Czech leaders 03/2015

Czech Leaders III/2015

AUGUST– OCTOBER / 2015

available worldwide online

“I’m afraid I’ll never be able to do sports because I’m weak and I can’t bear the strain. I don’t have enough to eat.“ This is the story of 9-year-old Moussa. In his country, people are struggling with a severe nutrition crisis.

Vladimír Dlouhý, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce

I Don’t Like

There are thousands of children like Moussa and they all need our help.

Your monthly donation of 365 CZK provides enough life-saving therapeutic food for complete recovery of 3 malnourished children.

the Distorted Image

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of Entrepreneurs in Our Country

We would like to thank Mr Viktor Preiss for his kind support of UNICEF programmes.

P hoto : A rchive

at www.unicef.cz or send an SMS with your contact details to +420 296 20 20 60.

www.czechleaders.com incl. electronic version Praha I Brno I Ostrava I Plzeň I Liberec I Olomouc I Ústí nad Labem I Hradec Králové I České Budějovice I Pardubice I Zlín I Jihlava I Karlovy Vary I Mladá Boleslav

P ublisher ’ s

note

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contents

DEAR READERS,

events

The feeling that we are slowly approaching winter comes with mixed feelings.

The summer has been unusually warm and pleasant, but the uncertainty of what the winter may bring gives me a shiver. Let’s hope that the autumn and winter will be kind to us all. More serious is the situation with the refugees arriving to Europe, and their need for a safe place to rebuild their lives. In this respect, we need to open our hearts and do our best to help them as much as we can. This will bring new problems, big and small, which we will deal with together, hopefully in a compassionate, caring way for those who are risking their lives to come here.

8 President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman received the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam 9 President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman attended the commemoration in Terezín 9 President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman has been an honorable guest of the 4th Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga 10 Traditional Meeting at the Senate 11 Commemoration of Pavel Dostál 16 Arc of Instability and Security of the European Union 20 Round Table of Comenius Discussion Dinner with Mrs. Adriana Krnáčová, Mayor of Prague 22 Round Table of Comenius Discussion Dinner with Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic 26 Gala Evening of the Zlatá koruna Competition

Hope is a very important word. It is the light at the end of the tunnel, and gives us the vitality to get on with our lives in a moral, decent and proactive way. With hope we can accept our differences, and adapt to each other in our cross-cultural society.

Gala Evening of the Zlatá koruna Competition

Dear Readers, in this issue we are proud to have on our front page Mr. Vladimír Dlouhý, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, with an exclusive interview inside. Mr Dlouhý is a dynamic, well-experienced business man, a visionary as well as a straight forward and down to earth executive – the type of leader the Czech Republic needs more of. Other fascinating interviews in this issue are with General Josef Bečvář, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces in the Czech Republic; Mr. Serge Borenstein, President of Karlin Group; H.E. Petr Kubernát, new Czech Ambassador in Luxembourg; H.E. Aldo Amati, the charismatic Italian Ambassador; H.E. Mario Quagliotto, from the Embassy of the Order of Malta in Prague; and Mrs. Michaela Fridrichová from the League Against Cancer– just to mention a few.

Many top level events have taken place this summer, and you will find some of them in this issue, such as the traditional Reception for all Czech Ambassadors at the Senate; the Round Table by Comenius, featuring Lord Mayor of Prague Mrs. Adriana Krnáčová and the President of the Czech Republic Mr. Miloš Zeman; the Ceses Security Conference; the Zlatá Koruna Gala Dinner; the Czech- German Summerfest; the IIASA Conference at the Czech Prague Castle; the Miro Gallery exhibition of Bořek Šípek and Míla Fürstová and the traditional Miroton; EU Matters by CEBRE in Brussels; and several more.

Finally, we are very pleased to see such a dramatic rise in our online readership – now between 50,000 and 60,000 visitors to our web page, and ca 500,000 page views on our electronic version of the magazine, with many readers abroad. I guess we are doing some very good PR for the Czech Republic, which is much needed.

Dear friends, brace yourselves for the coming Autumn and Winter, keep warm and light up your homes with candles, and most of all smiles and hugs. Show compassion for those who have nothing, and I promise you that you will feel warmth, and it will give you the spirit and energy to handle the dark months.

Benke Aikell benke.aikell@czechleaders.com www.czechleaders.com

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From left: Barbora Černošková, Václav Moravec, Moderators of the Gala Evening, and Pavel Doležal, Director, Zlatá koruna

 page 26 38 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador 39 Endowment Fund of Livia and Václav Klaus honored sponsors and volunteers 40 Summer Party of the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce 50 FRYDAY 52 IIASA Conference Europa at Prague Castle: Europe’s Current Evolution 56 ČSÚZ Summer in the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute

C ontents

interviews

culture events

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Vladimír Dlouhý, President, Czech Chamber of Commerce “I don´t like the distorted image of entrepreneurs in our country” Josef Bečvář, Chief of the General Staff “It may seem that we are safely located in the heart of Europe, but that is a misleading notion.”

34 H.E. Petr Kubernát, Ambassador in Luxebourgh “I would like to help connect Czech know-how with Luxembourg’s financial potency and experience.”

48 Serge Borenstein, Developer Of Visions and Partnerships 60 An interview with H.E. Aldo Amati, Italian Ambassador to the Czech Republic “If we want to compete with bigger world, we have no other alternative than to create a stronger Europe and integrate more economically.”

Bořek Šípek – Sentenced To Death Opening Ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague 6. 9.–21. 9. 2015 Míla Fürstová – Cold Play & Beyond Opening Ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague 16. 6. – 30. 8. 2015

MÍLA FÜRSTOVÁ, COLDPLAY & BEYOND

An interview with H.E. Aldo Amati, Italian Ambassador to the Czech Republic

Míla Fürstová, Artist and Miro Smolák, Owner and Director, MIRO Gallery Prague, during his opening speech

 page 86

diplomatic events 12 Reception for all Czech Ambassadors at the Senate

Photo: Archive

 page 72

Reception for all Czech Ambassadors at the Senate

68 An interview with Michaela Fridrichová, President of the League Against Cancer “Sponsors are afraid to be associated with cancer.”

72 An interview with H.E. Mario Quagliotti From the Embassy of the Order of Malta in Prague Of Past and Present.

sport events 64 15th annual MIROTON Running for Art, 13th June 2015 From left: Jan Kára, Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Miroslav Nenutil, Senator and Jiří Dienstbier, Senator and Minister for Human Rights

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contents

contributors 25

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Emanuel Šíp Transport Infrastructure: New Events And Next Tasks Michael Mayher Attracting and Hiring the People You Want Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 in the Czech Republic Elisabet Dennehy A Simple Step That Takes You Far! Pay Parity Ivan Pilný The famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky once said: “A successful hockey player...”

Jonathan Wootliff Current Crisis, Future Catastrophe. Do We Have Enough Immigrants?

Tereza Urbánková Do We Need Passionate Leadership?

Cristina Muntean Want to Stay a Leader? Cultivate Partnership Sanjiv Suri The Biggest Energy Challenge… And The Opportunity Jan Muhlfeit Are We Ready for Technology of 21st Century?

Diplomats Without Diplomatic Passport: Renata Mrázová Diplomats Without Diplomatic Passport: Jiří Chvála Iva and Joseph Drebitko: Champagne UNESCO World Heritage James A. Cusumano BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection: Part IX, The 10 Habits of Happy People

James A. Cusumano BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection: Part IX The 10 Habits of Happy People

Publisher: Benke Aikell Head of Editorial: Lenka Helena Koenigsmark IT Manager: Michael Serences Office Assistant: Tatiana Fominykh DTP: Šárka Krausová 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, Ivan Pilný, Emanuel Šíp, Linda Štucbartová, Tereza Urbánková, Jonathan Wootliff Photographers: Alexandra Alvarová, Roland Hilmar, Martin Janas, Antonín Lavrenčík, Paul Pacey, Petra Sera, Vladimír Weiss Subscription: Czech Leaders, U Zvonařky 16, 120 00 Praha 2 We appreciate your opinions of Czech Leaders.

Please send them to: Czech Leaders U Zvonařky 16, 120 00 Praha 2 tel.: +420 773 515 111 e-mail: info@czechleaders.com www.czechleaders.com

Figure 2: Happy, Successful People Feed Their Mind

 page 82

EU matters 84 EU matters Interview An Interview with Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumer and Gender Equality 86 Conference – Digital Competitiveness of the EU, Privacy and Innovations Go Hand in Hand 88 EU matters – Business News

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Licence: MK ČR E 13147 No reproduction is permitted in whole or part without the express consent of Czech Leaders.

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Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors or persons interviewed and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or Czech Leaders.

All editorial material and photos in Czech Leaders Magazine is digitally stored and may be republished by Czech Leaders either in printed form or in various digital media. All correspondence to Czech Leaders Magazine may be published.

An

interview with

V ladimír D louhý , P resident

of the

“I don't like the distorted image of entrepreneurs in our country” “Czech exporters with small and medium sized enterprises still rely greatly on a joint EU market,” says Vladimír Dlouhý. He adds that the Czech Chamber of Commerce makes special efforts to introduce them to markets outside of the EU, where higher, long-term margins and added value may be realized.

What other challenges are awaiting the market, and how can we make the lives of entrepreneurs easier?

Dear President, recently at the Czech Chamber of Commerce assembly, you talked about the most pressing problems of entrepreneurs. Can you name them?

At the assembly I introduced ten such problems.

The first one is the lack of technically educated graduates; this is what not only home companies complain about, but foreign investors as well. It is quite interesting that one of the guests of honor mentioned in his speech that Czech companies leave the country for Germany because the workforce there is more skilled. At the same time, I have pointed out the process of starting up a business, which is very lengthy and encumbered by many obstacles in the Czech Republic. And after finally establishing a business, entrepreneurs are met by a never ending battle on many frontiers, especially with continuously changing regulations and corresponding standards. Such instability imposes the greatest burden on small and medium sized enterprises, while it is they who should be prioritized in the Czech environment.

What other “appeals” have you made?

I tried to point out that we should use the present period of macroeconomic growth for consolidating public finances. The fifth appeal to our government was the necessity to create a motivational environment for connecting businesses with research, and removing the low connection of VVIs (Veřejná výzkumná instituce - Public Research Institutions) with practical use.

Members of our Chamber also complain about the way of communication with tax administrators, and so we are calling for a visible and permanent effort to simplify the communication between financial authorities and entrepreneurs. I also think that in the past the state was only supporting the exports of big companies, while small and medium sized enterprises were put aside. We should definitely also focus on drawing from the EU structural funds, which represent a chance

for strategic and sustainable projects in the new programming period. What we worry about a lot is a total freeze of transport infrastructure development – it is a scandal that Prague’s orbital and highway to České Budějovice have not been completed yet. And finally, I don´t like the distorted image of entrepreneurs in our country, which I partly blame on government rhetoric.

Regarding the lack of technically educated graduates, you invited the government to present a concrete plan ensuring an increasing state support of technical education. What exactly would you recommend?

Generally, it is necessary to increase the interest of young people in apprenticeships and technical professions. It is necessary to begin to inspire and motivate children in kindergartens and basic schools. The re-introducing of school subjects such as handcraft, or tools such as polytechnic kits will help to prevent a decline of pupils´ manual skills, and create a positive feeling about engineering. It is necessary to change the way parents think too, who would rather send their children to grammar schools, while there are too many of these schools in our country. If the child is skillful, they should rather choose a professional school. Cooperation with regional and local authorities could be a solution too. For example, if the authorities start preparing short time job market predictions, they may flexibly adjust the type of education we offer.

I am convinced that the government also has to change the system of financing for our regional education system. They must step back from financing “per pupil”, and on the contrary, evaluate schools based on the quality and competitiveness of their graduates. The Chamber of Commerce will also promote the employers´ participation in deciding which professions would be offered, and for how many pupils, for a specific school year.

At the assembly, you also mentioned that the government should increase support to small and medium sized enterprises in the area of export. Are the current activities of the Ministry of Industry and Trade so insufficient?

In the past, the state focused mainly on the big export companies, unfortunately with a catastrophic impact on the EGAP and ČEB portfolios. Small and medium sized enterprises were always viewed as a second priority, that

C zech C hamber

of

C ommerce P hoto : A rchive

would connect their supply with the big and supported players, and thus be in a position of dependent sub-suppliers. I think it is correct to maintain the export support of big businesses, but on top of that, it would be proper to help small and medium sized enterprises to develop as final suppliers in the world markets. At the same time, it is necessary to support Czech businesses in their export to regions based on profitability.

Where exactly do you see potential for small and medium sized enterprises and in which fields?

Czech exporters with small and medium sized enterprises still rely greatly on a joint EU market, so their supplies go to already quite saturated, and highly competitive markets of EU member countries. This is the evidence of high quality and competitive Czech companies, however the Czech Chamber of Commerce makes special efforts to introduce them to markets outside of the EU, where in the long-term, higher margins and additional value may be realized. Besides China and India, this means the Near and Middle East countries, South America, and some African countries too. Many Czech companies deliver to these territories via re-export through Germany, which however suppresses development of the “Czech Republic” brand abroad, and distorts the statistics regarding the real share of Czech products in the world markets. We want to gradually change that. Regarding perspective fields, it is clear that Czech companies build on our national traditions, and engineering will always dominate. However, there are for example some smaller Czech IT companies which were able to successfully compete in the USA, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, etc. We are also strong in environmental technologies, renewable energy, the construction industry, and infrastructure will

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P hoto : A rchive

play an important role in profiling Czech export for the upcoming period.

You have criticized the general situation of small and medium enterprises. Were you specifically criticizing cash registers and the confusing tax changes?

Generally, when one enters the Czech business environment, they face a number of long-term obstacles. There are numerous ever-changing laws, regulations, and notices, accompanied

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with bureaucracy, contrasting interpretations of current standards, non-standardized inspections, and sometimes the helplessness of office workers. Laws and obligatory standards are being amended a few weeks after coming into force. This instability then mostly affects small and medium sized enterprises, which until 1948 used to be the backbone of the Czech economy.

What can we do now?

Let´s give these entrepreneurial entities priority.

Let´s switch to an electronic agenda, and use common sense during inspections. We definitely need a central database for entrepreneurs – an information system that will clearly and under one roof integrate all duties required from entrepreneurs by the state.

A long-term problem for the Czech economy is the poor disbursement of EU funds. Why is

An

interview with

that? Is that due to insufficient awareness?

The problem of ineffective and often strategically pointless drawing from EU structural funds is not easy to solve. The period 2007-2014 started with delay; on top of that, the use of funds was being slowed down by a really complicated bureaucratic system. The Law on Public Procurement, its amendment and especially erratic interpretation definitely was no help either. All of that leads to a deceleration of disbursement, or a full stop of tenders that had been years in the making. With the end of the period ahead of us, the irregularity of inspections is increasing, and so is the impact on already realized projects. It is unacceptable that one inspection authority evaluates the project as flawless, while another one comes to the very opposite opinion and orders a correction.

For the Czech Chamber of Commerce and our members, the most important thing is for the managing authorities and mediating subjects to learn from their mistakes, and carry on their lessons to the upcoming period. We have identified their mistakes and we will voice them out for entrepreneurs, as recipients of EU funds, to help them better their position and realize their projects.

Your reproaches at the assembly were directed mainly towards the political representation. How do you communicate with the current representatives of resorts?

I wouldn´t call them reproaches, because after the new leadership of the Chamber of Commerce was elected in May 2014, communication with the government was great and we appreciate that. My presentation at the assembly was based on two facts. First, I had to reflect our members´ opinions, which sometimes are very critical. Second, I expressed a certain disappointment caused by the slow proceeding in discussing basically anything connected to the economic policy, and this disappointment I have also communicated to the government and opposition, ministers and deputies.

Too many times the recent changes in legislation and regulations have worsened rather than improved the business environment in the country.

Are you optimistic that the areas you’ve marked as “problematic” will improve?

Optimism is probably not appropriate here; it will be a long-term solution. However, we consider the participation of the President of the CR and the Prime Minister very helpful, as well as some other government members, representatives of the opposition, important deputies, and other representatives. If nothing else, this is a good sign.

Recent research indicates a very positive outlook for the economy. Why are we doing so well in the first quarter of this year?

The estimated growth of the economy in the first quarter of this year, by 3.9 percentage points, is in my opinion very optimistic. This number was probably partly influenced by a discrepancy in consumer tax or the pre-stocking of tobacco products. If the GDP growth is also over 3 percent in the second and third quarter, I will be pleasantly surprised.

Petr Zahradník, advisor to the president of the Czech Chamber of Commerce, said that

V ladimír D louhý , P resident

of the

it would be difficult to maintain the level of first quarter growth in the forthcoming quarters. So, what should we do in order to maintain that level of growth?

Short-term risk may appear with a sudden increase in wages, external effects, and possible political upheavals. Basically anything that may undermine people´s expectations, either in Czech households or in the management of companies, including small and medium sized enterprises and banks.

When the presidents of the chambers of commerce of the Visegrad Four countries gathered, you refused the German minimum wage. Why? Regarding the German minimum wage, we don´t especially like what its effect would be on the shippers from other countries, not only on those who get orders and provide services directly in Germany, but also those who just pass through Germany in transit. Regarding shipping on German roads, the shippers would have had to pay their drivers the minimum wage, and at the same time would have had to report those drivers to German authorities, and be ready for possible inspections. With other presidents of the chambers of commerce of the Visegrad Four countries, we are convinced that such regulations would negatively affect the free transit of persons, goods, and services within EU, and we decided to draw attention to this situation. Our joint declaration was passed to the members of the European Commission as well as the chairmen of selected committees of the European Parliament. Our declaration will also be presented at the EUROCHAMBERS assembly, where other chambers will be invited to support the initiative. At the same time, we are getting feedback especially from small and medium sized enterprises which worry about the serious impacts of introducing the minimum wage, including dismissals of employees, reduction of performance, and threats of insolvency.

The European Commission appreciates your activities in this area. Moreover, the Chamber has recently approved some of their recommendations too. Can you be more specific?

The European Commission approaches the issue very seriously, and calls for a solution to the problem. Due to the application of German regulations on minimum wage in transport, the industry has initiated proceedings with Germany regarding the infringement of EU legislation. The result of the proceedings will decide if German regulations are in contradiction with EU legislation or not. Therefore we are expecting that the European Commission will reach a clear decision, and all international transport operations will be excluded from the application of the mentioned German law. In the opposite case we expect that similar regulations will be adopted by other member countries as well, and a joint transport market would, as a matter of fact, break apart.

The inconsistency of the situation is perceived

by Germany too, since the application of the minimum wage regulations in transport will not be enforced until the Commission comes to its decision.

C zech C hamber

of

C ommerce

What about the situation in our country – regarding the implementation of recommendations from Brussels?

In this area, the most important thing is to use common sense, and listen to entrepreneurs who work on their projects every day. They know best what is and is not acceptable if their investment project is to be realized, with or without the help of funds. The Commission´s recommendations are based on the feedback we give them, so our priority should be to organize things at home. The general rule for the use of funds is that we must meet the conditions of the programs, which are negotiated between the Commission and state authorities.

What are the Chamber´s plans for the second half of the year?

A lot of our plans are connected to my appeal to the Czech political representation, which I already described to you. Our plan of activities comprises several pages describing our targets for the upcoming period. Generally, we want to continue our efforts for the elimination of the legislative duties that harm the business environment. As a representative of the business public we want to be heard, we want to involve more of our members in the process of negotiating. We want to go on with our active participation in the consulting process, and commenting on European legislation under preparation. We will support the simplest stable tax environment with the lowest possible number of exceptions. In the long run, we want to strive for simplifying VAT rates, changes in professional (especially technical) education with a priority in professional qualifications, and we definitely want to continue our support of investments and measures for maintaining and increasing the employment rate. There are many plans; these are really just a few.

“Trust and economic attitude reflect real performance.” What exactly is that supposed to mean?

These are the words of one of my advisors – Mr. Petr Zahradník. He probably wanted to say that when monitoring the development of so-called “soft” indicators of people´s trust, and “hard” data of statistic indicators for individual macroeconomic indicators on a long-term basis, currently you will see a substantial similarity. In May, the trust of the people in our home economy increased by 0.4 percentage points compared to the previous month, and yearly it increased by almost 3 percentage points. Based on the current development of GDP, we anticipate that it is probably just a question of time as to when it reaches its maximum again, which we saw around the year 2006. So, the May economic and consumer trust data suggests a sober optimism with regard to our future economic development.

Mr. Dlouhý, who do you consider a leader?

A person with a vision, long term purpose, and no worry about the risks.

By: (jk) české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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S tate V isit

P hoto : A rchive KPR, H ana B rožková

From left: Mrs. Ivana Zemanová, First Lady of the CR, Translator, Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and Mrs. Mai Thi Hanh, First Lady of Vietnam

PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC MILOŠ ZEMAN RECEIVED THE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM

From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the CR, Mrs. Mai Thi Hanh, First Lady of Vietnam, Translator, and Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

From left: Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Miloš Zeman, President of the CR

From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the Prague Castle courtyard

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From left: Truong Tan Sasng, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Miloš Zeman, President of the CR at their speech

S tate V isit

PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC MILOŠ ZEMAN ATTENDED THE COMMEMORATION IN TEREZÍN

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic at his speech, behind him sitting from left: Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the CR, Andrej Babiš, Minister of Finance of the CR, Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence of the CR and other members of the Czech government

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC MILOŠ ZEMAN HAS BEEN AN HONORABLE GUEST OF THE 4TH EASTERN PARTNERSHIP SUMMIT IN RIGA P resident

C zech R epublic M iloš Z eman has visited R epublic of L atvia where he took during the 4 th E astern P artnership S ummit in R iga , M ay 21 st – 22 nd , 2015.

of the

an active role

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S enate

TRADITIONAL MEETING IN THE SENATE

From left: Eva Davidová, Press Secretary of the Senate, Senators Václav Hampl, Jaroslav Doubrava, Zuzana Baudyšová, and Milada Emmerová, Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, Tomáš Zdechovský, MEP, and Jozef Regec, Senator

The second weekend of October, the Senate held a traditional meeting of senators with citizens. The visitors were attracted by the concerts of Mňága a Žďorp and Vladimír Mišík with ČDG bands. Throughout the whole afternoon, the event in Valdštejnská garden was visited by three thousand people.

Tomáš Zdechovský, MEP and Zuzana Baudyšová, Senator

President of the Senate Milan Štěch discussing with the representatives of Church

Senator Jaroslav Doubrava discussing with a citizen

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Jozef Regec, Senator, Pavel Lebeda, former Senator, and Jaroslav Doubrava, Senator

The afternoon event in Valdštejnská garden was concluded with the perfomance of Vladimír Mišík

Petr Fiala, frontman of Mňága a Žďorp band

Valdštejnská garden, part of the Senate premises, is open daily till the end of October

Commemoration of PAVEL DOSTÁL

S enate

In July, personalities from the field of politics and culture gathered to remember Pavel Dostál, former Minister of Culture. 24th July, it has passed exactly 10 years since his decease. Over a hundred honoured guests gathered in the Knights´Hall of the Senate, where the memorial ceremony of the outstanding personality of the Czech culture and politics took place.

Zdeněk Škromach, Vice President of the Senate

Jiří Suchý, Actor

From left: Milan Kňažko, Actor and Politician, Jiří Hromada, President of the Association of Actors, and Vladimír Špidla, former Prime Minister Marcela Kollertová, Director of the Culture and Information Center in Hronov, with a Pavel Dostál Prize which will be awarded at the theatre festival Jiráskův Hronov Meda Mládková, Founder of Jan and Meda Mládek Foundation and Museum Kampa

Jiří Besser and Alena Hanáková, former Ministers of Culture

From left: Jiří Uklein, Chancellor of the Senate, Pavel Rychetský, President of the Constitutional Court, Zdeněk Škromach, Vice President of the Senate, and Daniel Herman, Minister of Culture

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D iplomatic E vent

From left: Lubomír Zaorálek, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate

RECEPTION

FOR ALL CZECH AMBASSADORS AT THE SENATE On August 26, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Štěch hosted a traditional meeting of senators with the heads of representative offices of the Czech Republic abroad. The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Štěch and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek spoke to the diplomatic corps on the ceremonial meeting, which was held in Wallenstein Palace.

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher and H.E. Livie Klausová, Ambassador to Slovakia

Overview

From left: Thomas Grulich, Senator, and H.E. Ivo Schwarz, Ambassador to Israel

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H.E. Margita Fuchsová, Ambassador to Ghana

D iplomatic E vent

From left: Bronislava Vacková, Secretary, Standing Senate Commission on Compatriots Living Abroad, and Bořek Lizec, Consul General, Chicago

From left: Petr Bratský, Senator, and Pavel Bechný, Consul, Peru

From left: Jiří Dienstbier, Senator and Minister for Human Rights and Ivo Šrámek, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs

From left: Ivo Bárek, Vice President of the Senate and Miroslav Klíma, Consul General, Ukraine – Lvov

From left: H.E. Bronislava Tomášová, Ambassador to Albania, Jana Kružíková, Committee Secretary, Senate, and H.E. Ivana Grollová, Ambassador to Mongolia

From left: Hassan Mezian, Senator and Zuzana Baudyšová, Senator

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Overview

Lubomír Zaorálek, Minister of Foreign Affairs

H. E. Michaela Froňková, Ambassador to Morocco and H.E. Rudolf Hykl, Ambassador to Malaysia

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From left: Miroslav Nenutil, Chairman, Standing Senate Commission on Rural Development, Senate, Kateřina Šarmanová, Secretary of Senate Commission on Rural Development, Senate, and H.E. Tomáš Boček, Ambassador to the Council of Europe

From left: H.E. Milan Hupcej, Ambassador to Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and H.E. Vítězslav Grepl, Ambassador to Thailand

Kristina Larischová, Junior Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and H.E. Petr Kubernát, Ambassador to Luxembourg

D iplomatic E vent

Eva Anderová, Director, Agel and H. E. Jiří Slavík, Ambassador to The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

From left: H.E. Jakub Karfík, Ambassador to Poland and Markéta Šarbochová, Head of Diplomatic Protocol, MFA

From left: Jaroslav Doubrava, Senator, and H. E. Petr Mikyska, Ambassador to Armenia

From left: Pavel Bechný, Consul, Peru, and H. E. Dušan Štrauch, Ambassador to Bulgaria

From left: H. E. Juraj Chmiel, Ambassador to Hungary, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade From left: Jan Kára, Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, Miroslav Nenutil, Senator and Jiří Dienstbier, Senator and Minister for Human Rights

From left: H. E. Pavel Rozsypal, Ambassador to OECD, H. E. Bohumil Mazánek, Ambassador to Lithuania, H. E. Lubomír Hladík, Ambassador to Mexico, Jana Kružíková, Committee Secretary, Senate, H. E. Jiří Havlík, Ambassador to Brasil, and H. E. Vladimír Války, Ambassador to Romania

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security conference

ARC OF INSTABILITY AND SECURITY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

In

cooperation

with

C zech L eaders

From left: General Josef Bečvář, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, Štefan Füle, former member of the European Commission and Ambassador of the Czech Republic to NATO, and Libor Stejskal, Center for Security Policy, Charles University

On June 12, 2015, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University in Prague hosted the international conference “Arc of Instability” and Security of the European Union. The conference was organized by the Center for Security Policy of the Charles University.

