in organising top-level equestrian events in Slovakia.

Silvia, can you share with our readers more about important milestones on your career journey that took you from Bratislava all the way to Paris?

I have been working in EXIMBANKA SR for 18 years. During this time I have managed to develop knowledge and understanding of the export credit environment and international regulations which are very complex and strict. When Slovakia joined OECD and EU we had to fully comply with these rules, what was sometimes a very challenging process.

On the other hand, this environment is very dynamic as some regulations are being continuously updated and new ones are being adopted. Just like any other international environment, export credits are also about advocating national interests. So I quickly understood that if I wanted to support our national interests, as a national delegate, I needed to speak out, yet our counterparts had to learn to listen to our opinions, i.e. opinions of small countries. To understand national interests correctly, it is very important to communicate effectively, either with my colleagues who are in touch with Slovak businesses or with exporters directly.

The journey took a while as I have been participating at the meeting of the Export Credit Group in Brussels, where only EU Member States are involved, since 2008. During this time I have gained experiences in international negotiating, learned how to support national positions, as mentioned above, national interests, and also our preferences. All international negotiations are based on personal contacts and if you are a respected negotiator, then you can seek support for becoming the Chair. I am very grateful to gain the possibility to run for the Chairman of the Group. I believe that I can be trusted by my colleagues to fulfil the task of the Chairman as an honest broker working to the benefit of the entire Group. Therefore, the EU Council Working Group endorsed me as an EU candidate for the position of the Chairman in OECD as well as a member of the OECD Export Credit Bureau in autumn 2014. I was elected into this position by all Members of the WP ECG during the OECD autumn plenary meeting in November 2014 and re-elected for 2016 in November 2015. On 1st of July 2016, the Slovak Republic took over the first ever Presidency of the Council of the European Union (SK PRES), so I have become also the Chairman of the EU Council Working Group for Export Credits for the 6 months of the Slovak Presidency. The main challenge for Slovakia as part of these important responsibilities and opportunities is to find the way among the Member States to compromise to be able achieve a consensus on difficult issues on the EU agenda and to best represent our country. In this regard we will be hosting a Presidency meeting for all ECG members (EU Member States) in Bratislava in October, so I will be very proud to also welcome my colleagues at the Informal Presidency Meeting in Bratislava, the town where I was born and raised.

Paris, OECD and the world of finances – the three elements evoke the verse “it is a man’s world”. Did you perceive it the same way? Did it feel like you were breaking a glass ceiling or was it more difficult to overcome some stereotypes due to the fact that you were coming from “the East”?

I would say that our Working Group is very well gender balanced thanks to the deep respect for professional qualities of each other and great work of my female colleagues. I definitely was not the first woman to chair the OECD meetings (which started in 1978) or EU; however, it is true that in our OECD working group I am the first representative coming from the former “East block” who was elected to the Export Credit Bureau. I have to admit it would not be feasible without the support of my colleagues from the European Union and other OECD members, and of course my Slovak supporters.

Once I have earned the trust of the group, I am trying to do my job properly and in the most professional way. My main task as the Chair is to move the negotiation process forward. To achieve this I have to listen to the delegations carefully and understand the background very well. One of the most important features of the Chair in such an international environment is being impartial, loyal to the Group and I believe that in this sense my origin is an advantage.

Our interview is for the Leaders magazine. How do you define yourself as a leader and your leadership style?

I heard once, that “leadership” cannot be taught like management, but can be learned and enhanced. I believe that authentic leadership has opened my eyes in the area of self-development and improved the quality of my life not only in my professional career. I became familiar with the Talent Dynamics Profile Test which I find quite useful, because it is based on natural talent and not on skills. My personal talent dynamic profile is “Supporter” and based on this result I realised why I had always needed to work with people and lead them to achieve the best outcome of their work. This has confirmed my role in which I always felt the best – activities relating to people, organising teams, motivating, communicating, people-focused leadership, learning through conversations and teams, communicating through one-to-one discussion. Together with my team we create a great team and our work is very well accepted within our institution as well as in international meetings. My favourite sentence corresponds with my profile: “It wasn’t just me, it was the team”.

You dedicate quite a lot of time to self-development. What are some key findings you can share and pass forward?

I got in touch with the authentic leadership programme through my great coach Eva Štefanková in spring 2015, with the main aim to prepare for the historically first ever Slovak Presidency in the EU Council.

What I value most out of this self-development approach is the attitude towards myself, ability to look at myself and starting to know myself. This goes hand in hand with the ability to understand my strengths and weaknesses and take all the knowledge to achieve the best performance in my work. I consider myself blessed because I like my work very much; if I should describe my job I would say a “dream job”, so to improve myself in self-development is very natural to me as I want to improve all the time.

Do you see enough leaders able to address the current complex issues, be it on the local, regional and European level? What are the biggest challenges they face?

An authentic leader is in my view a person who makes his/her decision naturally as a free human being with the full responsibility and best intention to achieve his/her goal. In my opinion, these days are very challenging because thanks to social media many “leaders” pop up and quickly disappear. I believe that to become a leader is a sustainable process of learning, listening, communicating and expressing oneself. I think one of the biggest challenges for every leader is to understand where their role is and know well available room for manoeuvre, which can be used effectively to achieve their goals.

Horse-riding is your passion but you do not do it merely to relax but also used this opportunity in the past to promote Slovakia abroad. Besides horse-riding, can you comment on your overall approach to work-life balance, how do you find time and where do you find energy?

