Czech & Slovak Leaders 01/2017

Czech & Slovak Leaders I/2017

CZECH & SLOVAK

January – MARCH 2017

Luděk Sekyra, Chairman of the Board, Sekyra Group

On Values, Both Material and Spiritual Ones

P hoto : A rchive

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INTERVIEWS | EVENTS | PR | EU MATTERS WOMENWAY

The article by Daniel Wahrenberger

DOING BUSINESS IN THE CZECH AND SLOVAK REPUBLICS

An interview with Reto Brosi,

An interview with Simon Lehmann,

Managing Director of Megrow Pte Ltd, Singapore

President of Phocuswright Inc, New York USA

Reto Brosi is Managing Director of Megrow Pte Ltd in Singapore and Member of the Risk Committee of the Singapore Institute of Directors.

Spontaneously, what comes in your mind when thinking about the Czech and Slovak Republics?

I visited the Czech Republic a few times, for business and leisure, and was very impressed by the very high quality of services provided and by the economic success story that both countries have created over the recent past. It goes without saying that the beautiful sights and the culinary pleasures added to the positive impressions!

Does your company has any business activities in the Czech and Slovak Republics?

We are headquartered in Singapore and our current activities center around our clients in Asia. However, strategic projects like the “one road one belt initiative” and general expansion plans of Asia-based companies will hopefully create opportunities for Megrow to serve clients in the Czech and Slovak Republics in the future. I can easily imagine that such a service offering could be done jointly with a partner based in the in Czech and Slovak Republics.

What are in your opinion the biggest advantages of the Czech and Slovak Republics as a market place?

It appears that population dynamics is very favorable, recent economic performance has been better than most EU-peers and a privileged geographic position makes the two countries poised as future winners. Furthermore, the side-effects of Brexit might create additional opportunities for businesses.

And the disadvantages?

The domestic markets are comparatively small, i.e. it is adamant to build and attract businesses that have an EU-wide or better even a global perspective.

What should the countries actively foster to become more known in the business world?

Continue an open market policy with regards to immigration and capital flows. Make it as easy as possible to set-up new companies; allow tax incentives for start-ups and similar incentives. Continue efforts in education, especially the areas related to new technologies (“AI”). Participate in international trade fares, hold “investor’s day” type of events in key centres in Asia (for instance Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo); leverage diplomatic channels where possible. Continue investment in domestic infrastructure (5G networks, fiber broadband, high speed railway networks, etc).

Simon Lehman has been in the position of the President of Phocuswright Inc in New York USA since November 1st 2016. Phocuswright is the leading global travel research authority and organizer of the world´s largest on-line travel conference.

Spontaneously, what comes in your mind when thinking about the Czech and Slovak Republics?

I go back many years with the Czech Republic and we had an office in Brno, which I frequently visited. Coming from the airline and tourism industry I had many great experiences in Prague and Bratislava with the Czech Airline as well. Of course, as a Swiss national, ice-hockey does not go unnoticed either. I have attended a match during the playoff in Liberec which was spectacular. But at the end of the day, I see Prague as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, be it at the Christmas market or during a warm evening in summer.

Does your company have any business activities in the Czech and Slovak Republics?

Indirectly we do, since we are interested in the global online travel start-up community and therefore follow the space globally.

We embrace innovation and see that as a key driver also for this region. Great ideas are being developed with a lot of enthusiasm and passion.

Do you plan to expand your business activities in these markets?

Since we are also organizing the world´s largest online travel conference in the USA and Europe, we would love to welcome more attendance from the region and build our relationships accordingly. We see a lot of opportunities, and the appetite for new inputs is always there.

What are in your opinion the biggest advantages of the Czech and Slovak Republics as a market place?

I have set up a call center in Prague a few years back and I was amazed by the young and dedicated talent we found. I see it as a very attractive market where great universities are bringing great talent to the workforce. The people are willing to learn, speak a number of languages and are open to new challenges. The flexibility and the supporting HR laws make it very attractive.

And the disadvantages?

Well that is a tough question since every country or region has its disadvantages but I guess the large dependence on the EU and being in the middle of the sandwich between Russia and the EU is not an easy situation and could impact the potential for growth.

Foreign debt needs to be closely watched in order not to overheat.

What should the countries actively foster to become more known in the business world?

I guess the international conference business brings the opportunity to showcase the country to the world. Supporting companies to setup business in the regions with tax benefits and employment support is an additional opportunity. Working closely together with academia and make sure the talents are noted and attached by the business community.

P ublisher ’ s

note

&

contents

DEAR READERS, C h r i s t m a s holidays have passed and the spring is soon about to come.

During Christmas I went to Gothenburg, Sweden and spent a few great days with my brother and his family including their grandchildren celebrating C h r i s t m a s Eve together.

Wonderful time.

I also managed to meet many of my old friends over a long lunch together at Kometen followed by some hours at the famous Lipp Restaurant. It was lovely to see all of them.

events 8 Presidential 16 Round Table od Comenius Discussion with the President of the Czech Republic 32 Pavel Hlinka´s birthday party 39 Business Event Czech Business Club 40 Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic 44 Discussion on Justice 56 The Christening of Eliška Hašková Coolidge’s book 82 Prague Society Trump's World View - will the Czech Republic have a role?

86 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador

President Miloš Zeman, representing the Czech Republic

We are a bit into 2017 and despite the dark clouds in the world I think we must be optimistic and fulfil our ambitions, encourage and take care of each other and share positive spirits to as many as possible.

Most of all, we should show respect for our fellow beings and not unnecessarily hurt them in any aspect of life.

As always, we have many interesting interviews in this issue, such as with Mr Luděk Sekyra, Chairman of the Board of Sekyra Group who is also on our front cover, Mrs Diana Radl Rogerová, Office Managing Partner, Deloitte, Mr Mirek Topolánek, former Prime Minister, Mr. Jiří Kus, Chairman of the Czech Association of Nano Technology Industry, Jiří Kočárek MD PhD, Head of Urology Department, Military Hospital Prague, Mr Georg Kapsch, owner of Kapsch and many more plus all our contributors and their great articles and opinions.

Our coverage of interesting events includes for example the Round Table Conference by Comenius with President Miloš Zeman, Kapsch Art Exhibition in the National Gallery, Canadian Chamber breakfast meeting with Tomáš Salomon, Chairman and CEO of Česká spořitelna, Sekyra Group Discussion on Justice.

In addition, I would like to say a warm Thank You to Dr Jiří Kočárek and his team from the Military Hospital Prague for taking care of me so well during a prostate operation from which I have now recovered and am back to normal strength and spirit.

Finally, I would like to salute my team, Lenka, Linda, Martina, Šárka, Tanya, Vladimír and Petra for their outstanding work, loyalty, devotion, friendship – without you there wouldn’t be any Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine.

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

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State visit of H.E. Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia in the Czech Republic

 page 8

interviews 5 An interview with Luděk Sekyra On Values, Both Material and Spiritual Ones 24 An interview with Diana Rádl Rogerová Make an Impact that Matters 28 An interview with Georg Kapsch We Need More Freedom and Responsible Individuals 36 An interview with Mirek Topolánek Life after Life

C ontents 46 An interview with Eva Zažímalová Creativity and the Ability to Improvise Represent the Main Assets of Czech Science 48 An interview with Jiří Kočárek Robotic Surgery is the Most Sophisticated 50 An interview with Magdalena Dvořáková 52 An interview with Avital Leibovitch 58 An interview with Arnie Bieber To Succeed in the 21st Century we Need to Learn, Unlearn and Re-learn 62 An interview with Jiří Kůs Nanotechnology Represents a Promising Industry 68 An interview with Blanka Čechová The Laws of Good Writing 76 An interview with Constantin Kinský A Living Society is a Creating One 80 An interview with Andrea Hepnerová One Woman, Two Roles, Two Children and One Big Vision 84 An interview with Daniel Wahrenberger Three Careers in One 88 An interview with Judi Challiner My Life as Defined by Two Quotes

An interview with Constantin Kinský

Slovenia and Czechia: Partners in Central Europe

Exhibition

 page 78

diplomatic events 10 Meeting with Diplomats in Senate 21 Diplomatic Forum with H.E. Charles Sheehan, Ambassador of Ireland

 page 76

culture events 12 Hilton Christmas Charity Concert 30 Kapsch Supported a Unique Exhibition about The Charter 77 64 Drawings "The Thoughts of Artists II" Opening ceremony in Miro gallery Prague 78 Slovenia and Czechia: Partners in Central Europe

Chairman of the Senate in his welcoming speech

 page 10

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contents

contributors 15 Tereza Urbánková Do you know your ‘why’?

22 Eva Gaboriková Cross-cultural comparison of the Slovak and the Czech business culture 27 Ivan Pilný What I have learnt and not only in politics 35 Elisabeth Dennehy Want gender parity? Here are the five questions you need to answer 54 Sanjiv Suri The power of gratitude and purpose 60 Iva Drebitko From the ephemeral to the eternal 67 Jonathan Wootlif Giving aid to poorer countries is more than an act of generousity 70 Jan Mühlfeit Parent as a coach 74 James A. Cusumano Life is beautiful

James A. Cusumano Our Trumpian Future

Publisher: Benke Aikell Head of Editorial: Lenka Helena Koenigsmark Office Assistant: Tatiana Fominykh Webmaster: Petra Kubernátová DTP: Šárka Krausová EU Matters: CEBRE Czech Business Representation, CESES, Europlatform

 page 72

Contributors: James A. Cusumano, Iva Drebitko, Joseph Drebitko, Michael Mayher, ELAI, Martina Hošková, Lenka Helena Koenigsmark, Jaroslav Kramer, Jan Mühlfeit, Ivan Pilný, Linda Štucbartová, Tereza Urbánková, Jonathan Wootliff Photographers: Vladimír Weiss, Martin Janas, Martin Vlček, Stanislava Kyselová, Miguel Alonso, Veronika Rose, Michal Tvrdík, Hana Brožková

Figure 2: Humans have three “minds”: conscious, subconscious and ego. The conscious mind is what you know, and the subconscious mind is who you really are. Your ego mediates between the conscious and subconscious minds.

EU matters 92 EU matters interview An interview with Antonín Mokrý Digitalization and globalization, they both fall under one phenomenon 94 EU debate New electricity market design: framework for achieving the energy union 96 EU matters business

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An

interview with

L uděk S ekyra , C hairman

On Values, Both Material and Spiritual Ones

of the

B oard , S ekyra G roup P hoto : V ladimír W eiss

I met Mr. Sekyra for the first time at the colloquia dedicated to John Rawls, the most influential political philosopher of the 20th century, however little known and appreciated in the Czech environment. The Sekyra Group that supports the Centre for Political Philosophy, Ethics and Religion (CPPER) has also supported organising the colloquia. Despite the fact that Mr. Sekyra is still actively involved in his property development company, he presented a paper discussing Rawls’s principles of justice and their relationship towards reciprocity and altruism. The extent and the quality of Mr. Sekyra’s paper received appreciation from theoretical scientists and inspired a stimulating discussion. Mr. Sekyra is also working on a book addressing this theme and later this year, he is planning to present his research at the Conference at the Harvard University. Mr. Sekyra is concerned about the polarization of liberal societies and he sees the need to formulate moral and political principles that would strengthen the cohesion of plural and multicultural public space.

One week later, I came to interview Mr. Sekyra at his office at the Sun Tower building in Prague. I had a chance to admire not only a beautiful view but also visualization of future development projects, also in the surrounding neighbourhood of Rohan City. Mr. Sekyra apologized for being late due to a teleconference held with the representatives of New York Times, as he is busy preparing a panel for the prestige global conference, the Athens Democratic Forum. The panel will be dedicated to problems democracy is facing in Central Europe, threats of populism and xenophobia nationalism. The aim is to present a fact that such tendencies threatening the concept of open liberal democracy do not represent a regional issue, but truly the global one.

Our third (unplanned) meeting took place at the launch of the book published by the Centre of Independent Journalism, also supported by Mr. Sekyra. I could see that Mr. Sekyra fully lives his life purpose that not only buildings, but also thoughts, should be left as a legacy. And it is such purpose that we discussed during the interview, together with philosophy and thinking, however the business world was not left aside, as it often intersected our conversation.

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Mr. Sekyra, you being part of two worlds – academic and entrepreneurial – is quite rare for the Czech environment, contrary to the world where such interconnection happens more often.

How do you manage bridging the two spheres? And how were you received by the academics?

You are right, the intersection of both worlds is more frequent there and it brings various benefits to both sides. Someone who comes from the entrepreneurial world transfers a wide range of empirical experience which can be subsequently generalised upon.

And such generalization then allows to present a universal dimension that is possible to address in theoretical discussion, in theory. As far as me being accepted by scientists, on one hand they consider me to a certain extent a visitor in their environment, on the other hand the most respected specialist in the fields of political or moral philosophy are very helpful and support my work on my upcoming book. I have the feeling that they enjoy debating with me and they consider it beneficial with regards to my specific experience and point of view. I studied philosophy of law and I have been actively involved in this field.

I am engaged not only with the Czech environment, but also at Oxford and Harvard. I also recommend such open attitude to Czech universities. Being open to thoughts of people outside the academic sphere, who combine certain theoretic knowledge with empirical experience, is stimulating for the academic debate.

What is the reaction of your colleague entrepreneurs and competitors with regards to your academic activities?

Are they looking forward to you leaving the real estate business? Or are they supportive and appreciative of your activities?

Well, I am definitely not leaving the real estate business. Sekyra Group is currently preparing projects in the total amount of 1 000 000 square kilometres, consisting of office, commercial and residential properties. We are currently developing four projects in the larger centre of Prague where new quarters will be built. At Smíchov, Žižkov, Rohan Island and in Dejvice, we are going to build modern and green Prague centres which will represent a true alternative to the historical part of the metropolis.

There will be parks, schools and public buildings. As it was mentioned, I dedicate considerable amount of time to philosophy and studying in libraries, but managing the Group still takes the largest portion of my management time.

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I concentrate on new opportunities, growing efficiency of existing projects and on co-operation with new clients.

Some colleagues and even business partners still consider my passion a bit strange but as someone enjoys golf, yachts, or airplanes, I enjoy philosophical books. I believe that not only should we leave buildings as a legacy, but also thoughts. Particularly ideas, if they are original enough, might have longer life span when compared to buildings.

We have met at the colloquia dedicated to John Rawls who is not well known in the Czech Republic. What particularly do you find inspiring?

I am interested in the relationship between morale and politics. The notion of justice and interpretation of justice represents the central theme of political philosophy. I personally believe that it is important to interpret justice as reciprocity. I consider the notion of reciprocity as the most relevant one. In order to be able to fulfil the key criteria of cohesion that a society needs to survive, we need, in addition to the principle of justice (as John Rawls addressed), two other principles: reciprocity and altruism. Only the combination of the three normative principles paves way to creating a cohesive society. I am a supporter of moral universalism and so I tend to believe that the majority of the society should identify with such principles, in order to create an environment where we would feel free and which will offer what Aristoteles used to call a good life. The fact is that this is not happening nowadays and therefore we see populism spread not only across Europe but also in the US. Societies are ethnocentrically shutting down, they are being integrated by negative rather than positive factors, the most visible being xenophobic nationalism. I consider such development truly alarming.

For John Rawls, the biggest political thinker of the 20th century, the key principle was justice in the sense of fairness in public space. Justice should not be understood as a mere decision of an authority in power, but I maintain that justice should be a reciprocal relationship between people themselves as well as between citizens and an authority. Only such approach can guarantee harmonic development of a liberal society. Rawls also placed a big emphasis on the principle of equal freedom and on equal access to rights.

Rawls maintained that if inequality was to happen, then it should be in favour of those who are the least advantaged, so

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

in favour of those reaching the so-called bottom.

Current period is often characterized as an era suffering from the lack of leaders. How do you perceive it?

Many politicians perceive politics as power and deeds, in terms of gaining and holding on to power. Recently, I have read an interview with Jaroslaw Kaczynski in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Mr. Kaczynski revealed that he admires Carl Schmitt and his realism, Mr. Schmitt was an influential German political philosopher in 1930s and also a main critic of liberal democracy.

The very fact that Schmitt’s realism is mentioned as “exemplary” politics is very disconcerting to me. I consider the main deficit the fact that morals and its principles have fallen out of the perception of politics as such. Without the transfer of moral principles into political principles politics becomes empty and only a fight for power. If the public sees that many politicians make their own personal interest instead of public interest a priority, then they tend to lose faith in politics. Let us not forget that the representation of public interest is the main task of politics and politicians.

It seems to me that such thoughts used to be openly presented by Václav Havel…

Yes, under the influence of philosophers like Patočka and Levinas… Nowadays, we are experiencing something that I would characterise “an ordinary democratic day” or being tired of normal democratic politics that does not represent any larger vision or values but only concentrates on specific voting or budgetary priorities.

People are lacking any cross-over and if politics is lacking a cross-over than it ceases to be something to believe in. This can be seen on the European Union project where it is much more difficult to identify with the European idea. The United States is much more successful, as “the American idea” is not only much more appealing but also more tangible. An idea is, given its very own notion, a transcendental issue; it surpasses the ordinary politics and has the ability to inspire, but when it is missing, disillusion is inevitable. I do not wish politics to be reduced to power and deeds as such notion is narrowly a pragmatic one. The task of political philosophy is to stress and formulate principles allowing to introduce both content as well as cross-over. I have a more and more intensive feeling that modern, particularly continental philosophy of the 20th century, suffers

from deficit of ethical thinking, because the most important representatives such as Heidegger or Wittgenstein in fact had pushed ethics out of philosophy. We need to foster authentic ethical theories based on universal principles, and that is what I call reciprocity ethics in my texts.

As we are discussing difficult moments, which difficult moments do you consider formative ones for yourself?

Real estate business is a cyclical business and so in 2007 we experienced one of the deepest financial and real estate crises in modern history. We benefitted from a quality management team and from quality risk management. We witnessed some of our big competitors not being able to make it. Today, we pay more

attention than in the past not only to the return of invested capital but also to risk profile of every project. The second lesson learned thanks to the crisis was the finding that there are additional values side by side to the material ones. It was the very philosophy that brought a crossover and authenticity to my life and that is why I dedicate more time to it than in the past.

What are your future visions?

I wish to dedicate energy to both my life priorities and to big development projects that will change the way Prague looks.

I personally very much care about the best notion of architecture. At Smíchov, we have launched a big architectonic competition for the first time in Prague

and involved more than 10 international architects. The new quarter should be a pride of the 21st century Prague. The second challenge is thinking about philosophy and working on my book that should be a result of my reflections. I hope to publish it within the next two years.

By Linda Štucbartová

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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P residential

PRESIDENT MILOŠ ZEMAN

REPRESENTING THE CZECH REPUBLIC From left: Mrs. Ivana Zemanová, H.E. Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia, and H.E. Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, with Mrs. Nikolić on the right

State visit of H.E. Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia in the Czech Republic

State visit to Portugal: H.E. Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and H.E. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

State visit of H.E. Tomislav Nikolić, President of Serbia in the Czech Republic

State visit to Portugal: H.E. Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and H.E. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of Portugal

P residential

State visit of H.E. Tomislav Nikoliฤ , President of Serbia in the Czech Republic

State visit of H.E. Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan

State visit of H.E. Emomali Rahmon, President of Tajikistan

State visit of H.E. Franรงois Hollande, President of the French Republic

State visit of H.E. Franรงois Hollande, President of the French Republic

State visit of H.E. Franรงois Hollande, President of the French Republic

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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P hoto : S enate C hancellery

S enate H.E. Pedro Calvo-Sotelo Ibaňez-Martin, Ambassador of Spain

In January, the Senate of the Czech Republic held a traditional new-year meeting with diplomats working in Prague. Besides senators, the event was also visited by the representatives of diplomatic missions from tens of countries from all over the world. The chairman of the Senate, Milan Štěch began the event by outlining the upcoming year prospects in his speech, mentioning migration and terrorism, administration of the new American president Donald Trump, and the way Europe is going to come to terms with Great Britain´s exit from the EU among the key issues to be addressed. He also talked about economic diplomacy which belongs among the activities of the Senate representatives as well.

H.E. Bazevičius Saulius, Honorary Consul of Latvia

H.E. Anders Christian Hoppe, Ambassador of Denmark

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H.E. Lačezar Petkov, Ambassador of Bulgaria

H.E. Zall Gogsadze, Ambassador of Georgia

H.E. Mohamed Selim Hammami, Ambassador of Tunisia

H.E. Sithong Chitnhothinh, Ambassador of Laos

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

S enate

H.E. Ma Keqing, Ambassador of China

H.E. Alexandr Zmejevskij, Ambassador of Russia greeting with Chairman of the Senate

H.E. Charles Sheenan, Ambassador of Ireland entering the Senate

Chairman of the Senate in his welcoming speech

Petr Šilar, Senator and H.E. Hansjörg Haber, chargé d´affaires of Germany

H.E. Vera Mavrić, Ambassador of Serbia

H.E. Markus-Alexander Antonietti, Ambassador of Switzerland and Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate

H.E. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio in the CR

Miroslav Nenutil, Senator and H.E. Tigran Seiranian, Ambassador of Armenia

H.E. Maria Manuela Ferreira de Macedo Franco, Ambassador of Portugal and Václav Hampl, Chairman of the Committee for Europe

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gala event

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

International Ladies’ Choir Viva Voce, in the middle Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town

gala event

On Wednesday, December 21, Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town organized the 20th annual traditional Charity Christmas Concert. The Christmas spirit was shared by the Moravian Philharmonic Olomouc and Bohemia Voice quartet, conducted by Debashish Chaudhuri.

As every year, the International Ladies’ Choir Viva Voce, under the baton of Soňa Frýdlová, delighted the audience with traditional Christmas carols. Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager of Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town together with Andrea Košťálová, TV presenter, were guiding guests through the evening.

Hilton Prague Executive Chef Franco Luise surprised the audience not only with a delicious Christmas dinner after the concert, but also with a solo performed with the orchestra.

In 2016, Hilton Hotels in Prague raised a total of CZK 310.000 for local non-profit and charitable organizations. The cheque was handed over to representatives of these organizations by Cluster General Manager of Hilton Prague and Hilton Prague Old Town Michael Specking.

Special thanks go to main partners of the event - an annual contributor Gesto Computers, and Janka Engineering and Lloyd Coils Europe who have been supporting the event for the fourth year in a row.

International Ladies’ Choir Viva Voce

International Ladies’ Choir Viva Voce

Vocal quartet Bohemia Voice

Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor

Andrea Košťálová, Presenter and Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town

Franco Luise, Executive Chef, Hilton Prague

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From left: Robert Inneman, Sales Director, Janka Engineering, Filip Eisenreich, Managing Director, Lloyd Coils Europe & Janka Engineering with his wife, Jiřina Nachtmannová a Tereza Klementová, Tereza Maxova Foundation, László Sümegh, Projekt Šance with a cheque of CZK 310.000 for local non-profit and charitable organizations. Claudia Specking, Barbara Blaznic Marc, President, Diplomatic Spouses Association, Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor, Manfred Franke, Chairman & Founder, Chance 4 Children with his wife, Andrea Košťálová, Presenter, and Michael Specking, Cluster General Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town. In the middle – Michal Prager, Director, Pestrá Společnost

From left: Andrea Košťálová, Presenter, Franco Luise, Executive Chef, Hilton Prague, and Markéta Šebková, Marketing & PR Manager, Hilton Prague & Hilton Prague Old Town

From left: Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor and Franco Luise, Executive Chef, Hilton Prague

Vocal quartet Bohemia Voice with Debashish Chaudhuri, Conductor in the middle

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

In

cooperation with

C zech & S lovak L eaders

LIFESTYLE

Do you know your ‘why’?

At the turn of a year, some of us tend to reflect on the past 12 months as well as to look ahead at what the upcoming year may have in store. While all of us can do that, in reality, few people instinctively know their life purpose and what they want to do with their life in general.

Have you ever wondered what your life purpose is and whether you actually need it? Or, do you think it is something we don’t have to think about as our existence itself determines it?

The need for purpose is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Purpose provides us with direction, it motivates us, it gives us a reason for our existence. It also helps us make decisions, both minor and major. We as human beings crave for purpose; absence of purpose can make us succumb to boredom, anxiety and depression. If we didn't have a purpose, many wouldn't get out of bed in the morning and the world would be a far bleaker place than it sometimes is.

Purpose is a fundamental component of a fulfilling life. Unlike animals, driven simply to survive, we humans want more from life. Without an understanding of the reasons behind our survival, we can quickly fall into disillusionment, distraction and a sense of despair. The alarming increase in rates of drug and alcohol abuse, depression and suicide, along with the growing reliance on antidepressants, seems to indicate many are doing just that. For example, think about how some of the former sports or music stars ended up when they stopped doing their profession after a long while without being able to replace it with something else, just as meaningful and purposeful.

There are multiple interpretations of what life purpose is. In generic terms, the real purpose of anyone’s life is to be fully involved in living. Beyond religious connotations that some may associate with life purpose, it is simply our life’s direction or mission we wish to drive during our existence on Earth. I believe having life purpose applies to all of us, whether we are religious or atheistic.

Finding your purpose, mission or life goal is not an easy task. In fact, it can be extremely challenging. It can begin with asking yourself questions such as: “What do I want to experience?” and “What will make me really proud of myself?”. The answers will help point you in the right direction. However, even if you think you know your purpose, there may be a gap between a concept and reality. On the concept level, we suppose that having a life purpose is some sort of a blueprint for life. In reality, possessing one life purpose, or multiple ones, may amount only to difficulties, in particular when circumstances prevent us from achieving it.

Finding a purpose is not only critical in our personal lives. For the past 10 months my company has been going through a massive transformation; as the stakeholders impacted by the transformation journey most, our employees essentially wanted to understand

‘why’ these changes are happening and ‘what’s in it for me’, and be compelled to change P hoto : A rchive and engage. Interestingly enough, Frederick Nietzsche once said: “He who has a why can endure any how.”

Knowing your ‘why’ is an important first step, in figuring out how to achieve the goals that drive you, at work and at home, and create a life you enjoy living (versus merely surviving!).

Being aware of why your life is important, and having a positive goal, can make you overcome almost any defeat without giving up.

So what does it mean to have purpose in life? It means we can make an impact in the world as we do something that we are passionate about. It means we have a clear direction – we live our life, not someone else’s, with our goals and the journey we are on is ours.

In addition, awareness of our life purpose enables us to become our true selves, living a more authentic life. And our energy, enthusiasm and love of life inspires others who may be asking what our secret is! All this ultimately amounts to a happier life. Those who recognise a meaning in their lives are able to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s crisis into an achievement. And it does not matter if you are 16 or 60, who you are and what you do, a life can be meaningful at any age.

Do you remember Sisyphus, a king in Greek mythology? Sisyphus is condemned by the gods to roll a huge rock to the top of a mountain, only to watch it come back to hit him, repeating this action for eternity. We don’t have to be like Sisyphus in our lives, we have a choice, more freedom than he did — and we should use it.

Nothing in the universe will condemn us for not making use of our available freedom — nothing except for our own conscience.

By Tereza Urbánková Tereza Urbánková is a PR, communications and marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience and proven success in delivering award-winning communications programmes for multinational companies operating in industries such as hospitality, retail, IT, defence, broadcast, logistics and engineering. For the past 10 years she has been living and working in London, UK; currently, she is Head of Corporate Communications for Amec Foster Wheeler plc, a large international engineering and project management company. Tereza also works as a freelance communications and PR consultant. Since 2015 she has been 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.