Leading Czech and European experts participated at the conference, with the audience of more than 300 participants representing a wide spectrum of politicians, diplomats, business people, and scholars.

Audience of the conference

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From left: Libor Stejskal, Center for Security Policy, Charles University, Miloš Balabán, Head of the Center for Security Policy, Charles University, and Tomáš Haišman, Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic

SBP

Jana Hybášková, Ambassador of the EU to Iraq

From left: Miloš Balabán, Head of the Center for Security Policy, Charles University and Sun Xianbo, Military Attaché, Chinese Embassy to the Czech Republic

Jean-Marie Clament, Ministry of Defence of France

security conference

From left: General Jean-Paul Perruche, former Head of the European Union Military Staff, Admiral Luigi Binelli Mantelli, former Chief of Italian Defence, and H.E. Aldo Amati, Ambassador of Italy to the Czech Republic

From left: Břetislav Tureček, Head of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Metropolitan University, Prague and General Oldřich Martinů, Deputy Director, EUROPOL

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From left: Miloš Balabán, Head of the Center for Security Policy, Charles University, General Jean-Paul Perruche, former Head of the European Union Military Staff, Lubomír Zaorálek, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, and Admiral Luigi Binelli Mantelli, former Chief of Italian Defence

From left: Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation in the Czech Republic, Lubomír Zaorálek, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Miloš Balabán, Head of the Center for Security Policy, Charles University, and Admiral Luigi Binelli Mantelli, former Chief of Italian Defence

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SBP

security conference

From left: General Josef Bečvář, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, Štefan Füle, former member of the European Commission and Ambassador of the Czech Republic to NATO, and General Oldřich Martinů, Deputy Director, EUROPOL

Fabrice Leggeri, Executive Director of FRONTEX Agency

Steffen Angenendt, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP)

From left: H.E. Aldo Amati, Ambassador of Italy to the Czech Republic and Miloš Balabán, Head of the Center for Security Policy, Charles University

From left: Peretz Gurel, ATHENA GS3 Security Implementations Ltd. and Eduard Gombár, Institute of Middle East and Africa, Faculty of Arts, Charles University

networking / discussion event

TOP Hotel Praha – June 30, 2015

From left: Marek Pavlas, CFO, BigBoard Praha, Pavel Pelc, Procurement, InterCora, Jiří Uklein, Chancellor, Senate of the Parliament, Michal Froněk, Chief Architect, Iniciativa pro lepší město/Iniciative For Better City, Radim Passer, Owner, Passer Invest Group, and Adriana Krnáčová, Mayor of Prague

In

cooperation

with

C zech L eaders

Round Table of Comenius Discussion Dinner with Mrs. Adriana Krnáčová, Mayor of Prague The Round Table of Comenius with the Mayor of Prague, Mrs. Adriana Krnáčová, welcomed more than 70 high level business people and people from the Czech civil service. The topics of the evening discussion referred to the current problems of the City of Prague, for example the Blanka tunnel complex or the Central Sewage Treatment Plant reconstruction.

From left: Michal Sičák, Owner, Derma Medical Clinic and Pavel Míka, CEO, Ateliér Promika

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From left: Jiří Špička, HR Director, Dopravní podnik hl. města Prahy, Pavel Míka, CEO, Ateliér Promika, Eduard Šuster, Director, Prague Metropolitan Police, and Jan Vančura, Co-Owner, Delor

Tomáš Březina, Owner, Best, Vladimír Dohnal, Owner, TOP hotels Group, Adriana Krnáčová, Mayor of Prague, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

From left: Vodafone Group: Pavel Košek, Public Affairs Manager, Richard Stonavský, Director of Regulatory & External Affairs, Iveta Hrabánková, Director of Special Project in Administration, and Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius

networking / discussion event Mrs. Miloslava Procházková and Jiří Vacek, Avanti

Jiří Špička, HR Director, Dopravní podnik hl. města Prahy and Magdalena Češková, Deputy Chairman of the Board & CFO, Dopravní podnik hl. města Prahy

From left: Petra Venturová, External Affairs Manager, Passer Invest Group, Eduard Šuster, Director, Prague Metropolitan Police, and Petra Šafránková, Lawyer, Passer Invest Group

From left: Jiří Nekovář, Euro-Trend, Renata Sabongui, Managing Director, Sabongui Production, and Michal Donath, General Director, Donath Business&Media

Pavel Krtek, CEO, České dráhy

From left: George Kisugite, Director of Strategy, BigBoard Praha, Mirko Kalous, Deputy Chairman of the Board, OKIN Group, Rostislav Dvořák, Chairman, Union of Czech and Moravian Production Cooperatives, and Josef Postránecký, Deputy Minister of Interior

Participants at TOP Hotel

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N etworking /D iscussion E vent From left: Jan Světlík, Owner, Vítkovice Holding, Mrs. Marketa Vitoul, Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul, Miloš Zeman, , President of the Czech Republic, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, Mona Sandescu, CEO, Eltodo, and Alessandro Pasquale, General Director, Karlovarské minerální vody

In

cooperation with

C zech L eaders

Round Table of Comenius DISCUSSION DINNER WITH MILOŠ ZEMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC At the end of August more than 110 high level business people gathered to participate in the Round Table of Comenius – discussion dinner with the President of the Czech Republic, Mr. Miloš Zeman. The result was a lively debate covering a wide range of topics and the whole evening was held in a friendly and productive atmosphere.

TOP hotel Praha August 26, 2015

From left: Pavla Zelená, HB Pretol and Lenka Německá, Commercial Director, LeVITAL

110 participants of the Round Table of Comenius with the President of the Czech Republic Mrs. Marketa Vitoul and Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul

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From left: Michal Donath, CEO, Donath Business & Media and Alessandro Pasquale, General Director, Karlovarské minerální vody

From left: Miroslav Chochola, CEO, Eprávo, Jana Skopová, Charitable Projects Director, Women for Women, and Daniel Vavřina, Chairman, HealthCare Institute

From left: Antonín Fryč, Owner, Warex, Tomáš Čáp, Executive Vice President, Comenius, and Jan Průcha, CEO, Insight Home

From left: Karel Muzikář, Managing Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Jan Oberman, Managing Director, Korado Consulting

David Vítek, General Director, NWT

Miloš Zeman , President of the Czech Republic enters the TOP Congress Hall

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Hugo Kysilka, Vice President, Vemex

Miloš Zeman , President of the Czech Republic interviewed by NOVA TV

From left: Jan Světlík, Owner, Vítkovice Holding and Josef Dufek, Director, VTK Special

Bohdan Wojnar, Member of the Board, Škoda Auto

Miloslava Procházková, Owner, Avanti raised a question regarding survival of „Fond ohrožených dětí“, especially „Klokánek“. President of the CR announced that he would help it by using money from his presidential fund, five days later he made it official.

From left: H.E. Peter Weiss, Ambassador, Embassy of the Slovak Republic and Vladimir Kononov, CEO, MSA

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Jan Světlík, Owner, Vítkovice Holding

From left: Jiří Maceška, Vice Chair, Czech-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, Soňa van Deelen, General Director, Czech –Moravian Production Cooperatives, and Jan Wiesner, Chairman, Confederation of Employers’ Unions

A nalysis

TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE: In

cooperation

with

C zech L eaders

The end of 2015 holiday season brought about some interesting events concerning Czech transport infrastructure. While activities to utilize as much as possible from the Operation Programme Transport for 2007–2013 get to the final stage, a new space opened for more conceptual and long-term decisions.

The Government of the Czech Republic decided on key parameters of tender documentation for the future road toll system. It was found impossible to introduce a new toll system by 1 January 2017 when the valid contract with the present operator Kapsch would expire. This was a consequence of half-hearted preparation in the previous period. The Government has thus decided that, at first, a procurement procedure will be opened for three years of operation of the existing toll system. Simultaneously, a tender will commence for a toll manager to propose possibilities of further actions. Later on, a technologically neutral procurement procedure is to be opened, from which a new toll operator should emerge to manage the toll system after 2019. The Ministry of Transport intends to begin its preparation immediately.

The Government also approved a new bill amending the Act No. 104/2000 Coll., on the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure (Státní fond dopravní infrastruktury). The amended Act would enable the Fund to co-finance EU-funded projects, and also finance, inter alia, multimodal centres and important inland waterways including the longterm leased Elbe harbour facility in Hamburg.

A positive message could also be registered on the so far undeveloped utilization of public-private partnerships (PPP) in road construction. The first swallow in this field should be the construction of the remaining section of the R4 expressway in Central and South Bohemia. The Ministry of Transport has already available necessary zoning permission

New Events And Next Tasks

for the construction of the 84 km long section, and land purchase and negotiations for a building permit are in progress. Currently, the Outline Business Case with Public Sector Comparator is being tendered to find whether it will be more efficient to use for the construction the PPP method than a classical procurement or not, and then, in case of a positive result, the project will be passed to the Government for decision. A following PPP project may be a section of the R7 expressway.

A vigorous discussion has recently taken place on financing of reconstruction and maintenance of 2nd and 3rd Class roads that are owned by the regions. Regional governors are not satisfied with the decision of Finance Minister Babiš who did not wish to repeat this year’s subsidy of about 4 billion CZK to the regions again in 2016 and, instead of it, recommended to use European funds and extended budget allocation of taxes to the regions that is to fortify regions’ budgets by about 3.5 billion CZK. The regions do not deem this trade-off sufficient and require an additional regular yearly contribution for road maintenance from the State Fund of Transport Infrastructure.

The topic of future high speed railway transport in Czechia returned back to the scene with the finished study for the upgraded Brno – Přerov railway connection. The study procured by the Railway Infrastructure Administration (Správa železniční dopravní cesty) has recommended as the most convenient for this trunk line a double track and improvement up to a maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour. Although the track would thus be faster than any of existing lines in Czechia (the today’s maximum makes 160 kilometers per hour) it would yet not reach the standard of European high-speed lines.

A typical example of such standard is the German high-speed line between Leipzig/ Halle and Nuremberg for up to 300 kmph.

It is to be finished in 2017, and when it happens, it will be faster to travel between Berlin and Vienna via this line than via Prague. This only underlines the lack of strategy and resolve to ensure convergence

of the quality of the Czech railway network to that in the “old” EU countries.

Situation is still unclear with the legislation that would support strategic infrastructure projects (not only transport ones) that traditionally face numerous and protracted obstacles and the term for their approval and accomplishment is on average much longer in Czechia than in other comparable countries.

This problem was even aggravated by this year’s amendment of the Act No. 100/2001 Coll., on Environmental Impact Assessment, which introduced some new legal stipulations facilitating substantially suspensory effect of a motion directed against an investment project. A draft material of an act on transport line projects presented by the Ministry of Transport harvested a number of serious comments, and the same happened with the proposed amendment of the Building Act No. 183/2006 Coll., which will doubtlessly initiate new work and negotiation on the topic. A new legal regulation of public procurement is also only in an intermediate phase of preparation.

From all above facts it is obvious that, notwithstanding achievements reached, much effort and discussion is still to be expected before the process of investment in transport infrastructure gains a new and stable momentum.

Another very serious task is to prepare successfully and obtain necessary approvals for projects that are to be financed by the new Operation Programme Transport 2014 – 2020.

Emanuel Šíp Partner Allied Progress Consultants Association české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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G ala

evening

From left: Barbora Černošková, Václav Moravec, Moderators of the Gala evening, and Pavel Doležal, Director, Zlatá koruna

Gala Evening of the Zlatá koruna Competition

On May 26, 2015, Zlatá koruna awarded the prizes for the best financial products of the year. The awards were held for the thirteenth time already. The gala evening during which the prizes were awarded in all 19 categories took place in TOP HOTEL Praha, and was moderated by Václav Moravec and Barbora Černošková. Among the 250 guests, the evening was attended by significant personalities of the Czech financial and insurance markets. The event took place traditionally under the auspices of the Minister of Finance, Andrej Babiš.

From left: doc. RNDr. Petr Budinský, CSc, Vice-Rector for Education and External Relations, University of Finance and Administration, Ing. Pavel Zingl, Director of Marketing and Production, Educo Uni Group, and Emil Šenkýř, Chairman of the Board and Secretary, University of Finance and Administration Václav Moravec, Moderator From left: Prof. MUDr. Pavel Calda, CSc., Gynecologist, Obstetrician, Geneticist, Prof. Mgr. Miroslav Bárta, Dr., Egyptologist and Archaeologist, and Václav Moravec, Moderator

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From left: Jiří Šindelář, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Union of Financial Intermediation and Advice and Tomáš Houdek, Editor in Chief, Bankovnictví magazine

Monika Kristková, Head of Retail Banking, Equa bank and Michal Berka, Vice Chairman of the Board, media group, MAFRA

G ala

evening

Pavel Doležal, Director, Zlatá koruna

Ján Franek, Head of Software Division, Member of the Supervisory Board, Spokesman, Fio banka

Radek Jalůvka, CEO, Ipsos CR, SR and Hungary

From left: Josef Bratršovský, Chairman of the Board, Wüstenrot – stavební spořitelna, Radek Jalůvka, CEO, Ipsos CR, SR and Hungary

Martin Diviš, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Kooperativa pojišťovna

Ing. Lukáš Wagenknecht, former 1st Deputy Minister of Finance

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G ala

evening

Winners of Zlatá koruna Awards 2015

Jiří Šindelář, Financial Academician of 2015

prof. Ing. Michal Mejstřík, CSc., Chairman, Finance Academy, Zlatá koruna , Professor, Institut ekonomických studií, FSV UK

Tomáš Vystrčil, Member of the Board, Conseq Investment Management

Klára Gajdušková, Director, Communication and CSR Department, Česká spořitelna

From left: Aleš Vrátný, Risk Manager for New Product Development, Air Bank, Jan Hrubý, CEO, Pražská mincovna

From left: Jan Vedral, Chairman of the Board, Conseq Investment Management, Hana Blovská, Vice chairman of the Board, Conseq Investment Management and Dušan Mlynarčik, Director, JK Jitka Kudláčková

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From left: Petr Řehák, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Equa bank and Pavel Doležal, Director, Zlatá koruna

S enior

management

Attracting and Hiring the People You Want An increasing number of senior company officers and executives find it most ironic that, during a time when the economy is not at its best, with fewer jobs available and so many potential employees, they either can’t find or are not able to attract the kinds of people they most want to hire. Often, vacancies remain open for extended periods, requiring current employees to perform more than one role and overlapping duties. This impacts performance and can increase costs when things don’t run smoothly. As a result organizations are not operating at full potential – precisely at a time when this is more important than ever. I am aware that in some board rooms where this issue is acknowledged there is growing frustration. As a matter of fact it isn’t a big mystery as to what can be done to mitigate the problem, but most often the solutions are ignored. The assumption is that everything will work itself out on its own when, in reality, it doesn’t and it won’t.

To put this into context, a question I pose to senior company executives is, “How much of a priority do you place on hiring for key roles at your company?” Of course, they tell me it’s a top priority, but in reality it isn’t, not really. But as often happens, everyone is too busy doing other things, so attracting top talent slips down the to-do list.

Countless times I have been told something was a priority and then actions, or rather inactions, are slow and less than dynamic. Yet the same people lament the situation as though it is something beyond their control, or claim their subordinates don’t share their level of urgency. So let’s consider a few of the reasons for the difficulties in filling long-vacant and key positions:

• Online job posts do not attract top-tier pro-

•

fessionals – Increasingly the caliber of people your companies would like to attract don’t post their resumes online; they’re not even looking at job posts because they are too busy doing a good job for their current employers.

Most managers are poor salespersons – Although they are experts in the products and services of the companies they represent, most are very poor at marketing and selling the concept as to why someone should consider joining your organization. “We’re big, we’re the best…” isn’t interesting, because it’s what everyone says.

C zech L eaders III/2015

• One size fits all processes – Impact players

•

•

and especially senior-level candidates have no patience for having to go through the same screening processes, like initial screenings with a low-level HR assistant, and treated no different than an entry-level applicant. Would you?

Psychometric tests – There is way too much over-reliance on psychobabble testing methods. Increasingly, HR and interviewers who lack confidence in their own evaluation skills rely on tests for their decisions; also enabling, when things go bad, to later blame the test results rather than to admit they made a bad hiring decision.

Hiring is not really a priority – When a good candidate experiences an unpredictable and disjointed interview process, it reflects poorly on the organization; 3 weeks here and a month there between interviews is a sure way to squander an opportunity to hire top talent. We recruiters have a saying, “Time kills all deals” and top performers don’t accept generic excuses.

I could elaborate at much greater length about the solutions to the points listed and more.

If you want to attract and hire the best, it requires more than merely sleepwalking through uninspiring processes, while waiting for the right kind of people to materialize by themselves. If you

and your staff are doing the same half measures as everyone else, why should the best and brightest, the innovators, choose your company over others? The fact is the people you would most like to attract are motivated by decisive and purpose-driven businesses and business people; much less so, by bureaucracy, bureaucrats and lethargy that all looks and sounds the same.

Michael Mayher is an internationallyrecognized direct-search recruiter with 23 years of experience. Having worked closely with both job-seeking candidates and hiring managers, he possesses expertise and unique insight about every aspect of the hiring process, working at many different professional levels and market sectors. In the digital era, Michael is a “keeper of lost knowledge” regarding the details and finer points of the interview process.

He shares his expertise in the form of management consulting, outplacement services, career coaching and conducts lectures, seminars and as a motivational speaker. Michael is also an active blogger and published author, he can be reached at info michaelmayher.com

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An

interview with

L ieutenant G eneral J osef B ečvář

Josef Bečvář is the current Chief of the General Staff – the highest position in the Czech Army. He has been so since May 2015. What are his goals for the management of more than 28 thousand soldiers? “Traditionally, we are known for our skills in the defense against weapons of mass destruction, passive systems, and military medical services,” he says. On the other hand, what does the Czech Army need to improve, and is there any danger that we could become a NATO “free-loader”?

“It may seem that we are safely located in the heart of Europe, but that is a misleading notion.”

What exactly is the responsibility of the Chief of the General Staff?

Simply put, I am commanding the General Staff which commands the activities of the army. My position makes me a partner of the Minister of Defense, and my task, according to the political assignment, is to direct the army and define the ways of meeting the tasks given to us. The General Staff plays a key role in preparing militaryprofessional evaluations for reaching political decisions.

At a first glance, the structure of the General Staff is very complicated. What is the key for proper understanding of the individual divisions and headquarters?

It really is complicated only at the first glance, because we are guided by simple solutions, and that is also the principle of armies. The core of the General Staff is therefore comprised by two key divisions, accompanied by some smaller units.

Which are?

The first is the Division of Capabilities Development and Planning. It is responsible for setting the mobilization agenda, army reserves, planning, the conceptual and technical development of our army, and for military offices like regional military headquarters and military districts. The second unit, the Division of Support, comprises individual agencies focusing on military support, i.e. logistics, communications and information systems, and military medical services. Furthermore, there is a Joint Operations Center, which supervises the troops that are active in domestic and overseas operations. Then there is the Personnel Agency of the Czech Army, and let´s also mention the

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Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare Branch.

Directly subordinate to the General Staff are the two component headquarters which manage daily life for our troops – The Headquarters of Land Forces and Air Forces. On the same level there is also the Special Forces Directorate and Training Command – Military Academy.

What are your goals as the army´s “head commander”?

The army is a continuously functioning organism.

I came into it with a series of projects underway, and four years hence I will pass it to my successor in a similar way. So, my first task is to continue the steps undertaken by general Pavel, or possibly even his predecessors. Speaking of priorities, I definitely see those in the completion and implementation of the key document “The Strategy of the Czech Army Development”, recruiting the personnel needed, and the continuation of the process of re-armament and equipment modernization.

Regarding re-armament, we see the necessity for the modification of radar equipment, purchasing multipurpose choppers, and considering the possible development of our Air Force transport capacity. Regarding our Land Forces, the rearmament of the 7th Mechanized Brigade is especially necessary, including the modernization of artillery, and we must follow the trends in modern fully automated systems.

What is the annual defense budget of the Czech Republic?

This year, the resort of the Ministry of Defense was given a budget of CZK 43.79 billion. During the approval process, this represented 1.04 % of GDP. The positive thing is, it was possible to reach

a political agreement and reverse the negative trend of previous years, when the budget was being dramatically cut. Through 2020, in accordance with the accepted declaration, the defense budget of the Czech Republic should gradually grow to 1.4% of GDP. We are now expecting the corresponding steps within the proposal of the 2016 annual budget. Even so, we will still not fall within the alliance commitment of 2 % of GDP. Unfortunately, we are also carrying a big debt in the form of our technical equipment, infrastructure, and insufficient personnel, which will require a longer time to settle. On the other hand, we must admit that even a budget hike would not solve the issue, because first a lot of important modernization projects will have to be carefully prepared.

What is your main argument for those who claim that it is not necessary to increase the defense budget?

Considering this issue, the position of the army is a bit complicated. However, it is more important to publicly discuss the need for defense and investments in this area. Compared for example to health care, education, transport, the interior and culture, where the citizens can see the investment through everyday experience, investments in defense are not visible in our everyday life; therefore there might be people who recklessly consider them useless. However, this is true only until a crisis comes. But at that moment, it is usually too late to invest in defense. The army is an insurance policy for one of the essential functions of the state – i.e. securing public safety. We simply cannot resign from that function in today´s world.

What do you currently see as our biggest threat?

Undoubtedly, the biggest threat in today´s world is radicalism and unpredictable instability. We are talking about a phenomenon of a so-called Islamic State, the crisis in Ukraine, a changing attitude of Russia, a crisis of natural sources, and escalating problems of refugees and migration waves. All of this is occurring not only in the palpable context, but in the virtual space too. It may seem we are safely located in the heart of Europe, but that is just a misleading notion which may swiftly change if we don´t actively participate in the solution of these problems, and we don´t try to prevent them as much as possible.

What features of the Czech Army are at the highest level?

Our people – our soldiers who are very experienced and flexible. They prove their qualities every day while fulfilling demanding tasks, not only in operations abroad but at home, within the Czech Republic. Traditionally, we are known for

our skills in the defense against weapons of mass destruction, passive systems, and military medical services.

Where, on the other hand, are we falling behind “the world”?

It would be naïve to think that we may be equal in all areas to such armies as the US Forces, for example.

Here, we are limited, and logically always will be, by the sources available. However, I don´t see this as a problem because of our alliance in NATO. The issue we have to resolve is the already mentioned modernization and optimization of personnel; this means obtaining the corresponding financing, so that we do not become a free-loader of the Alliance. Simply said, in the past few years we have fallen behind in investments to our defense.

Another longtime problem is the acquisition process, where the Ministry of Defense was not able to fulfill for example the basic needs of the soldiers. I am speaking about the very basic areas of military gear and personal equipment. For this we must find a solution, so that our soldiers may

appropriately fulfill their tasks during training as well as operations.

How many countries are Czech soldiers currently present in?

I suppose you mean the deployment of our soldiers in foreign operations and observation missions within the alliance effort of NATO, EU operations, and UN missions. Currently, we have soldiers in Afghanistan, Mali, the Sinai Peninsula, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Congo, and Central African Republic. To make the list complete, I must also add the EU-NAVFOR operation on the Somali coast, where our soldiers work at the headquarters in Great Britain. Of course, our soldiers may also be found at the headquarters and other organizations of NATO. What do you think about the transit of allied forces through the Czech Republic in March?

The transit of an American convoy, returning from alliance training in the Baltic and Poland, has raised an unusual wave of interest among the Czech public. The problem is the perception between “we and allies”. And we have been a NATO member for more than 15 years. Therefore, I am personally very happy that after the initial negative campaign, most of the public clearly and absolutely comprehensibly expressed their attitude and support to our commitment.

A much discussed topic is the issue of drafting. Recently, the government accepted an amendment of “military law”. What is it about? Do you think it is a good way to increase the number of troops?

By suspending the draft during peace time following the professionalization of the Czech Army in 2005, we saw the number of registered obligatory reserves decrease, not to mention the number of trained reserves. So, if we don´t renew the military draft we will gradually see a loss in the number of qualified men and women, especially those willing to participate actively in the armed defense of the country. Regarding the current security situation in the world, this would definitely not be a good step forward. At the same time, drafts will enable us to offer the public voluntary military training, to address the young generation and introduce them to the armed forces, and show them why defense is important to the whole country.

The government also discussed the decision for soldiers to be called on more flexibly for natural disaster relief. Why are they not “flexible” now?

The draft of the law No. 219 on military forces, which was discussed by the government, speaks rather about internal provisions, which in response to organization changes within the Czech Army will help us to become more flexible in deploying the forces and equipment from different units.

The soldiers are and always will be ready to help, nothing is changing here. However, it is necessary to realize that the issue of natural disasters primarily falls under the Integrated Rescue System and the army within is supporting units, i.e. Fire Department, Czech Police, and Emergency Medical Services.

The Fire Department has undergone a substantial increase of its abilities since the catastrophic floods

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An

interview with

L ieutenant G eneral J osef B ečvář

in Moravia in 1997 – some of these abilities were adopted directly from the army. That´s why you do not see soldiers at the front line as often as before; it is the firemen with their sophisticated equipment who have become involved there. The role of the army, with the exception of certain specialized issues like e.g. air rescue services, is mainly the second front, when it is necessary to use other personnel and equipment.

You studied at French military schools. What is the biggest difference compared to the Czech schools?

It has been many years since I studied, so it would not be quite objective to compare Czech and French military schools in detail, or education systems in general. Although I will be happy to say what I personally consider the biggest benefit of studying abroad - the fact that I was able to work in the international environment and make contacts. It was also interesting to learn from the French experience with deploying forces abroad, especially in the areas of France’s former global influence. That was and surely will always be the advantage of bigger armies and big countries.

Which countries could we see as our role models for having a “flawless” army?