I’ve always dreamt about riding horses, and since my parents didn’t like this idea I had to wait till I was 14 to find my way to start riding on my own. After a short adventure in racing stables I found a riding stable of show jumpers, with the No.1 Slovak rider at that time and I’ve been riding show jumpers/hunters ever since. I have competed on the national level and my favourite part is riding young horses at the time when you can teach them how to like to be ridden and influence their personality.

No matter how much I like my work, it is absolutely crucial to have balance in my life. My work includes a lot of traveling, which is time consuming and especially long negotiations could be exhausting, so I need to be focused and concentrate at all times. Horses are the generator of my energy, the moment I sit on a horse back all the problems disappear, the head clears up and I am able to rethink and re-evaluate all I have in my mind.

Looking 20 years ahead, what would you like to see?

I am grateful for all opportunities that I have got in my life and I believe that all this would not be possible without a great support of my family, my husband and my parents.

So even in 20 years from now I would like to be surrounded by people I love, can rely on and trust at the same time and I still would like to work in a position which would also be my hobby and passion.

Your final words…

Authentic leadership has changed my attitude to life, opened my eyes in many ways and made me realise how much my reaction can influence the outcomes which then have the major impact on my decisions. When I look back I understand my reactions in the past much better and I believe that for the future many more circumstances will lead to a different outcome, because of my current knowledge.

I would like to wish your readers successful decisions and satisfaction in their life, which brings all the joy and delight.

By Linda Štucbartová

On Sports, Warm-up Routine and Expanding Knowledge

Prof. MUDr. Jiří Chomiak

Prof. Jiří Chomiak, MD, PhD., is the Head of Orthopaedic Paediatric Department at the Bulovka Hospital Prague. He also is the Professor of Orthopaedics on First Medical Faculty of Charles University, a FIFA Medical Committee member and an active FIFA doping control officer. He researched and introduced the FIFA 11+ warm up programme designed to prevent injuries for football players in the Czech Republic. He regularly publishes in the top medical journals. Yet, he still manages outpatient practice once a week, focusing on a hip examination of new born babies, in the Bulovka Hospital. That is where we met 13 years ago. I am one of many lucky Czech mothers, whose child got the special, efficient hip treatment, not requiring a surgery, thanks to the early treatment programme. I have always admired his dedication to medicine and patients. As a person, Prof. Chomiak is not very talkative but whatever he says bears enormous depth and wisdom. It was a pleasure and privilege to discuss with him not only the orthopaedic discipline he has dedicated his professional life to, but also his view on sports in general and last but not least the latest development in Czech football which, after the European Football Championship, interests at least a half of the Czech population.

Practising medicine cannot be compared to a profession, it is a mission. You have chosen the domain of orthopaedics. Was there any particular reason for choosing this specialisation?

My journey to the orthopaedics specialisation was a bit complicated. When I was an assistant at the Anatomy Institute, besides teaching, I was also researching the place of neuromuscular synapsis, i.e. the place where the transmission from a nerve into a muscle originates. It was an interesting study but I missed being with patients.

So I decided to join the orthopaedic department. I realised that this specialisation will enable me to continue my research and put the theoretical research into practice in addition to everyday work. I managed that quite well, I applied my knowledge from the anatomical research into several areas dealing with new methods both during examinations as well as surgeries.

Orthopaedics is connected to sports. The Czech language, in fact, includes two sayings and even approaches – the first one “doing sports will bring you health”, the more sceptic one “doing sports will bring you permanent injuries”. Knowing you personally, you are not a supporter of modern, trendy sports such as golf or squash when performed by managers.

I consider the sport being essential activity that can prevent many civilization diseases. However, it needs to be performed adequately. Then the first claim “doing sports will bring you health” is correct. The second saying contains warning. Very often, when amateur sport fans try to reach the same level as professional athletes, they lack the appropriate medical support. As a result, the long term exhaustion and overstretch might bring severe injuries and degenerative, irreversible changes. I have nothing against golf, it is a nice sport but requires a lot of time which I personally do not have. On the contrary, I consider squash liquidating sport for non-professional athletes because those start playing without appropriate training and particularly warm up. Then they end up in my practice with many muscle and hamstrings injuries.

Since 2010, the Bulovka Hospital in Prague 8 has been a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence (being the first centre of such kind in the region of Central and Eastern Europe). Its aim is to prevent injuries, improve physical and mental health together with the overall well-being of football players. You start working with very young players at the age of seven…So, given the disappointing performance of Czech football players in June at the Euro Cup, when will the condition and consequently the results of Czech players improve?

The question regarding health condition of Czech players is very pertinent, simply because it is far from being optimal. But we are able to address the issue and to improve it. Already in 2009, I introduced the unique warm up programme, the so called FIFA 11+, in the Czech Republic. However, the programme did not get enough support and attention to be introduced all the way to regions. This was in sharp contrast to other top football countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil which have embraced this programme from the beginning. Only after we managed to prove the efficiency and the link to lowering the amount of injuries in expert magazines and also on the level of the Czech national representation team, we were asked for co-operation beginning with the North Bohemian region. We will be very glad to do so and so eventually hope to improve the overall health condition of our players.

