Prague Leaders Magazine Issue 01/2014

now available in Brussels

Photo: Vladimír Weiss

Ivan Klíma, Writer, the most translated Czech author

TRUE TO QUALITY JAN / FEB / 2014 / 199 CZK

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Foto nahoře: Podpis koaliční smlouvy mezi ČSSD, ANO a KDU-ČSL • Foto uprostřed vlevo: Prezident Miloš Zeman přípíjí čerstvě jmenovaným soudcům • Foto uprostřed vpravo: Předseda ČSSD Bohuslav Sobotka po schválení rozpočtu ČR • Foto dole vlevo: Tříkrálový přípitek předsedy TOP 09 Karla Schwarzenberga • Foto dole vpravo: Demonstrace před budoucí palestinskou ambasádou jako reakce na aféru s explozí trezoru

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publisher’s note & contents

DEAR READERS, Brr, Brr, it’s cold outside as I write these words to you. Winter finally arrived, although no snow yet here in Prague, but very cold indeed. Another year has come and gone and we know very little about the new one and what it will bring us.

Let’s be optimistic and hope that 2014 will be good for all of us. It helps if we show compassion to each other; reach out a hand when needed, take time to listen, offer a smile and be positive. This advice helps and the response you get from others gives you the strength to cope with anxiety, worries and problems that we all know may occur from time to time.

At the beginning of this year Leaders Magazine became an official media partner to the European Golf Tour – D+D Real Czech Master – and its promoting partner, Relmost. The tournament will take place on the 21st through 24th of August at the fantastic Albatross Golf Resort outside Prague. Read our article on pages 88-89.

The D+D REAL Czech Masters has a strong financial partner.

Emirates airlines is forming a partnership with the tournaments through 2017.

Petr Dědek, Chairman of the Board of RELMOST says, “this is an important alliance for us. We managed to position ourselves among the elite tournaments supported by Emirates. It fits our concept for aligning The Czech Masters with prestigious global brands, to encourage their business activities in the region and create a network of contacts for Czech companies and clients at the same time.”

You should know, Dear Readers, that golf has been in my heart and mind for over 40 years. I have played and enjoyed the game with friends in many countries, now particularly in the Czech Republic, where golf is more and more popular and includes more and more golf courses. I remember arranging golf tournaments at the beginning of the nineties – there were only three eighteen hole golf courses, none of them in Prague area and now there are a total of eighty.

In this issue you’ll find many top level events and interesting articles. We cover the Comenius traditional Czech 100 Best Companies – one of the biggest events of the year, with nearly 800 invited guests, held at the Spanish Hall at the Castle. Other memorable events were the Austrian Ball at Žofín, the Ball in Opera taking place in Brno, the Hilton Christmas Charity Concert and the Chinese Promotional Event. Additionally, you’ll see the Czech/German Chamber Annual Economic Discussion, Senate meetings with Ambassadors and Journalists, the Aspen Institute Christmas Dinner and Nordic Chambers Santa Lucia, to mention but a few.

We offer unusual and fascinating interviews with famed Czech writer, Ivan Klíma, the Honorable Ed Hoeks, Ambassador of the Netherlands, Mrs Božena Jirků, Director of the Konto Bariéry, the outgoing Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Dalibor Štys and including many highly interesting articles from our contributors.

Dear Readers – another year is before us – let’s make it a good one.

Benke Aikell ■ benke.aikell@leadersmagazine.cz www.leadersmagazine.cz

6 Leaders Magazine I/2014

events 13 Traditional New Year Meeting with Diplomats at the Senate 15 Meeting of Senators with Journalists 18 Key Factors of Success 21

Gala Evening Czech 100 Best

26 Aspen Institute Prague Christmas Party 28 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador 29 Low Energy Housing – Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador 30 Discussion Round Table of Comenius with RNDr. Tomáš Hudeček, Ph.D. Mayor of the City of Prague 34 German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce 7th Annual Economic Discussion 39 The CFO Club – Christmas Session 48 Tempting Saudi Arabia 50 Egypt – Touristic Paradise 52 FRYDAY W – Global Warning – Climate Changes with Jonathan Wootliff, the Former Director of Greenpeace International at Latin Art Gallery 54 FRYDAY Afterwork at Boscolo 58 Hilton Christmas Charity Concert

gala evening/Aspen Institute Prague Christmas Party

From left: Frank Nourse, Managing Director, Pierwood Capital, Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague, and Benke Aikell, your publisher f page 26

62 St. Lucia Party 64 GAS Business Breakfast 2013 held by Czech Gas Association 82 Promotion Conference of China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair) 86 FRYDAY Diplomatic Forum – Actual Situation in Syria 88 D+D REAL CZECH MASTERS GOLF Event with Emirates on Board

contents interviews 10 Reader Volumes are Increasingly Less Related to Quality

culture events 42 The Brno Opera Ball, and its Main Star Christopher Lambert

An Interview with Ivan Klíma, famous Writer and most translated

70 2014 Best of Magazine Ball Held at Autoclub of the Czech Republic

Czech author

100 Francesco Clemente Paintings

36 The Most Difficult thing was Negotiating the Change of Procedure for Appointing Professors

gala evening/ The Brno Opera Ball

An Interview with Professor Dalibor Štys, outgoing Minister of Health of the Czech Republic

interview/The most difficult thing was negotiating the change of procedure for appointing professors

Christopher Lambert and Jana Doležalová, Miss of the Czech Republic 2004 f page 42

An Interview with Professor Dalibor Štys, outgoing Minister of Health of the Czech Republic f page 36

45 Building Personal Relationships is still a very Important Aspect of

diplomatic events 74

Austrian Ball

Business in the Czech Republic An Interview with H.E. Eduard W.V.M. Hoeks, Ambassador of the

gala evening /charity ball/Austrian ball

Kingdom of the Netherlands in Prague 66 I’m the white crow of the non-profit Sector. I Spread Optimism.

An Interview with Božena Jirků, Executive Director, Charta 77 Foundation

interview/I’m the white crow of the non-profit sector. I spread optimism.

Debutants f page 74

An Interview with Božena Jirků, Executive Director, Charta 77 Foundation f page 66

Leaders Magazine I/2014 7

contents & info contributors 33 The State and Information Technologies/Ivan Pilný 56 Another Boring Day in Paradise?/Evžen Tošenovský 57 Corporate Citizenship – an Essential Business Ingredient/Jonathan Wootliff 61 Czechia – a Future Waterways Crossing of Europe?/Emanuel Šíp 68 Get the New Year off to a Good Start resolutions, Work-life Balance and Quest for Perfection/ Tereza Urbánková 69 The Wisdom of Slowing Down – Dare to Gain Perspective in an Increasingly Noisy World/Cristina Muntean 73 Global Entrepreneurship Week in the Czech Republic for the First Time/ELAI 78 Tomáš Sedláček/Linda Štucbartová 80 Jan Bárta/Linda Štucbartová 84 May I Suggest a New Strategy for the New Year?/Elisabet Rodriguez Dennehy 85 The Stress and Nervousness of Communication/Martin Opatrný 90 Every Single Moment of Every Day/Sanjiv Suri 92 Asia Rising: Making the Link Between Education and Competitive Advantage/Jan Mühlfeit 94 Discovering India, Part I/Iva and Joseph Drebitko 98 Balance: The Business-Life Connection Part III: What the World Needs Now – Feminine Energy?/ James A. Cusumano, PhD

Discovering India, Part I / Iva and Joseph Drebitko

Jaipur fort f page 94

EU matters 102 Emma Marcegaglia Interview with the President of Businesseurope 104 EU Debates – EU Public Procurement 105 EU Debates – Regulated Professions 106 Bussiness News

Publisher: Benke Aikell Head of Editorial: Lenka Helena Koenigsmark Office Manager/Head of IT: Michael Serences Office Assistant: Tatiana Fominykh Webmaster: Václav Kocourek EU Matters: CEBRE Czech Business Representation, CESES, Europlatform Contributors: James A. Cusumano, Iva Drebitko, Joseph Drebitko, Elisabeth Rodrigues Dennehy, ELAI, Martina Hošková, Lenka Helena Koenigsmark, Jaroslav Kramer, Jan Mühlfeit, Cristina Muntean, Martin Opatrný, Ivan Pilný, Sanjiv Suri, Emanuel Šíp, Linda Štucbartová, Evžen Tošenovský, Tereza Urbánková, Jonathan Wootliff, Photographers: Ondřej Besperát, Roland Hilmar, Anna Chlumská, Martin Janas, Jiří Janda, Jakub Joachim, Jan Levora, Ivan Malý, Martin Pinkas, Raúl Sorrosa A., Jan Šilpoch, Goran Tačevski, Martin Vlček, Vladimír Weiss, Veronika Žabová Subscription service: Leaders Magazine, CEPONA, s.r.o.

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Leaders Magazine is a member of 8

Photos from the last Advisory Board Dinner

info ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS PhDr. Zdeněk Čáp, Managing Partner, Equity Solutions s. r. o.

Josef Drebitko, CEO, D&COMM Prof. Ing. Jiří Fárek, CSc., Professor, Technická Univerzita Liberec and former First Deputy Mayor, City of Prague 6 Mgr. Marta Gellová, President, EFPA Michal Heřman, General Manager, Star Communications Plk. Mgr. Vladislav Husák JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Law Firm JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra & spol.

Prof. Ing. Kamil Janáček, CSc., CNB Bank Board Member

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher, H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada, H.E. Ed Hoeks, Ambassador of the Netherlands, and H.E. Christian Hoppe, Ambassador of Denmark

and Chief Executive Director Ing. Peter Jusko, MBA, Partner, London Market Ing. Petr Kalaš, Advisor to the Minister, Ministry of Agriculture of the CR and former Minister of Environment Ing. Josef Kreuter, CSc., former Czech Ambassador to the EU Prof. Dr.h.c. JUDr. Jan Kříž, CSc., Partner, Law Firm Kříž a partneři s.r.o.

Genmjr. JUDr. Lubomír Kvíčala, former Director of the Department of Protection of Constitutional Officials, Police of the Czech Republic Ing. Vladimír Laštůvka, former M.P. Ing. Jan Mühlfeit, Chairman Europe, Microsoft Corporation Ing. Jiří Maceška, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Česká pošta a. s. and former Czech Ambassador to OECD George Parobek, Managing Director,

Ing. Zdeňka Indruchová, Executive Director, AČPM and JUDr. Václav Školout, Attorney, Vyroubal, Krajhanzl, Školout

Ifield Computer Consultancy Šárka Parobek, Director, Ifield Computer Consultancy Doc. Ing. Václav Petříček, CSc., Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber SNS Ing. Jozef Piga, Managing Director, Servis Praha a.s.

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PhDr. Jaroslav Šedivý CSc., former Ambassador

From left: H.E. Christian Hoppe, Ambassador of Denmark with his wife and Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

and Minister of Foreign Affairs JUDr. Josef Šesták, Assistant Professor, Vysoká škola obchodní v Praze, o.p.s.

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ADVISORY BOARD COMITTEE Benke Aikell, Publisher, Leaders Magazine Ing. Petr Kubernát, Director, PEKOS s.r.o. and former Czech Ambassador to the Netherlands Ing. Karel Muzikář, CSc., President, COMENIUS

HONORARY MEMBERS ABROAD AND GOODWILL AMBASSADORS H.E. William J. Cabaniss, former United States Ambassador to the Czech Republic Vincent J. Derudder, Secretary General, The European Federation of Financial Advisers and Financial Intermediaries Frank J. Devlyn, Rotary International President 2000–2001 and Rotary Foundation Chairman 2005–2006 H.E. Alexey L. Fedotov, former Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Czech Republic Ing. Peter P. Formanek, President Emeritus, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic H.E. Richard Graber, former United States Ambassador to the Czech Republic H.E. Jan Cornelis Henneman, Ambassador of the Netherlands to the Czech Republic Otto Jelinek, former Canadian Cabinet Minister and current member of numerous international boards H.E. Athar Mahmood, former Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the Czech Republic H.E. Zdravko Popov, former Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Czech Republic H.E. Mati Vaarmann, former Ambassador of the Republic of Estonia to the Czech Republic Ája Vrzáňová, Czech World Champion in Figure-skating, Sport Legend H.E. Huo Yuzhen, former Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Czech Republic

international boards Jaromír Šlápota, President, Československý ústav zahraniční Ing. Pavel Štefka, MSc, 4-star General (ret.), Chief of Defence and Special Programs, Tatra Ing. Helena Švédová, HR Director, PSG International, a.s.

Ing. Josef Tauber, Advisor to the President, Czech Banking Association Ing. Jiří Vávra, Vice Chairman, STROJEXPORT, a.s.

JUDr. Petr Vyroubal, Partner, Law Firm Vyroubal Krajhanzl Školout

interview

An Interview with Ivan Klíma, famous Writer and most translated Czech author

10 Leaders Magazine I/2014 Photo: Vladimír Weiss

“It’s important for people to read. Reading develops a certain type of brain activity that is irreplaceable. Should it be replaced by television, it won’t be good for the development of the human brain,“ says the most translated living Czech writer – Ivan Klíma. He was born in Prague and during WWII spent three and a half years in the Terezín concentration camp. Among other places, he worked as a guest professor at Michigan University in the USA. Upon his return to his home country he was a forbidden author and only able to publish in samizdat and exile.

interview First I’d like to thank you for making time for the readers of Leaders Magazine and inviting us to your home. The first thing one realizes here is that it’s quiet and nature is close in reach. Is this basic to your profession?

I must say that whenever someone visits, they notice how peaceful and quiet it is here. That was always my idea. If I were to live in Prague, then it would have to be near the forest. I loved the forest ever since I was a child and when we came back from Terezín, my first wish was that they drive me to the woods. My cousin took me to Motol and I still have a special relationship with Motol today.

Later we used to go there for mushrooms...

I think that aside from Literární noviny and Host, there is nothing else being published for the wider public. I prefer to read books to magazines. At a certain age one considers what to read and what he may not have the time for.

When hunting mushrooms – is that when you search out inspiration?

Not really. You are alone there. When you begin the search, your mind is grinding. That is, if you have something to grind. But it’s true that as you hunt for mushrooms, your head is more full of brittlegills than thoughts.

You are the most translated living Czech author. What must one do for that?

You can’t do anything for it except to write in a way that it’s worth reading or somehow interesting or thought-provoking, the agent takes care of the rest. For years I had a Swedish agent, the new one is an American. My Crazy Century was published in English quite quickly.

But the thinking process is an integral part of your work. In one interview you said you write about ‘the world as it is.’ From where do you observe what it’s like?

When I was younger, I met a lot of people.

That’s the most important thing. I worked in newspapers, which were very lively. But that’s a long time ago... when I was about forty. I had to end because that’s when freedom ended. But I still met a number of people. Even back home, after returning from America, I organized big meetings. Sometimes we’d have forty guests at home.

You are familiar with working in the media.

You worked at Literární noviny, Květen, Plamen and Orientace magazines. You write for Lidové noviny. How do you see today’s media world?

It’s truly a different world and the subjects are particularly different. Back then it was a certain form of criticism of the regime and a fight with communism. Current journalistic work is similar, with the difference that we had to think about censorship in order to get things through. The Literární noviny back then might be compared to Respekt. They had a social section, but they were different in that half of it was purely about visual arts, literature, critiques...

What do you think about the opinion that there should be a certain form of censorship in society? That some works are on the very edge of morality...

I spent my whole life fighting censorship. It’s not a good thing as an institution. There should be a freedom of expression, possibly limited constitutionally, for instance in case of promoting violence. But if someone decides to write something that is not in conflict with the constitution, then they should have a guaranteed right to at least publish it themselves.

And what about professional literary magazines?

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

So you wouldn’t say that the Czech market is missing a title professionally devoted to literature?

This is not a matter of professional publications. For example, I just wrote several stories and I don’t have many places to offer them. But that’s not a complaint, I write because I still haven’t tired of writing.

Is there still a language to which you weren’t translated and would personally appreciate it?

I think within Europe, I’m still not in Finnish or Portuguese. In a number of countries, all my books were published. Sure, one is pleased by that but I don’t focus on it in any way. Many times I’ve been asked whether I think of my foreign readers when I write. Certainly not. One thinks about expressing oneself clearly and hopefully, persuasively. That’s all.

How busy are you these days? I assume you write stories when you have an idea. But it’s not easy to plan that ahead.

This year, on January first, I decided that I no longer have any responsibilities or schedule, that I’m eighty-three and retired. I’m retired now for nearly a quarter of a century, so I can finally enjoy it. It’s a rather nice feeling to wake up in the morning and not have anything to do. But then I start dealing with the correspondence, maybe write something for a magazine… But it’s the first time that I’ve allowed myself to sit in the afternoon and read.

What are you reading right now?

Václav Cílek’s book, about people who were tried as Nazis. It’s a subject I read about quite a bit. I have a shelf of books related to Hitler, Goebbels, Göring, with Lenin, Stalin, simply Nazism and communism.

Yes despite that, this subject doesn’t seep into your books.

It’s more an interest to read about, not write.

But I remember that when I came back from Terezín, I collected memories from concentration camps. I don’t know why I did it back then, whether it was self-torture or curiosity about how it was elsewhere.

I know you don’t like to talk about it, but

do you have favorite contemporary authors?

Competition?

No one from my generation is my active competition. As far as I know, my contemporaries don’t write anymore. I mostly just cross my fingers for the young ones. Perhaps the most interesting to me seems to be Emil Hakl. But as you said, I don’t like to be in the role of an evaluator.

You already received several lifetime achievement awards. Frankly, most of us never manage a lifetime achievement award. What is it like to receive it? Do you go back to the beginnings with your memories?

My strongest emotion was when my first book was published. That’s over fifty years ago and I invited the editor, who was also my friend, to a Chinese restaurant. Back then there was only one in Prague. It was truly refined. We had some Peking-style meat and celebrated the book that way. Then it sort of gets you when the first translation is published. Then you don’t celebrate anymore, because it would just take you away from work.

I was more pointing to the feelings of what it’s like to get such an award?

A lifetime achievement award is, at the same time, a challenge not to quit writing. As Philip Roth said, one should stop at eighty. And it’s more or less true. At this age you have a ‘tired’ mind.

Perhaps that when mental activity is needed.

That’s why I still write, even if I may not offer it for publishing. I enjoy writing. I write aphorisms, that’s not a genre which I know and stories. I don’t know whether that’s a rule that in an advanced age, one starts writing briefly. For example, Graham Greene, who wrote truly rich stories, has works toward the end of his life that seem to be brief. My current stories are two to four pages long and I used to write twenty-page stories. You scratch out useless words. That’s why I was impressed with Hemingway with his factual, concise sentences. They recently wrote me from Germany that they intend to publish the Hour of Silence.

I was horrified, because that’s fifty years old.

I read the novel after many years and it seemed that it’s fine to be published, but that the language in is considerably more patulous than what I use today.

And now on a different subject. You have experience with university studies in the Czech Republic and in the US. Is there a fundamental difference in the approach between Czech and American students?

I don’t know today’s students. In our times, there was a free regime in the university. Who wanted to go to a lecture, went and who didn’t want to, didn’t. On the other hand, in America, as long as they paid for it, they went to lectures. If they couldn’t, they always excused themselves.

One time they went to Washington to demonstrate against the Vietnam War, so they came to see me and asked whether I wouldn’t mind and if I would change the date of the lecture. Czech students

Leaders Magazine I/2014 11

interview Is there actually some particular ‘leader’ among writers? What does he or she look like?

Among writers, some are more, some others are less successful. But that’s not the only measure. There are those more and less original.

Even the very successful ones are often not all that good. The success rate in literature is given by reader volumes and reader volumes are increasingly less related to quality. Another measure of success is fame abroad. For instance, Karel Čapek was successful in the world and quite a bit even here, although that’s a rather unusual phenomenon.

You wrote a monograph about him.

I like him and I think he’s our greatest writer of the between-war era, if not the most successful Czech writer ever.

Current most successful writers are also celebrities. Was it always so?

That’s only in modern times and it’s different nation to nation. There are countries where, if writers were successful, they were sent into exile in Siberia.

Did you, personally, ever feel that way?

A writer mustn’t be a celebrity. That’s a model for entertainers or, in their own way, even a successful politician. The issue is whether you are a celebrity as the accompanying evil or a life goal.

I must say that in order to be or not be a celebrity, there is a lot that can be done. You either avoid certain types of publicity and interviews and you don’t push yourself in the media or you do. Nonetheless, I never gave an interview to a tabloid daily.

Actually, what will your 2014 look like?

I have the embryo of a short story collection, but because the prose pieces are short, the book is still too thin. I’d like to write short stories. I don’t intend to write a novel. Many people ask me whether I will publish the third part of my memoir and I answer that definitely not. Also my collected essays are being published, so I need to do through proof-reading, which I see as possibly the last chance to do some edits.

And do you have specific plans?

I have lots of short story collections. I thought I would make a selection of the stories I consider the best. A short story collection is always a risk for a publisher, they don’t like it. If you do a selection, they will feel that it would be easier to offer in the market. I’d like to do that. But that’s editorial work, not creative. would never do that. Their interest in what they studied astonished me.

Do you still have ties to the US? The last time I was at the university was a few years back. I sought out my student there, who is now a professor. I was in America about two months ago and I’m going there again in May for the Pen Congress. I think this will be my last trip to the USA. Travel no longer pleases me.

12 Leaders Magazine I/2014

If you were to give a piece of advice to a beginning writer what is, in your opinion, the most essential?

Mostly that they shouldn’t blather (laughter).

Whatever they write should never be published immediately after writing. They should give themselves a few days and read it at a distance. The text should be read so many times that the author deletes everything useless. Hemingway said, “Write standing up, edit sitting down.

So you provide yourself with feedback?

I usually have it from myself. Perhaps I’m a thorough author and I worked for a while as a publishing editor, so I give the feedback to myself.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Jaroslav Kramer ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Photo: Martin Vlček

From left: Msgr. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio, Doyen of the Diplomatic Corps and Milan Štěch, President of the Senate

senate

On January 9, 2014, Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, organized a traditional New-Year meeting of senators with the diplomatic corps in the seat of the upper parliamentary chamber. He greated all of the guests and thanked them for their work performed during the last year. The event, was attended by tens of Ambassadors active in Prague as well as senators who together have enjoyed their time in many interesting discussions.

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TRADITIONAL NEW YEAR MEETING WITH DIPLOMATS AT THE SENATE

From left: Prof. Eva Syková, Senator and Alena Gajdůšková, Vice President of the Senate H.E. Tahir T. Taghizadeh, Ambassador of Azerbaijan on the left

H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morrocco

H.E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia H.E. Paskal Stoicheski, Ambassador of Macedonia

13 H.E. Stefan Gorda, Ambassador of Moldova

H.E. George Monteiro Prata, Ambassador of Brasil in the left

events

senate

H.E. Pascual Ignacio Navarro Ríos, Ambassador of Spain

Msgr. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio H.E. Victor Julian Hernandez, Ambassador of Venezuela

H.E. Hussain Saleh Majeed Mualla, Ambassador of Iraq H.E. Peter Weiss, Ambassador of Slovakia H. E. Tetsuo Yamakawa, Ambassador of Japan

H.E. Venkatesan Ashok, Ambassador of India H.E. Zaal Gogsadze, Ambassador of Georgia H.E. Danka Savić, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina

H.E. YAN Yuqing, Chargé d’affair of China

H.E. Norman Larry Eisen, Ambassador of the United States of America

H.E. Pasquale D’Avino, Ambassador of Italy

H.E. Cihad Erginay, Ambassador of Turkey

14 H.E. Jan Thompson, Ambassador of the United Kingdom

@

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Traditional New Year meeting at the Senate

From left: Jaroslav Müllner, Director of the Secretariat of the President of the Senate, Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, Eva Davidová, Press Secretary, and Jiří Uklein, Chancellor

Photo: Martin Vlček

senate

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MEETING OF SENATORS WITH JOURNALISTS On Wednesday, January 15, the President of the Senate, Milan Štěch, invited media representatives to a New-Year meeting. Approximately twenty Senators attended the meeting and directly debated the journalists, primarily about current political issues, but also often answering highly professional questions. Štěch then thanked the journalists for their cooperation in 2013, a critical year for the upper chamber of the Parliament, primarily because the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved and the Senate, for the first time in recent history, decided four legal measures.

“In the Senate, we paid primary attention to these four regulations prepared by the government and they all responded to the urgency. I’m glad that the Senate confirmed its constitutional role and, in my view, passed this test,” said Štěch. He also pointed to certain activities of the Senate expected in 2014, for example, the third annual awarding of Senate Silver Commemoration Medals. “We carefully chose and presented awards to those whose life story or bravery are worthy of attention. There are never enough of these people in our society.”

From left: Jiří Čunek, Senator, Alena Gajdůšková, 1st Vice President of the Senate and Ladislav Froněk, Chief Editor, ispigl.eu

Radmila Zemanová, Journalist and Zdeněk Škromach, Vice President of the Senate

15 From left: Oldřich Vejvoda, Moderator and Libor Michálek, Senator

From left: Jiří Dienstbier, Senator with Czech TV moderators Štěpánka Martanová and Petr Vašek

events

From left: Karel Kapoun, Senator and Josef Regec, Senator

Prof. Eva Syková, Senator and Tomáš Novotný, Journalist, Medical Tribune

Alena Gajdůšková, 1st Vice President of the Senate and Jan Vitásek, Publisher, EurActiv.cz

Petr Šilar, Senator

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From left: Jan Látka, Senator, Karel Kapoun, Senator, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, and Miroslav Nenutil, Senator

From left: Pavlína Heřmánková, Director of the External Relations Department, Václava Brabcová, Assistant to the President of the Senate, Eva Davidová, Press Secretary, and Tomáš Paták, Director of Public Relations

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12/17/13 12:02 PM

DOC. MUDR. VILIBALD VLADYKA, CSC. WORKS AT THE AGE OF 90 The founder of the Stereotactic and Radiation Neurosurgery Center, Na Homolce.

What made you choose to begin with neurology?

Kamil Henner, a professor of neurology, was one of those who almost magnetically influenced his students. It was my secret wish to work under his leadership one day. Then I was for many years under the leadership of Professor Kunc, a well regarded professional at the Neurology Clinic of the Central Military Hospital.

Which steps led to your studies in France?

During one of his trips abroad, professor Kunc visited the stereotactic center of Professor Talairach in Paris and managed to arrange equipment for our center. So, in 1958 we were able to operate on a patient with Parkinson’s disease for the first time in our country. He put me in charge of developing stereotaxis.

In 1964, I received a stipend from the World Health Organization and I got into the famous PitiéSalpêtrière Hospital that is significant for the history of French neuropsychiatric fields. I was very impressed with the Charcot pavilion, sustained in its original condition and famous for works on hysteria, along with the commemorative plaque of Babinski, whose reflex dominates neurology.

In 1968, I succeeded in receiving a one-year Claude Bernard stipend for neurophysiology at the university in Paris.

What was the following development in Czechoslovakia?

I continued developing stereotactic neurosurgery after I returned and we focused increasingly on epilepsy and extended the functional indications to the area of psychosurgery.

In 1990, the next direction of development was enabled by the well-known activity of the Charta 77

Foundation, when the mother of a boy from Slovakia asked the Swedish ambassador for support of a necessary operation. The Charta 77 Foundation in Stockholm got so intensely involved that an unprecedented fundraising campaign called The Míša Account was born, comparable in its effect only to the long past fundraiser for the repair of the National Theater. A gamma knife for stereotactic radiosurgery was purchased. Everything required reconstruction, adaptation for the installation of gamma radiators, connection to neuroradiology imaging methods and the widest possible use of computer systems.

This center in the Na Homolce Hospital was created with the support of the Minister of Health Care, leading representatives of the government and the Neurosurgery Association. It was the first of its kind in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. From the beginning, together with Dr. Šubrt who was then the director of the Na Homolce Hospital, we prepared the capacity of the center to offer its options to these countries.

This ’widest possible use’ of the specific equipment also enabled the inclusion of a small operating room where stereotactic invasive procedures could be performed. Its current capacity is a little over a thousand patients per year.

We know that when you were called in to be the founder of the Department of Stereotactic and Radiation Neurosurgery, you were practically retired. What were your feelings when you began building the new center?

One of the good things about the medical profession is that it can be a lifelong activity. The foundation of the new center, equipped with world-class technology, came after I gathered a lifetime of experience. It was an attractive offer and even though, during its fulfillment, it brought about unexpected effects, I felt strong enough to be leading the newly established center. Later, Roman Liščák took over my role and showed that it was possible to nearly double the effectiveness of our work. He gave me the opportunity to continue participating in the evaluation of results from the treatment efforts, according to my capacity and I remain active in that work even today.

By Helena Leisztner ■ Vilibald Vladyka, As. Prof., PhD., Consultant in Neurosurgery, Department of Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery, Na Homolce Hospital, Prague.

1950 – 2010: Member of several professional societies (Czech Neurological, Neurosurgical, European Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery).

Honorary member of Czech Neurological Society and Honorary Member of Czech Medical Society.

Member of Leksell Gamma Knife Society, Pioneer in Radiosurgery Award.

He received five awards in total for scientific publications.

comenius czech 100 best/conference As an important and traditional part of the “Czech 100 Best” competition, Comenius Society organized an international conference “The Key Factors of Success” in the morning hours of November 29th in the New Gallery Hall of the Prague Castle. Unique personalities have had a lot to share about their personal experiences with reaching success and the participants have appreciated the sincere attitude of the speakers. Lively collective discussions followed each panel of the conference.

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

18 Pavel Nepala, Director, Renomia

Rolf Ganter, Executive Director, UBS CIO Wealth Management Research

Eduard Kučera, Cofounder and Chairman of the Board of Directors, AVAST Software

comenius czech 100 best/conference

Ivan Pilný, Member of the Parliament, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic

Bohdan Wojnar, Member of the Management Board for Human Resources Management, ŠKODA AUTO

Sanjiv Suri, Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and CEO, Zátiší Catering Group Biljana Weber, General Manager, Microsoft

Senta Čermáková, Worldwide Customer Reference Program Director, Hewlett-Packard Corporation

From left: Kateřina Čapková, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Excon, Antonín Pačes, Chairman of the Board, Excon, and Ivo Štric, Director of Division, PSJ

H. E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of the State of Israel

From left: Sanjiv Suri, Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and CEO, Zátiší Catering Group, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, and H. E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of the State of Israel

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comenius czech 100 best/conference

From left: Petr Materna, Ifield Computer Consultancy Ltd. and George Parobek, General Manager, Ifield Computer Consultancy Ltd.

