Czech Leaders 02/2016

CZECH & SLOVAK

Have a Compass and Set for a Discovery Journey at Sea

FEBRUARY – APRIL / 2016

available worldwide online

P HOTO : V LADIMÍR W EISS

Angela Mazza, Regional Chief Operating Officer SAP, Middle & Eastern Europe

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

www.omnipol.com

urveillance Electronic S

and R

on Plants ft Â’ Producti ra c ir A rt o p s and Tran s Â’ Training m te s y S e c n econnaissa

L-39 NG

Production Plants

Protecting Our Common World

L410 UVP-E20

GET CONNECTED !

Come for thought-provoking conferences, motivating encounters, and memorable events. With its excellent facilities in a beautiful setting, Luxembourg offers an unexpected range of unique options that help professionals build relationships.

Plan your MICE Event in Luxembourg on meetings.visitluxembourg.com

P UBLISHER ’ S

NOTE

&

CONTENTS

DEAR READERS, Spring and summer are finally in the air. We can now enjoy the awakening of nature, see all the variety of colours and be surrounded by all the different scents, listening to the cascade of bird songs. The weather and the global climate changes are for many of us a frightening and scary aspect, reminding us about what might come in the future; I sincerely hope we can change this together and stop the trend of polluting the word. Despite many other world crises looming around us that must be dealt with urgently, this is the most important one for saving our planet.

I think we all now realise the seriousness and danger and we must take a personal interest, awareness and responsibility to do our outmost to reduce the carbon dioxide – the main cause of pollution in the atmosphere.

In this issue of Czech & Slovak Leaders we are proud to introduce a cooperation with a global company SAP, including Angela Mazza, Chief Operating Officer SAP, Central & Eastern Europe, on our cover as well as inside where you can find her interesting interview.

Other notable personalities who are featured in this issue are René Zavoral, Director General of Czech Radio, Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association, Radomil Doležal, MBA, Director of Czech Trade, a very well known and active woman Irena Brichta, Country Manager and Marketing Partner for several International Executive Search Companies, also holding a leading position in Rotary Club Prague International, Andrus Ansip, Vice President of EU Commission with responsibility of the Digital Single Market, H.E. Ivo Schwarz, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Israel and Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone to mention just a few.

When it comes to our photo reportages, I would like to mention one remarkable event, the 15th Annual International Trebbia Awards to outstanding culture personalities that took place in the Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle and was broadcast on Czech TV – a sincere thanks to Miro Smolak and his team for an unforgettable evening.

Other big events in this issue include Manager of the Year at Žofín in the presence of Czech President Miloš Zeman and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka. The awarded winners were Miroslav Dvořák, General Manager of Motor Jikov Group and Radka Prokopová, CEO of Alca Plast s.r.o. Before the award ceremony took place there was a Gender Gap Conference with Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Michaela Marksová and Věra Jourová, Czech European Commissioner for Justice, Consumer Protection and Gender Issues, plus many other important speakers.

This issue is also bringing you coverage of the Cacio Gala Evening, the CFO of the Year and CFO of a Decade ceremony, Diplomatic Forum with Ambassadors of the USA, Canada and Israel, as well as a Round Table Conference by Comenius with Minister of Defence Martin Stropnický, Vienna House rebranding party, farewell party for the Ambassador of the Russian Federation H.E. Sergey B. Kiselev and his wife, Afghan New Year, National Day of Pakistan, EU Matters, to mention but a few.

Finally, I wish you all a great spring and a wonderful summer.

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

2

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

events 8

State Visit President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman received David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

8 State Visit President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman received Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia 9 State Visit President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman received Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland 10 Senate Further Development of Czech-Austrian Relations in Slavonice 11 Senate Chinese President in Prague 14 Vienna House The name VIENNA HOUSE is as of now a mind set in the travel trade industry 15th Annual International Trebbia Awards On March 13th 2016

Artists and Laureates of Trebbia Gala Evening

X page 20 16 Round Table of Comenius Discussion Dinner with Mr. Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence 30 CFO Club Announcement of the Chief Financial Officer of the Year 2015 and Chief Financial Officer of a Decade 36 Global Female Summit Czech and Slovak Magazine as the Media Partner of the 3rd Global Female Leaders Summit 2016 in Berlin 38 Cacio Gala Evening 45 9th International Conference NGV 2014 46 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador Where does the traditional medicine ends and alternative one starts?

47 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador Myths and traumas of the Czech history 72 Manager of the Year 2015 75 Conference Gender Gap Managerial perspective: Diversity and sustainability are related to the self-realisation of women 87 April Events by Czech Business Club 90 ČSÚZ – Meeting of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute members and friends at Strahov

C ONTENTS

interviews

culture events

An interview with H.E. Ivo Schwarz, Ambassador to Israel Photo: Pavlina Schulz

12 Vienna House Warming Party On February 11th 2016 20 15th Annual International Trebbia Awards On March 13th 2016 34 Yourchance Charity Ball 41 Natali Ruden´s Fashion Show

diplomatic events

X page 42 5

37

42

48

52

62

78 80

An interview with Angela Mazza, Regional Chief Operating Officer SAP, Middle & Eastern Europe Have a Compass and Set for a Discovery Journey at Sea An interview with Frank Kohl-Boas, Head of HR Northwest, Central and Eastern Europe for Google No One Will Motivate You at Google An interview with H.E. Ivo Schwarz, Ambassador to Israel Czech-Israeli Relations at the Time When Past Collaboration Helps to Address Future Challenges An interview with Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Czech Republic We In Vodafone Walk the Talk with Regards to Diversity An interview with René Zavoral, Czech Radio´s Director General Czech Radio - 93 Year Young Wise Lady Ready for the Best Years to Come An interview with Radomil Doležal, MBA, Director of Czech Trade I See Important to Set Priorities An interview with Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association An interview with Irena Brichta

Natali Ruden´s Fashion Show My Way

32 Farewell Reception to the Ambassador of the Russian Federation H.E. Sergey B. Kiselev and Mrs. Anna E. Kiseleva 56 Celebration of Nouwrus National Day of Afghanistan 64 National Day of Pakistan 69 Fryday Diplomatic Forum with H.E. Andrew Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States 70 Fryday Diplomatic Forum with H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel 71 Fryday Diplomatic Forum with H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada 84 Czech-Luxembourgish Ball

Czech-Luxembourgish Ball

X page 84

X page 41

TS Starlet Brno – dancing group

Natali Ruden, Fashion Designer at the final defilé surrounded by her beautiful models

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

3

CONTENTS

contributors 15 Tereza Urbánková Diversity and Inclusion, Why Diversity Matters 19 Ivan Pilný Problems with Artificial Intelligence 35 Elisabet Dennehy From Gender Fatigue to Traction! Let’s get real!