I am also happy to share the news about the study that the Czech Republic and Switzerland undertook to research the youngest football generation, aged 7-12 years. The unique results were published in the most prestige American Journal of Sport Medicine. However, our aim was to design an appropriate warm up method for children. So the new programme, FIFA 11+ kids, was born and tested in the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands. The results show astonishing 50% lowering of injury, such results were well beyond our expectations. The programme is now ready to be launched world-wide, which is also very good for the reputation of the Czech Republic abroad. Besides that, we are also active in other projects, such as juvenile osteochondrosis dissecans of the knee in football and also prevention of sudden cardiac arrest, which is a serious worldwide problem.

Most of my foreign friends living in the Czech Republic appreciate the high-quality Czech medical doctors and the health system in general. Czech medical doctors are also welcomed during various international projects and assistance to developing countries. You personally took part in MEDEVAC project, when Czech doctors were assisting to refugees in Syria. Don’t you personally regret that the work and quality of Czech doctors is not recognised by the Czech population?

Yes, it is a fact that the quality and work of doctors is not valued adequately. Unfortunately, the prestige of a doctor and patient relationship is also affected. General population believes that doctors’ salaries are horrendously high. However, most people forget that night shifts, emergencies and shifts during holidays are included in these statistics. Doctors must perform these shifts, not only to the detriment of their own personal free time but also health. Nobody in our country doubts that additional working hours should be compensated but when it comes to doctors, people feel it is part of their mission. However, doctors must be compensated financially, so they can be fully dedicated to their work and be able to provide for their families. In the Czech Republic, all medical care is covered from the general health insurance. If patients were required to pay for their irresponsible behaviour and self-damage in form of smoking, alcohol abuse and obesity, then the relationship doctor – patient would be different. We saw how this approach was useful in dental medicine. Special health coverage, known in the Western countries, would be useful and would bring additional finances into the overall health system.

Doctors are often regarded as role models due to their specialisation. What is your approach to sports?

I try to get as much physical activity as possible, even at work. I take stairs instead of the lift. I do not have time for team sports but I ride a bicycle, regularly as a warm up during work days, with higher intensity during weekend. I like to swim and windsurf during my vacations. I also enjoy mountain hiking in summer, and skiing in winter.

Jiří Chomiak with world famous football player Cristiano Ronaldo

With regards to the life-style and work-life balance, how do you handle the enormous workload? It was impossible to find time for our interview, since on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays you perform surgeries during the day and then you are at your practice, on Wednesdays you have nightshifts on Friday you were flying to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. During the year, you also accompany many sport teams to various matches and championships.

I believe that it is up to every individual to find their own life philosophy. I truly enjoy what I do and that helps me to deal with the workload. You rightly mentioned that I spend most of my time working. I also enjoy the scientific work as it leads to the feeling of satisfaction that we are able to expand our knowledge on the global scale. And then comes the vision of the weekend, when I am able to relax, spend time with my family and do sports. The fact that I am a FIFA medical committee member brings me to various sport events, which means a lot of travelling but I enjoy connecting with people around the world and seeing new places. I also like making new great friendships.

What are your final words for Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Being a medical doctor, I advise the general population to find a healthy life style and sport that they like. Avoid heavy consumption of both food and drinks, so you need us, doctors as little as possible.

As a professor of Charles University, I would like to dedicate my last words to the new generation of doctors. Be rigorous and focused, sacrifice a little from your own comfort, make sure you constantly study even abroad and try to work on expanding our existing knowledge further.

By Linda Štucbartová

and his three (extra) ordinary lives

Jan Koukal

Former Mayor of Prague, ambassador, and university lecturer used to attend prestigious conferences in Davos during previous regime. As a former physicist, he still tends to relax while working out equations and reading expert studies in Europhysics News. Even though he is not a diplomat anymore, he still represents the Czech Republic at the well-known International Institute of Applied System Analysis. What made him come back to Czech politics and run for the Senate in the fall elections?

How do you recall your first extraordinary life in politics?

I must say that I entered politics by chance. One evening, my neighbour knocked on my door looking for someone with university education and academic titles to present at the election ballot. I agreed provided I would come last. And the rest of my story was summarised in the introduction. Being a scientist, I truly enjoyed working on systemic level changes with regards to a new strategy and municipal administration. We recreated the democratic system and despite the intense level of privatisation, there were no big scandals during my term.

When looking back at your career as a Mayor, what do you consider the biggest achievement?

I am proud of the restoration of the Municipal House in Prague. I was pleased to see how newly restored companies with pre-war traditions were interested in carrying out the work. All forms involved were truly proud to participate in such an important symbolic project. And now we can enjoy the Municipal House shining in the Slavic Art Nouveau style.

Now, let us move to the next stage of your career – the diplomatic one, first in Brussels.

As with my political career, I was hesitant at first. However, after six years in politics it was almost impossible to go back to advanced science. But the entry of the Czech Republic to the EU represented another systemic level change and I got the offer to lead the Prague House – the representation of the city of Prague in Brussels. Again, I had the opportunity to create something new – relationships with the European Parliament, with the Commission, find partnerships etc. During this period, I appreciated the skills I had acquired as a theoretical scientist, this time particularly associated with the knowledge of languages. Due to the fact that the textbooks for my specialised discipline were not translated,

I had to learn not only Russian and English, but also French and German. And from the time being in the Mayor’s office, I had the appropriate network, including friendship with the Mayor of Brussels.

And how was the journey from Brussels to Vienna as a destination that is regarded as the top and final for the diplomatic career?