From left: Bohdan Wojnar, Member of the Management Board for Human Resources Management, Škoda Auto, Michal Kadera, External Affairs Director, Škoda Auto, and Štěpán Lacina, Assistant to Member of the Board, Škoda Auto

Senta Čermáková, Worldwide Customer Reference Program Director, Hewlett-Packard Corporation and Ladislav Sekerka, Executive Director, UBS From left: Tomáš Čáp, Executive Vice President, Comenius and H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of the State of Israel

Jaroslava Valová, General Manager, SIKO KOUPELNY

George Parobek, General Manager, Ifield Computer Consultancy Ltd.

20 Round Tables of participants of the Key Factors of Success in Rudolfova Galerie

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the best is to be the best

Gala Evening

Best 10 companies with Milan Štěch, Cha Chairman, Senate of the Parliament and Karel Muzikář, Presiden President, Comenius

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Czech 100 Best PRAGUE CASTLE NOVEMBER 29, 2013 For already the 18th time Comenius Society organized the “CZECH 100 BEST” competition. Over 700 VIP guests attended the award ceremony traditionally taking place on the last Friday of November at the Spanish Hall of Prague Castle. The evening was attended by personalities such as Mr. Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Mrs. Miluše Horská, Vice President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Mr. Miroslav Toman, Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Zdeněk Žák, Minister of Transportation, Mr. Martin Holcát, Minister of Healthcare, Governor of the Czech National Bank Mr. Miroslav Singer, Deputy Ministers and a number of Ambassadors.

As is the tradition of the gala evening, companies having an immediate impact on the living standard of the Czech population were awarded in eight distinct subject categories: Tourism and Hotel Industry, Dynamic Growth and Stability, Information and Communication Technologies, Invention – Commitment – Export – Profit, Construction & Transportation, Labor & Manufacturing Cooperatives, Agriculture and Food Industry, Health – Education – Humanity.

Awarding eleven exceptional ladies with the title “Lady Pro” and five eminent gentlemen with the title “Gentleman Pro” belonged to the climax point of the whole evening. The ceremony was concluded with distinguishing ten “Best of the Best” companies of the Czech Republic and their representatives received their diplomas from the hands of Mr. Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

Awarded category Building Industry & Transportation

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From left: Mrs.Lenka Blažková, Jiří Blažek, Business Solution Manager, WBI, Silva Šnajberková, HR Manager, WBI, and Robert Paskovský, Managing Director, WBI

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Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

the best is to be the best

Natali Ruden fashion show

Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor, City of Prague as awarded in the category Tourism and Hotel Industry receives diploma from Miroslav Singer, Governor, Czech National Bank

From left: Hanuš Telín, Military University Hospital, Renata Telínová, Chairman of the Board, Scanservice, Mrs. Cempírková, and Bohuslav Cempírek, General Director, ICZ

Sanjiv Suri, Owner, Zátiší Group with his son

Milan Štěch, Chairman, Senate of the Parliament

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Ladies Pro 2013 and Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor of the City of Prague

From left: Jan Přerovský, Commercial Director, Microsoft, Senta Čermáková, Worldwide Customer Reference Program Director, Hewlett-Packard Corporation, and Miloš Čermák, Journalist

Mrs. Březinová and Tomáš Březina, Chairman of the Board, Best

the best is to be the best

Zatrest Band

From left: Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, Mrs. Koníčková, and František Koníček, outgoing Minister of Labor and Social Affairs

Awarded category Invention – Export – Revenue with Governor of the Czech National Bank Miroslav Singer

Mrs. Veselka and prof. Josef Veselka, Cardiology Head Psysician, Faculty Hospital Motol

Natali Ruden, Fashion Designer

From left: Ms. Šteflová, Michal Štefl, General Director, OHL ŽS, and prof. Tomáš Zima, President, Charles University in Prague

From left: Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius and col. Vladislav Husák, former chief of the police

From left: Mr. Andera, Eva Anderová, Deputy Minister of Finance and Lady Pro 2013, and Adéla Syberová, Project Manager, Comenius

Awarded category Labor & Manufacturing Cooperatives with outgoing Minister of Labor & Social Affairs Mr. František Koníček

23 From left: Petr Choulík, General Director, Linde Gas and Otakar Hora, Partner, KPMG

From left: Michal Feix, Executive Director, Seznam.cz, Mrs. Feixová, and Karel Feix, General Manager, Kapsch Telematic Services

the best is to be the best

Lady Pro 2013 and Deputy Minister of Finance, Eva Anderová receives her diploma from hands of Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor of the City of Prague

Gentlemen Pro 2013 and Miluše Horská, Deputy Chairwoman, Senate of the Parliament

Awarded category Dynamic Growth & Stability with Chancellor of the President, Vratislav Mynář

Ladies Pro 2013 and Milan Štěch, Chairman, Senate of the Parliament and Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

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Gentlemen Pro 2013, Milan Štěch, Chairman, Senate of the Parliament and Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

Alessandro Pasquale, General Director, Karlovarské minerální vody receiving award from Milan Štěch, Chairman, Senate of the Parliament

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the best is to be the best

Pražský hrad 29. listopadu 2013

ČESKÝCH 100 NEJLEPŠÍCH 2013 1 ŠKODA AUTO A.S.

39 SEZNAM.CZ, A.S.

78 PROMOPRO S.R.O.

40 OKIN GROUP, A.S.

79 ELTODO EG, A.S.

41 TOS VARNSDORF, A.S.

80 ENERGIE - STAVEBNÍ A BÁŇSKÁ A.S.

3 ČEZ, A. S.

42 KAPSCH TELEMATIC SERVICES SPOL. S R.O.

81 LÁZNĚ BĚLOHRAD A.S.

4 AGROFERT HOLDING, A.S.

43 RINGIER AXEL SPRINGER CZ A.S.

5 VÍTKOVICE HOLDING, A.S.

INFORMAČNÍ & KOMUNIKAČNÍ TECHNOLOGIE

2013 ZDRAVÍ – VZDĚLÁNÍ HUMANITA

ABRA SOFTWARE A.S.

ČESKÁ ZEMĚDĚLSKÁ UNIVERZITA V PRAZE

82 BIOCEL PASKOV, A.S.

AVAST SOFTWARE A.S.

FAKULTNÍ NEMOCNICE OSTRAVA

83 OKSYSTEM S.R.O.

ČESKÉ RADIOKOMUNIKACE A.S.

FAKULTNÍ NEMOCNICE V MOTOLE

44 SCANSERVICE A.S.

DELL COMPUTER SPOL. S R.O.

6 BEST, A.S.

84 ICZ A.S.

45 SIEMENS, S.R.O.

85 MP KRÁSNO, A.S.

HEWLETT - PACKARD S.R.O.

INSTITUT KLINICKÉ A EXPERIMENTÁLNÍ MEDICÍNY

7 PPF A.S.

46 3M ČESKO, SPOL. S R.O.

86 NOEN, A.S.

IBM ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA, SPOL. S R.O.

8 MOUNTFIELD A.S.

47 JANEK SPOL. S R.O.

87 ATMOS CHRÁST, S.R.O.

MICROSOFT S.R.O.

9 SEVEROČESKÉ DOLY A.S.

48 ČESKÉ RADIOKOMUNIKACE A.S.

88 CS DATA, S.R.O.

10 KARLOVARSKÉ MINERÁLNÍ VODY, A.S.

49 SPORTISIMO S.R.O.

89 GRADA PUBLISHING, A.S.

11 ALLIANZ POJIŠŤOVNA, A.S.

50 G - TEAM A.S.

90 OREA HOTELS S.R.O.

12 KPMG ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA, S.R.O.

51 RUDOLF JELÍNEK A.S.

91 TOKOZ A.S.

13 TOP HOTELS GROUP A.S.

52 BONECO A.S.

14 DOOSAN ŠKODA POWER S.R.O.

53 ČESKÁ POŠTA, S.P.

93 VEMEX S.R.O.

15 DELOITTE ADVISORY S.R.O.

54 ALTA, A.S.

94 STEP TRUTNOV A.S.

ČESKÉ INOVACE, O.P.S

16 EXIM HOLDING A.S.

55 ZENOVA SERVICES S.R.O.

95 LASVIT S.R.O.

OHL ŽS, A.S.

17 S GROUP HOLDING A.S.

56 KOH-I-NOOR HOLDING A.S.

96 SPRINX SYSTEMS, A.S.

PSG - INTERNATIONAL A.S.

18 STUDENT AGENCY, S.R.O.

57 SLOVÁCKÉ STROJÍRNY, A. S.

VÍTKOVICE HOLDING, A.S.

19 WALMARK A.S.

58 SIGMA GROUP A.S.

97 VYSOKÁ ŠKOLA FINANČNÍ A SPRÁVNÍ

20 KAREL HOLOUBEK - TRADE GROUP A.S.

59 MLADÁ FRONTA A.S.

98 OLMA, A.S.

STAVEBNICTVÍ & DOPRAVA

2 KOOPERATIVA POJIŠŤOVNA, A.S.

60 ZVVZ GROUP, A.S.

21 EUREST, SPOL. S R.O.

61 XAVERGEN, A.S.

22 ŠKODA TRANSPORTATION A.S.

62 ŠKODA JS A.S.

23 MICROSOFT S.R.O.

63 BRISK TÁBOR A.S.

24 RWE ČESKÁ REPUBLIKA A.S.

64 PRAŽSKÁ ENERGETIKA, A.S.

25 LINDE GAS A.S.

65 ČESKÁ POJIŠŤOVNA, A.S.

92 SYNOT W, A.S.

99 BLAŽEK PRAHA A.S. 100 MARY KAY (CZECH REPUBLIC), S.R.O.

INVENCE – NASAZENÍ EXPORT – ZISK ALTA A.S. BRISK TÁBOR A.S.

ASE, S.R.O.

KONGREGACE MILOSRDNÝCH SESTER SV. KARLA BOROMEJSKÉHO VYSOKÁ ŠKOLA TECHNICKÁ A EKONOMICKÁ V ČESKÝCH BUDĚJOVICÍCH

ZEMĚDĚLSTVÍ & POTRAVINÁŘSTVÍ DRUŽSTVO VLASTNÍKŮ PŮDY A MAJETKU SLAVÍKOV FARMA MACHAČ CHŘIBSKÁ KOFOLA HOLDING A.S. MP KRÁSNO, A.S. NĚMCOVA SELSKÁ MLÉKÁRNA RADONICE, SPOL. S R.O. RODINNÁ FARMA MEJSNAR

LADY PRO Eva ANDEROVÁ

CESTOVNÍ RUCH & HOTELNICTVÍ

IFIELD COMPUTER CONSULTANCY LTD.

ESO TRAVEL A.S.

POZEMNÍ STAVITELSTVÍ ZLÍN A.S.

Jana CHMELOVÁ

INTERCORA, SPOL. S R.O.

Kateřina ČAPKOVÁ Senta ČERMÁKOVÁ Miluše HORSKÁ

26 ČESKÁ ENERGIE, A.S.

66 PSJ, A.S.

MAGISTRÁT HL. M. PRAHY

PRETOL HB S.R.O.

27 AVE CZ ODPADOVÉ HOSPODÁŘSTVÍ S.R.O.

67 ČESKÁ TELEVIZE

TOP HOTELS GROUP A.S.

SKANSKA A.S.

Markéta KAŠTÁNKOVÁ

68 TEDOM A.S.

TRAVEL SERVICE, A.S.

STUDENT AGENCY, S.R.O.

Květa MOŠNOVÁ

28 ERNST & YOUNG, S.R.O.

69 SIKO KOUPELNY A.S.

ZÁTIŠÍ CATERING GROUP A.S.

S GROUP HOLDING, A.S.

Renata MRÁZOVÁ

29 AGROTRADE, A.S.

70 KRÁLOVOPOLSKÁ RIA, A.S.

30 FINCENTRUM A.S.

71 MARK2 CORPORATION CZECH A.S.

31 BOHEMIA SEKT, S.R.O.

72 PEGAS NONWOVENS S.R.O.

DYNAMICKÝ RŮST & STABILITA

ZAMĚSTNANOST & DRUŽSTEVNICTVÍ

32 ČESKÉ DRÁHY, A.S.

73 CARBOUNION BOHEMIA, SPOL. S R.O.

AVE CZ ODPADOVÉ HOSPODÁŘSTVÍ S.R.O.

GENTLEMAN PRO

74 SPRÁVA ŽELEZNIČNÍ DOPRAVNÍ CESTY

FINCENTRUM A.S.

IRISA VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO KOVODRUŽSTVO, VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO STRÁŽOV

KAREL HOLOUBEK - TRADE GROUP A.S.

LIDOKOV, VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO

profesor Vladimír KOMÁREK

LINDE GAS A.S.

OBZOR, VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO ZLÍN

Viliam SIVEK

33 ŘÍZENÍ LETOVÉHO PROVOZU ČR, S.P. 34 GECO, A. S. 35 NESS CZECH S.R.O.

Monika NEBESKÁ

DOOSAN ŠKODA POWER S.R.O.

Natali RUDEN Alena ŠMÍDOVÁ

Vlastislav BŘÍZA

36 EXCON, A.S.

75 HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES (CZECH) S.R.O.

37 CZ LOKO, A.S.

76 RENOMIA, A. S.

OKIN GROUP, A.S.

PLZEŇSKÉ DÍLO, VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO

profesor Pavel TLUSTOŠ

38 ECONOMIA, A.S.

77 MASO UZENINY PÍSEK, A.S.

WBI SYSTEMS A.S.

VELOS, VÝROBNÍ DRUŽSTVO

profesor Tomáš ZIMA

25 ČESKÝCH 100 NEJLEPŠÍCH/CZECH 100 BEST 29. listopadu 2013/November 29th 2013, Pražský hrad

gala evening

From left: H.E. Petr Kolář, Senior Adviser, Squire Sanders, Karel Schwarzenberg, President, TOP 09 and Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic, and H.E. Martin Palouš, President, Václav Havel Library Foundation

Photos: Ondřej Besperát, Aspen Institute Prague

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

17/12/2013, MALOSTRANSKÁ BESEDA GALLERY

The Aspen Institute Prague celebrated the season holiday by an informal networking meeting with individual members of the Friends of Aspen Institute Prague, Aspen Young Leaders Program alumni, corporate partners, supporters and speakers at Aspen events. Variety of guests may serve as an example of the Aspen Institute Prague’s mission – to bring together people from different sectors and professions who otherwise wouldn’t have chance to meet.

From left: Robert R. Kiene, Member of Friends of the Aspen Institute Prague, Jan Michal, Head of Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic, and Jitka Schmiedová, Vice President of People and Property, Vodafone Czech Republic

26 From left: Frank Nourse, Managing Director, Pierwood Capital, Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague, and Benke Aikell, your publisher

From left: Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague and Jan Farský, Member of the Board of Directors, Aspen Institute Prague, Mayor of Semily and Member of the Chamber of Deputies for TOP 09, Parliament of the Czech Republic

From left: Jan Zahradil, Member of the Board of Directors, Aspen Institute Prague and Member of the European Parliament, Lenka Zlámalová, Journalist, and Karel Schwarzenberg, President, TOP 09 and Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic

gala evening

From left: Alexander Vondra, former Minister of Defence and Karel Schwarzenberg, President, TOP 09 and Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic From left: Tomáš Bouška, Strategy & Development Manager, Aspen Institute Prague and Markus Dettenhofer, CEITEC Executive Director with his wife

From left: Daniel Braun, Deputy Minister-State Secretary in the Ministry of Regional Development, Mrs. Jana Radová, Dominika Biľová, Department of External Affairs at Škoda Auto, Mr. Miro Mráz, and Jiří Mádl, Actor and Alumni, Aspen Institute Prague Young Leaders Program From left: Jiří Pospíšil, Member of the Chamber of Deputies for ODS and Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague

From left: Michal Mejstřík, Chairman, IES Advisory Board, Charles University in Prague, Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague, and Jiří Devát, General Director, Cisco Czech Republic

From left: Daniel Braun, Deputy Minister-State Secretary in the Ministry of Regional Development, Vojtěch Jirků, Managing Partner, Centurion Solutions, Jakub Lanovský, Chairman of Supervisory Board, Rencar, a.s., and Michal Kadera, External Affairs Director, Škoda Auto

From left: Michal Richtr, Managing Partner at Dynamo Design and Jiří Devát, General Director, Cisco Czech Republic

From left: H.E. Martin Palouš, President, Václav Havel Library Foundation and Jan Švejnar, Director of the Center on Global Economic Governance

From left: Zuzana Nagyová, Director of the UK Trade & Investment, Tomáš Sedláček, Chief Macroeconomic Strategist, ČSOB, Jana Krákorová, Senior Trade & Investment Adviser, UK Trade & Investment, and Tomáš Drážný, Consultant, Krajíček & Associates

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networking/charity

From left: JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Charterpresident, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and Ing. Antonín Novotný, Managing Director, CSI, and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE Pre-Christmas charity fundraising evening

From left: Emilie Štěpánková, 1st Vice-Governor, LCI D 122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Mgr. Jan Haur, IS Administrator, and Milan Horáček, President, LC Praha Strahov San Giorgio

From left: Mrs. Květoslava Kaulfusová, Ing. Antonín Novotný, Managing Director, CSI and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, and Ing. Jaromír Kaulfus, Enterpreneur

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From left: Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Secretary LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and Milan Horáček, President, LC Praha Strahov San Giorgio

From left: Ing. Jiří Málek, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, MUDr. Václav Poláček, CSc., Plastic Surgeon, and Ing. Marta Poláčková

From left: PhDr. Martin Komárek, Member of the Parliament of the CR, ANO party and Ing. Vladimír Páral, Writer

From left: Ing. Jiří Opichal, Executive Head, Allimex Trading and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Mrs. Stanislava Miková, and Ing. Antonín Mika, Regional Director for Foreign Trade

networking/charity Guest: Ing. Ivo Zeman, NZA (New Green Alliance)

From left: Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Secretary LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, JUDr. Vojtěch Trapl, Lawyer, former Governor, LCI Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and Petr Laštovka, Enterpreneur

LOW ENERGY HOUSING

From left: JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Charterpresident of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and former Governor of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Ing. Jaromír Kaulfus, Enterpreneur, and Oldřich Hořák, Owner, Hotel Bílá Růže in Poděbrady

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

From left: Ing. Ladislav Bouček, CSc., Enterpreneur, former Governor, LCI D 122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Petr Laštovka, Enterpreneur, and Ing. Antonín Mika, Regional Director for Foreign Trade

From left: PhDr. Ladislav Říha, Owner, CK RI-Tours and former President of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Ing. Jaromír Kaulfus, Enterpreneur, and Ing. Tomáš Jadrníček, Project Engineer

From left: Ing. Antonín Novotný, CEO, CSI, President of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Ing. Ivo Zeman, NZA (New Green Alliance), and JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Charterpresident of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and former Governor of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

29 Ing. Ivo Zeman, NZA (New Green Alliance)

networking/discussion event

DISCUSSION ROUND TABLE OF COMENIUS WITH RNDR. TOMÁŠ HUDEČEK, PH.D. MAYOR OF THE CITY OF PRAGUE December 3, 2013, TOP HOTEL Prague

Round Table of Comenius – discussion dinner with the Lord Mayor of the City of Prague Tomáš Hudeček

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE On December 3rd Comenius Society held a discussion Round Table with historically the youngest Mayor of the Capital City of Prague, Mr. Tomáš Hudeček. Throughout the discussion dinner Mayor Hudeček affirmed his reputation of a fearless and outspoken politician and all the participants had a unique opportunity to listen to the Mayor’s personal interpretation of the biggest infrastructure projects the city of Prague is handling such as the completion of the Blanka Tunnel complex, the metro extension and also the purchase of new low-floor trams. Furthermore, the lively discussion touched upon subjects like the pedestrian situation on Wenceslas Square, Prague City Police and also plans of how to make the capital city a better business center. Mayor Hudeček was very successful in supporting all of his claims with logical arguments and proved that his approach to issues the city of Prague is facing is highly analytical and that the decisions he makes as a Mayor are based on detailed research.

From left: Leo Jakimič, Director, Lasvit, prof. Josef Veselka, Head of Cardiology Dept. FN Motol, and Dana Bérová, Business Development Director, KPC-Group

30 From left: Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor of the City of Prague, Karel Muzikář, President Comenius, and Pavel Elis, Director & Chairman of the Board, Pražská energetika

From left: Milan Hampl, Director & Chairman of the Board, PREDistribuce and Pavel Elis, Director & Chairman of the Board, Pražská energetika

networking/discussion event

From left: Eduard Hlava, Managing Director, Neternity Group, Mrs. Sarah Jeníček, Michal Hátle, General Director, T-Systems, and Michal Donath, General Director, Donath Business & Media

Vladimír Dohnal, Chairman of the Board, TOP HOTELS Group

From left: Jiří Pos, General Director, Airport Praha, Mrs. Pavlína Vanická, Lawyer, Li Yi Sen, President, Sino-Czech Economic Trade & Cultural Association, Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor of the City, and Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

From left: Eduard Hlava, Managing Director, Neternity Group, Mrs. Sarah Jeníček, and Michal Hátle, General Director, T-Systems

From left: Pavel Elis, Director & Chairman of the Board, Pražská energetika, Milan Hampl, Director & Chairman of the Board, PREDistribuce, Jiří Uklein, Chancellor, Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Libor Kabelka, Chief Financial Officer, Soccer Association of the Czech Republic, Jaroslav Ďuriš, General Director, Dopravní podnik hl.m. Prahy, and Radek Dohnal, General Director, TOP HOTEL Praha

From left: Libor Kabelka, Chief Financial Officer, Soccer Association of the Czech Republic and Jaroslav Ďuriš, General Director, Dopravní podnik hl. m. Prahy

From left: Li Yi Sen, President, Sino-Czech Economic Trade & Cultural Association, Mrs. Pavlína Vanická, Lawyer, and Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius

From left: Petra Buzková, Partner, Vyroubal Krajhanzl Školout, Law Office, Josef Kotrba, Managing Partner, Deloitte, Jiří Vacek, Co-owner, Avanti, Libor Olexa, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Media Factory, and Piotr Wielowieyski, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Unipetrol

31

networking/discussion event

From left: Lucie Orgoníková, Managing Director, ORGMedia, Václav Irovský, General Director, Military Technical Institute, and Jan Žůrek, Managing Partner, KPMG

Tomáš Slavíček, General Director, SUDOP Praha, Ladislav Pivec, Director, Technická správa komunikací Praha

From left: Michal Donath, General Director, Donath Business & Media, and Pavel Havlíček, General Director, SUDOP Group

From left: Pavel Elis, Director & Chairman of the Board, Pražská energetika, Milan Hampl, Director & Chairman of the Board, PREDistribuce, and Jiří Uklein, Chancellor, Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic

Prof. Josef Veselka, Head of Cardiology Dept. FN Motol and Dana Bérová, Business Development Director, KPC-Group

Jan Žůrek, Managing Partner, KPMG

From left: Mrs. Sarah Jeníček, Michal Hátle, General Director, T-Systems, and Michal Donath, General Director, Donath Business & Media

32

From left: Radek Dohnal, General Director, TOP HOTEL Praha, Jan Wiesner, President, Confederation of Employers ‚and Entrepreneurs‘ Associations, Mrs. Pavlína Vanická, Lawyer, Tomáš Hudeček, Lord Mayor of the City of Prague, Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius, Li Yi Sen, President, Sino-Czech Economic Trade & Cultural Association, and Vladimír Dohnal, Chairman of the Board, TOP HOTELS Group

From left: Stanislav Servus, Partner, Dvořák Hager & Partners, Law Office, Adéla Syberová, Project Manager, Comenius, and Jakub Joska, Partner, KF Legal, Law Office

@

MORE PHOTOS AND ELECTRONIC VERSION AVAILABLE ON WWW.LEADERSMAGAZINE.CZ

analysis

The State and Information Technologies State investments into information technologies are usually considered overpriced and often accompanied by corruption scandals.

But that’s only a part of the truth. There are more problems. Their requests usually lack quality specifications based on accurately described and more effective processes for data flow. The pilot phase is underestimated for testing the functionality of the project. In cases of extensive critical applications, working in real-time, tests may even reach a cost equivalent to developing new programs.

Another problem is training users and communicating with them. People have a natural tendency to resist change, particularly when they know how to do something and are asked to approach it differently. Overlooking these factors leads users to involuntarily become guinea pigs.

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The citizenry is even worse off. They could accurately be called victims in cases such as the registry of drivers and vehicles, payment of social care support or the sCard. The costs per message in the ‘data box’ exceed the costs of mail delivery.

The attempt to require all entrepreneurs, without any communication or training, to use ‘data boxes’, ended in a predictable fiasco.

A further problem is division between departments. Witness the mutual blaming of the Ministry of Interior with the Ministry of Transportation about who caused the catastrophic state of the new vehicle register.

Tenders for critical complex orders should also take into consideration the issue of maintenance and solutions to possible problems. Smaller, fragile companies have little chance to resolve such issues.

Last but not least, the final product should be handed off to qualified personnel who perfectly understand it on the part of the ordering institution.

If this doesn’t happen, the ordering institution becomes victim of the contractor. To replace an unnamed firm that has critical contracts from the Ministry of Finance would be political suicide if covered in the broadcast media.

It is necessary to create a between-department group of qualified professionals focused on systems architecture,

their specifications and monitoring of solutions must be created.

Politicians seldom understand a particular issue, their naive solution to data infrastructure ends with ‘faster’ internet, optical cables, or creating a ‘digital strategy’ that leads to a complete underestimation of the entire subject.

They haven’t yet realized that this infrastructure supports a massive amount of data necessary for the basic function of the state. The result is tens of billions of Crowns wasted on messed-up projects.

The Stone Age didn’t end by running out of stones. The ‘stone’ politicians won’t disappear on their own. They will have to be replaced.

By Ivan Pilný ■ Member of the Parliament, ANO party President of Tuesday Business Network český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 33

events

From left: Bernard Bauer, Managing Director, German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK), Pavel Roman, Head of Corporate Communications, Bosch Czech Republic, Dipl.-Ing. Karlheinz Hell, Member of the Board of Management for Purchase, Škoda Auto, Jens Hildebrandt, Deputy Managing Director, German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK), Rudolf Fischer, President of the German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) and CFO, Siemens

NOVEMBER 26/2013, ČESKÁ NÁRODNÍ BANKA, CZECH NATIONAL BANK

On November 26th, the German Czech Chamber of Commerce organized its seventh Economic Discussion as part of its annual program. Due to the Chamber’s 20th anniversary, the general theme of this year’s discussion was “20 years of German-Czech economic relations – an ongoing success story“. Chair of the discussion was Luděk Niedermayer, former vice governor of the Czech National Bank and currently chief economist at Deloitte Czech Republic. The three top class speakers Miroslav Grégr, Ivan Pilip and Martin Kuba – all of them former Czech ministers – looked back on the development of Czech German economic relations with an overall positive conclusion. The discussion with the business people in the audience, however, brought about important tasks for future economic policy. Special thanks go to this year’s partners of the event making this discussion possible with their generous support: Bosch Group, Commerzbank AG, E.ON Česká republika, Linde Gas and Siemens.

Rudolf Fischer, President of the German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK)

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From left: Zdeněk Vejvoda, Managing Director, Neuran, Doris Dusilová, Director, Polyglot, Pavel Roman, Head of Corporate Communications, Bosch Czech Republic, Marek Dusil, Managing Director, Polyglot, Jaroslav Ryšavý, Sales Director and Proxy, Deutsche Leasing ČR

From left: Martin Záklasník, Head of Local Sales & Support, T-Systems Czech, Jens Hildebrandt, Deputy Managing Director, German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK), Pavel Roman, Head of Corporate Communications, Bosch Czech Republic

From left: Luděk Niedermayer, Economic Expert, Deloitte and Ivan Pilip, former Minister of Education (1994–1997) and Finance (1997–1998)

events

Audience

Martin Kuba, former Minister of Economic Affairs (2011–2013)

Miroslav Grégr, former Minister of Economic Affairs (1998–2002) Miroslav Singer, Governor of the Czech National Bank

@

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Bernard Bauer, Managing Director, German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK), Martin Kuba, former Minister of Economic Affairs (2011–2013), Miroslav Grégr, former Minister of Economic Affairs (1998–2002), Luděk Niedermayer, Economic Expert, Deloitte, Ivan Pilip, former Minister of Education (1994–1997) and Finance (1997–1998), Rudolf Fischer, President of the German Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) and CFO, Siemens

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interview An Interview with Professor Dalibor Štys, outgoing Minister of Health of the Czech Republic

THE MOST DIFFICULT THING WAS NEGOTIATING THE CHANGE OF PROCEDURE FOR APPOINTING PROFESSORS Photo: Archive

Professor, Štys, when you came to head the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, you said “I consider this a service to the state… And I will try to bridge the entire issue with full responsibility.” Did you expect the transitional period to take this long?

Actually, I did expect it. I had to count on the possibility that the government would receive a vote of confidence from the Parliament of the Czech Republic which was, in the end, nearly achieved.

What were your main goals at the time and did you manage to meet them?

A functioning Chamber of Deputies would be necessary to completely fulfill the goals. Although I’m convinced that one must act in a way to fully carry out what appears to be most effective after through consulting, sometimes conditions are not suitable for that. If the law doesn’t enable improvement, it must be changed. And this affects the entire Czech educational system. Luckily, an amendment of the education act was recently issued for elementary and high schools, which solved a number of problems.

What remains unresolved is the status of principals, who have positions that don’t correspond to their responsibility. The amendment of the university law went through very difficult negotiations, resulting in a proposal I inherited someplace half-way there.

This is particularly true of accreditations where, aside from the logical research and professional fields, there still remain generally academic fields.

In the current university law, the position of professors remains unresolved and rather ornamental. They 36 Leaders Magazine I/2014

Biochemistry – is a field to which professor Dalibor Štys devoted his entire life. Besides being active in the universities, he’s also interested in state administration. In June 2013, he transferred from his position as head of the department to heading the segment of education, health and sports. In an extensive interview for Leaders Magazine, the former minister in Jiří Rusnok’s government talks about the appointment of professors and support of science, as well as his personal ambitions. don’t even have a special position in the decisionmaking regarding running the university, nor in the accreditation of study programs. I don’t think I could have set any higher goals, beyond holding a qualified discussion about these critical issues.