50 Jan Mühlfeit Global Perspective Athletes and managers – are they really that different?

54 Sanjiv Suri Energy Challenge – Slightly Spiritual Menu 60 Iva Drebitko Through Art to Economic Prosperity 67 Jonathan Wootliff Sustainable Development Goals – a Major Opportunity for the Czech Republic 86 Michael Mahyer Senior Management – Protecting Your Investment 88 James A. Cusumano Personal Enlightenment – Life Is Beautiful Part II: A Gift For You

James A. Cusumano Life Is Beautiful Part II: A Gift For You

X page 88

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 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, Marian Majik, Hana Brožková, Pavlina Schulz Subscription: Czech & Slovak Leaders, U Zvonařky 16, 120 00 Praha 2 We appreciate your opinions of Czech & Slovak Leaders.

Figure 2: Every physical, emotional and spiritual action in your body is controlled by your Personal Consciousness. It is connected with all others through Collective Consciousness and with the “mind” of the Universe, i.e., Collective Consciousness.

EU matters 92 EU matters interview An interview with Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Single Market We want a win-win situation for consumers and businesses 94 EU debate CEBRE Founders Met Czech MEPs Anti Tax Avoidance efforts have to be global 96 EU matters business

4

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Please send them to: Czech & Slovak Leaders U Zvonařky 16, 120 00 Praha 2 tel.: +420 773 515 111 e-mail: info@czechleaders.com www.czechleaders.com Licence: MK ČR E 13147 No reproduction is permitted in whole or part without the express consent of Czech & Slovak Leaders.

The advertiser is responsible for the advertising contents.

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

All editorial material and photos in Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine is digitally stored and may be republished

by Czech & Slovak Leaders either in printed form or in various digital media. All correspondence to Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine may be published.

AN

Have a Compass and Set for a Discovery Journey at Sea

INTERVIEW WITH

M RS . A NGELA M AZZA , SAP

AN INTERVIEW WITH MRS. ANGELA MAZZA, REGIONAL CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER SAP, MIDDLE & EASTERN EUROPE P HOTO : V LADIMÍR W EISS

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

5

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

M RS . A NGELA M AZZA , SAP

Having the opportunity to interview Mrs. Angela Mazza on the topics that have been both my expertise and passion seemed like a dream coming true. Despite the fact that the interview took place on the very day as the suicidal attacks in Brussels, the atmosphere in the room was full of optimism and mutual understanding. It was a unique experience as four women gathered in the room in a technology company to discuss the issues of leadership and technologies, but soon the scope of the conversation went much beyond, to the issues of corporations and their role in the society as well as the current issue of refugees. The journey of Angela Mazza is a remarkable on both on a personal and a career level. Born in Naples, Italy, at the age of eight she moved to Switzerland with her parents and she studied tourism. At the age of 25, she switched to technology and IT. She has been working for SAP for 13 years; prior to joining SAP she held senior positions in Oracle and Deloitte. Her corporate career took her all the way from Switzerland to Italy, to the Middle East to Doha, Qatar, but two years ago she moved to Heidelberg, Germany to become responsible for Operations in the Middle & Eastern European region. The fact that SAP walks the talk and chooses well the people who live and breathe diversity is reflected in the quote of Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP. “I’ve always believed that none of us is as smart as all of us. For SAP to help the world run better and improve people’s lives, we need to be the most diverse company in the world. We need strong leaders who role model this – from gender diversity to cultural diversity and differing points of view.”

Mrs. Mazza, how would you describe your fascinating career and life journey?

I would compare it to a discovery journey at sea. There are times when the sea is calm, as well as times when it gets rough. I have always had a map and a compass, knowing where I wanted to go. I am ambitious, dreaming big and I always follow a direction. I still feel like being at sea, with the ultimate goal ahead of me.

At this particular moment, it is not expressed as a particular position I want to reach but rather the sense of meaningful work, contribution and impact that I want to make and create within the corporate world. As long as I love what I am doing, every day will be different and everybody be motivated. And it is my responsibility as a leader to make sure that other people stay motivated as on the first day when they started the job with the aspiration of living their dream.

I have just returned from Women of the World festival in London and according to the latest Gender Equality Forum research, given the current rate of progress on gender equality, it will be only in 2133 when the gender parity is reached. How do you see the trend of advancing women to top positions - is it a glass half full or half empty?

It varies country by country but I tend to be very optimistic in general. Looking at the Gender Report by the World Economic Forum, the Czech

6

Republic currently ranks 81 out of 145 countries, Slovakia 97. I do not see this standing that bad as of now. And looking at us, there are four women in this room right now. That, combined with the fact that I just have come out of the meeting with a 50:50 diverse management team in the CEE countries, gives me a lot of optimism. There is still a long way to go but I believe that the answer needs to be tailored to each country and its situation. We all should take steps forward to see that more women advance in their careers so ultimately the glass fills up with more water.

Many companies have recently introduced mentoring schemes to help women to advance in their careers. What is your experience and suggestion for a successful development of talents?