D iscussion

event

In

cooperation with

C zech & S lovak L eaders

The Round Table of Comenius Discussion meeting with the President of the Czech Republic

TOP HOTEL Praha, February 28th, 2017

From left: Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul, Jaroslav Hlinovský, Director of the Cabinet, Office of the President, Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius, Kamil Čermák, Chairman of the Board, ČEZ ESCO, Miroslav Sklenář, Director of Protocol, Office of the President, and Jan Sixta, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance

On 28th February, Comenius society organized a discussion event with the President of the Czech Republic, Mr. Miloš Zeman. TOP HOTEL Praha hosted an exceptionally successful event, which was attended by over 120 VIP guests. Following a brief introductory speech delivered by the President of Comenius Society, Mr. Karel Muzikář, President Zeman got involved in an enriching debate concerning the state of Czech political scene, the state support of both public and private sector and technological development plus its potential influence on the economy of the country. The discussion was then wrapped up with a brief speech by the representatives of the events grand partners, Císař, Češka, Smutný law company, ČEZ, Huawei Technologies, and Vápenka Vitoul.

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From left: Martin Lukš, Director of Sales, Dileris and Patrik Toifl, Business Development Manager, Hewlett-Packard

From left: Vladimír Dohnal, Owner, TOP HOTELS Group, Josef Vojáček, General Director, Vojenské lesy a statky, and Jiří Zelenka, Chairman, ZD Krásná Hora nad Vltavou

From left: Jiří Maceška, Vice Chairman, Czech-Israeli Chamber of Commerce, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, and Karel Feix, General Director, Kapsch Telematic Services

From left: Petr Blecha, Chancellor, University of Jan Amos Komensky, Luboš Chaloupka, Rector, University of Jan Amos Komensky, and Jakub Zamrazil, Owner, Ušetřeno.cz

From left: Magda Teresa Partyka, Assistant, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Willii Song, Director Enterprise Department, Huwaei Technologies Czech, and Jeffrey Zhu, General Manager Office, Huwaei Technologies Czech

From left: Jan Trojánek, Councillor, Municipality of Prague 5 and Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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From left: Tomáš Březina, Owner, Best and prof. Josef Veselka, Head of Cardiology Department, Motol Hospital

event

From left: Jeffrey Zhu, General Manager Office, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Magda Teresa Partyka, Assistant, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Willii Song, Director Enterprise Department, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Pavel Surý, General Director, Railway Infrastructure Administration, Tomáš Březina, Owner, Best, and Jan Wiesner, Konfederace zaměstnavatelských a podnikatelských svazů ČR

From left: Josef Bárta, Owner, CZ Loko and Libor Joukl, Deputy Governor of Vysočina Region From left: Vlastislav Bříza, Chairman of the Board, KOH-I-NOOR Holding and Mojmír Čapka, Chairman of the Board, Brisk Tábor

From left: Josef Postránecký, Supreme State Secretary and Pavel Švagr, Chairman, Administration of State Material Reserves

From left: Rostislav Dvořák, President, Union of Czech and Moravian Production Cooperatives and Martin Podzimek, Director, Podzimek a synové

From left: Vladimír Plašil, Chairman of the Board, Alta and Ladislav Adamec, Chairman of the Board, B.G.M. Holding

From left: Karel Muzikář Jr, Managing Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Andrzej Mikołaj Modrzejewski, Chairman of the Board and General Director, Unipetrol, Eva Trotter, Chairwoman of the Board, PEM Invest, and Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius

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From left: Jeffrey Zhu, General Manager Office, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Magda Teresa Partyka, Assistant, Huwaei Technologies Czech, Willii Song, Director Enterprise Department, Huwaei Technologies Czech, and Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius

President Miloš Zeman welcomed by Vladimír Dohnal, Owner, TOP HOTELS Group and by Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius

From left: Pavel Krůta, General Director, Korus EU, Antonín Fryč, Owner, Warex, and Tomáš Čáp, Executive Vice President, Comenius

From left: Petr Michal, Partner, Cisař, Češka, Smutný Law Office and Pavel Smutný, Partner, Cisař, Češka, Smutný Law Office

Entering the TOP Congress Hall in the TOP HOTEL Praha

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

D iscussion

From left: Jan Klas, General Director, Air Navigation Services, Radek Dohnal, General Director, TOP HOTEL Praha, Vladimír Dohnal, Owner, TOP HOTELS Group, Miroslav Toman Jr., President, Agricultural Chamber, and Miroslav Toman Sr., Owner, Agrotrade

event

From left: Miroslav Toman Jr., President, Agricultural Chamber, Miroslav Toman Sr., Owner, Agrotrade, Martin Podzimek, Director, Podzimek a synové, H.E. Aldo Amaty, Ambassador, Embassy of Italy, Josef Švenda, General Director, Oracle, and Tero Loukonen, Head of Research, Passerinvest Group

From left: Karel Muzikář Jr, Managing Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Miroslav Jansta, Chairman ,Czech Union of Sports, Petr Kautský, Interpreter, Alessandro Pasquale, General Director, Karlovarské minerální vody, Eva Trotter, Chairwoman of the Board, PEM Invest, and Aleš Herman, General Director, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine

From left: Tomáš Březina, Owner, Best, Jan Wiesner, Konfederace zaměstnavatelských a podnikatelských svazů ČR, Rostislav Dvořák, President, Union of Czech and Moravian Production Cooperatives, Alexandra Trochtová, Senior Political Officer, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Benke Aikell, Your Publisher, and Eva Anderová, former Deputy Minister of Finance, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Magazine

From left: Marek Bartek, Charge d´Affair, Embassy of Slovakia, Martin Chalupský, Head of PR&Press Services, innogy Czech, Petr Studnička, CEO, Conectart, and Jaroslav Kašický, Co-Owner, Delor International

From left: Pavel Smutný, Partner, Císař, Češka, Smutný Law Office, Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul, Jaroslav Hlinovský, Director of the Cabinet, Office of the President, Miloš Zeman, President of the CR, Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius, Kamil Čermák, Chairman of the Board, ČEZ ESCO, and Miroslav Sklenář, Director of Protocol, Office of the President

Ladislav Adamec, Chairman of the Board, B.G.M. Holding

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Tero Loukonen, Head of Research, Passerinvest Group

Vladimír Plašil, Chairman of the Board, Alta

President Miloš Zeman congratulating Tomáš Březina on the occasion of his birthday

Karel Grabein Procházka, Councellor, Capital City of Prague in his speech

prof. Josef Veselka, Head of Cardiology Department, Motol Hospital

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Josef Bárta, Owner, CZ Loko

discussion event

Diplomatic Forum

Attentive audience

The Diplomatic Forum (a unit of the Prague Forum www.pragueforum.cz) organised another event on the 15th December 2016, in cooperation with the CIBCA (Czech Irish Business and Cultural Association) and the University of New York in Prague. The guest was His Excellency Charles Sheehan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Czech Republic who offered a speech on the Irish Perspective on changing Europe. The speech, as usual, was followed by an interesting debate with the audience (composed by students and faculty of UNYP, other diplomats and executives). A dinner for selected guests followed at the Marriott Hotel.

H.E. Charles Sheehan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Czech Republic

From left: Assumpta Griffin, Deputy Ambassador, Irish Embassy, Simon Rawlence, former Director, British Chamber of Commerce, Oren Varnai, Commercial Counsellor, US Embassy, and Tom Schrecker, one of the children saved

by Sir Nicolas Winton

Valeriya Russell, Accounts Payable Supervisor, Medtronic and Phillip Russel, Head of Communications, GESi Service Delivery at ADP

From left: H.E. Charles Sheehan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Czech Republic and Hans Weber, Executive Director, Prague Forum From left: Oscar Hidalgo, Chair of International and Economic Relations Department, UNYP, H.E. Charles Sheehan, Ambassador of Ireland to the Czech Republic, Hans Weber, Executive Director, Prague Forum, and Phillip Russel, Head of Communications, GESi Service Delivery at ADP

Efrain Pardo, Managing Director, Mexican Chamber of Commerce

Cross-Cultural Comparison

of the Slovak and the Czech business culture

How to compare something what used to be the same? The question which I could hear very often meeting people outside the Czech or Slovak Republic. In fact, even nowadays there are professional many sources which view Slovak and Czech business cultures as identical ones.

As a coach of intercultural communication I work with the Czech, Slovak and expat managers. Based on my practical experience and perceptions of my clients, I could see many differences which are visible at a closer look. I mean the differences which play a decisive role while establishing business cooperation or working on common projects.

To point out similarities and differences in Slovak and Czech business culture, I and my colleague Jerome Dumetz have chosen 10 cultural dimensions. The cultural dimensions display the cultural traits of the two countries and examine them for possible sources of misunderstanding.

Historical Background: The close partnership between the Slovak and the Czech nations started during the AustrianHungarian empire when they fought against the same foes, the Austrians and Hungarians. The official marriage was declared on 28th October 1918 when the Czechoslovakia was established.

From then on, the Slovaks and Czechs have been collectively referred as “the Czechoslovaks”.

On January 1st 1993 the Czech and the Slovaks officially agreed to a “velvet divorce”. This term refers not only to the “Velvet revolution” which saw the country escape from the soviet control, but also to the warm atmosphere that prevailed when negotiating the separation. While the older generation still argues about this controversial political decision, the youngsters welcome this opportunity to easily study and work “abroad”. No language training is necessary as both languages are very close. A brotherhood feeling is still vivid at all levels of social and political life. This apparent proximity is still quite spread abroad as many identify the Slovak and the Czech Republics as “Czechoslovakia”, even if there are now two independent nations.

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At the diplomatic level, the Slovak and the Czech governments share their political opinions and delegations regularly visit each other to share good practices. Both countries are part of NATO and since 2004 members of the European Union.

They frequently stay on the same political line concerning economical or international relations topics. Since 1991, together with Poland and Hungary, they form the Visegrád group, a political alliance of central European countries cooperating in a wide spectrum of fields.

Despite this apparent closeness, when asked about their satisfaction with the status of this situation, being two independent countries, polls confirm the satisfaction of both the Czechs and the Slovaks with this “velvet divorce” (Inštitút pre verejné otázky). The smaller of the two, Slovakia is proud of its “own” government, embassies and adopting euro. Slovaks have transformed their country “from a younger brother of the Czechs” to an independent and competitive partner. The competition nowadays is primarily on the economical level, with both countries aggressively attracting foreign investors. While the two countries are key partners to each other (Slovakia is the second export market of the Czech Republic and its third importer; the Czech Republic is also the second export market of Slovakia and its second importer (Observatory of Economic Complexity, 2015), they are both highly ranked in Foreign Direct Investment surveys with the Czech Republic attracting 475USD per capita in 2013 and not far away Slovakia with 396USD (EUcham, 2015).

Despite having so much in common, it is clear the Czech and Slovak Republics are now two distinct countries with their own national interests. In the last 20 years, have they become two distinct cultures?

The first dimension used in the cross-cultural comparison is about choosing between agreed upon rules or bending existing rules to fulfil engagements in a relationship (particularism/ universalism). Here lies a first difference with the Slovaks displaying slightly more particularistic behaviours than the Czechs. Slovaks condition their business relationships with trust and sympathy more than the Czechs do. For instance, promotion criteria may value a lot professional competency but the ability to approach people and build private contacts might make a difference.

The score of the Czechs with reference to the dimension of uncertainty avoidance is quite higher than in Slovakia. This dimension involves the extent to which ambiguous situations are threatening to individuals, the extent to which rules and order are preferred and the extent to which uncertainty is tolerated in a society. The Czechs are not fond of uncertainty and much

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

favour situations to be clear and not ambiguous.

The lower uncertainty of Slovaks is displayed in their need to build relationships before engaging in further business. If they trust someone, they are willing to take the risks because in their understanding everything depends on “people”.

Some differences appear with the specific/diffuse dimension. A diffuse culture means the split between one’s public and private life is not really clear. In other words, you belong to the inner circle of your friends, and you ignore (at best) the individuals outside your life (Trompenaars, 1993).

Presented in a simple manner, diffuse cultures treat relationships in a very simple way: we are friends or total strangers to each other. In other words, diffuse people are relationship orientated, sometimes called “being”; while their alter ego, the specific cultures are more task orientated, otherwise called “doing”.

Despite an observed proximity, it appears that Slovaks tend to display a more “being” orientation than the more “doing” orientated Czechs (TMC, 2015). In order to start cooperation, the Slovaks need a “warmer exchange of ideas” in order to feel that the partners have become friends. Thus, to establish harmony in their relationships, they tend to adapt their communication style to their partner.

This attitude exists also internally, between superiors and employees. Therefore, indirect communication is the standard in Slovakia, while the Czechs may be more direct, to the point. To sum up, good relations are important in both countries at work, in negotiations, and generally in everyday’s life encounters. However, some extra “small talk” may be useful in Slovakia compared to the Czech Republic.

The dimension collectivism/individualism is about the question: Who needs whom? Does the group needs the individual and therefore accepts its individuality, or the individual accepts to adapt to the group’s requirement in order to keep harmony. In the Trompenaars’ profiles of the two cultures, Slovakia scores only 56/44 at individualism/communitarianism, while the Czech Republic displays a much higher result with 90/10 (THT, 2016). Such results would indicate two cultures that tend to reward moderately individual initiative and achievement over consensus decisionmaking and a group work. However, the weight of history has to be taken into account here.

Visitors to the countries capitals working in new industries are correct to expect an individualistic behaviour from their Czech and even Slovak hosts. However, the same visitors should expect more collectivistic attitudes in organizations with an old history, such as brown field factories or state bodies born in the Communist period.

Photo: Archive

Hierarchy is also called power distance in crosscultural management (Hofstede, 1980). This is a simple concept to understand: some cultures enjoy hierarchical relationships among their members (at work, in the street, or at home), while others, more egalitarian, value equality.

Based on perceptions of expat managers both countries are hierarchical. Top managers enjoy unquestioned power in organizations and the organizational culture of many companies is both hierarchical and relationship orientated.

This strong respect for hierarchy has the negative effect of having subordinates to pass off any responsibility to the next level of management, hence concentrating decision-making and power.

Another cultural dimension linked to hierarchy is how groups accord status. According to Trompenaars (1993), achieved status cultures give importance to past results, achievements or recent successes. Contrariwise, ascribed cultures believe status depends on the intrinsic characteristics of the person, such as seniority, gender or social connections. In this analysis, a first ascertainment is that the use of titles in correspondence is very important in both countries. However, this would be misleading to conclude that Czech and Slovaks Republics be ascribed today.

Indeed, if ascription was the norm in communist Czechoslovakia, when the countries opened up, many national and foreign companies promoted young people to management positions based on their studies abroad, language skills and their competitiveness. The older generation was viewed as less “experienced” managers because of their communist background. A new ambitious generation (sometimes dubbed “young sharks”) has reached high positions in the hierarchical organizations and acquired strong status recognition.

When analyzing displays of emotions, statistically, both cultures belong to the middle group of countries in terms of assertiveness. It means

individuals are not particularly aggressive in their relationships. We are in the presence of two cultures that do not favour emotional arguments over reason. Facts and figures will be more effective in convincing a counterpart than emotions.

Shouting, weeping and the like are neither seen professional in the Czech Republic nor in the Slovak Republic.

Practice, however, sheds light on some slight variations. For instance, the difference regarding displays of emotions between the Czechs and the Slovaks is more visible among team members or in the relationships between a superior and an employee. The Slovaks match their good working relationships with emotional openness more than the Czechs. It means that good working relationships are based on sharing positive or negative emotions being outside the scene of an official meeting or negotiations.

Time is a major element of cross-cultural management. Among the topics of interest within this category, the past/present/future orientation of both countries is most instructive for this cultural review. Even if a gap exists among generations (older ones tend to be nostalgic of the past… everywhere!), both countries are usually considered “present” oriented which means past events are of lesser importance than current aspects: Brand reputation, for instance, is likely to be more quality based than history-based.

That being said, Slovakia may actually be more “present” orientated than the Czech Republic.

Indeed Slovaks tend to have discontinued many traditions established during “Czechoslovakia” and even do not celebrate historical events, which the Czechs do. One of the examples is 28th October (when Czechoslovakia was established) which is not a public holiday in Slovakia, unlike in the Czech Republic.

The slight differences between the two countries may result from their recent historical and political development. After their “velvet divorce”, the Slovak Republic started to build its identity, values, symbols and institutions practically ex nihilo.

While the Czech Republic preserved the flag and the anthem of former Czechoslovakia, the Slovak Republic came up with new national symbols.

Also, the Czech Republic kept state organizations in the existing governmental buildings of the former Czechoslovakia while the Slovak Republic had to build a new parliamentary building.

Thus, we could say that today’s Slovakia derives its identity and values from recent economic and political achievements while the Czechs are more easily anchored in the past.

Time is also analysed as monochronic versus polychronic cultures. While monochronic cultures view time in a linear manner with clear segmentation of task, polychronics tend to have a holistic understanding of time, where effectiveness is favoured over efficiency. This also influences one’s punctuality, monochromic people being keen on being on time as a show of respect to their counterpart’s agenda. In this case, we may label cultures fixed or fluid towards their time orientation. For this analysis, both cultures highly value punctuality and visitors counting on a Slavic influence are often surprised by the strictness

Eva has been Cross-Cultural Business Coach and Consultant for more than 15 years. She has been cooperating with international companies all over the world, delivering consulting and coaching sessions to expat managers and their teams.

In Slovakia and the Czech Republic she has been coaching governmental executives and expat managers of international companies providing them with the insights on team cooperation, management styles and leadership.

In 2016, she was awarded with Great Award in competition with trainers and coaches located in Asia, Europe and the United States of America by one of the biggest international companies providing intercultural trainings all over the world.

the Czechs and Slovaks enforce timetables.

Based on the perceptions of expat managers, both countries see the other one as less fixed than self. The Slovaks consider the Czechs to be more relaxed… and vice versa! For instance, Slovaks match the Czech perception of time with the Czech word “Pohoda” which is difficult to translate. Some dictionaries use the words “ peace” or “contentment”. However, the Czech understanding implies not being in a hurry, not being disturbed by others and enjoying relaxed approach to life. Yet, the Czechs still consider themselves to be more punctual than their Slovak neighbours.

This cross-cultural study reveals that the Czech and Slovak cultures have much more in common than they have differences. The long joint history of those countries is the first reason for it, followed by geographical and linguistics proximity. However, anyone involved in a cross-cultural project between those two countries would be well advised to withhold a series of cultural gaps.

Indeed, many cross-cultural negative experiences involved cultures often believed as “quite similar”. The similarities being galore, one tends to forget the remaining differences, till they are shockingly exposed to the individual.

By PaedDr. Eva Gaborikova, M.A.,PhD., Cross-Cultural Coach and Consultant Adapted from the original article: PaedDr. Eva Gaborikova, M.A, PhD. and Jérôme Dumetz, Msc: The Czech and Slovak Republics: A cross-cultural comparison References: Observatory of Economic Complexity, 2015 : http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/profile/country/cze/ EUcham, 2015, http://eucham.eu/charts/153-2015-03-foreign-direct-investment-per-capita-in-europe Trompenaars, F. 1993. Riding the waves of culture: understanding cultural diversity in global business. 1st ed. Chicago, IL: Irwin Professional Publishing.

TMC Cultural Navigator, 2015, Czech profile Trompenaars Hampden-Turner, 2016 Seven Dimensions Profile of Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, provided to the author by THT Consulting Hofstede, G. (1980), Culture's consequences: international differences in work-related values, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Hall, E. T. (1973). The silent language. Anchor.

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An

interview with

D iana R รกdl R ogerovรก , O ffice M anaging P artner , D eloitte

Despite the freezing weather and melancholic mood, so typical for the Czech winter period, Diana Rรกdl Rogerovรก never ceases to smile. Cuban blood in her veins explains that only to an extent. What counts much more is her personal determination and her attitude that she does not allow her energy to be sucked out.

She destroys the myth about people in audit not being fun to be around and she claims that audit has to be sexy even for the clients. She shares openly the fact that she does not want to have the position of Managing Partner in Deloitte forever because she is always interested in trying out new things. As part of her childhood dreams, she tried ballet, and during adult years she was pursuing singing. Currently, she is looking forward to start playing piano and dreams about playing a grand piano in public premises one day. On the top of her demanding work, she is also raising a son. Even though she has most likely given a dozen of interviews, after assuming her new role, she did not forget to thank me and mentioned she had enjoyed talking to me.

P hoto : A rchive

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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

Well, speaking of such a long employment history in one company, I tend to remind myself of experts claiming that after so many years spent in one company, a person is not suitable to join a labour market again.

(Particularly when I carry out interviews or when I read articles.)

On the other hand, the company itself has changed significantly. When I joined Deloitte in 1996, it had 50 employees, now we have 900. I like to tell my son, who is used to playing on IPad since early childhood, that in the beginning we had no computers. Audit and taxes represented the main specializations in that era. Today, we are mainly consultancy driven. It is the very specialization on consulting that allows us to create an environment where everyone can find and develop their own talent.

This is also the reason why I have stayed in one company for so long. There are not many companies allowing employees to try various spectre of activities and have the opportunity to change tasks or

even industries. Gradually, I have gained experience in finances, real-estate, audit, be it on the level of the Czech Republic or even the regional one. There is an enormous extent and level of the knowledge present in the company. That is what keeps me here. I am still with the same company but I’ve done so many different things over the time. By the same token, I cannot imagine being on the position of Office Managing Partner forever. I believe that such positions should rotate due to the fact that each person brings a new drive and innovation.

I love changes and trying out new things.

The other thing that keeps me here is the environment that allows to make mistakes.

Our inner position in the company equals to us wanting to achieve A levels; however, in order to get there, we sometimes need to make mistakes. I also had the opportunity to work for a client when I was seconded from Deloitte to join “Všeobecná Úvěrová Banka/ Bank of Intessa”I regard the opportunity to get a client’s perspective quite essential and therefore I support such opportunities for my colleagues as well.

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

Friendly atmosphere is most appreciated and also mentioned by colleagues who have been at Deloitte for a while.

My principle is not to slander our competition.

Therefore, I never claim that my services are better than theirs, since I am not a client who can make such a statement. I am not interested in comparing myself to competition, I am interested in bringing different services. And it is the use of technologies that makes us different.

With the technologies one should not only understand consultancy work with regard to projects implementation. We have also begun to use technologies in audit and tax, so clients are having more fun dealing with the mundane tasks. One would not be interested in mere invoices cross-checking for a longer period of time.

Our group of partners invests a lot of time and energy into thinking how to make such work more “sexy” and how to bring additional value to our clients. I am proud to say that some of our technological tools developed in Prague will be introduced on a global level. We try to have a mind-set that would be based on a difference with regard D eloitte S he XO C lub

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An

interview with

D iana R ádl R ogerová , O ffice M anaging P artner , D eloitte

to the use of innovation and technologies.

Our Global CEO Punit Renjen claims that it is not our sub-brand Deloitte Digital that matters but the reality that we want to become “Digital Deloitte”. The world is changing and so are we. Therefore, we want to become an undisputed leader with respect to the use of technologies. Since we are discussing changes, I would like to mention the speed that has been steadily increasing due to which we need not only young people and their drive, but also general knowledge and calmness of senior partners.

I am myself inspired while talking to our French senior partner Frederic Maziere who is willing to share his career journey with me. It not only interests me but also fills me with energy. I have the overall tendency to look at the bright side and not to have my energy sucked.

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

This generation is truly different. I do not think that it is the values that are different, it is rather the life style. My Cuban ancestry confirms to me that it is their lifestyle that is better. You often hear that there is a different attitude in Spain or Latin America but it is not true. People work a lot in these countries, however differently. I have nicknamed this generation as a Latin generation and I respect the fact that they need to manage time so they can do other things than just work. I believe that most of us want that as well; however, we are not used to sharing it openly. That is the essential difference.

New generation is not afraid to ask. The disadvantage is that they often ask for many things at the same time. But that is our fault since we are the ones raising them. We give them a lot, too much.

And we commit one more mistake, we are being protectionist. Therefore, young people demand independence on one hand, however, they also demand being led and supported on the other hand.

In reality, independence is not possible without responsibility. This statement only brings me to my previous claim that the young ones are just mirroring the way they were raised.

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

I see three factors.

The first one, flexibility, was already mentioned. The second one is the trend encompassed by the English term well-being. Such trend is not only about a permanent smile but

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about satisfaction at work, the feeling of belonging somewhere. Deloitte fulfils all the conditions. We have never created any hierarchy, people communicate freely, we have never paid attention to differences between an assistant and a partner of the company. Naturally, our responsibilities differ. The third factor is represented by the environment that allows people to develop and to fulfil their potential. For me, people always come first. Whenever you take care about relations, the results in terms of figures will follow. Allow me my personal remark with regard to diversity and different leadership style as to men vs. women. I personally feel that women have bigger tendency to connect to the company and to bring about the culture change. Men are more efficient with regard to dramatic changes or crises.

Currently, in Deloitte, we mainly need to connect in order to be more flexible and use the synergies. Simply, each period needs a different leadership. This is also linked to the fact that we should not consider a step aside or leaving a position a failure or a negative trend.

On the contrary, even faster rotations on the position of Office Managing Partner will be beneficiary, since every newcomer will bring a new vision and energy.

You have mentioned personal wellbeing, so how do you walk the talk?

I stick to two basic rules. Whatever I truly want, I manage. Everything is about priorities. The second rule is that nothing has to be perfect. I know that I want to accomplish excellent work but I also know that not hammering out the last unsubstantial detail will not bring the world down. Perhaps others will even not notice such a minor omission. I am not a fan of perfectionism. I enjoy doing sports, skiing, running, biking. Every weekend I go to the mountains in Harrachov, downhill skiing and cross-country skiing.

I run four times per week, last year I was running almost everyday. I am supported at home. I still believe that two-career marriage is possible but respect and true division of household chores must be at the heart of it. I successfully managed to find a husband who understands all of the above. Despite the fact that he has his own career and business, we share household duties and also child care equally. Many men in the Czech Republic are quite indolent so they offer their wives to stay at home to take care of children and the household. Even though I love my job, I would quit should my family suffer.

Such perception gives me the oversight and makes me calm.

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

I believe I am lucky being surrounded by nice people. I know many men who deal with such issues seriously. In Deloitte, we have two partners who took a half a year sabbatical leave to take care of their family. As the saying goes, “birds of a feather, flock together”. Either I have attracted them or they have attracted me.

This brings us back to the issue of flexible working schemes not only for women but for all those who need it. The fact that I do not see any differences in Deloitte, does not mean that I do not perceive some stereotypes harming women in a Czech society as a whole. It is partly due to the culture and partly due to the fact that women are reluctant to ask for many things, particularly support of any kind. They rather perform tasks on their own than asking for help. But even this is changing, to some extent thanks to foreigners who come to live here. The world is changing, and so are we.

Your motto is: “Make an impact that matters”.

In Deloitte, you support women, charity, design…Is there a common denominator to all these activities?

Our aim is that people perceive that it is not only the world of business that matters.

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

The above mentioned projects are fulfilling, give us energy and we have fun while contributing. It is beautiful to support arts or charity. We do not mention it publicly, because we support charity in order to give it support and not to talk about it.

Values that you support are translated into business directly, for example in the form of ethical business. The support of art is directly linked to innovation that I have already spoken about. Art is always innovative, since it gives you chance to view the world differently.

We meet at the beginning of 2017…

What do you wish others?

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

By Linda Štucbartová

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

What I have learnt

and not only in politics The end of the year often becomes an opportunity for some kind of a reflection. I have not done this for a long time, so I hope you may show some tolerance now and let me share a few points with you here. Definitely they are not only about the politics.

Leaders?

We don´t vote for leaders, we can either follow them or not. That is our free choice. For a leader, it is important or rather natural to care about the opinions of those behind him. Loyalty is required but not sufficient. If the leaders do not listen, they will be surrounded by yes-men and cravens. That is the road to hell or a dictatorship which sooner or later ends up in hell anyway. People grow with challenges which are entrusted to them. Balance of experience and enthusiasm is needed. The only thing which works is a personal example.

Strategy?

People who carry out programs are more important than the programs themselves. Otherwise paper remains being just paper. Programs are and must be dynamic, flexible to changes. Consensus is more important than compromise which nobody likes and everybody breaks. Consensus means the absolute or at least partial identification with the goal. The path towards reaching it is facilitated by a common vision, even though it is necessary to overcome obstacles and avoid dead-end streets. Successful people have inner motivation, external or learnt one is not enough.