And what specifically went well?

We managed to increase the budget of the Ministry of Education in the chapters of regional education, as well as research and development and stabilize it in chapters of university education and sport and youth.

Of thing I didn’t need changes in law for, I would point out particularly as being those international activities in research and development. Already by August, I was invited by the President of the Max Planck Society to a panel discussion about the development of science in the countries that recently joined the EU. This opened the doors to me to all, even the informal, meetings and negotiations. This was also the reason that, in collaboration with permanent representation of the Czech Republic in Brussels, we managed to negotiate appropriate conditions for the participation of Czech researchers in the Horizon 2020 program.

Within the commencement of the joint year of research of the European Union and the Russian Federation, I visited a joint institute of nuclear research in Dubno, near Moscow, where the Czech Republic has a significant and defining representation. The NICA experiment in Dubno was made a priority for the collaboration of the EU and the Russian Federation.

The Czech Republic invested significantly in research infrastructure, the most in the entire European Un-

ion. We need to utilize this chance as best we can. At the Ministry, we then prepared both of the follow-up programs: The National Sustainability Program I – for Smaller Infrastructures, and the National Sustainability Program II – for the European Centers of Excellence.

I also attempted to expand international communication in the university area. Together with the new rectors of the Charles University and ČVUT, I visited Vienna. Through another visit, I supported the development of Czech language studies in Glasgow.

Everywhere I went, I strived for specific agreements about the preparation of projects for doubled study programs, called ‘dual degrees,’ particularly at the level of Ph.D. This always initiated the most interest, as a result of the fact that these days scientific performance is critical for the evaluation of universities and that, primarily, the students of doctorate studies contribute to that.

Which decision as the head of the Department was the most difficult for your?

The most difficult was negotiating the change of procedure for appointing professors. Representatives of the universities would have liked me to fight on behalf of the current status, but I strongly disagree with it. In the matter of professors and associate professors, the current university law dates back to 1950-1956, created by Ministers Nejedlý, Štoll and Kahuda. Actually, political overview aside, the current law is even harsher to professors than the one valid before November, 1989.

interview The pre-war condition was such that the professor was appointed by the President, the appointment sent to him or her via official mail. But also with it came a permanent position at a specific university until the age of 70. The only way to lose that position was a disciplinary proceeding. The board of professors decided over school management and it was unthinkable that someone who was not a professor would become the rector.

In the current law, the President still appoints a professor personally, but the professor is not an employee of the university and can change from one university to another. The university is managed by the Academic Senate, which is voted for by both employees and students, and it is possible that there may be no professor in it at all. A person who is not even an associate professor, much less a professor, can become a rector or a dean. At the same time, the state does not establish to which field professors may be appointed. It is common in our country to appoint professors in fields that have no logic in the worldwide structure of research.

By this I don’t want say that similarly named professorial positions don’t exist in institutions of tertiary education in the world, for example as in various polytechnic schools. But nobody would dare to ask the highest representative of the state to name such professors. Practically nowhere in the world does the head of state appoint professors anymore. They are selected by the university, usually through an international invitation for applications.

On the other hand, there is always some form of a permanent employment relationship tied to the appointment of a professor for a certain period of time – typically up to 65 years of age that can only be cancelled through a disciplinary proceeding. This gives professors the true freedom of scientific opinion.

That’s a rather complex view...

To simplify it, we might say we removed only the least important of the pre-war conditions, decorated it with a ceremony in robes, but let go of all the factually meaningful elements, such as international quality, academic freedom and the role of professors in the management of the universities. Unfortunately, this problem was considered a dispute between the President and the rectors of universities and so leading a meaningful discussion in that atmosphere was very difficult.

Yet the quality of teachers and their decisions regarding the curriculum and study requirements is an absolutely essential issue for universities. Everything else, aside from financing, is secondary. But I think that a number of rectors see the fact that the political independence of the university decreased, rather than strengthened, by the imposition of intervention by the state. Perhaps I was useful with my resistance to the automatic sending of applications for appointment of professors, although some might think I’m an idiot.

And what about the President’s complaints over the university law?

To a large degree, one must agree with them: the rector should be a professor, a professorship should not be transferrable and the problem indeed exists of personal likes and dislikes. The pre-war regulation solved all this successfully. The President was even able to appoint a professor the board of professors approved with as little as a 2/5 minority, perhaps only because they didn’t like him. We could say that all we had to do is go back to this arrangement.

In the end, as is known, the four highest constitutional agents – the President, the President of the Senate, the President of the Chamber of Deputies and the Prime Minister – agreed and proposed to agree with Senator Chládek’s proposal, according to whom

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professorial titles should be issued by the President of the Senate. Our ministry prepared a proposal and included in it the main factual requirement of the academic community, which was predictably the result of the professorship proceedings. We therefore proposed an administrative period of 30 days. This will mean that the appointment of professors will take place not once or twice a year, but every month. I see this as the first step to making the whole discussion more practical and enabling appointed professors to truly be the leading representatives of their fields, as it was in the First Republic.

When it comes to education, the main subject in the Czech Republic is state final high-school exams. But what do you personally consider the greatest challenge of Czech education?

The solution for many problems lies in the hands of the school founders, mayors and regional governors. They complain that, on one hand, the small municipalities must close their schools and, on the other, the larger regional schools can’t handle the influx of students and often suffer for it. In my view, the solution is for the small municipalities and the regional areas to create one core school with branches in individual municipalities. Such solution is far better than to administratively merge municipalities, which is what most countries do, because by administrative merging, historic municipalities lose their voice and identity. Voluntary unions led by an interest in quality of education are the best solutions.

On the other hand, I don’t see final high-school exams as such a huge problem. The problem of requirements in content resides in the many qualification prerequisites. For example, in order for someone to open a business as a beauty parlor, she must have a high-school final exam. With this, the exams became something entirely different than people perceive it – let’s say that in a certain sense it is actually denigrated. By the way, this is true with all titles, including the professorial one.

The best solution would be to use self-developing computer tests where, after reaching a certain level, the tested student would elevate to a higher level – a bit like in a computer game. I don’t think in this day and age it’s a technical problem. But we still have a weak high-school final exam, as required by qualification regulations that are not established by the Ministry of Education.

But in the school part, the high schools can also introduce their own final exam for any subject. A number of high schools had their own final exams for physics or mathematics. A joint project is being prepared for the school portion of the final exams that the Ministry of Education will test in more than 40 high schools.

A demanding final exam is possible, but in the current situation it’s the responsibility of the school and the choice of the students themselves.

A complicated agenda for the University of Economics. Our magazine will be printed at the end of January or beginning of February. That is the period when there is a threat that the university will be without management. What is it like to be handed such a critical issue with a “limited mandate,” as politicians often call it?

There were already several universities in this country in such situations. I was personally active at the University of South Bohemia where, after the death of Rector Hrabánková, the university was directed by a Vice-rector. The problem with the University of Economics is that the appointment of all Vice-rectors ends with the planned term of the existing Rector.

We recommended that the University of Economics extend the appointment of the Vice-rector, who will manage the school.

In this regard, I’d like to point out one aspect of university life – the strong influence of internal politics.

The Senate establishes the election of Deans and the Rector and the structure of study programs as well as study regulations. But in some universities, students compose up to 50% of the Academic Senate. To the contrary, during the election the professors, who from the layman point of view are the guarantors of the quality of universities, have the value of “one of the academic workers,” who are elected by the students as well. I think that if the Senate had to include a mandatory curia of professors, composing 1/3 of the Senate, the elections would be much more conservative and truly renowned people would get into the management.

In your opinion, what is Czech education’s level of excellence?

According to the PISA tests, we are slightly above average. The tests have only a limited informative value, because 24 long years ago we overlooked language education, particularly the worldwide lingua franca – English. Thus we can barely compare on a day-to-day basis in all fields. The largest problem is in teachers of scientific subjects. Thanks to their poor linguistic knowledge, they have limited sources of tools and textbooks. They can no longer even communicate with our top Czech scientists, because they too publish in English. Yet the scope of freely available study materials on the internet is growing rapidly. To a large degree, the teacher is turned into a mediator and guarantor of quality. Certainly our select high schools are excellent, along with several industrial high schools and certain fields in the universities.

Unfortunately, for example, almost nowhere do entire faculties or entire segments of high-school level education exist.

When it comes to your expectation and subsequent reality as the head of the sector – where do you sense the largest gap?

I worked before at the Ministry, so I already knew it.

I attempted to have more collaboration between the individual departments, which I think rather worked out, even with the deputies who were most critical toward the ministry management before. And as far as I know, they said it even when I wasn’t present.

Looking back, are you glad you accepted this “service to the state?”

Certainly. It was a huge experience for me and I gained many contacts I hope to use for the further development of the Czech Republic. I want to work on specific projects. There are many opportunities, but the problem is our ability to use them. The language handicap is truly horrific. On one hand, because of it quality professionals can’t use their talents and on the other, often the knowledge of languages is enough to secure an interesting position without the necessity of professional background. I tried to point out these problems and show a spectrum of solutions. Rather immodestly, I’d dare to say I was better equipped for it than many others, professionally in terms of experience, as well as in terms of languages.

Where will your next steps be directed upon handing over the agenda to a new minister?

I will go back to the Institute of Complex Systems in Nové Hrady. That is a part of the Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters and I never really left there.

For example, during the time I worked as a Minister, my colleagues and I were able to get an article published in a prestigious magazine, Trends in Analytical Chemistry. And it is a very essential article that defines the uses of certain terminology related to chemistry. We also have a number of other results we need to implement, both in terms of publications and in practice.

For another five years we will continue a large project within the National Sustainability Program and in reLeaders Magazine I/2014 37

interview cent years we had such a volume of results that we certainly won’t suffer. I think we’ll be able to keep up that performance.

Professor Štys, you are a scientist by profession.

In your opinion, does science in the Czech Republic have to “fight for survival?”

The thing about my biochemistry is that I originally studied physical chemistry and it’s still my main scientific origin. Because I applied physical-chemical approaches to biochemistry, I received my PhD in this field. But my professorship is in applied physics, because from physical chemistry in biochemistry I progressed to physical chemistry in cellular biology and subsequently to the construction of a microscope and analysis of experimental data. Biology brought me to such essential questions as the organization of matter and I couldn’t imagine anything like this as a simple physical chemist.

When it comes to the fight for survival, we must admit that there is much less money being assigned to science – specifically toward research – in the Czech Republic than in many other countries. And this is true in both absolute and relative terms in relation to GDP. On the other hand, it’s still more than in most countries that recently joined the European Union. It is rather unfortunate that now development and innovation have been attached to research. Particularly in terms of innovation, the realization that should be generally financed is only now being formed. It was a political decision and all countries, at least all European Union countries, must deal with it.

We are more or less average, but in recent years, we invested more into research infrastructure than all European countries. This is a specific Czech issue, in that we keep on trying to set unified criteria that would be valid anyplace in the Czech Republic and for all at the same time. This is the result of the fact that nobody wants to move because of science. The idea that one would get a lucrative offer in Pilsen and refuse to move from Prague is unthinkable in developed countries.

For example, in Germany, it’s impossible to obtain a professorial post in the same place where one received their associate-professor degree. As is said at the Assembly of the Academy of Sciences, “No brain is able to concurrently educate engineers for operations, teach a special course at the edge of knowledge, participate in the work of as many panels and committees as possible, perform research tailormade for a corporation, as well as solve the basic questions on the edge of philosophy and mathematics.” Because we keep looking for evaluation systems that make all these roles average, we in fact require all these things from everyone at the same time.

In the next program period, the new research infrastructures and structural funds of the European Union will give us an excellent and possibly last chance in this regard. I know it’s difficult to admit a specific and often personal guilt for the failure to use the individual opportunities and the responsibility for the current situation. But excuses solve nothing, particularly, when many nations in situations worse than ours have already used them. There is nothing left to do except to peel off the personal benefits and friendly ties and look at what we can do for our nation. Professor Masaryk wrote something similar in 1895 in his work, Our Current Crisis.

In December, you were at a meeting in Vienna negotiating the possibility of deeper collaboration with Austria in the area of science and research. In this regard, Is Austria our ‘closest ally?’

Intellectually, Austria is close to us in many directions, which is apparent for example in their output of coalition negotiations over the composition of their local government. In any case, Austria significantly invested in research in recent years. They restructured 38 Leaders Magazine I/2014

their Academy of Sciences and established new research centers with financial co-investment with their nine federal states.

Austria also strategically mines the intellectual capital of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire countries and from Germany as well. This is enabled by the fact that there are no school fees in Austrian universities, so students gravitate there. We also have such opportunities to mine the intellectual potential of Russian-speaking countries but also, for example, from Vietnam. Some universities already attempt this, but it’s not a general strategy and in terms of alliances, the first step should be establishing study programs with double diplomas. I’m hoping that this would bring up generations of students who will be natural ‘door openers’ between the two countries that mutually depend upon each other.

Should private entities be more interested in funding research and development? And how can they get involved?

Our government made a significant positive step toward that, enabling companies to take expenses for order-based research and technical education off their taxes. Most countries look for ways to connect company research with the academic and only a few of them succeed. It appears to be most effective to connect older researchers from industries who no longer can advance their careers in the corporate hierarchy, into a system of transfer of knowledge from research and development into practice. We haven’t had many such people in our country and whose who were here often used opportunities to go abroad right after 1989 and stayed there. We are now finally getting to a stage when companies in the Czech Republic fund their research centers for longer periods of time and their senior researchers look for further opportunities. Perhaps we’ll be able to manage it.

What are the most important steps necessary to support science?

It would be very significant to change the system of research management. By this I don’t mean mostly the state system of distributing funds for research, but the internal function of research organizations, particularly evaluation. In a way, the present times are bad for this. Worldwide, science is mostly evaluated by the number of publications and citations. But this necessarily leads to the fact that work is being fragmented, repetitive and doesn’t go deep. For example, this year’s Nobel Prize laureate, Peter Higgs, mentioned that he nearly ended his university work in 1980 – the University of Edinburgh wanted to let him go. But he was nominated for the Nobel Prize and management thought that he might even get it one day. And that shows up in the evaluations, international charts, etc.

Through the excessive application of one mechanical international evaluation, we risk that we will lose the most detail-oriented and quality individuals. In my opinion, the solution would be to understand the social role of research, development and university education and acknowledge our limited human capacity in fulfilling them.

Just glancing over the border, we see three types of schools: universities, technical universities and Polytechnics / Fachhochschule. There are also several types of research institutions: The Max Planck Society Institute, where their goal is top-level basic research, the Helmholtz Society institute, that are primarily large research infrastructures and the Frauenhofer Society that focuses on research for companies and applications, as well as the Leibnitz Society that unites some traditional institutes, museums and libraries.

Only a few countries have their research organized as systematically as Germany. Most countries similar to ours solve their research structure mostly in the form of long-term institutional projects awarded to univer-

sities, university alliances, research institutes, etc.

But the structure of goals is similar everywhere. And that should be the goal of our system of funding, as well as evaluating science.

For a number of years you worked in Sweden. To what degree did this influence your view of science, the public support of science and the state’s general approach to science?

Between 1992 and 1995, science in Sweden was a very quiet job that naturally had to be performed properly. And that was the case, even though Sweden went through a fall in their currency at the time and began limiting research funding. It was at a time when the mechanical evaluation of science was in its early stages and also the golden age of transferring scientific knowledge into practice. Several of my colleagues ended up in companies, mostly biotechnological, that sprouted in multitudes in the so-called Medicon Valley around the straits between Denmark and Sweden.

I tried to bring some of that ethos to the Czech Republic, but the time wasn’t right. And it’s probably still not right yet, particularly because the worldwide distrust of investors toward such projects is increasing.

The methods from back then also don’t work because the structure of society changed as well as people’s character. If I were to point out one key problem, it would be that the original founders of hi-tech companies were modest scientists who were only interested in their thing. But they got rich and their kids went to prestigious schools and thus have entirely different ideas about how they should be remunerated and how stable their income should be.

But invariably, hi-tech companies go through huge financial crises and everyone must tighten their belts.

And suddenly a decently paid job in the state administration can appear to be the right solution. But perhaps this is a chance for the Czech Republic, because it is economically close to the situation of Sweden in the 80s and 90s. But we lack the Swedish ever-present knowledge of English and I’m afraid this significantly hinders us.

Let’s look back on your own years in school. I assume you excelled in natural sciences. But how did you do in sports?

I was quite good in sports. I was even at the European championship in the Olympic category of Flying Dutchman boats and in the World Championship in the neo-Olympic Tempest boat category. To be honest, I didn’t devote my full attention to either studies or sports. I was quite good in both, but I could have been much better in each if I were more focused. It had its pros and cons. The benefit is that you always have plan B – if science wouldn’t have worked out, I was ready to go do a regular job that would give me time for sports. On the other hand, I never found myself in a situation that I would depend on a sport so much that I couldn’t live without it.

You are the father of two sons. Do they have ‘your genes’ or do they focus on other fields?

Every July, we organize international summer schools for high-school and university students. My whole family has been involved in the organization of it since 2005. So it was mandatory that my sons attend. Sometimes they liked it, sometimes not, depending on their age. The older one studies cybernetics at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague. It seems that studying for practice cured him of his disdain of science. He’s planning another phase of study abroad, all the way to a doctorate. My younger son is in the third year of an eight-year grammar school. He’s doing well. We’ll see what he grows up to be.

Jaroslav Kramer ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Photo: Jakub Joachim From left: Dean Brabec, President of the CFO Club and – Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little, Martin Herrmann, CEO, RWE Česká republika, Council Member of the CFO Club

discussion event IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

THE CFO CLUB

– CHRISTMAS SESSION Last session of the year 2013 – Christmas social gathering of the Club of Financial Directors under the auspices of the company RWE – was held on December 11th in the Grand Hotel Bohemia in Prague. “Olympic Games in Sochi or in Letná?” was a topic presented by Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Committee and Martin Chalupský, Head of PR & Press Services, RWE Czech Republic.

From left: Martin Chalupský, Head of PR & Press Services, RWE Česká republika, Marie Simona Kratochvílová, Public Relations & Press Services, RWE Česká republika, and Radek Procházka, procházka & partners

From left: Vladislav Kalous, Senior Manager, Accenture Central Europe B.V., Bořek Havránek, Senior Manager, RWE East, and Sylva Havlínová, Senior Specialist, Reporting, RWE East

From left: Martin Chalupský, Head of PR & Press Services, RWE Česká republika and Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Committee

From left: Mr. Ladislav Jelínek, Peter Mikula, CEO, VINLAND, Irena Prášilová, Senior Manager, Accenture Central Europe B.V., and Tibor Nyitray, Chairman, Wine Growers Association

39

event

Sopranist Markéta Mátlová

From left: Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Comittee, Aleš Barabas, Member of the Board, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic, Vice President of the CFO Club and Mrs.Eva Barabasová, Česká spořitelna

Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Committee From left: Mrs. Iva Brabcová, Eva Barabasová, Česká spořitelna, Bořivoj P. Pražák, Council Member of the CFO Club, and Monika Zahálková, CEO, Czech Institute of Directors

From left: Patrik Choleva, Council Member of the CFO Club, CFO, Skanska and winner of the 2012 CFO of the Year poll, and Vladislav Kalous, Senior Manager, Accenture Central Europe B.V.

40 View of the conference room

discussion event

Ladislav Jelínek, Jan Soukal, Marketing Manager, SAZKA sázková kancelář

From left: Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ, Member of the CFO Club Council, Martin Herrmann, CEO, RWE Česká republika, Council Member of the CFO Club

From left: Petr Lávička, Managing Director, IFC FOOD, Linda Karpašová, IFC FOOD, and Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ, Member of the CFO Club Council Markéta Mátlová, Sopranist and Dean Brabec, President of the CFO Club and Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little

@

MORE PHOTOS AND ELECTRONIC VERSION AVAILABLE ON WWW.LEADERSMAGAZINE.CZ

From left: Martin Chalupský, Head of PR & Press Services, RWE Česká republika, Jiří Kejval, President of the Czech Olympic Comittee, Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ, Member of the CFO Club Council, and Martin Herrmann, CEO, RWE Česká republika, Council Member of the CFO Club

41

gala evening Mahen Theatre in Brno and its fascinating exterior

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

THE BRNO OPERA BALL,

AND ITS MAIN STAR CHRISTOPHER LAMBERT

Jan Tříska recites sonet of Shakespeare From left: Igor Vadovič, V.I.P. Manager of the Ball, Christopher Lambert, famous Actor, Martin Glaser, Director, National Theatre in Brno, and Pavel Bartošek, Organizer of the Ball

42 From left: Jaromír Soukup, Chairman of the Board, EMPRESA MEDIA, a.s. and Maroš Kramár, Actor and Moderator of the Ball

Christopher Lambert and Jana Doležalová, Miss of the Czech Republic 2004

gala evening

Guests have enjoyed lively dancing

Jadran Šetlík, famous Photographer with his wife

Melody Makers Ondřej Havelka Beautiful Miss of the Czech Republic Eliška Bučková

SALVE SHAKESPEARE

Silvia Lakatošová, Miss of the ČSFR 1993 with her husband Pavel Chovanec, Spokesperson of the Chairman of the Parliament of the Slovak Republic

The Ball took place in a spirit of Elizabethan era, the Golden age

43 Marta Dřímal-Ondráčková, Actress and Moderator with her husband Jakub Dřímal

Pavel Trávníček, Actor with his partner Monika Fialková

Andrea Kalivodová, Sopranist and Christopher Lambert

gala evening

Martin Glaser, Director, National Theatre in Brno on the right welcoming Jozef Golonka, Czechoslovak ice hockey legend

Mahen Theatre

SALVE SHAKESPEARE – Marta Dřímal-Ondráčková as Mary Stuart

Dancing performance Stars of the Ball – Jan Tříska and Christopher Lambert, famous actors

SALVE SHAKESPEARE – Gábina Partyšová, Moderator as Elisabeth I.

SALVE SHAKESPEARE – Silvia Lakatošová, Miss of the ČSFR 1993 as Ofélia

44 From left: Jaro Slávik, Producer with his wife Andrea and Igor Vadovič, V.I.P. Manager of the Ball

Mahen Theatre

interview An Interview with H.E. Eduard W.V.M. Hoeks, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Prague

H.E. Eduard W.V.M. Hoeks began his work for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and was among others posted at the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Since the 5th of September, 2012 he leads the embassy in Prague and says, “My ambition is to promote the idea of one team, where everybody is committed to the task of the embassy.”

Photo: Vladimír Weiss

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Leaders Magazine I/2014 45

interview worldwide. People call it the most beautiful city in Europe. The special thing is that Prague has historically come through quite interesting developments. It was the part of the Austrian Empire, German domination and Russian domination.

Now it’s free country. This fascinating experience is relatively new. Czechoslovakia was created in 1918; the Czech Republic is a new country and that makes it special.”

There are many nationalities in the Czech Republic. How many Dutch people are here?

“We have registered approximately three thousand Dutch people, but not all of them are registered. We have quite a lot of Czech people living in the Netherlands as well. There were two moments in history when Czech people came – in 1948, when Gottwald was taking over and 1968 after the Prague Spring. Many of these Czech families in the Netherlands established themselves and are now second or third generation coming to travel to the Czech Republic. Some have Dutch nationality, some Czech, but we have many Dutch people who came to the Czech Republic after 1989 for business. Some of them were very successful, some of them less so. But many stayed.

We actually have a Dutch community that is varied. We have not only businessmen; we have artists, writers, and farmers. It’s quite an interesting group, actually.”

Farmers?

“Yes! They are living near the German border and bring innovative farming technologies to the Czech Republic. But we have also successful businessmen living in Brno and Ostrava. We have Dutch people working at the university in Olomouc. It is quite a big spread.”

There are many topics in common for both countries. Let’s start with the easiest one – tourism.

“I don’t keep statistics, but approximately 250,000 Dutch tourists come to Prague during the year. As I said, it’s very near and relatively cheap to travel here. Prague has such a beauty to offer, it’s an ideal place for longer weekends.”

And do you have to work on that as an Ambassador?

“I don’t see my task to promote Dutch tourism in the Czech Republic. That is rather the task of my colleague in the Hague, Ambassador Jaroslav Horák. It could be my job to try to attract more Czechs travelling into the Netherland for tourism.

We also have a lot of things to offer and many Czechs visit the Netherlands.”

Thank you for your time, Mr Ambassador. Let me begin with a simple question. You’re almost year and a half in Prague. Do you feel settled here?

“I feel very much at home, very welcome. I also have travelled outside Prague and the Czech people are very hospitable. They make you feel at home. I’m not far away from the Netherlands. It is easy by car in one day, an hour and half by plane.

46 Leaders Magazine I/2014

We are kind of like-minded countries, we are both small countries, both in the European Union, both thinking about same kind of problems. So it is very much like at home.”

You’ve been to many places around the world.

Is there something special about Prague?

“Prague is a fascinating city because of the beauty of it. The architecture is well known

I suppose that mainly means Amsterdam.

“Yes, of course, but it’s not just Amsterdam.

The Netherlands has many other tempting cities and places to offer, beautiful countryside, a history and tradition but with a modern drift. Many tourists also come for sports, such as sailing or cycling. We also have the Comenius grave. He’s buried in the Netherlands and many Czechs come to see this place.”

interview Another huge topic is business networking.

You’re not only representing a country, you are also the “medium” for business.

“Actually it’s quite interesting. When I presented my credentials to president Klaus, I told him that we are the second largest investor in Czech Republic, on an aggregate level, since 1989. He corrected me: No, you’re the third one (laugh).

I checked on my statistics, we keep it as if we are the second investor. When I told president Zeman the same thing, he told me: “Well Mr Ambassador, you have only one task. – to become the first one.” So we are working hard on it. We have big companies represented here, Heineken, Phillips, ING, Ahold, CTP and others. Commercially we are the sixth or seventh trade partner in the Czech Republic.”

Is that mainly agricultural?

“Also products that we export to the Czech Republic such as machines, tobacco, minerals, oil products, even animals. Basically it is both agro industry and chemical industry.”

And what is your task in this area?

“What we are trying to do as an embassy is to promote small and medium sized companies.

They are still underrepresented. We organize seminars, try to lead their way to Czech trade and advise them a bit on how to do business here. It is slightly different from doing business in Western Europe. Building personal relationship is still a very important aspect of the business. They have to visit the country several times and when a relationship of confidence has been built, business follows. Although we are quite similar in many of these aspects, we feel that the business culture is still slightly different.”

Do you feel the Czech market is big enough?

“It’s of course relatively small, but we are talking about a region, about the Visegrád countries, exporting to countries like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Within the Czech Republic, their strong point is very robust industry. People here are well prepared when we talk with them and they are very serious. There is a high level of trust and also high levels of friendship with the Netherlands. The advantage for the Dutch businessmen doing business here in the Czech Republic, apart from its geographic position, are the lower labour costs. It’s still one third of the labour costs in the Netherlands. Furthermore the labour force is highly educated, especially in technical areas.”

And what do Czech people offer the Netherlands? Is there some special area?

“A Heineken representative told me he has three countries in Europe where he has difficulty selling beer: Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic. It’s famous for its own beer and is also popular in the Netherlands. But it’s not only beer, it’s mainly machinery and of course the car industry is very important. When you travel in the Netherlands, you see many Škoda cars on the street.

I also drive a Škoda as an official car.”

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Would it be easier, if the Czech Republic had the euro?

“Czech Republic is a member of the EMU. It committed itself to the Euro at a certain point in time.

It will happen, but it’s always difficult to sketch a timeline. Because as soon as you start sketching a timeline, political attention is drawn to that and people wonder when it will eventually happen. Your president has mentioned a date after 2017. I found it interesting that Slovakia accepted the euro and the Czech Republic has yet to do that. We see that the instruments of exchange rates were used recently. It is of course an instrument that Czech Republic would lose after accepting the euro.”

Might it help, in general?

“It would certainly help, as it facilitates trade.

Problems the euro is at this moment confronted with, the ‘euro crisis’ makes it of course a not very easy decision for the Czech authorities, including the ways in which the euro crisis is being combatted. It is not very easy for the Czech Republic to accept the banking union, as there are many conditions to be met. We have to see what the legal framework will be. I can understand that the Czechs need some time to think. But in the end they will certainly join the euro and I think it will also help.”

Should we cooperate more on the political basis?

“Politically speaking, of course, we are both relatively small countries and are also part of the regional framework. There is Visegrád and Benelux. We have the Visegrád-Benelux consultations on a regular basis. These consultations work out very well. The Benelux mechanism also served as an example for Visegrád cooperates. Politically speaking, I would say it’s important that we found each other within the European Union. Three Benelux and four Visegrád countries make seven and if we try to have Germany on our side, that means we increase our influence in Brussels.”

Is there Euro-scepticism in the Netherlands?

“It is nearly mainstream through all political parties, but I also feel Euro-scepticism in the Czech Republic. Your former president was quite outspoken on this. Now, with president Zeman we feel there is more “pro European” attitude, but Euro-scepticism is there. We cannot deny it. There is the euro crisis; there is the question of transfer of seniority of power from national parliaments to Brussels. It’s a very sensitive subject. We have reached a certain stage and people wonder if we should go any further.”

And enlargement?

“In the Netherlands we kind of feel enlargement fatigue. Not talking about politicians now, the man in the street is wondering why we should do that, why should we continue? In the Czech Republic you see more optimism with regard to enlargement.”

I’ve seen photos of you – from Liberec. And you promoted some ‘bicycle project’…

“I’m ambassador throughout the Czech Republic, not only in Prague. I travel and see the other regions. I began with Brno, the legal capital of the country and visited the judges there. We also have interesting business people there. Brno and Eindhoven, a technologically advanced area in the Netherlands, try to intensify their cooperation through exchanges of advance technology.

We consider both cities as examples of highly advanced technology areas. People can also study the Dutch language in Brno and Olomouc. I’ve been there as well. As you mentioned, I visited Liberec and we went to the city to promote a campaign called “bike to work”. In the Netherlands, we see biking as a usual way of transportation, rather than a sport. In the Czech Republic, biking is still rather an exception.”

What are your plans for 2014?

“Businesswise, we are on a good track in the embassy. We have our staff, where before we had several sections. Now we have only one section and are one team. My ambition is to promote this idea of one team where everybody is committed to the task of the embassy. The team is already in motion, but I would like to make it more effective, so that everybody comes into the office with a smile on his or her face, every day. Then of course I hope that the relationship between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands will continue to develop in a positive way. In Brussels we can find each other’s way very easily, as we are very like-minded on the Brussels issues. On the sensitive issues in Brussels we organize seminars and invite each other to attend. So we are actually quite close. And I hope that the Dutch community in the Czech Republic will have a happy life.”