When I came to Vienna, I had to deal with two issues. The first one being nuclear power plant Temelín, the second one being, for an Austrian politician and “Sudetendeutschen” organisations, the controversial Beneš decrees. With regards to the former, my background in physics represented a great advantage, particularly for television and radio debates. I also made use of contacts from my period as a Mayor. The former Mayor of Vienna, Mr. Zilk, had close family ties to the Czech Republic and he was very helpful with regards to strategic documents, such as the housing policy etc. The current Mayor of Vienna, Mr. Michael Häupl, is a chemist by profession and we have been friends for many years. Therefore, I could concentrate on crucial bilateral issues as well as on the support of the Czech community abroad. The Czech community in Vienna has a long and significant history, since Vienna was the city with the largest Czech population in 1905.

You liked Vienna so much that in fact you have never left…

I am still active at the International Institute of Applied System Analysis. The institute addresses issues pertinent to mankind, such as energy, food supply, water supply or diversity of various parts of population. There are people of various professions and backgrounds involved – diplomats, Nobel Prize winners, professors, CEOs and also entrepreneurs. Czechoslovakia was a founding country, but the Czech Republic has left the institution with regards to the budget cuts in 1990s. I am glad that my participation enables other Czech citizens to attend conferences as well as keep in touch with the latest research and trends.

Now let us discuss the current phase of your life – you being an entrepreneur and a candidate for Senate.

My father had started a family enterprise but it was primarily my brother who helped him during my active career in politics. Together, we employ approximately 100 people in several enterprises and naturally we feel a great responsibility. As my father was a biologist and a chemist, he held several patents. We started to produce chemicals designed to protect wood, later we added machinery and now even electronics and cryogen techniques, which is my specialisation. It is our advantage that we do not sell our products either to politicians or to municipalities. After my father died, I decided to help my brother.

So what brings you back to politics?

Despite the fact that I am busy with the enterprise and lecturing at the university, I just cannot sit in the pub and criticise current affairs. I have eight grandchildren and so I feel the need to hand the country to them in a better condition. It is not enough to be critical and write an article from time to time. I am an independent candidate supported by the Party of Entrepreneurs of the Czech Republic, a conservative and moderate right wing party. In case of being elected to the Senate, firstly I would like to focus on foreign policy. I have a feeling that nowadays, both deputies and senators like to travel to get to know foreign lands but the overall strategy design to protect interests of our state is lacking. The second area I would like to cover is the legal order and its notorious complications. I personally see how obstructed I am by nonsense laws and regulations and I sense in certain aspects as if totalitarian regime with the presumption of guilt rather than innocence returned. Just very recently, there was a novelisation of the law restricting freedom of gathering, since the Police can nowadays dissolve any gathering merely at their own discretion. However, it took 200 years of fights to get this freedom. Therefore, I will try to nullify many laws. I wish we returned to the very beliefs that started with the Velvet Revolution – more freedom and truth. It makes me sad to see that the opposition is currently quite weak and so the inevitable democratic process of check and balances is at stake.

And your final words to Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Thank you for your patience. I wish to all of us more wisdom and less emotions during decision-making moments including in the fall elections. Of course I would like to be elected to make sure I can start working on my vision. However, if it is not me who is elected, I wish all the success to a candidate who is better and has a more articulated vision and programme.

By Linda Štucbartová

(A)political interview about politics from a broader perspective, civic education, leadership and reasons to smile.

Miroslav Kalousek, Chairman of TOP 09,
Photo by: Nguyen Phuong Thao, Reflex

Miroslav Kalousek is one of the most experienced Czech politicians. Since 1990, he has been engaged in the civil service sector. He began as an expert and advisor, and since 1998 he has served in the Parliament. Prior to co-establishing political party TOP 09, he was the Chairman of Christian and Democratic Union – Czechoslovak People’s Party. When Miroslav Kalousek was the Minister of Finance, he was twice named by the Emerging Markets journal the Minister of Finance of the Year 2008 and 2011 for the sphere of developing European economies. Since 2013, the party TOP 09 has been a part of the opposition. He has the reputation for being a very smart and at the same time very tough conversational partner. Personally, I very much enjoyed our interview and he smiled at me from time to time. And being a gentleman, he stood behind me during our picture being taken together, so the height difference would not be too disturbing. Although our interview took place on a sunny summer day, there were some serious topics mentioned that might serve as a warning about possible storm coming and hitting the Czech society.

Mr. Kalousek, after so many years in politics, are you still able to look at politics from an eagle-eye perspective?

Quite the contrary, the older I get and the more experience I have, the bigger chance there is for a broader perspective. On the other hand, it is hard to expect that any active politician pursuing a certain ideology path would be totally objective. But the longer I am in politics, the more I understand the system and I am capable of distinguishing the important issues from the irrelevant ones.

How would you introduce the Czech Republic in 2016 to someone who does not live here and so he or she is not immersed in the everyday political life; such as to an expat manager coming to work in our country?

The Czech Republic is a very happy and a rich country with a stabilised market economy. Economically, we are doing well, but there are some structural risks that will surface sooner or later. The great dependence on the automotive industry might be the first one to mention. We are a democratic country, historically we used to be a satellite country of the former USSR and the in influence of Russian propaganda has been extraordinarily high. The fifth column of Russian propaganda is present at the level of central public offices and institutions. We face the situation when the long time established system of liberal democracy and political parties is to a certain degree threatened by the attempt to raise the level of autocracy and apply the corporate management model.

According to the latest polls, Russian President Putin scores as more popular than German Chancellor Angela Merkel. How do you perceive such result?