The question is whether there actually is something like a perfect army, because military forces all over the world are developing all the time. They reflect emerging threats and specific conditions of the concrete country. What works in one country does not necessarily always work for another one. Personally, I am not a fan of uncritical acceptance of foreign models, but I am definitely not one who is unwilling to seek and accept experience either. But we always need to accept “our” part. An important source of inspiration and learning may be the military forces of our key alliance partners, i.e. the USA, Great Britain, France, and Germany, however we must not close ourselves off from the experiences of similar-sized countries of NATO and neutral countries. Some inspiration may

From left: Lt. General Petr Pavel, former Chief of the General Staff, Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic, and Lt. General Josef Bečvář, Chief of the General Staff

even come from findings in other cultural and social conditions.

What are the biggest differences we may see in the armies of “the old” continent?

Nowadays, a big part of Europe is connected by alliance bonds, be it within NATO, the EU, or other partnership programs. This bonding leads to unification and the elimination of previous differences. We cooperate in training and operations management, and harmonize our standards and operational procedures.

Formally, your direct commanding officer is the President of the Czech Republic. Is he following current developments in the army?

Yes, he is and very much so. When travelling around the country, the President regularly includes his visits to military units, and he also visited our soldiers in Afghanistan. He expresses support for our soldiers and presents his opinions on safety issues in public.

What is the biggest myth about the army that you have noticed?

Claiming that our army is good for nothing because it would be able to defend just one town. The public actually often does not realize the difference between a professional army at times of peace, and the army in the state of war or conflict. People don´t perceive the fact that our defense is secured within the Alliance.

Has your work in the army fulfilled all expectations?

When I was starting at the Military Secondary School in Moravská Třebová in 1973, I definitely did not imagine I would become a Chief of General Staff 40 years later. Like all soldiers, I was forming my ideas of what the army is and how it functions. I was also very lucky to have great superiors and colleagues. When I look back, I can see my career has been really colorful so far. Starting with artillery, then military police, diplomatic services, and finally General Staff, I always have had interesting positions and I am immensely grateful for all these years in uniform.

Otherwise, I don´t think I would have gained that much experience at all. A big thank-you goes to my family too, because without their support and understanding all of this would have been unimaginable.

By: (jk) Photo: General Staff of the Czech Army

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E ntrepreneurship

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 in the Czech Republic Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the largest worldwide event, held also in the Czech Republic, which promotes entrepreneurship from 16–22 November 2015. GEW is organized in support of entrepreneurs and start-ups and its activities are supported by many prominent personalities, such as Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Prince Charles, Bronislaw Komorowski or Ivo Josipović, entrepreneurs and business persons as Richard Branson or Muhtar Kent, and also by celebrities such as Bono Vox or Snoop Dogg. In 2014, GEW was held in one hundred and fifty countries all over the world, with eight thousands partner organizations involved, 25 000 events and seven million participants.

The mission of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 is to promote developing potential of emerging and innovative entrepreneurs, to assist with establishing start-ups and to strengthen economic growth of small and medium-sized companies. Within the GEW whole range of activities is organized in order to connect participants with potential colleagues, partners, mentors or investors, and to offer them new possibilities and interesting opportunities.

The GEW target groups are primarily emerging entrepreneurs and university students, to whom GEW wants to assist during first steps in business.

The host organization of the Global Entrepreneurship Week in the Czech Republic is European Leadership & Academic Institute (ELAI).

In 2013, ELAI held GEW in the Czech Republic for the first time, last year it already coordinated 86 events with more than thirty partner organizations and 3000 participants across the country. GEW 2015 in the Czech Republic was awarded the patronage by Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of

Czech Republic, Pavel Bělobrádek, Deputy Prime Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, than by the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, and also by the cities of Prague, Brno and Ostrava. The goal of the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 in the Czech Republic is to motivate people to start business and to help already established companies to grow further. We would also like to support emerging Czech companies in their endeavour to expand to foreign markets.

There will be large number of events held during the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 in Czech Republic. The most significant of them is the Global Entrepreneurship Week Summit: From Survivors to Winners, how to successfully expand and grow SMEs or start-ups, held on Thursday 19 November 2015 in Prague Congress Centre. The Summit will be a whole day event with workshops, seminars and a conference with Czech and foreign speakers.

There will also be an award ceremony for TOP 10 Czech SMEs and start-ups. Significant part of the Summit will also be Art Meets Business fair, where Czech art and design SMEs and freelancers will present their work portfolios and Business Fair with presentation of interesting Czech companies and start-ups. The Global Entrepreneurship Week Summit will be a great place for networking.

All the workshops, fairs and conferences have one goal in common. They aim to connect participants with potential co-workers, partners, investors and mentors.

Regional seminars with theme How to successfully grow you SME / Start-up will be held in Brno, Ostrava and České Budějovice. These seminars will be realized from 18 to 20 of November. The

seminar in Brno will be held in JIC (South Moravia Innovation Centre), the one in Ostrava will take place at VIVA Ostrava and Coworking České Budějovice will be hosting the seminar in České Budějovice. The goal of these seminars is for the entrepreneurs and start-upists to learn from each other as there will be representatives of thriving local SMEs and start-ups sharing their tips, advice and their experience from entrepreneurship.

The Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 in the Czech Republic is also for students, who are innovative and try to find new inspiration.

European Leadership & Academic Institute will be organizing Students to Students panel discussion. This event will be held on Wednesday 18 November 2015 at the University of Economic in Prague. Students and graduates who already have their own businesses will be talking to students who are eager to start their own and are in need of useful advice. The goal of the panel discussion is to share experience with starting a business, to talk about the potential risks, but mainly to motivate fellow students to become entrepreneurs and start-upists.

Global Entrepreneurship Week 2015 is not just the events listed here, but many other activities hosted by partner organizations all over the Czech Republic. Would you like to get involved and be part of the largest event supporting entrepreneurship? Do not hesitate and contact Johana Vamberská from European Leadership & Academic Institute at vamberska@elai.cz.

For more information follow our web page www. tydenpodnikani2015.cz, where you can also register for the Global Entrepreneurship Week Summit and other activities during GEW or follow us on Facebook.

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I nterview

P hoto : A rchive

I WOULD LIKE TO HELP CONNECT CZECH KNOW-HOW WITH LUXEMBOURG’S FINANCIAL POTENCY AND EXPERIENCE In January of 2015, long-time diplomat H.E. Petr Kubernát became an extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Czech Republic to Luxembourg. He has plenty of working experience in the state administration, as well as the private sector, where he also held the position of the President of the NetherlandsCzech Chamber of Commerce. What are his goals in the new position, and where does he find opportunities for Czech companies?

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An

interview with

Dear Ambassador, you started your diplomatic career in 1992. Why did you not start in 1984, when you completed your studies at Kiev State University, in the Faculty of International Relations and International Law, where you specialized in International Economic Relations?

At that time, international business seemed more attractive to me than diplomacy. In addition, my internship experience confirmed the fact that, in those days, ministries of foreign affairs and diplomacy in general were rather about shallow political games, behind-thescenes plays, and the pursuit of personal gain.

That was one of the reasons why I decided to work for the foreign trade company Centrotex, where I worked in the export department for 8 years, and gradually worked up to the position of Vice Manager of the trade department. I was attracted to the position of Economic Secretary of the then Permanent Mission to the European Communities in Brussels. In competing for that position, I was the favorite of a three-round competition, so in the fall of 1992 I entered the field of diplomatic services.

After becoming ambassador, the first place you served was in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. While you only just recently arrived to Luxembourg, is it possible to compare the two places?

On one hand, Luxembourg and the Netherlands are two different countries, but on the other hand they also have a lot in common. That must also be the reason for their successful cooperation in Benelux. Let´s look, for example, at the same pragmatic approach the citizens of the two countries take when solving their problems, let’s look at their straightforward manners, their positive attitudes to foreigners, their feelings for business, their skills in navigating the international environment, and their abilities to communicate in multiple languages, and so on. They are similar people indeed.

Ok, but was the Netherlands special in any way, in respect to your profession?

In the Netherlands, my bilateral agenda was markedly enhanced by its multilateral dimension, e.g. in the field of international law. At the same time, I was a permanent representative of the Czech Republic in the OPCW (Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) and as the first Czech, I was elected a chairman of the Executive Board. So, the Czech Republic was actually managing the whole organization for one year.

For this agenda, we did a lot of work with my colleagues, and I am glad that the Czech Republic left a very good track record in Den Haag. In the Netherlands, the important priorities for me were public diplomacy and support of economic trade relations. And these are the issues I would like to carry on in Luxembourg as well.

Due to cost-saving measures, the Czech Republic closed down its residential embassy in Luxembourg. Do you think this was a good decision in 2012?

H.E. P etr K ubernát , C zech A mbassador

I have never considered the decision to close down our embassy in Luxembourg a good step.

Unfortunately, the embassy in Luxembourg was among the ten embassies chosen before 2012 to be closed down for financial reasons. Although the Luxembourgers tried to understand our reasons, they were not pleased at all. They left their Prague embassy open anyway. Of course, the fact that our embassy was closed down influenced our bilateral relations. Now, after the re-opening of the embassy, we are able to build on the previous activities in some areas of cooperation.

However, elsewhere we are starting again from zero, like in 2002 when our residential embassy was opened in Luxembourg. Besides, the lives of more than 1500 Czechs living in Luxembourg were complicated by this decision, because they had to contact our Brussels embassy 220 km away with all of their consular issues (inquiries for birth and marriage certificates, new passports, verifications of documents, criminal record statements, etc.). The other option for them was to solve these issues when visiting Prague.

Furthermore, there was the fact that the Czech state kept ownership of the beautiful embassy building in Luxembourg, which previously belonged to the former Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner. Between 2004 and 2006, the villa underwent a complete reconstruction and now it was necessary to temper it, especially in winter, to provide all year round ventilation, and monitor it with a security agency. All of this cost money too.

You say that we can build on our relationship with Luxembourg. Luxembourg Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn said that with the re-opening of the Czech embassy at the beginning of this year, a new chapter on mutual relations was opened. What did you manage to write for this new chapter during the last six months?

Within the scope of diplomatic activities in a foreign country, six months is too short of a time. Moreover, every new ambassador has to get to know the country of his assignment first, undergo a series of protocol and courtesy meetings, and establish important contacts throughout all areas of public life.

Since July 1st, Luxembourg has been the presidential country of the European Union…

Yes, this situation may often keep us fully occupied. However, we aren’t wasting any time, and we have already organized several cultural events, or cooperated as event co-organizers.

Until the end of the year we will be preparing a seminar on economic opportunities in the Czech Republic, together with the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. The main speaker will be the Minister of Industry and Trade Jan Mládek.

At the same time, the seminar will mark the beginning of the preparations of the Luxembourg business mission to the Czech Republic, planned for the second half of 2016. In cooperation with the importer of Škoda cars to Luxembourg, we are working on the introduction of the new

to

L uxembourg

Škoda Superb model, and we are preparing the audiovisual presentation of the projects connected to this year’s anniversary of Mister Jan Hus’ death. For the end of the year, we want to arrange one more classical music concert. Also, we are diligently preparing for the upcoming year, which will mark the 700th birthday of King Charles IV. With selected Luxembourg partners, we are discussing the arrangement of a series of conferences on the topic, exhibitions, and a medieval music concert. We would like to enhance awareness and deepen the knowledge of Luxembourgers, especially the young generation, on the personality of King Charles IV. Let´s talk some numbers now – Luxembourg is the fourth biggest foreign investor in the Czech Republic. Regarding the trade of goods, it is the 45th most important export partner of the Czech Republic, and 38th regarding imports. For Luxembourg, the Czech Republic is the 19th most important supplier and 16th most important purchaser. These are interesting numbers.

Yes, you are right; these are interesting numbers, especially if we count per citizen (when possible).

Otherwise, the Luxembourg market is small, not only in area but in the number of people as well. And so no dramatic increase of export or import may be expected. On the other hand, if you consider the so-called Great Region, consisting of Luxembourg, Belgian Wallonia, French Lorraine, and German Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate, you have a market which represents an area of more than 65 thousand km2 with 11.3 million inhabitants. At the same time, it is a reference market, where you can test potential interest in your products or services in four countries at one go.

What are the benefits of having permanent representation in the country?

Besides the traditional role of all our representative offices abroad, which is to protect the interests of the Czech Republic and its citizens abroad, and to promote our country, I think every embassy should be helpful in establishing contacts between individual business subjects of both countries, i.e. opening the right doors, and in creating a positive environment for business.

Searching for potential business opportunities for Czech subjects, and support of the development of economic diplomacy, will surely be among my priorities in Luxembourg. What I mean by that is searching for more sophisticated forms of trade and economic cooperation, for example through the connection of Czech know-how with Luxembourg´s financial potency and experience, rather than just the simple support of our export growth. That is because I can see some logical limitations here in the local market’s limited capacity for absorption.

However, Czech representation in Luxembourg is quite small.

I think the size of our team is quite sufficient and corresponds with the tasks we are supposed to follow, as well as the priorities we set ourselves.

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H.E. P etr K ubernát , C zech A mbassador

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A higher number of employees does not necessarily equate to better performance. Unlike the big embassies, we have to communicate more with each other, perform cumulative functions, participate on the fulfillment of tasks, and rely on colleagues to dutifully complete their tasks. Moreover, we are in a certain trial period here, shortly after the re-opening of the embassy, so we need some more time to be able to evaluate the efficiency of our activities, and decide if the number of personnel and their portfolios are sufficient.

What are the concrete opportunities that Luxembourg is offering to Czech companies right now? What are they focused on?

Luxembourg is especially interested in information and communication technologies, biotechnologies, renewable energy sources, enviromentaly friendly technologies, and everything connected to transport infrastructure.

It seems that we can be successful in the construction industry here too. The thing is, Luxembourg has a somewhat neglected housing sector, and now they are trying to catch up. There is a lack of flats as well as residential houses, and if you find some, they are really expensive to buy or rent. I can actually speak from my own personal experience, since I was looking for a suitable accommodation for six months. The construction of transport infrastructure could be another field where Czech companies may be successful.

However, it is necessary to prepare for serious competition, especially from Luxembourg’s neighboring countries, which are desperately trying to catch up in the Luxembourg market.

As we already mentioned above, Luxembourg currently holds the presidency of the European Council.

Does this mean more duties for an ambassador in Luxembourg?

Definitely so. Basically it represents an extra agenda for the six-month presidency. But I am not alone here. Our small team was strengthened by a colleague from headquarters, who is primarily responsible for any issues connected with the presidency. A lot of these responsibilities are matters of coordination and logistics. For me it means more meetings and discussions, while on the other hand the presidency brings me the opportunity to meet most members of the Czech government or their deputies, chairmen of some parliamentary committees of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, and colleagues from other ministries who come for informal and formal meetings connected to the Luxembourg presidency.

Luxembourg is the country with the highest nominal GDP per capita worldwide. Is this visible in everyday life?

The benefits for Luxembourg’s citizens arising from this fact are probably not so visible at first sight, but of course they are benefiting.

I can mention for example some general social benefits, targeted direct contributions for

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specific groups of citizens, and also the level of the state support for culture. Statisticians often discuss the possible misrepresentation of Luxembourg’s GDP per capita, based on the 180 thousand so-called peddlers who are not true citizens of Luxembourg. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is the richest country of the EU, and the standard of living is high here, but prices are high too. You can see that practically everywhere. A certain role is also definitely played by the fact that higher-income brackets are quite strongly represented here. Which, besides other things, is due to the high concentration of banks in Luxembourg. The country hosts the seats or branches of more than 140 banks. For foreign banks it is a matter of prestige to have representation in Luxembourg. Many of them truly directly operate in Luxembourg, and serve their clients in the west, as well as southern Europe. Luxembourg is also the seat of several important Union institutions like the European Investment Bank, the Court of Justice of the EU, Eurostat, and parts of some Directorates-General of the European Commission. Here, you can also find the seats of big international companies like Amazon, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the satellite company SES, Goodyear, DuPont and more. And you can also add the companies which chose Luxembourg as their seat due to tax optimization.

Can you describe Luxembourg’s business environment?

It is very transparent and quite often predictable. This is a very important attribute for companies and firms operating here. Here you do not often see changes in the national economy. Future changes are always discussed with all interested subjects, including businesses. All possible impacts of potential legislative changes, or the introduction of brand new legislative standards, are evaluated

in detail. It is not unusual that research and independent institutional studies of possible impacts are arranged. The overall tax burden of companies is low. Luxembourg state administration is, considering the number of employees, small but quite efficient. The size of the country does not require a high number of state sector employees anyway.

Often, the functions are cumulative, while on the other hand you can also find part-time employment, especially for working mothers.

Many ministries are located at one place, in a so-called government quarter near the historical center of the capital city, so even the often tiring office commute has been reduced.

Being so busy, do you have any free time at all? And how do you use it?

I always try to save some free time to be able to compensate demanding working days with necessary relaxation; however, I am not always successful. This presidential year appears quite difficult for me. But when I do have some free time, I go biking. I have been enjoying that since the time of my appointment in the Netherlands. However, the truth is they don´t have a complex system of bike trails here, and terrain is much more difficult. Besides this, I also like in-line skating, and in winter we “obligatorily” go skiing for at least a week. Usually I prefer downhill skiing, but lately I have again acquired a taste for country skiing too. In summer, it is another obligatory week of swimming and seaside relaxation. I can also relax at a good movie, but recently I have no time for reading books and listening to classical music.

By: (jk) české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

A nalysis

A Simple Step That Takes You Far!

PAY PARITY It has been quite a summer as it relates to gender issues and gender integration in particular.

Articles from all different venues and regions around the world are discussing women’s role in the global economy, in the US, the need to reframe the behavior of young girls so they become more interested in math and science, issues of equal access to political power, high profile stories about women in IT seeking pay equality (Ellen Pao suit against venture capital firm and her departure from Reddit), all quite illuminating.

All of this discourse is good for business. It helps create sufficient interest and conversations related to how to reframe ways company hire and compensate women; how to retain female talent; what are the strategies companies are sharing to move forward with these issues, what are the most significant steps to create a higher degree of long term impact.

The issue on pay parity is becoming a big topic in the US and Europe both at private and governmental level. It is a simple step that companies both big and small see as hitting bottom line results, let me share some examples.

In Europe, the EU published a thorough account that identified government and private sector efforts to promote pay parity.

An online tool, Logib, has been developed in Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland to enable companies to analyze pay and staffing structures and verify if equal pay exists between male and female employees. Reports analyzing the reasons and proposal of actions to tackle the gender pay gap are also foreseen with this tool.

In Austria, a ‘Wage and salary calculator’ has been set up which provides up-to-date and easily accessible information about pay customary in a sector/place. I invite you to read the full report – Tackling the Gender Parity in the European Union 2014.

In the US, companies like Salesforce are implementing pay parity as the main buster to enhance performance, retention and promotability.

Startups are also looking at the most significant strategies to help boost performance.

Take a look at SumAll an analytics startup: Transparency is a core tenet at data analytics startup SumAll. It’s what’s helped the four-year old company grow at a rapid clip, according to its cofounder and CEO Dane Atkinson. He says SumAll has realized 1000% growth each year of operation and has amassed 350,000 clients.

“We have lower turnover than the industry average which is 30 %–50 %.” He says no one leave the company because they feel like someone

lied to them about salaries which Atkinson believes is the reason for “a big hunk of turnover.” Fast Company Magazine – Lydia Dishman.

As we conclude today, I need to point out that the Czech Republic was showcased in the EU report above mentioned: In the Czech Republic, an Equal Pay Day has been organized by Business and Professional Women (BPW) since 2010. The 4th Equal Pay Day in the Czech Republic took place on 24 April 2013.

In

I invite you and other business colleagues to continue forward with this effort, pay parity is a simple step that yields great results...

Can You Afford to Ignore this?

By Elisabet Rodriguez Dennehy, President Rodriguez and Associates LLC

cooperation

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networking / charity

I n cooperation with C zech L eaders

LIONS CLUB PRAGUE BOHEMIA AMBASSADOR Guest of Honor: Gen. Ing. Andor Šándor, Security Adviser Topic: Simulation of power supply shortfall in Prague

From left: MUDr.Jiří Pekárek, former President of Czech Dental Chamber and Ing.Ladislav Bouček, CSc, Entrepreneur, former Governor of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

From left: Ing.Jiří Nejezchleb,Tax Advisor and JUDr.Vojtěch Trapl, Lawyer and former Governor of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

From left: Ing.Anton Gerák, CSc, Commercial Director, former President of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Secretary of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur

Gen.Ing.Andor Šándor, Security Adviser and President, LC Praha Orel

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From left: Gen.Ing.Andor Šándor,Security Adviser and President, LC Praha Orel, Mgr.Jan Haur, IS Administrator and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, and Ing.František Novotný, President, Association APST and Secretary , LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

Session of LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

charity event

Endowment Fund of Livia and Václav Klaus

honored sponsors and volunteers Jan Sochor, winner of the project Seniors Communicate together with the founders of the endowment fund

On the afternoon of June 3rd, 2015, Congress Centre of the Czech National Bank hosted a meeting of donors and volunteers of the Foundation Fund of Václav and Livie Klaus, attended by both the founders, Mr. and Mrs. Klaus. This was the twelfth consecutive ‘thank you’ to donors for their financial support.

From left: Hana Pavlasová, Ryor, Ing. Eva Štěpánková, Director and Owner, Ryor, and Mrs. Jana Štěpánková

Audience

From left: Prof. Ing. Václav Klaus, former President of the CR, Eva Horucková, CRS Manager, ČSOB, standing backwards Tomáš Jelínek, Branch Director, ČSOB

From left: Anton Čonka, Student and Maestro Václav Hudeček, Violinist

From left: Mgr. Kamila Kryštofová, Director, Endowment Fund of Livia and Václav Klaus, Prof. Ing. Václav Klaus, former President of the CR, and PhDr. Dagmar Sladká, Communication Department, Endowment Fund of Česká spořitelna

From left: Mgr. Kamila Kryštofová, Director, Endowment Fund of Livia and Václav Klaus, Eva Hudečková, Writer, and Maestro Václav Hudeček, Violinist

S ummer P arty

From left: Axel Limberg, President DTIHK/ČNOPK and Executive Director, EnBW CZ spol. s r.o. and Bernard Bauer, Executive Director, DTIHK/ČNOPK

I n cooperation with C zech L eaders

Summer Party of the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce

On June 18th, the annual summer party of the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) took place at the historical site of the German embassy in Prague. The garden party attracted more than 900 guests, among them high-ranking members of the Czech-German business community and government institutions and associations. Next to the vintage and current Škoda models, the Chambers‘ guests enjoyed an almost rainless summer night with cocktails, delicious food and vibrant music.

The presence of the „Golden Voice of Prague“, Karel Gott, put the icing on the cake of an accomplished and unforgettable evening.

P hoto : J aromír Z ubák , D ean B atak

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From left: Bernard Bauer, Executive Director, DTIHK/ČNOPK, Axel Limberg, President DTIHK/ ČNOPK and Executive Director, EnBW CZ spol. s r.o., Pavel Bělobrádek, Deputy Prime Minister of CR, and H.E. Dr. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany

From left: H.E. Dr. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany and Karel Gott, Singer

Ing. Radomír Šimek, Managing Director, Rascom s.r.o. with his wife

From left: Axel Limberg, President DTIHK/ČNOPK and Executive Director, EnBW CZ spol. s r.o., H.E. Dr. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany, and Dr. Eberhard Sasse, President of IHK für München und Oberbayern

From left: Andreas Denninger, Director, Finance and Administration, Plant Ostrava, Brose with his partner, and Ivan Pilip, Partner, Conseille

From left: Dr. Udo Richter, Director Sales, and Thomas Limpert, Manager Business Unit, both Ingenics

From left: Ing. Tomáš Kožoušek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, P-D Refractories Cz a.s. with his wife

From left: Dr. Jitka Konopásková, Head EU Coordination and International Relations Department Director General ´s Office, Czech Social Security Administration and Lucie Vorlíčková, LL.M., Partner, Vorlíčková Partners

From left: Barbora Černíková, Product Manager and Consultant and Alena Pomahačová, Managing Director, both Assessment Systems Czech

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Škoda Auto company table

From left: Ing. Petr Pospíšil, Project Management, Imoco s.r.o., Magda Hamerníková, Marketing, and Veronika Koberová, Marketing, both Consult Group s.r.o.

H.E. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany in his speech

Dr. Christian Albrecht Blei, Member of the Supervisory Board, E.ON with his partner

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Christian Rühmkorf, Head of Public Relations and Public Affairs, DTIHK/ČNOPK and Blanka Bendlová, President, JCI

S ummer P arty

From left: Bernhard Heber, Heber GmbH, Jürgen Wallstabe, Vice President, IHK Niederbayern, and Knut Batsch, Kermi

From left: MUDr. Miroslav Palát, MBA, President, Czechmed, and Andreas Atzenbeck, Attorney, Merz and Stöhr

From left: Martin Herrmann CEO, RWE East s.r.o., Dr. Günther Horzetzky, State Secretary, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Wulf-Christian Ehrich, Managing Director, IHK Dortmund

From left: Peter Weber, IHK Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig, Director, Volksbank Nordoberpfalz eG, and his wife

From left: Dr. Petr Jindřich Syrovátko, Attorney, WolfTheiss, and Kateřina Kulhánková, Associate, WolfTheiss

Axel Limberg, President DTIHK/ČNOPK and Executive Director, EnBW CZ spol. s r.o., in his speech

From left: Vladimír Vurm and Martin Chalupský, Head of Corporate Affairs, RWE Česká republika

Dancing Group Tradición and Carisma, Petr Václavek, Executive Director, MP-Sped s.r.o.

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S ummer P arty From left: Michal Kadera, LL.M., Head of External Affairs, Škoda Auto a.s., and Jiří Maceška, Vicepresident, Czech-Israeli Joint Chamber of Commerce

From left: George Geveke, Managing Director, AHK Services s.r.o., Ing. Jiří Kuliš, General Director, BVV, and Radoslav Klepáč, External Relations Director, BVV

Presentation of excellent liquors from Germany

From left: H.E. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany with his wife

From left: H.E. Ferdinand Trauttmansdorff, Ambassador of Austria and H.E. Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of Germany

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Hanuš Thein, External Business Director and Andrea Thein, LUTO Germany

THE FAMOUS HOCKEY PLAYER WAYNE GRETZKY ONCE SAID: “A successful hockey player skates where the puck is going to be, not where it is.”

For the “digital” economy, the “going to be” moment has already come. I put the word digital in parentheses on purpose, because according to many opinions, including my own, there will soon be no economy other than the digital one.

Let´s have a look at some data: There are now already 4.5 billion people connected to the Internet worldwide. This year, there will be 3.5 billion connected things – i.e. “Internet things”, and M2M machine communication is already here. For 2015, Cisco estimates approximately 15–25 billion connections, which means there will soon be more connected things than people. The estimation by the year 2020 is 40–50 billion connections (of course things, not people).