And plans in your personal life?

“My wife and I have a very happy life here. We have a nice residence and we hope to see many friends, both Czechs and from Holland. We hope this year, once again, to welcome many friends from the Netherlands. I also will attempt to do more travelling this year in the country. I have not yet been to Ostrava. I’m going there to see the Davis Cup between the Czech Republic and the Netherlands. And honestly, it‘s a great job to be the Dutch Ambassador in the Czech Republic, because we don’t have large bilateral difficulties.”

What do Czech people think about Dutch people – and is it true or not true?

“Let me think… I would say, Czech people see the Dutch people as very direct and very open.

Basically this is true. We are occasionally too direct, but it’s not always true.”

Do you spend your free time more actively?

“Yes, in the winter I prefer cross-country skiing. We hired a house in Krkonoše last Christmas.

I like mountains like Krkonoše. In the summer I enjoy the golf courses, restaurants and cinemas.

We love movies and I love our house.”

Jaroslav Kramer ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 47

business relationship Opening consulate – from left: Vladimír Galuška, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic and Hussein Shobokshi, Honorary Counsel

Tempting Saudi Arabia Mr. Hussein Shobokshi is a well-established Saudi businessman who more than three years ago was appointed as the honorary counsel of the Czech Republic in the city of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.

countries which was close to 246 million U.S dollars in the year 2011 growing to over 312 million U.S dollars achieving a wopping more than 21% increase in one year. This growth covered many

areas of activities including energy, construction, heavy machinery, automotive, food to name but a few of the sectors that benefited from this growing relationship.

Since the assumption of his new role, Hussein Shobokshi has been on a non-stop mission to improve the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic in all possible domains. Hussein Shobokshi who also happens to be a member of the Saudi-Czech Business council serves on the board of numerous companies, he also represents many Czech firms which provide products and services to the Saudi market in diverse and competitive fields.

Mr. Shobokshi, who was chosen by the World Economic Forum in Davos as one of the Global Leaders of Tomorrow in 1996, was helpful in organizing the visits of various Czech trade and political delegation to his country which was an important occasion to develop and improve the networking opportunities between officials and businessmen from both countries. This was translated well economically, resulting in important and significant trade growth in between both From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and Hussein Shobokshi, Honorary Counsel

48 Leaders Magazine I/2014

business relationship

From left: Hussein Shobokshi, Honorary Counsel with former Minister of Healh Dr. Martin Holcát

From left: Hussein Shobokshi, Honorary Counsel and Karel Schwarzenberg, former Ministr of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of TOP 09

Tourism was also a sector that benefited a great deal from these developments. Number of Saudi visitors to the Czech Republic jumped over 300% in one year as evident form the numbers of visas issued by the Czech embassy in Riyadh which reflects only a part of this beautiful story. Saudis had a very positive experiences visiting the Czech Republic, word of mouth exchanges some “feel good” stories about the Czech Republic only confirmed this.

Last March Mr. Shobokshi organized a very successful “Czech Food Festival” at the Jeddah Intercontinental jointly with the Praha Intercontinental which contributed to this event by sending three of its top chefs to introduce some of the most famous Czech dishes. The event was a resounding success and it will be repeated again in 2014.

He is now working on hosting a major sporting event in Jeddah, a football match between Czech power house Sparta football club from Prague versus ALAHLI football club from Jeddah a local power house in its own way itself.

Through his Prague based “Shobokshi Investment” he is organizing two very important events in the Czech capital. The first one will be taking place in the Spring of 2014 which will be “the Czech-Saudi Business forum’ to introduce both Saudi and Czech business communities to each other while addressing business opportunities and highlighting the challenges and obstacles that face them. This event will feature key speakers form government, business and investment sectors. It will also address tax and legal issues

in both countries. Another event will be held in the fall of 2014 which will be “The Czech-Arab economic Summit” focusing on a more macro approach to highlight business opportunities for Czech companies in the Arab world. This event will feature key note speakers from various Arab countries including business leaders, government officials and media experts.

A third event is being planned which will be hosting the “Czech Business Expo” compromising of a pavilion exposition of Czech companies from the medical, industrial and agricultural sectors in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Hussein Shobokshi who also writes regularly in Arabic and English newspaper in Saudi Arabia and has a widely read column has written numerous articles on the Czech Republic’s achievements highlighting its success in politics, Culture and economy.

He helped distribute works of Milan Kundera and Franz Kafka translated to Arabic to schools and universities in Saudi Arabia to increase the awareness of Czech literature amongst Saudis.

He will launch the “Czech cultural Days” which will be a week-long event to be held in Jeddah featuring painting and art work from Czech artists, a quartet from the Prague symphony will be playing works of important Czech composers. Crystal blowers from leading crystal producing houses will display their work and style in addition the showing of the famous Czech film Kolya winner of Academy award and golden globe Award, will take place as well.

Food festival

Jeddah chamber of commerce

From left: former President Václav Klaus and Hussein Shobokshi, Honorary Counsel

Shobokshi has also launched two websites to help bridge relations between Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic, http://www.crhcjed.com/ ar/index.html cover the honorary consulate of the Czech Republic in Jeddah and how it aims to serve the Czech community there as well as the business community in both countries through the services and information it provides.

The other site belongs to the Saudi Czech business gate, http://www.scbg.org/ar/index.html an entity established by Mr. Shobokshi, aiming to serve inform and facilitate business opportunities between businessmen from both countries.

Hussein Shobokshi never hides his enthusiasm about the Czech Republic’s potential which will be put into words in a book that he is finishing about this subject.

Leaders Magazine I/2014 49

tourism

EGYPT

Sea Resorts

– TOURISTIC PARADISE Dear Readers of ‘Leaders Magazine’, it is my pleasure to meet you all through the pages of this prestigious magazine to give you an overview about tourism in Egypt, particularly after I recently organized a trip to Egypt in November 2013 in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism in Egypt for a group of Czech journalists to the main touristic destinations in Egypt, and also to Cairo where they visited the magnificent Pyramids, the Sphinx and met with H.E. Egypt’s Tourism Minister Hisham Zazou.

Also, recently the EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton’s visited Luxor during the Christmas and New Year holidays, as well as other tourist delegations made an important visit to Sharm el- Sheikh.

50 Lead Leaders Le ead a ers errs Ma M Magazine gazi ga zine zi ne II/2014 /2 201 0 4

Egypt, covers a total area of 1,002,450 sq. km. It is located in the northeast corner of the African continent, on the Mediterranean Sea, at a crossroad between Africa, Asia and Europe. It is bordered to the east by the Red Sea, Palestine and Israel to the north-east, Libya to the west, and Sudan to the south. The country is divided into 4 main geological areas: Nile Valley and Delta, Western Desert, Eastern Desert, Sinai Peninsula.

The estimated total population of Egypt is about 85 million.

Egypt relies on tourism as one of three main sources of foreign currency, and the sector, which employs around 4 million workers, accounts for about 11% of gross domestic product. These

4 million Egyptian citizens directly rely on tourism, each providing for three or four people. This means that 16 million Egyptians are positively or negatively affected by the tourism sector.

Egypt has several initiatives, to get Egypt’s tourism sector on track, namely that in 2014 several countries plan to cooperate with Egypt to support tourism in various areas, including the well-known coastal cities such as Sharm elSheikh, Hurghada and the north coast of Egypt, as well as cultural archaeological sites in Cairo, Upper Egypt and Luxor. Also a number of countries which provided Egypt with significant support following the June 30 Revolution, are greatly interested in promoting the tourism sector in the country.

all !! to be for e c nd safe! la p e rtaining a eing th b te f n o e , lf n e s u F it st single! tablished s! Hourly les! Or ju , bands and show Sheikh es p l u E o C m ! r y a s quare Sh ith friends! Famil al singer SOHO S ternation ts. ! rw in e h th it e w g , to e g g e reserved d waters je An evenin tertainment on sta ith fire flames an ompetitions can b en sw dc Daily live cing fountain show ll ages, parties an a n t a c musical d and bowling attra oft play zone! k as in d r n e a ic s e e Th y rid ir fa h it w a Kid’s are

tourism

ra! haraoh e P e th to y a journe e you to k ta drinks! l il w ines and linary journey to eatre is th . u r c n a e a ’s e z r a ld gree sc s and b the wor l on a cu al 180-de ues, shop r concepts, taste er drinks. Trave A historic assle free boutiq n a ! t quality in h the fines nts and b staurants ool pre-d Over 120 vibrant restaura ndarin bar for c r Teppanyaki re e you, providing a io ce ulg Experien ystal lounge or M , Mai Thai, Sush se is sure to ind following u r n o C h ia t ub while d k a P n a I h te y s is a it b Meet te r o ese, Bom , Entrec een Vic B es or or at Qu Zen Chin ature restaurant“ t r u o c nd terrac b! a d s o n r fo a ig b s ta “ , s Mata Soho screen ight Clu at Akuna ol table. vents on t the Pangaea n in meat! e is also possible er around the po gs. Live sports e a nightlife tin bit eth A quick ame or a get-tog r and garden sit uing a booming n a g ti b a football uice and Coffee e Bar before con Therefore, J c I m e ! a e e th r r t a c Ice nce a o Squ ie h r o e S p t x I hope that more a e e g refreshin r a fabulous tim tourists will be visiting Egypt soon, and in fo y Get read There are particular Upper Egypt, especially the historic also numerous plans to destinations of Luxor and Aswan (30 % of the promote Egyptian tourism in several European world’s monuments are found in Egypt), as countries, through direct advertisements, Egypt offers a rich cultural experience that public relations, field visits and trailers. spans thousands of years of history. Also, Egypt I’m optimistic about the recovery of offers adventures deep into the desert; safaris tourism, after the first phase in the road- map to Western Desert oases, also the stunning for the future, namely the referendum on the Great Sand Sea desert and the Sinai desert constitution January 14th–15th, 2014 which will are engrossing adventures. Adding to this you be followed by presidential and parliamentary can discover the unexpected as diving from the elections. coasts of Egypt constantly unravels underwater Also, I would like to take this opportunity treasures and an abundance of undersea life. to assure you that all touristic destinations in You can choose to go for German submarine Egypt enjoy a stable safe security situation, and Napoleonic era warship wreck dives, coral and I believe that the delegation of Czech reef diving in the Red Sea or explore underwater journalists which visited Egypt last November ruins in the Mediterranean that date back from share with me this point of view after enjoying the golden age of the pharaohs up to the reign a relaxing visit to several touristic resorts and of Cleopatra, and if you don’t like to dive you destinations in Egypt. I have no doubt, the can enjoy Kite surfing in Safaga.

Egyptian people will get to a safe harbour with I look forward to welcome you all soon in the implementation of the road – map for the Egypt for a relaxing and an enjoyable holiday... future, and after a few months there will be H.E. Mohammad Abdel Hakam ■ a new government, president and an elected Ambassador of the Arab Republic parliament. of Egypt in Prague

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Shopping

Leaders Magazine I/2014 51

Photo de Veronique – Veronika Žábová

events

From left: Barry Evans, Country Manager, PIC Europe, Petr Šmejcký, Project Manager, SATRA, and Jonathan Wootliff, Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners

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FRYDAY is one of the largest networking clubs for professionals organising series of social and business networking events across CEE and Central Asia.

Fryday community is composed of cosmopolitan professional crowd, highly qualified managers, businessmen and decision makers, government officials and media representatives. Using both, offline and online platforms, the Fryday network works to bring people together so that they can make new contacts as well as sustain those already existing.

FRYDAY W is more formally organised networking format, and well known accomplished speakers tell their own success stories, or share valuable ideas with guests. Guests are typically connected to the field of a speaker or interested in networking within a certain industry.

From left: Petr Luzum, Medical Doctor, Alexandre Fedorovski, President, FAR-WESTA ENTERPRISES, Hans G. M. Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Country Manager, Greenstar Solar, and Lorenzo Santini, Project Engineer, Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant

From left: Katerina Bohac Linares, Gallery Manager, Latin Art Gallery, Petr Špinar, Vice President, Buildings & IT Business for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Schneider Electric, and Natalia Vorozhtsova, Managing Director, Eralna

52 From left: Barry Evans, Country Manager, PIC Europe and Frank Nourse, Managing Director, Pierwood Capital

Guests have enjoyed a fantastic evening

events

Jonathan Wootliff, Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners and Katerina Bohac Linares, Gallery Manager, Latin Art Gallery

Lively discussion

From left: James Cassidy, Director, J&J Access, Petr Špinar Sen.,Vice President, Buildings & IT Business for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Schneider Electric, Petr Špinar Jun., Sales Manager, Metrostav, and Bistra Cassidy, Jewelry Design and Marketing

Jonathan Wootliff, Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners at his speech

Jonathan Wootliff provides strategic sustainability counsel to companies throughout the world. As a professional communicator, he devotes much of his time to the forging of productive relationships between non-governmental organizations and companies, and in resolving conflicts. He has particular expertise in forestry, agriculture, energy and global warming, and has attended every annual United Nations climate conference since Kyoto. A regular writer and lecturer on sustainable development, corporate responsibility and governance, he also is a member of the advisory board of Ethical Corporation magazine.

Jonathan Wootliff, Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners at his speech

From left: Petr Luzum, Medical Doctor, Chenxi Zheng – Purchaser, Whiteberry Producition, Ivana Raičić, Owner, ENTERIER, James Cassidy, Director, J&J Access, Hywel D. Clark, English Teacher and Business Skills Trainer, High IQ English

53 Jonathan Wootliff , Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners at his speech

Photo de Veronique – Veronika Žábová

events

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From left: Gregory Kowalenko, Managing Director, Landmark, Jo-ann Solinap Lindbo, Office Coordinator and Manager, GLOBETEK PRO, Alexandre Fedorovski, President, FAR-WESTA ENTERPRISES,and Jacob Lindbo, Supervisor and Chief of Kitchen, Greenland Contractors

FRYDAY AFTERWORK AT BOSCOLO FRYDAY is one of the largest networking clubs for professionals organising series of social and business networking events across CEE and Central Asia. Fryday community is composed of cosmopolitan professional crowd, highly qualified managers, businessmen and decision makers, government officials and media representatives. Using both, offline and online platforms, the Fryday network works to bring people together so that they can make new contacts as well as sustain those already existing.

FRYDAY Afterwork Networking is a relaxed business and socialising event gathering regularly around 100–200 guests at top venues of city downtowns.

From left: Crystal Telecky, English Teacher, Lycée Français de Prague, Anthony Shee, CEO, Kinnarps, Lucie Poole, Director of PR, International Women‘s Association of Prague, and Marie Koubková, Production Manager, CRV Czech Republic

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From left: Hans G. M. Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Country Manager, Greenstar Solar, Michael Serences, IT Manager, Leaders Magazine, Jonathan Wootliff, Head of Corporate Accountability, Reputation Partners, and Gerry Hipperson, Owner, Provocative Beauty

From left: Stefan Schweiger, Owner, Executive-Stays, Svetlana Chugunova, Director, 2GIS-PRAGUE, and Yelena Lukicheva, C&E Executive, Hilton Prague Old Town

From left: Magdalena Michalik, Associate Analyst Accounting Operations for MEA and Europe at SITA and Agné Stakulyte, Associate Analyst Accounting Operations in Cash & Treasury, SITA

events

Jitka Klimešová, Accenture and Emil Jimenez, CEO and CCO, Passion Communications

From left: Sellem Zhang, Partner, Zhenya Law Firm in China, Petr Jakubec, Partner, Ueltzhöffer Klett Jakubec a Partneři, and Lars M. Klett, Partner, Ueltzhöffer Klett Jakubec a Partneři

From left: Veronika Žábová, Photographer, Photo de Véronique, Christian Heuer, Senior Consultant, Infosys Lodestone, and Olga Gavrilova, Personal Banker in International Clients Center, UniCredit Bank

From left: Timothy G. Addison, Marketing & Communications Director, The Prague Post, Nicole‘ Pavlov, General Manager, WoodPAV, Hans G. M. Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Country Manager, Greenstar Solar, and Ramon A. Gaspar, Cultural Officer of the Philippine Embassy Prague

From left: Lenka Štipčáková, Marketing & Business Development Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Milena Koptová, Backoffice Specialist, Citfin

Petr Humpolík, Prezident of LC Prague Heraldic and Jolana Sittinger, Sales Manager, CS Real Estate and Chateau Zbiroh

From left: Katya Rassadina, Glenn Sanchez, Regional Accounting Manager, Monster Worldwide CZ

From left: Georgi Bidenko, Executive Director, Environment Commerce CZ, Marek Černoch, Member ofthe Parliament, and Hans G. M. Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Country Manager, Greenstar Solar

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analysis

ANOTHER BORING

DAY IN PARADISE? Several myths and biased information about the activities of the Members of the European Parliament are floating around. Thanks to a recent controversial analysis published by one of the think-tanks, I realized that while trying to present current European issues to you, the readers of the Leaders Magazine, I have actually never presented, what is behind the job of a Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Let me honour my debt.

The European Parliament can be compared to a huge anthill: 766 ants/members are currently

Photo: Archive

56 Leaders Magazine I/2014

working here, with the Croatians who joined us last summer. The achievement of a parliamentary mandate basically consists of beavering away, which is not always seen in its ensemble. The cornerstone is laid at the level of committee work. As the readers already know, I am focussed on topics related to energy, telecommunications, satellite navigation, industry policy and research and development. I am a member of the relevant parliamentary committee ITRE, where I am honoured of being its vice-chair. This obviously involves its duties, such as occasional chairing of committee meetings, participating at official events etc.

The European Parliament adopts various opinions as well as resolutions, but its key duty is especially the preparation and adoption of the European legislation. Every proposal has its own main rapporteur with shadow rapporteurs; those are appointed from other political groups. Since 2009, I have represented our conservative group ECR in the negotiations of two important projects, which I tried also to explain in previous Leaders Magazine articles.

The first one concerned the setting up of rules for the GSA Agency operating for the European Galileo navigation system. It has also opened the door for relocation of the agency from Brussels to Prague. During the last two years I was busy with the Connecting Europe Facility telecommunication pillar, where I am pleased to announce that we have reached a successful agreement. As a main rapporteur, the Member of the European Parliament spends the most of his/her time attending formal and preparatory meetings, drafting compromises, communicating with shadow rapporteurs, the Council and the Commission or other key players. In particular when a Member of the European Parliament is responsible for “shadowing” another reports

– as a shadow, I am now following 14 reports at various stages – and monitoring other topics discussed in the committees, we could say that it is a tremendous amount of work. Naturally, it cannot be done without the help of a small team of skilful colleagues.

In this context, I would like to underline one particular thing, when I was talking about the comparison of work done by different Czech MEPs, and as, according to my own experience, we cannot number mechanically all the reports that were worked on by each of the MEPs. The legislative proposal may have between 5 to 105 articles or even more. Members of the European Parliament can suggest unlimited number of amendments. Some reports are discussed for months, including the trialogue stage with the Council and the Commission. In comparison to this; other reports can take years before being adopted. This also applies to other criteria that are often being compared without the knowledge of the subject.

I have always in my mind the following rule: if I have something to say in the committee or in the plenary, I say it. I never stand up just to have another point in my column; I refuse this kind of a race. I am not willing to co-sign any kind of declaration, but only the one, where I see the added value and am convinced with the opinion. Let’s get back still to the main subject. Every report is first discussed and voted in the responsible committee. The parliamentary decision made at the plenary level is naturally decisive. The duty of the rapporteur or shadow rapporteur is to provide all background information for own political group with the suggestion for final vote. The Strasbourg week is being known generally as very hectic because different meetings tend to take place at the same time.

The ITRE committee nominated me also for the STOA panel – representing mysteriously the Science and Technology Options Assessment – where I am acknowledged by necessary arguments for discussions about the use of financial aid for the area of research and development in the Czech Republic. This is not all. Beside the committees, the European Parliament also forms delegations that are responsible for bilateral relations with third countries outside the European Union (In my case it is Japan) and intergroups (Sky and Space).There are also many conferences and seminars organised in the premises of the European Parliament. We could add all the activities which are related to my work in the Czech Republic including lectures at schools and universities. I consider it most important to be in contact with these people, whose concerns I have been always trying to represent at my best in the European Parliament – the citizens and enterprises of the Czech Republic. It might be considered as pretentiously underlined and summed up but, but there is no boredom in this paradise. It is quite a challenging work and continuous learning.

By Evžen Tošenovský ■ Member of the European Parliament český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

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sustainable development

CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP AN ESSENTIAL BUSINESS INGREDIENT As a former director of Greenpeace International, I sometimes have a tendency to be cynical about the values and genuine intentions of big business.

Happily, there is a growing number of companies in the Czech Republic that are practicing what is often known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) or Sustainability.

Corporate Sustainability is the balancing of financial, environmental and social performance.

Companies have been traditionally judged on their ability to create wealth by delivering quality products or services. However, with increasing stress on natural resources and unprecedented technological advance, society’s concern for environmental protection and social responsibility is placing new expectations on business.

Today, a company is not only judged by the traditional fiscal bottom line, but corporate reputation is increasingly moulded by environmental and ethical behavior. Good corporate citizenship can be evaluated against the so-called “Triple Bottom Line”, with companies being held accountable for people and planet, as well as profit.

The traditional financial statement captures only those impacts that are primarily relevant to management, investors, shareholders and business owners.

Corporate sustainability is about balancing the sustenance of human life, integrity of nature and the need to make a profit. Living beyond our ecological means will lead to the destruction of humanity’s only home. Having insufficient natural resources, and living in unsatisfactory and inequitable ways causes destructive conflict and instability.

According to a recent study conducted in the Czech Republic by the market research company, Ipsos, for 75 percent of customers it is important that the companies are responsible. The same is true for 86 percent of Czech employees who want to work for a socially responsible businesses.

CSR has evolved significantly in this country over the past few years with more companies than ever before publishing detailed sustainability reports for everyone to see what they are actually doing.

Jonathan Wootliff A former director of Greenpeace International, Jonathan Wootliff lives in Prague and works throughout the world as a sustainability consultant to business. He is a special advisor to the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development. He has consulted many large corporations including BP, Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool, and providing counsel to companies on the development of sustainability strategies that benefit the environment, society and business. Among his many activities, he helps companies to resolve disputes, forge productive relationships with non-governmental organizations, and build long-term sustainability strategies. A qualified journalist with a subsequent background in public relations, Jonathan commonly assists companies with their sustainability communications. He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com

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One such company is Plzeňský Prazdroj, makers of Pilsner Urquell, which has been publishing sustainability reports since 2006, providing a detailed account of its CSR practices.

Plzeňský Prazdroj is a source of pride for the Czech nation and an important contributor to the economy. As such, it surely has a heightened responsibility to build and maintain positive relationships, utilise natural resources efficiently and effectively address the need of its consumers and local communities.

“We firmly believe that we can only conduct our business successfully if we manage to align our business interests with the expectations of our consumers, customers, suppliers and people from the regions where we operate”, says Paolo Lanzarotti, the company’s newly appointed general manager.

“Not only are the sustainability principles included in our strategy but they are also an inseparable part of our daily work, where we seek to implement the principles in everything we do”, he adds.

Its 2013 report articulates 10 sustainability priorities which embrace a broad mix of environmental and social issues which includes discouraging irresponsible consumption; encouraging enterprise development in its supply chains; using less water; benefiting communities; reducing energy usage; respecting human rights; and aiming towards zero-waste operations.

Plzeňský Prazdroj outlines a range of voluntary initiatives designed to inform people about sensible drinking, in particular averting under-age consumption and drink driving. The company clearly makes the point that its own measures, which are guided by a strict code of ethics, exceed current statutory requirements.

Consistent with one of the core principles of corporate sustainability, Plzeňský Prazdroj explains the many initiatives it takes to ensure that its suppliers and customers adopt the responsible standards as it does. As a key symbol of the Czech Republic, the company believes that it is important for all parties associated with its brands follow the highest possible ethics.

Mindful that brewing requires a considerable amount of water, the company reports on the technology it deploys to make savings. Under the slogan, “more beer, less water”, the company has initiated a variety of projects, which has reduced consumption from 3.92 hectoliters of water used to produce 1 hectoliter of beer in 2012 down to 3.33 hectoliters today.

The company explains that providing benefits to its local communities is a key priority of its sustainability strategy. The report documents how it spent nearly CZK 13 million last year on sustainability initiatives.

In its bid to reduce its carbon footprint, Plzeňský Prazdroj has established a goal to slash by 50 percent its energy usage from 2008 levels by 2020. The report discloses its current energy requirements and shows how it plans to achieve its ambitious plan.

Former Greenpeace International director, Jonathan Wootliff, is now a sustainability consultant living in Prague.

Photo: Archive of Author

As a part of its strategy to respect human rights, although the report doesn’t provide figures on the proportion of women employees, the company highlights a programme called “Women Matter” which has been introduced to remove barriers to career development and enable a smooth return from maternity leave.

Plzeňský Prazdroj explains how it handles the waste generated in the brewing of its beer. Of the 155,848 tons produced in 2012, the company claims that nearly 99 percent of it was reused. One example given is the burning of organic waste in its heating furnace in Pilsen.

Although there remains room for improvement in its report, it is encouraging to see the guardian of one of the nation’s most valuable icons, setting such an example as a good corporate citizen. But it is estimated that only some 40 or so companies are currently publishing such comprehensive sustainable reports in this country.

An increasing number of companies is engaging in responsible activities, the public awareness of CSR is rising, and customers are attributing more importance to sustainability. But much more needs to be done.

Much of the corporate sector in this country has yet to fully understand and appreciate the importance of CSR and sustainability. All too many businesses consider a charitable donation to be sufficient to boast good corporate citizenship. But, as illustrated by the Plzeňský Prazdroj report, the concept really has to be integrated into the whole business, and not just used as marketing or public relations tool.

Sustainability is an essential ingredient for enhancing the image and reputation of Czech business in the world. It is therefore heartening to see more companies joining the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development. The need to convince managers of the strong case for developing a comprehensive CSR strategy, executing effective initiatives and openly reporting on their goals and outcomes has never been more important.

In spite of my scepticism as to the true authenticity of some company’s sustainability claims, there is clearly some impressive work being done in the Czech Republic. The challenge is for this be scaled up so it becomes a mainstream business practice.

By Jonathan Wootliff ■ Leaders Magazine I/2014 57

events

From left: Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town, Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter, Terezie Sverdlinová, Director, Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation, H. E. Shri Ashok Venkatesan, Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic with his wife, Mrs. Claudia Specking, and Indian Ambassador’s son Kartik

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On Sunday, December 15, Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town organized the 17th annual Christmas Charity Concert to support Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation, whose mission is to help children in need. Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager of both Hilton Hotels in Prague, was delighted to hand over a cheque in the value of 130,000 Czech Crowns to the Foundation Director Terezie Sverdlinová.

The concert was held under the auspices of the Ambassador of the Indian Republic H.E. Shri Venkatesan Ashok. PKF – Prague Philharmonia headed by the Indian conductor Mr. Debashish Chaudhuri, featuring Daniela Valíčková as a soprano, brought the festive spirit to life. The international female choir Viva Voce conducted by Soňa Frýdlová delighted the audience by traditional Christmas carols. Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager of Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town together with Terezie Kašparovská, presenter, moderated the evening. After the concert, guests enjoyed delicious Christmas buffet under the stars in the hotel Lobby accompanied by piano music.

From left: Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter, Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town, and Terezie Sverdlinová, Director, Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation From left: Michael Specking, General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town, Mrs. Gehring, Mrs. Specking, Mr. Gehring, H. E. Mr. & Mrs. Shri Ashok Venkatesan, Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic

58

From left: Filip Eisenreich, Executive Director, Lloyd Coils Europe and Janka Engineering, Robert Inneman, Sales Director, Janka Engineering, Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter, Terezie Sverdlinová, Director, Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation, H. E. Shri Ashok Venkatesan, Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jana Chaudhuri, Pianist, Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor, Mrs. Claudia Specking and Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town

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From left: Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town with his wife and H. E. Bélaïd Hadjem, Algerian Ambassador to the Czech Republic with his wife

Festive Christmas Buffet in the Hotel Lobby

Soňa Valíčková, Soprano and Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor

From left: Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town with his wife on the far right and H. E. Ayman Mohammad Aladsani, Kuwaiti Ambassador to the Czech Republic

International Female Choir Viva Voce

From left: Mrs. Korenčíková, RNDr. Antonín Korenčík, Director, Gesto Computers, Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter, Terezie Sverdlinová, Director, Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation, H. E. Shri Ashok Venkatesan, Indian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Mrs. Claudia Specking, Mgr. Magda Bušková, Fundraiser & Lector, and Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town

59

events

International Female Choir Viva Voce

Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town and Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter

From left: Markéta Šebková, Marketing & PR Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town, Terezie Kašparovská, Presenter, Terezie Sverdlinová, Director, Tereza Maxová Dětem Foundation, and Mrs. Claudia Specking

60 PKF – Prague Philharmonia

@

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analysis

CZECHIA – A FUTURE WATERWAYS CROSSING OF EUROPE? In the recent months, the return of the idea of a water corridor connecting the Danube, Odra and Elbe rivers through the area of the Czech Republic has awaken a broad interest in the Czech public. The project has been recently strongly fostered by President Miloš Zeman as well as by the incumbent government in resignation, and became also one of hot transport themes of the latest parliamentary election campaign. The idea of the water corridor has appeared with positive or negative connotations and governmental efforts during more than a century, but without any definite decisions and actions taken by governments and public institutions.

The water corridor topic has a direct link to the fate of water transport in the country during the post-revolution period when it experienced a steep downturn. The decline of water transport in the Czech Republic might have had more reasons, but one of them certainly was governmental preference of construction of motorways and reconstruction of trunk railway corridors and, in turn, a palpable negligence of reconstruction and extension of waterway network, frequently supported also by inimical attitudes of some environmental organisations, in spite of generally acknowledged positive environmental impact of water transport in comparison to other transport modes. So while 39 new weir and lock systems had been constructed in Czechia during 1901–1989, no such site originated after 1989.

In consequence of this, e.g. shallow riverbed at the lowest section of Elbe River near to the German border prevents navigation for a considerable part of the year.