I am not surprised but it is very sad news. It reflects a certain intellectual slip in the Czech society that shows our relationships towards the European Union as well as towards Russia. It looks like we have two political representations and two Czech Republics and each of them wants to go the opposite direction. It does not come as a surprise that I am a supporter of the Czech Republic belonging to “the hard-core” of the European Union and fulfilling its membership duties within the NATO. Although it is necessary to include Russia in a dialogue and have the best relationship possible, I still consider Russia being the number one security threat with regards to the international and defence policy.

How come we find ourselves in such a state after almost 27 years since the Velvet Revolution?

Democracy is a system where you make mistakes. Everyone does and mistakes happen as well while you run a country. Our biggest mistake was taking freedom for granted for a long time. Freedom actually fell into our laps after the system fell apart and we did not have to fight for it. Free liberal democratic environment is not a given, we have to fight for it and also nurture it every day. We have managed to set up a standard system of democratic institutions establishing all democratic processes and mechanisms within a short time but we have forgotten to answer the question whether we will have enough democratic people. Unlike West Germany after the World War II, we have underestimated the “civic education”, as it used to be a derogatory subject during the communism. We have not put sufficient effort to make sure that a citizen is aware about the principles of liberal democracy, their own place in the system, own rights but also own responsibility to be able to distinguish early warning signals that might put liberal democracy in danger. In Germany, they have dedicated decades to answering a question about how come that such culturally developed country had turned into a brutal dictatorship. But such process does not happen overnight. It is a sequence, similar to the storm coming. The rain does not start suddenly, clouds come first, followed by the wind and then lightning appears. A society that takes care about civic education is able to identify warning signals in time. However, the Czech Republic is still a country with an unpredictable past. We have spent little time discussing history, particularly finding an answer to the question: “How come we have lost our freedom?”. The answer corresponding to the Czech mentality goes: “It is not our fault, it was someone from outside who is to blame”. But this is not true, quite often we lost our freedom ourselves and I do not want to see repeating it.

What would you have become in case you had not entered politics?

I was not in a position to be able to choose. I come from a little town and when I was 15, I received a report saying that it would be suitable for me to be raised by the working class and so I could only choose between two vocational schools – the one to become a fisherman and the other one having chemical specialisation, the latter offering the possibility of graduation. So after I became a worker myself, raised by the working class, I entered the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague. In 1990, I got the offer to join the public sector which I declined at first. Had I not joined, I would have probably continued in the career in the chemical industry. However, my dream at the age of 14 was quite different and quite clear. I wanted to go to the agricultural school in Tábor and then Agricultural University and to breed cows. But I was not allowed to attend that kind of a school.

Now, I will ask you as a citizen…What is the central theme for the upcoming fall elections?

We will have two types of elections, regional elections and in some parts Senate elections. Protection of freedom is definitely the strongest and central theme for the Senate elections. We are facing the situation when the government uses both executive and legislative measures to limit freedoms such as freedom of assembly or protection against search and seizures. During the last two years, numerous registers have been created gathering sensitive information about citizens. Such data must not be systematically used in any way, there is no capacity to do so. However, there is a danger that this information might be misused. Such steps have been all written down to create “List of Oppression” and we want to ask voters to gather the majority in the Senate so the list cannot be enlarged; and on the other hand, it can be annulled overtime.

Miroslav Kalousek with Linda Štucbartová, author of this interview

Now, this was an answer from a politician. But how would you answer as a citizen?

I believe I would be an active citizen who does not agree with his rights and liberties being taken away and is willing to do something about it. The quality of democracy and freedom does not depend on the top political leaders, be it Svoboda, Kalousek or Babiš. It is decided by the 70-80% of population, who in reality does not care. The task of politicians is to make sure that the percentage of people who do not care is as low as possible. Having said that, I do not believe that it is only up to the politicians. The engaged intellectual elite has been present throughout the history, both engaged and active and even able to influence it. Now, if there are some elite groups, they are silent.

It seems you have anticipated my next question. As our interview is for the Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine, let us discuss leaders in the Czech Republic and in Europe.

I will not give you any names, as I feel it is inappropriate, especially prior to the elections. As I have already mentioned, I feel there is a lack of leaders, not only in the Czech Republic but also in Europe. Europe now faces a difficult situation, there is a migration crisis next to the financial crisis and we see various conflicting interests of single member states. I remember times when Europe had much stronger leadership, formed by Kohl, Mitterrand and Thatcher. I have asked myself a question that is rather to be answered by sociologists as to whether the last true leaders were not those of the war generations having experienced borderline situations. These leaders were then replaced by administrators. In good times, administrators are popular, since they are not controversial. In decisive moments, when difficult decisions are to be made and it is necessary to accept a responsibility that can be considered even suicidal, the true leadership is missing.

I have come across your statement at your website: “There is never enough smile, it is a crime not to smile once per day”. So, whom do you smile at and what gives you a reason to smile?

Well, I hope that I have smiled at you… I always make sure to smile at people who work at the reception office. I see how some colleagues enter like a “dead zone” and enter without a greeting. I do not understand this, I believe that even in times I do not feel like it, I should enter with a greeting and smile. Frowning is a part of the Czech mentality but we have many reasons to smile. Despite all the problems we are facing, let me return to the beginning of our conversation when I mentioned that the Czech Republic is a very happy and rich country.

And what are your final words for Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine readers?