The connections will not only be between computers and mobile phones, but also watches, cameras, cars, fridges, possibly even our toothbrushes, keys, thermostats, coffeemakers, and bracelets monitoring our physical functions. In 2020, only 4% of all things will be connected, so the space for further growth is enormous. John Chambers, general manager of Cisco, therefore promotes the term “The Internet of Everything”.

If this is not enough, there is more: People on our planet own 5 billion mobile devices. Every day, more mobile devices are sold than babies born. Every minute, we send 204 million emails, add 2.64 million contributions on Facebook, create and publish 216 thousand photos, make and publish 72 video hours on the net, create 48 thousand applications, and send 277 thousand tweets. Every second, enough data is created to make up 150 million books. Today, data that we had to arrange in the past is automatically generated by cheap sensors. Every day we check our mobile devices 150 times on average.

The new phenomena of “selfies” has not been included in the statistics yet. 90% of the world’s data was generated during the last two years.

Every two minutes, more digital photographs are made than during the whole 19th century. In 1986, the capacity for storage of all data was estimated to be 2.6 exabytes (an exabyte is a number with 18 zeros). To help you imagine this, it is 1 CD for every person on the planet! In 1993, it was 15.8 exabytes, and in 2007 it was 295 exabytes.

By the year 2002, digital capacity surpassed analogue capacity. We can continue with zetabytes (21 zeros), followed by yottabytes. In 2020, there will be so many bytes that their number will surpass the number of stars in space, estimated to 300 sextillions. The number of connections follows the pattern of Metcalf law – a doubled number of knots in a net means a four times as many connections. Edward Snowden, known for the theft of secret documents in the United States, is supposed to have stolen 1.5 million documents.

In an analogue world, they would probably fill a truck with a trailer; in a digital world, they fit in a small suitcase with a computer.

Suit yourself if you want to forget all this data. By the time you are finished reading this, there will be much more. The fuel for future industrial revolutions will not be gas or oil, but data.

The Internet is changing industry as well as agriculture. There are now virtual mines. Fully automated cars, which five years ago were not able to drive several kilometers, can now drive the entire highway 101 in California with no human interference. Many operations are directed by robots, while irrigation and planting are directed by automats. The digital economy has changed business models, not only in the music, advertising, and entertainment industries, but it is also changing conservative fields like the insurance and banking industries. Economies dependent on resources are changing into economies dependent on talents. Start-ups now have an advantage of higher flexibility and cheap and available infrastructure and technologies, without the burdens of the past.

Educational models are changing. Education is moving to the Internet, and is personalized by schedule as well as by subject. No doubt, digital technology will ruin some professions, but it will create new ones. Models of eGovernment are rising up – first as information sources for citizens, and later with the possibility to make necessary transactions, no matter where you are.

Thanks to their mass use, technologies are becoming dramatically cheaper. Much more efficient “toys” cost one tenth of what they did a few years ago. Analogue dollars are changing into digital pence.

The digital economy will also bring new challenges – such as cyber attacks, which may paralyze the economy and endanger the lives of people. Concerns are rising regarding safety and the use or abuse of private data. The more the world is connected, the more it is digitalized, and the more danger we face from relatively simple and low-cost attacks. Worries about the abuse of nuclear energy are being replaced by worries about cybernetic attacks organized by individuals or countries. Anyway, the truth is that getting information from the Internet is like drinking water from a hydrant Digitalization is like Prometheus´ fire – it has its advantages and disadvantages.

Meanwhile philosopher Keen is asking: “Is the Internet the answer to everything?”

By Ivan Pilný Member of the Parliament, ANO party President of Tuesday Business Network české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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J our F ixe

From left: Simona Šibylová and Monika Skládalová, both Weco-Travel (CZ) s.r.o.

P hoto : J aromír Z ubák

AUGUST BOAT RIDE OF THE GERMAN-CZECH CHAMBER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE

Axel Limberg, President of the DTIHK/ČNOPK

For the traditional annual networking event, many members and friends of the German-Czech Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) were literally all in the same boat. On August 27th, more than 200 guests accompanied by their families went aboard the restaurant boat Európé. While cruising along the Vltava River, members and friends used the opportunity to establish new contacts. They took a glance at Prague’s most famous sights from a boat’s perspective and enjoyed the late summer atmosphere with live music and excellent food.

From left: Pavel Roman, Robert Bosch odbytová s.r.o., Christian Rühmkorf, DTIHK/ČNOPK, and Dita Chrastilová, Schulmeister Management Consulting Praha v.o.s.

From left: Mrs. Gabriela Tichá, Mrs. Kristýna Lochmanová, and Renata Uhlířová, Robert Bosch odbytová s.r.o.

Boat Európé

Mrs. Linda Čapková and Daniel Čapek, Sodexo s.r.o.

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J our F ixe

Ditta Hlaváčková and Ladislav Dědeček, both Proxy, a.s.

From left: Mrs. Daniela Bort, Ivan Petrův, Brašnářství Tlustý a spol. s. r. o., Axel Limberg, President of the DTIHK/ČNOPK and Marcus Bort, EnBW CZ spol. s r.o.

From left: Zdeněk Vejvoda, Neuran s.r.o., Monika Nakládalová, Vladimír Nálevka both INTERQUALITY, spol. s r.o., and Martin Kratochvíl, Neuran s.r.o.

From left: Mr. Petr Pomahač, Mrs. Alica Miklošková, Mr. Jörg Becker, and Radoslav Markotán, Kaba GmbH

Mrs. Kateřina Krotilová and Matthias Sander, KNORRBREMSE Systémy pro užitková vozidla ČR, s.r.o.

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An

interview with

S erge B orenstein , CEO, K arlín G roup

OF VISIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS I was excited to meet Mr. Serge Borenstein, CEO of Karlín Group and the man who is primarily associated with the successful and innovative development of more than 400, 000 sq meters of Prague quarter Karlín.

I belong to the generation that remembers how Karlín used to look shortly before the Velvet Revolution (and also after being badly affected by the floods in 2002), and so I can still recall the bad reputation that was associated with this rather “industrial, dirty and risky“ part of Prague. I was looking forward to meeting someone so visionary, who fell in P hoto : A rchive

love with this part of Prague instantly while flying over it in a journey from Prague to Karlovy Vary in the revolutionary year 1989. As an advocate of many forms of diversity, I was ready to discuss the advantages of a place that has a unique value in its “mixture of apartments, offices and wonderful places to relax”. And last but not least, I appreciated Mr. Borenstein´s activities in trying to not only improve the image of “developers”, but also in educating both public and civil servants about the trends and needs associated with latest in urban development.

Our interview obviously took place in Karlín Group´s offices in Karlín. I appreciated how central this area was, as it took me only 15 minutes to get there. Looking out of a window of the modern office building, sensitively built to fit with the old neighboring porch houses, seeing the busy street with cafés and people walking on it, I also succumbed to the genius loci of the place.

Mr. Borenstein, extremely busy and cautious of his time, sees himself as “an optimist, a born optimist and hoping to die like this day one day“.

He responded quickly and addressed topics and challenges that far exceed the scope of architecture. It revealed the complexity of issues that urban development is connected to. Me being Czech and naturally avoiding conflicts, I enjoyed Mr. Borenstein´s answers and comments that were very straight forward and often critical.

Mr. Borenstein, you have witnessed development in the Czech Republic since the 1990s. How would you reflect the latest development here and in the world?

“I definitely see many great changes happening.

New technologies, new means of communication, freedom of expression and freedom of movement can help a Europe that has become too conservative. Especially in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary, where society used to be very homogenous, people now must adapt to the growing population of immigrants, not only refugees but foreigners coming to work and live, and this trend is irreversible. This being said, I strongly agree that the refugee problem should be solved in a much better, organized way. During the last few years, Europe has turned a blind eye to the refugee problem, which I consider to be one of the most important challenges we face. I do not perceive it as a religious conflict, but as a conflict between conservative forces who like to keep their advantages on one side, and supporters of progress who want to adapt to life today. Europe truly needs to change. There is no place for racism, and many cities (especially in the US) can serve as an example that different people can live together and prosper together in multicultural societies.”

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If we discuss this conflict between conservatives and modernists with regards to Prague development, then two opposing views emerge: Those who want to preserve Prague as a medieval town ghetto, and those who want to build a modern city with a skyline of skyscrapers. How can these two opposing views be reconciled?

“But preserving the city does not necessarily mean being conservative and against develop-

Serge Borenstein and guests of the rebirth of Park Hotel 2015

ment. It is true that the inner city of Prague is quite unique and should be preserved exactly as it is. There are enough places to develop around the center of Prague. Just take examples from cities like Shanghai or Beijing that protected the old part of the city and built new parts far from the center. In this case I cannot give examples from the US, as cities in the US do not have these old parts due to their rather recent history. However, protecting old monuments should not become a mantra against the development of a city.”

What is a model city that Prague should follow with regards to urban development?

“Well, I start with enlarging the perspective, as modern city development is not only about architecture. It is also about public transportation and circulation. And with regards to public transport, Czechs are still very much advanced. I am always amazed by the efficiency of Prague public transport which consists of the metro, trams and buses. Prague transportation is very efficient when compared to other cities. Besides Prague, my favorite city is London. I think London presents an interesting mix of conservative approach and modernity. You can find the most modern buildings neighboring old monasteries and museums and it works very well. Britons have done a marvelous job with regards to planning. One more thing that is worth noticing is the small details in the forms of ornaments or symbols that new buildings share with the neighboring monuments, so as to create a fit that feels very natural. Brits are extremely clever in handling these details, and that is why a totally modern building close to an old church does not look shocking but a quite natural fit. ” Your nickname is Mr. Karlín. Are there any other particular locations that you wish your name to be associated with nowadays, apart from your current projects in Prague 2 or Prague 4 Modřany?

“It is interesting because I never wished to have this nickname, but it came and I accepted it.

With regards to other areas of Prague, I feel very comfortable both driving and walking in Prague 7, and that is the area that I would like to help develop, as I continue working in the above mentioned parts of Prague.”

You mentioned that Karlín prices should be closer to the price range in Prague 1, given its prestige and central location. This statement did not bring you many supporters, because Czech people are quite price sensitive. Aren’t you afraid that the partnerships and community would disappear, and Karlín would become a ghost town like the centre of Prague?

“I really feel that Karlín is unique and I stick to the statement regarding its rising value. There are not many places like this in Prague where people can come to live, work and enjoy culture. Besides many cafés, restaurants and galleries, Karlín has a modern large theatre with seating occupancy for 2500 people and a modern concert hall.

When you compare this to Prague 1, the office buildings in Prague 1 are not efficient. They do not have parking spaces, they are not easily accessible from the street. In Karlín, the fact that office buildings border residence buildings makes access much easier. When I started, I was told that I cannot mix office and residential. I wanted to prove that this diversity would work.”

Your aim is to improve the image of developers, and you even co-founded an association of developers that brought together your competitors, not only to improve their image but also the communication with authorities.

“I agree with you that the image of developers is bad in Czech Republic. But why is the image of developers so bad? It is because the communication is almost non-existent between the developers and authorities. Development in the city cannot be done without them. In reality, when one half of construction contracts come from the state, the situation is detrimental. The developer is perceived as an enemy.

I do not feel welcome when I enter the office and talk to the authorities, and feel I always have to fight hard to push things forward, when I would much rather negotiate. The situation went too far when Mr. Stropnický declared that Prague does not need developers at all. If you consider that this is the person responsible for the development, then you see this is an aberration. The fact that I have developed more than

400, 000 sq meters in Karlín, and none of the openings were visited by representatives from the city, speaks for itself.”

What is your message to foreigners living in the Czech Republic?

Make an effort to understand the Czech mentality, the Czechs are not so expressive and warm hearted at first sight, as for example Italians, but gradually you can develop relationships that are very deep and long-lasting.

What is your message to Czechs?

I believe that Czechs should stand up for themselves more. Sometimes they should not accept the situation as it is, and fight for better solutions, especially in politics. You have a wonderful country, but you should also resist the temptation to become too nationalistic. It always surprised me how many Czech people were successful abroad in experts positions as architects, lawyers, doctors, artists. This trend can continue only if you continue to be open to the rest of the world, which brings our discussion from the beginning to full circle.”

Did you know that the population density in Prague per square km is 2,534 people, in comparison to 4,132 in Vienna, 6,015 in Copenhagen and 16,096 inhabitants in Barcelona? Prague is one of the most “sparsely” inhabited cities, which causes problems not only with expensive infrastructure maintenance but also with regards to sustaining small shops and businesses in areas further from the center. The “urban sprawl” problem is common to many cities, and the remedy is to bring the development back to centers of cities, using brownfields in forms of former train stations or factories.

By Linda Štucbartová české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

C zech L eaders III/2015

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In

E vents

cooperation with

C zech L eaders

From left: Jiří Trnava, Spokesperson, Institute of Health Information, Petra Lstiburková, Manager, Medical Clinic and Tomáš Forejt, Finance Consultant, Geus

From left: Hela Shabeeb, Sales Manager, Le Palais Art Hotel Prague, Beata Haškovcova, Office Design and Project Manager, Kinnarps, Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY AfterWork Networking, Jana Ranieri, Real Estate Broker, Century 21, Zlatuše Josefa Muller, carneval opera PR, marketing, sale, communication, Kateřina Lesslerova, Photographer, Katerina Images Art and Commercial Photography, Yelena Lukicheva, Sales & Marketing Manager, Le Palais Art Hotel, and Marie Kozakova, Luxury Brand Management

IMPRESSIONS FROM EVENTS AUGUST– – OCTOBER 2015

FRYDAY

From left: Patrick Julian McKittrick, Managing Partner, Associates International and Nigel Young Mipa, Owner, Realestate

From left: Luna Novotná, freelance Editor and Lecturer, Luc De Ceuster, Professor, AAU, and Nathalie Saunier, CFO, Siemens

From left: Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of Magazine, PR Manager, Roman Hrůza Agency, Henri Mathieu, Team Leader, GIC and Jana Ranieri, Real Estate Broker, Century 21

From left: Jacky Damwani, Personal Taylor, Suite me, Nicole Pavlov, Sales Director, WoodPAV s.r.o., and Craig McBridy, Account Manager, Siemens

From left: Jiří Trnava, Spokesperson, Institute of Health Information, Petra Lstiburková, Manager, Medical Clinic and Tomáš Forejt, Finance Consultant, Geus

From left: Marco Pannunzio, General Manager, Total Czech Republic, Slovak Republik and Hungary

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From left: Viktoriya Kudrya, Publisher, Editor, Status Magazine and Nicole Pavlov, Sales Director, WoodPAV s.r.o.

From left: Kristina Farris, Marketing Consultancy, Freelancer And Gabriela Novakova, Property Manager, Palac Melantrich at SB PROPERTY SERVICES, a.s.

E vents

From left: Oleg Dupal, Senior Customer Developer, Lufthansa Cargo Prague, DHL, Nicole Pavlov, Sales Director, WoodPAV s.r.o., Kamila Maláčová, Chief Doctor , Senior Consultant , Medicentrum Praha a.s. , Lázně Praha a.s., Thierry Canner, Owner, Resco, and Ivanka Pondělíková, Acoountant, Vorlíčková partners

From left: Maik Rothhaar, General Store Manager, VAN GRAAF Prague, Romana Luitjens Wetwipes, Director, and Eric Paul, Department Manager Flagship-Store Prague, VAN GRAAF

From left: Tania Perahannu, CEO Beauty Style Club, Wellstar company, Hector Castillo, Counselor, Embassy of Venezuela, and Kamila Maláčová, Chief Doctor, Senior Consultant, Medicentrum Praha a.s. , Lázně Praha a.s.

From left: Alevtina Kavtreva, Executive Director, “Sychyov & K” LTD with her daughter and Alena Huberová, Marketing and Communications Strategist, Trainer and Speaker

From left: Ladislava Kvasnicová, Manager, Agročas spol. s r.o. and Jolana Sittinger, Partner, Czech real estate agency

From left: Nicole Pavlov, Sales Director, WoodPAV s.r.o. and Jana Ranieri, Real Estate Broker, Century 21

From left: Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY AfterWork Networking, Ladislava Kvasnicová, Manager, Agročas spol. s r.o., Nicole Pavlov, Sales Director, WoodPAV s.r.o., Jolana Sittinger, Partner, Czech real estate agency, Mrs. Zdeňka Vávrová, and Ivana Vávrová, Owner, School Agent

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I nternational C onference

THE IIASA CONFERENCE

Europa at Prague Castle: Europe Current Evolution

Václav Musílek, Polytical Analyst

From left: Petr Aven, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Alfa Banking Group, Štefan Füle, former EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy, and Jan Koukal, former Ambassador of the CR to Austria

From left: Jan Koukal, former Ambassador of the CR to Austria and H.E. Manuela Franco, Ambassador of Portugal

From left: Tomáš Haas, former Advisor to the President of the CR and Karel Dyba, former Ambassador to OECD

From left: Jiří Weigl, Director, Institute of Václav Klaus and Peter Havlik, WIIW

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From left: Pavel Kabát, Director General, IIASA and Štefan Füle, former EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy

Karel Aim, Member of Presidium, CAS

Gloria Benedikt, Dancer, Choreographer, Writer & Speaker of Arts and Cultural Policy

Petr Aven, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Alfa Banking Group

Karel Dyba, former Ambassador to OECD

Andrey Slepnev, Minister of Trade, Euroasian Economic Commision Michael Kroh, Department of Politology and Social Sciences, VŠMVM Praha

Panel 2

Stefan Füle, former EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy

Pavel Kabát, Director General, IIASA

From left: Peter Havlik, Research Economist, Viena Institute for International Economic Studies (WIIW), Andrey Slepnev, Minister of Trade, Euroasian Economic Commision, and Pavel Kabát, Director General, IIASA

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I nternational C onference

THE IIASA CONFERENCE AT PRAGUE CASTLE: EUROPE CURRENT EVOLUTION The abbreviation IIASA refers to one of the most important institutions in Europe, one that owes its existence to the complicated and conflicting political atmosphere of the past 70 years. The creation of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis dates back to the signing of the Charter of the Foundation in London, in 1972. The main protagonists were the USA and the USSR, followed by the 10 states of the so-called Eastern and the Western blocs. It was the culmination of the initiative of US President Lyndon B. Johnson and Soviet Prime Minister Alexei Kosigin, to create a communication bridge during the Cold War period.

Negotiations for establishing IIASA lasted almost six years, and started in the middle of the Cold War, during a speech by President L.B. Johnson. He was the first to express the idea of cooperation between scientists from both the USA and the USSR, focusing on global problems such as energy, the environment, oceanic issues, and the development of human populations.

During its existence, IIASA has developed into a real academic institution of excellence. Unfortunately, the present world is no less conflicted than it was during the cold war. The arguments that led to the creation of IIASA then are still ongoing today.

The conference held in Prague on June 24, 2015 had an ambitious title: Europe’s Current Evolution.

The focus was highly opportune: the economic situation in the EU and Eurozone, the current status of the EU’s growth, the positions of heavily indebted countries, the migration and immigration of populations, the effect of economic sanctions, and the Pan European concept. The intrinsic scientific program of IIASA covers these questions over a long term, so that the focus was not a simple reflection of the current situation.

Developments in Europe over the last twenty years have given us countless documents, and have caused us to generalize certain trends and dependencies. For example, we may mention the transformation of the Soviet economy through Gorbachov’s perestroika, or Gaidar’s shock therapy, all the way up to Putin’s economic policies today.

Considering all of this, we can more broadly perceive the effect of the sanctions imposed on Russia. Along with this we saw transformations develop in the former “Eastern European”countries. The integration of these de facto new countries with their particular know-how into the international institutions is still not fully perceived evolution particulary in EU. Confrontations with Western democracies often generate tensions, but also give the opportunity to gain experience, and in some sense to anticipate forthcoming developments in the new European dynamics. In addition, it also brings into question the notion of “well-established”.

The keynote address was given by Peter Aven. This well-known economist worked at IIASA while he was the Russian Minister for Foreign Investment from 1991-1992, and he also represented Russia at the G7. He now belongs to the top leadership of Russia’s largest commercial bank, Alfa-Bank.

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Facto-graphical economics were represented by former director of the Vienna Institute WIIW (Wiener Institute für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche) Peter Havlik. His lecture was devoted to statistical studies of the development of the Eurasian space, and possible challenges of the main players in the global economy. Contemporary trends, together with the systematics and methodology of economic forecasting, were presented by the former Czech Ambassador to the OECD, Karel Dyba. One of the goals of the conference was to gain broader insight into current economic developments. Naturally, attention was given to the situation in Greece, as well as other countries. It appears that many of the criteria necessary to maintain the common European currency, in terms of economic results, be difficult to achieve.

We see various alliances of states that are willing to play an important role in the current global order.

It is frequently mentioned that the BRICS countries (Brasil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) met just two weeks after the Prague conference, for their 7th BRICS summit in Ufa, and that there is significant development taking place within the Asian space.

Andrei Slepnev gave an extremely interesting lecture on the complexity of our relations with the Russian Federation, due to the current imposed sanctions. Today Mr. Slepnev is the Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, which is the supreme body of the Eurasian Economic Union. He previously worked for the government of the Russian Federation, as the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, and later Deputy Minister of the Economy.

The focus of the Prague conference was not only the economy. The question of labor mobility as one of the original pillars of the EU has, due to the current situation, moved to a general theme associated with migration, now involving not only the EU itself, but also Ukraine and the Middle East.

Jan Koukal opened up about issues on global perspectives, and various aspects of the EU’s enlargement strategy, in the context of EU initiatives, as well as in the Mediterranean and Middle East. His discussion was partly aimed at defining a so-called geographical space for political communication.

A fundamental contribution to this debate was presented by Yevgeny Vinokurov, director of the Centre for Integration Studies of the Eurasian Development Bank. From his publishing activities we should point to the monography “A Theory of Enclaves”. His analytic view to the complicated reality of coexistence of various ethnic enclaves, or otherwise defined groups of the population, in states with different dominant characteristics, was extremely challenging. Of course the emphasis was on the Eurasian space, and developments related to the former Soviet empire. Former European Commissioner Štefan Füle presented a view from the European administration on the EU’s agenda for enlargement.

Among other issues, he gave in his introductory lecture a short but rich recounting of events during

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the history of the EU’s enlargement. Of course, a significant proportion of the panel was devoted to the Arab Spring and its consequences.

How did it become tradition for a conference organized by the think-tank IIASA to hold lectures on topics other than scientific or political perspectives and analyses? In Prague, Ms. Gloria Benedict successfully took the floor. Undoubtedly, it is a shame to neglect her career as a ballet dancer and choreographer. The main goal was to open the theme “How can artists contribute to solving the main challenges we face?”. Her message from the Prague conference could be summarized in one sentence: Science brings knowledge, art helps spread the word.

The second panel was moderated by Professor Pavel Kabát, the Director of IIASA. It is not easy to briefly summarize all important statement from the panel discussion.

The issue of energy resources and climate were discussed in the context of global development

by Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic. Trends in global population and demographic structure, in the context of the current immigration crisis, were deeply analyzed by Professor Wolfgang Lutz, the Director of the Word Population Program. Dr. Jiri Weigl, the Director of IVK, and Dr. Peter Balás, Deputy Director General of DG Trade and Head of the EU Support Group for Ukraine (SGUA) at the European Commission, both discussed from various perspective the historical context and possible future scenarios in the Eurasian space.

In summary, the lectures and contributions from panel discussions came to a clear conclusion: that the scenarios and future strategies attempting to bring answers to today’s Europe must be explored, not only within the borders of the EU, but in relation to the Eurasian space, in all evolutionary aspects.

Due to friendly working atmosphere, inspiring genius loci and good cooperation of Prague Castle IIASA and participants expressed the will to come back next year.

By Jan Koukal (IIASA) Program and Organizing Committee, Prague Conference for Europe Current Evolution

sustainable development

CURRENT CRISIS, FUTURE CATASTROPHE DO WE HAVE ENOUGH IMMIGRANTS?

Heartbreaking images of a dead three year-old Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach have become a powerful symbol of what is being described as Europe’s “migrant crisis.”

But poor little Aylan Kurdi could have been part of the solution to our continent’s problems, had he been able to reach it. Surely the true crisis is that not enough Europeans, especially some of our politicians, understand this. It is a sustainability issue.

Our rapidly ageing populations are threatening the viability of our economies. According to official statistics, the current proportion of this country’s retirees represents around 15 percent of the Czech population, which will increase to nearly 30 percent by 2030.

European Commission figures show the dependency ratio of over-65s to the economically active 15-64 age group will increase to 50 percent, from 28 percent by 2060.

This means there will be just two potential workers per retiree, down from almost four.

The fact is that aging of our population shaves 0.2 percent a year off European economic growth. It hasn’t become a full-blown crisis yet; but it will when pension systems grow unsustainable, long after our current political leaders have retired.

Populist political rhetoric about the need to protect our borders overshadows a stark reality.

Economists know that to maintain the current ratio of senior citizens to the general population, A former director of Greenpeace International, Jonathan Wootliff lives in Prague and works throughout the world as a sustainability consultant to business.

He chairs the Board of Experts of the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development. He has consulted many large corporations including BP, ColgatePalmolive, 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. He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com

In

cooperation with

Europe needs its younger population to increase by nearly 300 million above than the current rate in the coming decades.

There’s no way to organically increase Europe’s population at the rate needed to achieve economic growth forecasts. Our leaders can’t force people to make more babies. Therefore increased immigration is Europe’s is the clear solution to our approaching fiscal disaster.

From a sustainability perspective, Europe needed Aylan, just as it does all of these migrants who are desperately seeking security in Europe.

Almost all are young, who if integrated will contribute significantly to the future of our economy, not least of which will help to pay and care for the continent’s future retirees.

And for those who say that immigrants represent a drain on our society, EU statistics demonstrate that there is no higher unemployment among those from ethnic minorities compared to those born locally, nor do they put more strain on welfare budgets.

Surely people who have the motivation to risk their lives travelling thousands of miles, with little money and small children in their arms, are going to grab every chance they are given to improve their lives.

Sadly, it seems that anti-immigrant sentiment is especially high in Europe’s former communist countries. At the same time, it is these nations that are facing the gravest danger from aging.

Slovakia’s ratio of senior citizens to the general population, for example, is now just 13.9 percent, one of the lowest in the EU; that’s projected to rise to 31 percent by 2050. Hungary’s social system will also struggle to cope, as the proportion of retirees in the population rises from 17.9 percent to 27.5 percent.

It’s in these countries, which have seen very limited immigration until now, where irrational xenophobia helps irresponsible politicians to win popularity points. But the children of today’s voters are likely to face higher taxation and decreased pension benefits if such politics succeeds in keep immigrants out.

The Visegrád Group comprising the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia have been among the most vocal opponents of plans to relocate refugees across the European Union.