I have already mentioned the importance of having your own goals and an inner compass, but it is true that I have always worked with a male mentor. It enabled me to understand how men think, what matters to them and how to approach them. I believe in the saying that “opposites attract”. My first mentor was my father and he has always supported me throughout my career. Another time it is the person you spend your life with, it can be a husband, a partner, a spouse. My father and my husband have always inspired me and I have always looked up to them and at the same time they have provided stability and support. If a woman is reluctant to ask for a mentor, she is missing the big picture, which means defining ‘what I am missing for the position and who the right person who can help me with the next steps is’. Do not be afraid to share your dreams and then be ready to go the extra mile to reach it. We, as women, should not think in terms of gender. We should make sure we have the right talents and thus are the best person for every position. From my own experience, the more women focus on presenting themselves as women, the less successful they might be because they will always be perceived exactly the way they framed themselves: “as women”, not as the best person capable to do the task needed. Of course, we as women are different and our approach is different, but is there a need to point out the obvious?

We both support the broader notion of diversity, not only in terms of gender, but also age, nationalities, physical abilities etc.

What a notion of soul sisters! When I received a diversity award for the region two months ago, I said that diversity is all about respect. If we really respect different people, cultures, religion, and sexual orientation, we maintain our open attitude, accept them as they are and listen to them. There is a huge difference between respect and a mere tolerance.

That brings me to my next question related to the refugee crisis in Europe and the condescending tone of discussion. You have been a migrant yourself, so how do you feel about this discussion?

Being a migrant myself, I have experienced the

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

tendency of doing more than others. I came from Italy to Switzerland at the age of eight.

Just imagine the cultural difference besides the fact that I did not speak the language. But this life lesson was very valuable and forming for me. That is why I am so open to different cultures, interested in world issues. As a migrant or a refugee, you know where you have come from and you have opted for a better life.

You do not worry about an extra hour of work and you have no problem going the extra mile.

I am therefore very passionate about the topic.

In April, a refugee joined our team to help integrate him into the German working culture.

I appreciate the different mind-set and the desire for success shown.

With regards to the current discussion about women and quotas being introduced in the largest enterprises, are you a supporter of direct quotas or rather voluntary measures of enterprises?

My position is always to support always the right person for a job, if it is a woman, it is even better. As I have already mentioned, we as women do not do ourselves a favour by getting a job for being a woman. At SAP we have a couple of programmes that might be also inspiring for other companies. And I, during my last 13 years of career at SAP, have never ever had a feeling that I am not getting something because I am a woman. Diversity really starts at the top, with our CEO, Bill McDermott. He truly lives and breathes diversity and then his approach is reflected throughout the company. He has been a great source of inspiration due to his passion for diversity and encouragement to dream big.

Currently, there is a lack of women in IT sector in Europe, even though IT sector might be a good career choice for them, allowing flexible working hours and the trend of work-life integration. European girls simply do not prefer to study science or technology. How do you challenge the trend and how do you encourage young people to explore this industry?

I find the world of IT and technology fascinating but personally speaking, my journey confirms the trend mentioned since I studied tourism. That is why I feel the need about sharing my journey with others, explaining what perspectives the IT world offers and even if you have studied something different, you can join the industry later and still build a successful career. Naturally, attracting people to come and join outside of businesses has become another passion of mine. Two years ago, we launched our Sales Academy programme and in my region of Middle and Eastern and Europe we have around 100 graduates, some of them also from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Young graduates from various countries have the opportunity to see the headquarters and gain experience in Silicon Valley, to mix and interact with each other, to go back and work on their project. It is fascinating to see their vigor, energy, enthusiasm and the ideas they bring alongside with

AN their personal growth. This academy also focuses on pre-sales positions. I believe there is no need to stress that the mix of graduates is gender balanced. I enjoy having some graduates on my team, I like being challenged, and I enjoy the different way of thinking and acting. I am certainly not one of those who are constantly criticising the new millennial generation. I see them as the true future of SAP. Despite the positive atmosphere in the room, women who reach the top positions have the reputation of not helping other women. Do you believe that women’s solidarity is still less applied when compared to men’s solidarity?

I cannot say from my own experience that women do not support each other and I always stick to my rule of supporting the right talent I have seen that once truly diverse teams are formed, these are the best ones functioning. One interesting aspect that I would like to mention based on my observation is the notion that we as women tend to be much more critical about our behaviour towards each other and not supportive enough.

How do you personally cope with the stress and what are your tips for work-life balance?

I am passionate about what I do and therefore I do not perceive my job as being stressful.

However, everyone needs to address the issue of work-life balance to make it fit his or her needs. I have learned to adjust my free time so I can really recharge my energy. My free time is limited so I consciously make choices.

I love playing golf or flying with my husband, or simply being with my five year old goddaughter, during all these activities I get my energy back. I stopped being around people who were draining me. As a boss, I am conscious about the time off needed for my staff.

If I happen to write an email during the weekend as this is the time that suits me, it usually starts with the line “do not read until Monday” and I do not call my people in the evenings.

However, I often mention both men and women should be clearer both about tasks and roles that they are performing. It is sad when women give up their career because they do not have a supportive husband but also sometimes men are very stressed about not having supportive wives. I regard the supportive environment and the agreement in a couple very essential for not only a successful career but also for a fulfilled life in general. A few years ago, the issue of a burnout has been discussed. I believe that most of the time the job is not the one thing to blame but rather the ultimate thing, it is only an interface that is mirroring an existence of a problem.

What are your personal top three career tips? And after the long debate we have had, I guess they will be same for both women and men. t Take action. We define ourselves through actions. Knowledge is not valuable, unless we act.

INTERVIEW WITH

M RS . A NGELA M AZZA , SAP

t Act with passion. Such an approach will inspire and connect with other people. t Never act without a goal, always know what you aim for.

For Inspiration - Some specific measures from SAP that address the issue of gender equality and leadership How does SAP encourage men in the workplace to engage with gender equality programmes?

SAP is implementing several programmes focused on getting men more involved in gender equality efforts. Men sometimes feel left out of conversation, but play a critical role in helping to create a more inclusive culture. The Men Advocating Real Change (MARC) program from Catalyst, the leading non-profit organisation expanding opportunities for women and business.

The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP SAP is the world leader in enterprise applications in terms of software and software-related service revenue. Based on market capitalisation, SAP ranks as the world’s third largest independent software manufacturer.

SAP in figures 300,000 Customers in 190 countries 43 yrs.