A few rules: Common sense surpasses anything else.

Less is more.

Always check if you don´t happen to create more damage than benefits in the name of good.

Trust but control (but not all the time and when you lose your temper).

Mistakes can be made once but never repeated, they don´t just happen by themselves – they always have “parents”.

If it is expressed immediately, even a small approval will be enjoyed, criticism requires prudence.

Delayed justice is denied justice.

Sometimes, but not always, “in God we trust, others bring the data” holds true.

There are always some alternatives.

It is better to do something and make a mistake than to hide and avoid decisions.

Mob has no brain, only a mob psychosis.

Small issues are solved by waving it off with your hand.

To say “no” time to time is a sign of a healthy mental hygiene, not negativism.

Mirror has no mercy, if you can´t see your reflection, let the others to do the work.

Let´s hope this can help us. So, may this year bring a lot of success to us!

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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An

interview with

G eorg K apsch , CEO, K apsch G roup

P hoto : A rchive

We Need More Freedom and Responsible Individuals

Georg Kapsch, the 4th generation CEO of a family-owned yet global Kapsch company, came to Prague to open the exhibition The Charter 77 Story. His short speech at the exhibition opening night equalled the one of a statesman. Mr. Kapsch mentioned his mother’s influence suffering under the Nazi regime and therefore reminding her son about the importance and value of freedom.

Mr. Kapsch followed the development in Czechoslovakia quite closely from neighbouring Austria, and mentioned how he lived the hopes and then crushed reality of the 1968 Prague Spring. He also reflected on the Charter 77 values and approach based on freedom, respect for human rights, the ability to lead the dialogue despite an ideological disagreement and last but not least the creativity, as values quite relevant and needed for the 21st century. I was pleased to meet him the next morning to get a new perspective on the issue of personal responsibility rather than CSR, to find out more about the challenge of managing a family-owned, global company and to ask how it is to run a company that bears his name.

Kapsch is the main sponsor of the Charter 77 Story Exhibition. In fact, your company has been very involved in supporting various cultural events. How do you perceive the Corporate Social Responsibility?

As I tend to travel a lot around the world, I often realize that people are frightened and they do not openly dare to say what they think. We have to fight against that, this is against human rights and we are obliged to defend human rights.

I personally do not like the CSR notion, as it often results in a mere marketing gag in the form of a glossy brochure. I believe in responsibility and accountability of an individual. Such approach depends on values. I maintain that individuals for institutions as such cannot be responsible – so individuals, entrepreneurs, CEOs and employees bear the responsibility. It is them who have to internalize the values of the company and act

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responsibly according to these values. In today’s world, we have one problem stemming from the fact that the legal framework does not give us freedom to act responsibly. As ridiculous as it may sound, when you act according to the law, to governance, compliance but nevertheless your behaviour might not be ethical in the end.

We reached the point of being restricted too much by law, so we cannot do many valuable things for the society anymore, as any form of an agreement or settlement with a business partner or a supplier now might be disputed at the court level or elsewhere. So the entrepreneurial freedom has become very much restricted. In Kapsch, we work with eight key values. These values are applicable around the world and can be accepted in various cultures, different ethnical and religious groups as a common ground for acting.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Speaking of various cultures, Kapsch is quite unique about being the 4th generation family-owned company, currently having 6700 employees in 55 countries. How do you manage to reconcile family values with the corporate structure?

Family companies have advantages and disadvantages. We try to lead the company – and here I intentionally use the word lead instead of manage – professionally on one hand side but on the other side, we offer a cosier environment of a family enterprise. We are not dependent on the capital market as other public listed companies are. We do not have to think in terms of quarterly results and we can afford to have a more longterm perspective. And again, I deliberately chose the word long-term, not sustainable, as sustainability has become another buzz word for everything and anything.

An As you mentioned “leading the company”, how would you describe your leadership style and has it evolved?

I am referring to the new generation of millennials coming to the workplace?

It is quite easy for me to accommodate next generation’s requirements.

I always have had a style of giving a lot of freedom to people with very little control. Despite having experienced in my professional life that one cannot lead without control, I still do not like to control people. People should have as much freedom as they want, as long as they act according to our values, as long as some discipline is in place as well. Freedom does not mean that she or he can do whatever she or he wants. I am a liberal and I believe that freedom of one person ends where it has a negative impact on another person.

The slogan “challenging limits” forms part of your Kapsch brand. What limits are you currently challenging?

We think that it is always necessary to challenge limits. We first wanted to use the slogan “ignoring limits” but for certain cultures this was too hard.

So we stick to “challenging limits” in terms of trying to go beyond conventional restrictions to drive things forward, to make use of trial and error and let people have the initiative to explore. This being said, ethical and moral limits are the ones not to be challenged under any circumstances.

But both technical and market limits are the ones to be challenged.

Let us discuss the brand from a different and a rather rare perspective. How does it feel when your personal name and brand is connected to the one of the company?

As a matter of fact, this has been always bothering me. I have never liked the fact that my company and my personal name were identical. I prefer the company would have a different name. I did not want to change my name and I could not change the name of the company as it was an existing brand. Eventually, you get used to the pressure. In the beginning, I was not seen as a person but rather as someone being born into something. Many people can think that being born into a family company is an easy task, everything is ready and served and you have to take it. This notion that a career in a family company comes automatically for a family member is completely wrong. There were many people both inside and outside the organization who wanted to challenge me and prove that I was not capable enough.

Is there any parallel to the tradition of nobility families and their care of heritage over generations or was it up to you to make a choice about your career?

In our case it was much less restrictive.

I could make my choice and my children will also be able to choose. They are aged 19 and 21 and they can still make up their minds. If they join the company, I will be

interview with

G eorg K apsch , CEO, K apsch G roup

glad. If they do not want, I do not have a problem.

They know that they must not live their lives being funded by what I earn. They have to have a profession and they have to work.

The Kapsch office in the Czech Republic is the second largest subsidiary in Europe. Can you trace any common roots, spirit or legacy dating back to the Austro-Hungarian Empire?

Actually, there were two countries where we tried to start co-operation prior to the end of communism, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. We are happy to have Karel Feix as the first managing director who is still with us. I can see very close ties both between Austria and the Czech Republic as well as between Kapsch and the Czech Republic, as we deliver infrastructure. We have always enjoyed being on the Czech market, even though it was not always easy. As to Czech-Austrian relations, I can feel certain bias. On one hand side, we have very close ties and we like each other. On the other hand, there has been a competition. The Czech lands used to be the centre of industry, Hungary used to be the centre of agriculture and Austria was always the centre of bureaucracy… (laughter) Today, it would be called a management centre…

As a matter of fact, we still suffer from bureaucracy but we have managed to become a centre of industry as well. The transition process was not easy, in 1918 there was very little industry in Austria.

You also hold the position of Chairman of the Federation of Austrian Industries. How do you perceive European economy?

European economy is weak for many reasons. The inflexible legal framework is one of the reasons for the weakness. We do not have sufficient freedom for entrepreneurs and companies and we are very much restricted in compliance, governance and the banking sector. The banking sector is a good example, as we are restricting commercial banks, we are still not addressing the functioning of dark pools, hedge funds, high frequency trades etc. I do not want to say that it is the fault of Brussels. In the end, the decisions are taken by the Council, so it is the fault of the representatives of different European nations. We need more Europe on one side, and less Europe on the other side. We need to finalize single market and we need to protect the four basic freedoms of the European Union – freedom of trade, freedom of movement, freedom of capital and freedom of services – as the basis of the European Union. I am an advocate of the European Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy, including European Army. We should have fewer restrictions for the economy, in labour law or in standardization.

However, I support environmental standards on the other hand.

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

I love to work with people and different cultures,

as they are enriching me and helping me to see issues from different angles. I learned that everything is about people, about working together to reach a common goal. I still have to learn to celebrate successes. Often, we take them for granted and after achieving them, we immediately start searching for new challenges.

By Linda Štucbartová české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com Inspiration from Kapsch – How to Manage Family Values in a Global Environment The Kapsch Culture Principle: Creating and appreciating values.

We believe strongly in upholding our values. This is not just something we say, but rather our values are cultivated and practiced every day by each and every employee.

We are the Kapsch Group: the employees, the management, executive board members and the owners of the Kapsch Group.

• Responsibility. We understand

responsibility as acting in the interests of the company and its employees, bearing the consequences and taking initiative.

• Transparency. We understand transparency as being open in dealing with information, as well as the traceability of our decisions and actions in daily communication.

• Respect. We understand respect as the basis of our cooperation, mutual recognition of our achievements and the opinion of others.

• Performance. We understand performance as the result of the dedication and the success of each individual employee who contributes to achieving our common goals.

• Freedom. We understand freedom as using and designing a defined scope of action and developing this through personal engagement.

• Family. We understand family to be pulling all on the same rope, strengthening our bonds and supporting one another.

• Dynamic. We understand dynamic as our determination toward continuous change and willingness to achieve newly established goals.

• Discipline. We understand discipline as the adherence to rules which govern our living and working together and the commitment to our values.

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C ulture

event

P hoto : V eronika R ose

and

M ichal T vrdík

Georg Kapsch, owner of the company carrying his name remembered his mother who taught him the recognition of the values like freedom and human rights respect

Kapsch supported a unique exhibition about

the Charter 77

Austrian technological holding Kapsch and the National Gallery in Prague joined forces to open the Charta Story exhibition in the Salm Palace on Hradčanské Square on 13th March. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary, the authors of the exhibition Eugen and Zuzana Brikcius collected materials and photographs revealing the life stories of the Charter 77 signatories, especially the story of Magor Jirous. The exhibition was opened by Georg Kapsch himself who then jointly with the Austrian ambassador Alexander Grubmayr organized a dinner for invited guests as the Charter 77 commemoration in the near Hložek from Žampach Palace.

The Salm Palace on Hradčanské Square will present the Charta Story exhibition till January 2019

Director of the National Gallery in Prague Jiří Fajt talking to Georg Kapsch Charta Story exhibition offers a unique view on the initiative through the life stories of its signatories. Besides Eugen and Zuzana Brikcius, the exhibition was co-authored by Ondřej Kohout, Eva Kohout-Voneš, Petr Blažek, and Veronika Tuckerová.

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Meeting also offered a possibility to discuss common interest of Austrian and Czech industry within EU. Marek Černoch, MEP, Georg Kapsch, also President of the Austrian Industry Federation, and Karel Feix, Director of Czech Kapsch.

C ulture

event

Naturally, the exhibition opening had to be joined by the legendary The Plastic People of the Universe and their saxophonist Vratislav Brabenec At the vernissage, business met with culture, from left: Karel Feix, head of Czech Kapsch, Linda Štucbartová, Journalist, Georg Kapsch, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

The guests are listening to the welcome speech by Georg Kapsch at the dinner, pointing out the importance and size of the Czech holding representation

Among the first visitors of the exhibition were also Georg Kapsch, Karel Feix from Czech Kapsch, and H.E. Alexander Grubmayr, Ambassador of Austria

From left: Karel Černý, Commercial Manager, Kapsch, Martina Procházková, Austrian Embassy, and David Šimoník, in charge of Czech toll system communication

Celebration connected to the Charta Story exhibition opening was visited also by (from left): Pavel Švagr, head of the Administration of State Material Reserves, Ivan Pilný and Jaroslav Faltýnek, MPs, and Zdeněk Žák, Advisor to the Czech President

Jan Ruml, Charter 77 signatory and minister of the interior after 1989

One of the opening speeches at the exhibition was delivered by its co-author Zuzana Brikcius

During the evening, there was space for informal discussions about the Czech Republic and Austria relations, commenting on by Pavel Kohout, Writer and H.E. Alexander Grubmayr, Ambassador of Austria

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gala event

PAVEL HLINKA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

From left: Pavel Hlinka, with his wife Anne, and Ing. Jiří Milský, Director and Chairman of the Board, Hotel Imperial Karlovy Vary and Vice-President, AHR ČR

Family Hlinka – Mrs. Anne, wife of Mr. Pavel Hlinka and his daughter Martina

From left: Pavel Hlinka and Vlastislav Šos, General Manager, Hotel Olympik

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From left: Prof. Doc. MUDr. Martin Bojar CSc., Neurologist and Pavel Hlinka with his wife Anne

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

From left: JUDr. Jan Filip, former General Manager of important Prague hotels with his wife Eva Filipová, Writer and Journalist and Pavel Hlinka with his wife Anne

gala event

Pavel Hlinka celebrated his 70th birthday at the end of the last year. After a successful career in the hotel and hospitality business which spanned more than 55 years, he decided to invite his colleagues and friends to the Hotel InterContinental Prague to thank them for their cooperation and support and to let them know that as of this year he will terminate his activities in the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic, in the Confederation of Commerce and Tourism as well as his activities in his own consulting company AHP Connections s.r.o. He asked his guests to refrain from bringing gifts and instead, he organized a collection for the Education Foundation of the Association of Hotels and Restaurants of the Czech Republic. This collection rendered more than 100 thousand Czech Crowns. Mr. Sanjiv Suri decided to double this sum and Pavel Hlinka then doubled the final amount. This means that the Education Foundation will receive almost 500 thousand Czech Crowns to support its activities which help young people from Children's Homes to prepare them for their future careers and start in life.

Veronika Záhorská, General Manager, Hotel Miramare Spa Royal in Luhačovice and Martin Plachý, Director and Chairman of the Board, Royal Spa Hotels and Pavel Hlinka

From left: Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Vienna House and Ing. Rostislav Vondruška, former Director, Czech Tourism

From left: Ivan Chadima, legendary hotel manager and JUDr. Václav Vodrážka, Owner of Special Service International Security Agency

From left: Prof. Ing. Jiří Jindra CSc., former Dean of Vysoká Škola Hotelová in Prague 8, Martin Plachý, Director and Chairman of the Board, Royal Spa Hotels, and Veronika Záhorská, General Manager, Hotel Miramare Spa Royal in Luhačovice

Ing. Ivana Němcová, Chairman of Education Foundation, AHR ČR and Ivan Chadima, legendary hotel manager

From left: Branko Pecič, Owner, Boss ČR, Pavel Hlinka, and Ing. Jan Kodeš, Winner of Wimbledon

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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gala event

From left: Pavel Hlinka, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, and Ing. Vladimír Dlouhý, President, Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic

Pavel Hlinka and Ing. Marta Nováková, President, Confederation of Trade and Tourism

Smooth Collie Jessie and Pavel Hlinka Many wonderful people who worked with Mr. Hlinka at the Hotel InterContinental Prague

From left: JUDr. Jan Filip, former General Manager of important Prague hotels, Ing. Antonín Jakubše, former president, ČSA, and Pavel Hlinka

From left: Martin Pastyřík, President, Sommelier Association in the Czech Republic, Eva Frindtová, Publisher, and Pavel Hlinka

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

From left: Ing. Václav Stárek, President, AHR ČR, Klára Stárek Zachariášová, Secretary General, AHR ČR, Ing. Ivana Němcová, Chairman of Education Foundation, AHR ČR, and Pavel Hlinka

From left: Pavel Hlinka, Tomáš Vrbík, Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic and Irena Bartoňová Pálková, Vice President, Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic

Want gender parity?

Here are the five questions you need to answer Our work has produced remarkable success on a consistent basis, however I continue to look around and the slow movement of women in positions of power, at all levels of the organizations, continues to persist.

This issue hunts me every day.

After analyzing what are the factors for success in the work we do, the answer became clear!

We have found five common elements that consistently surface.

The leaders of the companies we work with- particularly the CEOs are unrelenting when it comes to sharing and discussing some specific questions.

So the one most powerful thing to get this problem out of your “things that keep me awake “is your capacity and commitment to ask the following five questions. If you are not satisfied with the answers, challenge your team to seek a satisfactory response.

1) How often do you and your team discuss the impact of unconscious bias in decision making, including hiring and promoting talent?

2) How often are your executives getting training on decision making processes and impact of bias?

Are they following the research and data that helps manage these mental frames?

3) How linked is compensation of your senior talent to showing a deep and comprehensive program for recruitment, retention and promotion of women?

4) What type of strategic town hall meetings do they sponsor to promote free and open discussions from employees, so that management can evaluate your human capital and observe talent and passion for work?

5) Are they well versed on the STRATEGIC and FINANCIAL impact of gender integration in organization?

Give this idea a try… Human capital is your competitive advantage, you can’t afford to ignore them.

Elisabet Rodriguez Dennehy President Rodriguez and Associates LLC

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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An interview with Mirek Topolánek,

former Prime Minister, Expert Director, Eustream company

After P hoto : V ladimír W eiss

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

I believe that Mirek Topolánek and his involvement in politics does not represent a closed chapter.

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

How is the life after you leave the politics?

It is interesting that you have chosen the name of the chapter in my book as a title.

The topic that I have truly lived and had a chance to reflect upon. For a politician, it is really difficult to leave politics, particularly in an involuntary manner, when he is not ready to leave. On the other hand, which politician is ready to leave politics? Politicians feel that they are a messiah type figure, and that they should last in politics until the end of their days and then become canonised.

I also had the feeling that I left too early, before finishing my “masterpiece”. On top of that, the Czechs, being both the most egalitarian and envious small nation in Europe, desire that politicians either end up at the Unemployment Office or in the Moldau River. Czechs do not appreciate their elites, since they lost them due to several immigration waves, they ostracize them and fail to acknowledge them. The elites since 1989 belong to the last group.

So after falling from the top, I have not been rocking in a safety net or cuddling in the safe warm nest. People who looked like friends had the tendency to cross to the other side of the pavement, they did not look into my eyes and some of them reacted even worse…Then, one learns to appreciate those who did not like him but their behaviour did not get worse and even those who helped him. No one wants to employ you. No one wants to have anything in common with you. Just one example to illustrate. I had a discussion regarding the management contract in Slovenské elektrárny with the president of ENEL Company in Rome. He asked me disbelievingly? “Do you still wanna work”? Yes, Fulvio, I have to provide for my family. And so he tried again: “Wouldn’t just a consulting contract be sufficient?”

He did not believe me. I had to persuade him that it works like that and I simply had to work. Such story demonstrates a different point of view and attitude in some traditional West European countries.

A politician either becomes a senator or he is appointed to a prepared position. Or he is simply rich enough. People do not have to agree with that particular top politician, but they respect the fact that he has dedicated a part of his life to his country.

They perceive it as a recognition of his work and as a reward for his willingness to bear responsibility.

The second reason is much more pragmatic. When a politician gets a chance to contribute elsewhere, the higher is the probability that he will continue to mess in politics.

But there are exceptions, such as Silvio Berlusconi. My story has a typical Czech ending. One investigative journalist had found out, “leaked the information on the

website”, Italian journals printed out the story, Italians got scared and that was the end to my contract. Funnily enough, I have returned in another way, due to the partial ownership of EPH company in Slovenské elektrárny, so I have returned, albeit in another time and indirectly.

So what have been you doing?

I left for abroad to clear my head in my private, civil and working life. Actually, I had to learn again how to work on a PC, how to use a printer, scanner, Excel and PowerPoint.

And how to stop commanding…You are quite powerless when in top politics.

Around you they do everything on your behalf, they hold your hand and create a feeling of being indispensable. You need to learn how to live a normal civil life, go shopping, walk your kids to a kindergarten. Stories how politicians do not know how to buy a tram ticket are far from being exaggerated.

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

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

I confess that after two weeks I was in panic due to not working, and after one month I felt powerless due to what was going on.

After two months I was bored to death and hungry to face new challenges. Then I had to return. No one would believe that it took a year until I managed to get rid of the inner feeling of responsibility “for the country and for the people”.

Perhaps it sounds exaggerated. You are right, to get rid of being restless and learn how to get rest was the hardest work.

You run at the full speed in some kind of a never-ending race, you work 15 hours per day, you sleep three hours, you are under permanent pressure without the liberating feeling of victory. And suddenly nothing…emptiness. I would compare my situation to a professional athlete. The moment he ceases his full engagement in sport, including daily workouts and he does not start doing something else, he starts to have health issues, problems with alcohol and he cannot make the transition. I was aware of all risks and I made a decision not to be a failure. Besides,

when I was leaving politics, I was really severely sick. Next to common civilization diseases, such as high cholesterol, diabetes, high fat level in blood, I had lung problems leading to beginning of sepsis. Until then I did not have time and strength to take care of my personal problems. So I decided to commit a complete “brainwash” and change the life style.

Suddenly, instead of hundreds of people, who had been shaking hands with me, I was surrounded by few individuals, who have accompanied me throughout my whole life. I have also changed hobbies.

When I was 54, I started to play icehockey and I still play it, I have discovered a new bunch of people and I really enjoy it.

What is your position in an ice-hockey team?

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

But let me get back to my “return” to life.

I experienced one particular moment feeling as a craftsman exam in a civil life. That was the time, when I was able to use email, phone, DHL and scanner to buy a car on a leasing contract and that car was waiting for me in front of my life after I returned from Italy.

I was proud then. Today, I see the episode ridiculous.

What about a job?

That was a bit complicated and it had its own dynamics. After I entered politics I passed the management of my rather successful companies on and later sold them. I was being naïve and I thought this is the way it is supposed to be done. Today, those who are currently in power are proving me wrong. They are in charge of big companies and simultaneously involved in top politics.

I do not trust them. Based on my own experience, I believe that if someone is to perform a task on 150%, he cannot have any other responsibility. However, then I had nowhere to return…At last, there were few people who respected me, who were aware of my expert experience, contacts and reputation. I delivered some good work on consulting contracts; those eventually resulted in a management position in Ostrava. I had to travel a lot. Dozens of trips to Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Far East. Especially in Africa, many countries were not considered safe and so people do not like to travel there often.

I was in Angola, Uganda, Ghana, South Sudan where the war broke out just after signing a contract, North Sudan, Rwanda, Ethiopia.

Then came Egypt, Moldova, Vietnam, Ecuador, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Turkey

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

You cannot possibly imagine the difference.

There is a special bed, shower, comfortable seats in the special air plane for the prime minister and there is a red carpet awaiting you on the arrival. You do not have to take care of anything and no one searches you nor touches you at the airport. I think I could write a book “Pains and pleasures flying in economy class” with the subtitle “How to become a terrorist fast and easy”.

As an experienced traveller, I try to secure the business class for the poor – the emergency seat. Now, you have to pay extra. Instead of the airline companies paying me for bearing the responsibility in case of an emergency, they charge me extra.

There are security checks everywhere. Barefoot, with falling trousers I show my hands for the anti-explosive detection test. Usama Bin Ladin won.

The failure of the Western civilization is evident. We made it difficult for ourselves, since terrorist attacks nowadays take place in a different form, in different places, as we could witness in Berlin. My book on travelling would include the stories about how I was about to be arrested, denied a flight, where I was checked, touched or had to take my shoes off. As I work in Bratislava, I tend to perceive most of the travels within Europe just as commuting to work. I learned how not to get disturbed. I have my own rituals, I tend to write a lot, read or listen to music. Whenever I feel the bump as the airplane touches the runway, I feel I need an extra hour to complete all the tasks. My wife pressures me to wear compress socks as I turned 60 as embolism prevention, but I tend to disregard it. Yes, I still enjoy travelling.

and so on… I enjoyed it and I was bringing a visible added value. And now I could make the cut and use the fairy tale sentence: and suddenly I met Dan Křetínský. (laughter) Dan had the courage to face the Czech stereotypes - he gave me a big chance and responsibility.

At first, I started as the Chairman of the Association of District Heating, then I covered Slovakia, being at NAFTA company. During the last two years, I have been a member of the Board and Expert Director of the Foreign Relations at Eustream company, a key

38

player in the gas transit in Europe. I do not travel outside Europe, but constantly within Europe. By the way, coming from Prague Chodov to Prague Holešovice is as demanding as travelling to Bulgaria or Romania. The work is truly interesting; I am grateful to Dan for the opportunity.

I am able to devote myself to the energy industry as the topic that I have been pursuing for my whole life and I have my freedom.

I make my living and I am fulfilled.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Do you miss politics?

It is rather abroad where I am asked this question. I say: "I am not powerful anymore, I am only a little bit influential.”

That is a big difference. I do not miss politics. I miss the power. I admit that when I was active in politics, I did not know how to make use of it. On the other hand, gas and the connected issues are political and geopolitical. In this sense, I have never ceased being involved in politics.

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

business events

CZECH BUSINESS CLUB

Discussion with Peter Palečka, Member of the Board, Komerční banka, a.s.

Degustation of wines

Michael Cukier, Palbric Art Foundation and Eliška Coolidge Hašková, Lecturer

Peter Palečka, Member of the Board, Komerční banka, a.s.

From left: Jan Klápa, CEO, Media Investment and Peter Mikula, CEO, Vinland

Degustation of Canadian Maple Liqueur

Mr. Laurent Laval

Jiří Krejča, President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

39

CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

P hoto : M iguel A lonso

CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC BUSINESS BREAKFAST with T omáš SALOMON, C hairman & CEO, Č eská spořitelna

In its 20th anniversary year, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic opened its series of debating sessions with invited guest speakers on 30 January 2017 with Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors & CEO of Česká spořitelna, a.s. as guest of honour. The event attracted members and guests of the Chamber from diverse industries, which led to a lively discussion. Hotel Savoy Prague offered a most pleasant ambience as well as fine services.

From left: Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors & CEO, Česká spořitelna, a.s. and Jiří Krejča, President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Jana Hauserová, Cluster Sales Manager, K+K Hotels and Pietro Andrea Podda, Senior Lecturer, Anglo-American University

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From left: Prof. Jiří Fárek and Vít Svoboda, Managing Director, IXTENT s.r.o.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Eliška Hašková Coolidge, Lecturer

From left: Jiří Krejča, President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic and Petr Břenek, Board Director, PGP Terminal, a.s.

CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

From left: Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors & CEO, Česká spořitelna, a.s., Josef Svoboda, Managing Director, G4S Secure Solutions (CZ) a.s., and Radek Moravec, Country Manager, McCAIN FOODS Czech Republic, s.r.o.

From left: Mr. Čestmír Zbuzek and Tomáš Říha, Deputy Director, STEM/MARK, a.s. & Board Director, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Edvard Outrata, Senator (Retired), Past President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Zdeněk Vacek, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and Pavlína Řehořová, Office Manager, Payment4U, a.s.

From left: Jan Vrátník, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ERSTE Corporate Finance, a.s., Radek Moravec, Country Manager, McCAIN FOODS Czech Republic, s.r.o., and Jiří Krejča, President, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Kamil Blažek, Partner, Kinstellar & Chairman of the Steering Committee, Association for Foreign Investment

Tomáš Salomon, Chairman of the Board of Directors & CEO, Česká spořitelna, a.s. addressing the participants

Marek Růžička, Business Development Manager, Mark2 Corporation Czech, a.s.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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CANADIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Vít Svoboda, Managing Director, IXTENT s.r.o.

Tomáš Říha, Deputy Director, STEM/MARK a.s. & Board Director, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic (to the left: Roman Bělor, Director, Prague Spring Music Festival)

Mark Anderson, Marketing Director, University of New York in Prague & Board Director, Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic

Pietro Andrea Podda, Senior Lecturer, Anglo-American University

Tomáš Hajdu, Owner, PrimaBuilding s.r.o.

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Andreas Antonopoulos, Rector, University of New York in Prague

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Viktor Lekhman, Founder, LEKVI Group

From left: Radek Moravec, Country Manager, McCAIN FOODS Czech Republic, s.r.o. and Jan Vrátník, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ERSTE Corporate Finance, a.s.

New Elai lecturers from Petra Hrušková

For the past five years, Petra Hrušková hes been recruiting top talent for Google, one of the most attractive and innovative employers around the world.

She currently works as Staffing Business Partner for EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa). Previously from Paris and now from Prague, Petra leads an international team of recruiters.

She has personally found, hired Workshop Winning and helped start a career of hundreds of people at Google.