Now the potential project is subject to discussions and disputes among Czech ministries, regions, municipalities as well as private companies and transport experts. Advocates of the water corridor accent not only the transport importance of the corridor representing a missing link between the Elbe and Baltic Sea to the Danube basin, but also its potential anti-flood effect (as the Czech Republic was repeatedly heavily hit by floods during last 15 years), positive impact on water resource management (possible irrigation of drying regions, such as Southern Moravia,

by Danube water), and also ecological (such as lower carbon dioxides emissions and creation of new valuable biotopes), renewable energy, economically supportive, landscape and recreational impacts, They also mention a non-negligible argument that the corridor would boost inland water

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transport also in neighbouring Poland and Slovakia, where the project finds its supporters as well. According to the schedule of the Czech Ministry of Transport, the Danube – Odra – Elbe Water Corridor could be finished until 2039, with construction proceeding according to available financial sources and with the most difficult and expensive part connecting Olomouc town at the Morava River and Pardubice at the Elbe constructed at the very end of the presumed time span.

Adversaries of the project accent at first high technical and construction complexity of the project and its extensive financial demand (which would undoubtedly reach a total sum about 400 billion CZK, i.e. about 15 billion EUR). Ecologic and environmentalist initiatives express concerns about potential damage to natural biotopes and to the landscape, and also some municipalities and private companies defend against the project because of its zoning protection preventing them from introducing different developments instead.

The potential construction of the water corridor should be covered in its overwhelming share by European funds, as its financing is well over Czech budget resources. This would be impossible for the foreseeable future, as the former Czech government did not have objections to the omission of the water corridor project from the European TEN-T system in 2011. The activities of the recent Czech government in resignation to reintroduce the project to the TEN-T network undertaken in July 2013 came too late; the TEN-T network for the next 2014–2020 EU programming period was fixed by the “informal trialogue” of the EU Council, Parliament and Commission already in May 2013 and the next TEN-T revision phase comes into consideration as late as 2023. In its response to the Ministry the European Commission aptly stressed that the Czech Government failed so far to both perform necessary negotiations with concerned neighbouring countries and prepare a feasibility study that would in its result support the project.

The elaboration of this feasibility study that would perform economic and environmental appraisal of the water corridor project is in delay at least from 2005. Only the incumbent govern-

ment in resignation made first practical steps to assigning the study by publishing a prior information notice for the respective service contract in December 2013 at the Czech and EU public contract websites. The tender for the elaboration of the study should be opened in early 2014 with the term of its submission by December 2015. Its cost is estimated about 25 million CZK (1.1 million EUR).

The future of the potential Danube – Odra – Elbe Water Corridor is still unclear, and so is also the fate of the Czech inland waterway transport. It will be also influenced by the attitudes and efforts of the new Czech government in creation, also taking into account the future share of water transport infrastructure investment in the next 2014–2020 Operation Programme Transport.

Emanuel Šíp ■ Partner, Allied Progress Consultants Association český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 61

Nordic chamber event

From left: Jiří Šedivý, Managing Director, Mercuri International, Lea Turcarová, Executive Director, Nordic Chamber, Lucie Ramneborn, Executive Director, Klinika Asklepion, and Jiří Pech, Treasurer, Nordic Chamber with his wife

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Over 100 adults and 75 children – the youngest one only two months old! – turned up at the Nordic Chamber’s traditional Lucia Christmas Party in restaurant Hergetova Cihelna in mid-December. The atmosphere was as snug and cosy as only the Scandinavians can make it in a dark winter night; the Jultomten, North Europe’s Santa Claus, handed out gifts from IKEA to the children, while their parents relished in delicious seafood from Marine Harvest. “Judged by the feedback I got during the evening people really had this true Christmas feeling, not least since our Charity Bazaar managed to collect CZK 10,000 for children suffering from Cystic fibrosis, so I would say that this must have been the best Lucia Party in our 18-year history,” the Nordic Chamber’s Executive Director Lea Turcarová says.

62 From left: H.E. Jens Eikaas, Ambassador of Norway and Stefan Lager, President, Nordic Chamber

Nordic chamber event

Renáta Váchová, General Manager, Alfa Laval with her husband

From left: Lea Turcarová, Executive Director, Nordic Chamber and Silvia Bušniaková, Head of Networking, British Chamber with her daughter Rozinka

Nils Jebens, Owner, Kampa Group s.r.o. with his son Henrik Julian

Santa Claus with St. Lucia

From left: Markéta Haraldsson Petrů with her newly born son Erik Alexander and Mrs. Barbora Norlin

63 Michaela Lager, HR Manager, Schindler CZ and Robert Norlin, CEO, NCC Purchasing Group

Lucia Train, children from the International School of Prague

Photo: Martin Pinkas

events IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Tomáš Jan Podivínský, outgoing Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic at his speech

GAS BUSINESS BREAKFAST 2013 HELD BY CZECH GAS ASSOCIATION 10th Annual Conference Gas Business Breakfast 2013 was held on November 29, this time under the name Natural gas for a bright future. Conference brought together representatives of government and the private sector to discuss current situation on the gas market in the Czech Republic. The conference was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

From left: Vratislav Ludvík and Jakub Železný, Moderators

Miloslav Zaur, Chairman, Czech Gas Association at his speech

64 Gas Business Breakfast was held at Corinthia Hotel Prague with more than 100 guests

events

Tomáš Jan Podivínský, outgoing Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic attended Gas Business Breakfast 2013

Martin Herrmann, Chairman of the Board and CEO, RWE, Czech Republic, a.s.

Martin Záklasník, Sales Director, T-Systems Czech Republic during the discussion

From left: Pavel Šolc, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of the CR and Martin Herrmann, Chairman of the Board and CEO, RWE, Czech Republic, a.s., with Tomáš Jan Podivínský, outgoing Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic in the background

65 From left: Jiří Jíše, VICONTE and Boris Dlouhý, Director, Economic Policy Department, Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic

From left: Hugo Kysilka, Marketing Director, Vemex, Miloslav Zaur, Chairman, Czech Gas Association

interview An Interview with Božena Jirků, Executive Director, Charta 77 Foundation

I’M THE WHITE CROW OF THE NON-PROFIT SECTOR. I SPREAD OPTIMISM.

Whether it be the BARRIERS Account, the MÍŠA Account or Islands of Life, Božena Jirků’s name is permanently attached to charitable activities and their development in the Czech Republic. The Executive Director of Charta 77 Foundation maintains that, even after more than twenty years, she still enjoys her work in the foundation. And she’s still full of ideas. She also says that to verify the trustworthiness of a foundation, one only needs three numbers.

More in the interview.

Two significant foundations, with two strong names; The BARRIERS Account and the Charta 77 Foundation. Unless I’m mistaken, in 2014 they will jointly be 57 years old. How would you describe ‘your children,’ who are now nearly sixty?

I would never believe it’s possible to have changed the image of a foundation so much, that the Charta 77 Foundation, used to help dissidents in times when we had no idea about foundations, would turn into a public foundation with 40 000 regular donors. We achieved an incredible thing thanks to the MÍŠA Account collections and the BARRIERS account. ‘The children’ have outgrown their mother and today we are the strongest foundation in the Czech Republic, aside from one gigantic corporate foundation. And it’s both amazing and generous that the founders of the Charta 77 Foundation, particularly František Janouch, took this reality into account and identified with it. Or perhaps came to terms with it? I don’t think so.

I believe they really came to love the BARRIERS Account and the dozens of other projects.

The Charta 77 Foundation was established in 1978 in Sweden by František Janouch. In one interview you mentioned that you taught this country about charity with him. What’s your most vivid memory of that time?

The whole MÍŠA Account, the incredible public collection that happened entirely spontaneously without any experience on part of either of us, as organizers and those who participated in it is an unforgettable memory. These days, we have the

66 Leaders Magazine I/2014

Act Nr. 117/2001 Coll. that we all have to abide by, as well as the experience. The things I can’t forget?

People who gave the collection a major part of their estates, as did Mrs. Paroubková and Mrs. Ledvinková – ladies who donated family property, their donations in the order of hundreds of thousands.

Those donations took place in 1992 and think of what it was back then; a hundred thousand CZK? A huge amount.

And there were tens of such people, hundreds.

Those taxi drivers from Old Town Square, that strange and badmouthed part of the society were among the first who sent a check to the MÍŠA Account for 5,000 CZK. A lady who wrote on her check, “I was saving money for a winter coat.

I have cancer and will die before winter. I’m sending 3,000 CZK to the MÍŠA Account“. I could fill the whole page with memories. It’s been twenty years and see, I still can’t forget it.

I’m sure you get this question often, but has our society learned how to do charity now? And what do we need to get the ‘best grades’?

Can I, as the director of a foundation regularly supported for twenty years by 40,000 regular small donors, reply to this other than optimistically? In this regard, I’m the White Crow of the non-profit sector. I spread optimism, but not a faked and embarrassing optimism. This is apparent from the actual results of recent years.

We will get to the numbers. But I would first like to ask about the beginnings of the BARRIERS Account. Most of us connect it with the image of a little boy in a wheelchair in front of a mirror, who is putting on the make-up – of a clown. I was surprised that the BARRIERS Account was actually established around the idea for this ad…

It was a great idea but, for the time, a rather raw advertising campaign. It wasn’t surprising only to you. I remember that the Board Members of the BARRIERS Account, especially the legendary children’s psychologist, Professor Zdeněk Matějček, asked at our first meetings whether ‘such advertising will denigrate the disabled children?’

Many times afterwards, we decided these concerns were unnecessary. We weren’t just asking the question as delivered by the actor, Vlastimil Brodský. Perhaps readers will remember his question in the voiceover of the little clown in the wheelchair ‘What else will these children have to do in order for us to notice them?’ I most appreciate the response to this first successful television ad of ours. Not

only did we not insult the disabled, we awakened society’s interest in them.

Many of our readers have leadership positions within large companies. Which of the foundation’s activities should interest them? The BARRIERS Account Job Fair, the Stipend Fund of BARRIERS? I can’t pick and choose. One child among many?

Somewhat of a Sophie’s choice? That’s not possible at all. Each project has a reason it was established and therefore a clear goal. Each of them will appreciate support and, within the foundation, we are happy and skilled at tailor-making a project for anyone interested in charity and relations with our foundation. I dare to day in a new contact with a sponsor or a partner, they’ll not be sorry to connect to us. We really deliver what we promise.

A relatively new project is SENSEN – Senzační senioři (Sensational Seniors), a project supporting seniors. Are you satisfied with how it took off?

Actually, I’m never truly satisfied, but we already have seventy Sensational Senior clubs across the country and more are being established. We would now like to strengthen their major programs, particularly the National Chronicle, as well as their collaboration with municipalities. We want to find stars for them, important figures from various fields in their own towns as consultants in diverse areas. There are many plans. Now we are launching a pilot project that teaches seniors to use tablet technology. We awarded the first Senior of the Year Award. The amazing meeting of proximate Sensational Seniors from all over the country and their response confirmed to me that this is a long-distance run that’s worth it. I like the new project for active seniors.

Can someone in Pardubice, Prachatice, Kroměříž or Litoměřice afford to exercise with David Huf, the world champion in sports aerobics? ‘That’s the advantage of Prague,’ the out-of-Prague partners will tell you and I say ‘No way.’ We got David Huf on board and he’s already training a first group of our seniors, because he’s developed a sensational methodology for seniors and devotes his time to training them in Prague. In Pardubice as well as other places, there will be a local instructor trained by Huf and they will regularly renew their accreditation.

All this costs some money. It’s not much, but the travel, accommodation… and we would like to provide this for the seniors out there. We need spon-

Photo: Jan Šilpoch and Goran Tačevski

interview sors for such things as well. It’s difficult to get them for this target group, as if seniors don’t smell right to sponsors. But remember, we will all get old. You won’t be young forever, not even you big managers, who have control over choosing a destination for your well earned money. The goal of our project is also to try to shift the view of seniors as a group that only waits with outstretched hands.

Please don’t take this as criticism, but isn’t there a ‘splitting of forces’ with new projects focused on groups in need that are already covered by existing foundations?

Not really. Take for example the seniors. There really are many organizations interested in them, but in a majority of cases they care for those in need of daily social care. We are searching among the approximately 20% of this completely non-homogenous group. As I said before, we connect people who retired from active employment and are looking for something to fill their life. In some cases it’s sport, others it’s culture, elsewhere an interest in the city where they live, in history of their family or in society. These are the pillars of our SENSEN (see more at ww.sensen.cz). Sometimes only regular meetings are enough, that create new friendships among people who possibly remained alone. Their health is fine and they’re still ready to do something more.

What’s the future of charitable activities in the Czech Republic? The connection of strong names with narrow-focused projects, or is there still opportunity for new names?

There will always be opportunity. Most important is to imagine the activity of the non-profit organization in a year or five years and have a good plan. Enthusiasm alone is not a qualification for this work.

We are not the kind of a foundation that makes a splash with a single benefit concert and that’s it.

We do charity every day. We help hundreds of people. Otherwise, I and my colleagues in the twentymember foundation wouldn’t enjoy the work.

The connections with big names are great and I’m pleased that SENSEN is supported by actress Simona Stašová, that BARRIERS have their Lucie Bílá, who is our fan and supports us, along with Jiří Lábus and Jan Kačer, who actively participate and help us. We don’t have any supermodel in our forefront. I jokingly say that our Tereza Maxová is the eighty-two-year-old František Janouch, who bubbles with energy.

Is there a simple way for big donors to efficiently donate funds for charity?

Turn to those who have already achieved something, have a clear and understandable history, perfect audit and low overhead. František Janouch taught me about charity and I like to pass on his simple rules. So, dear donors, according to him there are only three numbers necessary to evaluate the trustworthiness of a foundation. How much total money did the foundation receive from all sources during the year for its activities? How much was distributed during the same period and how much is its overheard?

The obvious question then is – what are these numbers for the foundation?

Income was between 57 and 60 million CZK. We distributed among those in need almost 46 million in 2011 and 37 million in 2012. In both those years the overhead was 6 million CZK. And is it still money that’s needed, or rather job opportunities, general material support, etc.?

From a director of the largest foundation, you never hear anything other than that money is needed. That’s something that, people as well as donors, sometimes confuse. Foundations exist to perfectly know the field they focus on. They exist to catch interest and convince sponsors of their intents, get a lot of money and reliably and accurately understand how to distribute it. We really know how to do that. The smaller organizations that directly provide services, can accept help and support in material gifts. I don’t consider it any less important, if they know how to do it.

During more than twenty years of the BARRIERS Account (and, of course, a decade-longer existence of Charter 77) you met huge numbers of people who needed help. No doubt, this work is also difficult from an emotional point of view.

Is there an emotional ‘defense?’

It’s not needed and it would be a barrier, in my view. But we’re all different. Each foundation director will give you a different answer. I get stronger hearing difficult and sad stories, they drive my work.

Is there a story that affected you the most personally?

I have such stories and sometimes they don’t have happy endings yet may never. The BARRIERS Account heroes, as I call them and they will be al-

Konto BARIÉRY – předání šeku na závěr 3. ročníku projektu Český internet pomáhá

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ways in my heart. I can’t give you just one and we don’t have another three pages.

What’s the greatest motivator in planning new projects?

People and their destinies are the biggest drive in my work for the foundation. I teach this to my colleagues, I think successfully,. That is why we continually grow. Life stories and specific events still inspire me to further projects. This is how the BARRIERS Account gave birth to Computers Against Barriers, the BARRIERS Stipend, Sport Without Barriers, Employers Without Barriers, Banks Without Barriers, Businesses Without Barriers and project New Start.

Of course we will dive into new projects this year as well. We signed the tender for the rent of Werich’s villa. We have a beautiful project and I’m increasingly convinced that, with it, we would revitalize Prague and make its citizens and visitors happy. The House of Four Muses, an amazing project for aging actors, singers, musicians and artists, is still in my heart. After many years, it could be restarted.

To close – how will 2014 be for you?

I hope successful and busy. We may not lose sponsors, but have to gain a few new ones. We’re preparing many events. There will be two high points. The ‘Even Charity May Come’ television program, which will be broadcast for the third time by ČT 1 on Sunday, September 28th. Along with the management of Czech Television, we want to create a new format, an entertainment that will possibly bring in a lot of money. All those, who help Barriers on the TV screen do something additional, something, they would never do otherwise.

The second high point will be the 12th successive auction salon of artists for BARRIERS Account. It’s a time-tested and once-in-a-lifetime project – a show of Czech visual arts by artists who otherwise probably wouldn’t even speak to each other and define themselves against one another.

Here they ‘make peace’ and don’t mind their works being exhibited side by side in the Cross Hall of the Carolinum in Prague. They want to help a good cause, the BARRIERS Account, in which they believe.

What more can I wish for? So, just good health and contentment in the family, luck to my sons and my wonderful grandchildren, little Kryštof and Sára.

Jaroslav Kramer ■

Konto BARIÉRY – předání 8 aut v rámci projektu Auta bez bariér

Leaders Magazine I/2014 67

life style

GET THE NEW YEAR OFF TO A GOOD START RESOLUTIONS, WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND QUEST FOR PERFECTION

As the New Year is getting into full swing, many people are still contemplating what is in store for all of us over the next 12 months.

Typically, some of us start the year with big New Year’s resolutions. In six months (or earlier) more than half of us will have given up on our aspirations and fallen back on old habits. It’s clear that enthusiasm and willpower are limited resources, and hope doesn’t get us very far; in addition, we are simply not perfect and easily succumb to temptation, vice or the path of least resistance. That’s reality.

With the New Year unfolding, it is also natural for people to be looking for a new challenge or a change of career – this tends to be a time of reassessment for both employees and for company leaders. I find beneficial to pause and reflect on the previous year and re-evaluate priorities and goals while looking at what went well and what needs improving going forward.

We live in a world of a constant change. TechTereza Urbánková is a PR, communications and marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience and proven success in industries such as hospitality, retail, IT, defence, broadcast, logistics and engineering. For the past seven years she has been working and living in London, UK; currently she is Manager of Global Communications for AMEC plc, a large international engineering consultancy. Tereza also works as a freelance consultant in the area of communications and PR. She speaks Czech, English, Spanish and Russian and can be reached on terezaurbankova@yahoo.com or through her LinkedIn profile.

68 Leaders Magazine I/2014

nology is moving forward at a breakneck pace and the world of communication, which I am very much involved in, is changing just as fast. I still remember the good old days in Prague many years ago when all marketing collateral was in print and computers were for writing brochures and press releases. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, where I worked in the Diplomatic Protocol, we used to have just one computer that could send mail electronically (only one person had the knowledge and particularly privilege to execute this task), using a very screechy modem; we were all petrified it was going to collapse any minute. These days are long gone and when I sometimes reminisce about them, my 15-year old son usually gives me ‘that look’ which indicates I am from a different planet.

This digital age has impacted the way we behave, interact, shop, work and play. One of the most typical ‘signs of the times’ is that many people are not able to draw the line between life and work. The world is so plugged in that we can supposedly enjoy leisure time but have the constant distraction of work email, which prevents us from truly switching off. We tend to forget that technology is here to serve us, not vice versa. In this fast-paced environment, the level of hyperawareness is high and the potential for burnout is huge; therefore, to find the right work-life balance is so crucial. The good news is that some of us are beginning to make steps to change that as I heard on the radio the other day: how does a ban on mobiles/smart phones in a bedroom sound to you?

Now, there are many companies all over the world trying to provide work-life balance as well as global initiatives that strive to tackle the same issue. One of them is ‘Third Metric’, coined by Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief and founder of Huffington Post. Third Metric was launched with the objective to redefine success beyond the first two metrics, money and power, to include wellbeing, wisdom and our ability to give back. This initiative is for everybody as the destructive definition of success we are living under affects people at every social and economic level.

The US is embracing this concept as 35 percent of large American corporations allegedly offer some kind of stress-reduction programme for employees. Since the problem is universal and transcends geographic boundaries, the rest of the world seems to be slowly buying into the idea as well: when global leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland in January for the World Economic Forum, ‘Health is Wealth’ was one of the sessions, moderated by Arianna Huffington. It’s great to see support on such political and business level; however, this will work only if organisations and individuals make it real.

New Year, new (or perfect?) you As we have stepped into the New Year, full of hopes, aspirations and determination to become better, leaner and wiser, we should realise that small changes, perhaps in our work-life balance or elsewhere, may be the most sustainable; these can make a huge difference. Yet, many of us go to extremes, setting unreasonable objectives, striving for the Holy Grail, for perfection.

Perfection is subjective. To some it may be related to their career, relationship, finances or appearance, and to others, it may involve their moral character. But the thread that connects us all is the idea that we are never perfect enough.

Picture this: An immaculate home. A toned body. Wrinklefree skin. Straight, white teeth. A certain amount of calories per day. The ‘right’ number on the scale. The perfect job. The ‘right’ number of children. Fast-growing career. Eating healthily. Being available for everyone at all times. Completing every task on your to-do list.

Does it sound familiar? Is this the idea of perfection that we all strive for?

If it is, what are we achieving? In some ways we are actually creating a loss of freedom; we have less time and make more excuses for why we are unable to reach certain goals or enjoy life at all.

So I propose – instead of writing big New Year’s resolutions, think about your choices as small pieces of a big puzzle. No single decision you make about your eating, physical activity, or anything else you want to improve will determine the outcome, but altogether, they create a big picture of ‘better you’.

And now, let’s put theory into practice. Today, I encourage you to forget the big goals and pressure of the outside world – just to celebrate the beginning of a new promising year. Stop counting calories. Invite friends into your home. Cook for others and enjoy the meal. Hug a loved one. Look in the mirror and smile. Sit at your desk and feel proud. Drop your phone and connect to others face to face. Recognise how far you’ve come and what you’ve achieved. Or, as my very dear and close friend says: “take the time to smell the roses” which contains all the above and more (although he has not been able to fully accomplish that yet but has been working on it, which counts as much).

Simply, accept yourself today and embrace 2014 and the future with an open mind – because being imperfect makes you human. And celebrate the small achievements which will ultimately contribute to a big part of your happiness and success.

By Tereza Urbánková ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

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media power

THE WISDOM OF SLOWING DOWN DARE TO GAIN PERSPECTIVE IN AN INCREASINGLY NOISY WORLD The word “transformation” has been often used to describe the deep process that companies and individuals underwent since the beginning of the economic crisis in 2007. Without any doubt we can expect that the year that is about to start will continue to throw new challenges to those active in the fields of leadership, communication and professional reputation management.

Here are some of the most important factors that will influence our lives and communication in 2014.

Forever new technology Technology will continue to evolve, firing newer and newer platforms and gadgets that PR professionals need to learn to handle and promptly include in their communication strategies. With Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, three of the most important social media platforms, already listed on the stock exchange, we can expect more upgrades to these platforms meant to make them even more financially profitable. For communicators this means even more efforts to keep track of all the sudden changes and keep the corporate message consistent across all communication platforms.

We are all digital As the world of new technology dictates our speed of living, communication managers need to learn how to make best use of all this fresh potential. All major technological and social media developments need to be reflected sooner or later on the company website, which is becoming more and more a central focal point for the company’s virtual identity. In an economy like that of the Czech Republic, which is driven by exports and expansion to foreign markets, having a flexible website with multiple options for culturally targeted adaptations is essential. Czech companies will slowly learn to step out of their comfort zone and invest more into their digital presence if they want to reap the benefits of the economic growth predicted for 2014.

Cristina Muntean is a professional communications advisor, media trainer and coach. She has more than 12 years’ experience in the Czech, Romanian and international media. In August 2010 Cristina founded Media Education CEE, a Prague-based premium PR advisory and training agency. Her clients are top managers, diplomats and public officials who aim to make their voice heard in their community. In June 2011 Cristina was elected president of the Czech PR Klub; in January 2012 she was elected chairwoman of the Marketing Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Prague. Cristina speaks Romanian, French, English and Czech and can be reached at cm@mediaed.cz.

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Corporate news, corporate storytelling It isn’t only the set-up of the company website won’t let PR managers sleep at night in 2014, but also the type of content that will attract readership and help the company to differentiate itself on the global market. In 2014 we can expect more investments into targeted content generation, corporate storytelling and authentic corporate news-making – brand journalism. More and more managers and company experts will learn the benefits of blogging and guest blogging. The influence of virtual content will constantly increase.

Videos make a thousand words In the last quarter of 2013 a digital platform connecting video makers and companies interested in video content – called Videoflot – was launched in the Czech Republic. Its founder, David “Havran” Spáčil, a bright mind and a video-maker himself, is betting on companies’ need for more professional advertising and explanatory videos. In the struggle for the public’s focus and decreasing attention span, we can expect that more Czech companies will shift their attention from text to attractive video content. For a media trainer and coach, this is music to my ears: it means that sooner or later we will all need to learn to stand in front of a camera and express our messages powerfully and authentically.

Media world adrift In 2013 the global media market has been one of the most dynamic in terms of mergers and acquisitions. In the Czech Republic no stone has been left unturned, the M&A season on the media market culminating with the news of Daniel Křetínský and Patrik Tkáč buying the media group Ringier Axel Springer CZ, publisher of Blesk, the most widely read daily tabloid on the Czech market. Following the deep structural shake ups experienced by publishers such as Economia and Mafra, or by the television market, this is a guarantee that media relations specialists will have lots of work to do at the beginning of 2014 to track who’s who and why in the Czech newsrooms in the years to come.

Personal development As the economy and companies gain momentum, and the communication sectors becomes increasingly complicated, we can expect that more budget will go toward training communication managers into understanding the new developments and aligning them with the company vision and priorities. This is a good thing: we need more PR managers who think and act as strategic advisors to their board of directors. Communicators must make sense out of the new reality and transform it for the benefit of their companies and clients. With more budgets going into education and professional training, we can also expect more people to

Photo: Jakub Stadler

discover that hard skills are not enough. Emotional intelligence, emotional training, self-awareness and constant personal development will increasingly become a topic for the years to come.

Fragmented audience? Closer audience As the tendencies above tend to reflect, audiences will become even more fragmented. This means that people will continue to rapidly change their means of consuming news, with little chance of following them in a timely manner on new devices, or understanding their particular consumption patterns. The more fragmented the audience, the more companies need to focus their budgets on communication efficiency. This is why we can expect more investment into researching the particular ways certain audiences consume information. Some companies will stay simple: by investing more into events and face-to-face interactions they will retain and rebuild a human element of closure and authentic communication into their company culture.

All of these factors and many other tendencies will most certainly influence our lives and the way we communicate in 2014. Overall we need to swim through more noise and yet follow our unique vision, purpose and goals. This is why maybe the most important factor for 2014 is our own capacity to slow down and gain perspective. It’s not easy to dare to swim against the wave; yet, sometimes it is the wisest thing to do. Success in 2014 belongs to those who stick with reality, and yet are able to place things in perspective and leverage the unique gifts of living in today’s world. Will you be one of them?

By Cristina Muntean ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 69

events

Photo: Martin Janas and walkphoto.cz

From left: MUDr. Pavel Boček, Director, Sluneční paprsek, Pavla Gomba, CEO, Unicef CR, and Marcela Vandrová, Moderator, Český rozhlas Brno

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2014 BEST OF MAGAZINE BALL HELD AT AUTOCLUB OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Ballet dancers Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine and Petr Kutheil – Singer MUDr. Pavel Kukl, Mettinum, DNA Archive and Marie Zelená, Fashion Designer

70 Benke Aikell, your Publisher and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

From left: Marie Kampfová, Manager, Philip Morris, Arnaud Caschera, French DJ, Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine, and Drahomír Viktorín, Sales Director, 5P Agency

events

From left: Udo C.Deppisch, Sisel Partner in Europe with his assistent and Vratislav Dědoch, Sisel Importer to the Czech Republic From left: Marie Hájková, Assistant to Gábina Páralová, Fashion Designer and – Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine with an adoption doll from Unicef

Gabriela Dixon Kočí, Singer

From left: Jan Pixa, Producer with his wife Alena, Dáda Patrasová, Actress and her husband Felix Slováček, Musician Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine during the draw with an UNICEF adoption doll sewed by prof. Eva Syková, Senator

Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master and Adéla Pollertová, Soloist, National Theatre

From left: Jaromír Janeček, Film Director, Kateřina Janečková, Actress, and Ivan vyskočil, Actor

71 Prof. Josef Syka, Neuroscientist and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

From left: David Prudík, Architect, Pavla Gomba, CEO, Unicef CR, and Pavel Boček, Director, Sluneční paprsek

events

Ballet performance from Louskáček

Jaroslav Mejta, Owner, Mejta Zlín with his partner

Father René, Moutnice u Brna parish and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

From left: Helena Leisztner, Artist, Eliška Hašková Coolidge, Etiquette Lecturer, and Eva Vašková, CEO, ŽENY s.r.o.

Eliška Hašková Coolidge, Etiquette Lecturer and Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master dancing tango

From let: Marcela Březinová, Singer and Miloslav Křížek, Director, FUJIFILM with his wife

Ing. Karel Havlíček, Chairman, Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

72 MUDr. Pavel Kukl, Mettinum, DNA Archive and Marie Zelená, Fashion Designer

From left: Eva Vašková, Helena Plívová, Ivona Novotná and Jitka Skalická – management of ŽENY s.r.o project, and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

Photos: ELAI archive

event

GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK IN

THE CZECH REPUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME Global Entrepreneurship Week is the world’s largest event dedicated to the celebration and support of entrepreneurship and this year, under the auspices of the European Leadership & Academic Institute (ELAI), the Czech republic became a part of the global network of participating countries.

The purpose of this week is to bring inspiration to innovators, startups and established companies through local, national and global

events, from small networking discussions to international conferences and competitions. It is a place to connect and collaborate with entrepreneurs from all over the world.

This year, from the 18th to the 22nd of November 2013, the Czech republic saw 37 different participating events in Prague, Brno, Ostrava and others, hosted by 25 organizations. The main partners of this year’s week were 3M, Amway, Confidence Digital, KPMG and Seznam.cz.

Final GEW Conference; Liliana Berezkinová, Project Manager, Svou cestou – Young Business, AMSP, Board Member, Nanopharma, Jaroslav Burčík, Director of the ČVUT Inovacenter, and Michal Hrabí, Manager of the startup program, South Moravian Innovation Center

Twenty startups were chosen by the GEW council as the most inspirational for this year and were hosted at a celebration dinner. To finish a very successful first week, ELAI hosted a conference with the participation of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Education and representatives of organizations and associations supporting entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic.