I keep repeating the same message; so my appeal goes like this: “Let us not be indifferent”. I consider our own indifference as the biggest challenge for the Czech Republic. We can have different opinions but let us discuss them, let us put these forward. However, we cannot be indifferent, stop paying attention, be apathetic, keep saying that it does not matter. Because then comes the moment when something happens and it is too late since we have been indifferent for too long. Being an active citizen is not limited to casting a ballot once in four years. An active citizen is continuously very attentive to the course of events and makes himself or herself heard when feeling his or her own rights are being limited.

By Linda Štucbartová

On Beauty and Challenges of SMEs

Rostislav Jirkal, Associate Partner, QED Group and former CEO, Servodata

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often referred to as the backbone of the European economy, providing a potential source for jobs and economic growth. In fact, they represent 99% of all businesses in the EU. In the Asia-Pacific region, these businesses are the engines for growth and innovation. It is a great opportunity for the Czech and Slovak Leaders magazine to present Mr. Rostislav Jirkal, a former CEO of Servodata, who after 25 years in ICT family business is leaving the company to join another SME, consulting company QED Group. He shares with us his journey, important milestones, experiences gained and difficult moments. What is it like for an owner of an SME to negotiate with a multinational Goliath? And what is he looking forward to in his new consulting career at QED Group?

What does it feel like to hand over originally a small Czech family business to the international consulting group BDO, currently ranking among the top five largest consulting companies?

It feels special. I’d compare it to wearing the same coat for 25 years, then taking it off and being able to wear any style jacket I choose. I realised that after a certain time spent at the top as CEO, more and more tasks and assignments kept piling on, and at the expense of activities I found energising and more fulfilling. So right now, I am looking forward to the new beginning, launching new projects and feeling a renewed sense of excitement, passion and purpose.

Let us now discuss the three phases that each family business has to go through in order to develop and grow successfully, and eventually become a part of the global market. These phases can be divided into: 1) the early phase, dedicated to the development of an enterprise and its brand; 2) the middle phase, devoted to attraction of customers and development of a team; and 3) the final phase, focused on systems, processes and finance in order to prepare for an acquisition. So, let us go back 25 years, just after the Velvet Revolution, when you and your brother founded the Servodata company.

Only a handful of people realise how unprecedented the period of early 1990s was. The market was hungry to get new technologies. But the way to reach the customer was not straightforward. There were many administrative barriers, including an embargo on importing the latest technology from Western countries. We were launching unknown products, trying to explain their benefits to the market. I recall difficult negotiations with the top representatives of the Seagate company who found it hard to believe that someone in Czechoslovakia could be interested in a 20 MB disc! My career was made by my ability to identify new directions and trends and then evangelising them to the often doubtful market to become more receptive. Using some current entrepreneurial language, I was totally “in the flow”; that is, I was doing what came most naturally to me, and that served my company well. And so with our growing reputation, we attracted partnerships with top global brands, such as EMC, Compaq, IBM and many others. Thanks to these powerful partnerships, Servodata’s brand became very strong. The innovation stage came back later when I built a team dedicated to technology training at the Datascript company, and also started to develop the overall market by introducing open source tools.

What did the second phase, which was dedicated to the team development, look like? Servodata was known as a talent incubator for multinational companies, with many of its former employees working nowadays at global companies such as DHL, Avnet, HP and Red Hat, among others.

I believe in the rule saying you should always hire people who are smarter than you. Since the beginning, we created a distinct culture to ensure that all our colleagues, both men and women, could show off their skills, as well as receive the support and encouragement to become better experts than us, the owners. So we applied two trends in practice, succession planning and talent management, which were heavily debated. The challenge was, since we were bringing totally new technologies, that we could not find anyone familiar with these on the market. I remember hiring an academic expert who did not speak English. We provided intensive language training and after three months this guy was ready to pass an extremely demanding certification process in the United States. As we could not compete with multinational companies with respect to salaries and benefits, we instead created a company culture that was open, innovative and creative – an environment very much today sought after by top talent. I was very pleased to hear the reaction of potential candidates during interviews who heard that Servodata was a company where “life is good”.

Let us move to the last phase, where a company prepares to be acquired. This phase is usually unknown and occurs behind scenes. How difficult was it for you to concentrate on processes and systems and also lead negotiations for the hand over? Did you feel like you were a small David facing an international Goliath?

This phase is extremely demanding, but thanks to the fact that we have been a partner to various global companies since the beginning, we had to adjust to their structures and processes. We had at our disposal not only the latest information systems, but also internal communication processes and overall systems of training and development. As far as negotiations with investors were concerned, these were thrilling and full of creative energy. A small Czech company, represented by a small team of three or four individuals, facing a global corporation with a team of thirty people! I had to be familiar with all aspects of negotiations, beginning with financial terms, all the way to final negotiations when we were examining each word in the contract. I’ve always relied on a strong team, this time being composed of external advisors, so we were neither surprised, nor taken advantage of. I am truly proud of the value that we have left to our foreign partners when handing over parts of the company, not only the financial value, but the value in its ability to remain healthy and grow under new conditions. The same was true for the process of acquiring new companies, such as M.S.D. or Abakus Distribution; the value of those companies was later multiplied thanks to successful integration into the structure of Servodata Group.

What is the most profound message you would like to pass on to other owners of SMEs?