People Strategy “Mandatory training for everyone in HR.” Petra is an expert on corporate This quote by one of the participants culture and talent management. tells it all. Is it still difficult for your company to attract extraordinary talent? Are the best ones leaving you for your competitors? Then you realize your HR strategy and culture directly affect your busines success.

Loyal and motivated employees who are eager to work will instantly translate into your competitive advantage on the market. Get inspired by those whose People Strategy led to success and now everyone wants to work for them.

Daniel Franc

Workshop Teams 2.0

“Great inspiration for setting a team culture, evaluation and processes. And you can apply all of that even if your business isn't as big as Google's.”

Top-down approach to teamwork is proving to be less and less effective.

In the fast changing world, rigid organizational structure is loosing its ground and growing autonomy of employees is yielding results. The most successful teams master the art of manouvering between chaos and order. Workshop Teams 2.0 will help you increase productivity of your team work and cultivate the culture of trust and responsibility among the members of your team.

Daniel is the co-founder of the largest global program of community education for developers - Google Developer Groups. He is currently leading an international team of experts that takes care of its future development and also manages cooperation between Google and external technical communities. As a consultant of global cooperation he used to develop teamwork skills management in dozen of companies from the Fortune 50 and Fortune 500. Daniel is engaged in education actively and publishes about it internationally. In addition, Daniel Franc is also a successful entrepreneur. He founded and led several technological companies in the US and Czech Republic

Elai also featuring JAN ZADÁK

Jan Zadák is one of the highest ranking Czech managers globally. As Executive Vice President for Global Sales he was, until recently, one of four most powerful men in Hewlett-Packard, responsible for leading hundred thousand employees, delivering the largest projects, developing business network and cultivating relations with the most important international clients. Spending more than two decades in top international management he has unique experience in leadership, strategic planning, improving sales and running business on day-to-day basis from around the world. Lifelong career in IT business gives him exceptional insight into the issues of digitalization and automation and their impact on business.

Workshop Leadership for Better Results in Digital Age

Are you ready to take advantage of the new opportunities? The world is in the middle of unprecedented transformation accelerated by digital technologies. This rapid change brings unique challenges but also endless opportunities. Your success depends on your readiness. True leaders need to have clear vision, strategy and agenda for their organization and teams.

New ELAI workshop Leadership for Better Results in Digital Age will help you start developing it and prepare you to succeed in digital future.

Petr Šimůnek

Petr Šimůnek is Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Czech, which he brought to the Czech Republic in 2011. He is a well-known media figure, being active commentator for more than twenty years on various platforms, including print, radio and TV. He specializes in economic journalism for which he received Czech National Bank’s Governor Award. He regularly hosts radio shows ‘Den podle’ and Sunday’s economic program ‘Ekoforum’ on Czech Radio. Previously he acted as Editor-in-Chief of Hospodářské noviny and Deputy Editor of MF Dnes.

Workshop The Art of Delivering Key Message

“Go, Petr is a true inspiration!”

I must have this! Your success in business increasingly depends on your ability to wow customers. The most popular brands nowadays are built on an intriguing and well thought out story. The same is true for individuals. Convincing value proposition which leaves your audience with key messages can skyrocket your career. Petr’s interactive workshop The Art of Delivering Key Message will help you find your story and structure it the way that will convince even the biggest sceptics.

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discussion event From left: Jakub Jirsa, Director, Institute of Philosophy and Religion Studies FF UK and PhDr. Mgr. Martin Šimsa, Ph.D, Faculty of Philosophy of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem

Discussion on Justice The Centre for Political Philosophy, Ethics and Religion at Charles University, last year founded by prof. Tomáš Halík and Dr. Luděk Sekyra, organized a discussion about the relation between justice and reciprocity in the works of the one of the most significant thinkers of the 20 th century, John Rawls. The ideas of this Harvard Professor and the question of the kind of moral and political principals available to contribute to the higher cohesion of polarised liberal societies were discussed by the leading experts from the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Pavol Hardoš, Lecturer at IESIR - Institute of European Studies and International Relations

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Matěj Cibík, FF UK

discussion event

Jan Baňas, M.A., Ph.D., Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia

Matěj Cibík, FF UK

From left: Pavol Hardoš, Lecturer at IESIR - Institute of European Studies and International Relations, Matěj Cibík, FF UK, and Jan Baňas, M.A., Ph.D., Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia

From left: Jakub Jirsa, Director, Institute of Philosophy and Religion Studies FF UK and Matěj Cibík, FF UK

From left: PhDr. Mgr. Martin Šimsa, Ph.D, Faculty of Philosophy of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Luděk Sekyra, Chairman of the Board, Sekyra Group, Jakub Jirsa, Director, Institute of Philosophy and Religion Studies FF UK, Jan Baňas, M.A., Ph.D., Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia, Matěj Cibík, FF UK, and Pavol Hardoš, Lecturer at IESIR - Institute of European Studies and International Relations

From left: PhDr. Mgr. Martin Šimsa, Ph.D, Faculty of Philosophy of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem and Luděk Sekyra, Chairman of the board, Sekyra Group

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

45

An

interview with

P rof . E va Z ažímalová , P resident , A cademy

of

S ciences

P hoto : S tanislava K yselová

Creativity and the Ability to Improvise Represent the Main Assets of Czech Science Meeting Mrs. Zažímalová took place at the representative building of the Academy of Sciences at Národní třída. Noble surroundings were suitable for the noble appearance of the Czech top scientist. Mrs. Zažímalová, extremely open and welcoming, showed the exact mode of scientific thinking. I understood to what extent the world of science is unique and different, as well as precise, defined and at the same time constantly challenging and proving itself. I left fascinated not only by accurate statements, but also very exact answers and capability to address issues not only in a complex manner, but also context. We discussed current situation in the science as well as its past; we also explored various forms of diversity in science and we touched upon the intersection between science and business.

Mrs. Zažímalová, we are meeting in the beautiful historical premises of the Academy of Sciences. How is the science doing in the current, modern times, in 2017?

Science represents a continuous process; any major leap happens only due to major discoveries.

From this perspective, we cannot say that 2017 will represent any decisive milestone. There are many new discoveries happening and scientists from the Czech Republic are involved as well. As some of the latest discoveries I can mention the development of a potential treatment for the aggressive form of breast cancer at the Biotechnological Institute or the article from colleagues at the Institute of Physics published in the Science Magazine about the diffraction of electrons on nanocrystalline materials. The list could be much longer, however, these two issues have captured my attention, but they are not a representative selection by any means.

When we compare the Czech science to the international one, how are we doing? Are there reasons to be proud and in fact, are we proud enough?

We could spend plenty of time debating this issue and we could mention some sociological as well as historical aspects.

I believe that when it comes to the amount

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of financing available for scientists, in case of being funded only from Czech, not international resources, we have many reasons to be proud. In many disciplines, particularly those experimental ones, our scientists are much more efficient than their colleagues in the West with regards to the money invested. The lack of financing can truly represent a breakthrough limit in experimental disciplines. I have already mentioned in previous interviews that creativity and capability to improvise are our main assets but unless you have basic financing for the necessary methodical background, one cannot achieve results only due to being more creative or smarter. The money is at the forefront, which is also true for science. The more we invest in science, the more the science will bring. But it is not true all the time and in the absolute amount.

However, a reasonable evaluation of science that at first it assesses the quality of science and only then correlates quality with the funding, is always very crucial. I understand that each institution which is paid by public finances is obliged to make an overall quality evaluation of own activities and efficiency.

Should we leave money aside, what else would you wish for the Czech science?

The most free environment possible…I do

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

not want to say that currently we do not have the free environment. We have been experiencing a great degree of freedom in research during last years and decades.

However, taking into consideration when I was born, I still remember how manipulated abused science was. In the current times and in disciplines that I am able to judge, this is not happening. The free environment is essential. If you want to have a great and rich harvest, then you must plant the seeds the same way. When I mention planting, I mean the basic, curiosity driven research. And such type of research cannot be planned precisely in advance. The extent and direction of further research and experiments should be guided by the very experts in the field who know the methods and model experimental materials or the sources as it is the case of social sciences and humanities. I consider any planning of basic research nonsense.

Even during the totalitarian regime, many scientists were capable of writing projects or at that time “basic research plans”, so they could research whatever they wanted. This is true about disciplines where politics did not interfere. This is not true about history, sociology, law and so on. As far as natural sciences are concerned, the politics interfered in genetics, the crusade against mendelismmorganism had influenced the discipline

An

interview with

that is today called molecular biology and genetics. The freedom of research is for the basic, curiosity driven research the most sacred quality.

So how do you perceive the current discussion that recommends to support natural and technical sciences to the detriment of humanities?

I maintain that there is only one science.

Someone does it better, someone is worse.

If we take the perspective of disciplines and their division, it is not possible to claim what remains science and what does not. Someone needs only a computer and the most part of invested money goes to salaries, someone else needs expensive experimental devices, infrastructure, needs to plant or to cultivate experimental material which is then reflected in the investment part. But I would never dare claim that one discipline is better or worse when compared to one another. That is generally valid. As I have already mentioned, humanities and social sciences were very much negatively effected by the former regime and it takes time to build a discipline. Traditionally, we have excelled in physics and chemistry and we belong to the top ones in the world but those were disciplines that were not affected by the former regime. They have managed to build both background and establish tradition. In many humanities and social discipline, there was a much larger presence of “social sciences” and so it can be said that these disciplines are still in the process of recovering. It would not be fair to claim that these disciplines are worse, they simply have different roots. I have never perceived a contradiction between humanities and social sciences on one hand and natural and technical sciences on the other hand, but I am not claiming they are both the same. Each scientific discipline has its own foundation, thinking process and methods on which it is based. The processes differ and I sometimes tend to joke that the brain of my colleagues from humanities and social sciences might be simply organised differently. They simply have different reasoning. They tend to consider more the impact of social networks and relations and their specific possible influence on the outcomes with respect to particular schools and their interdependence. In natural and technical sciences, I plan an experiment and based on the obtained data I interpret results, one way or the other. I make statistics and there are clear results, either confirming or not. At the Academic Council, it takes time for all of us to agree, even though we have the same goal. Such diverse thinking can be very enriching. I will mention an example from my discipline, on the border between chemistry and biology. We have started using mathematic evaluation for certain biological or biochemical experiments.

P rof . E va Z ažímalová , P resident , A cademy

It took us six months to align with our colleague, an expert mathematician who spoke “a different language” and kept asking interesting, from our viewpoint a bit “trivial” questions. to which we had not always an unambiguous answer. I could name dozens such examples. Diversity is truly very precious and real thought-provoking debate can often bring the change of a paradigm in the given discipline.

You have touched upon diversity of thought, my favourite subject for a discussion.

What about other kinds of diversity, the gender one, the age one and also the one of different nations? Let us start with the gender diversity.

The representation of men and women differs according to a discipline. In physics, mathematical and geological disciplines, women are not as represented as in humanities or social sciences. But let me make one thing clear – there are always some women represented and they are truly exceptional. In disciplines such as history of art or in humanities or social sciences in general, the proportion of women is more significant. In my discipline, biology and biochemistry, I see the representation of women balanced and I personally have never felt discriminated based on gender.

However, women’s biological setting and work-life blend being a mother and a scientist while having small children, is truly challenging. The issue is how to make life easier for working mothers. I support the idea that it would be great to offer certain financial compensation so women can afford to arrange professional care, for children and the household. On the other hand, I do not want to impose my ideas on young families as how to run their lives, it is upon each and every individual to make a decision.

Partial or shared work schemes being often quoted as a potential remedy do not seem to be the solution for the world of science…

Science cannot be a part-time job, but it is possible to make some work from home. In humanities and social sciences this can be done more easily, in natural sciences you still have to come to a laboratory to carry out experiments, however, everything else can be done from home – being reading literature, writing and evaluating protocols, working on publications. I personally used to do it this way, my bedroom served as an office. If you are fully engaged in your scientific work, any thinking about a partial scheme becomes irrelevant.

Now, let us turn to the age diversity.

Recently there was a discussion about the need to support young PhD. students. Are young people running away from science?

If someone has a true desire for research, even harsh conditions can be overcome.

of

S ciences

I discussed this issue with my friend and colleague from Cambridge University. We agreed that our motivation to pursue science had its origins in our families. Both of us simply could not imagine doing anything else. In my case, this was particularly true during the time when I was preparing myself for a post-graduate degree and my husband and I barely made ends meet. Then I left for a maternity leave, I returned just prior to the Velvet Revolution and in early nineties, there was a sharp price liberalization. Personally, I had the feeling of lack of finances for several decades. The most important issue is that finances should not drop bellow a certain level but again, it depends on each and every individual. Some colleagues come already from wealthy families so they are not under the pressure of having their salary as the only income possible. On the other hand, those couples that engage in science and have a post-gradual scholarship as the only income and on top of that they wish to establish a family, they truly face challenging conditions. Overall, age diversity differs, discipline to discipline, institute to institute.

Some institutes can afford to support younger scientists, some cannot. The rule that mixed teams not only according to gender, but also according to age, function the best, is also true in science.

Last but not least, what about international diversity? Are we capable of attracting scientists from abroad?

Here we come back to the issue of finance.

We are successful in attracting scientists from Slovakia but for me it is a rather a sad fact that they are considered foreigners.

Then we attract scientists from Ukraine.

As far as colleagues from the West are concerned, the situation is more challenging.

Often, colleagues from southern European countries are interested in living in the Czech Republic and they find resources we provide sufficient. Most scientific institutes cannot afford costs related to inviting an expert scientist from abroad, only few institutes such as ELI-Beamlines, Biocev, CEITEC or the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry can afford to invite individuals.

These institutes have resources either from European funds or from license schemes, as it is the case of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry.

However, I perceive the environment is becoming more international as there are already several institutes where English is the working language. The better the institute, the easier it is to attract colleagues from abroad.

By Linda Štucbartová

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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P hoto : A rchive

An interview with Jiří Kočárek, M.D. Ph.D.

Head Physician at Urology Department, Military University Hospital Prague

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

I was really pleased to get the award. I am really happy to see that patients of the Military University Hospital appreciate our work. However, it is rather a big commitment for the future. Today, we are already facing the challenge of too many new patients coming in, since everyone “wants” to have

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own surgery being done at the best hospital.

Every day, we need to fight the challenge concerning our capacity to accept patients to a ward, the number of people we are able to perform a surgery on given the capacity of central surgery theatres and then the availability of hospital beds. Within the context of the situation, we are continuously suffering the lack of nursing staff. During the last six months, on monthly basis, we have repeatedly had to address the issue whether we’d have enough nurses to secure running of the department for the upcoming month. I do not want to complain but it would be great to have the opportunity to offer some extra benefits to the staff in “the best hospital”, so we would have more time to dedicate to medical issues. On the other hand, I do not find challenging to be able to balance managing the department, caring for patients and teaching students, as I enjoy doing it all and to a certain extent I do not consider it work in the proper sense of the word. Teaching and passing own my own experience to younger colleagues is rather

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

a nice duty. There is one thing that comes to mind and that is gender imbalance. That is a real problem. If you ask me how much time I spend at work, I will not answer directly, as my wife could come across the article.

However, she got used to the fact that during the weekdays, my family does not get to see me much. I try to devote weekends to my family and so I start working only after my children fall asleep.

Lately, there is a hot topic related to young Czech medical doctors leaving for abroad.

You had the opportunity of internships in the US, France and Germany. Have you personally considered leaving the country? And leaving aside remuneration, are the conditions similar when you compare current situation in hospitals in the Czech Republic and abroad?

I consider not only young doctors but also other personnel leaving for abroad due to financial conditions a big problem. Lack of qualified Czech doctors makes us employ doctors coming from countries East of the

I nterview

Czech Republic who are willing to work for “the Czech salary”. I believe that every doctor should have the opportunity to take part in several internships abroad. I was particularly lucky to have the opportunity to visit some outstanding urological departments both in Europe and in the US. In a certain way, I still benefit from these stays, regarding not only practical experience but also personal contacts. I would not say that I have not considered leaving for abroad, but particularly after 1989, such thinking was less frequent.

And as to the question of comparing the Czech medicine, I cannot compare the total discipline as such. However, Czech urology and Czech robotics surgery are comparable to the best departments in the West.

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

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

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

I have been interested in robotic surgery since 2005. Since then, the robotics technology has developed and today we are equipped already with the fourth generation of robotic systems. Robotic surgery is nowadays the most sophisticated technology used in the surgery medicine. Twelve years ago, we walked over the doorstep leading to a new era characterized by artificial intelligence

becoming an interface between a surgeon’s hand and a patient’s body, a move that was unprecedented. Despite some negative opinions in the beginning and due to the rising number of publications, robotic surgery has become an integral part not only of urology, but also surgery as such, gynaecology as well as of other disciplines.

It was proven that technical advantages of robotic machines can overcome many limitations of classical and laparoscopic surgery (operative) and that they considerably advance the learning process.

The undisputed benefit for both patients and those who cover the costs is represented by limiting traumatization of tissues during the surgery, lowering the possibility of complications, lowering blood loss and the need for blood transfusion, lowering after-surgery pain and discomfort, shorter hospitalization period, faster recovery and return to a normal life. In the upcoming years, we can therefore expect a fast development of new robotic centres. Such trend will be supported by the increasing interest of our patients to use robotic technologies during surgeries and also the new competing products from producers of robotic systems into any particular surgery discipline.

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

The prostate carcinoma is according to the statistics the highest tumour disease in developed countries. It is a disease that has also the highest incidents of detected cases.

Men usually do not like to go and have checkups and therefore, they underestimate the need for the prostate to be checked. They feel healthy, they do not see value in the importance of prevention or they do not know anything about it. Therefore, a number of Czechs having the prostate cancer will continue to rise. Despite the common claim, prostate cancer is not linked to a senior age.

All men reaching the age around 40 should pay attention to preventive care. Men aged 50 and older should have a regular check-up once a year, either by a general practitioner or a specialized urologist. In order to detect the disease early, sometimes a simple blood test is sufficient, since the experts are looking for a specific antigen, which if increased, can signal the prostate cancer. It is true that early detected prostate carcinoma can be cured completely with the use of robotic technology.

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

There are more than 3000 new incidents of kidney tumours detected each year which per capita truly places us at the sad first place in the world. Thanks to a wide-spread network of ultrasound and CT devices, more than a half of these diagnosed cases are at the early stage where we can perform a resection of a tumour and keep the healthy part of the kidney. Leaving the maximum functional kidney parenchyma has a big importance for patient’s health and favourably influences the active life span. Naturally, robotic technology is very much helping us in these types of surgeries. In general, we can claim that in the early stage kidney cancer does not pose any complications. As the tumour grows, there can be an incidence of blood in the urine. This is the most frequent symptom that brings a patient to see his doctor.

Sometimes, the bleeding occurs without any other symptoms. It is important to state that each time, the incidence of blood in urine should be checked. The next common syndrome is the pain in the lumbar area or sometimes a palpable tumour. Anyone having a symptom mentioned above should see his general practitioner or a urologists.

The early detection of a tumour gives us a higher probability for complete recovery.

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

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

When it comes to alcohol, I recommend to drink in moderation, which is unfortunately lacking sometimes.

By Linda Štucbartová

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

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AMBASSADORS WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

Gender Advisor for International Military Staff at NATO

P hoto : A rchive

How do you perceive the today’s world?

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

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

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

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

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

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

NATO’s main purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members through political and military means.

That purpose is as relevant today as it has ever been. The most important mission of NATO in the 21st century is to promote the democratic values and to encourage further cooperation in defence and security issues to prevent any conflict and to adapt to a rapidly changing security environment.

What is your current task at NATO? I currently work as the International Military Staff Gender Advisor at NATO Headquarters.

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

What was your biggest career challenge?

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

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

Gender means both – men and women, boys and girls. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security adopted unanimously by the NATO member nations in 2000 recognises the disproportionate impact that war and conflict have on women and children and highlights the fact that historically women

AMBASSADORS WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT have been left out of peace processes and stabilisation efforts. The resolution and the other seven related resolutions call for a full and equal participation of women at all levels ranging from conflict prevention to post-conflict reconstruction.

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

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

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

Linda´s purpose is to unleash potential in individuals and organizations. She enjoys 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. come across as too critical, in the Czech Armed Forces there is less and less of the ‘First Ever’ to concur and women are an integral part of the service.

As for the best practice for NATO, I would suggest calling for flexibility, proactivity and also the opportunity to share experiences.

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

Can you predict your next career step?

I have no idea what my next assignment will be and that is what I like about the military life – the challenge of a new task.

I have still two more years to serve at the NATO Headquarters and guessing what my options may be is too premature. Anytime I actually made plans for next step in my

career I have received an offer I couldn't refuse and you know what that means.

Not making a reference to Godfather but knowing that such an offer will never come again. I hope that in my next assignment I will be able to use the experience and expertise I have learnt when working for NATO and build on it.

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

Managing the work and personal life is essential to deliver the best of you, at any job.

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

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

Besides that, I have always had friends and other activities which distract me from getting too much into the military routine.

Although I am military, it doesn’t fully define me. There are many other layers that make me who I am as well.

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

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

By Linda Štucbartová

With OSG SR WPS Ambassador Marriet Schuurman and representatives of JAF (Jordan Armed Forces) and NATO on the occasion of launch of Jordan Trust Fund III to support the recruitment of female officers and gender training, Amman, Jordan.

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

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

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

P hoto :A rchive

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

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When looking at the Middle East and the lack of stability we have been experiencing during the last couple years, you realise that the Israel’s geographical location serves as a buffer. As a buffer from the extreme wave of terror to cover the entire area. The fact that Israel is stable and does not allow the terror to get inside its boarders truly serves as a physical buffer. And particularly these days, there are many ways that the world can benefit from our experience and I am going to mention a few examples. In 1991, Israel was attacked by Sadam Hussein during the Gulf War. We were standing on the roof tops, watching scuds being fired toward our cities. It was then when Israel came to understanding that the real targets for the terror groups - no matter where they are – are the public, the civilians. Despite the fact that there are strategic facilities in every country, the number one aim of terror groups and terror countries is the civilians. That is why Israel established a body called the Home Front Command that deals with civilians, gives them methods of protecting themselves and issues regulations. After tragedies in France and in Germany, we see that these countries lack similar mechanisms, so there is a lot of chaos, misunderstanding and speculation, which is the worst. Speculation often leads to fear. When you have a body, such as Home Front Command, this body conveys messages to civilians, for example, go to shelters, now you can leave the shelters or there will be an update in one hour. Europe can obviously learn this from Israel. This of course requires discipline from the population. So in Israel, we have an annual exercise. During this exercise, every Israeli is required to identify the nearest shelter, whether at work, school, university or at home. By doing this, people are aware and not confused when something happens. The second critical thing is the country division into zones. Each city, each village, has a code number. When that code is being activated, only the residents of the area will be required

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

to behave in a special way. By the way, this can be applied both to natural disasters and rocket attacks. My personal example is that I live in a city called Rosh Ha'ayin and the code number is 170. When that number is activated, mentioned for example on the radio, TV or through sirens, all people in the 170 zone go to shelters, while the rest of the country can behave normally. We do not see that in Europe today. There is a very strong mood of tension after the attacks, everybody is locked at home and it is hard to resume life. In Israel, we also have a red colour application for the mobile phones. This application is synchronised with the alert and siren system. As you can see, there is a 219 area and on October 24, there was a rocket fired from Gaza to the 219 area. So the instructions with regards what to do were valid for that area. Likewise, we had another attack on October 6 on the 228 area, and on October 5 on 220. This application also mentions when the Home Front Command drill and emergency sirens testing take place.

The system is much wider and our expertise can be shared with Europe and the rest of the world.

By the way, I had the opportunity to verify Avital’s words the very next day. While strolling Tel Aviv on a bike, I had the opportunity to witness a spontaneous yet perceived as an organised and efficient reaction of people quickly looking for cover and escaping open public spaces in a situation that eventually proved to be only a café fight but originally was mistaken for a terror attack.

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

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

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

If you look around, there was not any peace process that has had a Western or a European involvement and has succeeded. It just did not exist. That confirms the big gap between what can be seen from here and what can be seen from other Western countries. Arab spring is an example. In Israel, no one has referred to it as the Arab spring. We never see the spring of a radical organisation such as Muslim brotherhood coming to power. We knew the charter, we knew the agenda and therefore we never called it a spring. So what if one million people went to Tahrir square, but there were still 89 million people who stayed at home! And Muslim brotherhood is affiliated with Hamas and vice versa. Their agenda is certainly not peace, brotherhood and love for all humankind.

We knew that because over the last 15 years we have been attacked by 15 000 rockets. As you can see, different perspectives are very confusing and misleading. So we are back to the question where is the Western world and its foreign policy in the Middle East.

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

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

The equation is whenever fire is opened, we will retaliate. There were no meetings, parliament discussions and further waiting necessary, as we are here and we need to protect this boarder.

So we were shaping the situation, preventing

the escalation. This is our experience and it has worked.

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

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

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

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

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

By Linda Štucbartová

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LIFE STORIES

T he P ower of G ratitude and P urpose

P hoto : A rchive

One day a couple of years ago, I was alone with my eldest daughter and we were having dinner together. She was telling me that she was unhappy with her French teacher, who was over 60 years old and came to class and spoke for the entire 50-minute session in a monotone voice and then went away. There was silence at the table for a few minutes before she said, “He is not teaching me French, is he? He is teaching me patience.” My eyes popped out from hearing such wisdom coming from a 15-year-old.

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

As I reflected upon it more, I realized that I too was creating and exaggerating stress in my mind by repeatedly thinking of the negatives from the past and reinforcing them. This substantially reduced my resilience and led to what I now call “the toilet bowl strategy”. My life was like a brick wall with a hundred bricks, all of them perfectly aligned except for one or two that were a little crooked or out of place. I was spending my whole life focusing on the bricks not in place and paying absolutely no attention to the ninety-eight that were perfectly aligned. I realized that the

LIFE STORIES And that’s what I did. I started shifting the focus of my attention from the negative thoughts in my mind to recognizing all the wonderful things I have in my life: 1. I was so fortunate to be born in a family where values and character were pivotal and fundamental to existence (I still remember stories from my childhood which my grandmother told me about kings that would always keep their word even if they had to lay down their lives for it).

2. I have four wonderful children, each one very different from the others, all of them very beautiful in the core of their beings, and each possessing exceptional talent but, more importantly, exceptional character.

3. I am grateful for the unbelievable team that I have had the great fortune to work with for the past 25 years (trust was always the basis of our relationship and some of us will celebrate 25 years with the company this year).

4. I have two ex-wives who put me through what at the time I called hardship, but now I realize that they taught me so many lessons that I would definitely not be the person I am today without these lessons – they were my teachers.

5. I am so grateful for the caring extended family and the amazing friends in my life, but above all I am grateful for the opportunity to share the little that I have with those who have not been as fortunate.

If I were to go back and live my life all over again, I would not change anything at all…

I have realized that the more I am appreciative of and grateful for the life I lead, the happier I am. That if I keep my attention on gratitude, I do not see the one or two bricks that are out of place on my wall.

I have found that my brain has only a single track, so if I fill it with positive thoughts, there is no space left for the negative. Earlier, I was filling it with so many negative thoughts that there was no space for gratitude. I now focus on the ninety-eight perfect bricks and am a very Happy man.

The happier I am, the more I share. The more I share, the happier I am. INSPIRING HAPPINESS has become the purpose of my life and that of Zatisi Group. Inspiring Happiness for all of you but also Inspiring Happiness among the poorest of the poor, the half of this world living on under two dollars a day. I am engulfed by this snowball of gratitude, sharing and happiness.

events in my life were what they were, but that it is how I react to those events that determines how I feel about my life.

As Mark Twain once said: “I had many problems in my life, most of them were created in my head and never actually happened.” What I needed to do was, like Jacqueline, become a willing student and learn from the hardships in my life and also be more grateful for the life I had.