Of history and innovation 77,000 Employees in 130+ countries 100+ Innovation and development centers €20.8b Annual revenue (IFRS) in FY2015 13,300 SAP partner companies globally 87% Of Forbes Global 2000 are SAP customers SAP’s “Women’s Professional Growth Series” SAP has had an extremely successful Women’s Professional Growth Webcast Series, which reached over 6,300 employees in 43 countries in 2015.

EDGE certification and its use at SAP EDGE is the leading global assessment methodology and business certification standard for gender equality. The EDGE assessment methodology was developed by the EDGE Certified Foundation and launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2011.

EDGE Certification has been designed to help companies not only create an optimal workplace for women and men, but also benefit from it. Pursuit of the certification highlights the priority SAP has placed on creating a more gender-balanced workplace, an especially difficult challenge in the notoriously gender-imbalanced tech industry. SAP has achieved certification in the US.

Business Women’s Network (BWN) community The Business Women’s Network is SAP’s largest Employee Network Groups – with more than 8,000 members and 30+ chapters around the world. The BWN is a community of mentors and supporters for the women of SAP that provide valuable insights and input to the Global Diversity & Inclusion Office. They organise/implement in-person and virtual knowledge-sharing events both for employees around the world as well as with marquee partners and their local communities and offer numerous opportunities for women to meet new colleagues, engage with leaders, and connect on key topics of interest.

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

7

S TATE V ISIT

PRESIDENT

P HOTO : A RCHIVE , KPR

OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC MILOŠ ZEMAN RECEIVED DAVID CAMERON, PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND. From left: David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

From left: David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman received Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia at the State Arrival Ceremony.

8

From left: Borut Pahor, President of the Republic of Slovenia and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic during a private meeting.

S TATE V ISIT

PRESIDENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC MILOŠ ZEMAN RECEIVED ANDRZEJ DUDA, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND

P HOTO : A RCHIVE , KPR

From left: Agata Kornhauser-Duda, First Lady of Poland, Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, and Ivana Zemanová, First Lady of the Czech Republic

From left: Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

From left: Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland receiving a state honor from Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

9

S ENATE

Further Development

Opening of the conference at the Town Hall of Slavonice in the presence of all notable guests

of Czech-Austrian Relations in Slavonice The South Bohemian town of Slavonice hosted a cross-border Czech-Austrian meeting co-organised by both Czech and Austrian Chairmen of the Upper Chamber of the Parliament. In addition to the representatives of both parliaments, the meeting was also joined by ambassadors, deputies and senators, heads of Austrian and Czech regions, and mayors of cross-border towns. They discussed protection of borders and common projects supporting deeper cooperation of both countries.

The conference took place in the Institute Slavonice

The meeting was initiated by Miloš Vystrčil, local Senator

H.E. Alexander Grubmayr, Ambassador of Austria to the CR, Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate of the CR, Hans Penz, Chairman of the Landtag of Lower Austria, Gottfried Kneifel, Chairman of the Parliamentary Group Austria-CR, and Omar Al-Rawi, Member of the City Council of Vienna

10

Jiří Zimola, Governer of South Bohemian Region

Press conference in Institute Slavonice

Josef Saller, President of the Federal Council of the Austrian Parliament

Michal Hašek, Governor of the South Moravian Region

Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate of the CR with Hynek Blažek, Mayor of Slavonice and Josef Saller, President of the Federal Council of the Austrian Parliament

Jaroslava Jermanová, First Vice Chairwoman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament

S ENATE

Chinese President in Prague Chairman of the Senate Milan Štěch at the meeting with the President of China and his delegation (on the right)

At the invitation of President Miloš Zeman, the Czech Republic was visited by Xi Jinping President of China for two days. He also met with other top political representatives of the Czech Republic: Chairman of the Senate Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Jan Hamáček, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and other Ministers of his cabinet as well as Mayor of Prague Adriana Krnáčová.

First Vice Chairman of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka greeting the President of China

Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate of the Parliament of the CR and Xi Jinping, President of the People´s Republic of China

Chairman of the Senate Milan Štěch briefing the Czech press after the meeting with the President of China

The meeting took place at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague

11

GALA EVENT

Martin Ykema, Chief Operating Officer, Vienna House and Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Vienna House Czech Republic are welcoming guests of Vienna House Warming Party

Vienna House Warming Party 11 February 2016 Finally, Austria’s largest hotel group completes its repositioning on 1 February 2016. Vienna International Hotels & Resorts became Vienna House. The new umbrella brand Vienna House brings together individual city and resort hotels, the design hotels “andel’s by Vienna House”, the vibrant business hotels “angelo by Vienna House” as well as the down-to-earth easy line “Vienna House Easy”.

More information on www.viennahouse.com.

In order to celebrate this happening, Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine was invited to join Vienna House Warming Party held on 11 February at andel’s Vienna House Prague to welcome this new brand. During the party the band “No Name” was taking care of good vibes. We danced to the band‘s greatest hits, tasted the delicious food that the hotel chef prepared and had an evening to remember.

12

From left: Mr. Gerald Hauser, Second Secretary (Consular Affairs), Austrian Embassy in the Czech Republic, Mrs. Christine Mansfield, Assistant Attaché , Austrian Embassy in the Czech Republic and Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Vienna House Czech Republic

Dipl. Kfm. Oliver Schmitt, Managing Partner, Teamconsult s.r.o. and Mrs. Daniela Heralová

From left: Martin Ykema, Chief Operating Officer, Vienna House, and Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Czech Republic during the welcoming ceremony

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Martin Ykema, Chief Operating Officer, Vienna House, and Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Vienna House Czech Republic

From left: Radana Ascherlová, Project Manager CDP, AŽD Praha s.r.o., Magdaléna Prunerová, Managing Partner, MgC Group s.r.o., and Klaus Pilz, Regional Director, Vienna House Czech Republic

From left: Alžběta Dušová, Executive Secretary, LeasePlan, and Romana Achillesová, SME Sales Advisor, LeasePlan Go

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

GALA EVENT

From left: Lenka Prosecká, PP Events s.r.o. and Linda Kašparová, IDC FOOD s.r.o.