Arguably, such refusal to accommodate these migrants, who are often well-educated, ignores economic logic. A recent survey by Manpower Group, a consultancy, found that nearly one in five companies in the Czech Republic have problems to fill vacancies, and that the challenge has been steadily growing in recent years.

IT firms seem to be struggling the most. The brightest are lured to Western Europe or America by higher salaries. Poland may be thriving, but in 2014 it needed 50,000 more IT workers than it could find.

C zech L eaders

So far, skill shortages have not stopped national economies from growing. Poland and Hungary will expand by around 2.8-3.3 percent this year.

But they could do much better. GDP per person in 2014 in the “Visegrád Four” was less than 68 percent of the EU average.

Central and eastern countries are failing to reach their considerable potential. Slovakia produces nearly one million cars per year, the most per capita in the world. In August, Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to open its first continental European plant near the city of Nitra, costing €1.4 billion by 2018. Local suppliers should be among the main beneficiaries, but a survey by PwC, another consulting firm, found that nearly 80 percent already lack skilled labour.

In Hungary, which has been among the most aggressive in its efforts to reject these refugees, the crisis in the health system will soon become a catastrophe. Some 40 percent of doctors are over 60 years old, and more than 200 medical practices have no doctor at all.

While it’s unrealistic to expect refugees from far away to plug skill gaps instantly, there is ample evidence that Syrians, the single largest group of arrivals, are well-educated. Many Syrian doctors, for instance, were trained in the Soviet Union and speak fluent Russian.

It’s an irony to hear some Czech and Slovak politicians’ pronouncements on stopping these refugees from entering when an estimated million Czechoslovaks risked everything to escape across the borders in search of better lives between 1948 and 1989. Emigration for those people meant breaking family ties and being criminalised, losing their possessions and sometimes causing relatives to be persecuted by the communist authorities.

Empathetically dubbed “émigrés”, most were highly skilled who left in search of better lives, unable to bear the anti-democratic and totalitarian regimes at home. But mass emigration from our part of the world goes back to the 19th Century when huge numbers people emigrated for economic reasons. Indeed, there are an estimated two million people living in the US who proudly to call themselves Czech Americans.

Until Europe agrees on a common approach to the increased influx of immigrants, sustainablythinking countries like Germany will pick up most of the newcomers, acquiring better insurance against future problems.

Sustainable development is key to our future.

Xenophobia is not only the nemesis of these desperate migrants and the adversary of compassion, it is the enemy of Europe’s economic prospects.

By Jonathan Wootliff

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ČSÚZ In front of one of 13 interactive boards, which were given to Czech schools in Vienna within last years by the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, its three members gathered (from right): Komenský School Association chairman Ing. Karel Hanzl, regional counsel president of South-Moravian region and the chairman of the Region Association of the Czech Republic JUDr. Michal Hašek and Czechoslovak Foreign Institute chairman Jaromír Šlápota.

SUMMER

in the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute

Harvest parade in Daruvar followed by (from left) Croatian deputy Vladimír Bílek, Czech deputy Jaroslav Klaška, the regional counsel president of South-Moravian region JUDr. Michal Hašek, deputy of Czech Ambassador Miroslav Kolatek, mayor of Daruvar Dalibor Rohlík, his deputy Veronika Pilátová, chairman of Association of the Czechs in Croatia Libuše Stráníková, member of the managing board of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Hana Hlaváčková, chairman Jaromír Šlápota and member of inspection committee of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute JUDr. Josef Povejšil.

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ČSÚZ Czech schools in Vienna, established and managed by the Komenský School Association, received another generous gift from the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute just before summer vacation – three interactive boards and two interactive carpets – magic boxes. The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute as a long-time partner of the Komenský School Association in Vienna gave already 13 interactive boards and 4 magic boxes altogether to Czech schools there. A magic box is an ideal tool for pedagogues for developing computer competency in the nursery schools, it supports mathematic imagination, logic thinking, attention, speed, development of speech – pronunciation, gentle motoric, etc.

Thanks to that aid, children look forward to class, they are interested at work and they desire to self-educate themselves, attend elementary school in future. Modern aids were in Czech schools in Vienna installed shortly before the visit by the regional counsel president of South-Moravian region and the chairman of the Region Association of the Czech Republic JUDr. Michal Hašek who came to present financial gift of one million Czech crowns for Czech schools to the Komenský School Association represented by its chairman Ing. Karel Hanzl.

Further four interactive boards and two magic boxes were given by the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute to children in Czech schools in Croatian Daruvar and Končenice several days before celebration of the 90th anniversary of the first harvest there. The ceremony was attended by the members of the Association of Czechs in the Republic Croatia and Czech clubs as well as by diplomats, deputies of Czech and Croatian Parliament, district governor of Bjelovarsko-Bilogorský district Damir Bajs and the regional counsel president of South-Moravian region and the chairman of the Region Association of the Czech Republic JUDr. Michal Hašek, mayor of Prague 15 Milan Wenzl, mayor of Daruvar Dalibor Rohlík and the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute delegation led by its chairman Jaromír Šlápota.

The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute has been co-operating also with Chinese organizations during the summer months, among others with the Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU). Fourteen-member delegation of that association has visited the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, headed by the vice-chairman of the Permanent Mission of National People Congress, chairman of the Federal Committee of Chinese Association

The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute vice-chairman and senator Ivo Valenta arranged and opened performance of folklor dancing groups and cymbal music in June in Valdštejnská garden.

From left: Ing. Jiří Uklein, PhD., head of Senate Office, Jiří Vosecký, Senator, H. E. Mrs. Ma Keqing, Ambassador of the People´s Republic of China, Ivo Valenta, Vice-chairman, Czechoslovak Foreign Institute and Senator, Jaromír Šlápota, Chairman, Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, and Miss Tereza Šlápotová at the ceremony, Valdštejnská garden.

for Support of Democracy and president of CAFIU Mrs. Yan Junqi. CAFIU was established thirty years ago and nowadays it is looking for other partners to co-operate that should contribute to international relations with China so that all partner countries could benefit from it. Chinese delegation considers its stay in Prague and negotiations in the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute an important part of the programme of opening relations for co-operation with civic associations in different countries and creating atmosphere of understanding. Recent relations with the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute are, as stated by the chairman of CAFIU and the Chinese ambassador in Prague H.E. Ma Keqing, a good base for developing friendly relations between China and the Czech Republic. The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute has co-operated with the Chinese Embassy in Prague since 1992 and at the beginning of the century it has opened relations with the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries in Shanghai with which the official agreement on friendly co-operation was signed in 2000.

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L eadership

DO WE NEED

with

I n cooperation C zech L eaders

PASSIONATE LEADERSHIP? Some time ago I had a presentation to members of one communications institution in London on our team’s success related to the acquisition communication for which we have recently won ‘The Best Financial and Corporate In-house Team’ and ‘The Communications Department of the Year’ awards in the UK and Canada, respectively. The discussion which followed the presentation turned to personalities of Chief Executive Officers and whether they need to be passionate about the business to be able to drive the business forward and succeed. Later on, the conversation swiftly moved onto passion and its role in any business success. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the opinions that arose during this, occasionally passionate, conversation.

Some participants expressed that passion is key to success for all sorts of reasons. For example, passion fuels confidence – passionate people lead the way, not just show the way. People who are confident are great leaders and earn respect as well as confidence of others.

Passion also leads to excitement that can be shared. The CEO of my company often shows his great passion about the business and its prospects. The excitement he creates subsequently fosters an organised value, a sense of a common purpose, and enthusiasm in his teams and in the entire business. Passion can be very contagious and a passionate person generates different company dynamics, maximising the energy of the teams and employees. I also believe that in business passion inspires trust in the company future and success; at the same time, it can be a conduit to the motivating work environment – provided it’s genuine. Passionate people engage their Tereza 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 nine years she has been working and living in London, UK; currently, she is Head of Global Communications for Amec Foster Wheeler plc, a large international engineering consultancy. Tereza also works as a freelance consultant in the area of communications and PR. In 2015, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the Czech British Chamber of Commerce in the UK. She speaks Czech, English, Spanish and Russian and can be reached on terezaurbankova@yahoo. com or through her LinkedIn profile.

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employees to go faster, work harder and improve their results. They don’t push or drive people, they inspire; they cause people to dig deep, give their best effort and ultimately go the extra mile.

In fact, one could even say that the best leaders are or were those who leave their footprints in their areas of passion. Looking at some of the megabrands around, we can easily identify passionate leaders who have inspired their employees in amazing ways, such as Steve Jobs (Apple) and Larry Page (Google).

But if passion matters, why does it matter?

The discourse revealed the opinion that in the today’s challenging economic climate organisations need passionate leadership more than ever before. In addition to what has been said, according to some research, passionate leadership is linked to more ethical and fairer organisational climate as when a leader is passionate, people feel a deep sense of being led in a meaningful and worthy direction by someone who is dedicated to something more important than his or her own individual glory.

On the other hand, some discussion participants were saying passion is not sufficient for creating and maintaining sustainable success. You need more than that. You need expertise to deliver value, for example. Establishing an area of expertise, amassing and leveraging knowledge, skills and experience to attract clients is crucial to distinguish a business from your peers.

Without all that, it is impossible to deliver value, so passion cannot substitute competence.

And what happens when times get tough? To maintain passion is great; however, resilience is the answer. Without it, it is hard to survive in an unpredictable and uncontrollable market which may affect a business. What can be controlled, however, are responses to the challenges. Only those who recognise that change is inevitable and adapt to the new reality will successfully navigate the hardship – and after the crisis is over, they will emerge from it stronger and more capable. In those tough times, you may also need creativity and innovation to make the most of limited resources, so being resourceful with a strategic focus is critical too.

In addition, as the discussion uncovered, it is necessary to feel the urgency, the internal push, to take your business to the next level. John P. Kotter, regarded by many as the authority on leadership and change noted that, “With an attitude of true urgency, you try to accomplish something important every day.” So again, having a passion without a true sense of urgency might result in preventing you from taking the vital action needed to advance your goals.

There are pros and cons but in general ‘passionate leadership’ seems to be something

P hoto : A rchive

that can be beneficial to many companies. In the book ‘The Virgin Way: Everything I Know about Leadership’, entrepreneur Richard Branson describes his experience in building the Virgin Group, focusing on aspects such as fun, creativity and the lost art of listening. However, he also talks about the fact that one cannot train someone to be passionate – it’s either in their DNA or not. But that is a different subject that could open up another long polemic.

Despite differences in our opinions we arrived at some conclusions. Of course, one needs an arsenal of fundamental skills and proper planning to succeed in business. But imagine someone with a top-notch education. This person has all the right strengths to excel, the knowledge and the experience. Now, imagine that this person, though perhaps equipped to handle the job, has no interest and is disengaged – their heart is not in it. What will the result be?

Passion makes a world of difference. It’s the passionate people who take the biggest risks, step up the plate and help make the biggest leaps forward within teams and companies.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer and lecturer: “Passion is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your own personality.

Be active, be energetic and faithful, and you will accomplish your object. Nothing great was ever achieved without passion.”

So, do you demonstrate passionate leadership?

And are you passionate about what you do?

By Tereza Urbánková

české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

M edia P ower

Want to Stay a Leader?

Cultivate Partnership In their book Leadership 2030 Georg Vielmetter and Yvonne Sell, two top consultants of the global management advisory Hay Group, point at six megatrends that will change our businesses and lives forever during the next 15 years.

One of these mega-trends is called technological convergence. It means that, if we want to succeed in the future and stay the best at what we do, we need to move forward hand in hand with a surprising partner: our competitors.

Georg Vielmetter and Yvonne Sell basically state that, if we want to see major innovations in the future, we can expect them to emerge more likely from surprising combinations of existing technologies rather than new, revolutionary discoveries. A good example of this trend is the Slovak AeroMobil, a company focused on building vehicles that combine the driving capabilities of traditional cars and the flight advantages of light planes. How amazing will it be when we are all able to afford our own AeroMobil? Sci-fi for the moment, real possibility in a few years.

Another example of creative collaboration is the project Let’s Cast Together Firm Roots of the company TÜV SÜD Czech, which, in the framework of the 2015 International Engineering Fair in Brno, brought together 33 major companies around the shared idea that quality needs to be the bottom line of all economic thinking of Czech companies that want to prosper long-term. The project, already at its third edition, has seen an increasing number of companies joining each year, sharing 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 Praguebased premium PR advisory and training agency. Her clients are top managers with Top100 companies in the Czech Republic and CEE, diplomats and public officials who aim to make their voice heard in their communities. In June 2011 Cristina was elected to lead the Czech PR Klub for a one-year term. In December 2014 she was elected chairwoman of the Marketing Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Prague for a twoyear term. Cristina speaks Romanian, French, English and Czech and can be reached at cm@mediaed.cz.

In

cooperation with

their stories and ways to make quality the core value of their business behavior.

Of course, this mega-trend has its flipside, too: for example, to what extent is it healthy to share strategic company data with your partners?

Where are the borders in such partnerships?

These are questions that, most probably, only time can answer. For the moment, it is important to notice that like-minded partners come more and more together in order to combine resources and ideas into something innovative and beneficial for everyone involved.

Collaboration can uplift your business It is pretty clear already that collaboration with various stakeholders, including your suppliers or competitors, can take you higher than you could climb on your own. Through a conscious choice of strategic partnerships you can innovate, learn and grow. But you can also share what you’ve learned so far with the world. By respecting your business partners and making partnership a top value of your enterprise, you can contribute to cultivating the entire market upon which you operate. So what can you, in your leadership position, do to cultivate partnership?

A. Pay your suppliers on time. In order to benefit from a rich and diverse economic ecosystem, you need to respect and support those who depend on you. If you want your suppliers to come up with new, creative ideas, you need to give them a partner on which they feel they can rely in safety and trust. Paying your dues in time is one of the easiest, most basic things to do when you decide to go for a real partnership with your suppliers.

B. Share your values. Communicate your values as much as you can, through as many various channels as you possibly can. This will send a strong message to the market and will provide you with a beneficial natural selection of your employees, customers and business partners. At the end of the day you will remain only with those stakeholders who understand and respect your values, which will eliminate a lot of conflict and make your life so much easier.

C. Give before you receive: educate. Don’t hesitate to put together high value-added seminars for your customers and partners, sharing your know-how and your business experience. Your experience can and will uplift the others, and your generous approach will inspire them to do the same.

If you want to change something in the

C zech L eaders

way your business is rolling, give before you receive. It will return to you in a million various ways that will take you to peaks you didn’t even know existed.

D. Keep an open mind: constantly look for synergies with your partners. A partner is someone who joins you on your path and looks for new ways of enjoying it together. Look for new synergies, ask for new possibilities. Don’t hesitate to be demanding: this will take your partners out of their comfort zone and challenge them to ask for more from themselves and for you.

All in all, you are a part of a living economic ecosystem. The paradigm of the future seems to be cooperation, powerfully driven by technological convergence, as mentioned at the beginning in Leadership 2030. It’s time to shake down the uncertainties and fears that scarred our businesses during the economic crisis and look for new ways to do business and live our talk. Cultivating partnerships is the way to move forward.

Disclaimer: Cristina Muntean is the media advisor of companies Hay Group and TÜV SÜD Czech, both mentioned in this article.

By Cristina Muntean české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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If we want to compete with bigger world, we have no other alternative than to create a stronger Europe and integrate more economically.

Aldo Amati is wellexperienced diplomat.

His recent journey in the Czech Republic started last October.

“Italy and the Czech Republic are like two beautiful women that like each other because they know that together they can enchant anybody around them,” says the Ambassador to Czech Leaders.

P hoto : A rchive

Dear Mr Ambassador, the embassy has been working in Prague since 1924. What are the main areas of common interest between our countries?

We both belong to the European Union, we share the same values and we share the common goal of transforming our continent in a powerful actor on the global scene. We have cooperated for decades comprehensively in every field but these days I am concentrated on upgrading the political and economic relationship. Through the Czech presidency of Visegrád 4 we will establish a new partnership that will be sealed by the visit in Prague of our Foreign Minister, Mr Gentiloni in November.

The bilateral trade has been surging in the last year, our Minister for the Economic Development and Industry Mrs Guidi should be coming to Prague in the middle of October to discuss with her Czech counterparts new priority areas of collaboration.

Is there any historical footprint in the Czech Republic? And why?

The presence of Italians in this country dates back several centuries ago. I like to remember the

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influence of famous architects such as Lurago and Santini (but there are others less known) who left traces of their valuable work in many churches and aristocratic residences during the 17th and 18th centuries. The Italian influence is not limited to architects but encompasses musicians, artists, and merchants all drawn here by the beauty of this place and by wise Czech rulers. Later for a long time northern Italy was under the domination and influence of the Habsburg Empire. It’s a mark that can be recognized in numerous regions such as Trentino, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Lombardy. We established our diplomatic relations with Czechoslovakia shortly after the birth of the country and from then on an uninterrupted flow of political, diplomatic and cultural links followed up to our times.

Why did you choose Olomouc as a first official stop? What about other cities and realities of the Czech Republic?

Since my arrival here in Prague in October last year, I have visited quite a few places in your beautiful country, Olomouc, Brno, Karlovy Vary, Plzeň,

Mariánské Lázně, Kutná Hora. In the next three weeks, I will be in Ostrava and Hradec Králové.

There is no question that the Italian presence outside Prague must be developed more and more particularly to draw new small and medium size Italian companies that could stand by others bigger already present with (Iveco, Nová Mosilana, Mapei, Brembo and others) production centers all over the territory of the Czech Republic.

What about tourism?

We also need to bring more Italian tourists outside Prague where they come so numerous, 360 thousands yearly.

Czech Republic is your fifth international stop. What is specific here in the Czech Republic?

Italy and the Czech Republic are like two beautiful women that like each other because they know that together they can enchant anybody around them. They can count on innumerable cultural beauties and they have the same sensitivity, therefore there

An

interview with

is no jealousy, no real competition but the willingness to work together for common goals. The German, Jewish and Slavic historical components of Prague and the Bohemian and Moravian influences make this country very special and intriguing to me.

You have been to Prague almost a year.

This is your first mission as Ambassador.

Do you feel the “new” responsibility for the Embassy?

Leading an Embassy is always a challenge but I have been chasing this chance for a while and it is about time to do something good as an Ambassador for my Country. I discovered that I must be a manager of the many properties that we have here in Prague – some of them are not in good shape and require time and effort – and the same time attend to the many tasks related to developing the bilateral relations in every way. Strong responsibility goes together with the awareness that I am really privileged to be in Prague and to live in your beautiful country.

How exactly do you support cultural and scientific cooperation?

Our cultural policy is carried out by both the Embassy and, to a greater extent, the Italian Cultural Institute, which has been established in Prague in the Twenties of last Century. Its task is to develop cultural relations with all possible Czech and foreign partners. Among them are some of the public cultural institutions and the most prestigious and dynamic festivals of your country.

Where we can find the institute?

Our Cultural Institute is located in a baroque architectural complex in Malá Strana, a building of great historical interest, which has hosted for centuries the seat of the Italian congregation in Prague and which is the best evidence of the presence and influence of the Italians in Bohemia and in this part of Central Europe.

In the scientific field are active bilateral agreements for the exchange of researchers and the development of joint projects.

Nevertheless it is my belief that we have to expand cooperation in this area.

What about language teaching?

We have a good level of cooperation in the field of language teaching. The Italian language is taught in some high schools and in many universities in Czech Republic. In the framework of bilateral cultural co-operation we have a presence of professors and teachers of Italian language and literature for example at Gymnasium Ústavní, at Karlova University and in other universities of the country.

Are Czech people good at Italian language?

They are certainly better than Italians with Czech language. In Prague I meet many Czechs that speak a decent Italian so I decided to study intensively your language not only because it

H.E. A ldo A mati , I talian A mbassador

will help me enter more the Czech society but also because I am thinking to come and reside in Prague after the end of my career.

Back to the Universities, you recently signed a Memorandum of Cooperation with Charles University. What is the aim?

Since I arrived in the Czech Republic, I found out that the Charles University was interested in expanding the contacts with prominent members of civil society in Italy and we decided to quicken the pace to bring here professors, journalists, analysts and experts of Italian society. The idea is to give an updated idea of Italy to the students of Charles University getting rid of stereotypes and increasing the awareness of a common destiny in Europe. Italy is not just food and fashion but also innovation, filmmakers like Sorrentino – he won the Oscar Prize a couple of years ago – bio-technology centers and son on. I am really glad to have found people inside Charles University ready to write a new chapter in the book of the relations between the two countries.

How do you support Italian business in the Czech Republic? What are the main areas of cooperation? Are there any “open doors” for further business cooperation?

We facilitate any kind of direct contact between businesses involving first and foremost small and medium enterprises. Bigger Italian companies and banks like Mattoni, Brembo, Marzotto, Generali, Unicredit, Mapei and others are already well established and they represent important brands in the Czech Republic. I must concentrate on those Italian companies that see the growth of the Czech economy and many infrastructural programs as an incentive to come and invest here. Machinery, innovation and green technologies, waste management, different kind of services are at the forefront but we do not forget our tradition in fashion, food, textiles and real estate. Together with the ItaloCzech Chamber of Commerce and the help of Czech institutions like Czech Invest, the Czech Chamber of Commerce and different Ministries we expect to open “new doors” in tourism, biotechnology, infrastructural programs, defense cooperation, hospital services. I do believe that Czech people like Italian products and there is still a good deal of Italian lifestyle to be introduced in this country.

How often do you organize events for businessmen?

Periodically – together with the Italo-Czech Chamber of Commerce – we organize workshop and B2B so that there is immediately a direct contact between businesses leaving aside bureaucracy. For example at the end of September we will have at the Embassy a workshop on “waste management and recycling” that will bring around 15 Italian companies that will have meetings with their counterparts that we have selected with the help of Czech institutions. Then, in the middle of October our Minister of Economic Development

to the

C zech R epublic

and Industry, Mrs. Federica Guidi, will come to Prague for meetings and to open a bigger workshop where Italian building companies will explore the Czech market to see what are the chances for contracts and joint ventures.

Could you compare the actual position of the Czech Republic and Italy in the European bodies?

Both governments are profoundly convinced that our future and our wealth are in Europe. We both support the gradual entrance into the EU of countries of the western Balkans. If we want to compete with bigger players like the USA, China, India and other BRICs, we have no other alternative than to create a stronger Europe in Foreign and Security Policy and integrate more economically. Probably the pace at which the Italian government would like to proceed is faster than the one wanted here but the aim is the same. The political and security events in Ukraine and the negotiations to avoid the exit of Greece from the Eurozone, have shown the lengthy pace of the EU decision makers but both the crisis have ended up with EU unity. Now the thousands of people fleeing from conflicts in the Middle East are the real challenge. Italy is at the forefront and we appreciate any help from the Czech Republic in supporting us in Brussels.

We are facing a real emergency and need a common European policy that might tackle a problem that will haunt us all for a long time.

We understand the cautious approach from the Czech government but we have to prevent the re-nationalization of people movements in Europe and the collapse of the Schengen system.

Did you see the Czech house at Expo in Milan?

Yes, I visited Expo at the end of July and saw the Czech pavilion which is extremely interesting outside and inside. I want to acknowledge the great support of Czech authorities that were the first to support our idea of Expo and made many others follow their example. They also were the first to complete their pavilion and my government has a sincere gratitude towards all the Czech that contributed for the success of the event. Interest for Expo has surpassed any expectation and we are very happy to show Milan and Italy at their best.

Dear Mr Ambassador, who is the true leader to you?

Politically, someone who doesn’t look every day to the polls and then decides his policies. A leader is someone who takes his responsibilities also for unpopular actions that he believes will result in common good. One name comes first to my mind: Winston Churchill.

By: Jaroslav Kramer české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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E nergy C hallenge

P hoto : A rchive

If we see projections to 2050 we see some very depressing information regarding lack of natural resources and an energy challenge. It seems like we are going to be running out of most expendable resources, whether it be water, natural resources or fossil fuel based energy in the foreseeable future if we do not change our consumption mindset and patterns and move to performance indicators that are different from just GDP growth. OECD seems to be doing some work on it but our mindset is very far away from implementation. Our behaviour may be compared to that of a pigeon when it sees a cat very near. What does the pigeon do? The pigeon simply freezes, closes its eyes and tells itself: “There is no cat,“ and obviously gets eaten up in the process.

The Biggest Energy Challenge…

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E nergy C hallenge But the issue that seems to be the biggest challenge and growing is the “challenge of Human Energy” and that is where I also see the biggest opportunity. As the digital age sets in and the world around us starts to change at an ever faster pace, there is an overload of information without the corresponding possibility for selection, assimilation and self reflection. The rate of obsolescence is getting faster every day. There are very few tools available to us for slowing down and finding a balance & focusing on the real purpose of our lives and many of us see ourselves being carried away by the strong current.

That is compounded by a lot of sensational negative news brought to us by our media (I don’t blame them because this is what sells and they are bound by their quarterly profits too) and over a period of time the negative energy seems to be snowballing through the political and business leadership. We start to believe that the world we live in is actually full of more negative energy than it actually is and in the process start to create a more negative future.

Leadership is about vision but also about creating human energy and raising it to higher levels. It could be the biggest energy challenge that we will ever face. The big question is “How do we go about tapping the huge energy resource that is within us and our teams, raising this energy to new levels of possibility?“ This seemed to be a theoretical issue of world leadership in politics and business till recently when the reality actually hit home and after 24 years of record low turnover, we started to lose some good talents at Zátiší and I realized that if not tackled at the micro level, this challenge may never be tackled at the macro level. For the first time, we feel the pressure to change to not become obsolete on one hand and the loyalty of some of our long-term employees who we have not led through the change process over the years on the other.

Employees who must change to not become obsolete and meet the ever changing needs of our customers and leadership that must change to bring about the constant changes needed by the market place.

How can we as leaders, not just be visionaries but also help our team to change in a safe environment ?

What got us here from 1991 will most likely not get us to where we want to go in 2025 let alone in 2040. Change must become the constant for us in this fast changing world. How to master this change? How to create the next competition for ourselves? How to modify our business models to incorporate change before the downturn? How to keep team members happy and changing at the same time? Those are some of the challenges we are facing at Zátiší today.

I have always strongly believed in the value of company culture and a company culture of values. So we have decided to go back to our core values and our Zátiší compass for guidance with a commitment to spend the next 12-18 months intensively ensuring that each single member of our team is on a self development journey actually living the core values we have committed ourselves to.

People will always be our biggest assets.

The leadership challenge is to take the steps now that will continue to retain and attract the best talent in the business as we have done historically for years, only now ensuring that change is a mindset for that talent.