Final GEW conference – From left: Petr Škoda, Partner, KPMG, Tomáš Hajdušek, Deputy for business and consumer protection, Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Petr Očko, Director of the Structural EU Funds section, Ministry of Industry and Trade

Final GEW conference – 3rd from left: Petr Očko, Director of the Structural EU Funds section, Ministry of Industry and Trade and Alexandra Rudyšarová, Deputy for the area of EU funds, research, development and innovation, Ministry of Industry and Trade Final GEW Conference; Lukáš Sedláček, Executive Director, ELAI; Petr Škoda, Partner, KPMG

Celebration dinner; Liliana Berezkinová, Project Manager, Svou cestou – Young Business, AMSP, Board Member, Nanopharma

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Final GEW Conference at the Kaiserstein palace

Leaders Magazine I/2014 73

gala evening /charity ball IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

AUSTRIAN BALL

The “Austrian Ball” – Ball of the Association of Austrians living in the Czech Republic has been organized since 2000. This very beautiful Viennese style ball takes place in the noble ambience of the Žofín Palace. Not only Austrians are taking part in this ball, but also a considerable number of (young and not so young) Czechs, politicians, ambassadors, VIP’s and representatives from Prague’s international community. Although this event is quite young, it managed to become one of the highlights of Prague’s social life. The profit from the ball is used for charity purposes.

From left: Dr.Med. Alexander Fous and Prof. Dr.Med. Reinhard Fous, Head of the Medical Department, Vienna Police

Dipl. Ing Franz Püribauer, Auditor, VÖT with his wife Diana

74 From left: – H.E. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Ambassador of Austria with his wife Margrit and Mag. Georg Stöger, Managing Partner, AUDITOR with his wife Veronika

Hana Pavlistova, Director, CIA and Vlastimil Harapes, internationally known Ballet Dancer

gala evening /charity ball

Mag. Georg Stöger, Managing Partner, AUDITOR with his wife Veronika Dancing

H.E. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Ambassador of Austria with his wife Margrit Ing. Jana Vichrová, Marketing & Business Development, AUDITOR and Dr. Georg Schoiswohl, CEO, Unisys

From left: Martin Schmid, General Manager, Fortissimo Prague – Ball organiser and Dr. Erwin Hanslik, Attorney at Law, TaylorWessing and President of VÖT Debutants

75 Dr. Erwin Hanslik, Attorney at Law, TaylorWessing and President of VÖT at his speech

Fantastic atmosphere

gala evening

Martin Schmid, Owner, Fortissimo Prague –Ball organiser with his wife Karla Dr. Erwin Hanslik, Attorney at Law, TaylorWessing and President of VÖT and Mrs. Diana Püribauer

Zdena Noack, Partner, Noack & Partner

Luciano Cirina, General Manager, Generali PPF Holding, with his spouse Laura Moschetta

From left: Thomas Rechberger, Ph.D., TaylorWessing, Ing. Dita Chrastilová, FCCA, Managing Partner, SCHULMEISTER Management Consulting Praha, Ing. Alfred Miller, and Mag. Helmut Hetlinger, Managing Partner, IB Grant Thornton

76 H.E. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Ambassador of Austria dancing with his wife Margrit

Guests enjoying midnight dance

gala evening /charity ball

Pater Dr. Martin Leitgöb, Priest for the German speaking catholic community in Prague

From left: Jelena Mašinová, Writer, wife of Pavel Kohout, Luciano Cirina, General Manager, Generali PPF Holding, and Pavel Kohout, Writer

From left: Tina and Martin Lochmann, LOWE Praha and Bernard Bauer, Executive Board Member, German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce

From left: Margrit Trauttmansdorff, wife of Dr. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Austrian Ambassador in the Czech Republic, and Constantin Kinsky, Managing Partner, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants, Prague with his wife Marie

@

77

MORE PHOTOS AND ELECTRONIC VERSION AVAILABLE ON WWW.LEADERSMAGAZINE.CZ

Guests enjoyed lively dancing

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

Tomáš Sedláček

Photo: Archive

I first knew Tomas Sedlacek from his time at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. During his student years he supported himself by delivering newspapers and working in the nonprofit sector. His first ‘fulltime’ job was as economic advisor to the former president, Vaclav Havel. Subsequently, he worked as a counselor to the minister of finance.

In 2006 he got a scholarship at Yale University and, according to the Yale Economic Review, was ranked among the five young and promising economists in the world. Since 2006, he has been the main macroeconomic strategist at ČSOB. In 2009 he published a book called “Economics of Good and Evil: The Quest for Economic Meaning from Gilgamesh to Wall Street”. This debut novel, with Vaclav Havel’s testimonial, became a best seller in the non-fiction category, published in many countries in Europe and overseas. When it was published in 2011, the book was acclaimed as ‘the economic book of the year’ and won a 1st prize at the International Book Fair in Frankfurt. It has been translated into 14 languages, including Chinese and Korean.

78 Leaders Magazine I/2014

First question – how do you perceive the world today?

Expressed this way, the answer is rather vast. I’ll begin with the fact that I’m glad that I am a European. From there, our world may represent many different worlds. Francis Fukuyama claimed that we are at the end of history, which to some extent applies to the present, but only for we Europeans.

We don’t have the option to choose among these other worlds. China has that option, but our EuroAmerican civilization suffers from this sense of the end of history.

We know that we don’t have the right, or even the duty, to evangelize the rest of the world with capitalist democracy. We’ve already solved the question of our own direction. To some extent, we have the odd feeling that we live in a post-ideological world. I’ve heard this claim many times but in fact, the opposite is true, we live in a very illogical time, but are so immersed in ideology that we’re not aware of it. This is the home-run of any ideology; to not to appear as an ideology at all, but acknowledged as a universal truth. In other words, the most successful ideology is the one that is invisible. The same applies to censorship, for example.

I myself am a passionate supporter of democracy and capitalism, but at the same time I refer to the fact that both are extremely fragile.

Democracy itself, especially in the past century, has shown how fragile it can be. The same applies to capitalism, because historically the two ideologies represent a certain anomaly. We speak of human creations, which are far from being as natural as they may appear at first glance. By this, I don’t mean to say that these are not the best possible systems known to man, but the disappointment of their potential failures, such as the current economic crisis, grows to an ontological or religious degree of disappointment. We’ve idealized capitalism too much. Once the economic engine breaks down or runs out of oil, we feel the gods are angry with us. But actually, it’s only necessary to keep on fixing and maintaining the system, because in its essence it’s not natural and thus, because it was made by people, cannot be left to its own fate.

I am glad that, for the past five decades, Europe has no longer been the continent that would disgrace the world. When Europe was a superpower, it didn’t achieve much good for the rest. It was an era of the colonization of other parts of the world and from this source of wealth, Europe secured its existence. I don’t mind then that Europe is now a ‘second player’ and I think it suits her.

I’m glad that of all possible superpowers offering themselves to the world, the United States leads.

I often ask my students, “If you are not satisfied with the US, are you capable of offering me anoth-

er superpower? Should this role be played by the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Germany, China, Italy or South Africa? Or perhaps you would rather return to the bipolar division of the world.”

How do you think the Czech Republic is currently perceived abroad?

The Czech Republic until recently was perceived through six superlatives, all of them positive; the Velvet Revolution, Velvet Divorce, personality of Vaclav Havel, Czech beer, ice hockey and Prague as a wonderful destination for bohemian intellectuals, as well as a city of culture. These were the symbols that I saw reflected around the world – they were known by various people, from taxi drivers in New York to professors at universities and all these stereotypes were positive.

Over the past two years, more stereotypes were added that are not so positive and among these are the phenomenon of Vaclav Klaus, our relationship to the EU, the Czech Republic and the Lisbon Treaty, climate change and the childishly self-destructive Czech presidency in the EU Council. For the first time since 1989, we had the media attention of the world. I myself experienced an unprecedented number of requests for comments from foreign correspondents and I personally do not mean much within the borders of Czech Republic. We failed to take advantage of the world’s attention and those positive symbols associated with us. The current president merely continues this downward spiral. It’s a pity--this land and its people have a lot to offer and we are offering... this?

How does one find himself traveling from Prague to Yale?

I was approached by a representative of the Fulbright Commission, although the project at that time was not connected with the Fulbright.

The offer came at the exact moment I was preparing to leave the Czech Republic, because I was tired of the ongoing election campaigns and the overall situation. I also felt that I had been in one place for too long and I’m not used to this. I very much enjoyed my six-month stay at Yale.

The organizers wanted the participants of the Yale World Fellow Program – a group of 18 people selected from all corners of the world – to dedicate themselves only to reading, lecturing, discussions and not to preoccupy their minds with other matters. It’s unbelievable how busy the academic schedule was – from microbiology to the theories of war and games. At times, I almost expected it might include parachute jumping in the agenda.

The program was not designed only for economists and of the 18 participants, only three of us were economists. The representatives included artists, lawyers, a war correspondent from Kosovo

ambassadors without diplomatic passport and people focused on the environment, among others. We dedicated ourselves to the economy for only a single week, dealing with politics, philosophy, history, urban studies and negotiation.

I felt the program was a sort of ‘best of Yale’.

Did you want to stay in the United States?

I was offered a longer stay in the US, but we were expecting a child and I wanted to bring him into the world in Bohemia, which proved sort of providence. It was a good choice. Nothing prevents me from going back to the US later. I don’t mean to sound pathetic, but I really like it here in the Czech Republic. This is one of the main reasons I don’t want to be absent for a long period of time.

When you look back, which phase of your career gave you the most value?

I received a lot from my study at the International Baccalaureate in Denmark. They made us think-write and think. For example, the economics that I learned in Denmark remained valid until the end of my bachelor’s degree. I fell in love with mathematics there. In order to successfully graduate, I had to do math for three hours at home every day and if I skipped one day, I had to make up for it the next. And last but far from least, they taught me how to discuss. They did not lecture us, we discussed. We read a text at home and then discussed it in class, debating how each of us understood it or what each of us disliked.

Here you are asked “Well, how would it look like if each student presented his own opinion?” So instead of debate, all of us learn facts by heart.

Why would we need to debate? I established an e-club at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Prague, where we invited various guests, even including for example Vaclav Klaus and we discussed with them.

I learned the most from informal meetings with professors after the lectures, where we passionately debated various perspectives of economics, while drinking beer. The stimulating environment of the Hollar building and its surroundings was truly exceptional.

When I worked for Vaclav Havel, I met amazing people. I appreciated the grace of the diplomats and the soft-hardness of the dissidents. They were all respectable and were at such a high level that none of them felt the need to elevate themselves over the young students, who were stranded in between them.

Then I began working at the Ministry of finance.

This was a very practical period of my life where I changed laws, worked on many tax reforms and participated in fiscal consolidation, reform of the healthcare and pension systems, etc. I familiarized myself in detail with bureaucratic procedures, which was very Kafkasque, but also a kind of backbone of specialized society. It required a particular art form. Working at CSOB, where I still am today, gave me the third ingredient, so after academia came the public sector and now business. I want to keep combining the three, maintaining the freedom to express myself towards everything.

Lecturing at various European universities and writing regular articles every Thursday for Hospodářské noviny helps me remain focused and open to new views. At least this is what I hope for. Thanks to this, I have to maintain a certain intellectual awareness. Working in the National Economic Council was also very pleasant and intellectually stimulating, as well as my stay at Yale, which I already spoke of.

So it’s hard for me to choose only one particular professional stage. The greatest blessings for me are the people that surround me and with whom I work. I learn from them, because they are often smarter than me and I hope that this is also mutual, that I have something to offer as well.

You don’t want to get involved with politics.

You say that you serve the nation through your comments on public affairs. Yet you admire the grace of diplomats – are you sometimes attracted by diplomacy?

Not really. I would be no good as a diplomat, because an effective diplomat doesn’t represent his own opinion, but the opinion of politicians, the government or president. I am not the person for that role. I greatly appreciate those who manage this profession well, but it is not ‘my cup of tea’.

appear quite often in the media – how do you manage all these activities?

I try to concentrate on the important matters.

Another key factor for me is surrounding myself with quality people. If I do something, I try to do it properly so I can use it in my work for the bank, my lectures, or in politics and in my writing for the media. Another blessing of mine is the fact that I enjoy all these activities and if one is entertained, he rarely gets tired. If one is doing something he dislikes, it easily happens that after a short while, his hands grow weary. And not only this, but one completely lacks ‘drive’. It occurs to me that perhaps an activity should not be pursued at all if it takes all one’s life energy. Personally, writing articles gives me energy, as does lecturing or participation at various discussions.

But I can also relax. I keep the Sabbath, during which time I prefer to remain with a book in my hands and clad in pajamas. When I feel tired, I try to take a break. It is not for nothing that in earlier times the day of rest was not a recommendation, but God’s command.

Do you find any parallels between economics and diplomacy?

Yes, certainly. The psychological components of attracting and persuading people are common to both good diplomats and economists. Another common feature is the ability to attract and raise issues that may become dominant and important issues over a given period. The discussion of economic diplomacy is extensive. I compare it to the advertising of goods. If I ask whether a well-made gum will sell without advertising, the answer would be probably yes, but I am not sure. Will a poorly-made chewing gum sell with advertising? Hardly. It is necessary both to have a quality product, as well as effective advertising in order for it to work. Even the best products simply need advertising and therefore we also need economic diplomacy.

What would you like to say in conclusion?

I would like some “depupkizace”, decentralization of the Czech Republic. Thinking in Bohemia, two extreme views take place in principle. On one hand, we think the world stands or falls with us and on the other, we proclaim ourselves to be a small, irrelevant country. We’re neither, we are a typical medium-sized country.

I have lived long in Finland and Denmark, both of which are five-million population countries, but have not once heard someone speak of them as small nations. Our thinking has two extremes-we worry about our own identity, without defining it.

What is our identity? Is it corruption scandals, the national dish of pork, dumplings and sauerkraut, or pickled sausages and beer? Who would care to take such an identity from us?

As Woody Allen says, “Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.”

No one is going after us, but we are still paranoid.

Translated by Beatrice Sevdalovova, Anglo-American University ■

In addition to your job as a chief macroeconomic analyst for ČSOB, you write, lecture and

český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Linda Štucbartová graduated from the Institute of International Territorial Studies. After a one year scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, she obtained a Diplome d’études supérieures from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Between the years 2002 and 2006, she worked in senior positions at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2006 she has functioned in the private sphere, and lectures at the Anglo-American University, where she was named the Chair of the Department of Diplomacy.

In addition to training in negotiation and communication of clients from the private, public and non-profit sector, she regularly collaborates with Photo: Archive NGOs in the projects of the International Global Young Leaders Conference and the Women and Leadership Programme. Linda Štucbartová is a member of the Rotary Club Prague International. Articles are extracts from her book Velvyslanci i bez diplomatického pasu (Eng. “Ambassadors without a Diplomatic Passport”).

TO BE CONTINUED WITH OTHER AMBASSADORS WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

Leaders Magazine I/2014 79

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

Jan Bárta

Jan Bárta’s paintings are optimistic, full of hope and painted in bright colors. Jan Bárta exhibited in the Czech Republic, Sweden, UK, USA and in Brussels on the occasion of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council in 2009.

Contrary to the optimistic paintings, the latest book by Jan Bárta “Roosters Crow the Same Everywhere”, which mainly describes his experiences from work for the humanitarian organization ADRA, is rather melancholic and even sad. While reading the book, we can be grateful that we live and belong to the more affluent part of the world. As a mother of two small children I do not recommend to read the book before bedtime. I was deeply affected by situations when a large number of the helpless, the weakest and the most vulnerable – children, orphans, HIV positive patients and mothers who lost their children suffer because of a despotism of the few powerful.

Photo: Jan Levora

The following series of “Ambassadors Without Diplomatic Passport” will continue to feature personalities who not only made the Czech Republic famous abroad, but also have an interesting perspective to current events in the Czech Republic.

The first representative is Jan Bárta, a miner and an art director during the communist regime; after the fall of communism a journalist, a volunteer, director of ADRA (Adventist Development and Relief Agency – the third largest humanitarian organization in the Czech Republic), an author and an illustrator of books and currently also a director of communication and PR for the Endowment Fund IMPULSE for patients with multiple sclerosis.

When meeting Jan Bárta, one easily notices his optimistic view of the world. It makes me wonder – is this possible in spite of or rather thanks to the experienced encounter with human misery, disease, caused either by war or natural disasters? Such optimistic perspective so much needed today is, moreover, strengthened by his 192 centimetres tall figure and also by his approach inherited from his father, who was an Adventist pastor.

Jan´s warm welcoming attitude was subsequently developed and used during his humanitarian missions in the former Yugoslavia, Chechnya, Moldova, Thailand, Sumatra, Java, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Mongolia, Myanmar, Japan and other countries.

80 Leaders Magazine I/2014

The first traditional question – how do you perceive the world today?

Our world is getting smaller and this is not just due to the amazing invention of information technology. The population growth contributes as well. Often, we tend to believe that everything in our world repeats itself, but the unprecedented fact is that there are seven billion of people on our planet. It follows without saying that there is still a lot of human pain and suffering. There is a lack of drinking water, resources are depleting, and on top of it wars and natural disasters. Incredible gap between the few richest and tens of millions of the poorest makes me fear that we cannot continue acting the same for a long time since eventually it can lead to events that have already happened and caused even more suffering.

However, I’m happy in our world today, and I certainly do not intend to take the world for lost.

This morning, I’ve heard blackbirds singing on the ledge despite the cold winter. There are many things that make me truly love today’s world.

How many countries have you visited while working for ADRA? How is the Czech Republic being perceived in these countries?

I have visited approximately fifty countries. In faraway places, such as Sumatra and Java, most people do not know what the name of the Czech Republic means. However, if you mention Czechoslovakia, then people say at least two names: Nedvěd and Rosický. So in general, I would say that it is possible to make assumption that in Southeast Asia and in Africa, the awareness of the population can be summed up to the two names above. The situation is different in Europe. I remember meeting Princess Alexandra, a cousin of

Queen Elizabeth the Second, in the early nineties.

It was at the meeting after the advent concert at St. James in London, and while smiling, she regretted that she knew only two words in Czech – those words being Václav Havel. Otherwise, she demonstrated quite surprising knowledge of our country.

To which countries would you like to return and which projects would you like to follow?

I have fallen in love with the area near Lake Victoria. While in Africa, it has a very pleasant climate. Red soil makes a wonderful and a picturesque contrast to the green tea plantations. ADRA has a medical center in Itibo village, about fifty kilometers from Keriko. Next to the the medical center, there is also a dental surgery and inpatient unit for malarial and HIV positive patients. There is a small house next to the medical center, where Czech medics and doctors who come here for regular six-week internships are accommodated.

I have a dream that after I’ve retired, I will come there for two or three months and I will devote myself to painting. In between I will organize a few local happenings bringing together local and perhaps Czech musicians. I love singing and dancing of local people as it helps me to go back to the roots, to the very beginnings of our being. Cambodia is definitely the second country I would like to visit again. There I worked with the HIV positive patients. The issue was introduced to me by Jiří Šitler, a former Czech ambassador to Cambodia.

On the other hand, is there a country that you would not like to return to?

I do not like to say this, since I have many friends in this country. The reason is mainly due to the system of how the country is being governed. It reminds me of the gray decade of the nineteen seventies at home. The country is … Pakistan. I spent six weeks in Kashmir, at the part of the territory between Pakistan and India where the dispute has continued for many decades. I have fallen in love with both the mountains and the very poor local population. On the contrary, places around Raval Pindy and around the Pakistani capital Islamabad bring about the feelings of dullness and grayness. When I saw the great mosque in Islamabad, which is visible at a great distance even from the airplane, I realized what exactly I do mind. The architecture of this magnificent stand reminded me of the very uncomfortable bloated buildings in “brutalism style” in my homeland in the decade of the late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties. All the cultural palaces and communist party houses were lacking in spirit.

When you look back at your work for ADRA, which projects are the closest ones to your heart?

ambassadors without diplomatic passport I am an artist so the challenge for me was how to make use of my inclination to painting in our projects. Each year we organized an art competition associated with the development education for children from six to ten from all over the Czech Republic. One year, the total participation at the competition reached seven thousand schoolchildren! Poor postwoman, who was bringing stacks of drawings from all over the country.

I think that thanks to this competition I managed to raise young peoples’ awareness of what globalized world means and that we are a part of it and that it also places responsibility upon us.

I also remember the garden project in Gobi Desert in Mongolia. How fantastic is the discovery that you can grow carrots and onions in the desert! Due to the climate change local cattle herders lose tens of thousands of cattle and thus their living. Of course, it is not easy to change the habits of people living in the saddle into the settled farmers in a few years.

I have an amusing experience that describes the situation well. We had to guard a pile of manure for three days and three nights in a row so the locals would not use it for heating in yurts. They did not understand that manure can just be dug into the ground. However, despite such mishaps, the most important result is that the people in the desert region have thanks to their gardens means of living and they stopped moving to Ulaanbaatar only to increase the number of people unemployed and thus dependent only on humanitarian support from the outside world. People can stay in their homes and that is always good.

ADRA promotes the concept of every day volunteering by claiming that even two to three hours of volunteer work per week are substantial. “A Coin per Day Project” shows that even for 30 CZK per month you can buy one dose of a special diet for a child suffering from malnutrition.

How successful are you in overcoming the myth that volunteering and humanitarian aid represents years of work without wages or requires large sums of money from generous donors?

I feel that I belong to the society class that is not extremely wealthy. I know what it means to work hard and barely make it to meet the ends. From this perspective, one could say: „What more do they want? How can we support someone thousands of miles from us? We have enough of our own problems.” The alternative point of view takes into account the real world poverty to the south of us.

Without any doubts it confirms that we have very high living standards. The challenge remains how to explain this to someone who has just lost their job!

Statistics clearly confirm that the most generous donors are not the most wealthy ones, but people who have crossed threshold of their active working life.

We have observed for two decades that elderly people do not contribute enormous amounts of money, but tend to contribute regularly. And that is what we want to teach the whole Czech society.

Czech citizens are generous in times of humanitarian disasters, particularly when the event is portrayed by the media. Our generosity ends up with the last TV coverage.

So much misery could be relieved just by remembering that someone else is suffering. That is also true about volunteering. Just spending two hours per week with someone who does not have anyone else to talk to throughout the whole week is a remarkable achievement. According to our experience, the person volunteering also benefits from the very act. I believe that this is the opportunity for those who cannot afford to support someone in faraway countries. Just visit a retirement home! Imagine how much suffering of people coming close to the end of their lives could be spared, if we were just willing to spend an hour of our time per week talking to them.

ADRA will be celebrating 22 years of its existence in the Czech Republic in 2014. What has improved in humanitarian work and in which areas there is still a space for improvement?

I think that organizing and coordinating humanitarian aid during disasters has achieved high level. ADRA has trained teams, as well as available specialists and coordinates its activities with other emergency services, as well as other nongovernmental organizations. Since ADRA is an international organization, we can very quickly intervene anywhere in the world in case of humanitarian disasters abroad. For example, the recent tragedy in the Philippines proved the advantages of networking cooperation. ADRA Philippines was able to organize the assistance very quickly and thanks to Czech donors we were able to provide the much needed financial support. However, there is still a lot to learn. Part of the world that we have grown accustomed to label as “developing countries”, is really changing and rapidly developing itself. The current trend is that in continuation of the support to developing countries, it is necessary to give more space in decision-making and strategic orientation to the local people. We cannot be the ones who know everything and so despite the good will we look like mentors or patronizing older brothers. There is already sufficient number of educated and experienced locals having advantage of knowledge of local needs and conditions of their home countries. Thanks to our long-term assistance we are well on the way of getting the local people to help themselves.

Your book is not so optimistic when compared to your paintings. Was this intentional?

I do not know. My friend who I invited to my book launch told me the same thing. I had the need to tell the world that pain cannot be deleted from life completely, however, it is possible to share it and help to carry it with others. We call that “solidarity” today. Excessive individualism and stress on consumption casts us into isolation, which sometimes causes far more suffering than the need to have a running water in the household. I do not think that our higher standard of living can protect us from pain and can give us what everyone desires – feeling of satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

From the part of the world that we call developing countries, I have learned to perceive pain and suffering as a part of life. This does not mean that I would stop fighting the causes of pain, but some-

TO BE CONTINUED WITH OTHER AMBASSADORS WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

how I reckon that our world is far from being perfect from the beginning to the end. Coming across pain has taught me to approach problems and their solutions with greater humility.

In 2013 you began working with the Endowment Fund IMPULSE for patients with multiple sclerosis. Why did you choose this particular fund?

I was approached by the representatives and I realized how disproportionate is the degree of difficulties of people with multiple sclerosis and how poor the general awareness of the disease in the society is, so I decided to go for the challenge.

I do not want to diminish the tragedy of AIDS disease, but the fact is that the number of patients with multiple sclerosis in our country is ten times higher than AIDS patients. It is an incurable disease and still no one can say with certainty what the main cause is. Patients with multiple sclerosis are women by two thirds, most commonly between ages twenty and forty. The multiple sclerosis is being more and more often referred to as a lifestyle affected disease, its outbreaks being caused by stress, smoking, simply by the hectic way of life in our time. In addition to expensive medication, which is in most cases covered by insurance companies, patients very much need physiotherapy and psychotherapy, which in most cases insurance does not cover. The Endowment Fund Impulse is trying to provide these services thanks to its donors and supporters.

I believe that I have a gift or ability to reach others, so I have started to provide communication and PR for IMPULS. What would you like to conclude with?

This question has caught me a bit by surprise. The conclusion is of course important. I know that from the time of my working in radio „All’s well that ends well”, goes the old, well-known proverb. One is supposed to conclude with something wise and useful.

Something like what our moms used to tell us when we went to school in the morning. “Do not step in the puddles, take off your cap only while at school and do not fight with anybody”. What important advice! But at the time we did not take it seriously.

How long it took us to understand that it was a sign of boundless affection from our mothers to us as their most precious beings. Perhaps this conclusion will sound too sentimental, but why not. I have reached certain age! Do not be afraid to show affection to those you care about, and do not be afraid to receive affection from others.

Despite our time of consumerist individualism we have been made to belong somewhere and to someone. Of course, this means that in some way we have to limit our personal freedom to reflect the freedom of others. But only through those we meet and who we call, according to the Old Testament, neigbors, we may experience the “fullness of life“, again a term used by the same ancient book.

Written and translated

by Linda Štucbartová ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 81

conference IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Canton Fair is China’s largest trade fair, attracting over 200,000 buyers from 210 countries and regions annually. With the delegation of Canton Fair coming to Prague, information on how to participate in the fair and to take advantage of business opportunities has been shared during this event.

Joining with the delegation are representatives from Confederation of Industry of the CR, Czech Chamber of Commerce and Governance Institute, and officials from the Chinese Embassy.

PROMOTION CONFERENCE OF CHINA IMPORT AND EXPORT FAIR (CANTON FAIR)

More questions from the Czech entrepreneurs Jan Mládek, incoming new Minister of Industry and Trade of the CR and LIU Jianjun, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre

82

“We are here to introduce the 115th session of Canton Fair, which is the best trading platform to procure Chinese products and get in the Chinese market,” said LIU Jianjun, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, at the promotion conference.

“We will encourage more Czech enterprises to attend the Canton Fair in 2014,“ said Zdeněk Valis, Senior Director General for Foreign Trade of Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR.

CHENG Yongru, Economic & Commercial Counselor, Embassy of China in the CR

conference

From left: LIU Jianjun, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, YAN Yuqing, Charge D’affaires, Embassy of China in the CR, and CHENG Yongru, Economic & Commercial Counselor, Embassy of China in the CR

Hot seats for the hot topic

Petr Talafús, Deputy Director, Foreign Department of Czech Chamber of Commerce

Jan Birke, President of Czech China Chamber of Collaboration, is asking questions.

Left: Pavel Urban, Editor of PRÁVO Daily and LIU Jianjun, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre

Tomáš Pala (at the speaker’s lectern), Director, Governance Institute Pavel Fára, International Relations Manager, Confederation of Industry of the CR Officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR

@

MORE PHOTOS AND ELECTRONIC VERSION AVAILABLE ON WWW.LEADERSMAGAZINE.CZ

From left: Jan Mládek, incoming new Minister of Industry and Trade of the CR, LIU Jianjun, Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre, Zdeněk Valis, Senior Director General for Foreign Trade of Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR, CHENG Yongru, Economic & Commercial Counselor, Embassy of China in the CR, and Petr Kulovaný, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR.

83

analysis

MAY I SUGGEST A NEW STRATEGY

FOR THE NEW YEAR?

New Year resolutions and business plans are always full of optimism and desire to achieve goals and increase overall business performance. Everything feels possible.

As you reenter work from the holidays, may I suggest you consider a new strategy at the way

you have been analyzing and managing gender integration at work?

In the US I still see a big push to link work life balance issue as the key element that keeps women from the c suite. But driving the dialogue back to work life balance issue is just a fragment

of the overarching problem for gender equity in the workplace. Europe has progressive legislation such as the Czech Republic which offers a three year maternity leave and yet Czech women face the same barriers for advancement.

Research from multiple sources demonstrate, what I have also identified in my book Can you Afford to Ignore Me? How to manage gender and cultural differences at work, that the top reasons why women leave work are; lack of promotability, they do not see a future for themselves in the organization; lack of interesting work and exposure to stretch assignments; lack of feeling valued and appreciated; lack of mentoring and lack of equal pay. Work life issues rank 4 or 5 in any list related to the topic of female retention and promotion.

As a manager or leader in your oganization I invite you to take a new approach this year: 1 – Offer gender integration training to your managers and human resource executives. Help them understand the negative impact of biases and assumptions that keep everyone struggling with the proverbial glass ceiling.

2 – Make gender integration a strategic initiative for you and your team. Provoke forums and town hall meetings and open the dialogue as it relates to how you are planning to support and promote women at work.

3 – Make sure you have a good mentoring system in place. One of the factors that increase retention and engagement of women is good mentoring. I go to Prague once a year to teach mentoring and coaching for the University of Pittsburgh, hope to see you there in March.

For now, may I close with one wish?

That as we move into a bright new year, we can all start to reframe our good intensions and abandon old “perspectives” and welcome the opportunity to enhance work environments that thrive with gender complementarity.