As I said, I’ve been able to successfully complete the life cycle of an enterprise: defining a vision, building a structure, building a team, proving a viable concept of a repeatable business model, up until the final phase of monetisation for owners and shareholders. Thanks to being an expert partner in advisory bodies of several global corporations, I was able to become familiar with global organisational structures, including top management, knowing both the pros and cons of how these corporations work on a daily basis. On top of that, as I learned to understand and see the world from an investor’s point of view, I gained valuable experience in both the acquisition and divestments processes. So naturally, I learned to deal with different company cultures. I think there are only a few issues left out there that might surprise me! I want to use this experience and knowledge to help business owners to identify the best development path for a particular defining moment in their development. I am aware of many paths and cul-de-sacs which could lead them astray from their desired end-game, and how to avoid these, saving headaches, and well as time and money, which of course is totally essential for the health of an enterprise itself during this journey.

What are you looking forward to in your future consulting career?

I am looking forward to drawing upon my first hand experience to co-create new visions for inspiring companies, and to help solve situations, from a consultant point of view, which appear unsolvable from the perspective of those involved in it on daily basis. Succession planning in SMEs is an issue that has become very pressing in the Czech Republic. It was not by chance that I was able to successfully complete the enterprise life-cycle with Servodata Group. There is a measurable process and proven methods. That said, anyone trying to solve the puzzle of succession planning should start to think about the team, internally and externally. Despite the so-called war on talent being mentioned in media headlines, I see many talented people around who are not given a chance. The feeling that “I am the only one to be able to solve that” is an illusion and does not serve anyone

And why did you decide to join QED Group?

I perceive QED Group as a company of enthusiastic professionals, led by Radvan Bahbouh, a leading Czech coach, a psychologist, a psychiatrist and also a mathematician, who has unique, proven and long-time expertise in building high performance teams. There is a vast range of products QED Group offers, and I find that all of these reflect the latest scientific work which combines mathematics, psychology and other disciplines. For example, “sociomapping” is one of those unique tools, which became famous also thanks to the MARS 500 project. Unfortunately, there is a myth that only the richest multinational corporations can afford the best products with regards to learning and development. Based on my direct experience, I know that SMEs are vitally dependent on finding maximum efficiency in how they function. And, I should mention again, it is the SMEs who are disrupting current dogmas, and are taking the lead to contribute to the growth of economy and bring innovation. I see my new mission to assist and help them.

By Linda Štucbartová

Nikos Balamotis, a managing partner of QED Group was featured in Leaders in 2014; the interview can be accessed on the following link: 

https://issuu.com/czechleaders/docs/2014-2/83?e=15342938/11344763

Radvan Bahbouh, founder of QED Group on Rostislav Jirkal…

In almost ten years I’ve known and interacted with Rostislav, I’ve never found him in the same place as the previous time. Rostislav has this tendency to put things in motion, and in the midst of all that he is able to discover new roads, while doing it thoughtfully. From my perspective, it seems that he was able to transform his passion for paragliding into his profession. Unlike his untidy office desk, his inner world is very orderly, but not static. I have a feeling he’ll still keep evolving and rearranging it in new ways, and so developing himself and his surroundings in ever more beneficial ways.

“I feel a passionate responsibility to educate the next generation.”

Adam Stewart

I met Adam Stewart, the Artistic Director of Prague Youth Theatre (PYT), after the play “Empty Hands” made it to Prague media headlines this spring. A shortened version of the play was chosen to compete for the highest Czech theatre award “Student Thalia”. ‘Empty Hands’ by Adam Stewart explores the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia and Terezin through the eyes of Jewish, Czech and German children. It aims not only to discuss the dark past of European history, but also to serve as a warning to the modern day political situation in the world.

Like many people associated with theatre, Adam is a modest introvert. However, I believe he truly represents the Ambassadors Without Diplomatic Passports with his PYT work bringing together Czech and international students. He often presents current issues which transcend borders. These issues prepare students for real life situations. In addition, Adam is presenting Czech culture to foreign audiences, by being a member of the highly successful cast of the English play “Záskok” at the famous Czech Jára Cimrman Theatre.

For my interview with this actor, director, playwright, and entrepreneur, I chose a format based on Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. This method works well for most successful plays and stories.

How do you perceive today’s world?

Sadly I do not perceive the world particularly fondly at the moment. Brexit, the possibility of a President Trump and what seems to be a rise in racism across Europe and the rest of the world is terrifying to say the least. As a youth theatre leader I feel a passionate responsibility to educate the next generation in order for them to change the future. It’s naïve to think that Prague Youth Theatre can impact the world as a whole but if the young people who work with us enter adulthood wiser, more open minded and tolerant of others then we will have succeeded in a small way.We have been very lucky at PYT to have been able to offer our students international theatre exchanges and competitions. Our students have visited Ireland and Croatia to take part in theatre workshops and we have been visited by the same groups and a group from Serbia. Every year we take part in a theatre competition with youth theatres from France, Russia and the UK here in Prague. These international exchanges offer the opportunity for our students to meet with like-minded individuals and get a better understanding of different cultures, faiths, social backgrounds and language. I believe it is important for young people to be aware of the world outside of their school, family, town and country and the opportunities we offer at Prague Youth Theatre enforce that message.

How do you perceive the position of the Czech Republic?

I have lived in the Czech Republic for 11 years now and I have seen many changes in that time. From an improvement in the choice of cuisine to a more tolerant and progressive society. I call Prague my home now and although the Czech Republic has its problems like any country, I find the Czech people to be warm, open-minded and liberal thinking. Coming from a ‘nanny state’ as I do, it is refreshing to live in a country that allows you to make mistakes without being wrapped in cotton wool. I’m concerned at the moment with some of Zeman’s recent Trumpesque comments but as I said before I believe this is mainly due to a rise in racism across Europe. I have been heartened by the number of anti-racism rallies that have taken place in the city and hope to see that continue. Over the last two years I have been lucky enough to play the role of Bárta in the first official English performance of Jára Cimrman’s The Stand-In (Záskok) and this has given me a huge insight into the Czech Republic and the mentality of the Czech people.