In this fast changing environment , the ability to constantly change has become the biggest competitive advantage. How do we then go about creating leaders that constantly not only change themselves but also raise and keep the energy levels high in the whole team, innovating and delivering cutting edge service at all times? How do we systematically raise business leaders that bring out the best in the team while the team constantly undergoes change to stay relevant? Team leaders with the right attitude have always served for us as a key but the battle with the

rapidly changing environment may have just begun. This obviously cannot be done without an ongoing intense process of self reflection and self change based on feedback. Once the leadership is able to let go, adopt servant leadership and constantly change, then and only then I think we will be able to lead teams creating high levels of energy...one company, one city, one country at a time, keeping all team members engaged and overcoming the challenge of keeping the energy levels high. Overcoming what could become the biggest energy challenge we will ever face. The challenge of engagement and of the energy level of human resources.

As the team changes from generation X to generation Y to generation Z, we feel the need also to embark ourselves with the whole management team, on a path of change that will enable us to always empower and energize these new teams in a safe environment. It is a process of introspection and change for us. We see a huge opportunity in potential team leaders that will create the rise in human energy levels to be able to bring about the changes necessary in ourselves through introspection and inner engineering to meet this “Human Energy Challenge“.

When I went to school, the emphasis was on acquiring knowledge but more and more I find the skill sets shifting and as education becomes a life long process, the most important skill we can teach our children is the ability to change.

The present schooling system created for the industrial age has become obsolete and inputs in the areas of ethics and morals seems to be missing from it and from our lives completely.

While technology and the digital age enhances our capabilities by leaps and bounds, the ability to constantly learn, unlearn and learn new things keeping the human energy levels high is becoming the key.

We cannot but look at the present situation as an opportunity to revaluate our present structures and sharpen them, retain as well as attract the talents that will lead us from here to 2025 and beyond.

What an opportunity to face the “biggest energy challenge” ever and responsibly lead the way for generations to come.

By Sanjiv Suri

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M iroton

15 annual MIROTON th

15th annual MIROTON was started by famous Czech Artist Míla Fürstová

Running for Art, 13th June 2015 MIRO Gallery and Trebbia Foundation in cooperation with Prague International Marathon, Asklepion – Clinic and Institute of Aesthetic Medicine and Strahov Monastic Brewery Length of the MIROTON route: 3.365 metres

From left: Miro Smolák, Founder and Main Organizer of MIROTON. Winners in men category: Vladimír Kozlovský, time 11,54 min; Jan Pernica, time 11,20 min; Jiří Šmíd, time 12,25 min

From left: The winners in women category: Miloslava Hanáková, time 15,05 min; Dana Šatrová, time 13,11 min; Karla Mališová, time 15,32 min

Míla Fürstová, famous Czech Artist handing over the prize to Dana Šatrová, winner in the women category

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From left: Vladimír Drábek, Prague International Marathon handing over the prize to Karla Mališová

Míla Fürstová, famous Czech Artist handing over the prize to Jan Pernica, winner in the man category

M iroton

MUDr. Roman Šmucler, Owner of the Asklepion – Clinic and Institute of Aesthetic Medicine, one of the sponsors during his speech to the runners

Church of St. Rochus, Centre for Registration of Participants MIROTON 2015

Ing. Miloš Jaro, former Director of the Czech House in Moscow handing over the prize to Dana Šatrová

Ing. Radomír Šimek, Executive Director of rascom s.r.o., Prague

From left: Žofinka Hirjaková, daughter of Peter Hirjak, Photographer and Film Director; Alena Miro, Opera Singer and Míla Fürstová, Artist

Juan Ricardo Braun, Argentina, President of the Journalists without Borders, handing over the prize to Vladimír Kozlovský

Members of the music group Prague Swingers were playing for a cheerful mood

MUDr. Katarína Třísková, Medicom Clinik, Prague

From left: Natálie Slabá, the oldest participant MIROTON 2015 and Lenka Urbánková

Afterparty in Strahov Monastic Brewery

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BOŘEK ŠÍPEK

SENTENCED TO DEATH 6. 9.–21. 9. 2015 Opening ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague

From left: Bořek Šípek, Artist, Architect and Glass Designer, Iveta Stanislavová, Curator of the Exhibition, PharmDr. Jana Doležalová, Actress, Model, and Pharmacist, and Ing. arch. Jan Hnízdo, Photographer

Photographers: Oto Palán, Pavel Gwužď

From left: Libor Pešek, Conductor and Bořek Šípek, Artist

From left: Alexander Hemala, TV Presenter and Broadcaster, Mrs. Andrea Polívková, Lucie Smatanová, Model, PharmDr. Jana Doležalová, Actress, Model and Pharmacist, and MUDr. Ján Lešták CSc., Owner, JL Eye Clinic Prague

From left: Mgr. Ján Všetečka, President, European Forum of Wine Culture and PhDr. MgA. Miro Smolák, Owner and Director, MIRO Gallery Prague

Larisa Táborová, KOVOSVIT MAS and Ing. František Komárek, CEO, KOVOSVIT MAS

From left: Alena Miro, Opera Singer and Emílie Milerová, Artist

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From left: Bořek Šípek, Artist, Vlastimil Harapes, Actor, Ballet Dancer, Director and Choreographer, and Martina Kociánová, Radio and TV Presenter, Concert Singer-soprano

E xhibition

From left: Mrs. Markéta Kratochvílová, MUDr. Michaela Prosová, PhDr. Martin Kratochvíl, and Ing. arch. Jan Hnízdo Bořek Šípek, Artist and Mrs. Martina Svárovská

From left: Helena Rytířová, Writer, Pavel Sedláček, Rock Singer, Guitarist and Composer, and Juraj Jakubisko, Film Director

From left: Bořek Šípek with his family- from left: Dalibor Šípek, Bořek Šípek, Artur Šípek and Leona Machálková, Singer

From left: Ing. Jiří Vajs, Member of the Board, Czech-Izraeli Mutual Chamber of Commerce and Jadran Šetlík, Photographer

From left: Bořek Šípek, Pavel Opočenský, Sculptor, Jeweler and Designer and Jan Rejlek, Restaurant La Trattoria T

From left: Dana Srncová and her husband Jiří Srnec, Founder of the Black Theatre

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An

interview with

M ichaela F ridrichová , P resident

of the

L eague A gainst C ancer P rague

Our society is healthy and aware of the need to help others, yet, according to Michaela Fridrichová, it is necessary to address the public repeatedly and by new means. What does the League do, and what issues is it focusing on right now?

P hoto : A rchive

Sponsors Are Afraid

to Be Associated With Cancer Dear President, the League Against Cancer was one of the first non-profit organizations founded in our modern history. Most people associate it with its symbolic yellow flowers. Are the flowers still the main symbol of the League?

The League Against Cancer Prague has a logo in the shape of a shamrock, symbolizing the three main pillars of our activities. One leaf symbolizes science and research, the second one represents the lives of oncological patients, and the third leaf stands for the promotion of the prevention of oncological diseases.

Below the leaves you can see our name – The

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League Against Cancer Prague. The truth is that for many people, the main symbol of the League is a yellow flower of Marigold, which represents the fund-raising campaign on the Czech Day Against Cancer. I am glad that as a helping organization we are connected to a healing plant.

Every year, you focus on one area during Flower Day. This year, you decided on oncological diseases of reproduction organs. Why? Every year, we concentrate on the promotion of possible prevention of one oncological disease. Of course, we choose the diseases

which are preventable. I mean those diseases which may be caused by a certain life-style or behavior. What we promote is a timely secondary prevention, because the primary prevention – e.g. vaccination – is possible only for a few diseases. For this year, we decided on the issue of oncological diseases of reproduction organs. It is quite a big issue, so we limited the topic to cervix tumors and other tumors of the vagina, and we briefly mentioned tumors of the ovaries. Regarding men, we focused on testicle tumors, which is not such a common disease, but affects mainly young men between the ages of 18–40.

An

interview with

M ichaela F ridrichová , P resident

A questionnaire survey conducted by a very capable young female student from Liberec revealed that out of 300 young men, as many as 71% never heard about this disease, and never read any informational materials about it. The rest of the data was similarly sad. It is a disease curable in 95% of people, but it may be fatal as well. Ectocervix tumors are mostly diagnosed in young women.

How can it be prevented?

In this case, real primary prevention means the vaccination of young girls and women against certain types of human papillomaviruses.

These papillomaviruses are proved to be able to induce cancer, and vaccination against them can decrease the occurrence of disease by 70%. The ideal time for vaccination is before the first contact between the cervical mucous membrane and virus; it is suitable for young girls aged 13-14. This vaccination is covered by health insurance. Internationally, it is recommended to vaccinate young boys against the same viruses, with the aim of reducing the risk of spreading disease to their partners. The protection of young people is very important, maybe the most important of all our efforts. Children are our hope for the future, and without them there is no future for families or communities.

Was there ever a moment during the 25-year history of the League when you considered quitting these activities? After all, newer organizations have come.

I don´t think non-profit organizations compete much, they rather cooperate. If they are not supported by a really big foundation, their work is very difficult, and getting new voluntary workers is harder than you may think. I can´t speak for the Professor, but in my case there was never a moment during those 5 years when I thought of quitting. The number of oncological patients is growing, people need the information. We are not alone, our organization belongs among the World and European leagues against cancer, although we don´t have any state support, nor any big foundation sponsoring our activities. However, through our work over many years, we have kind of cultivated our own public space, so that it is generally accepted that we do common voluntary work, and our charitable activities are normal.

How much did the work of charities in our country change after DMS, i.e. donors sms messages, were introduced?

I don´t see any difference in the work of charities. For many people DMS is a very comfortable and easy way of contributing.

There are many organizations in the Czech Republic which focus on the support of oncological patients. How can we know if they are trustworthy?

I think that Good Angel and similar organizations are trustworthy. Moreover, every organization has their annual report with an overview of their income, expenditures, donors, and contributors. There you can easily see how the organization works.

of the

Is today´s society more inclined to help than at the time of the League´s foundation?

I am afraid that society is inundated with fund-raising organizations, and real or fake volunteers, who stop passers-by for one good thing or another. Society is tired of this, stressed by the international situation, local conditions, and the never ending pressure for “charity”, which often plays a role of a substitute for our health system, as well as state and other institutions. Generally, our society is healthy, it is aware of the need to help others. I don´t think the situation is getting worse, but the financial possibilities of people are changing.

The League concentrates in three areas.

First, there is the prevention of oncological diseases, and education about healthy lifestyles. Are strong stories still helping to educate people, or do you have to come up with new ways of education?

We are not necessarily looking for strong stories; it is really tricky to tell the story of a patient and his or her family. Of course, we try to address society repeatedly and by new means, but we also respect the privacy of patients. We prefer working with friendly media, and with their help we try new ways of prevention and education about healthy lifestyles.

Another area you focus on is in improving the quality of life of oncological patients.

What concretely can you do in this respect?

We try to provide patients with various information, organize and co-finance rehabilitation and re-fitness stays for 4 or more days, we help our patients raise funds, and we run a “tumor” phone hotline – an information service for patients and family members or other people to discuss their problems with oncological professionals. Of course, we reply to email enquiries and have our webpage for the public, as well as our Facebook page, etc. Social networks are the future of our projects, as you are not able to address the young generation anywhere else. We miss more helping hands.

The last area is the support for oncological research and equipment for oncological centers. These must be the most costly, right?

Every year we use our funds to support various projects of research centers that apply for co-financing from the League. If the project is interesting from an oncological research standpoint, or a basic research point of view, we try to grant a request.

Unfortunately, there is not enough money for all projects, as we are not able to provide 2-3 million CZK and thus substitute the role of the Grant Agency. We strive to help health care institutions with purchasing special aids for radiotherapy, or for example the pumps for chemotherapy. We always choose such things that make the lives of oncological patients easier, or improve the conditions of treatments and so on. We also try to help hospices, and if their requests are reasonable we help. We may not provide money for salaries. There is never enough money but

L eague A gainst C ancer P rague we try to minimize the cost of the League´s operations as much as possible, and we account for every single crown.

What projects is the League preparing right now?

Currently, we have started a Travelling Exhibition to seven Czech and Moravian towns. Every year we try to visit new towns and interactively bring the parents and children to read the information and take part in our competitions, and thus teach them something in an interesting way. New panels bring updated information on the main oncological diagnoses, and at least one day we provide the visitors with dermatology services, where they can get their skin checked, and if necessary get advice on how to further proceed for treatment. At the beginning of autumn, a patients´ assembly will take place, this time for two days. It is possible to meet the representatives of patients´ clubs, and exchange our experience and ideas. For December, we are preparing a Christmas concert.

Do you appreciate higher donations than the minimum of 20 CZK for your flowers?

Well, we set the minimum price per flower, not the maximum (laughter). We have sponsors who contribute regularly, we have donation agreements, you can deduct donations from your tax, and we never refuse good cooperation!

Is it complicated to win favor with bigger donors? What is the most difficult part of it?

The biggest problem is addressing potential sponsors. They are mostly not interested in our issues, or they are afraid of them. For them, it is neither an honour nor a pleasure to sponsor the League´s activities, as they are afraid to be connected (although just verbally) with cancer.

This is the difference when compared to other European countries where sponsoring of such activities is common among big companies.

What do you enjoy most in your work as a head of the League?

Cooperation with a great small creative team of people, who work to make the League run like clockwork, even 26 years after its foundation.

Who do you think is a true leader?

This is actually a very difficult question. For me, the international leader is Pope Francis. If only one-half of humankind used the same common sense, there would be no wars or poverty. If the other half of humankind had his heart, the world would become a paradise. In our country, I see a leader in the incredible but neglected personality of Professor Erazim Kohák. For him, the same holds true as for the Pope. His view of the world, of history, of moral principles, and his wide scope, deep knowledge, common sense and all-understanding of humanity make him an astounding personality! It is a pity that we don´t have more opportunities to hear his opinions.

By: (jk) české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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G lobal P erspective

ARE WE READY for technology st of 21 century?

While technology continues to develop exponentially, and efficiency tools are allowing corporations to do more with less, the workforce is supposed to keep marching on fearlessly and deliver ever more results.

Managers expect it. Investors expect it. Even some workers themselves expect it. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that employees are overwhelmed by the “always on and online� lifestyle driven and pushed by corporations armed with productivity technology. Not to mention that employees no longer want a career, they want a meaningful experience. Technology is great for productivity tools, but it must be used in our favor. Technology is meant to be an enabler, otherwise it can dehumanize and destabilize our experience and expectations. One solution requires lifestyle balance.

Just think of professional athletes versus corporate athletes.

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with

I n cooperation C zech L eaders

G lobal P erspective Technology: the corporate performance champion Moore’s Law has been used to describe and predict technological performance efficiency. It predicted an evolution pattern where transistors on a chip scaled down and multiplied, driving the computing power to double every year, while the size of devices actually decreased. In a nutshell we seem to always be able to do more with a smaller and smaller device. In addition to devices getting smaller and more powerful, accessibility to technology around the world has also increased. Here is a fun fact according to research by 60 Second Marketer: out of the 6.8 billion people in the world, 4 billion use a mobile phone. Even though only 3.5 billion people actually own a toothbrush, people like to be connected. Leaving personal hygiene to the side, how connected is too connected? If computing power has been doubling every year, is it possible that employee stress has also been doubling as well?

The overwhelmed employee: 24 hours stress Many employees feel overwhelmed by the corporate lifestyle. There is so much information that is being generated, so many productivity tools that are keeping us interconnected and “always on” that a feeling of overwhelm is not surprising. Research by Deloitte last year made this a fact. Their results showed that two thirds of today’s employees feel “overwhelmed.” The proliferation of technology has broken down barriers between work and life, and you can forget about mentioning work-life balance, many employees do not even know what that is.

Are people working too hard? Absenteeism at work is also an issue, as people cannot seem to focus. The average office worker can only focus for seven minutes at a time before he or she either switches windows or checks Facebook (according to Neurologist Larry Rosen). But we cannot blame Social Media, mobile device users check their phones 150 times per day.

Employees are just too distracted, too busy and expected to perform at peak efficiency most of the time. Too many professionals work 50 hours per week, flooded with too many conference calls, meetings and emails even out of the office. The days when we could leave our jobs and go home to our families where work, emails and Internet did not follow us, are long gone. Now, employees can be fully connected to their work, 24 hours a day. Is this really increasing performance? Of course not, since our workforce cannot even stay focused more than an average of seven minutes. Even though this is an urgent issue in business, I do not see many organizations doing anything about it – whether they do not know what to do about it or they are just ignoring the problem altogether. And this challenge impacts our personal lives and happiness, our children, and our families. Our “always on”

lifestyle has impacted even children, causing them to suffer from anxiety from an early age.

A note on Digital Dementia Dementia has not usually been a term associated with young, fit people, but these days it is. Digital Dementia is a term coined in South Korea, that refers to the deterioration in cognitive abilities due to over reliance on digital devices, and which has similar effects to a head injury or psychiatric illness. The study done in South Korea reveled that overuse of smartphones and game devices actually hampers the balanced development of the brain. Furthermore, heavy users are likely to develop the left side of their brains, leaving the right side untapped or underdeveloped.

Therefore, keeping your smartphone too close, having access to your email anytime is great, but take caution. Being “always on” may have negative effects on performance, and even lifestyle with first symptom described as problems with short-term memory. Forgetting anything lately? We all could be. We take out our cell phone anytime we need an answer, which hampers the brain’s ability to think for itself. Since anything can be found at the click of a button or the swipe of your finger, why bother memorizing new information.

Professional athlete versus corporate athlete Having or reaching a healthy lifestyle balance means thinking more holistically. As a coach, I like sports analogies so I am going to use one by comparing professional athletes to corporate athletes. I will mention that there are those that disagree with this comparison due to the simple fact that a professional athlete, for example a tennis player, performs for about two or three hours a day, maybe a couple of times per week in a tournament, while he or she keeps winning. The corporate athlete works and is supposed to perform about eight hours per day, five days a week. However, I think it is wrong to assume that anyone can perform at peak so many hours every week. I think the analogy is important because it is about being on top of your game. The corporate athlete could take some lessons in this area from the professional athlete.

Let’s break it down. I mentioned that the tennis player performs in tournaments up to three hours a day, perhaps a couple of times a week during a tournament. Outside the tournament, the tennis player trains, gets coached and mentored, learns new skills while developing existing strengths, as well as rests, recharges, eats the right nutritious food and sleeps at least seven-eight hours per night. Then, of course the professional athlete can have peak performance when needed. We could say that the professional athlete, in this case the tennis player, spends much less than half of the time performing in tournaments and more than half preparing mentally and physically.

However, the corporate athlete has a different life. Out of the 24 hours in a day, the corporate athlete should get at least seven-eight hours of sleep – from my experience this does not necessarily happen. Then, there are 16 hours left in the day, which means the corporate athlete works at least half of his waking hours – although this is a very positive estimation. I do not usually meet many employees that are able to be out the door of their office building exactly after eight hours of work. Usually they work longer hours. In addition to working half of his or her waking time in the office, the corporate athlete spends more time checking his work email on his cell phone or at home, as well as simply thinking about work. The corporate athlete does not get much preparation, and sometimes no coach or mentor either. How much time does the corporate athlete dedicate to being ready to perform at their peak when they are needed to be at their peak like the professional athlete?

Does the corporate athlete even know when he needs to be at peak, or is he expected to be at peak all the time?

The corporate athlete is the analyst, the manager, the CEO. They are expected to have all the answers and be at the top of their game all the time. But how much time do they allocate to being at the top of their game? To being coached? To learning new things? To being rested and regenerated? To eating right and being in tip-top physical and cognitive order? The corporate athlete can allocate very little of their time to important things that the professional athlete allocates more than half of his or her time – which can then yield ‘dividends’ when it is time to perform. How much more successful would corporations be if corporate athletes could really learn from real athletes and take note of the lifestyle balance?

Nobody can say that professional athletes do not work hard. They do, but they do it in a way that allows them to perform at peak when they need to – and that is the main important lesson the corporate athlete could learn.

The corporate athlete could start by taking at least one day a month to work on themselves, which will actually mean working on their performance, on being a better leaders, on making better decisions, on getting better results. One day a month might not be enough but it would be a start. Corporate athletes cannot afford to NOT take the time to work on themselves.

By Jan Muehlfeit GLOBAL STRATEGIST / COACH / MENTOR EXECUTIVE IN RESIDENCE – INSEAD RET. CHAIRMAN EUROPE Microsoft české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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An

interview with

H.E. M ario Q uagliotti

FROM THE EMBASSY OF THE ORDER OF MALTA IN PRAGUE OF PAST AND PRESENT From left: Mrs. Mathilda Nostitz and H.E. Mario Quagliotti

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Did you know that the order of the Maltese knights has the full name of “Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta”? Did you know that the oldest uninterrupted presence of the Order, and thus the oldest Grand Priory, is in Prague? How does someone who is hard to find information about online end up having four hundred guests at their farewell party?

H. E. Mario Quagliotti is a rather extraordinary man, remarkable for his experience, deep wisdom, energy and vitality, yet very simple and modest.

It was a privilege for Czech Leaders Magazine to conduct an interview upon H.E. Quagliotti´s leaving the post of the Ambassador of the Order of Malta in Prague. Although he started our interview saying that his story is quite simple, throughout the discussion we uncovered a 900 year history of the Maltese Order, its service to the vulnerable and the sick, its passion for countries Mario Quagliotti has served in, his views on Czechs (considering the fact that he has been married for 45 years to Mathilda Nostitz), and much more…

Your Excellency, do you believe that life is a journey, or do you look at life as a mission to be accomplished?

“I have never thought of it that way, and I must admit my story is quite simple. I have been an Italian diplomat for 42 years, posted in Yugoslavia, Germany, the Soviet Union, Austria, Great Britain, Japan, Norway and Oman. But even before I retired, the story of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic had always been very central to me, thanks to my wife Mathilda Nostitz, whose great great great grandfather built the Estates Theatre.

My wife returned to Czechoslovakia after the Velvet Revolution when I was still an active diplomat, so until 2005 I used to come here every year for less than a month. When I finally retired, I was looking forward to stay longer and play golf in the Czech Republic, and I was asked by the then Grand Prior Karel Paar (whom I had known for many years) to represent the Order in the Czech Republic. I was somewhat reluctant at first, but I had many friends and I also spoke some Czech, so I decided to accept such a challenging mission.”

However, people often perceive that being the representative of the Order of Malta serves only representative functions…

P hoto : A rchive

An

From left: Mrs. Mathilda Nostitz and H.E. Mario Quagliotti

“This is why I considered the mission a challenging one. Czech people know their history very well, and the role of the Order during key historical events, such as the Maltese knights engagement in the Hussite wars, or defending Prague against the Swedes (when field marshal Rudy Colloredo was the Grand Prior of the Order). But if you ask Czechs about the role of the Order of Malta nowadays, the awareness is limited. And that is a pity, since the Order is very active on all five continents and carries out numerous medical, social and humanitarian projects. We send our recovery teams to places hit by natural catastrophes, such as earthquakes or floods. We helped in Nepal and Haiti. We were present in Liberia during the Ebola epidemic, and we also helped in Europe, in Romania during the extremely the cold winter of 2012, and in my country, Italy, during the last earthquake. Besides helping in humanitarian crises, the Order provides medical services. In neighboring Germany, you may notice special ambulance cars of the Maltese Help Organization, and the Order runs many hospitals there. Even before I became involved with the Order, I was familiar with the Maltese Order and its activities, thanks to the ambulance cars and the Maltese cross that is their symbol.“ The Order is the smallest subject of international law. How it is being organized?

“There are Embassies of the Order in 106 countries, while 8 more countries host a Representation of the Order, and the Order is present in most International Organizations.

In some countries the members of the Order are part of an Association, while in the Czech Republic, as well as in Italy and Austria, they are part of a Grand Priory. And I am happy to remind you that the Grand Priory in Bohemia was the first Grand Priory of the Order (from the XII century). Last but not least are the

interview with

Order’s humanitarian organizations in each country, namely Maltézská Pomoc in the Czech Republic. The fact that for 30 years all humanitarian Maltese organizations have been cooperating under one umbrella organization, gives them a great pool of experts and medical doctors who are able to help quickly and with great expertise, anytime and anywhere the assistance is needed.”

You mentioned a remarkable history of the Maltese Order in Czech territories, so what are some of the recent projects?

“The last few years have seen some joint co-operation abroad, especially in Haiti, and recently in Palestine following the Grand Chancellor of the Order’s official visit to the Czech Republic last year.

Maltézská Pomoc, which has 12 centers in the Czech Republic, has been active not only during floods, but nowadays it helps seniors, children, homeless and other needy people.

It has 140 employees and 500 volunteers. It is one of the five most important providers of personal assistance services in the country. In Brno, they are actually the second largest. Now as you know the Grand Priory of Bohemia, as a part of the Church of Bohemia, will hopefully have over one thousand hectares returned to it, which were expropriated by the communist regime. The extent of the activities of Maltézská Pomoc will be even broader once restitutions to the Grand Priory to Bohemia are completed, since the organization will certainly receive additional sources of funding from the Grand Priory.”

As you are leaving the Czech Republic, what is your message to the Czechs?

Czech people are very industrious, very pragmatic, and the Czech Republic has produced many important inventors. Czechs should remember their history and how well they managed difficult periods. I love music and I also enjoyed the artistic life in Prague.

And one should not forget that Prague, when compared to other cities, is still an oasis of peace and it is a very safe city. Czech people should make an effort to preserve as many of the historical buildings as they can.

And what is your message to foreign readers of Czech Leaders?

“Foreigners should make an effort to learn some of the Czech language, even though it is not an easy language. When they are here, they can explore all the architecture from Romanesque style to Jugendstil/Art Nouveau, and enjoy the easy access of the city center.

And definitely go and see Laterna Magika –

H.E. M ario Q uagliotti

a performance combining music, ballet and film production, which is unique in the world and thus accessible even to foreigners that do not speak Czech. And I personally also enjoyed the golf courses, the one at Mariánské Lázně being my favorite.”

You served in eight countries that were very different. Which ones do you remember the most?

“I enjoyed all the countries I was posted to, but in particular the last three countries I had served in: Japan, Norway and Oman. As for Japan, I had studied some Japanese at university, and surprisingly the pronunciation of Japanese is similar to Italian, with over 200 homophones.

Living in Japan is a remarkable experience thanks to the Japanese politeness, earthquakes being the only negative thing. Norway is one of the most beautiful countries thanks to its amazing nature. The only challenge for us to get used to were the long summer days followed by long winter nights. Oman is also very beautiful and hospitable, but it is better to visit from November until April, after the hot season. One thing I should mention is that all Omani people work very hard.”

What legacy do you leave to the upcoming ambassador?