From left: Michaela Šlapalová, Station Manager, CEAS, Mrs. Radka Šlapalová, and Mr. Jan Šlapal

Veronika Palečková, EMEIA Operations Learning & Development at Ernst & Young and Petr Navrátil

From left: Doc. Judr. Jan Štástka, Chairman of the Board, Balnex 1, a.s. with his partner, Mrs. Schneider and Mr. Gjuras (on the right), General Director and Chairman of the Board, Recoop Tour a.s. with his wife on the left

From left: Ing. Tereza Lošťáková, Travel Consultant, typagency, Pavlína Hyžáková, Travel Consultant, typagency, Šárka Novotná, and Mrs. Jana Melichárková

From left: Martina Oswaldová, Human Resources, Ernst and Young, Marek Páleník, Resident Manager, andel’s and angelo by Vienna House, and Ing. Eliška Koudelová, Recruitment Consultant Engineering, Grafton Technologies

From left: Werner Kleb, Assistent Attaché, Austrian Embassy in the Czech Republic, Christina Léotard, Vienna House, and Gerald Hauser, Second Secretary (Consular Affairs), Austrian Embassy in the Czech Republic Extraordinary food including sushi was served during the party

From left: Lukáš Havelka, Hotel Sales Manager, HRS Group, Marek Chmátal, General Manager, angelo by Vienna House Pilsen, and Karel Žárský, Sales and Marketing Director, EuroAgentur From left: Betina Welter, Head of PR and Brand Communication, Vienna House, Richard van Reem, Event Architect with his wife, and Maarten C. Nieuwenhuize, Head of Brand Implementation, Vienna House

Kateřina Lenková, Resident Manager, Vienna House Diplomat Prague and Mr. Škvára

From left: Michaela Baracová, Manager of Trade Support, GUARANT, Mrs. Alena Drobná, and Mrs. Monika Vocílková

From left: Martin Ykema, Chief Operating Officer, Vienna House, Silvia Kendzie, General Manager, Vienna House EASY Amberg, Marek Chmátal, General Manager angelo by Vienna House Pilsen, Christina Léotard, Vienna House, Lucia Arbetová, General Manager, Vienna House EASY Chopin Bratislava, and Maarten C. Nieuwenhuize, Head of Brand Implementation, Vienna House

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

13

VIENNA HOUSE

The name VIENNA HOUSE is as of now a mind set in the travel trade industry The overall presentation of Vienna House at the ITB Berlin 2016 was honoured with the third place at the ceremony of the Best Exhibitor Awards in the category “Hotel Business”.

During the trade fair all individual and communal stands were rated according to a set of criteria. In addition to originality, particular consideration was placed on friendliness, level of content and sustainability. Ralph Alsdorf, General Manager at andel’s by Vienna House Berlin, participated in the ceremony and accepted the award on behalf of Vienna House. This award is a great acknowledgement of the success achieved as part of the Vienna House rebranding journey over the last months.

Furthermore, during the fair, Vienna House received many compliments and visits from colleagues from the hotel and hospitality industry. Additionally, countless photographs were taken by fair visitors passing by.

DJ at Vienna House´s stand

From left: Martin Ykema, COO Vienna House, and Rupert Simoner, CEO, Vienna House

14

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Eva Ferenčíková, Senior Sales Manager, Vienna House Czech Republic and her colleagues

D IVERSITY

AND INCLUSION

Why Diversity Matters the workplace can stimulate innovation, spur insight and increase efficiency, which also contributes to creating a culture open to new ideas and business that prospers.

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

With all the press about diversity, inclusion (you may remember news about lack of diversity at the Oscars not so long ago), women in leadership, and the need to be open minded about religious and cultural differences, one might ask “is diversity and inclusion becoming one of the hottest topics of today”?

I’d say possibly yes. Why? Because diversity breeds innovation, and innovation breeds business success. In addition, research supports it. For example, the McKinsey’s study (2015) shows that gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to outperform their peers and ethnically-diverse companies are 35% more likely to do the same. And the Deloitte Australia research (2013) highlights the fact that inclusive teams outperform their peers by 80% in teambased assessments.

Bearing that in mind, let me explain what diversity and inclusion looks like in practice and how it can be beneficial to a business.

Diversity and inclusion – what’s in the name?

If you Google the phrase ‘diversity and inclusion’, quite a few of the most prominent results are links to the distinction between the two terms, an indication that organisations might still be struggling with how to define this term, what it means and how to achieve it in a workplace.

I like to think about diversity as diversity of thought which is much more than the traditional approach taking into consideration ethnical background, gender, etc... Diversity of thought actually represents diversity of opinions, thought processes, style at work, and relationships, to name but a few; basically, it is a result of everything that has had an impact on us individually to date. These differences in

IN

COOPERATION WITH

Inclusiveness is closely linked to diversity and in fact supports it. It needs to be felt within the organisation – everyone must feel they are being heard. Embedding inclusiveness requires a culture change and that can take time, from months to years, depending what ‘baggage’ a particular company carries – it can be its origins, who runs it, and even what type of people work for it. As you can see, there can be quite a few obstacles to overcome before companies achieve inclusiveness.

How do we build diverse teams?

How do we ensure diversity and inclusion is fully embedded within the organisation?

It is not easy – it starts with thorough longterm planning and developing diverse teams.

If we hire people who are like ourselves, we are creating very comparable teams where nobody is challenging the status quo and no one is coming up with big ideas. In the current business environment, this is unviable.

In addition, for this concept to be truly successful, I believe diversity and inclusion must be strongly supported from the top.

for all employees, regardless of race, gender, nationality or sexual orientation.”

And finally…

The demographic changes happening globally require leaders to be more openminded and flexible in order to attract the next generation of prospective employees from a wider pool and from diverse backgrounds.

Therefore, diversity and inclusion is becoming a necessity in a workplace – embracing it should be a way of life for a company and an ingrained part of its very DNA. The workforce behind every business and organisation operating today continues to be the greatest asset to contribute to its competitive advantage. The potential to improve business performance is locked up in the individual and group potential of diverse employees, and can only be unleashed by creating an inclusive working environment.

It’s a win-win situation.