Today I see that my life presents me with three kinds of opportunities: the opportunity to enjoy, the opportunity to share and, when things go completely wrong, the opportunity to learn (hurrah!). I have realized that I need very little and am fortunate to be able to live my life from a space of gratitude and opportunity, rather than from a space of fear and anxiety.

I have now clearly understood that THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD DO NOT HAVE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, THEY JUST MAKE THE BEST OF EVERYTHING THEY HAVE but it took me a while to get here.

Sanjiv Suri

suri@zatisigroup.cz

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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Pět amerických prezidentů, česká babička a já A 1949 refugee from Communist Czechoslovakia with nearly thirty years of U.S. government service, Mrs. Eliška Hašková Coolidge, has published her memoirs in the Czech language.

Her book includes her service on the White House Staff under five U.S. Presidents, and her ten years’ experience at the Department of State on the personal staff of the Secretary of State, as Assistant Chief of Protocol of the United States and as Alternate Delegate to the Organization of American States.

Eliška Hašková Coolidge Guests at the christening

The Christening of Mrs. Coolidge’s book took place on December 12th at the elegant Hotel Mandarin Oriental. The book’s Godfather was Jan Mühlfeit, former Chairman for Europe of the Microsoft Corporation, and the master of ceremonies was Eva Vašková Čejková, Mrs. Coolidge’s former Press Secretary and Founder of the women’s organisation ŽENY s.r.o. The event was attended by many prominent guests.

Štefan Füle, former European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy with his wife

From left: Roman Knap, Managing Director, SAP CR, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, and Jan Mühlfeit, Global Strategist and Author, Pearson, ret. Chairman Europe, Microsoft

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From left: Mrs. Barbora Benešová, Roland Leisztner, CEO, Rolei Development and Helena Kroftová Leisztner, Artist

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul to Zambia and Business Consultant, Czech and Slovak Leaders and doc. Ing. Karel Havlíček, Ph.D., MBA, Chairman of the Board of Directors, AMSP ČR

From left: Mgr. Lucie Viterová, CEO, Home Care Promedica, s.r.o., Martina Dvořáková, Nutritian Terapist, KetoDiet, and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of

From left: Ivana Kaucká, Sales and Marketing Director, Czech Top 100 and Mrs. Mühlfeitová

From left: Eva Čejková Vašková, ŽENY s.r.o. and Mrs. Pavla Kalousová

From left: Alexander Hemala, Moderator, Tanja Dandárová, Guest Relations Manager, Hotel Savoy, and Prof. MUDr. Jan Pirk, DrSc., Heart Surgeon, head of the Cardiocentre and Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic, IKEM

Peter Palečka, Member of the Board, Corporate Secretary, KB and Ing. Karin Hejmová, Premium Advisory, Swiss Life

JUDr. Ladislav Vostárek, Lawyer, Vostárek a Komeiserová and Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul to Zambia and Business Consultant, Czech and Slovak Leaders

Doc. Ing. Eva Zamrazilová, CSc., Chief Economist, Czech Banking Association and Petr Bratský, Senator

From left: Eliška Hašková Coolidge, Jan Mühlfeit, Global Strategist and Author, Pearson, ret. Chairman Europe, Microsoft, and Eva Čejková Vašková, ženy s.r.o.

From left: PhDr. Přemysl Čech, Presenter, Editor, Česká televize with his wife Hana, Doc. Ing. Eva Zamrazilová, CSc., Chief Economist, Czech Banking Association, and Ing. Anthony Vavrecka with his wife

From left: L Eliška Hašková Coolidge and Mr. Vladimír Peták with his wife Zuzana

Romana Benešová, Partner, KPMG and Jakub Strnad, Managing Director, Allianz

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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An

interview with

A rnie B ieber , D irector , ISP – I nternational S chool

of

P rague

To Succeed in the 21st Century We Need To Learn, Unlearn and Re-learn Imagine the atmosphere of a school where there is a palpable sense of creative thinking, where one can see the arts, choirs, music and film production, and at the same time a clear focus on scientific experimentation.

Imagine life as a student being able to experiment, design and then print out your blueprint on a 3D printer or a laser cutter as part of the school curriculum. Imagine that a student can take part in an international robotics competition hosted at his school by day and being on stage singing blues in a Cabaret performance involving students, staff, parents and friends of the school by night.

I was not touring a school in Finland or Singapore, the two countries currently recognized as having the world’s the best educational systems. These were, rather, my immediate impressions after visiting the International School of Prague, which overlooks the Prague Šárka valley nature reserve.

Interviewing Dr. Arnie Bieber, ISP Director, turned from a traditional question and answer format into a lively discussion.

As Arnie truly lives and breathes the ISP mission “Inspiring Learners for Life”, I could sense his passion for an inspiring, engaging and empowering education organically engrained into every activity, including proud presentation of the school to visitors, talking about current and potential partnerships as well as embedding school activities within the local community. The last element is very important for ISP, as both private and international schools are often judged as being too distant and dislocated from the local environment.

Arnie, today’s world is changing rapidly. In fact, uncertainty is perhaps the only certain element. How do you prepare students for the future to succeed in professions and disciplines that might not even exist today?

We truly regard ourselves as a future-focused school, and we aim to be preparing future citizens of the world. If you look at our mission, which you can see all around the school, you will notice three key elements: Inspire, Engage and Empower. Our core purpose is to “Inspire learners to lead healthy, fulfilling and purposeful lives” and we know that we are successful when our graduates live their lives in this manner.

The element of our mission linked to facing an uncertain future is addressed in the second part of the mission, “preparing students to adapt and contribute responsibly to our changing world”. However, the ability to change and to adapt is not enough without a moral compass. The world may have very many smart people but do they have integrity and act ethically? No learning institution should stress one while neglecting the other.

The ISP experience revolves around “engaging our diverse community in authentic global education within a nurturing student-centred environment”. Diversity is very important.

Our student body, comprised of 60 different nationalities, brings a multitude of different religions and cultures to our campus. To interact and learn with such diversity is very powerful because it allows for an appreciation of our differences. Future successful leaders need to understand and respect differences, such as those based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, belief or culture.

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What would your argument be for the adults who went to traditional schools in the Czech Republic who cannot imagine a serious and enjoyable education at the same time?

The distinction between something being relevant and something being rigorous or challenging is a false one. We believe that the best path to learning which is not superficial and meaningful is often through relevance.

We can all remember our high school algebra, trigonometry and advanced calculus, but did what we learn have relevance to our lives?

How much do we even actually remember?

It is not that these subjects are not important, but they should be taught so that students understand how it is personally relevant to them. Otherwise, you only play the game of school. The rules go like this - you memorize all you can, you pass a test and then you go on and often forget most of what you had to memorize.

Such an approach does not support learning of relevant skills for the future. So let us be more specific, what are the competencies that future citizens should have? There are addressed in our mission as well. They include the ability to: Think Critically and Creatively, Work Cooperatively and Independently and Listen and Communicate Effectively. Notice the element of effective listening, not only speaking, as is often stressed.

When it comes to our central values, notice the verb to act. At ISP, the expectation is that we act with compassion, integrity, respect and intercultural understanding in school and throughout our lives. To sum up all that we have discussed so far, we care deeply about the foundational literacies such as reading, writing, arithmetic etc. However if this is primarily

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

what a student has attained, we have failed as a school in this day and age. Students need so much more to succeed, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills and well as collaborating well with others. Furthermore, as a school, staying current with how the world is changing is more important than ever. If you look at successful companies, they are changing all the time, they expect innovation but in the school environment, such an approach is not always considered important.

We discussed skills. However, the newest approach to adult learning is focused more on talents. So should we develop what we are not good at to become mediocre, or rather concentrate on what goes easy for us to become excellent?

I do not think the debate should be either talent or skills. Being an effective listener is not necessarily a talent. If you are not an effective listener, should you be one? And how can you become one? Perhaps you do not work well with other people. Well, you can work alone but you cannot be very successful unless you learn to work with others. But the answer to your question lies in personalized learning. Education should not be one size fits all. We are all unique human beings with unique talents. The best schools help students to follow both their talents and their passions. Sometimes your passions do not necessarily need to be your talents.

The idea is for each learner to discover who they are and for to help them to discover that and develop further. That is why we talk about being purposeful, since you cannot be fulfilled in your life without being purposeful,

An

P hoto : A rchive

interview with

Did you know?

ISP in facts and figures: 860 students, 120 teachers and counsellors from over 20 countries, 60 nationalities. Founded in 1948.

The school is for all intents and purposes full, but due to the number of expat families arriving and leaving at various times throughout the year, families interested in ISP are encouraged to contact the school anytime during a school year. and you cannot be purposeful unless you are self-aware of your abilities.

Following on the importance of science, there is currently a heated debate in the Czech Republic without giving priority to mathematics and technical subjects to the detriment of humanities, arts not being even mentioned a relevant part of the curriculum. What is your view?

Well, there has been a distinction made between ‘STEM’ and ‘STEAM’ subjects (‘STEAM’ stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) while ‘STEM’ is missing the arts.

We are more inline with the ‘STEAM’ approach.

As a school we of course offer the traditional sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology and environmental science as well as design thinking, and extensive technology such as programing, computer science and robotics. In fact we have just hosted an international robotics competition where students from around the world have competed in designing, creating, programming and running their own robots.

These are the 21st century skills and I would argue that the arts play as an important role as the “hard sciences.” Whether or not you become an artist, the arts, visual arts, drama or music will afford you many skills and understandings that will serve you well in life. Acting, improvising, making music etc - these skills do not take away from the sciences, they enhance them. We want our students to be whole human beings, not partial human beings and so the education is based on an holistic approach.

How do the two major opposing trends globalization and localization – translate into education?

There is a famous quote by Comenius, which is cherished and displayed at the entrance to ISP, which says: “We are all citizens of the world. To dislike a man because he was born in another country, because he speaks a different language or because he takes

a different view on this subject or that, is a great folly. Let us have but one end in view, welfare of humanity.” So we celebrate our diversity and take advantage of the fact that we are in the heart of Europe in the Czech Republic and in Prague, surrounded by a rich and vibrant culture. It is very important to be part of that culture. We study both the Velvet Revolution and the Holocaust, we take advantage of the beautiful surrounding countryside as an amazing resource for all subject areas. Children study and meet artists and experts in the city and much more. “The curator project” for the middle school is run in co-operation with the Lobkowicz family and students learn, discover and present their research of artefacts from the Lobkowicz Museum’s rich collections. As you can see, the local and global elements are intertwined. We are very much of the opinion that “local is global and global is local.” As for the Czech educational community, we are always looking for partnering opportunities with Czech educators and Czech schools. Given our strong technological background for example, we annually host a conference for Czech educators addressing the issue of how to best to utilise technology in teaching. Furthermore ISP students have many opportunities to interact with students from local schools as well as their peers from sister schools from around the world.

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

I would say that leaders should always value and yes, embrace diversity. The tapestry of cultures and backgrounds we have at ISP is undoubtedly a key strength of our school. I firmly believe that the case for diversity is also the case for business. Diversity allows for fresh and varied perspectives in any organization, and is certainly a crucial ingredient to preparing children for their futures in a diverse and globalized world.

By Linda Štucbartová

A rnie B ieber , D irector , ISP

Arnie Bieber was appointed Director of ISP in 2008. Arnie has trodden a diverse path leading to his life in Prague.

His background combines a wealth of educational, as well as entrepreneurial experience. Although he much more prefers to talk about the school rather than himself, his story is nonetheless very interesting and inspiring.

Arnie Bieber was born in Brooklyn, New York. His mother is a holocaust survivor, originally from Romania who is still going strong at 92 years old back in New York City. Prior to attaining two MAs in teaching and educational leadership, Arnie successfully ran several businesses - and even had a stint as a New York taxi driver to put himself through university.

He later gained a Doctorate of Education from Columbia University and began his teaching career in public schools in his native New York. Prior to coming to Prague, he lived and worked in Munich, Caracas and Bucharest. His wife is British and he has two children, who were both born in Caracas, Venezuela. Besides pursuing his passion for education, Arnie continues to follow his life-long interest in making music by regularly playing guitar and singing in the ISP Community Choir.

An important influencer in the international educational scene, Arnie is the Chair-elect of the Board of Trustees of Educational Collaborative of International Schools (ECIS), a nonprofit global membership organisation of 400 international schools, that provides professional learning, research and advocacy for its member schools.

Arnie previously served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA) and the ECIS Board. He also writes articles and has a blog about twenty first century educational issues called school21c.org, and regularly shares his thoughts with his legion of over 1000 twitter followers.

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From the Ephemeral to the Eternal Japan and Ise Grand Shrine In the Land of the Rising Sun there is a ritual repeated over and over again. In the spiritual heart of Japan, in the south of Honshu Island, every twenty years the Ise Grand Shrine is completely dismantled and rebuilt again with the slightest detail kept. Why is the shrine taken apart and rebuilt again? What sense does it make?

Ise Grand Shrine

The Ise Grand Shrine is located at the elevated place in the large forest park of great Japan cedar trees. The combination of the beautiful natural landscape, proximity of the mountains, waterfalls, sea bay giving the prettiest pearls of Japan, as well as its isolation, all of this is an indication that the place is strongly saturated with the energy of nature. The Ise Grand Shrine is the most significant Shinto´s shrine in Japan, dedicated to the worship of Amaterasu goddess. The complex actually consists of

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123 shrines. It is divided in two parts: Geku or The Outer Shrine is dedicated to the god of nice harvest, The Inner Shrine or Naiku to the goddess of the Sun. The two parts are approximately six kilometres apart and joined by an old pilgrimage road. Each of the two shrines also has a number of other buildings attached, including additional shrines, workrooms, store houses, and other auxiliary buildings. Each has some kind of an inner hall with the main shrine and two additional shrines. The rooms are built on

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

pillars representing the pole of heart. The roofs are not supported by walls but by two columns at each end, set directly in the ground as a symbolic contact with nature and earth. The year of 690 is considered the date of the first ever construction of the shrines in their present form.

As a part of the Shinto tradition the two main buildings of the shrine are rebuilt every twenty years according to the exact plans and using the original technology. There is an empty site beside each building where

Emperor´s visit at Ise Grand Shrine

Shintoic symbol

the new shrines are built first, focusing on the preservation of each detail. Then, while worship is taking place, gods are transferred into the new building. Then, following further worship, the old shrine is dismantled and its parts are distributed among associated shrines all over Japan. It is also a part of Shinto belief of the death and renewal of nature, the impermanence of all things, but also a way of passing building techniques from one generation to the next. Present buildings were rebuilt in 2013 and they represent the 62nd copy of the original shrines.

So, what is so interesting to see at the place where around 14 millions Japanese come every year? What do we expect to see?

Nothing, or rather close to nothing. Why do we come to the place where apparently there is nothing to see? What do the Japanese come to admire to the place where there is nothing more than a fragile construction from unprotected cedar wood, of which you are able to see just a little piece of the roof behind a tall wooden palisade?

Mutsuo Takahashi, contemporary Japanese poet says: There is nothing in Japan. Nothing original. And yet...

The answer lies in the difference of the world view of Japanese (if you wish the Buddhist and concretely here Shinto) belief and the “western”, mainly Christian civilization.

For example, imagine the St .Peter´s and Paul´s Basilica in Vatican which enchants us with its magnificence, art of architecture,

Naiku shrine behind the wooden wall

Cherry trees

craftsmanship, splendid decoration, and overall uniqueness. Here, in the Ise Grand Shrine, there is nothing to see, and yet. You can see the very opposite here. The man comes here to fulfil his belief, to listen to his feelings, to sense and contemplate, to enrich his mind and soul with no distraction and outside influence.

Where the West search for the truth in the very existence of man, Japanese search for the truth and goal through emptiness and absolute mind enlightenment. The existence of the Ise Grand Shrine is a symbol of the whole Japanese society, based on the idea of vulnerability and ephemerality. The same way as the blossoms of Sakuras, the shrine comes alive again in its regular cycles. What a dramatic twist from the view point of the Western civilization which strives to preserve, maintain, and conserve the heritage of ancestors. The Japanese purposely choose presence as the way to eternity. The absence of the past refers them to the presence. Also the architecture of the cities changes much quicker than the one in the Western world.

It gives impression of higher plasticity, more courage in its lines and form, it is designed for the present generation and lifestyle, so that it may vanish soon and be replaced by something new, more contemporary.

Why do we look with admiration on the Japanese after each earthquake as they tirelessly restore their homes without hysteria and strong emotions, in the same

Poet Mutsuo Takahashi

normal way as they go shopping or watching sunrise? Japanese thinking is based on positive “emptiness”, which in their view is not “nothing” but something from which actually everything stems. Positive emptiness or nothing is the centre of their cities, basis of their philosophy, centre of their thinking, spirituality, and the whole existence.

For the Japanese, every new visit of the Ise Grand Shrine is accompanied by the same desire to see the never seen treasure guarded by Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun. It is one of the three attributes of emperor´s power, mythical mirror closed in a circle case kept in the shrine behind the high barrier of the wooden palisade. This mirror is a metaphor of the Japanese society.

It reflects something that does not exist, it is the substance of absence of everything and existence of nothing.

Existence of the Japanese is based on the permanent knowledge of the world´s ephemerality within a never changing cycle. That´s why their approach towards catastrophes and death is not as fatal as the Western one either. Acclimatization to natural catastrophes is their attitude towards the uncertain world. Their common perception of the world is based on instability and uncertainty. Japanese syncretism exchanged suffering of life for valorisation of the presence. It is not by accident that blossoms of Sakuras became a national symbol of the Japanese. Sakuras bloom just about ten days in a year and carry marvellous and fragile blossoms. This moment, which spontaneously repeats every year, is so important that it became a national holiday, celebrating the ephemeral beauty of these fragile blossoms.

The Ise Grand Shrine entered the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list as an “intangible cultural heritage”, happening in the space and time. It is an intangible symbol referring to the presence and the more monumental the more simple it basically is. Japanese knowledge altered Buddhist concept of existence which was accepted as a chorus of the succeeding reincarnations once ending in nirvana.

It is March now; Sakuras are blooming but soon they will start falling just to unfold their blooming beauty again next year.

Author: Iva Drebitko Photo: Author´s archive

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An

interview with

J iří K ůs , C hairman

of the

C zech A ssociation

of

N anotechnology I ndustry

Nanotechnology represents a promising industry

P hoto : A rchive

You are the Chairman of the Czech Association of Nanotechnology Industry and also an evangelist of the 3rd Industrial Revolution concept. After completing university studies in industrial technology, you also studied sociology and psychology.

Having the background in all the above mentioned disciplines, how do you perceive the today’s world and society?

It is clear that we are on the verge of many great changes. As these are linked to technologies, we can label them as the 3rd Industrial Revolution. At the same time, such a change will influence the social system, politics and eventually each and every aspect of a human life on the planet. On one side of the imaginary chessboard we will find technological miracles in the form of the nano-thin invisible layer bringing about energies at no cost.

The price of solar panels has been declining exponentially. In Australia, there is already

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technology that enables industrial printing of solar panels on a pliant sheet/ bendable foil.

Each device and each object, including our clothing, will be possible to manufacture own energy. Energy will be derived from the sun, from the movement and from the interaction of advanced biomaterials.

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

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

In 1949, the prestigious magazine Popular Mechanics forcasted that in the future computers might weight less than 1,5 tons.

Well, they were wrong and nowadays we might consider it a good joke. However, we need to realize that some key technologies which will significantly impact people’s lives in the next 20 years, so rather near future, have not yet been discovered. Nowadays, there already exist certain outcomes of research with all possible consequence so hard to imagine when put in practice. Just to name one example. What about discovering that the substance bringing energy to cells of a human body can be also used to supply energy to the next generation of supercomputers. Will we have living biological supercomputers with

I nterview no need of an external energy supply like batteries or electrical network? Recently, there was a certain technology developed that can detect a DNA molecule with the help of a mobile and a small module with a nanochip.

Does it sound like an episode from Startrek series?

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

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

The Czech Republic has also become a symbol for post-modern eco-urbanism and local energetics of the 21st century. There is much more to explore than the Prague Castle panorama or the medieval Castle of Karlštejn.

Tourists are looking for a lifestyle inspiration in the Czech Republic, the so-called localization principle. Each house is capable of generating all energy needed for its own consumption, storage in 3D nanobateries, being the Czech patent are obviously helping. Each village and each town has community gardens and the principle of localization has been applied with regards to the food. Try to supply yourself with everything you consume. We have fewer roads in desperate need to repair and healthier population. Mobility in cities is provided by autonomous electrocars. There is a perfect lifestyle. The world just envies us.

Concerning nanotechnology, in nanofibre technology we are much further than Israel or the US. We have many patents. And as I travelled all over the world, I was also pleased that most advanced laboratories use the microscopes from Brno! In addition to several expert laboratories dedicated to the research in nanotechnologies, we have several dozen companies producing nanotechnology-based products. We have nanofibre filters and membranes, antiallergic beddings, nanocoating cleaning the air, protection of goods and documents thanks to the nanodots, nano water filters, nano

structures used in medicine etc. The Czech Republic proudly holds several patents in the whole industry. However, these companies lack means for stronger marketing. Therefore, we have established The Association of Czech Nanotechnology Industry.

But you have already started to fulfil your nano dream…

One should fulfil one’s own dreams. Some years ago I managed to persuade one of my friends to jointly establish a nano company.

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

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

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

funding, however, these are not designed for start-ups. They require at least three years of proven existence. Therefore, I support the view that such projects rather tend to help bigger, already established companies.

When it comes to banks, the conditions are similar. By the way, such situation is the same all over Europe. In the US, there is a much higher availability of joint venture capital or business angels funds which are not afraid to invest in projects that might appear a bit risky in the beginning. In the Czech Republic, the main interest is to invest into real estate or IT. Nevertheless, nanotechnology represents a promising industry and it yields high return on investment, but one needs 5–7 years’ horizon.

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

Technology revolution is a big chance for small countries that have a bunch of creative people and we should use this opportunity.

My appeal also goes to potential investors – do not be afraid to invest into technological companies. Material technologies are the key drivers for other industries and you will certainly get your money back, and multiplied.

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

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

By Linda Štucbartová

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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Baskin Leonard (1922 – 2000); Corinth Lovis (1858 - 1925); Dix Otto (1891 - 1969); Felixmüller Conrad (1897 - 1977); Grosz George (1893-1959); Israel Marvin (1924 - 1984); Jaremtschuk Foma (1907 - 1986); Kirchner Ernst Ludwig (1880 - 1938); Lindner Richard (1901 - 1978); Macke August (1887 - 1914); Masson André (1896 - 1987); Modersohn-Becker Paula (1876 - 1907); Spilliaert Léon (1881 - 1946); Wagner Josef (1938 - 2016); Warhol Andy (1928 - 1987); Dokoupil Jiří Georg (*1954); Elsner Slawomir (*1976); Fürstová Míla (*1975); Gerboc Martin (*1971); Grimm Kerstin (*1956); Hipkiss (*1964); Jungwirth Martha (*1940); Kornatovský Jiří (*1952); Kuehn Gary (*1939); Rainer Arnulf (*1929); Šárovec Martin (*1977); Zlamal Josef (*1983)

DRAWINGS

THE THOUGHTS OF ARTISTS II Héctor Castillo, Art Historian, during his opening speech

OPENING CEREMONY IN MIRO GALLERY PRAGUE, 18. 1. 2017 The exhibition was open to 5. 3. 2017

Dominika Bazalová, Pianist

From left: Ing. Vladimír Dohnal, Chairman of the Board of Directors, TOP Hotels Group, H.E. Valery Kurdyukov, Ambassador of Belarus in the Czech Republic, and Ing. Radek Dohnal, CEO, TOP Hotels Group

From left: James Rubinstein, Entrepreneur, Jack R. Miller, Real Estate Entrepreneur, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher Irina Makarenko, Second Secretary and Andrei Makarenko, First Secretary of the Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic

From left: Vladimír Valovič, Director, Slovak Institute in Prague, Anna Juriková, First Secretary and Consul, Embassy of Slovakia in the Czech Republic, and MUDr. Ján Dudra, Vice Chairman, AGEL a.s.

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

From left: Leoš Svárovský, Conductor, Vadim Petrov, Music Composer, and Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer, Music Composer and Conductor

From left: Felix A. Slováček, Musician – Saxophonist, Lucie Gelemová, Artist, Viktoria Kudrya Sion, PR Manager, Statuss Magazine, Martina Svárovská, Raiffeisen Bank, a.s., and Leoš Svárovský, Conductor

Iveta Demianová, innogy Energie, s.r.o. and PhDr. Jozef Gáfrik, CSc, Director, GGCE Partners in communications

From left: Dominik Biľo, Vice Chairman of the ČeskoSlovenské Renomé a.s., MUDr. Martin Papáč, IKEM with his wife Erika Papáčová, Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer, Composer and Conductor, and Ing. Vladislav Stanko, Managing Director, CZECHOSLOVAK REAL, s.r.o.

From left: Mrs. Vlasta Hemalová, Mrs.Kristyna Wendlíková, Alena Miro, Opera Singer – Soprano, and Alexander Hemala, TV Broadcaster

From left: Michal Horák, Business Manager of Corporate Clients, Extéria, s.r.o. and Lela Kukava, Owner, Fair Food Club s.r.o.

From left: Ing. Marek Rada, Branch Manager, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s., Ing. Kristýna Techlovská, Personal Banker, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s., and Anna Tedeschi, Personal Banker, UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, a.s.

From left: Héctor Castillo, Art Historian and Richard & Beata Hauser, Central and Eastern Europe Head, Santen OY

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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From left: René Sion, Director, Alois Dallmayr Automaten-Service s.r.o., Roland Leisztner, CEO, LINEA ÚBOK a.s., Héctor Castillo, Art Historian, and PhDr. Miro Smolák, Founder and Director, MIRO Gallery & Trebbia Foundation

From left: Martina Svárovská, Raiffeisen Bank, a.s., JUDr. Jan Černý, Černý - Raupachová Law Office, Helena Leisztner, Artist, Design living art, and Leoš Svárovský, Conductor

Ing. Gabriela Kostíková, Komerční banka, a.s. and Alexandr Savko, Branch Manager, Komerční bank, a.s.

From left: Stanislav Vaněk, TV and Film Director, Mrs. Jana Serbusová, and PhDr. Marie Ulrichová - Hakenová, Dramaturg, Screenwriter, Ombudsman of Prague 5

From left: Josef Zlamal, Artist, Ing. Jaromír Schling, former Minister of the Government of the Czech Republic, and Jiří Kornatovský, Artist Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master and Mrs. Giovanna Roklová

From left: Jakub Wagner, Film Director, Olina Svobodová, Photographer, and Denisa Wagnerová, Artist

From left: Aleš Lamr, Artist, Luna Isis, Artist, and Joska Skalník, Artist Mrs. Lucie Kašparová, Teacher and Petr Jirout, SSI - Schäfer, s.r.o.

From left: PhDr. Václav Hons, Poet, František Stránský, Chairman of the Board, Rogervila company, a.s., Milan Rokytka, Editor in Chief, Pražský zpravodaj, and Ing. František Vogl, Founder, Hotel Villa Voyta

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From left: Petr Chromčák, Conductor, Ing. Jiří Vajs, Founding Member of the Board, Czech Israeli Chamber of Commerce, and René Sion, Director, Alois Dallmayr Automaten-Service s.r.o

sustainable development

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

P hoto : A rchive

Humankind continues to face a myriad of significant global challenges in today‘s world. One of the most pressing of these issues is warfare, of which there are more than 70 armed conflicts currently in play.

It is estimated that over 370,000 people died last year due to direct war violence, and at least 800,000 more indirectly. 200,000 civilians were killed because of the fighting at the hands of all parties to the conflict and in excess of 10 million became war refugees and displaced persons.

These horrifying statistics clearly place a heavy burden on all of us. To ensure a sustainable future, all nations must play their role in trying to alleviate people’s suffering and make the world a better place And while terrorism and illegal migration command so much media attention, it seems easy to forget the many other daunting problems including pandemics of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, malnutrition and lacking clean water as well as climate change.