“As I have mentioned before, I believe that it is important to continue giving information to the public about the current activities of the Order, and also about how people can become involved in volunteering. The history of the Order is closely linked to the Czech Republic, and to its history, but its current activities are also very relevant. I felt proud when I presented my credentials to President Klaus, because he thanked me for the help the Order of Malta provided to the Czech Republic during the disastrous floods of 2002. That is exactly the fast humanitarian aid the Maltese Order is excellent at providing, and it just happened to be in the Czech Republic.”

By Linda Štucbartová

Sovereign Order of Malta at a glance: The Order of Malta is a subject of international law, and as such it has diplomatic relations with 106 states, plus its own missions to international organizations. It was founded in Jerusalem in the 11th century and it has a long history of service to the vulnerable and the sick. It has 13,500 members, 80,000 permanent volunteers and a qualified staff of 25,000 professionals.

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ambassadors without diplomatic passport

RENATA MRÁZOVÁ Czech Leaders It is a pleasure and also a privilege for me to introduce Renata Mrázová. Regular readers of Czech Leaders know that Renata Mrázová was nominated as the most important woman in Czech business in the position of the CEO of ING/ NN in 2014, and starting August 1, 2015 she now holds the position of Global Head of HR of NN. Renata is dynamic, energetic, full of visions, very friendly, easy going and empathetic. She is known not only for all her achievements in terms of business functions, successfully running NN and Direct Insurance company, but also a family business. She is a role model for many working Czech mothers, always mentioning her need for time dedicated to raising two daughters, as well as helping other women to reach top management positions thanks to mentoring programs.

She was the one who was approached by Sheryl Sandberg to write a foreword to the book Lean In that represented a watershed for many women in the West with regards to their career aspirations and active approach.

And to support her words with deeds, Renata being closely associated with Minerva 21 movement, she has made sure that mentoring schemes, which have until recently been reserved for a few selected female participants from top Czech companies, are now more open to women who need it. She managed to get more than 50 people involved, including personalities such as Eliška Hašková-Coolidge, Jan Mühlfeit, Marian Jelínek and Radvan Bahbouh.

She is also the founder of the Facebook page Lean In Together that hasturned into a movement having close to 500 active members, sharing together opinions, exchanging views on current issues and engaging in voluntary projects moving society forward.

I was glad Renata agreed to an interview for Czech Leaders, despite the fact that she has just assumed a new position, and has not even had time to unpack the boxes to settle down in her new home in the Netherlands.

The first question – how do you perceive today´s world?

This is a very challenging question, as it can be perceived from different angles. Being a very optimistic person, I perceive the world as an amazing place. I wake up every day feeling great just being happy living in this period. Our world is very multifaceted, colorful and diverse. It is an unbelievably uplifting feeling for me to be able to learn and to get to know so many new things everyday. For me, all is connected by the value

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of freedom, freedom of movement, freedom of information, freedom of speech…

On the other hand, I am worried about many problems and these I tend to think about over and over. We live in a world that moves incredibly fast. Everything is constantly developing and changing and this puts pressure on people in terms of being flexible and having the ability to adapt.

Due to the extreme amount of information available, our brains are clogged and we do not know how to take a rest, or how to live in the present. I am also concerned about the pursuit of material possessions, societal crises and individual crises, the devaluation of basic life values and the loss of faith. All of these factors are the reason why not only Europe, but the world as such, is facing a modern crisis. And I ask myself how we can get out of it, and where is it all taking us.

And how do you perceive the position of the Czech Republic?

I am a proud to be a Czech, and I love the Czech Republic. We are an amazing country full of great people. What really concerns me is the atmosphere in the Czech Republic, and also the attitude of Czech citizens. I particularly miss the attitude of optimism in the Czech Republic.

I can compare it to the USA, or the Netherlands, which are countries that I have lived in and live in now. It is truly refreshing to see how people in the Netherlands are easy-going, they enjoy life, they do not make big drama out of anything, they do not rush anywhere, they smile and when they desire a change, they know that they themselves are responsible for making it happen. I wish for a change regarding the mood and atmosphere in the Czech Republic, because I consider it an incredible place for life, with a great history and big opportunities.

I mentioned that you are a role model for many Czech women. In the past, you often talked about the role of your former boss Alexis and her role as a mentor in preparing you for the CEO role in the Czech Republic. Now, can you reflect upon how you prepared for the international position, and what is your advice to women who seem to have reached the “ceiling” in the Czech Republic, and think about going somewhere else?

I do not like the word “prepare” as you say it. I am not that type. What suits me best is having an open mind, and not tying myself to concrete targets and plans. Regarding my new position in the Netherlands, in the headquarters of NN

P hoto : A rchive

Group, it is my dream job. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am focused on management, working with people, knowing their strengths and weaknesses, giving them a chance to use their talents and experiences in the best possible ways, and helping them to develop and so to enjoy life. I enjoy building and influencing the whole atmosphere, setting the tone and tempo of the company’s culture, which generates the company’s results. Over the past year I have been thinking a lot about where I should go.

I already served four years in the position of CEO, and I felt that I was reaching the point of giving all that I could to the company. I have a lot of dreams, but when the offer to manage the HR of the entire NN group came, I did not hesitate. During the last year I have discussed the possibility of trying to live and work in another country with my husband. We have two daughters, who are the ideal age for this kind of a change.

I am happy that my children have the opportunity to live in another country, experience a different culture, and a chance to understand a different mentality, because those are things that I consider great experiences, and even a gift in someone´s life.

After a few weeks, I have to say that I am excited that we made the decision, it is a huge change, we are experiencing our ups and downs with a lot of adrenalin, but it is an incredible experience.

Are you still in touch with Sheryl Sandberg?

I am not in close touch with Sheryl, only rarely. She is a woman that I greatly admire.

Her movement “Lean In” changed and keeps changing today’s world. Sheryl is a very

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

dedicated and structured lady, she knows what she wants and will do the maximum to achieve it. I am very proud that we know each other, and that she chose me for the foreword in her book.

It is incredible that she not only concentrates on women in her Lean In program, but also on men, partners, fathers and young people who can change things. It is remarkable that she continues to work intensively on her activities even after she unexpectedly lost her beloved husband.

I know you have been active in mentoring for nearly a decade. I also mentioned your involvement in Minerva 21 movement and the fact that you have managed to get involved with some very prominent personalities. Do you see some change in Czech society with regards to the low number of women CEOs and board members in general?

If we look at the numbers, it is not a very positive trend. The numbers of women in top positions have not significantly increased during the past years. On the other hand, I have to say that the atmosphere, perception and prejudice in society have changed greatly when compared to the situation 12 years ago, when my first daughter was born. Just to mention the infrastructure that has been built, women with children can adapt very well to the working process, because of private nurseries and kindergartens. I think that in today’s

Linda´s purpose is to unleash potential in individuals and organizations. She enjoyes bringing expertise and synergy to corporate, non-profit, academic and public spheres. In ATAIRU, she leads leadership programs for women and transformational programs for boards. She is a senior lecturer at the Anglo-American University. Linda holds degrees from the Oxford University, Geneva Institute of International Relations and Université Lyon III. Linda is married, lives in Prague and has two children. world, we must also concentrate on men, so they may start to understand that women are different, that they behave differently, that they speak differently, that they decide differently, and so they may understand that real diversity brings diversity of thoughts, which then brings innovations, and new ways of thinking leading to success.

So I am happy that we established Minerva 21, which concentrates on our entire society, not just the big corporations, and wants to help to build self-confidence in young students, mothers on parental leave, senior citizens, businesswomen, managers and leaders throughout society. And I am glad that Minerva21 gets more support from men. Because that is how our movement will get more influence and thus make a larger impact.

Can women support each other? If we are not even unanimous on the issue of quotas, which should reverse the trend of a mere 4% of women currently in the positions of CEOs and board members, how can we cooperate? And can women cooperate and compete at the same time?

I believe that support and cooperation are the necessary grassroots for change, and can I see it happening. I have personally had so much support and help from exceptional women in my life, that I chose it as my life journey, at least in a certain part of my life.

I wanted to focus and pay back at least part of what I received. So yes, I believe in it, but of course it does not always work. It is said that women prefer to compete instead of helping each other. We in Minerva 21 strongly believe in cooperation, it is the basis of all our activities, and we think that support is the most important thing that we can give to each other. It is a great feeling to know that I did something good for another woman (or man of course). Sometimes a smile is enough, a supporting sentence, praise, or just listening…

We also believe in not harming each other, and not talking behind each other’s backs.

Our founder Rostya Gordon-Smith says “Even if you may think she is a bitch, please support her.” So yes, there will not be results without strong cooperation.

I know that you are very visionary, but at the same time fast and dynamic.

Besides challenges that await you in your new position of Global HR at NN, what are your other dreams to achieve?

I currently feel like I am living one of my dreams. With my family, we are experiencing a totally new phase in our lives, we are writing a new chapter to our life book, which is incredible. My dream is to live a calm and relaxed life and to have time for my kids and family, and just enjoy everyday, working on things that make sense and bring value.

By Linda Štucbartová, external collaborator of Czech Leaders magazine Kateřina Glacnerová from the Anglo-American University helped with the translation and abridged version.

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JIŘÍ CHVÁLA

Czech Leader

P hoto : A rchive

For me, the phenomenon of Kühn’s Children’s Choir embodies the connection between classical music and other themes such as education, civil society, Czech legacy, and tradition.

For seven years I have witnessed how the choir functions, and I am still amazed how this group of more than 600 children, of different ages and levels of progress (from preschool years to adulthood), is organized. From their regular attendance to exams, we see the choir’s incredible determination through their performances, their hosting of operas and dramas, and their international tours to artistic summer camps (where more than 220 children meet), and in their the preparations for each upcoming season. All of this happens in a friendly and almost family-like atmosphere. Kühn’s Children’s Choir does not only give opportunities to the most advanced singers, but it also gives children the chance to perform in front of real audiences, children who come from different backgrounds,who may even have the chance to participate in an international tour.

The tradition of the Choir goes back to the year 1932, when Jan Kühn, an opera singer and radio director, decided to organize a group of children from one of Prague’s schools, and teach them to cover difficult concerts and opera repertoires. This mission continues today. Kühn’s Children’s Choir is the only choir that has won three times at the international choir singing festival in Toulouse.

Known for its professionalism, the Choir is chosen by international artists like José Carreras, as well as by members of international state operas, national theatres, Summer Shakespeare celebrations and other professional organizations. Over the next

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few months, you will be able to see Kühn’s Children’s Choir performing in Hansel and Gretel at the State opera, or at many Christmas concerts.

After many successful journeys to the USA, Canada, Mexico, and South Korea, the concert department awaits their 2015 autumn tour in Australia.

Professor Jiří Chvála has been part of the Choir since 1958, and since 1967 he has been the chief choirmaster. Until now he has supervised the course of the Choir, carefully conducting the vocal warmups before the performances, and he also performs with the concert department. Professor Jiří Chvála is still teaching at the department of Music and Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts, and he is also the founder of the chamber choir Canti di Praga.

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

Each and every life is full of unexpected events, surprises, tests, happiness and disappointments.

I cannot answer this question well. I just think that today’s human being – “homo sapiens sapiens“ – understands the world and life less and less.

And how do you perceive the role of the Czech Republic in this world?

This question could be turned around. How do others perceive our role in this world? I think that

we can agree that the imaginativeness of our heads, and skills of our hands, make a mark in the world. We should not forget how significantly Czech musicians “conquered” the world.

Is the old saying “Every Czech is born a musician” still valid?

It is true that music in the Czech environment has naturally cultivated all social classes. However, our contemporary lifestyle leads us somewhere else. Even though it is possible to download any record, people have lost the need to express themselves through music. Although it seems like our musical foundation is sinking, I am surprised by how many amazing young talents I meet in art schools. I think that natural musical behaviour, as when a mother sings to her baby, is missing now. This kind of contact is important for the development of personality, and without it, a child can hardly discover expression through singing. This is one of the reasons why we accept pre-school children to our choir.

The importance of Czech music is essential for spreading the good name of the Czech Republic abroad. Do you feel sufficient institutional support in this area?

Over the last few years, we have not received many offers from agencies to present our

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

culture to the world. The only reason that we are appearing on international stages is because of our hard work and dedication. I feel as though creative and interpretative art has been left behind, and that nobody really cares about it anymore. There are many other things that should be financed first, however the issue is not only about money, it is also about interest and recognition that can encourage young people and set an example. Economic diplomacy is a term that is widely used in the Czech Republic.

By the same token, cultural diplomacy is also one of the best sources for drawing attention to us beyond our borders.

What role do you attribute to “art” classes (music, art, film, etc...) in the framework of education? Many prestigious schools abroad emphasise the importance of these subjects, while in the Czech Republic they are perceived as marginal, and the quality of the education is very low.

Both students and the public consider these subjects marginal and not important. It is not common for someone to fail art education or music education class. These classes must be about the relationship to the artistic discipline, and feeling aesthetic values, rather than learning a curriculum. Art education takes time and requires patience, because it does not have an immediate effect. This type of education deepens and enriches the personality of a child (as well as that of an adult) and the benefits are essential and irreplaceable. We should not forget that the development of science and technology needs to be balanced by different values, which are hidden inside our souls. We should take care to cultivate these values, particularly in children.

You have followed the legacy of the founder of the choir, Jan Kühn, throughout your teaching career.

However, looking at your work, I see parallels with the great Czech teacher and 17th century philosopher Johann Amos Comenius and his School by Play (Schola ludus).

It sounds great to be compared to Komenský’s vision about School by Play. When we do something for a long time and successfully, it really seems like we are playing. However, our success is the result of great effort and painstaking work.

For years I have been trying with the choir and my co-workers to develop Kühn’s legacy. I am honoured that I was his student at the Academy of Musical Arts, and then his co-worker.

Experts indicate that the new generation of children is not interested in leisure activities and sports, but rather spends time in front of the computer. Kühn’s Children’s Choir is successful and the number of children is rising. What is your explanation for your success?

It is not easy, even for our choir. Even though we see a lot of interest, it is mostly the pre-school kids that come. This is because parents want to orient their children toward sports, languages and other activities. I can see that the older kids who

Linda´s purpose is to unleash potential in individuals and organizations. She enjoyes bringing expertise and synergy to corporate, non-profit, academic and public spheres. In ATAIRU, she leads leadership programs for women and transformational programs for boards. She is a senior lecturer at the Anglo-American University. Linda holds degrees from the Oxford University, Geneva Institute of International Relations and Université Lyon III. Linda is married, lives in Prague and has two children. join the choir have poor vocal expression and no previous experience. This could be due to, as you said, too much time spent in front of computer screens. Professional choir is not the solution to this problem, however it can encourage activity, creativity, discipline and musical sensibility. And that means a lot.

Every year you take a large number of children to the preparatory department, and the exams are not very hard. Do you support the theory that everybody can sing?

We always mention on our leaflets that we take children with healthy voices, and with a good sense of hearing. And that is still valid. However, the number of children with damaged voices is increasing. We tend to believe that we could bring up singers with average talent. That does not mean that we cannot work with talented children. We have many examples of singers who started in Kühn’s choir, where we gave them solid training, and they continued in their career to become soloists, in the National Theatre for example.

It seems that Kühn’s Children’s Choir has reached the goals that it set out to achieve.

Do you have some unfulfilled dream?

In 1967, when I was commissioned to lead Kühn’s Children’s Choir, I felt a huge responsibility. At that time, I could not imagine how many beautiful tasks I would fulfill, how many great people I would meet and work with. I did not even imagine that we could perform on prestigious podiums in Milan, New York, Moscow, and tour in Japan and America. I wish that my successors find great joy, happiness and life fulfilment in the development of our choir.

Your final words for the readers of Czech Leaders Magazine?

We should honour Czech musical tradition, our choirs, and the biggest treasure passed on by generations in the form of Czech folk songs. In a few days, we are releasing a new CD recording with 35 beautiful folk songs. May this collection make us all happy.

By Linda Štucbartová, external collaborator of Czech Leaders magazine Kateřina Glacnerová from the AngloAmerican University helped with the translation and abridged version.

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C ulture

event

/E xhibition

MÍLA FÜRSTOVÁ COLDPLAY & BEYOND Opening ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague 16. 6. – 30. 8. 2015

Míla Fürstová, Artist and Miro Smolák, Owner and Director, MIRO Gallery Prague, during his opening speech

Míla Fürstová has created the album cover for Coldplay’s 6th album Ghost Stories and cover for the NY Times No.1 Best Selling book series Mortal Instruments.

Vladivojna La Chia, Singer and Composer

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Vlasta Hoshmandová, Director, Culture Foundation in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Petr Eisler, Businessman and Book Publisher

From left: Miro Žbirka, pop music Singer and Songwriter and Alexander Hemala, TV Moderator and Broadcaster From left: Karolína Bárová, Medical Professional, Alena Miro, Opera Singer, and Míla Fürstová, Artist

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From left: Zdeněk Merta, Composer, Petr Chromčák, Conductor, and Leoš Svárovský, Conductor

From left: Dušan Všelicha, associate of the Bořek Šípek project “Sentenced to Death”, JoePR Company, Bořek Šípek, Architect and Glass Designer, and Peter Sís, Illustrator and Writer of children’s books

Míla Fürstová, Artist with her family: daughter Viola Lake, husband Quintin Lake and son Leo Lake

From left: Leoš Svárovský, Conductor with his son Jakub Svárovský, Deana Jakubisková, Actress and Film Producer, and Alena Miro, Opera Singer

Olja Pelemiš, Mediaprint & Kapa and Ivo Gajdoš, Vice President and CEO, Czech Management Association

From left: Vladislav Kučík, Writer, Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer, Composer and Conductor, and Marie Tomsová, TV Moderator

From left: Josef Blecha, FEZKO and Jiří Slíva, Caricaturist and Graphic Artist

Linda Kunčická, Graphic Designer and PhDr. Jozef Gáfrik, CSc, Director, GGCE s.r.o.

From left: Míla Fürstová, Artist, Tomáš Šimerda, TV Director, and Denisa Košlerová, Reality-Španělsko

From left: Alexander Hemala, TV Moderator and Broadcaster, Růžena Nechanská, Businesswoman, and Jadran Šetlík, Photographer

Juraj Jakubisko, Film Director and Deana Jakubisková, Actress and Film Producer

From left: Miroslav Krupička, Editor-in-chief, Radio Praha, Český rozhlas and Stanislav Vaněk, TV and Radio Director

From left: Jan Eckert, Painter and Ing. Jiří Kornatovský, Painter and Draughtsman

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T he G ood T hings I n L ife

“Every moment is unique and cannot be repeated. This moment belongs to you, and you must enjoy it thoroughly and share it with your friends.” These words come from Olivier Krug, the 6th generation heir to one of the most renowned champagnes in the world, as he fills our glasses with Clos du Mesnil 1986. “It is a historical moment, and evidence of a great craft, as Champagne Krug contributes to an exceptional cultural heritage by remaining here for future generations.” We all agree while enjoying the splendid drink. Mr. Krug nods in approval, and ads with a smile, “There´s still a long way ahead, but we strive to ensure that today’s creation remains here on Earth for generations to come.” His eyes sparkle like the champagne in our glasses. We are tasting with a silent respect. It is the year 2000.

CHAMPAGNE

UNESCO World Heritage

15 years later, his wish is coming true. On July 4, 2015, 21 representatives of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Convention unanimously voted for the registration of the Champagne region to the list of World Cultural Heritage sites, where it joined other regions currently listed by UNESCO, such as vineyard-terraces of Lavaux in Switzerland, the vine-growing region Tokay in Hungary, Alto Douro in Portugal, Saint Emilion in France, and Piémont in Italy.

The registration includes all three locations: Avenue de Champagne in Epernay (with the most important champagne-producing houses); Saint-Nicaise Hill in Reims, where the chalk-mine caves from the Roman and medieval times serve as ideal wine cellars (with a large space for a winery and storage); and finally the historical hills around Epernay, including the village of Hautvillers dominating the Marne river, where the well-known abbey is located where Dom Pérignon, a monk believed to be a father of champagne, once lived.

There are many sparkling wines produced in the world, and some of them are very good and their production processes are very similar to those from the Champagne region. All around France, you can enjoy a so-called crémant, a light sparkling wine with a lighter taste. There are also sparkling wines in Spain and Italy.

However, genuine champagne is rich with a unique balance of different aromas, sweet and bitter tastes, and elegance which no other sparkling wine can achieve. The exclusivity of champagne wine is, amongst other things, based on geographic location, bedrock, and grape varieties. The champagne vineyards represent the northern most wine region in France, with an advantage of proximity to the ocean, which prolongs the warm fall and enables the vines to become very ripe. On the other hand,

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the region of Champagne is not as hot as the more southern wine regions of France, and therefore the wine contains more acid there. The primary grapes used in the production of champagne wine are red Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and white Chardonnay.

These grapes grow very well on the limestone bedrock, which gives the wine its unique taste from the mix of minerals contained in the soil.

Popular belief says that the founder of champagne was Dom Pérignon, a Benedictine monk in Hautvillers abby, who lived there in the second half of the 17th century. Monasteries have always done business in various crafts, farming; they were the centers of innovation and knowledge. The fact that wine may continue to ferment once inside a bottle was discovered many years ago. Since the second half of the 17th century, wine in the Champagne region has gone through significant changes, which have transformed it into the fascinating sparkling drink known today. Pérignon was the first person to press white wines from red varieties, thanks to the construction of a so-called basket press, still being used today. Dom Pérignon also experimented with the assembly of different varieties, vineyards, and fermentation periods. Red varieties, with some exceptions, give white juice (what makes the wine red or pink is the color of the grape skin, which can remain with the white juice for different periods of time when being pressed). Pérignon also experimented with glass furnaces and began producing thicker bottles to endure higher pressure. At that time, a man from the Veuve Clicquot winery invented a bottle-turning holder, which allows a process necessary for mixing inside the bottle. The same man also improved the process of adding a socalled imprint liqueur for the second fermenting process in bottles, which creates the indispensable little bubbles giving the drink its unique vigor.

The ritual of opening bottles, when the cork flies out with a characteristic sound, immediately predestined champagne to be a drink used at celebrations, and made it famous all around the world.

With its popularity, low-quality competition came around, and the name “champagne” soon appeared around the world on any bottle with sparkling wine. Since 1927 the law has protected the “Champagne” brand, and still today forbids its use on any other drink or product. For champagne drinkers, this is a guarantee of quality and authenticity. In the 1980’s, the renowned French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent tried to introduce a perfume under the same name, but the product was immediately withdrawn from the market.

Today, everybody can afford quality champagne without spending too much money. A common category called non-vintage champagne may be purchased for as little as 18 Euros. This standard

T he G ood T hings I n L ife

aims to produce a stable, quality champagne every year, with a characteristic taste typical for each brand. Higher categories are marked as vintage champagne, made from high quality grapes grown in the same year. These wines guarantee a long maturation period and higher quality. Blanc de blanc, which is popular in France, is only made from Chardonnay grapes that give the wine its very fresh and sparkling taste.

There is tough competition among the producers, which stimulates every producer to constantly im-

prove their champagne, and create original marketing campaigns. For example, Champagne Henriot has been periodically presenting their “grand cru” of a special “cuvee” called Les Enchanteleurs for up to 30 years. It is a blended wine from the very best vineyards, preserved in several barrels marked by the variety of grape (the most prominent barrel is Le mystére de la cuvée no 38 with 100% chardonnay).

The method dictates that for years you must add a certain amount of the best harvest, of the same type of vine, into one barrel (in this case the best chardonnay from the best vineyards), which later will be used for blending in a small, specific amount. This kind of preservation is called “sollera”. A magnum bottle of such grand cuvée champagne in a limited edition is sold for about 500 Euros.

Both impressive and original, champagne cassettes in limited editions are always a suitable gift at celebrations, and wine producers compete in the creativity of their presentations. However, the most wonderful presentation does not always contain the best champagne.

There are many small wine producers who may surprise your taste buds. Champagne Bergeronneau-Marion is one of them. Véronique and Florent Bergeronneau will simply and heartily welcome you, and moments later you will be certain about the high professionalism and invention that went into growing and producing their champagne. For example, their Clos des Bergeronneau 2007 received many awards, and will impress you with a fine aroma, finesse, and sensuality.

All over the world, champagne is drunk at celebrations or as an aperitif. In France, champagne is consumed much more often, and is important in gastronomy, as it harmonizes greatly with a wide scale of dishes.

Pierre Hermé, probably the best known French pastry chef, “Le Picasso des macarons” (macaron is a 300 year old traditional French confection, fluffy and crunchy at the surface with a cream filling inside) achieved fame for his salty cocktail macarons filled with foiegras and truffles, which today repre-

sent a great complement to a non-vintage champagne aperitif.

Arnaud Lallement, an excellent, talented chef from Reims (hotel restaurant L´Assiette Champenoise) achieved the highest goal in his field, and about a year ago received his third Michelin star.

Thanks to him we know that slightly braised spiny lobsters are better washed down with vintage champagne of several varieties, with higher acidity, and mildly salty tints. Champagne and scallops or other kinds of seafood complement each other very well too. If there are no truffles at hand, a well-matured Parmesan cheese is lovely with Bollinger grand cuvée. Artichokes or slightly braised boletes go great with Roger Coulon. Even his red meat splendidly harmonizes with vintage champagnes of older vintage rosé. Arnaud Lallement also destroyed the fable which says that you cannot drink champagne with chocolate. By conducting unflagging experiments with a fine aroma of certain “grand cru” chocolate and special vintage champagne he achieved unprecedented combinations of taste. He has about 5000 references for champagne, so you can always find the right drink for a dish. His expert opinion on his 10 most favorite champagne wines became popular worldwide (e.g. Krug – perfection, Salon – intimacy, Dom Pérignon – celebration, Roederer Extra Brut – sobriety, Bollinger RD 2002 – purity, Daniel Savart – grape vine, Chartonne-Taillet - expression or Francis Boulard – love). Let us omit the last 2 and thus give you a chance to add your own.

When he is asked how much champagne one can drink, he replies with a light smile “good champagne will never cause you a headache, so everything depends on your personal restraint.”

By: Iva and Joseph Drebitko Photo: Archive of Iva and Joseph Drebitko české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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P ersonal

enlightenment

BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection: Part IX The 10 Habits of Happy People1,2

James A. Cusumano, PhD “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to Success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)—Medical Missionary

KEY CONCEPTS: Over the last three decades, discussions with happy successful people have shown that all of them follow a set of 10 personal habits.

Their practice of each of these habits varies to some degree; however, all 10 are prevalent to a meaningful level.

All 10 habits feed their body, mind and spirit. * * * Most people find that happiness is a byproduct, and it is rarely achieved as a direct goal. It is always a consequence of the success of specific tangible goals that bring benefits to them and to the world around them. Although genetic predisposition passed on by your parents has much to do with your innate happiness “set point,” the larger contribution comes from a combination of your environment and what you do with your life, both of which are well within your control.