Just as Stephen Covey, an American educator, author, businessman, and keynote speaker, once said: “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities”. So, how does your company stack up when it comes to diversity and inclusion?

By Tereza Urbánková

Companies naturally want high-performing teams and people who inspire others, so therefore, they need to embrace diversity and inclusion in full, create a company where people’s different views and opinions matter, are listened to, considered – not simply dismissed. Diversity without inclusion cannot bring full benefits in the area of employee loyalty and engagement.

Some companies have begun taking advantage of diversity and inclusion in a workplace and have been doing a great job.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple who is believed to be most powerful gay CEO, wrote: “Long before I started work as the CEO of Apple I became aware of a fundamental truth: People are much more willing to give of themselves when they feel that their selves are being fully recognised and embraced. At Apple, we try to make sure people understand that they don’t have to check their identity at the door. We’re committed to creating a safe and welcoming workplace

C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS

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

Tereza Urbánková is a PR, communications and marketing professional with over 15 years’ experience and proven success in industries such as hospitality, retail, IT, defence, broadcast, logistics and engineering. For the past 10 years she has been working and living in London, UK; currently, she is Head of Global Communications for Amec Foster Wheeler plc, a large international engineering consultancy.

Tereza also works as a freelance consultant in the area of communications and PR. In 2015, she became a member of the Executive Committee of the Czech British Chamber of Commerce in the UK. She speaks Czech, English, Spanish and Russian and can be reached on terezaurbankova@yahoo. com or through her LinkedIn profile.

NETWORKING / DISCUSSION EVENT

ROUND TABLE OF COMENIUS Discussion Dinner with Mr. Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence

From left: Josef Vojáček, Director, Military Forests and Farms, Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, Gen.Lt. Josef Bečvář, Chief of Staff, Czech Army, Roman Planička, Director, LOM Praha, and Josef Tichý, General Director, Explosia

IN

COOPERATION WITH

C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS

Prague Congress Centre, ZOOM Unique Place – February 15, 2016 On February 15, little over 70 high level business men and women gathered to participate in the Round Table of Comenius – discussion dinner with the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic. As is tradition a dynamic debate covered a range of topics from the minister’s agenda and the interests of the Czech Army. The discussion was launched by several technical questions regarding the army, its current situation and the status of equipment. The debate also included the current major topic - “migration crisis”. Minister Stropnický claimed that it is crucial to differentiate actual problems from populist-like statements used by some politicians, and considers it a complex problem with multiple causes. He considers a common pro-European solution as a coherent one, suggesting that any rash decision such as the closing of the Shengen area could have fatal consequences on European economy. The discussion was enriched by H.E. Otto Jelinek, the Ambassador of Canada to the Czech Republic, who stated that the Czechs are a unique culture and they must do their best in preserving it, however it is selfish to refuse cooperation on a continent based on common democratic values and it could have unpleasant results. The debate was traditionally concluded by the President of Comenius Karel Muzikář, who expressed his gratitude to all guests for a fulfilling debate and the Minister and Chief of Staff for their time and willingness to attend the discussion.

From left: Josef Vojáček, Director, Military Forests and Farms, Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, Gen.Lt. Josef Bečvář, Chief of Staff, Czech Army, Roman Planička, Director, LOM Praha, and Josef Tichý, General Director, Explosia

16

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Michal Hon, General Director, Omnipol, Tomáš Rutrle, General Director, Komix, and Libor Joukl, Deputy Governor of Region Vysočina

NETWORKING / DISCUSSION EVENT

From left: Petr Veselý, General Director, Congress Center Prague, Josef Vojáček, Director, Military Forests and Farms, and Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence

From left: Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence, Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, and Gen.Lt. Josef Bečvář, Chief of Staff, Czech Army

Petr Choulík, Chairman of the Board, LindeGas

From left: Marek Beneš, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine and Šimon Nosek, Advisor

From left: Gen. Josef Rada, Director, Civil Aviation Authority, prof.

Josef Veselka, Head of Cardiology Department, Faculty Hospital Motol, and Jan Tašek, Owner, ASE

From left: František Padělek, Gen.Lt. ret., Deputy Mayor, Roudnice nad Labem, Gen.Lt. Josef Bečvář, Chief of Staff, Czech Army, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

Vendula Kotucz, Project Manager, Interlink CS and Jaromír Heřmanský, General Director, Interlink CS

Karel Strejc, Czech Army and Marika Přinosilová, Director Marketing & Communication EMEA, Saab Technologies

From left: Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul, H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada, Martin Stropnický, Minister of Defence, and Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius

17

NETWORKING / DISCUSSION EVENT

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Leaders, H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada, and Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul.

Adriana Matúšová, Head of Department, Otidea and Tomáš Langr, General Director, Otidea

Jaromír Heřmanský, General Director, Interlink CS

Libor Joukl, Deputy Governor of Region Vysočina raising question

18

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Leaders, H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada, and Ladislav Vitoul, Owner, Vápenka Vitoul

Round Table of Comenius

PROBLEMS WITH

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE With the arrival of “artificial” or synthetic intelligence the problems are arriving and will arrive too. Jerry Kaplan, author of the book “Human Need Not Apply – a Guide to Wealth and Work in the Age of Artificial Intelligence” speaks about its development as a moral equivalent to Manhattan project – i.e. development of the first nuclear bomb. Questions, if machines will do something similar as we do or if they think, he considers misleading.

Computer scientist Edsger Dijstra claims that pursuing the question if machines think is of about the same relevance like studying if a submarine can flow. It makes no sense to be concerned if some neuron clusters forming in machines are similar to synapses forming in the brain – their creation actually is just another way of programming. Machines learn from experience and thus create a chain of synthetic intelligence exploiting the interaction between sensors and action elements and change it into a routine matter. The important question is what level of autonomy machines should enjoy. It is necessary to point out that machines have nothing like human mind – consciousness. A man is not only able to use synthetic intelligence but becomes its part as well. Development of synthetic intelligence is progressing hand in hand with technological development. Claiming that computers can

do only what they are programmed for had lost validity a long time ago. Now, we already experience the situation when we have to pass control to machines, we are not able to react in time to dangers of cybernetic world.