There is no doubt that most of these issues are linked to poverty, with the Developing World facing the direst consequences. And the growing gap between rich and poor must be one of the greatest threats to the stability and future wellbeing of our world.

After nearly 30 years of democratic development, the Czech Republic is now among the 35 richest countries in the world, surely making it morally obliged to help less prosperous nations. Happily, this country has an impressive record for generousity in the form of granting financial aid in many regions across the globe.

But the argument for such charity extends way beyond morality and ethics. The provision of assistance enables the country to further its own interests and enhances its position in our interconnected world.

Increased economic potential of developing countries inevitably strengthens the global economy which offers expanded business opportunities to Czech companies.

Participation in international activities strengthens bilateral political, economic and cultural relations with many countries and contributes to an improved security situation, at both regional and global levels.

Development cooperation has, therefore, become an important component of Czech foreign policy.

It should be a source of much pride to know that the Czech Republic actively supports the implementation of many impressive development projects, offers scholarships enabling students to enrol at Czech universities, provides humanitarian aid, and much more.

The terrible civil war in Syria has had adverse consequences that have spread way beyond that country’s borders causing a refugee crisis that has destabilizing impacts in Europe and has given rise to populistic nationalism and Neo Nazism.

Turning a blind eye to the heart-wrenching events in Syria potentially threatens the fabric of our society here in the Czech Republic.

The joint effort of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Administration of State Material Reserves and Czech Embassy in Damascus in organising cargoes of humanitarian aid for Syria makes good sense. These shipments contain much-needed provisions for the innocent victims of this seemingly intractable conflict.

In addition, the Czech Republic provides medical care, temporary dwelling, food and education to the Syrian population within the country as well as for refugees in the nearby countries. In 2016 such aid amounted to the sum over 200 million Czech Crowns and this figure will substantially grow this year.

Last year, Czech state money went to the victims of wars in Iraq and African countries as well. And onefifth of the aid budget was allocated to the areas in the world hit by natural disasters, including help after the catastrophic floods in Burma, Macedonia and Sri Lanka as well as to the earthquake-hit localities in Nepal and Ecuador and to combat drought in some of the worst afflicted southern African states.

The Czech Republic also supported long-term displaced inhabitants in Burma, Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan and Palestinian refugees in Gaza.

In all, the Czech Foreign Ministry funded 38 projects in 25 countries.

Despite of what seems to me as perfect sense, both pragmatically and ethically, there is sadly quite a lot of negative propaganda about foreign aid with apparently few knowledgeable people around to defend it, and the recipients kept alive by it don’t vote in Czech elections.

There are critics who say that aid is wasted, is a huge budgetary burden, that it demeans the recipients or that it’s no longer effective or needed in the 21st century.

The simple fact is that some aid is wasted and other aid is used brilliantly. The main issue is whether the aid directly supports the work of local professionals saving lives, growing food, installing rural electricity, and teaching children, or whether the aid goes instead to foreign warlords or for the benefit of companies.

Surely it is our responsibility to fund the aid that works, and when aid has been demonstrated to work, as in public health and education, to expand the assistance as it’s needed by the poorest of the poor.

There is much evidence that aid works when its main purpose is to finance supplies such as medicines and solar panels, and the staffing by local workers in public health, agronomy, hydrology, ecology, energy, and transport.

Nor is aid demeaning. Such benevolent funding enables HIV-infected mothers to stay alive and raise their children. Aid enables a child in an impoverished country to escape death or permanent disability from malaria, which is actually a 100 percent treatable disease. Aid enables a poor child to go to a school fitted with computers, solar power, and wireless connectivity.

It is about the richer doing what they should for the poorer people in our world.

But the moral justification of aid, as powerful and adequate as it is, is matched by an equally important case of self-interest. Aid is a matter of Czech national security and economic interest, and it is key to supporting sustainable development.

By Jonathan Wootliff

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

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An

interview with

B lanka Č echová , W riter

The laws of good writing

Photo: Ivana Zorić, Archive When you look at Blanka Čechová‘s biography, you may wonder how it is even possible that you haven’t heard about her before: her first book got published when she was nineteen. After graduating from law, she launched an impressive career at the European Court of Human Rights and then at a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

Later, she got admitted as the first non-native speaker to the Master of Studies in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. As a writer, she worked with Ladislav Smoljak, Jiri Menzel and Juraj Jakubisko, she taught writing to lawyers and bankers, and along the way, she wrote another four marvellous books.

How did you manage to squeeze all of the diverse and demanding activities into your life so far?

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

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

I was blessed to get to relatively high-profile jobs at a very young age, so my naivety about how

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the world functions was tested and crushed early in life. Which was great. Experiencing ruthless bureaucrats and rives of public money going the wrong way trials one’s idealism and motivation, it forces you to see the thin line between a moral compromise and a moral failure. Everybody reacts in a different way to this, but it is true that only few give up the salary, benefits and status.

Of course, there are great projects and fantastic people, too, but mostly on the ground level - the minds of chief officers are too often corrupt and self-indulged. It is a zero responsibility, great income and countless privileges. For me, the disillusionment was devastating, particularly in Kosovo, where I saw so much injustice, crime and poverty, and no matter how much I tried, I was completely powerless. Finally, I resigned and turning my experience into something constructive, I wrote Totál Balkán, a bitter humour novel that explores the topic of an individual versus an institution at a field mission and poses the heretic question whether democratization, as we know it, makes sense at all. The positive response I keep getting from my readers, is actually overwhelming. I am honoured that some very distinguished and well-read people have ranked the book among their top ten. It is one of the favourite books of Zdeněk Svěrák.

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

Through the law faculty, in fact. For years, I had hoped to make an interview with Vojtěch Cepl, the former constitutional judge. He kept refusing to talk to me, and finally he said – I won’t tell you anything, but I will introduce you to someone, who is absolutely worth being interviewed.

The next day, he took me to a lunch with the renowned actor-director Ladislav Smoljak. We became friends and close collaborators; Ladislav even wrote a letter of recommendation to the University of Oxford during admissions to the creative writing program. He was a fantastic, strict and attentive mentor. In return, I kept interviewing him for almost five years and finally published a book of our talks on theater, politics and life.

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

Immensely. The major difference of the Oxford program from other writing courses is that you are forced to write one of the major assignments in a genre that you would normally avoid. This way, I had to write a collection of poetry. A huge, incredible challenge, countless nights up, shelves of books

I had to read and re-read, poets I had to explore, understand, and fall in love with. It has incredibly enriched my prose writing, even my screenwriting skills. When I coach people who want to improve their writing, I insist they read a poem a day. In ten days, you see a difference – in their writing and, more importantly, in their mindset.

So you believe that writing can be taught?

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

to write well and fast, how not to get stuck and how to like the writing process.

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

Some of my books sold reasonably well, my latest book – The Return of the Adriatic Bride – was actually a job I did in collaboration with a travel agency that liked the genre, and wished to preorder my new book as their gift to a number of their loyal clients and partners. It worked fantastically: I got a deadline and immediate motivation to write, and I got the money, so I could afford to write for several weeks and decline other jobs. This was exceptional, though. Otherwise, I do all sorts of things. Apart from writing coaching, I play the violin in a Dalmatian folklore ensemble in Dubrovnik, where we spend most of the year. At one point, I used to sell dumplings at a farmer’s market, pick olives and grapes during the harvest. Now I am hoping to get hired to act as one of the angry village women among the extras in Robin Hood: Origins, a movie produced

by Leonardo DiCaprio and filmed in Dubrovnik.

A very diverse work experience that you can’t really put in your CV. But it does make one a more versatile person and writer. But to answer your question: no, unless you publish a bestseller, preferably on the English-speaking market, you can’t comfortably live off pure writing. I just put the English translation of Total Balkans on Amazon, though, so let’s see what happens now.

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

The “near Dubrovnik” is very significant: we live in a village where my husband was born – a very traditional, conservative and rural environment.

And, you know, I used to be a city girl, so when I got asked to go collect the eggs from the henhouse or to pluck a wild quail, I panicked. During

my readings for Czech tourists in the summer, I often say, that we love Croats and Dalmatians because we get mislead by our similarities – our languages are similar, as is our sense of humour, we share the same experience with communism.

But try to come here off season and stay several months: you will see that Dalmatia is so mysterious and distant from us like, say, Iran. You’ll get shocked every day, in the most positive and the most negative way, and at the end you will either run away or stay. I stayed: I feel connected to the sea and to the people, who are both irritating and authentic, over-traditional and brotherly, complicated and cheerful. I like the slower pace of life in Dubrovnik. In fact, one is kind of required to slow down here, as being a workaholic is considered rude and inappropriate. You are required to have time for life – be it family parties or staring at the sea out of your fishing boat.

Any tips prior to the season?

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

What is your next chapter?

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

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

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C ontributor

Parent as a coach

Jan Mühlfeit in cooperation with Kateřina Novotná

When I was about to apply for a university back in February 1981, I was on a tennis team and therefore wanted to study at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport.

One evening, my dad came to see me and asked if I didn’t want to give it another thought. He noticed that I liked computers and predicted that they would change the world one day. Two days later I threw away the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport application and filled another one, for the Czech Technical University in Prague.

If he would have told me that the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport made no sense and forced me to apply for the Technical University instead, I would have probably chosen the Physical Education.

Instead he did what a coach would do. He asked a question and gave me space to find my answer. Parents usually tend to be tough mentors rather than coaches. They don’t ask, they share their experiences instead. Sharing one’s point of view is a lot easier. Asking and waiting for the kid to find the answer on their own requires patience that many lack. But it is a lot better approach because it gives the kids a chance to figure out what they want.

Ideally the parent should be both coach and mentor.

Typically, the kid wants to study medicine and is told that doctors have low incomes in this country and that law is a better choice. Many kids end up studying something they don’t really enjoy. Which is wrong – people don’t get stimulated, energized and happy doing something they don’t really like. They don’t get to feel the flow which a person experiences when their talent connects with what they enjoy, what corresponds with their values and feeling of accomplishment, and what motivates their further development and achievements.

Enthusiasm

Little children know the flow state quite well. They know what makes them happy and gives them energy. Even one-yearold babies have such a talent. Watching what they play with and what they react to makes you realize what it is. They may already have a sense for music or dance, and when hearing music it makes them dance and enjoy themselves, careless

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of what is going on around them or if they are tired or hungry. Some children and many adults often stick out a tip of a tongue when doing something they really enjoy, as they fully focus and get absorbed by the activity.

Many parents never notice their children’s flow and feel ignored and disobeyed instead. It is important not to let the children do whatever they want or to find an excuse for misbehaving, but also to pay attention to what is going on and realize that the activity leading to flow may become a strong side and passion of the kid and could be further developed in future. The creativity level decreases dramatically with age and it is quite important to remember what made a person happy as a child.

If parents manage to track down what is their child’s flow activity and what could be the talent of their child, it increases the chances of their child’s success noticeably. For example, the Olympics pentathlon winner David Svoboda’s passion for athletics has been lovingly supported by his mother. Jaromír Jágr played with a hockey stick and a pingpong ball since the age of three and his grandmother challenged him by sitting on the chair he used as a net keeping him from scoring a goal with her feet. And famous musicians mostly practice for hours daily.

If these activities didn’t give them energy, they would never get so good mastering whatever their skill. On the other hand, an extrovert who needs contact with other people cannot excel if forced to sit in front of a computer eight hours a day programming.

Both children and parents often have a funny idea of what a talent is. If we discover the so-called softer talents in a child, such as empathy and sense for relationships or responsibility, at the Unlocking of Child’s Potential Course we teach, neither the parents nor the children see these as talents. They tend to believe that talent is for mathematics or sport, but it is just the contrary. It is exactly these softer talents that lead to professional success and make people become successful managers.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Boundaries

Motivation is a key source of personal development and talent developing.

If offered money, or movies’ tickets or sleepover at friend’s in exchange for carrying out the task, the child feels motivated. But it is an outer motivation and no matter what kind of activity it is meant to motivate, it rarely enthuses the child. On the other hand, if children are interested in something and enjoy doing it, they feel emotionally attached to that activity – it sets off their inspiration and inner motivation. Those are hard to initiate. Examples work the best: the parents, sportsmen, artists, businessmen, anyone who succeeded and loves what they are doing.

Parents often build boundaries through the values they pass on to their kids – by sharing what they think is right.

Norwegian educator Godi Keller explained this model on his own experience as a child. His kindergarten was close to a river where they used to play with friends. It was adventurous and they learned a lot at the same time. They just loved playing by the river. One girl whose parents were environmental activists never stepped into the river with them, because she has been told by her parents since she was very little how polluted the planet is and how infected the waters are.

Later, as she grew up, she never developed any relationship towards nature and never cared for ecology. Her parents never gave her a chance to make an opinion of her own and they spoiled ecology for her completely. It is important for parents to share their values and opinions, but it is just as important to give children enough space to develop their own.

Trust

For children to see their parents as someone they can listen to and rely on, trust is the key factor. The three important components of trust are: fairness, consistency, and authenticity.

Fairness is always subjective. Even if the parents try really hard and use their best judgment, their child may still feel like they are not being fair. Fairness and judgment always come together, but judgment should stay out of the communication. It is better to use the coaching style and ask

questions rather than pass judgments. For example: “Do you feel good about what you did to your sibling given the consequences?”

Consistency in upbringing and opinions gives children a sense of security and order.

The same may be valid for regular daily regime – waking up, eating and going out at the same time. Consistency should also mean applying the same models for problem-solving and keeping promises. Of course, freedom is necessary, but it is the consistency of opinions and order that set the boundaries and trust children need.

Occasional snap or changes are normal and cannot damage the long-time functioning order.

The third component of trust is authenticity.

Parent is a role model for a child. If parents do something wrong, they should admit it and explain in the way relevant to the age and understanding of the child. Mistakes cannot be hidden and trying to do so can seriously jeopardize the trust-building. Children know when something is wrong, even if they don’t understand what and why.

The inevitable part of relationships is feedback. At times, a child feels like he or she cannot achieve anything and has no talents at all. Such absolute judgments are usually picked up at home. According to Tim Gallwey, one of the best coaches in the world, such general absolute judgments are not good and should be replaced with particular feedback. Telling a son that he is good-for-nothing and will never achieve anything in his life is not helpful in any way.

Feedback on specific activities and actions is a lot better solution. Rebuke should be always followed by acclaim or some kind of positive feedback with motivation potential. Or, possibly, an advice suggesting how a particular mistake can be avoided in future.

the competitiveness was not. His mother argued that the boy feels no need to excel in mathematics and doesn’t care about his grades. If judged only based on the field he doesn’t enjoy – like mathematics, or school anyway, it can’t be said, that he is not competitive in general.

It can happen that children start climbing the career ladder on their own and quite fast. If they don’t discover their passions right when they start, they may find out later, that they have been climbing the wrong ladder. But it can be prevented.

What about weaknesses and struggles?

Some things simply need to be learned at least to some level. Tiger Woods’ strength is definitely not the bunker shot. His strength is his swing but he also learned how to deal with bunker. If Jaromír Jágr played defence, he would hardly get in the Czech Premier League, because he is not great in ice-skate backwards. But he doesn’t really need it as a right winger. He had to learn it in case he needs it but he never had to master it. Our weaknesses are usually not a real burden. We usually work in teams and our weaknesses are the strengths of our colleagues and vice versa. An E cannot be turned into an A permanently. It may be turned into a C. But an A can be turned into an A+.

It is very important to help children discover their talents, support their development and teach them, how to use those talents efficiently so that they bring them joy and success. We decided to create the full day seminar of Unlocking the Child’s Potential for children and how their parents to help children with understanding what their talents are and ho they can be used in their professional and personal life. The Course is primarily for kids age 10–14, usually the participants are age 8–16. Throughout the day we cover an introduction to positive psychology, topics of brain functions, motivation, energy, time, inspiration or finding your true self. In the second part, we use test to find individual talents and we focus on practical exercises and personal consults to discover the potential use of these talents. You can learn more about our seminars here: http://janmuhlfeit. com/cs/produkty/9-odemykani-detskehopotencialu or in our online program “Unlock your child’s potential" at www.flowee.cz.

Ninety percent of children struggle when choosing the secondary school. They don’t really know what they like or are good at.

They haven’t discovered their talents yet, nor did they have a chance to develop them. Of course, the chosen education field may not be the one they will pursue and base their future on. However discovering the child’s talent and flow moments can raise the chance that they will not study something they don’t enjoy at all. The peak of Mount Everest can be reached using different routes. Some talents help to succeed in any field.

Unlocking Child’s potential

By Jan Mühlfeit Global Strategist, Coach and Mentor, former Microsoft Chairman for Europe české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

A to A+

Many people confuse talent for strength.

There is a major difference. Talent is something we are born with, something that is characteristic of our personality, our potential. Often we don’t even notice it as a talent or something that could be further developed. If supported by some kind of investment – studies, experience, training – a talent becomes a strength.

For people who discover and unlock their potential and develop it in harmony with their values, a task becomes a joy, they feel the flow and can work hard and develop further while feeling fulfilled.

One boy from our last course had three talents – he could foresee future, he was caring and competitive. The first two were embraced by him and his parent,

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P ersonal

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Life

Is Beautiful

Part V: Our Trumpian Future1,2 Most Europeans, while disappointed with the election results, are cautiously waiting to see what will happen. In general, they don’t feel the emotional turmoil and fear that many Americans are experiencing as a result of the election’s outcome. Most are certainly not optimistic about the future of the Trump presidency and expect a number of missteps on his part (see Figure 1).

James A. Cusumano, PhD “Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil. It's a constant struggle as to which one will win. And one cannot exist without the other.”

Eric Victor Burden

A week after the Trump-Clinton presidential election, I received several emails from my sisters, who live in the U.S., lamenting that they and most of the people they know were in a terrible state, anxious and depressed with the outcome of the election. As a point of reference that supports their observations, the day after the election, Canadian Embassies all over the U.S. reported their phone lines were jammed

by American callers asking about requirements to obtain a resident visa for Canada.

My sister Camille pointed out that Hillary may not have been the best of candidates, but in view of the media’s detailed presentation of Donald Trump’s sordid past and his emotionally pathological performance during the campaign, her victory seemed like a nobrainer. Camille said she, my other sisters and their friends just couldn’t seem to shake their political depression. They wanted to know what Europeans felt about the outcome, and in my view, was there any “light at the end of the tunnel”? Here I share my thoughts looking at the situation, primarily from a consciousness point of view.

Europeans are, in fact, quite amazed at Trump’s victory. Before the election most were admonishing Trump-supporting Americans – I call them Trumpians – with the proverbial Careful what you wish for! Well, a large fraction of Americans got what they wished for, but now the poignant question is, Will they get what they really wished for? That remains to be seen.

Here are just three of many examples why they may be in for a big disappointment and a troubled future. First, Trump wants to hire Tom Price, the Republican Congressman from Georgia, as Secretary of Health. Price has been the fiercest critic of Obamacare and will almost certainly dismantle it, even though it decreased the number of uninsured Americans by 13 million in a two-year period. Of those 13 million, eight million were white middleclass Americans, the demographic sector that voted heavily in favor of Trump. Left without health insurance, they will be very unhappy campers! Furthermore, after six years of effort, Republicans have been unable to come up with a viable replacement for Obamacare.

Second, Trump is almost certain to be unsuccessful in replacing manufacturing jobs.

Why? Because the vast majority have been replaced by technology, and not by shipping them overseas. Overall, technology actually increased the number of jobs, mostly in the middle and higher income brackets; but, it eliminated many lower income jobs. Will Trump bring back low income jobs such as those in the coal mines? Not likely. Coal is the worst contributor to climate change and its impact is being felt daily and globally. Most of the world is finally waking up to the fact that climate change is for real. Forces beyond Trump are not likely to allow coal to come back in full force.

Third, speaking of climate change, Trump has picked Scott Pruit, the current attorney general of Oklahoma to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruit is not just a climate change skeptic; he’s a climate change denier and is the “guardian angel” of the fossil fuel industry. Any back-pedaling on the part of the Trump administration is likely to have catastrophic consequences worldwide.

But now for the real issue. Based on Donald Trump’s apparent low level of consciousness and that of the people he has surrounded himself with, I am doubtful he will make any positive headway. His lack of delivering on campaign promises and his disrespect for integrity and truth could bring civil unrest in the U.S. and elsewhere, with perilous outcomes.

But, believe it or not, there ultimately may be a positive light at the end of this dark tunnel; and here are the reasons why.

We humans basically think with “three minds,” conscious, subconscious and ego (see Figures 2 and 3). The same can be said in a collective sense for groups of human beings and in fact for the whole seven billion of us. A collective form of consciousness exists for each of these three “minds”. The three participate in creating

Figure 1: Most Europeans are not optimistic about Trump’s ability to bring about favorable global change.

1) EDITOR’S COMMENT—This is the fifth article in a series based on the author’s book, “Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules,” Waterfront Press, Cardiff California. 2) The author may be reached at Jim@ChateauMcely.Com. 3) This article was written in December 2016 and published during the first quarter 2017. It may be interesting to see what happens between now and then.

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accepted social concepts, for example, our concept of success. Here, due to centuries of social and cultural hypnosis concerning what we believe to be success, we have unknowingly allowed our collective ego to become so bloated, selfish and self-centered that it is difficult for us to see true reality and any clear path to global peace, sustainability and longterm fulfillment.

Metaphorically, we can envision our view of success as a three-legged stool. Most of us believe that the two most important metrics for success, represented by two of the supporting legs of the stool, are money and power. In actual performance, the third leg, which represents service, is by far, the shortest of the three. Therefore, what most of us consider success is unstable, and does not bode well for the long term.

Service here means, How can I use my innate strengths and assets to pursue my personal and professional passions and make this world a little bit better? Unfortunately, service has been so deeply discounted that we often unknowingly indoctrinate our children from their earliest age with the message that the real measure of their eventual success will depend on how much money they make and how much power they have in their professional status.

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with making sufficient money to live a good and comfortable life, or getting recognized with promotions that enable you to have greater impact, but not at the expense of good service. In fact, my experience as an entrepreneur, founding and leading the growth of public companies in Silicon Valley is that most entrepreneurs I know, who created services or products that significantly improved life on the planet, ended up making lots of money and having substantial influence, although those were not the primary driving force for their path to success. Bill Gates set out to create Microsoft and change the world for the better, not to achieve his current status as the richest man on the planet. In fact, he’s now giving most of his money away to good causes.

Our current definition of success feeds the ego.

It loves making money and achieving lots of power; the more the better! However, if a person chooses to do so, there are two ways to deflate a bloated ego to an acceptable and manageable level. The first is to observe it when it is in full swing and in effect mentally say, “I caught you!”

If you do this enough, the ego mind subsides to a lower level. It behaves like a naughty little child; it dislikes being caught in the act. But, you must have the predisposition to seek change, to increase your level of consciousness, to make a positive difference in your surroundings, and for that matter in the world.

The second way to deflate the human or global collective ego is through suffering. That’s

Figure 2: Humans have three “minds”: conscious, subconscious and ego. The conscious mind is what you know, and the subconscious mind is who you really are. Your ego mediates between the conscious and subconscious minds.

why when a person loses a loved one or goes through a traumatic event, he or she often comes out the other end of tragedy as a more evolved and higher conscious person. This has also happened historically with our collective global ego, for example after a world war, a pandemic, or some other huge calamity.

I think Trump’s election is a major step in leading America and the world toward an event, maybe more than one that will cause suffering for many, but the upside is that, after the dust settles, it is likely to create a new more conscious and fulfilling beginning.

One of my sisters, Grace, was not happy with the suffering scenario and suggested, as she had learned from our spiritually-devoted mother, there can always be a miracle! True, and in my view, Grace, here’s what it might take to unfold that “miracle”.

A “Major Minority” of spiritually inclined people will have to intensely focus their personal manifestations toward a peaceful end with minimal human suffering. No easy task at this point; but it’s possible. The challenge is for the Major Minority to reach an effective size so that a positive and not a negative tipping point is achieved. Trumpians are rapidly moving us toward the latter. That’s their unmitigated goal, and they won’t stop until their mission is accomplished.

Based on one of my past professional lives, allow me to share a metaphor, as to what could happen. Using a catalyst as the metaphor, where Donald Trump is the “catalyst”, here’s how the Major Minority can potentially avoid, or at least, mitigate the suffering scenario.

References: 1. James A. Cusumano, Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules, Waterside Press, 2016. 2. A detailed discussion of the various levels of consciousness can be found in reference 1.

Most people know that a catalyst is something that accelerates a reaction or a change without itself undergoing any change in the process. For example, if I fill a jar with a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases, they will sit there quietly for nearly an eternity before combining to form even the very slightest trace of water. However, if I throw in a pinch of platinum powder catalyst, both gases combine explosively and completely in billionths of a second to form water and the platinum remains unchanged at the bottom of the jar. The platinum catalyst dramatically increases the rate or speed of change.

Analogously, this means that the Major Minority must become a “catalyst” and work smart and intensely to achieve and hopefully surpass the rate of change that Trumpians have begun to manifest. This will be no easy task because of the size of the Trumpian machine and the “weapons” they control.

But, to complete the metaphor, there are two other critical characteristics of a catalyst that most “non-techies” are not aware of, and they could make all the difference – catalyst selectivity and catalyst life.

Catalyst selectivity is defined as the percentage of total change that goes to the desired endpoint or product, the rest of the changes being undesirable outcomes or products.

For example, one of the companies I was involved with some years ago, Catalytica Energy Systems, invented a highly-selective system to catalytically burn fuels with no formation of smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx). This is not the case for ordinary flame combustion processes, which are responsible for the deadly smog in places such as Los Angeles and Beijing.

P ersonal

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About the Author James A. Cusumano

Figure 3: Your ego feeds your subconscious, which controls most of what you do. Your subconscious is by far, the most important of your three minds.

Here, the Major Minority can have the significant advantage of high catalytic selectivity, if they work to promote one motivating dictum, e.g., peace, respect, fairness and opportunity for all.

When you look closely at the Trumpians, you will find they are large in number, consisting of numerous mini-groups, which are unhappy, entitlement-driven, and divisive in their actions.

Each group has its own demands, often with conflicting purposes compared with those of the other factions. In the end, this could lead to poor catalytic selectivity for the Trumpian strategy and much infighting and chaos.

Finally, there’s catalyst life. In this case, I don’t refer to Trump’s physical life, but to his tenure as an effective catalyst speeding up the global changes he’s after. This is a difficult one on which to speculate, but part of this metaphor is especially relevant. In actual chemical catalysis, the effective life of a catalyst is often shortened, and sometimes driven to rapid demise by an increase in undesirable, nonselective reactions. For example, in the process to make gasoline or diesel fuel, petroleum oil is fed at high temperatures over a catalyst that “cracks” or breaks up the large oil molecules into those that are the primary constituents of gasoline and diesel fuel. The process is not very selective so undesirable nonselective reactions occur and form carbon on the catalyst surface, “killing” its activity. It must be continuously withdrawn from the reactor and the carbon burned off to regenerate the catalyst before it returns to the reactor to produce more gasoline and diesel fuel.

Some things they can do are:

• Don’t give up. Accept that you have great

spiritual power for manifesting even the most challenging changes, through your Personal Consciousness, its connection with the global Collective Consciousness and the Universal Intelligence and divinity of Cosmic Consciousness within you. To offer a humorous truism, high levels of consciousness always “trump” low levels of consciousness.

• Get your values straight—clearly define them, and follow them in all that you do.

• Follow your Life Purpose and Passion by using your innate capabilities to work at a profession that helps create a better world.

• Live a conscious life through meditation, and give your support to groups focused on achieving high levels of human awareness and consciousness.

• Personally model a high conscious life for friends, family and especially your children.

• Continue to use your vote against the Trumpians.

In the end, I believe Trumpians will not achieve their stated goals. The only question is: Do we follow the path of suffering to emerge with a positive outcome, or can we conjure up a miracle?