Deep long-term happiness, the kind we all seek, results by following your Life Purpose. Your Life Purpose must draw on your personal Essence – that special attribute or set of attributes

you love to express and you do so well.The path to success for the people I have met is almost always the same. They follow their Life Purpose, which leads to intense Passion. This ignites high levels of physical and emotional Energy and unfolds Creativity, enabling them to solve challenging problems, which almost always results in some form of Innovation. The result is a Reward which may be financial, emotional, psychological, spiritual, or some combination. The final outcome is deep personal Gratitude, which is always the source of Happiness.

Having known a number of successful happy people over the years, it was quite natural to consider how this success and fulfillment came about. Was there a common denominator amongst them?

The answer is unquestionably, yes! There are 10 common habits practiced by this group of people, and each habit is designed to feed their body, mind or spirit.

1. They Are Grateful For What They Have.

From their earliest beginnings, these successful individuals are always grateful for what they have. They consistently take time to contemplate the benefits within their lives, never giving much air time to, “If I only had this or that.” They are not driven to collect more material things above and beyond their basic needs. The source of their energy is the pursuit of their Passion to make a positive difference in the world. Material rewards and increased stature almost always result from success in continuously achieving the goals they set for themselves.

2. They Maintain A Positive Attitude.

It is well-substantiated by research that a positive attitude based on a sense of gratitude, creates energy and physical wellbeing.1 I don’t mean an artificial pretense of “I feel great,” but rather, a realistic expression of upbeat demeanor, induced by contemplating past positive experiences. This helps you maintain your stress at an optimum level, as we all need some level of stress to get things done. Travis Bradberry, author of the bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, reports that in studies of more than a million people, top performers were found to be highly skilled at managing stress to their personal optimum level.2 If stress is too low, you feel depressed or bored. As

it increases, you begin to awaken your interest and attention. At a certain level beyond this point, you experience optimum performance. However, if your stress continues to increase, you experience increasing anxiety; and if it proceeds beyond this, you can have a complete “meltdown.” Calling on positive thoughts when negative situations present themselves, enables you to stay in the optimum range of stress for excellent performance.

3. They Create A System to Achieve Their Goals.

Happy successful people don’t let things happen. They make them happen. They know that without a set of written specific goals, they would be like a ship in the night without a rudder, moving aimlessly with the winds of change. They set their goals in an effective and pragmatic manner.

First, they spend time determining their personal values in the six major areas of their total life journey—relationships, profession, finance, knowledge, health and spirit. Next, they develop a written multi-year rolling plan [usually 3 years], which is consistent with their long-term goals. The plan is updated annually. They use it assiduously in guiding all of their personal and professional actions. In doing so, they always achieve success. The timing or means may at times be different than they had imagined, but this almost never matters.

4. They Balance Their Life.

Successful happy people know that they can achieve Fulfillment with their written plan, but they also know that for their happiness to be longterm, they must seek balance between their personal and professional lives. This is not easy, and requires continuous attention, especially in the early period of their professional life. But the rewards are substantial. Balance requires that they build an effective level of time- and energy-management into their work plan and goals. The details on how to do this can be found elsewhere.3 5. They Eat Healthy.

In a world that is moving at light-speed connectivity, it is easy to take a shortcut and forgo healthy eating habits. However, to maintain the physical and mental agility demanded in this challenging world, it is critical to eat well. Otherwise, depending on your genetic makeup, you can spend the better part of middle and old age in a terrible state of high morbidity and physical dependence, i.e.,

EDITOR’S COMMENT—This is the ninth article in a series based on the author’s book, “BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, SelectBooks, New York, 2013.” The book follows 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. The author may be reached at Jim@ChateauMcely.Com.

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P ersonal if you live that long! Think of food as fuel; high quality food gives high performance. Avoid cycles of diet fads. Simply, eat more natural and less processed foods to avoid cycles of energy highs and lows [Figure 1].

Figure 1: Happy, Successful People take Good Care of Their Body

6. They Exercise.

Best is to build an exercise regime into your goals and work plan and make it a priority. However, even if exercise is not your “thing,” research shows that just 2.5 hours a week of moderately intensive aerobic exercise plus 2–3 strength trainings sessions go a long way to enhancing your physical and emotional strength and agility. If this is your weak spot, as it is mine, almost any level of consistent aerobic and strengthening exercise can make a huge difference. Years ago, I used to run 5 miles every day and play racquetball once a week. As I got older, I transitioned to an easier regime for my aging body: rise at 5:00 am; 10 minutes of total body stretches; 100 sit-ups; 50 push-ups; ending with 3 minutes of deep breathing exercise. Following this with 30 minutes of meditation, prior to breakfast, is a phenomenal way to start my day.

7. They Sleep Adequately.

All successful business people experience those late nights, early morning meetings and last minute deadlines that require their immediate attention. However, don’t underestimate the value of a good night’s sleep. It will recharge not just your body, but your mind as well, and your ability to address challenging issues will be substantially enhanced. I am reminded of the experiences I had as an undergraduate in college. When I was behind on my studies in a given subject the evening beFigure 2: Happy, Successful People feed Their Mind

fore an exam, I experimented with the two most common approaches of dealing with this issue – pull and “all-nighter” of study, or go to sleep early and wake up early for fewer, but higher quality hours of study. The latter approach always won out. Sleep deprivation increases stress hormones that have a negative impact on your self-control, attention span, logic and memory. Some studies show that continued sleep deprivation can lead to heart disease, mental illness and psychosis. Sleep is the means by which the brain renews itself.

8. They Learn Something New Every Day. Successful happy people love learning [Figure 2].

They challenge themselves continuously to uncover new ideas and concepts. Although they study areas relevant to their field of endeavor, they also seek knowledge in areas of personal interest, and this keeps their brains agile, active, creative and sharp. It might be history, a new language or any of a vast number of areas of personal interest.

These pursuits are almost always matters of personal satisfaction and mental stimulation, and not a means to impress others. Your brain is like a muscle, if you don’t use it, you lose it!

9. They Breathe.

Breathing correctly is a form of meditation and can alter your state of consciousness so that just about any stress can be managed [Figure 3]. More than 2,000 years ago, Eastern wisdom seekers developed a detailed set of breathing techniques called Pranayama.4 The word comes from prana, which in Sanskrit means “life force.” While you must be properly skilled in these procedures so that you don’t cause physical or mental damage, there are several simple safe procedures that immediately relieve stress and bring you back to your center.

The simplest is to sit in a chair in a quiet place and slowly inhale deeply for 10 seconds; hold your breath for 5 seconds and then slowly exhale for 10 seconds. Try to stay focused on your breath, and each time you are distracted with a thought, come back to your breath focus. The very best way to do this exercise is what is known as complete breathing. Start your inhalation by expanding your diaphragm outwards [extend tummy out, not in]; continue a smooth inhalation into the mid-section of your lungs; and finally into the top section by raising your shoulders slightly. Then, reverse the process. Five minutes of this will relieve just about any stress and bring you back to your center focus.

10. They Connect & Disconnect Wisely.

Happy successful people are careful not to get caught up in a 21st century disease which I call “connectosis.” They recognize the power of connectivity and its access to huge levels of useful information and a means to reach millions of people.

However, they schedule their up and their down times and they use these times wisely. They set specific times of the day for answering emails, holding meetings and for doing their creative work. During the latter, they turn off automated alerts for email, Twitter and instant messages, because they know they are one of the biggest causes of interruptions.

They understand and embrace research findings that show that recovery from an interruption requires several unproductive minutes to get back to your prior depth of concentration.

enlightenment

Figure 3:Happy, Successful People expand Their Spirit

The practice of each of these 10 habits varies to some degree among successful happy people; however, all are prevalent to a meaningful level.

I encourage you to give them a try.

Sat, Chit, Ananda!

Enjoy your journey, make a difference!

1. http://emmons.faculty.ucdavis.edu/gratitude-and-wellbeing/.

2. Travis Bradberry, http://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2014/02/06/how-successful-people-stay-calm/.

3. James A. Cusumano, BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, SelectBooks, New York, 2013.

4. William Walker Atkinson, The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath, a public domain book, free as a Kindle version on www.

Amazon.Com.

James A. Cusumano (www.JamesCusumano.Com) 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 2013 by SelectBooks in New York City. It was published in Czech in October 2013 by Fortuna Libri.

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matters interview

AN INTERVIEW WITH VĚRA JOUROVÁ, COMMISSIONER FOR JUSTICE, CONSUMERS AND GENDER EQUALITY

Ms. Věra Jourová Ms. Věra Jourová is the current European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality. In 2014, before coming to the European Commission, Ms. Jourová held the position of Minister for Regional Development in the Czech Republic. Prior to this, from 2006 to 2013, she worked at her own company as an international consultant on European Union funding and also was involved in consultancy activities in the Western Balkans relating to the European Union Accession.

In 2003, Ms. Jourová was appointed Deputy Minister for Regional Development, the position which she held for three years. Previously she worked as the Head of Department of Regional Development in the Vysočina Region, from 2001, and before that as the Secretary and Spokesperson of the Třebíč Municipal Office, from 1995 to 2001.

Ms. Jourová holds a master’s degree in Law (Mgr.) from the Charles University, Prague and a master’s degree (Mgr.) in the Theory of Culture from the Charles University, Prague.

P hoto : A lena M astantuono

We Cannot Afford to Lose the Talent And Skills of Women It will soon be one year since you became Commissioner. How do you evaluate the past year?

It was a hectic year for me but a very interesting one too. I got into this new field and met with the wide portfolio. As you may know, I come from a different area and I had to adapt to diverse work modes. I had to demonstrate a high knowledge when communicating with top experts from justice (prosecutors, judges), ministers, but also business people. In my portfolio, there is the reform of personal data protection placed at the top, but also the EU-US negotiations on data protection or the preparation of the European Public Prosecutor. And there are also other agendas that I have interests in, for instance the new security strategy. There are the challenges of political and societal events across the world and shifts faced by today´s Europe. I am a part of a political body that has the competence to act in some areas while in others we have limited powers such as asylum and migration policies. In spite of that, there is a willingness and effort to tackle these issues at EU level. I feel that we live in remarkable times where we can seize unique opportunities to find new solutions in many fields.

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Your portfolio covers justice, consumer protection and equal opportunities. In the Czech Republic, the gender policy is still considered an alternative medicine. Why is it so important and why should there be higher number of women in company boardrooms?

When reading reactions from the Czech Republic, I have the feeling that there is a high number of women with low self-esteem and bigger group of men alarmed asking “what do you want from us”?! I realized that the issue is misunderstood in the Czech Republic. This is also why l decided to bring in economic arguments. Personally, I believe that we waste investment we put in women’s education as 60% of university graduates are women and only 10% of them are later on in managing positions in companies and 20% in boards. I perceive a similar trend in the justice or IT professions.

Women have great skills and education. Barriers to women employment in labour market cost some EU countries nearly 5% of their GDP. We have to combine legislative and non-legislative measures.

Mainly on the side of employers, where we have to initiate part-time contracts, work from home, coworking, etc. The directive on increasing women’s

participation in decision making – the so-called Women on boards – was a reaction to economic and financial crisis. It has been proven that the gender balanced management can sense the crisis sooner. Men use to solve problems with “run and tasks”, women with self-reflection. Listed companies, addressed by the newly proposed legislation, are the giants who are visible and should therefore become an ethical role model for others. Within the Commission, we have also introduced gender policy and we have set up targets for women involvement in top management. It is a systematic work and a part of it is also to prepare the ground for these women and develop their talent.

In May, the Commission published the Digital Single Market Strategy. In its framework, you are working on the Digital contract proposal which is a follow-up of an unsuccessful proposal for the Common European Sales Law (CESL). What is the goal of the new proposal and how do you ensure it will get support in the Council?

I am meeting with business- and consumers representatives regularly. They all agree that it would

EU be helpful to have common rules in the EU. I also got the support from the governments. We have to bear in mind that by creating common rules we are intervening in national Civil laws. Online trade is a specific matter. Digital world does not like virtual boarders and our duty is to harmonise the rules. Concrete examples of some Member States show that a specific regulation for online sale of digital content works in practice. In the area of tangible goods online sales we still need to work further and consult the public. On the other hand, I believe that we cannot distinguish offline and online environments. A number of companies are active in both modes, and different rules for each environment would greatly complicate the business. Such a world cannot be divided. Impact assessment under the preparation will show us in which direction to go; one way could be to simplify consumers’ law. This is, among other things, an area that I want to focus on in the years to come.

I would like to carry out a major review of consumers’ law, as a number of legislative acts come from the 80s and are obsolete.

One of the most important topics in your portfolio is undoubtedly the data protection reform which is to be finalised at the end of the year. What is in for business and what does the right to be forgotten concretely means for companies?

Personal information stored online can be outdated or distorted. The server can continue to make a false description of the subject. The right to be forgotten is a tool to repair the damage. The reform, in general terms, will establish a single, pan-European law for data protection, replacing the patchwork of national laws. This will make it easier for companies to operate in the EU, as they won’t have to deal with 28 data protection rules.

For SMEs it means fewer obligations to report to the supervisory data protection authorities, for all companies it will bring money saving for legal assistance in different countries they operate. The new legislation will ensure a quick solution to repair the damage via a one-stop-shop that will help the companies to tackle the problem at home and not in another Member State. I look forward to put the legislation into practice. We will accompany the implementation of the new legislation by an information campaign to make companies aware of their responsibilities and the rights of the subjects who entrust their data to them.

cases when the US secret services will have the right to access European data. It is very sensitive and we have the EU citizens’ privacy as a priority.

We want to have annual reports from the US to have a clear view and we look for strong guarantees. Our goal is to reach high security of data and avoid spying. In September, I will present the report of the EU-US negotiations on data protection progress to the College of Commissioners and to the Members of the European Parliament.

At the same time, we are finalising an umbrella agreement with the US on police and judicial cooperation.

The Commission is preparing a work programme for the next year. What kind of initiatives can we expect in your portfolio?

In the next year, among others, we will focus on insolvency rules. We wish to give a second chance to entrepreneurs who did not succeed. Better alignment of rules in the European Union means better conditions for foreign investors. Furthermore, we will be dealing with several proposals in the area of work-life balance but also in family law, e.g. revision of the Brussels IIa regulation, which is inter alia dealing with the cases of cross-border child care responsibilities. In this respect, I appreciate the better regulation agenda of the Commission, which is assessing the proposals before their adoption. Impact assessments and public consultations help us to avoid negative impacts of proposed legislation.

What is your opinion on immigration quotas?

Shall we look at a prevention plan?

The numbers are alerting. This is a reason why I think we have to look for a European solution. It calls for a new asylum policy. The solution must come with a whole range of measures including prevention.

First of all, we have to help the refugees who are suffering from war conflicts and are in a life threat-

matters interview

ening situation. This plight points out the lack of key competences and we need to decide quickly about a common action. We have to make sure to tackle smugglers networks as well.

How far are you in the preparation of the independent European Public Prosecutor´s Office?

We need to prosecute and bring to justice those who commit criminal offences affecting the Union’s financial interests. I want to put in place a strong, independent and efficient European Public Prosecutor´s Office to protect taxpayer’s money against fraud to the EU budget. At this stage, we are finalising the scope, in other words the kind of cases the prosecutor will be responsible for. The discussions with the Member States are going in the right direction. I would like to entrust the European Prosecutor with the competence to deal with VAT and in particular with carousel fraud. National treasuries lose billions of Euros in potential tax revenues in this case. We have commissioned a study to quantify the carousel fraud losses and quantify the benefits of a solution at the EU level.

What is the major difference between national and EU politics?

The political culture in Brussels is at high level and top politicians enjoy a great respect. In the Czech Republic it is rather the contrary. The higher you get the less respect you have. On the other hand, I am missing a dash of directness, which I am accustomed to. Domestic policy is undoubtedly less diplomatically correct.

Thank you for the interview!

Alena Mastantuono Director of CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

P hoto : A rchive V ěra J ourová

Data protection of EU citizens is also a part of the EU-US negotiations. How will the reform be reflected at EU level in the EU-US negotiations on data protection?

Safe Harbour, a data protection agreement to protect the privacy of EU citizens, was criticised by many Members of the European Parliament, but we received strong guarantees from the US side in terms of strengthened control of the system.

We have also agreed on a sanctions mechanism.

I have personally negotiated with high representatives from the US administration. We are still negotiating over the access of the US secret services to EU citizen’s data. We need to define the particular

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debate

From left: Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, Representative and Director for European Affairs at the Center for Democracy & Technology, Rene Summer, Director Government & Industry Relations at LM Ericsson, and Sylwia Giepmans-Stepien, Public Policy and Government Relations Manager at Google © Michael Chia

Conference – Digital Competitiveness of the EU Privacy and Innovations Go Hand in Hand Aspen Institute Prague organized a conference on EU digital agenda goals on the 16th of July 2015 in Brussels. High-level policy makers, entrepreneurs, and digital experts discussed the refinements necessary for the successful implementation of the Digital Single Market Strategy, as well as securing privacy while not stiffing innovation in Europe. The debate focused on how to design and implement legislative proposals included in the Digital Single Market Strategy. The event took place at the Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU in Brussels.

From left: Michal Feix, Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs, Seznam, Ladislav Miko, Deputy Director General of DG Health and Food Safety; European Commission, and Monique Goyens, Director General of BEUC

Radek Špicar, Executive Director, Aspen Institute Prague, opening the conference

From left: Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, presenting the keynote “Innovation and Privacy Go Hand in Hand”, Christina Peters, Chief Privacy Officer at IBM, and Michał Boni, Member of the European Parliament

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Věra Jourová, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality and Ivan Hodač, Vice-President, Aspen Institute Prague

Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General and Special Envoy for SMEs at DG Growth, European Commission

EU

debate

Debate on Social Standards in Transport Social standards in transport need to be enforced according to EU laws and principles

On the 19th of May 2015, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Germany concerning the introduction of the Minimum Wage Act to the transport sector. Previously, the step of German government was heavily criticized both by governments of EU member states, especially the new ones, and business representatives as a mean to distort competition in the EU and restrain the fundamental rights of the EU. Social standards in transport and the Minimum Wage Act particularly were the topic of a debate organised by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU and the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU on 2nd June in Brussels. All speakers agreed there is a need for improving safety standards and working conditions in transport sector instead of creating new barriers on the Internal Market.

From left: Jakub Dürr, Deputy Head of the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU, Alena Mastantuono, Director, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU, Eddy Liegeois, Representative of DG MOVE of the European Commission, Luděk Niedermayer, Member of the European Parliament, and Jan Němec, International Road Transport Union

Business representatives participating at the debate

Pavel Svoboda, Member of the European Parliament

Olga Sehnalová, MEP, participating in the debate

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DID YOU KNOW THAT? European Commission launches a call for proposals under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) European Commission launches a call for proposals under the CEF to help finance key trans-European energy infrastructure projects. The projects will contribute to removing obstacles to the completion of the European internal energy market. The projects within the energy network is allocated up to 550 million euros. Simultaneously is expected that these fund will attract more investment from both public and private investors. The deadline for submission of proposals is 30 September 2015, while the selected projects will be published at the end of this year.

Slovakia and Bulgaria will contribute to the European Fund for Strategic Investment The European Commission announced that Slovakia will contribute 400 million euros and Bulgaria 100 million euros to the common European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which is part of the Juncker’s investment package. Slovakia thus became the seventh and Bulgaria the eighth country that pledged to contribute to the fund. Before them it was Germany (€ 8 billion), Spain (€ 1.5 billion), France (€ 8 billion), Italy (€ 8 billion), Luxembourg (80 million euros) and Poland (€ 8 billion) who did so. All these countries contributed even before the formal establishment of the fund. Payment of Slovakia will be via Slovak investment holding company and the Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank.

The number of formal infringement procedures has decreased in the last five years European Commission adopted its 32nd Annual report about monitoring the application of Union law in 2014. The report reviews the Member States in terms of application of EU law and demonstrates a major change of policy enforcement in 2014. The Annual Report informs about the decrease in the total number of formal proceedings for non-compliance obligations during the last five years. One of the reason is the functioning of EU Pilot, through which are informed the Member States before the formal infringement proceedings initiated. In 2014, the lar-gest number of open infringement procedures were in the field of environment, transport, internal market and services.

The European Commission has received a roadmap of actions on how to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union The College of Commissioners had a debate on the “Five Presidents’ Report” in July. The report officially entitled “Completing Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union” was prepared by the EU leaders. In this regard, the Vice-President for Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis presented to Commissioners a first roadmap of actions, which should respond to the current challenges of the EMU. The roadmap focuses mainly on the streamlining and better focus of the European Semester, completing of the Banking Union and strengthening cooperation with the European Parliament and with national Parliaments.

The European Commission will discuss this subject with the Member States, Parliament, Council and other European institutions in the upcoming weeks and months.

Luxembourg holds the presidency of the EU Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU was officially launched on July 1. The presidency will focus on promotion of growth, competitiveness and investment, environmental issues, economic and

monetary union, social policy, financial affairs and external relations, including support of development cooperation and trade and freedom and security.

LET´S TALK NUMBERS! €222 million to the Danube region from EU funding Nine EU countries, including the Czech Republic, and three non-EU countries covered by the Danube Strategy will have the possibility to get financing for boosting innovation and entrepreneurship, preserving natural and cultural assets, improving the connectivity and supporting the shift towards a low-carbon economy in the Danube region. The Commission adopted the 2014-2020 Danube Transnational Cooperation Programme, with over €202 million coming from the European Regional Development Fund and €19.8 million from the Instrument for Pre-Accession.

Industrial producer prices remained stable in May 2015 The Statistical office of the European Union Eurostat released on July 2 results of the statistical survey on industrial producer prices for May 2015. In the monthly comparison between April 2015 and May 2015 there was no change noticed in the euro zone, whereas in the EU28 has the prices increased by 0.1%. In comparison with May 2014, industrial producer prices dropped by 2.0% in EU28 and 2.6% in the euro area.

The highest monthly increase in industrial producer prices was registered in Hungary (+ 1.6%), while the largest decline in Estonia (-0.9%).

Government expenditure in the EU countries decreased slightly during 2014 Eurostat released on July 7 statistics on government expenditure for the year 2014, which amounted to 48.1% of EU28 GDP. The total amount of government expenditure was estimated at 6701 billion euros. Compared to the year 2013, when government expenditure was 48.6% of GDP, there was a decrease of 0.5% in the last year. In the euro area, the share of government spending totalled up to 49.0% in 2014 and 49.4% in 2013. However, spending varies between Member States. For example, in Lithuania and Romania the expenditure in 2014 was less than 35% of GDP, while in Finland, France and Denmark, it was more than 57% of GDP. In the first quarter of 2015 property prices in the euro area increased by 0.9% Compared to the last quarter of 2014, Eurostat recorded a growth in real estate prices of 0.3% in the euro area and 0.6% in the EU. The highest annual growth of real estate prices in the first quarter of 2015 was registered in Ireland (+ 16.8%), Sweden (+ 11.6%), Hungary (+ 9.7%) and the UK (+ 8.5%), while the largest decline occurred in Latvia (-5.8%), Italy (-3.3%), France (-1.6%) and Slovenia (-1.4%). The highest quarterly increase in the first quarter was recorded in Romania (+ 4.1%), Sweden (+ 3.9%), Hungary (+ 3.7%) and Denmark (+ 3.5%) and the largest decrease was in Belgium, Cyprus and Croatia (all -2.8%). The real estate prices are measured by house price index (HPI) and in the first quarter of 2015 they grew by 0.9% in the euro area and by 2.5% in the EU compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

IN THE WORLD Business summit EU-China was held in Brussels The 10th business summit EU-China, which was attended by around 500 business leaders from China and the EU, took place on June 29 in Brussels. They

mainly discussed how to better use mutual collaboration in order to encourage development in areas such as the digital economy, green technology and how to foster innovation, competitiveness and reciprocal investment. The summit was also attended by President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who committed to promote trade between the two regions. China is after the US the second largest trading partner of EU with daily trading volume worth 1 billion euros.

Recovery of small claims procedure from abroad should be easier A draft law on new rules for the European small claims procedure was informally agreed by the European Parliament and the Latvian Presidency of the Council. New rules would raise the threshold for claims covered by the procedure from EUR 2,000 to EUR 5,000. According to estimates, the costs of litigation for cross-border small claims have reduced by up to 40% and the duration of litigation has decreased from two years and five months to an average of five months. The new draft needs to be still officially approved by the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament and subsequently by Parliament and the Council.

Exports from EU to China have more than tripled in the last ten years The statistical office of the European Union Eurostat announced the statistics about the long-term trade between the EU and China. According to statistics in the period 2004-2014 imports and also exports of goods has significantly increased. Imports of goods increased from €129.2 bn in 2004 to a peak of €302.5 bn in 2014. While exports have more than tripled over this period and hit €164.7 bn last year. China belongs with 14% of total extra-EU trade in goods to second most important EU trading partner just behind.

Eastern neighbours should be involved in the Digital Single Market strategy The European Association of the Digital Industry DIGITALEUROPE together with national business associations representing the tech industry call for broadening the scope of digital strategy for the Digital Single Market to its Eastern Partners (EaP), i.e.

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. DIGITALEUROPE would by this measure avoid a regulatory and technological barriers and facilitate the digitalization process.

EU Vietnam agreement reached After more than two and half years of negotiations, the EU and Vietnam have reached agreement on a free trade deal at the beginning of August. Both parties agreed in principle on the FTA, meaning that the main parts of the agreement have been negotiated, but the scrutiny process will continue. The FTA will eliminate more than 99 per cent of custom duties over the next years, as Vietnam committed to liberalize 65 per cent of import duties on EU products when the FTA enters into force and eliminate the rest gradually in a 10-year period, while the EU will do so over 7 years. A big step forward can be seen also in the non-tariff barriers area, where Vietnam agreed to implement a variety of international standards, sanitary and phytosanitary measures and the agreement will have a separate automotive annex focused on non-tariff barriers elimination.

Brought by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

Czech Leaders III/2015

AUGUST– OCTOBER / 2015

available worldwide online

“I’m afraid I’ll never be able to do sports because I’m weak and I can’t bear the strain. I don’t have enough to eat.“ This is the story of 9-year-old Moussa. In his country, people are struggling with a severe nutrition crisis.

Vladimír Dlouhý, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce

I Don’t Like

There are thousands of children like Moussa and they all need our help.

Your monthly donation of 365 CZK provides enough life-saving therapeutic food for complete recovery of 3 malnourished children.

the Distorted Image

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We would like to thank Mr Viktor Preiss for his kind support of UNICEF programmes.

P hoto : A rchive

at www.unicef.cz or send an SMS with your contact details to +420 296 20 20 60.

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