By Elisabet Rodriguez Dennehy, President Rodriguez and Associates LLC ■

84 Leaders Magazine I/2014

analysis

THE STRESS AND NERVOUSNESS

OF COMMUNICATION

Martin Opatrný is a Communication expert and advisor on Media and Crisis Communication. He gained his present experience both in the private sector and in civil service. Before his previous engagement as spokesperson and advisor for the Prague City Hall Opencard project, Martin worked in Interel – the European strategic communications group that offers an integrated approach to top level public relations and affairs. He also worked as press secretary and spokesperson for the President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament. He obtained most of his professional experience and skills in the Public Relations Department of the Ministry for Regional Development, where he served as acting departmental head, spokesperson and Editor-in-Chief of their official website. Martin also acquired his practical work skills as a journalist for Czech Television, a PR agent at a private PR agency and a professional freelance writer. He now teaches Media and Crisis Communication at Charles University in Prague, conducts courses and trainings on communication and gives freelance advice across his field of expertise. Martin graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague, where he obtained his PhDr. degree in cultural studies, with a specialization in mass communication and psychology. He also studied management and marketing.

You can find more on: http://cz.linkedin.com/in/martinopatrny and reach him at: martin.op@centrum.cz.

Those who claim they do not know stress and nervousness are lying. Stage-fright is quite usual even for skilled speakers. It confirms anchorman Larry King’s quote that “stage-fright is a sign you seriously care about your speech or presentation.”

Heart pounding, mouth dry, breathing shallow, sweating – all simply signs of stress, affecting every

speech negatively. Is it possible to eliminate these symptoms of nervousness? Yes indeed. The solution is not expensive courses, but careful preparation and especially practice and experience.

Stress is often merely a normal reaction to a new situation and unpreparedness. At minimum, a few minutes spent preparing will significantly reduce

the stress. It is always necessary to have a time allowance and to know your audience. Before your speech it’s very helpful to have a small talk to warm up the vocal cords for duty. As with any other muscle, vocal cords need exercise. Instead of barbells, read aloud for at least 20 minutes.

Breathing is very important as well. Before the speech, it’s is useful to take a deep breath and exhale slowly, repeating three or four times. Alcohol, strong coffee or sweet beverages are definitely not recommended before a speech. Stress always washes out the adrenalin, accelerating our reaction and perception. Coffee dehydrates and sweet drinks slow the process, so plain water is the best solution, especially during a speech. It helps cool down the vocal cords and fill in the time in case of memory blackout.

Many speakers choose to begin a speech with long and flowery sentences, a big mistake and handicap for the speaker as well as his or her audience. Long sentences are hard to remember, as well as to listen to and understand. Inexperienced speakers may suffer shortness of breath under stress and so prepared sentences become infinity long.

In case of trouble, it is better to be honest and open and admit to nervousness or a technical problem. It is more professional to take a short break at a moment like this and give technicians the opportunity to rectify the failure, rather than try to repair it yourself.

In case of memory blackout, skilled speakers summarize their previous points, the thought often appearing afterwards. If not, audiences always appreciate openness, so it is sometimes better to admit searching for the just the right expression rather than double-speaking. This is similar to stress itself. The more we try to hide our stress and nervousness, the worse our speech may be.

By Martin Opatrný ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Leaders Magazine I/2014 85

events IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Photo de Veronique – Veronika Žábová and Raúl Sorrosa A.

Audience

FRYDAY DIPLOMATIC FORUM – ACTUAL SITUATION IN SYRIA WITH IBRAHIM IBRAHIM, CHARGÉ D‘AFFAIRES A.I. OF THE EMBASSY OF THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC IN PRAGUE AT HOTEL LE PALAIS PRAGUE FRYDAY is one of the largest networking clubs for professionals organising series of social and business networking events across CEE and Central Asia.

Fryday community is composed of cosmopolitan professional crowd, highly qualified managers, businessmen and decision makers, government officials and media representatives. Using both, offline and online platforms, the Fryday network works to bring people together so that they can make new contacts as well as sustain those already existing.

FRYDAY W is more formally organised networking format, and well known accomplished speakers tell their own success stories, or share valuable ideas with guests. Guests are typically connected to the field of a speaker or interested in networking within a certain industry. FRYDAY Diplomatic Forum is a new series of events organised by FRYDAY W together with former foreign minister Cyril Svoboda and the „Diplomatic Academy“.

From left: Cyril Svoboda, former Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ibrahim Ibrahim, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of the Syrian embassy in Prague

From left: Michael Cukier, Owner, Torino Praga Invest and Alain Chlala, Strategy Consultant, Easyprint Group

86 From left: Torben Damgaard, Associate Wealth Consultant, deVere Group Prague and Hans G. M. Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague and Country Manager, Greenstar Solar

Petr Špinar, Vice President of Buildings & IT Business for Czech Republic and Slovakia, Schneider Electric

events

From left: Lucie Poole, Director of PR, International Women‘s Association of Prague and Sellem Zhang, Partner of Zhenya Law Firm in China

From left: Karl Schleps, Owner, Enfina-Consult, Lucie Poole, Director of PR, International Women‘s Association of Prague, and Alexandre Fedorovski, President, FAR-WESTA ENTERPRISES

Abeer Al Assad, Attaché at the Syrian embassy in Prague

Cyril Svoboda, former Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs

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Audience

Tour at Albatross Golf PGA – European Resort in the Czech Republic

From left: Nigel Hopkins, Executive Vice President, Service Department Emirates and George O’Grady, European Tours Chief Executive with beautiful Emirates stewardesses

D+D REAL CZECH MASTERS GOLF Event with Emirates on Board Those in charge of the preparations of the D+D REAL CZECH MASTERS tournament set a hot pace. This new tournament, marked on the European Tour timetable, will take place on 21 – 24 August at the Albatross Golf Resort near Prague.

The tournament has engendered a great deal of acclaim in the hosting country as well as abroad.

That creates an ideal opportunity for sponsors to approach their golf-minded partners whose target groups are also naturally attracted to this sport.

“Since we announced bringing this tournament to the Czech Republic, we have received a lot of attention and much positive overall feedback. That goes for sponsors as well as players, which brings us great pleasure. Some of them we deal with personally and some approach us through their managers. Numerous meetings keep us busy from the early morning hours until long after sunset. We thoroughly planned every single phase of the preparation process.”

“The attention of viewers is a real reward for us.

Ticket pre-sales already amount to thousands of buyers. There are many golf fans from abroad heading to Prague for the event as well, especially from Germany and Austria, but we’ve also been approached by travel agencies from Spain and the Scandinavian countries.

We have been preparing special travel packages for these spectators,” says Petr Dědek, a golf enthusiast and Chairman of the Board of RELMOST, the promoting agency.

Commercial success came in the first phase. The Emirates Company decided to extend its partnership activities in golf to the Czech Republic at least until 2017.

“To receive support from such an important global company for an event in the Czech Republic fuels the engine of our enthusiasm to go forward. It’s a dreamcome-true for all sports promoters. We managed to manage it for the premiere tournament, which is indeed extraordinary. Emirates fit into our concept of aligning The Czech Masters with prestigious global

brands, encouraging their business activities in the region and creating a network of contacts for Czech companies and their clients at the same time,” adds Petr Dědek.

Emirates Airline has flown from Prague since July, 2010. The Czech branch shows some of the best results across Europe and decision makers in Dubai seem quite pleased. Unifying the Czech Masters and Emirates confirms the importance the Czech Republic has for the Airline.

“Golf is one of the most popular sports in the world and, as a global sponsorship platform, has been immensely successful for us. Emirates’ increased investment in the European Tour is a natural move that will expand our global outreach to golf enthusiasts across Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. As an airline that connects the world we feel it’s a great opportunity to align our brand with prestigious golf events, including the Czech Masters,” said the Emirates Czech Republic Country Manager, Borivoj Trejbal.

Golf is an important marketing tool for the airlines, he explains further: “We would also like to connect more strongly with our sports fans in the Czech Republic – the Czech Masters is a prestigious tournament and we would like to have a presence there.”

And what are the global investments in golf marketing? According to Trejbal “The monetary value is not important. What is important is that the events in the European Tour schedule that Emirates took on last December represents a great opportunity for exposure on a global level, allowing us to connect with golf fans and add real value to their sporting experiences.”

Those who have flown with Emirates airlines know that their customer care and services are of distinction. Each passenger is catered the highest comfort.

“At Emirates, we care very much about our customers and our aim is to provide each and every passenger with unparalleled convenience and comfort.

We also take into account all special needs and spe-

cific requirements travelers may have. We also offer a generous luggage allowance – 30kg in Economy Class, 40kg in Business Class, and 50kg in First Class.,” adds Borivoj Trejbal.

So what could we expect from Emirates for the upcoming years in the Czech Republic? “Since the launch of the Prague-Dubai route in 2010, the services we have to offer our Czech passengers have continued to grow and improve. We operate daily flights to and from Dubai from Prague airport via the Emirates’ Boeing 777-300 aircraft, which was upgraded at the beginning of 2012. In May 2014, we will have an even more impressive aircraft, the Boeing 777-300 ER. The Boeing 777-300ER is the second largest aircraft in our fleet, surpassed only by the Airbus 380. Emirates currently flies to 141 destinations in 80 countries worldwide and our destination network is constantly expanding,” concludes the Country Manager Czech Republic of the Emirates Airline.

RELMOST is preparing tournaments tailor-made for the participating companies, to be held throughout the entire week of the event. They would like to offer the opportunity for the companies to invite their business partners.

“We are not talking about the traditional Pro-Am here, where visitors get to play with professionals in the same flights. One of the German companies has already booked a proper tournament for its clients.

We are receiving special requests regarding various pro players of course. We even have a sponsor who has requested to play in one flight with the legendary American golf player John Daly,” gives away David Trunda, the sports director of RELMOST. You can follow the European Tour website where the names of the new players who have signed up are regularly updated. Just to give a sample, the triple European Tour winner and a double Ryder Cup winner Francesco Molinari is one of the registered players for the D+D REAL CZECH MASTERS. The list of participants is still far from finished so there is plenty to look forward to.

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24 1 2014 13:12:45

thoughts about alternative ways...

EVERY SINGLE MOMENT

OF EVERY DAY‌ Sanjiv Suri Photo: Archive of Author

90 Leaders Magazine IV/2013

thoughts about alternative ways...

Happy New Year & in this New Year I am going to share with you a part of my spiritual journey – if it can be called a journey at all – as it is not about destination & movement but about stillness & silence.

A spiritual journey is impossible to put into language but I have tried…

I try to think of each day as the very first day of my life & possibly also the last …

How do I behave? There is less and less space for anger, hatred & revenge… There is more and more Love, Gratitude, Compassion and Awe just like a small child… I start to notice every single cloud, every single drop of dew on a blade of grass, every single flower, every single bird… I start to find that just by noticing these things that I never noticed around me, my perspective on life is changing & for me it is a miraculous possibility to live into. ☺ At first I thought that I had to give up everything I have & find the courage to find the peace I seek but I am starting to realize that there is no seeking to be done, that WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR IS WHERE I AM LOOKING FROM – that there is nothing worthwhile to give up, no distance to be covered, no path to be followed, that I am Love itself.

That I don’t need to work at being Spiritual – It is who I am. ☺ I am now beginning to realise that in this Universe there are no boundaries, LIFE can only be lived with a smile in the present moment (and this moment is endless) & IT IS NOT ABOUT THE NUMBER OF BREATHS WE TAKE BUT ABOUT THE MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR BREATH AWAY. ☺ I am also beginning to realize that every moment is a possibility to absorb and to enjoy this unspeakable Miracle & there is also a lesson to be learnt in every single moment.

1. ONLY ONE CONSTANT – I used to say that there is only one constant in life and that is “change”. In the search for my true self I realized that this constant is something else – It was there when I was in the womb, it was there when I was a teenager, it was there when I became an adult and it is still there living all my Happy & sad moments & will be there and as exactly the same energy till this body dies. It is my true self. It is who I am. I am beginning to realize now that in life, IT is the only thing that does not change – everything else is like the flowing water in a river – it constantly changes…...the body as well as the self image of myself changes every single moment.

2. MY BIGGEST ADDICTION: I think my biggest addiction was to allow negative thoughts to enter my mind but I didn’t realize I was addicted. My mind was constantly having this chatter and a lot of it was negative. I started to feel like a traffic policeman directing the traffic jam of negative thoughts that were all around me. Moreover positive thoughts didn’t stick & negative thoughts didn’t seem to go away. Maybe that is the nature of the mind. Thanks to Dalai Lama & Mooji & Sri Sri Ravi Shankar I started to think – what if I could be just be the observer as when I sit on a bench in the park & observe people

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come & go but without any attachment to those people – the thoughts may come & go but I would not attach myself to them.

I would not create a relationship with them.

I am now starting to realize that a thought not believed in has no power – absolutely no power – but a thought believed in can potentially even start a war or change the world. ☺ 3. LOVING MYSELF ( NOT MY EGO ) IS THE MOST SELFLESS ACT: It allows me to disconnect from my ego & connect to my own inner divinity to know that I have never been alone and will never be alone – that I am one with the universe. ☺ In the process I have also realized that under the Hate is the possibility of invincible Love, under the tears is the possibility of a deep smile and under the foggy cold winter is the possibility of a warm sunny summer – for no matter what the outside world pushes at me, within me there is something much stronger that pushes right back & is happy just to be. I am starting to realize that if I want to change anything in the world then I have to start with changing myself first.

4. EVENTS WILL HAPPEN: Once i understood that in life events will happen and they would not change but the way I looked at them made my life look good or bad or ugly to me.

Once I realized that night will always follow every Day but equally Day will always follow every Night, I started to look for the learning in the events. a) Is there a message for me in this experience? b) What’s the Gift in this situation? c) What’s the most loving and kind thing I could do now? d) What would I do if there was nothing to fear and I knew I could not fail?

I have realized that I grow as a human being everytime I venture out of my comfort zone so now whenever life throws me out of my comfort zone – I say “ Hurrah, what an opportunity to grow “. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls a Butterfly.

THE CARROT, THE EGG & COFFEE Once a girl went to see her Grandma and told her that her life was not going too well and that she was very depressed and did not know what to do. The grandma took her granddaughter’s hand into her wrinkly hand and took her to the kitchen and seated her.

Then she put three pots of water to boil and when the water was boiling she put a carrot in one, an egg in the second and a table spoon of coffee in the third and let them boil for a while. Then she switched off the fires and asked her granddaughter what she had observed. The granddaughter was first perplexed but then she observed that the carrot went in hard but when exposed to boiling water came out soft, the egg went in soft but when exposed to the same hot

water came out hard but the coffee dissolved itself into the water and changed the color of the water itself. For a moment there was total silence but then the Granddaughter’s eyes suddenly lit up and a big smile came to her face. ☺ And I realized that the happiest people in the world don’t have the best of everything but they just make the best of everything they have. It’s not the wealth I amass but the lives that I can touch that is precious – the world maybe different because I was important in the life of one single child. ☺ I am also realizing that the true meaning of life is to plant trees under whose shade I never expect to sit & once the expectation is not there, every moment of my life is starting to become an unspeakably perfect miracle.

I think each one of us is created for a reason & there are generations yet unborn whose lives will be shifted and shaped by the actions we take TODAY. Let’s take these actions with Love, Gratitude & Compassion so that we may live this year beyond the Ego. Let us be mindful (keeping our minds empty of the negative chatter at the same time), notice every single cloud, every single flower, every single bird. May this year have many moments that take our breath away. May we always live them with smiles on our faces and Love in our hearts, just like little children. What a posibility that is to live into the New year & years to come. ☺ Wishing you the best of Health and lots of Happiness, Gratitude, Compassion & Love in this wonderful New Year. ☺ THE REAL 7 WONDERS OF THE WORLD Research at Harvard lays out a recipe for everyday Happiness which should not take more than 30 min every day: Once a teacher asked children in her primary school class what the 7 wonders of the world were and one by one the children came up with all seven. But one child was quiet and the teacher asked what she was thinking. The child first hesitated and then said she did not think the seven wonders of the world were the ones that had been put on the white board in front of the class room. So the teacher asked her to say what she thought the seven wonders of the world were and the child replied “ the first I think is TOUCH, the second is TASTE, the third is TO SEE, the fourth is to HEAR,” then after some hesitation the child said “ the fifth is to LAUGH, the sixth is to WONDER” and then there was silence and then the teacher asked her what the seventh wonder was and she said “ TO LOVE “. ☺ Sanjiv Suri, President & CEO, Zátiší Group ■ sanjiv@zatisigroup.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 91

global perspectives

92

Jan M端hlfeit, Chairman, Europe Microsoft Corporation Photo: Paul Pacey

global perspectives There are two basic reasons for expecting to find links between quality of education and competitive advantage. A general reason is that living standards have risen so much over the past centuries due to education. The rise of the middle class across the Western world after, but even during, the Industrial Revolution has proven that education is needed for people to contribute to scientific advance as well as to benefit from it. The Industrial Revolution transformed the Western countries into technologically advanced societies. A general lesson learned from this era is that in technologically advanced societies, the groups of populations that do not have access to quality education will find it difficult to prosper or even functionand this affects the competitive advantage of a country. Asia seems to hold tight to this general idea as many Asian countries have invested in important reforms to improve the quality of education. The effects are now visible. The current size of the Asian middle class is at 500 million and is set to grow to 1.75 billion by 2020. The future is so bright because according to the latest PISA results, adolescent students seem to be doing great in math and other subjects, thanks to improved education.

The second reason is one that I wanted to mention but will not elaborate on too much: many economic studies indicate that people with education can earn more than people without it. If this is true of people, can this be true of countries? It is quite likely that at least the level of output per hour worked in a country depends on the access to quality education as well as the educational attainment of the population. Countries can look at spending on quality education as delivering returns similar to other types of spending, for example on fixed capital. Therefore, investing in human capital is the counterpart to investing in fixed capital – ultimately, it is an investment decision. I always urge companies and countries to take care of their talent because skilled workers are a key competitive advantage and factor in economic prosperity. In fact, the PISA report revealed a correlation between spending on education and strong performance in the tests, especially in math.

Therefore, kids today need better access to quality education because the future competitive advantage of a country will be on their shoulders. The latest PISA survey provides some interesting insights on what young students know and what they can do with what they have learned. Just a reminder, PISA is The Programme for International Student Assessment – a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in member and nonmember nations of 15-year-old students’ performance in mathematics, science, and reading. For the most recent PISA survey, OECD used data collected in 2012 after assessing

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510 000 students between the ages of 15 and 16, in 65 countries. That is, 65 educational systems representing 80 percent of the global economy.

Students in Asian countries scored high in the PISA survey before, but in 2012 they made even more headway in the global achievement exams. Students in East Asian countries took seven of the top ten places. Shanghai-China, Singapore, Hong Kong-China, Taiwan, South Korea, Macau-China and Japan were amongst the top performing countries and economies according to the OECD report. Even countries whose students took part in the exam for the first time scored high in the international rankings.

For example, Vietnam had a higher average score in math, science and reading than many countries in the European Union, including the Czech Republic. Students in Shanghai — China’s largest city with a 15 million population — ranked best in the world in all three subjects tested by PISA. Shanghai students performed so well in math that the OECD report calculated their score to be the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above most OECD countries.

Performance of students in the European Union is not grim though. Netherlands, Estonia, Finland – whose students scored a congratulatory fifth in science, Poland, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Ireland all scored in the top twenty on average of all three subjects. Czech Republic students scored just average and there is room for improvement. In reading, Czech students scored twenty-sixth on the global ranking, but they performed a little better in math and science. They came in twenty-fourth in math and twenty-second in science. Overall, these scores approximate the average in the European Union. I do not want to get excited about average results while students in other countries are improving and outperforming, but it is important to stay positive. I am confident that if we make quality of education a priority on the political agenda, students will do much better in the European and global rankings. I would like to see Czech and all European students’ scores go up in all three subjects in the upcoming years, but especially in science and math. We need top engineers and computer scientists to support the future of our economies.

Nevertheless, Czech students as well as students from quite a few other European Union Member States scored higher than those in the United States. U.S. students came in slightly higher than Czech students in reading, but not in math and science. Overall, U.S. students’ scores on the PISA have relatively flattened since testing began in 2000. However, these scores have reopened the on and off political debate about the state of education in America.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan mentioned in a press conference that the PISA scores are at “odds with our aspiration to have the best-educated, most competitive work force in the world.” This is important because education is a nation-wide priority in the U.S.,

which will positively affect the scholastic results of adolescent students in the coming years.

I would like to see the same in Czech Republic and the rest of Europe. We need to make the quality of education a political priority across the E.U. in order to come on top of economically ascendant nations like China, which as I previously mentioned, currently eclipses our students’ performance in the three tested subjects.

Nevertheless, let us keep in mind that PISA scores might not tell the full story of performance in education and global competitiveness. Even though adolescent students in Europe and the U.S. scored lower than those in some Asian countries, when it comes to higher education, the current best universities are in the U.S. and Europe. In fact, many middle class Asian families save up for years just to send their children to universities in the E.U. and U.S..

However, although it is generally believed that higher education is what sets the standard for a career – for example in engineering – we must remember that excelling in university also depends on prior preparation, learning and knowledge. From this perspective, perhaps adolescents in Europe and the U.S. encounter a sharper learning curve in their school years after those tested by PISA, than students in other parts of the world, to then be able to attend and achieve excellent performance in universities.

Overall though, I want to stress how important it is that each country’s entire educational agenda, that includes secondary and middle schools, prioritizes quality so that we assure our future economic competitive advantage.

The PISA report revealed other insights worth mentioning such as an overall international gender gap favoring boys’ performance in math, but girls’ in reading. I was happy to see that both boys and girls performed similarly in science in the large majority of countries tested.

Another correlation revealed in the report is between a higher GDP per capita and a strong performance in the three subjects. But this is not universally applicable. For example, in Finland, education is and has been a national priority therefore students from both low and high income families attend high quality schools, and perform similarly. This is also true of students in Asian countries where students from low income families are motivated to raise to the middle class by achieving a high level of education.

Ultimately, every country can improve in education, even the best, and they will. That is why it is important for the E.U. Member States to pay more attention to education reforms and improve quality. I look forward to seeing students and professionals in Czech Republic and the rest of Europe at the top in global rankings.

By Jan Mühlfeit Chairman Microsoft Europe ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 93

the good things in life

DISCOVERING INDIA PART I Jaipur fortress

Jaipur fort

A lifetime is not enough to get to know India. But if we have ten days, we can peek under its guise of exceptionality, diversity, uniqueness and strangeness and get a chance to see a sliver of its extensive cultural heritage.

to education and health care still remain. Despite this, economic reforms, a cheap work force and the dynamics of the young generation directed India to a regional as well global position as a worldwide superpower.

India is also characterized by a diversity of languages, cultures, ethnic groups, religions and lifestyles that has no comparison among other countries or continents. The past is ever-present, with centuries-old deserted fortresses, palaces and temples of different styles blend in mutual harmony. At every step, a visitor is fascinated by this incredible cultural heritage, architecture and art, as well as natural beauty, colorfully decorated saris of the local women, many traditions and local foods, all in notable contrast with its poverty, destitution and dirt, particularly in the cities.

India – a Country of Many Paradoxes Today India is the largest democracy, the second fastest-growing economy in the world. But at the same time, historic problems such as overpopulation, extreme poverty of the majority of the 1.2 billion citizens, high inflation, ever-present corruption, bad infrastructure and insufficient access

From a Dominion to Independence As a sub-continent, India bases its identity on natural borders. It’s a vast land, yet still difficult to access. The Himalayan Mountains in the north and east and oceans in the south easily create a specific cultural unity. The first evidence of settlement in India comes from prehistoric times 250,000 years B.C. Agricultural settlements (7,000 B.C.) and ad-

vanced city centers (since 2,500 B.C.) busily traded with Mesopotamia. Hinduism came about very quickly and with it the cast system, creating the first ruling dynasties and their empires (500–300 B.C.).

This was also the time when Buddhism was born, mathematics, astronomy, classical Sanskrit poetry and drama flourished and Indian arts and crafts were developed.

Up until 300 A.D., the Indian kingdoms grew richer and international trade in spices, silk and precious stones thrived. But the unthinkable luxury, lavishness and opulence also attracted raiders, the first advancing from central Asia. The endless striving of local rulers, as well as their inability to stand up to external attacks and pillaging gradually brought their demise. With the attack of Muslims from the north, between the 13th and 16th century, the country became influenced by Islam. Muslims plundered and pillaged the riches, destroying architecture with Hindu elements and replacing it with Islamic symbols.

Finally, the Mughal Empire at the end of the 16th century created a new architecture and left behind an exquisite heritage in the form of palaces, marble, gold and precious-stone monuments that today’s Indians are proud of. Unlike today’s Paki-

Street in Delhi

Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi

94 Leaders Magazine I/2014

Road to Delhi

the good things in life

Hindu man of Gwalior

Public school

Gwalior fortress

stan, a former part of India, in today’s India Islam is a minority religion (only 12%). However it brought with it new rituals, thinking and architectural styles that fundamentally affected the development of Indian culture.

The Europeans have shown increasing interest in the Indian sub-continent since the 16th century.

The result was the British takeover of India in 1858.

At the time, the ‘Indian State Administration,’ composed of 2,000 British officials, ruled 300 million Indians based on the political unity ‘Pax Britannica,’ the centralized administrative system and established Western education. For centuries India had the ability to absorb its various raiders, including their customs and over the course of a few generations, blend them in as equal local citizens. But from the beginning, the Brits kept their distance, having a base in a foreign county and over time, dissatisfaction with British-style rule increased.

The path to independence began gradually and was completed under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (‘high-souled’), who established a nonviolent resistance to the Brits. Gandhi surrounded himself with resilient characters, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, the future First Prime Minister, who eventually in 1948 laid the foundation of a modern state with a democratic secular political system, planned economy and neutrality in foreign policy.

Languages and the Cast System Hindi is primary among 16 official languages. It’s spoken by approximately 40% of the population.

Additionally, another thousand other languages and dialects are spoken here. The key to communication as well as current development and business success is ‘local’ English. It is said that Indians achieved their independence thanks to the Gandhi’s non-violent fight and passive resistance, as well as partly due to the suffering of then ruling Brits when listening to mangled English!

Despite the occupational context of this language, the Indians see no problem in using it. They came to understand that it easily helps them achieve certain social positions, access to better schools and better jobs. Skillful Indians who mastered English have many opportunities in the area of information technologies, where India achieved generally surprising results in a relatively short period of time.

The frequent question about why this country failed to develop original worldwide software, given that there is such an IT boom of imported software in India, still remains unanswered. One analysis maintains that the Indians lack native creativity and ambition, due to constant historic attacks and takeovers by foreign ruling systems.

Another hindrance to achieving better social position is the cast system. Although it is said that,

thanks to Buddhism (which puts all individuals at one level), the cast system is overcome today. The cast system was already established 1,500 B.C. as a set of philosophical essays (the Upanishads), which define the social arrangement and rules based on a ranking system. At the top were the priests (Brahmans), followed by rulers and warriors, then tradesmen and farmers and at the bottom, servants, day-workers and ‘the impure’ (untouchables). Strict behavior rules were established for different castes, determining what they should eat, drink, wear and what kind of work they could do. It wasn’t possible to socialize between different castes, much less to marry.

In current times, the caste system is being removed as one of the great social injustices, but this handicap is still set in the minds of the people. Today, the goal for many families is to collect all available resources and enable their children to learn English and migrate to the cities with a vision of better studies and jobs. However, these families often end up in suburban slums, living in worse conditions than in the countryside.

Gwalior fortress

Jaipur the untouchables

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By Iva and Joseph Drebitko Photos: Iva Drebitko ■ český překlad naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine I/2014 95

ČSÚZ

The group of members and friends during the speeches of Vice Chairman PhDr. Libuše Benešová and Chairman Jaromír Šlápota.

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE At the end of 2013, members and friends of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute celebrated 85th anniversary as the independent civic association.

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Beautiful members of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Mgr. Marta Gellová (on the left) and Ing. Natali Ruden accompanied by Ing. Robert Plavec and deputy of the Ministry of Health Mgr. Martin Plíšek (on the right).

ČSÚZ

Chairman Jaromír Šlápota (the second from the left) and Vice Chairman PhDr. Libuše Benešová, Ing. Vladimír Kubiš, CSc. (on the right) and Ivo Valenta (far left) invited guests at the celebration of the 85th anniversary of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute foundation.

Members of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute welcomed a new Slovak Ambassador to the Czech Republic H.E. Petr Weiss and his wife.

„Czechoslovak Foreign Institute continues the tradition established during the First Republic and here, we have portraits of those who contributed significantly to its activities during those years“, Chairman Jaromír Šlápota remembered at the opening of the celebration in a newly reconstructed seat of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute in Karmelitská street where documents from the history of the Institute are displayed. „It is not easy to find agreement with the fellow countrymen in the world. Opinions to the development of fellow countrymen activities and to whom to communicate with can differ among the fellow countrymen in Vienna arriving there a long time ago, after 1948 or after 1968 and among fellow countrymen in Canada where mainly people from Slovakia emigrated to after the war. But we had a correct thought. Even after the separation of Czechoslovakia we decided to keep the name „Czechoslovak“, because we were convinced that our history should be preserved regardless recommendations from some people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to rename our Institute as „Czech“. For all those years, we have been cooperating with Slovak fellow countrymen and we are glad that we could start activity of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute in Slovakia in this year.

We have also realized that when we take care of education of children and grand-children of our fellow countrymen, nobody opposes“, the Chairman also said. Especially within last fifteen years, the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute has developed mainly projects to provide fellow countrymen

schools and kindergartens with modern computers and interactive boards. Such projects have been realized also at universities in Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine where the Czech language is taught. We have also renovated our Czech courses: next to our traditional participants from the USA they are now visited by students from fellow countrymen schools in Austria and Croatia and from the universities in Lvov, Kiev, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk and Baku thanks to scholarships from the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute sponsors.

And which are the results of these activities by the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute? We have learnt from the letter by Mrs Janota, the director of the fellow countrymen school in Daruvar, Croatia, that her students took part in the Republic knowledge contest and out of nine subjects they won in the six. Croatian President invited students

for a visit and he was surprised that so many winners are just from one school. The director thanked heartedly to the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute in her letter. The years-long effort by the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute to provide modern equipment to fellow countrymen schools along with teachers’ care have helped students to get deeper knowledge and to conquer others. „We have decided to maintain racial, political and religious tolerance in our activities. The largest wealth of the present Czechoslovak Foreign Institute is the sense of belonging that its members feel not only to this institution but also among each others“, the Chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute emphasized. Their presence at the anniversary celebration just confirmed it.