If you were to write a play about your higher calling according to Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, what was your “call to adventure”?

My call to action was simply that I needed a job. I am a trained drama teacher and had taught for five years at the English International School, Prague. It was time for a new challenge but job offers overseas were not forthcoming. I had been part of a number of youth theatres growing up and had loved the social aspect as well as the rehearsals and performances. So I thought ‘why not start a youth theatre in Prague?’. There were no English speaking youth theatres at that time so I set up a website, found a venue and we performed our first shows in December 2011. Now PYT has become much more than a job and my call to adventure now is to grow the student base and continue to perform high quality drama.

Let us move to the next stage, when mentors play an important role. What role have they played?

Mentors have played a big part in my life. As a student I was trained by some inspirational teachers and youth theatre leaders who instilled in me my passion for the theatre. I learnt a lot about life and the world around me through experiences with youth theatres and many of my lifelong friendships resulted from theatres groups that I was part of. My biggest influence was a teacher/director who ran a youth theatre in my home town that I was part of for many years. In many ways the ethos of Prague Youth Theatre and my style of teaching has come from what I learnt while part of her company. Redford School of Speech and Drama was more than a theatre company, it was a family and I spent much of my social time with the other members of the group. The director had very high standards of performance and we produced some very professional productions. One thing that irks me as a youth theatre director is if audience members leave saying “that was good for kids”. It is my goal that when audiences see PYT shows they leave thinking “what a professional show that was”, “the acting was excellent”. Youth Theatre can be extremely powerful and a high quality of performance is what we always strive for no matter what the age.

The next stage is about tests, allies and enemies… With PYT being so successful and established, have you passed this stage or are there some blocks still ahead?

Thankfully over the last five years PYT has consistently grown and evolved to what it is today. We now have over 150 children and young people who take our classes and we have a number of leaders and administration staff who continue to enable us to expand. The biggest hurdle we face as a company now is how to manage our expansion to ensure that the young people and families that we work with continue to receive the highest level of drama education. This takes many forms… extra spaces, more staff , improving communication with families and ensuring that our performances continue to be to a professional standard. When PYT began we had 20 young people and I was able to teach every group and build relationships with all the students. As we grow it is my job to make sure that every child receives the same level of care as they would have had when we began.

Although Prague Youth Theatre has so far been a success I still have concerns about the perception of youth theatre, in particular drama, in mainstream education. In the UK certainly less and less emphasis is being placed on the arts, particularly drama. In many schools across the UK drama is being stripped from the curriculum in favor of core subjects. Theatre in schools is becoming more and more elitist as can be seen by the current rise of UK public school actors making it big in Hollywood. During a parent meeting a few years ago while I was working at the English International School a parent asked me “why does my child have to do drama, they don’t want to be an actor” and I replied that drama in schools is hugely important for a child’s education. Drama teaches confidence, discipline, organization, to name a few and all of those skills are hugely important for life but also for any career a child chooses to follow. I have never written a CV without including the life skills that drama has taught me. We’re very lucky at PYT that parents see the benefits of a drama education and we often receive very positive feedback about how much children grow in confidence during their time with us.

Reward and coming back with the elixir is the final stage of the journey. Have you found one?

Yes. I’m rewarded every time I watch our students at PYT perform. As an actor I used to love the applause at the end of a performance however as a theatre director of young people it is far more rewarding for me to see the admiration that they receive from an audience. The performance is the objective but the journey that the students take to prepare for the performance is hard work, emotional and at times frustrating. We see young people at PYT growing in confidence and as actors and seeing them receiving applause is one of the reasons why I love my job. One of the projects that I am the most proud of is “Empty Hands”. This is a play that I wrote 5 years ago that tells the story of a young Czech Jewish girl who is taken to Terezin. The story examines how joy can be found even in the darkest of times and the play celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. My colleagues and Prague Youth Theatre supporter Judi Challiner are currently working on rewriting the play and developing a school curriculum to accompany it. Our goal is to publish the finished play, with accompanying curriculum and original music composed by David Talacko. We hope to promote this to schools across Europe to educate them not only about the Holocaust but also as a lesson to current and future generations of tolerance, acceptance and understanding.

We discussed that your plays tend to have open ending and certainly you avoid happy endings. “Theater is there to search for questions. It doesn’t give you instructions.” The plays that our older students perform tend to be issue based dramas. Besides the most recent “Empty Hands” we have tackled issues such as domestic violence or child trafficking. As I said before I believe it is our responsibility at Prague Youth Theatre to prepare young people for the world in all its good and bad. Rehearsing and performing plays that deal with issues that young people face enables students to ask questions, find answers or research the themes raised in the plays. Theatre is a great way for young people to learn and explore ideas in a safe, relaxed and fun environment.

What are your final words to Czech and Slovak Leaders readers?

Come and check out one of our performances in December. We pride ourselves on the professionalism of our productions and the quality is consistently high. Or if you have children, sign them up. Term begins on Saturday, 3rd September. More information can be found on our website www.pyt.cz.

If you’re interested in seeing Jára Cimrman in English please visit the Žižkovské divadlo website at http://www.zdjc.cz.

By Linda Štucbartová, external collaborator of Czech & Slovak Leaders magazine