A miracle is most definitely worth the effort.

Sat, Chit, Ananda!

Enjoy your journey, make a difference!

This could well be the case for Trumpian selectivity in the not-so-long-run! High levels of poor selectivity might well “kill” the effectiveness of the catalyst, namely that of Donald Trump.

So yes, Grace, there is hope for a miracle, but it can only happen if the Major Minority wakes up, gets over their discontent with the results of the election, and gets on with what it will take to make a miracle.

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(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 (2007), and the author of Cosmic Consciousness – A Journey to Well-being, Happiness and Success (2011), BALANCE: The Business – Life Connection (2013), Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules (2016) and The FallenAs Above, So Below (2016).

DAVID GYORI:

CEO of BANKING REPORTS “Banks all over the world are working on adjusting to the new age of DIGITAL. But digital is complex. It is complex because it is driven by a new segment of clients – the Millennials; it is dominated by a new group of competitors – 15 000 FinTech startups globally. It requires a new approach towards innovation. While innovation is inherently risky, banks are understandably riskaversive. Bankers are criticized widely for their conservativism; banks are often characterized as incapable of winning the 21st Century.

Yet, the ground reality is different. Bankers, during my FinTech Training Programs are keen on embracing innovative concepts, ready to implement best practices, powerful in roleplays, creative and informed in debates. Banks are capable of winning the 21st Century. But only those which understand the new global trends and what they exactly mean for their local markets.”

David Gyori, CEO of Banking Reports on the future of financial services with a global perspective 15 Years in Banking David started his first consultancy, targeting banks and insurers in the Central and Eastern European Region in 2002. He received his diploma from the Budapest Corvinus University, focusing his studies on Finance, Economics and Management. The early 2000s were unprecedentedly dynamic years in the region. The banking system in the CEE region was getting modernized with huge steps, often overtaking Western-European competitors.

Going Global After over 150 banking projects in 7 countries of the CEE region David decided to go global. He established Banking Reports Limited in London and started to write market reports about globally relevant banking trends. He quickly became widely respected member of the global FinTech and banking innovation community.

From Reports to Training Programs By 2015 it was clear that there is international demand among bankers for in-depth training programs explaining and extending the market reports written by David. Topics such as Digital Banking, New Trends in Marketing of Financial Services, Banking Transition and the Future of Banking became demanded training programs.

Quality, Dynamism and Relevance in Training David uses Group Exercises, Debates and Role Plays as tools to shake up frontal teaching. But even the frontally explained concepts are exciting at his training programs: he uses highly visual high quality slides, speaks and explains things in a dynamic manner and uses dedicated and exciting videos. While the training programs are absolutely serious and the work is highly focused, bankers are often caught laughing and fully enjoying the programs.

Faculty Member of the Retail Banking Academy David’s talent in delivering complex training programs in the area of banking innovation was soon discovered.

This is why he was invited to become Faculty Member of the Retail Banking Academy in London – one of the most prestigious banker-training facilities globally.

Co-Author of ‘The FINTECH Book’ After 189 abstracts being submitted by over 160 authors from 27 countries, David’s essay on the Future of FinTech was selected as part of ‘The FINTECH Book’ to be published by Wiley & Sons. The book quickly became a global category-bestseller on Amazon.

Founding Member of the World FinTech Association David is one of the key founding members of this global industry body of FinTech. He is also the representative of the United Kingdom in the World FinTech Association as well as the Chairman of the P2P Lending and Crowdfunding Committee of the Association.

Bringing the Best Together from 5 Continents David explains: “To provide truly top quality FinTech and Digital Banking insights it is paramount to combine and bridge global differences in excellence.” This is exactly what he does. David points out: “Just some examples: The USA is ahead in researching and piloting new interbank standards for Blockchain. Europe is the most progressive on API-banking. Asia is furthest ahead in tech-companies crossing over to financial services.

Africa – often underestimated – is clearly providing the best examples of how Mobile Network Operators can master financial services. Australia and New Zealand are ahead of all other continents in providing models of intra-bank innovation.”

An

interview with

C onstantin K inský

A Living Society is a Creating One The next interview from the series of nobility members brought me to the town of Žďár nad Sázavou. Count Constantin Kinský together with his wife Marie are in charge of the estate.

The estate lies beneath the Baroque pearl of the St. Jan Nepomuk’s Church in Zelená Hora. It was also thanks to the intervention of Count Kinský’s father Radslav that the pilgrimage church was entered into the UNESCO List of World Cultural Heritage Sites.

However, as the New Generation Museum shows, the estate is not there only to showcase history.

The unique immersive multimedia exposition has been declared the best Slavic museum in Central Europe.

I decided to use the interview as an opportunity for a family trip.

Have you ever stayed overnight in the Middle Ages watch tower, while having the 21st century comfort? I recommend it. There were many topics to be discussed but Mr. Kinský himself wished to talk primarily about education and the need to foster the Czech creativity. It is worth mentioning that our interview took place in the premises of the former Cadet Academy.

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P hoto : A rchive Mr. Kinský, allow me to start with a personal question. All nobility families have many branches and they are interrelated to one another. One of your cousins, František Kinský, a mayor and the owner of the estate in Kostelec nad Orlicí is famous for his TV series about the Czech nobility, your older cousin Ferdinand Kinský used to be a professor at the Nice University. How well do you actually know your family tree and all your relatives?

All of us don’t know each other personally, we do not meet regularly but when we meet, for example at various weddings there is a feeling that we belong together. We organised a family jamboree from all over the world and the rule to participate was to be born Kinský or have Kinský grandparents. Altogether, we totalled 360, the most far away came from Japan and Peru.

Detailed lists mention 400-500 family relatives.

It is really interesting to experience the feeling of belonging together even in such a large group.

There is one more interesting element about belonging. One can belong to a homeland on one hand but have total freedom on the other hand. We perceive our roots as an enriching element, but we are not territory dependent.

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Historically, we were defined via the close relationships towards local people on one side; on the other side, we longed for independence from any central power. Such attitude taught us freedom of thinking and within such context, the issue of boundaries is a truly relative one. I will add one funny family story about our relations, demonstrating how we make fun of each other.

Those older ones, who were local and in charge of a property, received the title of a count and the younger ones, received the title of a prince and had to leave to Vienna to start a career. The younger ones often call us the “village peasants” while we call them “collaborators” with the central power.

How do you perceive the fact that the Czech population has been more interested and thus aware of the topic of nobility families, their patriotism and love for the country?

History is more important than we realize.

Let us take the current economic crisis and compare the reaction of the USA and Europe. Americans have formed their attitude towards the crisis based on the 1929 events.

Great depression brought deflation and the remedy for the economic recovery was

An seen in great investments, deficit budgets, designing grand projects and state debt.

The economic approach according to John Keynes. In Germany, the same crisis resulted in hyperinflation. Therefore, the Germans learned a very different lesson. Balanced budget, strict budgetary discipline, no economic stimuli.

I consider such approach, based on the theory of Friedrich Hayek, a catastrophic one. I believe that Europe needs to jump start and support economy and only after take care about deficit.

Today, we are not making decisions based on our current needs, but based on emotions dating back to 1930s.

The sensitive topic of migration can serve as the second example. Such topic is truly really serious and deserves a strategy which is dignified, sensitive and based on facts. I do not want to say that we should have an open door policy for everybody, but any discussion of such theme is a very difficult one in the Czech Republic. Our perception of foreigners has been built on the image based on the Beneš decrees. Until the topic is settled, we cannot lead any rational debate about our relationship towards foreigners. The very fact that from 1938 until 1989, except for a very short period 1945-1948, we could not maintain standard relations towards the rest of the world, affects the current issue debate as a consequence.

History is to inspire us; however, we have to liberate ourselves from the past.

A historical sight has a value only if it makes sense for both current and future generations.

A historical sight bears values that can be followed upon. I will quote two complementary mottos that influence all what we do. “Our past is the source of future” and “The living society is the creating one”.

Let us address the creativity, your favourite issue…

I feel that the Czechs as a nation are being very successful, the unemployment is low; however, we need to invest in creativity more. It is needed not only to produce cars being designed abroad but to follow our rich industrial and creative tradition. The origins of creativity start at schools, including field trips where you have the chance to admire historical sights. Therefore, our museum is different, immersive and uses multimedia. I am a very big fan of arts but in a classical museum I get bored easily. Experiences are more valuable. So, in our museum, we make possible for you to meet both the founder of the monastery from 13th century, as well as those who made a big reconstruction in the 18th century, as well as the ones who are creating the value today. By the way, do you know that our ponds date back all the way to the 13th century? A lot of space is dedicated to the Baroque era. We claim that the Czech person has the origin in the Baroque era, he is just not aware of it.

The communists did not appreciate the Baroque era at all, they claimed it was the age of darkness.

interview with

On the contrary, I believe that Baroque was quite favourite period for the regime, as it was easily manipulated and it served the ideology. When you walk toward Zelená hora, at the end of your journey you can observe two ideologies: on one side, the estate, the Cistercian Monastery, ponds and on the other side there are large blocks of flats, also representing a certain ideology. I do not wish to criticise such shock; I want to understand it.

Our approach to emotions was formed during the Baroque period, as well as our attitude towards life and death, verticality, working with light, with space, with landscape and other kinds of knowledge. Many have been influenced by Czech author Jirásek who coined the term as the age of darkness, but to be honest, how many people did actually read the original book?

The baroque era is a peak period of creativity.

Just look around, the St. Jan Nepomuk Church is a truly unique creation in the world. The world view is very well reflected in nature around – it starts when you look at the cemetery, then the Estate including the farmstead, symbolizing both civil and laic life and then you see the Church, reaching to the sky. The topic of landscape preservation is very relevant nowadays, as people tend to behave according to their surroundings.

When a town is a pleasant, comfortable place to live in, people tend to be well-mannered.

Brutal spaces, on the other hand, initiate brutal behaviour. The landscape, in its very nature, is a connection between geography and history, between nature and a man. A historical sight, either a building or a landscape or surrounding nature, is a source for the future.

Let me ask you about the education system. With regards to creativity and industrial tradition, are you a supporter of technical education or do you also support humanities and arts?

When I was at Roland Berger consulting company, we carried out a research, asking CEOs across Europe about 10 criteria skills employees would need in 10 years. Can you guess what the number one was? Well, English. However, not as the first foreign language, but as the second mother tongue.

The following eight criteria were represented by soft-skills, such as project thinking, team work, ability to solve complex problems, selfconfidence and technical skills came as the last, the last-mentioned criterion. But what do we teach at schools? Primarily No 10. Of course, technical skills are needed but so are the others. Coincidently, our interview takes place at the Cadet Academy where education used to be quite complex. Students danced, fenced, while studying mathematics, geometry, physics, natural sciences as well as Latin, German, French or Italian languages.

I support education based on natural talent, not on shortcomings. I can mention our program that teaches mathematics via movement, as an example. My wife was engaged in the program

C onstantin K inský

“The School Dances”. The school that was taking care of children with various learning disabilities asked a choreographer to join them to be able to teach mathematics throughbody movements. If I learn to feel mathematics through movement, the brain does not get blocked due to the fact that I do not know numbers or that I do not like them.

How do you perceive the new generation?

I am hopeful and worried at the same time.

Our children’s generation is smart, they have vast knowledge, global interests and global thinking. They remind me of Adam and Eve from the myth of Genesis. They also had the knowledge and responsibility at the same time.

We bear the responsibility for the whole world, it can take one push on the red button in the nuclear suitcase… Global warming might be another example. However, in a certain part of population, there are young people who have returned to tribal thinking. I do not speak only about the unsatisfied children of immigrants in France but also about xenophobic moods that can be witnessed in surrounding countries.

And I do not know who will win the clash between the humanitarian approach to being open and the return to tribalism. I believe that the Erasmus program, designed for young students within the EU, should be extended also to students at vocational schools, so we could cultivate the feeling of interdependence and the art of cohabitation. By the way, this is a theme that connects both France and the Czech Republic.

Do you have any further dreams?

I would like to share with you my plan that I do not yet have the capacity to materialize.

I would like to build the guild called “Smart Hand”, a parallel to our working pensioner scheme. Retired carpenters, bakers and representatives of other vocations would dedicate one afternoon per week to children who can learn the vocations. It does not matter whether children would later choose that vocation as a profession, but a lawyer skilled in carpentry would eventually be more successful as a lawyer. Some children can embrace technical education this way. It is a fact that when compared to an administrative worker, a carpenter is not afraid of making a living for the whole of his life. The next benefit might be in fostering inter-generational relationships which is possibly one answer to the risk of tribalism mentioned above. The last but not least benefit would be the enhanced quality of life for pensioners. Financing could be done through the pension scheme and the overall positive impact on society would be enormous.

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

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culture event

Slovenia and Czechia: Partners in Central Europe

Opening of the exhibition “Slovenia and Czechia: Partners in Central Europe“ on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between both countries (6 February 2017, Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Černín Palace).

H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic decorating Deputy Minister Jakub Dürr, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the CR with a “Triglav Badge“

H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia and Deputy Minister Jakub Dürr, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the CR

From left: H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic and Deputy Minister Jakub Dürr, Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Cheers!

H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic during his opening speech

H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic and Lidija Stevanović, Journalist, the Czech Radio

Attentive public

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

From left: Zdeněk Lyčka, Cultural Coordinator , Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic, and Deputy Minister Jakub Dürr, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the CR

culture event

Exhibition

Representatives from the Embassy of Slovenia - from left: Mrs. Petra Krylová, Deputy Head of Mission Angelina Trajkovski, and Barbara Blaznik Marc, wife of H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic Exhibition

Exhibition

From left: Tomáš Kafka, Director of the Central Europe Department , Jan Šída, Journalist, Právo, and H.E. Leon Marc, Ambassador of Slovenia in the Czech Republic Exhibition

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One woman,

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

In fact, there were more courses like that and they were part of an elaborate training system of a company that understood the need to bring all fresh consultants to the same starting level.

Indeed, it was a huge step out of my comfort zone. However, from today’s perspective, I keep remembering the victorious feeling after we succeeded carrying out “the string test“ for the first time. In addition to the distinct feeling of personal accomplishment, throughout the programming experience, we also learned to value teamwork.

We could taste, in a realistic high-stress business simulation, how particularly important and significantly more difficult it is for an individual to perform successfully, yet also as a team player. This was an invaluable experience that came in handy in many further projects. Looking back, I consider it a great benefit. Is there any better or more suitable time for pushing your limits of development other than when you are young, even at the price of possible discomfort? Specialization usually follows later throughout the various stages of one’s career. This being said, one must bear in mind that there are exceptions.

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

I am not familiar with any particular research that would confirm the above stated preference towards humanities or diminishing interest in the technical disciplines. Such reality might be explained by the way science is being taught at both elementary and high schools and there is definitely room for improvement. I do not dare to judge whether there is more opportunity for humanities or for science disciplines. We need to see beyond the current horizon into several decades in the future, imagining the people who are studying today, will eventually be part of the active workforce.

Speaking for my industry, today, it might seem that technology and IT are “the disciplines”, particularly when it comes to the latest societal development, labelled as “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” or the “Industry 4.0”. As the speed of our lives has increased, mobile technologies, social networks, and virtual reality are becoming natural components of our lives. Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and Internet of Things are the hype buzzwords of

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today. Development of microservices is creeping in the open window of opportunities to leverage all these data quantities in fantastic apps based on intelligent predictions and automated steps in the chain, with possibly minimal or no human interference. This being said, we remain human beings with all of our basic needs and desires. The famous Maslow pyramid of human needs is still a valid and applied scheme. So if you see people preferring humanities, I would argue that it might be seen as a compensation for too many technological aspects in our lives… But again, I cannot confirm a statistical correlation in the statement.

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

The start-up theme is quite popular nowadays.

Negative connotation of corporations is to a great extent influenced by the media and so young people tend to prefer start-ups to corporations.

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

Your view as of me going upstream is a good one.

More than 10 years ago, when I was selecting a school with a good executive MBA program, I chose Thunderbird University. Besides having an excellent academic program focused on international management, the school culture is based on diversity and promoting the uniqueness of each student. We call ourselves “misfits” and it is not a negative statement. We just have a natural

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

tendency to see and manage things differently than the mainstream. So what seems upstream to you looks okay or natural to me.

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

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

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

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

er. I try not to work in the evenings, and definitely avoid chasing after e-mails.

Blending the two most important roles – the professional one and the one of a mother – is an issue that is also relevant to most of my female colleagues at SAP Services. I am proud to say that we have 67% of women in management positions.

Contrary to other companies, there is no leaking pipeline in terms of women reaching senior positions at SAP. We try to support as much as possible the above mentioned blending of roles by various means. In addition to shorter working schemes allowing flexible and part-time home-office work, we also have a fully equipped children’s corner for toddlers as well as pre-school-age children. Toilets with baby-changing diaper units as well as comfortable breast-feeding areas have been designed as a natural part of our new office space.

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

Thanks for asking, it is doing pretty well. From a baby project, it has grown into a big program, based on a revolutionary approach to recruitment, education, and employment of people with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) particularly those having Asperger syndrome. The program is moving ahead thanks to the support from the whole team.

The idea of employing people with Asperger in IT positions originated in Germany in 2013, but in Prague we applied it to employees in other roles, not only IT positions. Besides Germany and the Czech Republic, it has been launched in the U.S., Brazil, Canada, India, and Ireland. SAP has a goal to have 1% of employees with ASD globally by 2020, which corresponds to the total amount of people on the spectrum in the general population.

It is necessary to say that a candidate with ASD is hired for the same position, as any other candidate would be. Colleagues on the spectrum share offices with other neuro-typical colleagues with whom they consult not only for work-related issues, but also personal matters.

Andrea Hepnerová Andrea has been managing SAP Services in Prague since 2010. SAP Services is a daughter company of the major German software leader SAP. Established in Prague in 2004 with the aim to provide business shared services to the SAP branches throughout EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa),SAP Services has grown into being the largest global service center of SAP. Besides financial and business results, one of Andrea’s foremost priorities today is the continuous strive for sustainable social innovation through diversity engagement programs.

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

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

Prior to managing SAP Services, Andrea implemented SAP software and provided software consulting services through Accenture and other local SAP partners to various clients in Central and Eastern Europe. She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, and an Executive MBA degree in International Management from Thunderbird, Global School of Business, in Glendale-Phoenix, AZ, USA. Andrea has two sons and lives with her family in the countryside outside Prague. She loves to sing and dance, do sports, read books, travel for fun and occasionally cook for friends or family.

P hoto : archive

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

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

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

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

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discussion events

Trump's World View

- will the Czech Republic have a role?

The Prague Society and Global Panel Foundation reintroduced "The Policy Dialogues" begun in 2001 with different universities at the University of New York Prague (UNYP) on March 8, 2017. On this occasion, Ambassador Hynek Kmoníček, Foreign Policy Advisor to Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and designated Ambassador to the United States, was the featured speaker in a filled auditorium. A lively debate ensued between students, guests and numerous Ambassadors who were present.

The panel was moderated by Dean Oscar Hidalgo-Redondo of UNYP and Marc S. Ellenbogen. An open reception was held with students and guests at the end - where intense discussions continued.

The essence -- as perceived by the audience -- the Czech Republic could have a role as an interlocutor, a mediator, between the US, Europe and other countries -- a role it played in the days of Václav Havel and previously during the days of Czechoslovakia.

From left: H.E. Khaled Alattrash, Ambassador of the State of Palestine and H.E. Pedro Calvo-Sotelo, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain

From left: Dr. Hynek Kmoníček, Designated Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States of America and Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation

H.E. Franki Verwey, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa and H.E. Efthymios Efthymiades, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic

Students

From left: Michael Stimson, Sales Director, GIDE International Limited and H.E Zaal Gogsadze, Ambassador of Georgia

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From left: H.E. Efthymios Efthymiades, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic, Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation, and Sotiris Foutsis, General Manager, University of New York in Prague

From left: Oscar Hidalgo-Redondo, Chairman, Department of International and Economic Relations, UNYP, Mark Anderson, Marketing Director, University of New York in Prague, Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul of Zambia to the Czech Republic and Business Consultant, Czech Leaders Magazine, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Sotiris Foutsis, General Manager, University of New York in Prague, and Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

Dr. Hynek Kmoníček, Designated Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States of America

discussion events

From left: Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation and Oscar Hidalgo-Redondo, Chairman, Department of International and Economic Relations, UNYP

From left: Tim De Graaff, Trainee, Embassy of the Netherlands, Jeremy Cordery, Director, Bridgwater Consortium Ltd, and Norfarina Mohd Azmee, Counsellor, Embassy of Malaysia

From left: Jeremy Cordery, Director, Bridgwater Consortium Ltd and Bert Stiers, Managing Director, Stiers & Co

From left: H.E. Mr. Walid Hamed Shiltagh, Ambassador of Iraq and Dr. Hynek Kmoníček, Designated Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States of America

From left: H.E Zaal Gogsadze, Ambassador of Georgia, Sotiris Foutsis, General Manager, University of New York in Prague, and Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation

From left: H.E. Khaled Alattrash, Ambassador of the State of Palestine, Sotiris Foutsis, General Manager, University of New York in Prague, and Hynek Kmoníček, Designated Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States of America

From left: Prof. Marc S. Ellenbogen, President, Prague Society, Chair, Global Panel Foundation, Oscar Hidalgo-Redondo, Chairman, Department of International and Economic Relations, UNYP, Dr. Hynek Kmoníček, Designated Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States of America, and Sotiris Foutsis, General Manager, University of New York in Prague

Audience

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An

interview with

D aniel W ahrenberger

Three Careers in One:

Executive Coach, CEO and Gallery Owner Daniel Wahrenberger has owned a gallery for more than 20 years, worked as CEO, Interim Manager and he has also had a coaching and consultancy company for 15 years.

He has worked in more than 23 countries, in Europe, Americas and Asia.

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

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

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

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

Being Swiss, I will naturally use the example of downhill skiing, making also a link to the Czech Republic, as the Alpine Ski World Championship in St. Moritz took place recently. I believe many Czech people followed this event quite closely, as it was the last Championship for your excellent skier Šárka Strachová. So, I compare my career to the giant slalom.

I have been enjoying various energetic bends, always having a clear goal in sight, parallel to the finishing line.

I have never been attached to a particular position or a brand or a function. My priority was not to focus on “what am I doing” but instead on “how am I performing and achieving goals”.

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Whenever a person loses an intrinsic motivation and enjoyment, the overall satisfaction is difficult to be attained.

When that happens, you literally stand still in your professional and personal development.

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

Whenever I started to realize that my passion was decreasing, it was a signal to me that I have to change something.

Immediately.

At the first sight, all the positions I have held seem to be too divergent. When you look closely, they have a common denominator.

You have goals and you have a playing field and that goes true for both gallery owner and soloentrepreneur as well as head of HR and managing director responsible for more than 4000 colleagues.

You have been a coach for 15 years.

What major developments have you seen in coaching as a discipline and how have your clients evolved?

Let me return to the domain of sport once again. Nowadays, it is hard to imagine that a top athlete competes successfully without a professional coach. This has also become the case for both leaders and management teams, since they have to bear responsibility that is disproportionately higher.

When a manager worked with a coach fifteen years ago, many people interpreted such co-operation as a sign of weakness. During the last decade, luckily such perception has completely shifted. Today, most of the successful executives work with experienced independent coaches. Working with

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

P hoto : A rchive

I nterview SIRC, Re-Insurance Conference in Singapore

a coach is not only a vehicle for personal development or the possibility to receive objective feedback but also a way to gain respect from clients and colleagues.

I was fortunate to coach more than 40 CEOs in Europe, the US, Asia and Africa. For me, it was interesting to observe that top managers in Asia were more open to coaching than their colleagues in the US, even that given Asian hierarchy culture orientation.

You have already mentioned that executive coaching is rather a new profession; how do you see its future development?

Until now, whenever you needed development, either for a person or for a company as such, at first you needed to carry out a costly assessment or an employment survey. But let’s be honest, is this process really inspiring? Is it motivating or rather frustrating for the beginning phase which is the most crucial one?

The answer is very simple: Personal development and market expansion can be only achieved if you are aware of your own values, your real strengths and your passion.

Through assessments and surveys you normally receive average ratings. Abstract average ratings are worthless. Instead, you need feedback based on real facts and then tailor-made proposals for improvement.

As a result, “personal intelligent coaching” has become increasingly high in demand.

I use the term “smart coaching” which has no intention to change the personality of a human being or the core values of a company. These are factors which cannot be changed radically. It is much more important to figure out the real strengths and talents of an individual, a team or a company. And on that positive base, further actions are to be defined.

Therefore, I am sure that coaching will very soon become an integral part of a corporate culture for the most successful companies.

You are the CEO of Veromont company, specializing on interim management.

How do you see its perspectives?

Our motto claims “interim management bridges your challenging times with new ideas and a breath of fresh air”.

Using an interim management at times of high workload or in unforeseen exceptional situations enables these to be handled successfully and efficiently with a minimum of disruption. This means you buy-in knowledge and workforce for a specific task and timeframe. This brings two benefits – it is absolutely cost efficient and empowering at the same time.

Whether it is to manage a team or a department, provide temporary support to a management team or to lead a project, professional management support can be guaranteed at short notice, and as it is an agreed temporary deployment, these placements provide enrichment without permanent resources needed to be allocated.

More and more frequently, professional interim managers with long-term market experience and strong client connections are engaged to set up a profound market expansion based on experiences and as a door opener to expand into new markets.

But just over a specific period of time.

In many traditional companies, they still use the classical division between managers and leaders… Is this notion still valid?

I definitely challenge such approach. Good leaders lead through their personality and not through their branding.

There is not "one size fits all" leadership style.

Nobody should be a dogmatic or a dialectic leader. The art of inspiring leadership is like the art of playing a piano: You should use the right frequencies and registers at the right time. Your colleagues must benefit from the fact that you are in a leader’s position. This does not mean that you have to increase salaries, more vacations or benefits. It means having a favourable company culture in place, together with a realistic vision and strategy.

A strong leader thinks ahead and must have alternative solutions embedded in the organisation before the moment of urgency

comes. That’s the leader of the future.

You have an extensive experience in assignments abroad. With regards to intercultural communication, did cultural differences play a bigger or smaller role than in the past?

If you asked your colleagues “what are the values of an airline company” everybody would be able to tell the key descriptions immediately. Security, being on time, client focus, clear roles, etc. But what about an answer to this question: “What are the values of our company”? Then you find out that two people interpret the values differently, provided they are even capable of naming them at first.

That’s why the airline industries operate at the highest professional level across all cultures, languages, religions, politics, and countries The simple fact is that all employees want to follow these values because they make sense and guarantee successes across all borders.

Values cannot change every year – not for your company, your colleagues, your clients.

Your values must be understandable and make sense to everybody.

Values are at the roots of a long-term success in intercultural affairs. What about discussing and agreeing on core values with a client? Such approach would save tons of contracts full of abstract wordings.

You have been a coach for 15 years, you have been an art gallery owner for 20 years. What are the parallels that you see?

There are many parallels. Passion comes first. Without passion and fascination with or for art you will never have success in this business.

Unfortunately, we still see many galleries disappearing after a short period of time.

That shows to me that passion and art knowledge might not be enough. If you want to become a successful gallery owner, you have to understand how the entire environment works. Artists, clients, art critic – but also timing, investment and marketing. Everybody’s motivation and drivers. And finally, it has to fit with your own vision and artistic taste.

You cannot force an artist to paint, you cannot force a client to buy, or a journalist to write. The different elements must fit together like a Swiss clockwork. Key is sales leadership and integrity – just like in every other industry?

But the real parallels are fun! Both are very positive professions – even e.g. conflict management. They include a lot of soft factors which you cannot always define in words. They include emotions, moods and characters. I just love to work in these environments. I really enjoy all my different careers in one!