Hebr ■

New special representative of fellow countrymen at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs JUDr. Karel Kühnl, former Minister of Defence (in the middle) in discussion with the counsel of the Russian Embassy Anna Ponomareva and secretary of the Russian Embassy Sergej Smirnov.

Discussion in the wine-cellar of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute (from the left) Ing. Michael Morawski, Jaromír Šlápota, Ing. Rudolf Hložek with spouse, PhDr. Helena Briardová, Božena Kafková with daughter Anička and Ing. Helena Morawská.

97 Director of the Institute of the State and Law JUDr. Jan Bárta, CSc. (right) with Chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota.

personal enlightenment James A. Cusumano, PhD

BALANCE: THE BUSINESS-LIFE CONNECTION

PART III: WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS 1,2 NOW–FEMININE ENERGY?

“The deepest experience of the creator is feminine, for it is the experience of receiving and bearing.”

Rainer Maria Rilke ■ There are two parallel planes of human evolution, Darwinian or Physical Evolution and Emotional or Consciousness evolution.

■ The rate of change in materialism and technology over the last 75 years has been exponential and although Physical Evolution has managed to progress, the rate of Emotional Evolution is much slower, and therefore is significantly lagging, leading to a substantial imbalance between these two forms of human progression.

■ Emotional Evolution is deeply rooted in a combination of masculine and feminine energies. An appropriate balance between these two forms of consciousness is necessary to deal with the social challenges currently faced by humanity.

■ It is posited that a much higher level of feminine energy is required to create the kind of Inspired Leaders who could address effectively the significant global challenges before us, i.e., e.g., climate change, economic volatility, energy insecurity, social injustice, terrorism, and more.

Whether you consult the psychology, evolution or genetics literature, it becomes quite clear that each of us, male and female alike, carries with us from birth an intimate combination of masculine and feminine energies. Our masculine traits are associated with logic, a penchant for action, mathematical reasoning and scientific thinking; while our feminine energy brings forth creativ-

98 Leaders Magazine I/2014

ity, compassion, nurturing and intuition. Both can be quite strong, and both are fundamental to human development and effective functioning [FIGURE 1]. The specific level or balance between these two energies depends very much on the nature of the outside world in which we must function. For example, in prehistoric times, a greater level of masculine energy was required to hunt, protect and survive; however, it was feminine energy that nurtured and cared for children and family members.

There has been an imbalance of these energies within us for several millennia, although this imbalance began to diminish and move toward a more favorable equilibrium over time. However, evolution is a slow process. The problem that modern society currently faces is that over the last 75 years, material and technological changes have occurred so rapidly that any progress toward the required evolutionary balance between our physical and emotional development has been left far behind. We simply have not been able to FIGURE 1: The Tree of Life – The Emotional or Consciousness Plane in human evolution is rooted in a balance of masculine and feminine energies. Balance changes as necessary to adapt to and manage the conditions of the external world.

keep up and make the emotional progress necessary to deal with the technological developments that have occurred. Therefore, many of us are stuck in a mire of materialism that is having and will continue to have increasingly negative consequences for our wellbeing.

One way to look at this predicament in simple terms is to consider human evolution as occurring on two planes, simultaneously, the physical plane as described by Darwin, and the consciousness plane as promulgated by a number of modern psychologists and philosophers. The key question to address at any one point in time is, “Are these two evolutionary planes in sufficient balance to meet our needs as a global society?” I feel that we are moving in the right direction for balance, but we have a great distance to go. Material and technological developments over the last century have occurred so rapidly that these two planes of evolution have not been able to seek the appropriate equilibrium point for our society to continue to advance physically, technologically and consciously without major upheavals. An optimal meshing of male and female energies is at the root of this issue.

Those who create, embrace, support and propagate the current model that defines “success” in our society are on a path that cannot deal with the major challenges before us as a global community. As discussed in my last column, we seem to be stuck within a model that maintains that our degree of success is defined by our level of financial and material wealth and our position of power. This is the result of a high contribution of male energy in the evolutionary process. Without the third leg of the proverbial stool which I maintain is service, the element of our human psyche that is based on compassion, understanding and intuition, we will never create leaders who can in1

EDITOR’S COMMENT – This is the third article in a new series based on the author’s latest book, “BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, SelectBooks, New York, 2013.” The book is based on three decades of personal experience on how to achieve success and long-term fulfillment in both your personal and professional lives.

Details concerning the book and points of purchase can be found at www.JamesCusumano.Com. 2 The author may be reached at Jim@ChateauMcely.Com.

personal enlightenment spire us to work as a global team to address such big issues as climate change, energy insecurity, economic depression, social injustice and terrorism. We need a more effective balance between feminine and masculine energies. At the risk of repetition, and especially if you have not read this in my last column, allow me to share a story that I believe helps make the point.

Following our wedding on July 9, 2003 in Montecito, California, my wife Inez and I decided to travel further west to the big island of Hawaii for our honeymoon [FIGURE 2]. After some rest, relaxation and experiencing a number of tourist attractions, a good friend who lives on the island introduced us to Hale Makua [pronounced “halay ma-koo-a”], a Kahuna and spiritual teacher to the people of the south-sea islands. Our friend felt that Hale would be an excellent guide to the true Hawaiian culture and a knowledgeable source of the history of the islands.

Hale was a most unusual person. I say “was” because sadly he died a year after we met him in an automobile accident. He was born in the Hawaiian Islands, and although he towered over my 6 foot 4 inch [193 cm] frame and carried at least 300 pounds [136 kg] of body weight, he was as gentle as a lamb. As a U.S. citizen at the “right” age in the 1960s, he was drafted into the U.S. army and served as a nurse during the Viet Nam War. He clearly had “been around the block,” and yet had the demeanor, insight and stoicism of a monk.

Inez and I had wonderful discussions with Hale and began to grasp the beautiful culture and ancestry of these islanders. One afternoon, he drove us to the top of a local mountain where he showed us a special place that Hawaiians consider sacred, and allegedly it sits on a “vortex of spiritual energy.” Although I am not knowledgeable about “vortices of spiritual energy,” the feeling that Inez and I had at this sacred place was indescribably pleasant and serene. We didn’t want to leave.

But, eventually we found our way to a teahouse FIGURE 2: Inez and I at our home in Ojai, California on our wedding day in 2003 and prior to leaving for our honeymoon in Hawaii.

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FIGURE 3: Hawaiian Kahuna Hale Makua’s recipe for success in dealing with our current global challenges — “We need much greater feminine energy in our government and corporate leadership.”

on the mountain and continued our discussion of the history and culture of the Hawaiian Islands.

Soon we found our discourse penetrating more and more into the challenges of our modern society—climate change, energy insecurity, nuclear arms, economic volatility, social injustice, terrorism and more.

At this point, I asked Hale “Is their one thing that would have a major positive impact on these seemingly impossible challenges.” His response was an immediate, “Yes!” “And what might that be,” I inquired with great interest. “When women have a greater leadership role in deciding our future,” was Hale’s response [FIGURE 3]. “Well that’s great, Hale, but why is that the case?” He responded, “You know, we Hawaiians believe that when children are born, all of them, male and female alike have a strong energetic innate connection between their heart and their mind. However, in our modern society, most boys, as they mature, are taught to sever that link.” He elaborated, “Men don’t cry; men are providers and protectors; men work and strive, while women mother children; men calculate and analyze, while women intuit, and the list goes on.”

“However,” cautioned Hale, “The challenges before humanity at this point in our history, require leaders who have a strong connection between the heart and the mind, otherwise there will be catastrophic consequences. So, either women must have more to say about our future, or men must reestablish their heart-mind connection.

And actually from a practical and non-prejudicial point of view, we need both of these things to happen.” In a word, what Hale is saying here is that there must be a better balance of male and feminine energies. And specifically, his point is that we currently need much more feminine energy.

I have since thought long and hard about Hale Makua and his advice to get humanity on a new path; one that is safe, just, healthy and sustainable. My thinking has been especially catalyzed by many of the unfortunate atrocities we have expe-

rienced over the last decade: The Twin Towers devastation, the financial crisis, war and terrorism in the Middle East, our inability to come to grips with the reality of climate change, and much more.

I firmly believe that several of the key elements of Inspired Leadership are what Hale Makua had in mind. An Inspired Leader provides service to all of his or her stakeholders. The key attributes of such a leader are compassion, fairness, intuition, passion, a big dream for all peoples, and the ability to communicate directly, clearly and caringly.

Maybe that’s what Feminine Energy is all about.

Make no mistake; Inspired Leaders also use their masculine energies when they are called for.

He or she often assures that complex situations are properly analyzed, decides and directs; and applies the power of science, mathematics and technology to challenging problems. The key is to switch between feminine and masculine energies with agility when necessary.

So, to my way of thinking, and drawing on the wisdom of Hale Makua, I don’t necessarily believe we have to replace many of our leaders in government and business with female leaders, although for sure we are nowhere near what many would consider an appropriate gender balance of highly-skilled leaders. I think we need to be sure that our leaders, men and women alike, have a better balance of feminine and masculine energies; and it would seem that we currently are significantly lacking in an effective level of the former.

There is a means to meet this challenge. In the short run, we must elect government and corporate leaders who have demonstrated a reasonable balance between these energies, and in long run, we must be sure that parents and educational leaders understand that inculcating this sense of balance in our children from the very earliest age could have a major positive impact on the future of humanity.

Sat, Chit, Ananda …

Enjoy your journey!

James A. Cusumano, PhD ■ James A. Cusumano is Chairman and Owner of Chateau Mcely (www.ChateauMcely.Com), chosen in 2007 by the European Union as the only “Green” 5-star luxury hotel in Central and Eastern Europe and in 2008 by the World Travel Awards as The World’s Leading Green Hotel. It is home to Chateau Mcely Forum™ (www.ChateauMcelyForum.Com) which offers programs that teach the principles of Inspired Leadership. He is a former Research Director for Exxon, and subsequently founded two public companies in Silicon Valley, one in clean power generation, the other in pharmaceuticals manufacture via environmentally-benign, low-cost, catalytic technologies. While he was Chairman and CEO, the latter – Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – grew in less than 5 years, to a $1 billion enterprise with 2,000 employees. He is coauthor of Freedom from Mid-East Oil, released in 2007 by World Business Academy Press (www.WorldBusiness.Org) and author of Cosmic Consciousness – A Journey to Well-being, Happiness and Success, published in English and Czech by Fortuna Libri, 2011. His new book, BALANCE: The Business—Life Connection was published in April 2013 by SelectBooks in New York City. It was published in Czech in October 2013 by Fortuna Libri.

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EU matters interview

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT OF BUSINESSEUROPE

EMMA MARCEGAGLIA Ms President, you have taken over BUSINESSEUROPE presidency in the time when first signs of economic recovery showed up. Do you think Europe is out of the worst already?

The overall picture presented by European Commission in its forecast early November broadly corresponds to what we observed in BUSINESSEUROPE’s Autumn Economic Outlook. We are clearly starting to turn the corner as business confidence slowly picks up. But our situation remains extremely fragile; the recent improvement is obviously not sufficient to raise living standards and to tackle Europe’s unacceptably high levels of unemployment, especially youth unemployment.

We are not out of the woods yet, therefore must avoid complacency and continue to keep our eye on the ball. We need to give greater priority to Europe’s economic competitiveness because enhancing growth and job creation is the only real answer to reduce unemployment.

As set in the Industrial Policy Communication, the European Commission wants to reverse the downward trend in industrial production and increase the share of industry on EU GDP from current less than 16% to 20% by 2020. Do you think this goal is feasible?

Arguably, industry is the most important contributor to Europe’s return to sustainable growth and job creation. Having a strong industrial base is vital for the European Union. All in all industry generates 16 % of European GDP, 80 % of Europe’s exports and, when combined with the related service sectors, the share is even higher.

Industry directly and indirectly accounts for 45 % of Europe’s workforce as each job in industry is linked with at least two high quality jobs in the service sectors. Industry is also a key driver of technological progress: 80 % of private sector R&D investment comes from manufacturing.

Increasing manufacturing’s share of GDP to 20% by 2020 would create at least 400,000 new jobs a year, reversing the losses of recent years.

The new manufacturing jobs would create many more jobs in the supporting service sector.

You ask me if we can achieve this target? I am sure we can if Europe sets a clear strategy to boost industrial competitiveness. But we need to act urgently.

Photo: Archive

Do you think that the European Commission reflects enough the 20% target in new legislative proposals or are there any contradictions?

Despite the increased attention industry is receiving, we still face a huge gap between the rhetoric and actions taken both at European and

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EU matters interview national levels. Industry is still suffering from costly overregulation in several policy areas such as EU environmental legislation, Single Market regulation or tax law. Much needs to be done to achieve a substantial and sustainable revitalisation of industrial competitiveness.

The Competitiveness Council meeting on 2–3 December 2013 adopted conclusions on industrial policy, smart regulation and on Single Market development. These conclusions must pave the way to a meaningful industrial compact at the European Council in February 2014. Words must be put into actions if we really mean to increase industry’s share of production to 20% by 2020.

BUSINESSEUROPE is currently preparing a study and a set of targeted policy recommendations for the February 2014 European Council.

The study will be launched at the end of January.

Our central message is that Europe needs an overarching, reliable industrial policy framework that allows companies to be more competitive internationally.

We must genuinely put industrial policy in the focus of all EU policy areas and at all levels.

This must be made visible through real delivery of the better regulation agenda to ensure a significant reduction of administrative burdens. It is imperative that all EU Commissioners must feel responsible for improving European competitiveness. Also the Competitiveness Council must play a much stronger role as the guardian of coherence in policy and dare to fundamentally change or stop proposals that damage the competitiveness of the European industry.

European companies argue that the future European industrial compact must be backed by a vibrant Single Market, including in its digital dimension. But new jobs will not be created if we put unnecessary burdens on businesses in the Single Market. Europe will not be strengthened if we penalize best export performers. There is no time to waste. We must spare no effort and act to improve the investment climate and restore industrial competitiveness throughout Europe.

What do you think holds the EU competitiveness back the most? Are that high energy prices, burdensome regulation or green policies?

There are a number of factors here. The current EU energy and climate policy is inevitably contributing to an increase in energy prices and widening the gap with major competitors such as the US. Electricity prices for industry have increased by 37% in Europe between 2005 and 2012, while the corresponding change in the US was minus 4%. This was the result of a predominance of climate objectives in Europe, underestimating the huge implications on energy prices. Climate policy needs to be continued, of course, but to get the balance right Europe also has to reinforce two other pillars: cost-competitiveness and security of supply.

We must also see that there are untapped opportunities in strengthened energy policy coordination among Member States. Uncoordinated actions (such as the German nuclear phase out or the UK’s carbon floor price) have significantly

higher costs; therefore Europe needs a dedicated consultation mechanism between Member States before national decisions with potentially wide consequences for neighbouring markets are taken. We are not asking for more Europe, we asking for better.

The completion of the internal energy market is a priority to ensure fair competition in traded electricity and gas. For this, stronger efforts regarding the financing and development of cross-border electricity and gas interconnection are urgently needed. Massive investments of around 200 billion EUR are necessary by 2020 for energy transmission projects of European interest.

Modernising and expanding energy infrastructure will also be a key component of Europe’s competitiveness. European companies are convinced that the EU energy mix will continue to rely on a range of energy sources – oil, gas, coal, nuclear and renewables – therefore all will have to develop and modernize.

Let me highlight one more important issue here as your question also mentioned burdensome regulation. BUSINESSEUROPE supports the Commission’s initiative to evaluate all EU legislation and assess if there are unnecessary burdens or inconsistencies which can be repaired.

We have sent the European Commission a list of legislation that is particularly burdensome for SMEs earlier this year. On that list we call for issues such as the simplification of VAT legislation, to remedy overlaps and inconsistencies in EU chemical legislation, to simplify waste rules and rules regarding the posting of workers. It is equally important that subsequent simplification proposals really reduce burdens for business; that the Council and European Parliament share this objective and do not add additional burdens in the form of amendments. The same applies to the Member States: they should avoid “gold plating” EU legislations, thus reducing their companies’ competitiveness.

What measures would help to restore EU competitiveness?

BUSINESSEUROPE has five key recommendations to support industrial competitiveness. First of all the EU needs to reassess its approach to energy. We need to learn from the high cost lessons of the current EU policy while taking “game changers” – like the shale gas revolution and the very limited progress in global climate talks - into account. Our energy policy needs to be cost-competitive, reliable and climate-friendly or Europe will not achieve its 20 industrial GDP target nor its 2020 climate targets.

An ambitious and competitiveness-driven internal and external trade policy agenda is also a priority for growth and jobs. Opening foreign markets should be the motif of an ambitious EU free trade agenda targeting current and emerging trading partners. The priority in this area is the conclusion of a growth enhancing, ambitious and comprehensive Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States.

Equally important is to secure the supply of raw materials at competitive prices. Europe is

import dependent on almost all industrial raw materials so we need to ensure free trade and open markets globally. It is essential to reduce export restrictions on raw materials applied by some countries and to ensure that EU environmental and other legislation does not undermine or increase the cost of imports of raw materials into Europe.

Improving access to finance is vital for industrial companies and economic growth. Therefore European financial market reforms need to balance safeguarding financial stability and financing needs of companies without generating undue negative impacts on lending.

Last but not least, ambitious labour market reforms are needed to increase productivity and employment. These can also help reduce the structurally high levels of youth unemployment.

We also need to translate skills into employment better. Europe must invest in education to boost productivity. The availability of a skilled workforce is essential to improve industrial competitiveness and innovation.

2014 will be a year of big changes in the EU as the European Parliament elections will take place and new European Commission will be formed. What are BUSINESSEUROPE priorities for 2014?

I guess I’ve already mentioned them: strengthening competitiveness in energy and climate policy; opening foreign markets and unleashing the potential of the Single Market; promoting co-operation for innovation; expanding transEuropean (and national) infrastructure; improving access to finance; making labour markets more dynamic, strengthening flexicurity and productivity and making education and skills fit for industry.

Overall, the next Parliament and Commission must look outward at what our international competitors are doing to ensure that Europe remains a global economic powerhouse. We have lost ground during the past five years of crisis; the five years ahead should focus on regaining our global role.

In what position would you like to see the European industry at the end of your mandate?

I passionately believe that Europe has the means to return to growth and successfully compete at global level. But let’s make no mistake: the work to fully restore Europe’s competitiveness will take more time than the next two or four years.

Much needs to be done to achieve a successful industrial renaissance process, to return to sustainable growth and create millions of new jobs for European citizens. It is work in progress and as President of BUSINESSEUROPE – working with the new European Parliament and the new Commission – I will do everything I can to help achieve these goals.

Ms President, thank you very much for your time.

Tomáš Hartman, Deputy Director of CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU ■

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EU matters debates IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

EU PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

It is expected that the revision of the EU Public Procurement Directives will be approved at the beginning of 2014. The aim of the modernization is to improve flexibility in the public procurement process for both the public and private sector while ensuring higher quality and innovation. As soon as the directives enter into force, the EU Member States will then have two years to transpose the new rules into their national laws. In 2012, an amendment to the Public Procurement Act entered into force in the Czech Republic, focused on reducing the risk of corruption in the procurement process. However, the amendment brought certain challenges, which in some cases slowed the whole procurement process down. A new amendment to the Public Procurement Act has finally been approved by the Parliament of the Czech Republic at the end of November 2013. To review the impact of revised EU Directives on public procurement policy in the Czech Republic, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU organized a debate on 12th November 2013.

From left: Filip Pertold, Expert of think-tank IDEA, Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute (CERGE-EI), Samuel Král, Lawyer, Czech Chamber of Commerce, Vlastimil Fidler, Director of Public Procurement Law and Concessions Department, Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, Tomáš Hartman, Deputy Director of CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU, and Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic

Filip Pertold, Expert of think-tank IDEA, Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education – Economics Institute (CERGE-EI)

104 Participants of the debate

Samuel Král, Lawyer, Czech Chamber of Commerce

From left: Pavla Břečková, Board Member of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic, Manuel Hubert (on the screen via video conference), DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission Crafts of the Czech Republic, Markéta Holečková, Centre for Recognition of Professional Qualifications, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic, Alena Vlačihová, Director of CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU, and Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic

EU matters debates IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

REGULATED PROFESSIONS

At the beginning of October 2013, the European Commission adopted a Communication on evaluating national regulations on access to professions.

This Communication reacts on the requirements of the modernized Directive 2005/36/EC dealing with the recognition of professional qualifications.

With 362 regulated professions, the Czech Republic belongs among Member States with the highest number of them. Reduction of administrative obstacles and high requirements in this area could facilitate free movement of persons and allow creation of additional jobs. Over the next two years, Member States will exercise a mutual evaluation and justification of barriers restricting the access to certain professions. To discuss the modernized Directive on recognition of professional qualifications, as well as the persisting administrative obstacles in this area, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU together with European Commission Representation to the CR and European Parliament´s Information Office in the CR hosted a debate on 22nd October 2013 in Prague.

Pavla Břečková, Board Member of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic From left: Pavla Břečková, Board Member of the Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Crafts of the Czech Republic, Manuel Hubert (on the screen via video conference), DG Internal Market and Services, European Commission, and Markéta Holečková, Centre for Recognition of Professional Qualifications, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic

105 Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic

Participants of the debate

EU matters business

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BUSINESS NEWS November–December 2013

DID YOU KNOW THAT…? ...the Council adopted the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014–2020?

After the approval by an overwhelming majority in the European Parliament, the Council has, as well, adopted the regulation laying down the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for 2014–2020. The decision marks the end of two and a half years of negotiations. The MFF regulation enables the European Union to spend up to EUR 959.99 billion in commitments and EUR 908.40 billion in payments over the next seven years. This is 3.5% and 3.7% respectively less than under the MFF 2007–2013. A so-called revision clause has been established within the MFF for 2014–2020, which will require the European Commission to carry out a review of the functioning of the EU’s long-run budget in 2016. …the European Commission proposed legislation to reduce tax avoidance in Europe?

In order to fight against tax evasion, the Commission has proposed amendments to key EU corporate tax legislation which will namely close loopholes in the Parent-Subsidiary Directive, often used to avoid taxation. The aim of the Directive is to ensure a level-playing field for honest businesses in the Single Market without opening opportunities for aggressive tax planning. The proposal was foreseen in the Commission’s Action Plan against tax evasion last year and will be an important contribution to the on-going battle against corporate tax avoidance at both EU and global level. Member States are expected to implement the amended Directive by 31st December 2014. …the European Commission has launched European Semester 2014?

In the middle of November the European Commission published its Annual Growth Survey, kicking off the fourth European Semester by defining the economic priorities for the EU and its member states for the coming year. The starting point for the upcoming semester is economy, which slowly recovers and begins to grow again after a long period of recession. Over the coming year, the Commission will concentrate on five main strategic priorities for economic growth and job creation, which include fiscal consolidation, restoration of bank lending, growth and competitiveness promoting, unemployment and tackling the social impact of the crisis and modernization of public administration. At the same time, the Commission has presented several documents, including the 2014 Alert Mechanism Report, which launches the next annual cycle of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. ...the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive is to enter into force on 1st January 2015?

The European Parliament and the Council Presidency negotiators have reached a political agreement on a draft directive on a single mechanism resolution and bank recovery.

This Directive will enter into force on 1st January 2015 and a socalled “bail-in” principle, which aims to ensure that taxpayers will not be the first in line to pay for bank failures, will be introduced in January 2016. In a bail-in, creditors, according to a predefined hierarchy, forfeit some or all of their holdings to keep the bank alive. Unsecured depositors (over EUR 100,000) would be affected last. To improve the recovery prospects and foster general economic stability the bail-in tool will be used only in a case that the bank will lose at least 8% of its total assets. For each EU member state, a fund will be established which will be used to help the banks recover or to wind them down. The funds would be built up through bank contributions and they should reach 1% of the covered deposits of the banks in that country by 2025. …the first calls under Horizon 2020 have been published?

The European Commission has opened the first calls for projects under the new research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 (H2020). Worth more than EUR 15 billion over the first two years, the funding is intended to help boost Europe’s knowledge-driven economy, and tackle issues that will make a difference in people’s lives. Most of the calls for 2014 are already open for submissions and other calls will follow during the next year. Almost 10% (EUR 7.8 billion) of the total H2020 budget for the following seven-year period will be allocated for projects in 2014. The H2020 funding is focused on three key pillars, namely excellent science, industrial leadership

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and societal challenges. In 2014, most of the finances is earmarked to support top researchers (EUR 3 billion), followed by innovative projects addressing societal challenges defined in the H2020 (EUR 2.8 billion) and for support of Europe’s industrial leadership in areas such as ICT, nanotechnology, biotechnology, robotics will be allocated EUR 1.8 billion.

LET’S TALK NUMBERS… EU Free Trade Agreements could boost Europe’s economy by EUR 275 billion If the EU successfully concludes all ongoing free trade negotiations, its GDP would grow by 2.2%, the equivalent of adding a country the size of Austria to the economy. The European economy could be thus boosted by EUR 275 billion. The most important agreements which are currently being negotiated by the European Commission include the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the US, the investment agreement with China and the free trade agreement with Japan.

EU companies invested EUR 158 billion in Research and Development In Commission’s 2013 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard evaluating EU industrial investment in Research and Development (R&D), 527 EU companies increased R&D investment and net sales by the significant figures of 6.3 % and 4.3 % respectively. These companies invested €158 billion in 2012, equivalent to 29.3 % of the overall investment in R&D by the Scoreboard companies. For the first time since 2004, a company based in the EU leads the ranking; the German carmaker Volkswagen with investments of EUR 9.5 billion. Longterm South Korean leader Samsung Electronics has been moved to second place. In the TOP 10, there are five companies based in the US (Microsoft, Intel, Merck, Johnson&Johnson and Pfizer), two from Switzerland (Roche and Novartis) and Toyota from Japan. As for the EU, there are five companies from Germany and one from the Great Britain, France, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands in the TOP 10 R&D investors.

EUR 2.3 billion assigned to foster competitiveness of SMEs under COSME The European Parliament has adopted the financial framework of the COSME programme for the next seven years.

COSME, the programme for the Competitiveness of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises will provide a guarantee facility for loans to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) of up to EUR 150 000. With a EUR 2.3 billion budget, it is expected that 330 000 companies from the whole EU will benefit from COSME by 2020. In addition, entrepreneurs will benefit from easier access to markets in the EU and beyond, citizens wanting to become self-employed, but currently face difficulties in setting up their own businesses, will receive training assistance, and finally, government authorities of the Member States will be provided with assistance in the implementation of effective SME policy reforms.

GDP per capita in Member States mostly differs from 70% to 130% of EU average According to EUROSTAT, the statistical office of the European Union, data on GDP per capita in the EU in 2012 show that Luxembourg reached more than a double of the EU28 average. The high GDP per capita in Luxembourg is partly due to the country’s large share of cross-border workers in total employment. Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium were between 20% and 30% above the EU average, while Spain, Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia and the Czech Republic were slightly below the average. The worst results were recorded in Romania and Bulgaria, with values around 50% of the EU average.

IN THE WORLD Bilateral and global issues discussed during the 21st EUJapan Summit 21st EU-Japan Summit was held in Tokyo on 19th November 2013 with the participation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission on the EU side. The Summit focused on bilateral

issues, primarily the ongoing negotiations on the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Summit leaders reiterated their commitment to the earliest possible conclusion of these two agreements and instructed the Ministers/Commissioners to push forward the negotiations. Furthermore, they committed to present without any further delay an ambitious market access offers on trade in goods, trade in services and procurement, and address the issues of non-tariff measures.

EU and the Caribbean continue to deepen their trade partnership At their joint meeting in Grenada, senior officials from the EU and the Caribbean reaffirmed the commitment of both regions to deepen trade and development partnership. Officials of the Trade and Development Committee which has been established under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the Caribbean Forum, which brings together African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) and of the EU discussed progress achieved in the implementation of this Agreement, which entered into force five years ago. The main topics of the discussions included mainly the involvement of civil society in the implementation of the EPA, trade in agriculture and setting the rules for regular monitoring and evaluation of EPA. The EU is CARIFORUM’s second largest trading partner, after the US. The trade between the two regions is estimated to more than EUR 8 billion.

Moldova and Georgia one step closer to deepening political and trade relations with the EU At the end of November 2013, the EU has initialed Association Agreements with both Moldova and Georgia, which also include provisions establishing Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs). Negotiations of the trade part of the Association Agreements with both countries began in February 2012, and were successfully completed with Moldova in June 2013 and in July 2013 with Georgia. An independent study predicts that the DCFTA will increase Georgia’s export to the EU by 12% and import by 7.5%. Thus, the GDP of Georgia could increase by up to 4.3%, or EUR 292 million. Moldova’s GDP is expected to increase by approximately EUR 142 million, i.e.

5.4% increase in exports to the EU. In addition to increasing bilateral trade in goods and services due to the liberalization of markets, the DCFTAs will also ensure the approximation to the EU laws and standards resulting in a greater economic integration.

Third round of TTIP negotiations has been completed A third round of EU-US trade talks held in Washington, paving the way for a future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), has been completed. During five-day meetings, representatives of both parties focused on a wide range of topics, including liberalization of trade in goods, mutual investment and trade in services or energy and raw materials.

Both sides also began to prepare offers on reduction of custom duties to exchange with each other. During the next meeting in February 2014 the Commissioner for Trade Karel De Gucht and US Ambassador Michael Froman should review the progress reached in TTIP negotiations.

EU imposed definitive anti-dumping duties on biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia As of 27th November 2013 the EU imposed definitive antidumping duties on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia. Anti-dumping measures include additional duty of the average of 24.6% for Argentina and 18.9% for Indonesia.

The measures are based on the decision that was made by the Council, following a 15-month investigation carried out by the European Commission. The investigation has revealed that Argentinean and Indonesian biodiesel producers were dumping their products on the EU market, which negatively affected the operational performance of European producers. Definitive anti-dumping measures will apply for five years and, in addition to restoring fair competition, are expected to further support ensure the development of green energy sector in the EU. Brought by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU (kindly supported by Ministry of Industry and Trade of the CR), www.cebre.cz

Amsterdam Athinai Berlin Bratislava Bruxelles Bucureşti Budapest Dublin Helsingfors København Lefkosia Lisboa Ljubljana London Luxembourg Madrid Paris Praha Rïga Roma Sofia Stockholm Tallinn Valletta Vilnius Warszawa Wien

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6.11.2013 17:12:40