A question remains regarding the result of a conflict between two systems, originally founded and controlled by their creators. At the stock market there sometimes are smart systems fighting each other, reacting in a split of a second which brings up situations almost catastrophical. Robotic or algorithmic manipulations with webpages, market and sales and exchange of cookies distort the access to information and endanger manipulation with private data. A tiny record of your activities and interests kept in so-called cookies not only represents important information for those whose webpage you have just visited but becomes a welcomed subject of business for companies specialized on “capturing” cookies and thus tracking your activities and interests too. Efficiency is considerable; such companies are able to count the probability of any of your purchase with the accuracy of over ninety percent! In California, there even is a university called Singularity University, of course in Silicon Valley. The students and teachers take a moment, when we become surpassed by artificial intelligence, for granted and they think it will come so suddenly that at the first moment we will not notice at all. Some kind of an ultramodern religion.

However, machines don´t know how to ask yet. The area of brain activities simulation is an interesting trend. These

activities may not only be simulated but also enhanced by a concept of widened reality improving imperfections of our sensory organs.

Computer algorithms are able to analyze data in the scope and speed exceeding the capacity of our brains. Expansion of technologies like smartphones enables connection of the planet inhabitants brains, which was not possible a short time ago. On the other hand, we don´t have to worry about a fast arrival of singularity. Computers still don´t know how to ask questions, create new practically useful ideas and innovate. We don´t have to worry about a million of monkeys hammering on keyboards aiming to create a piece worth Shakespeare. Such complex form of communication is and probably will remain unknown to computers. However, if we want to maintain our comparative advantage against computers, we have to focus our education on strengthening the skills which will be outside the reach of computers. But it is difficult to predict them.

Extract from a new book Digital Era which will be published by Albatros Media in Spring.

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 II/2016

19

G ALA E VENING

IN

COOPERATION WITH

C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic during his video speech on Trebbia Gala Evening

15th Annual International Trebbia Awards On March 13th 2016 The Gala Evening was held under the auspices of Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Daniel Herman, Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic

Spanish Hall of the Prague Castle

From left: Eliška Hašková-Coolidge, former Office Director for Public Relations of five American presidents; Sharon Resch (USA), Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for support of culture and arts

H. E. Peter Weiss, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic during his Laudatio speech

From left: Eileen Cooper (United Kingdom), Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts in London; Adriana Cruz (Venezuela - France), Director of Cruz - Diez Foundation, she assumed award for her father Carlos Cruz-Diez, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for artistic achievement

Klaus von Trotha (Germany), former Minister for Culture of Baden-Württemberg; Christina Scheppelmann (Germany), Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for support of culture and arts

From left: prof. Jan Burian, Director of the National Theatre in Prague; Milan Sládek (Slovakia - Germany), Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for artistic achievement; Jitka Novotná, Moderator, Czech TV

MAIN PARTNERS SAFFRON ENJOY SLEEPING, TOP HOTEL PRAHA, VINAŘSTVÍ KRIST

á

G ALA E VENING

From left: Chantal Poullain, Founder of Archa Chantal Foundation, she received a benefit cheque for CZK 240 000; MUDr. Roman Šmucler, Doctor, Moderator and auctioneer of benefit auction; Zdeňka Sigmundová, Trebbia Foundation, she received a benefit cheque for CZK 240 000; Miro Smolák, Founder of Trebbia Award and Trebbia Foundation during his final speech Karel Gott during his video speech, he donated picture to benefit auction

From left: René Zavoral, General Director of Czech Radio; prof. Ivan Stadtrucker (Slovakia), Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for lifetime achievement; Jitka Novotná, Moderator, Czech TV; Maroš Kramár, Moderator, Slovak TV

Milan Lasica, Actor, he donated picture to benefit auction

Taťána Kuchařová, Model, Actress, Miss World and Chair of the Taťána Kuchařová Foundation – Beauty of Help; Vladimír Páral, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for lifetime achievement

MEDIA PARTNERS

Jan Wolf, Councillor for Culture of the Capital City of Prague; Artur Šípek, youngest son of Bořek Šípek, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for artistic achievement in memoriam, Ivan Kubela, Glassmaker Master, long-time co-worker of Bořek Šípek

From left: Hynek Kmoníček, Chief of Foreign Affairs Department, Office of the President; Pick Keobandith (Laos - Belgium - France), Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 for contribution to the national dialogue of cultures; Jitka Novotná, Moderator, Czech TV; Maroš Kramár, Moderator, Slovak TV

ČESKÝ ROZHLAS CZECH RADIO, STATUSS MAGAZINE, CZECH & SLOVAK LEADERS

TREBBIA WAS SUPPORTED BY LINDNER HOTEL PRAGUE CASTLE, HOTEL SAVOY

G ALA E VENING

Artists and Laureates of Trebbia Gala Evening Hynek Kmoníček, Chief of Foreign Affairs Department, Office of the President with his wife Indira Gumarova, Tern Transport & Trading CZ, s.r.o.

Ing. Vladislav Stanko, Managing Director, CZECHOSLOVAK REAL (CZ), s.r.o., he auctioned picture of Karel Gott for CZK 230 000; Roman Šmucler, auctioneer of benefit auction

22

Ivan Kubela, Glassmaker Master, long-time co-worker of Bořek Šípek; Artur Šípek, youngest son of Bořek Šípek; Leona Machálková, Singer

MUDr. Ján Lešták, Owner of Eye Clinic JL, he auctioned picture of Milan Lasica for CZK 100 000; Roman Šmucler, bidder of benefit auction

Ivo Ďurkovič, iClinic plus s.r.o, Bratislava, he auctioned picture of Ron Wood for CZK 150 000; Roman Šmucler, auctioneer of benefit auction

H. E. Jean-Pierre Asvazdourian, Ambassador of France in the Czech Republic, Chantal Poullain, Actress; Eliška Berthelemy, Lawyer, Law Office Vyskočil, Krošlak and partners

G ALA E VENING

From left: Miguelangelo Cavalcanti (Brasil), Opera Singer; Alena Miro, Opera Singer; Enrico Dovico (Italy), Conductor; Christina Scheppelmann, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016; Geraldine Chauvet (France), Opera Singer PharmDr. Jana Doleželová, Pharmacist; David Trunda, Businessman

Oyuntuya Oyunjargal, PR Manager, Berlin – Ulaanbaatar; Dr. Gunnar Enghusen, Lawyer, Berlin

From left: Jiří Herman, General Director, Herminapress, s.r.o.; Vlasta Hemalová, Alexandr Hemala, Moderator

Deana Jakubisková, Actress and Film Producer; Juraj Jakubisko, Film Director, J & J Jakubisko Film s.r.o.