By Linda Štucbartová

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networking / charity

In

cooperation with

C zech & S lovak L eaders

Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador Guest of Honor: Prof. Dr. Ing. Miroslav Svítek, dr. h. c., Dean of the Faculty of Transport, ČVUT

Topic: Smart Cities

From left: Ing. Ladislav Vaško, Commercial Director and Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šeďo, DrSc., Dean, 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University

Prof. Dr. Ing. Miroslav Svítek, dr. h. c., Dean of the Faculty of Transport, ČVUT, guest of honor

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From left: Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Secretary, LCI 122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

From left: Mgr. Jan Haur, IS Administrator and Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šeďo, DrSc., Dean, 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

networking / charity

In

cooperation with

C zech & S lovak L eaders

Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador Guest of Honor: Prof. Ing. Tibor Vaško, CSc, Member of International Institute for Applied System Analysis [IIASA]

Topic: History and the Mission of IIASA

From left: : Ing.František Novotný, President, Associations APST and SDSS, Secretary, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Ing. Aleš Haur, Entrepreneur

Prof. Ing. Tibor Vaško, CSc, Member of International Institute for Applied System Analysis [IIASA], guest of honor

JUDr. Vojtěch Trapl, Lawyer and former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

From left: Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Secretary, LCI 122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Ing.František Novotný, President, Associations APST and SDSS, Secretary, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, and Ing. Jiří Málek, Entrepreneur and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

Prof. RNDr. Petr Hodek CSc., The Faculty of Natural Science, Charles University and PhDr. Ladislav Říha, Owner, CK RI-Tours and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

From left: Prof. Ing. Tibor Vaško, CSc, Member of International Institute for Applied System Analysis [IIASA], guest of honor, Ing. Aleš Haur, Entrepreneur, and Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

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An

interview with

J udi C halliner

My Life as Defined by Two Quotes or Aftermath of Brexit as witnessed by Judi Challiner, a British citizen now seeking the Czech citizenship Judi Challiner was born in the UK. Her father was a Czech medical doctor who managed to escape Nazism. Judi visited Czechoslovakia several times during communism and since the Velvet Revolution has been regularly coming back to Czechoslovakia and then the Czech Republic. She has taught Creative Arts in the English International School and Czech state schools. In 2014 she gave a Tedx talk on the issue of stigma. She is a keen member of two Toastmasters Clubs in Prague, formerly of Bohemian Toastmasters where she was president in 2012 and is currently an active member of Prague Business Toastmasters. Although 'retired' from the school-room, she is still involved in two projects in Prague and spends 6 months of the year in the Czech Republic.

After the Referendum on June 23, 2016 and the resulting Brexit, she was horrified by the activities of the British government as well as the hostile mood from the initial 51% Leavers Brexit supporters. She therefore made a decision to acquire Czech citizenship.

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Judi, do you perceive your quest for the Czech citizenship as historical irony?

What comes to your mind when you hear the famous Neville Chamberlain’s quote that led to Munich 1938 syndrome.

“A quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.”

Whenever I hear this quote, I think of my father escaping from Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, to the safety of London.

He never forgave himself for the tragedy of leaving his mother Anna Posnerova in Karlovy Vary, to be murdered in Auschwitz.

Although I never met her, she guides me constantly.

As a post war 2nd generation Holocaust descendant, I was a well travelled baby. Born in 1945 in London, my English mother took me at three months to Zlin where my father was Medical Director for Bata. In 1948 we returned to England, where my “mongrel” background often made me an isolate in the all white, Christian community of Stoke on Trent. I found out about my Jewish roots at the age of 8, when I heard the story of my father's mother and 25 relatives murder in Auschwitz.

Was the age of eight too young to hear about gas chambers? Probably. I had to deal with anti-semitic name calling at school, could never mention my grandmother or the war or the bullying to my dad.

Did this leave a scar? Possibly. Yet, I was incredibly proud of my Czech roots, championing the cause of minority groups both in school, my teaching career, and to the present day. I never lost the hope of fulfilling a childhood dream to return to the ”far away country” to live.

An What did bring you back? Unfortunately, all of your Czech relatives perished during World War II. Apart from two brief visits in 1968 to celebrate the Prague Spring and in summer just before August 17, I had no living family ties with my father's country. I was educated in England, taught in England, happily married to a Manchester man and had two wonderful boys. What was the strong pull of my father's and grandmother's country?

In January 1997, as part of a Drama project Children of the Holocaust, I returned to Prague for five days. After looking at the Terezin Art Exhibition, I went into the memorial in the Pinkas Synagogue. There at eye level I found her name Posnerova Anna and vowed once again to come back and live here. I'd show Hitler how his Final Solution had failed.

It took five years for me to fulfil that vow. In 2003, I returned to Prague to teach at the English International School of Prague.

The grim irony was that I returned at the same age of 58 as my grandmother was forced to go to Terezin. During the years of dual living in Prague and Manchester, I often thought of having a Czech passport, and re-learning Czech but was discouraged on both counts. My Czech friends said "Why have a Czech passport when we are part of the EU." As for the language? I found it so hard and everyone in Prague wanted to practise English!

Teaching in an international environment was like a new career. Previously I had worked for decades in deprived inner city schools, championing equal opportunities for poor "forgotten" white children and refugee families. Now I was teaching the English curriculum to the rich international elite of Prague. Yet, the same goals of celebrating diversity of individuals and learning the lessons of the country's horrific past invasions were even stronger. Through Drama and the Arts I enjoyed a decade of teaching the value of diversity and respect for humanity in both International and Czech State schools.

Did you feel a sense of belonging?

Yes and No. Whenever I talked about my roots, the response was a mixture of polite interest. I was ALWAYS asked if I spoke Czech. I was usually asked if I had any family in the Czech Republic. When I explained about the fate of my father's family, it was usually met with a silence, a shrug and a change of subject with 'Those were terrible times.' Hardly surprising when I thought about what the Czech people had endured from 1938.

Yet, I did and still do get this incredible feeling of belonging every time I land at Vaclav Havel airport. When I open the door

of my little flat in Karlin, I smile as the inner words whisper“Welcome Home”.

Besides championing diversity and holocaust, you became known for your TEDx speech on the issue of stigma.

On June 21, 2014 when I was a TEDx speaker at TEDx Praha. I was invited because I was a member of Prague Business Toastmasters.

At the Divadlo Hybernia I spoke about Stigma and how I'd challenged antisemitism, racism, mental illness and asked the audience to actively celebrate diversity in individuals. As I went out and looked across at The Municipal House where my grandmother must have often had coffee and cake, I hoped that she would have approved of her grand daughter. Again I made a vow, I would co-write a book with the Director of Prague Youth Theatre – Adam Stewart. He had written a play based on the diary of a Terezin survivor and the plan was to use it as the core for drama workshops which portrayed Jewish life in Prague in 1930s during the rise of Hitler and comparative examples of xenophobia, propaganda and fascism today. The aim was to teach young people to accept, celebrate and never denigrate diversity.

Rebecca Humphries, PYT Assistant Director wrote the present day workshops using bullying, monsters and tales of Syrian refugees. ' Empty Hands' was scheduled to be performed on June 25, 2016.

interview with

J udi C halliner

I work on it together with my Czech friend Linda and we try to compare the perspectives of women from both East and West during the 20 & 21 centuries.

Finally, I am undergoing the process to obtain Czech citizenship, since it will be the Czech passport to ensure my continued freedom in the EU. Vive “the far away country” which I know and love a lot!

At 71 years of age I pursue freedom, justice, honesty and celebrating diversity with as much passion as always. I'm proud of my background and refuse to accept or condone the populist movement which is taking its grip in UK. For the rest of my life my message is simple and celebrates another huge role model of mine Václav Havel. Like him I believe that “Truth and love will overcome lies and hatred”.

By Linda Štucbartová

Well, that was few days after the Brexit vote…

Yes, and whatever my personal feelings were, I knew that the Referendum in the UK meant the world had changed for ever.

On June 25, I was the narrator at the performance. One line seared through everyone's consciousness. "A journey to an uncertain place for an uncertain amount of time".

That line, chillingly sums up for me post Brexit UK. It is like an out of control roller coaster ploughing relentlessly through helpless by standers who are uncertain where they will end up.

Whenever I am in despair about something, I remember my mantra “This is nothing compared to what your grandmother suffered in Terezin.” which is still very true.

What are your next plans?

I am focusing on my new project, a book about the important role of grandmothers.

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ČSÚZ

Members of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute were present at the Silver Plate award ceremony.

The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute awarded by the Embassy of the People's Republic of China after 25 years of cooperation On 20 January 2017, the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute received the Silver Plate from the Chinese ambassador H. E. Ma Keqing in recognition of longterm cooperation with the Chinese Embassy and China.

The dedication on the Silver Plate says: The award for special benefits to the Chinese – Czech friendship.

The award was presented at the Chinese Embassy, where to the ambassador has invited representatives of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute. Nearly 20 members of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute including its chairman Jaromír Šlápota met also with the representatives of Comenius association, of the Czech-Chinese common chamber of commerce and industry and of the Czechoslovak - Chinese chamber of commerce. "The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, Comenius and both the chambers have been developing cooperation with China and supporting it for years. It's a big benefit for us,” the ambassador said in her speech. She mentioned that the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute had provided support also in periods when the Czech Republic’s official relations with China were limited, and that's something to thank the Institute for. Therefore, the Embassy has decided to award the Institute for the excellent contribution to the Czech - Chinese friendship. Relations between the two countries are currently developing positively, but there are still some difficult points in which support from Czech investors is important for China, the ambassador pointed out. "I hope that the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, Comenius and both the chambers will continue to support the development of relations between the Czech Republic and the People’s Republic of China,” she added, and then she invited representatives of awarded institutions to receive the prize presented by the Chinese Embassy for the first time in history.

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CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2017

The Czechoslovak Foreign Institute is the first organization to have been awarded the Silver Plate with the Chinese-Czech engraving: The award for special benefits to the Chinese – Czech friendship. The chairman Jaromír Šlápota has received the award from the Chinese ambassador H. E. Ma Keqing.

The ambassador invited the chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota to present his speech; he said among other: "It's a great honour for us to be the first awarded by this prize," Jaromír Šlápota stressed on behalf of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute.

"We are glad that we could find mutual understanding. It's not easy to understand the world power that survived centuries, wars, that weakened it, but it always succeeded to develop and build even more impressive works than its ancestors and other countries." He mentioned that the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute opened and developed friendly relations with a number of civic associations in China since 1992 and that the Institute is ready to develop them further in future.

Photo: František Řečinský

The member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, abbot Michael Josef Pojezdný inspired guests to deep contemplation with his words.

ČSÚZ

New Year Meeting in Strahov Monastery It has become a tradition that members and friends of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute meet at the turn of the year and they express their wishes to the New Year. For the sixth time this year they have accepted the invitation of the member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, abbot Michael Josef Pojezdný and they came in a big number to the refectory of Strahov Monastery on January 25 at five p.m. Among the guests, there was the Chinese ambassador H. E. Ma Keqing, other representatives of the embassies and public figures.

We are thankful to the head of Cardiologic Centre of the Institute of Clinic and Experimental Medicine Prof. MUDr. Jan Pirk, DrSc. for successful surgery of the abbot Michael Josef Pojezdný, the member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute.

The social evening started with sightseeing of a famous Strahov library.

After that the chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota welcomed guests in the refectory of the monastery and invited them to listen to music performed by Felix Slováček, the member of the Institute. Then the abbot Pojezdný spoke. "I don't know how to speak the same way Mr. Slováček can play,” he said but convinced everybody that he knows it by following sentences. He expressed wish that "the Lord God keep us sane in the current tense time, when we hear from the media, how politicians quarrel and it hits us.” He recommended us to allow ourselves a moment every day to reflect our own lives and our goals. "Everyone should have the right to create relationships and he needs internal peace to do so. Only then he can see who needs help. If we find such moments, we will like life more, we will be able to perceive beauty that we have friends and people to lean on.”

The meeting of members and friends of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute at the invitation of the member of the Institute, Strahov Monastery abbot Michael Josef Pojezdný was opened with music performance by the Institute member Felix Slováček.

At the end, the chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota made a wish and he thanked to all who had made the meeting in the Strahov Monastery pleasant, namely to Hana Hlaváčková, Božena Zychová, František Řečinský and also to teacher Antonínová, students of the Secondary school of hotel and gastronomy in PrahaKlánovice, to Tereza Šlápotová and her classmates for their care about the guests and he wished everybody good relations, friendship and to meet there next year again.

Photo: Lukáš Panoch and František Řečinský

hebr

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EU

interview

An interview with Antonín Mokrý, 1st Vice President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)

Digitalization and globalization, they both fall under one phenomenon JUDr Antonín Mokrý (born 1957) is a lawyer in Prague.

He is the Vice President of the Czech Bar Association and since 2015 a Member of Presidency of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), becoming its First Vice President as of 2017.

P hoto : A rchive

Last December you became the 1st Vice President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) which means you are expected to become its president in 2018. What are your priorities for your presidency?

There is a lot of motion in the field of legal services and politicians seem to start considering – as many times in the past – if it was a time to intervene to existing traditional and vetting principles of lawyers profession.

My priorities will therefore be very likely determined by these attempts, although I would rather concentrate my efforts on tasks which we lawyers would prefer to solve

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and offer in these turbulent times. We are working on real problems of everyday life for people who have real cases, politicians sometimes deal with virtual problems which they only believe will bring them affection of a voter who is, by the way, often unsteady and unpredictable and thus the priorities may be changed from one day to another.

In CCBE, you work with colleagues from other Member States on common positions. How does the cooperation of attorneys work in practice?

CCBE now represents through the national Bars and Law societies more than 1 million

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of

M r . M okrý

lawyers throughout Europe from 32 countries of the EU, EEA, Switzerland and the member countries of the Council of Europe.

Each national bar and law society sends to CCBE its representatives forming national delegations, but also legal experts from different areas of law who took part in a work of specialized committees, e.g. Deontology Committee, EU Lawyers Committee, Access to Justice Committee, Criminal Law Committee, IT Law Committee and many others. We work not only on common positions to different political and professional initiatives, but we also undertake work on different practical matters for lawyers and their professional

EU

bodies, and we protect and assist those defenders of human rights and freedoms who are harassed, insulted, intimidated, abused, imprisoned and sometimes even murdered. We also wish to assist lawyers from countries that still face problems with independent legal or judiciary profession, or who need support in running self-regulatory organization with whatever problems they may suffer.

You are also the Chair of CCBE Brexit Task Force. What will be the impact of Brexit on legal professions?

It goes without saying that CCBE as the “Voice of European Lawyers” cannot remain silent on this important event, meaning that at the right time we should express our professional view on different consequences that might arise during negotiations once these occur to the detriment of acquired rights of the current EU citizens. But in addition, we should also be watchful of potential loss of different rights based in conventions and procedural rights that create the “area of justice, freedom and security” in which, until now, the UK played one of the leading roles in Europe. I hope the UK will take a balanced way of negotiations after the Article 50 is triggered and I would expect from EU negotiators the same. In any case, we must not forget that the EU and the UK should remain allies, we are one civilization and we share the same values.

The EU has adopted general regulation and directive on data protection.

What will be the role of attorneys in its implementation?

New GDPR was published in 2016 with an implementation deadline of 6th May 2018.

Even though it is a regulation, there could arise national differences affecting how lawyers should work. CCBE had elaborated Guidance note with the intention of assisting Bars and Law Societies to prepare to mitigate

negative results of these differences. Bars and Law Societies are advised to take steps during the implementation in their member states in order to ensure compliance with the principles of professional secrecy and legal professional privilege. It is widely recognized that activities undertaken by lawyers, especially those regarding contentious legal work, serve the interest of administration of justice. Therefore, processing of the personal data which is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in a public interest shall be lawful. As regards activities of lawyers involving non-contentious legal work, the Bars are advised to inform their members to seek consent from their clients when processing personal data. CCBE also invites national Bars to urge their governments to ensure that the powers of the supervisory authority over data protection, it means their access to the data held by lawyers (including their premises) are not exercised without the consent of the relevant bar.

Panama papers scandal is not over yet.

What is CCBE position on that?

CCBE participated on 24th January 2017 in a hearing organized by the European Parliament Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA). It was already its sixth hearing. This time we were represented by the Chair of our AML Committee, Rupert Manhart and Trusts expert, Richard Frimston. We aimed at explanations as to the purpose and limits of professional secrecy, which will never apply if a lawyer is facilitating an offence. We tried to explain to the parliamentarians, as well as participating stakeholders, the important role of Bars and members in detecting and preventing money laundering, having quoted there an extensive number of measures in place to address money laundering risks and to raise awareness amongst the lawyers about money laundering. We also confirmed that the members of the legal profession are under strict sanctions for any failure to adhere to the AML obligations. In my view, it is very difficult to explain and convince the EU officials about different things, such as the role of professional secrecy, distinction between tax evasion and tax avoidance, or that the intermediaries engaged in illegal activity are not necessarily lawyers. We have to go ahead with this persuasion, which must not prevent us to collaborate with OECD and FATF to define “beneficial ownership” and to jointly elaborate a Common Reporting Standards in this field, as in Europe there are different legal traditions and it is expected that the overseas countries should join it as well.

Many areas could not avoid the influence of digital development. How do you perceive the impact of digitalization on attorneys?

interview

Digitalization and globalization, they both fall under one phenomenon. Contemporary lawyer relies more and more on technological developments, digitalization makes distances shorter. When you asked me at the beginning of our interview what will be my priority when in lead of the CCBE – digitalization can be the major one.

E-justice and electronic access to the court files make life of lawyers and their clients easier, however not everywhere in the EU it is fully implemented. E-learning, e-training for lawyers and European Training Platform on which CCBE works together with the European Commission is another beneficial tool. At the same time, digitalization brings also some dangers that might challenge various core values of our profession and we must be aware of this. We must work even harder on the safety of our communications and transfer of sensitive data.

I cannot resist to ask you about your view on the Czech discussion on a possible amendment to its Constitution. Is this really necessary?

If you mention an initiative to amend the Czech Constitution by implementing the fundamental freedom of possession of weapons, then my opinion is in concert with number of high-profile experts in constitutional law who criticised or denied this proposal. If my information is correct, formerly this proposal even included that such “right should contribute to securing public order and security and protection of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and the democratic foundations of the State” that I considered to be rather risky declaration, as it may lead to a conclusion that not only the State but also individuals holding the license are called to ensure public security. On the other hand, I am not entirely sure whether the limitations to the legal possession of weapons as now being revised by EU firearms directive, are aimed at the right direction to achieve the desired goal – to foster public security in Europe – as the main danger lies somewhere else.

What is the future of legal profession?

When I'm talking to young lawyers in my country, I keep saying, “By now your competitors have been our human colleagues, but you should no longer rely on this and you should start getting used to the fact that your competitors will be of non-humankind. Therefore, you have to be very innovative.” Artificial Intelligence starts playing an important role in various areas of legal work that have been formerly considered exclusively human. But do not worry about robots, we still control them.

Thank you for the interview!

By Alena Mastantuono, Director, CEBRE

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EU

debate

New Electricity Market Design: Framework for Achieving the Energy Union On Tuesday, 31st January, 2017, the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the European Union hosted a high-level conference “New Electricity Market Design: Framework for Achieving the Energy Union". Key note speeches were delivered by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission, Chair of the European Parliament's Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) while Jan Mládek, former Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and Jerzy Buzek, belonged to the key speakers. The new electricity market design is part of the winter package "Clean Energy for all Europeans", published by the European Commission in November 2016. The package aims to reflect on the need to deliver a stable and reliable framework for the electricity market, which will be able to fully integrate renewables, strengthen the proper functioning of the market and motivate investors to longterm investment decisions. The goal of the conference "New Electricity Market Design: Framework for Achieving the Energy Union" was to start a discussion among the representatives of Member States, European institutions, business entities in the energy sector and other stakeholders who will be involved in shaping the regulatory framework for the functioning of the Energy Union.

From left: Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Energy Union, Martin Povejšil, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, and Jan Mládek, former Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic

Participants of the debate

From left: Jerzy Buzek, Chair of ITRE Committee, European Parliament, Martin Povejšil, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, Jan Mládek, former Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and Maroš Šefčovič, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Energy Union

Jan Mládek, former Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic

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EU

debate

Energy efficiency: where is the “green commitment” of the EU heading?

The Energy Efficiency Directive, which was adopted in 2012, aims to increase energy efficiency and reduce the final energy consumption of the EU. By 2020, the EU as a whole is set to increase its energy efficiency by 20%, to which Member States contribute on the basis of setting national targets. At the end of 2016, the European Commission published its new legislative package called “Clean Energy for All Europeans” that should help the EU to switch to low carbon economy. The package aims to increase the energy efficiency target to 30% by 2030. Although increasing the target could mean higher initial costs, the more ambitious target is a more efficient solution in long-term perspective. However, it is necessary to reflect national conditions and ensure synergies with other EU tools for decarbonisation of EU economy. These are the conclusions of a debate organised in the European House in Prague on 2nd December, 2016.

From left: Zdeněk Čech, Economic Advisor, Representation of the European Commission in the Czech Republic, Zuzana Krejčiříková, Head of Public Affairs Department ČEZ, a.s., Pert Holub, Director, Chance for Buildings, Vladimír Sochor, Director of Energy Efficiency and Savings Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Evžen Tošenovský, Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, European Parliament, Radoš Horáček, Energy Efficiency Unit, DG Energy, European Commission , and Tomáš Hartman, Deputy Director, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

Participants of the debate

From left: Evžen Tošenovský, Member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, European Parliament and Radoš Horáček, Energy Efficiency Unit, DG Energy, European Commission

Participants of the debate

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EU

matters business

DID YOU KNOW THAT? Malta assumes EU Council presidency At the beginning of January 2017, Malta has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the EU, which rotates among the EU member states, and thus has started the last third of the joint 18-month programme of the EU Presidency Trio Netherlands-Slovakia-Malta.

During the upcoming 6 months the Maltese Presidency will focus mainly on migration, EU single market, security, social inclusion and EU neighbouring policy.

Parliament endorsed Canada trade deal On the 15th of February 2017, the European Parliament approved at its plenary session the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the EU. The agreement will remove tariffs on the majority of goods and services traded between the EU and Canada, will ensure mutual recognition of certification and open up Canadian public procurement market to European companies.

Furthermore, CETA introduces the new Investment Court System which replaces the outdated system of settling disputes between an investor and the state (ISDS). The agreement should be applied provisionally as of 1st April 2017 as EU national parliaments still need to approve the final version of the agreement.

EU to abolish mobile changes abroad On 31st January 2017 the Maltese Presidency reached a provisional agreement with the European Parliament on new wholesale caps telecom operators pay to one another when their customers use their mobile phones in another country. As of June 2017, the new deal sets maximum of 7.7 euro per gigabyte of data that will be further reduced to 2.5 euro in 2022. As for calls, the cap was reduced from 0.05 euro to 0.032 euro per minute and 0.01 for text messages. This informal agreement still has to be confirmed by EU member states and the European Parliament. The new rules must be in place by 15th June 2017 so that roaming fees can be abolished as laid down in the roaming regulation adopted in 2015.

Better consumer protection in the EU EU member states agreed on a general approach to further boost consumer protection in the EU. The new rules should set a modernised mechanism to improve cross-border cooperation during consumer infringements.

National authorities should gain more power in the infringements due to improved cooperation.

The mechanism should ensure better trust in cross-border e-commerce as national authorities will cooperate with the European Commission in case of larger breaches of consumer rights within the EU. European Parliament wants to reduce carbon emission allowances The European Parliament agreed on its position concerning the revision of the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS). MEPs request the socalled linear reduction factor that sets the yearly reduction of carbon credits to be increased by 2.2% each year from 2021, compared to

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current 1.74%. As of 2024, the linear reduction factor should be raised to 2.4%. Furthermore, MEPs agreed to reduce the amount of free allowances for the aviation sector to be reduced by 10% compared to 2014–2016 average. The Parliament will now enter into negotiations with representatives of the Maltese Presidency to reach the final agreement on the law.

LET´S TALK NUMBERS GDP rose both in the euro area and in the EU28 According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, GDP rose by 0.4% in the euro area in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter. As for the EU28, the GDP rose by 0.5%. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2015, the GDP rose by 1.7% in the euro area and by 1.8% in the EU28 in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Euro area international trade in goods surplus €28.1 bn According to the first estimate the exports of goods from euro area to the third countries reached 178.6 billion euro in December 2016, which is an increase of 6% compared with December 2015 (168.7 billion euro). Imports from the rest of the world rose by 4% to 150.5 billion euro compared with December 2015. As a result, the euro area recorded a 28.1 billion euro surplus in trade in goods with the rest of the world in December 2016, compared with a surplus of 24.4 billion euro in December 2015.

Lowest unemployment levels in the EU since 2009 The unemployment rate in the euro area fell in December 2016 to 9.6% compared to 9.7% in November 2016. Compared to December 2015 when the unemployment reached 1.5%, the drop is even more significant. In the EU28, the unemployment reached 8.2% compared to 9% in 2015. These numbers are the lowest since May 2009 for euro area and February 2009 for EU28. The Czech Republic recorded the lowest unemployment rate in the EU with 3.5%.

Minimum wages differ hugely within the EU According to Eurostat, 10 EU countries set their minimum wages bellow 500 euro per month.

These are mainly member states from the eastern part of the EU. The lowest minimum wage among them is in Bulgaria (235 euro), followed

by Romania (275 euro), Latvia and Lithuania (both 380 euro). On the other side, Luxembourg holds the top position with 1 999 euro, followed

by Ireland (1 563 euro) and the Netherlands (1 552 euro). As of the beginning of 2017, 22 out of 28 EU member states apply national minimum wage.

European Commission’s Economic Winter Forecast The European Commission has published its Winter 2017 Economic Forecast that expects all EU member states to record growth in 2016, 2017 and 2018. According to the Commission the euro area growth is expected to reach 1.6% in 2017 and 1.8% in 2018. The EU28 should grow by 1.8% both in 2017 and 2018. The Czech economy should grow by 2.6% in 2017 and 2.7% in 2018.

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IN THE WORLD! Trade facilitation agreement entered into force On 22nd of February, the most important multilateral agreement reached during the existence the World Trade Organization (WTO) entered into force. The so-called Trade facilitation agreement aims to simplify, modernize and harmonize export and import processes, custom formalities and transit requirements and therefore lower the costs of export. The agreement was reached in 2013 during WTO Ministerial Conference on Bali; however the agreement couldn’t enter into force until 110 WTO member states ratified it.

Agri-food exports reach new maximum According to the statistics by the European Commission, the value of agri-food exports from the EU to the rest of the world reached 130.7 billion euro in 2016, which is 1.7 billion euro more than in previous year. This is the new record for the agri-food sector. At the same time, the value of imports to the EU dropped by 1.5% to 112 billion euro and increased the trade surplus to 18.7 billion euro. In 2016, the agri-food products accounted for 7.5% of total EU exports.

EU-Mexico trade deal talks speeded up Representatives of the European Commission and Mexico agreed on organising two additional negotiating rounds on free trade agreement before summer. The two rounds should be organized in the week of 3rd April and 26th June 2017. The reason for that is mutual will to speed up the negotiation talks. Between the two rounds, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Mexican minister for economy Ildefonso Guajardo will meet to evaluate the progress in negotiations.

EU-Indonesia trade talks review The European Commission published a report focused on progress in free trade agreement negotiations between the EU and Indonesia after the second round of negotiations that took place at the end of January. Furthermore, 9 proposals of negotiation texts were made public. The aim of the negotiations is to increase the activity of EU companies in Indonesia, facilitate market access as well as access to public procurement market, cooperate in the fields of food safety and animal welfare and reduce regulatory trade barriers.

Russian ban on EU pork not in line with WTO rules The World Trade Organization (WTO) confirmed at the end of February that Russian ban of imports of pigs, pork meat and pork meat products from the EU violates international trade rules. The WTO panel said that Russian ban is not based on international standards and violates WTO rules. EU invited Russia to remove the ban and allow European companies export these products to Russia.

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