From left: Kateřina Janečková, Actress and Moderator; Martin Beinhauer, BANYS media, Iveta Stanislavová, Art Historian and Director of Trust Fund of Bořek Šípek

From left: Jadran Šetlík, Photographer; Gabriela Šetlíková, Make-up Artist; Vladimír Páral, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016

23

From left: René Zavoral, General Director of Czech Radio; Martin Kubala, Cameraman, Andrea Filičková, Czech Radio; Eva Piknová, Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival; Jan Pikna, Director, Smetana’s Litomyšl Festival From left: Eliška Hašková-Coolidge, former Office Director for Public Relations of five American presidents; Sharon Resch, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016; prof. Eva Blahová, Professor of Opera Singing

From left: Aleš Kaňka, Director of Prague Conservatory; Sharon Resch, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016 and her husband

Dagmar Patrasová, Actress; Felix A. Slováček, Music Model Trust spol. s r.o.

From left: Miroslav Fořt, Galerie EfEf s.r.o and his wife; Karel Srp, Artforum – Jazz Section with partner

24

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Radovan Čaplovič, CEO, Art of Word s.r.o.; Alena Miro, Opera Singer, Andrej Smolák, Artist and Owner of Andrej Smolák Gallery Slovakia

From left: Tatiana Mitúchová, Student of Psychology, Comenius University in Bratislava; Cindy Swider; David Swider, Lawyer, Bose McKinney & Evans LLP; Alena Miro, Opera Singer

G ALA E VENING

From left: PhDr. Eliška Fučíková, Art Historian; Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master; Leona Machálková, Singer; Dalibor Šípek; Artur Šípek, youngest son of Bořek Šípek

Natali Ruden, Fashion Designer; Roman Knap, General Director SAP Prague

From left: Eva Anderová, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Leaders, Benke Aikell, your Publisher (Czech & Slovak Leaders); Linda Štucbartová, ATAIRU Leadership and external collaborator of Czech & Slovak Leaders with her husband

From left: Zorica Pavlovič, BASF Prague, Mark Smolák, Music Teacher; Alena Miro, Opera Singer Antonín Šimek Sr., Businessman with his wife

From left: Ing. Marta Ptáčková, Risk Manager, Pražská plynárenská; Ing. Zuzana Baudyšová, Our Child Foundation and Senator

From left: Zdeněk Deyl, Architect; Vlado Milunić, Architect, STUDIO VM

25

G ALA E VENING

From left: Dagmar Patrasová, Actress, René Sion, Dallmayr Kaffee, Ing. Viktoriya Kudrya, PR Director, STATUSS magazine, Felix A. Slováček, Musician –Saxophonist, and PhDr. Antonij Mischenko, General Director of Russian House in Prague

Prof. Pavel Pafko and his wife

Roman Martinásek, Director, Vinařství Krist and his wife

Vlasta Brtníková, Director of Prague Writer’s Festival; Michael March, President of Prague Writer’s Festival

From left: Ing. Jaromír Schling, former minister and his wife, Vratislav Šlajer, Vila Consus and his wife

26

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Lenka Hanáková, Vila Consus; Olga Kohlerová, Olga Art Gallery; Shana Lenner (Switzerland), Actress

From Left: Jose Miguel, Artistic Director, Le Palais Art Hotel Prague; Alena Miro, Opera Singer; Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master

G ALA E VENING

From left: Syliva Ney (France); Georges Knap (Netherlands); Dr. Pauli Sivonen; Pick Keobandith, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016

Martina Kociánová, Moderator; Tomáš Tureček, Editor in Chief, National Geographic

From left: Kateřina Kombercová (Vienna), PR Manager; Varhan Orchestrovič Bauer, Composer and Conductor, and his wife Barbara Bauer

Ksenia Ivanova, Attache, Embassy of the Russian Federation; Miloš Jaro, Miloš Jaro Agency

Jana Blount, Owner of the chain of shops 5. Avenue; Alena Miro, Opera Singer

Anna Ondrušeková, Director, Tatranská galéria; prof. Ivan Stadtrucker, Laureate of International Trebbia Award 2016

From left: Vladislav Kučík, Press Spokesman, Český svaz bojovníků za svobodu; Jiří Srnec Jr, Black Theatre Prague; Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Master

27

G ALA E VENING

Sitting from left: Andrey Kavrishkin, Artist, Professor, St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts with his wife Marina; Amriddin Aminov, Sculptor; standing from left: Andrey Sklyarenko, Vice Rector, St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts with his wife Tatiana; Pavel Pokidyshev, Artist, Professor, St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts with his wife Marina; Miro Smolák; Besik Solomonashvili, Zurab Zereteli Moskva; Andrej Smolák, Artist and Owner of Andrej Smolák Gallery Slovakia

Marie Waldaufová, Piano Teacher; Peter Hirjak, Film and TV Director

From left: Petr Rudlovčák, Šafra & Partners; Ilona Oesterreicher, Šafra & Partners; Jacob Fass, President & CEO, J.F.I-Ltd

From left: Adéla Srncová, Dancer, Black Theatre Prague; Jiří Srnec Sr., Founder of Black Theatre Prague and his wife Dana; Jiří Srnec Jr. and his partner

Alena Miro, Opera Singer; Enrico Dovico, Conductor, FOK Prague Symphony Orchestra

Ivo Smolák, Musician and Artist; Alena Miro, Opera Singer; Jürgen and Marianne Weingarten, Businessman

28

Radomír Šimek, rascom s.r.o. and his wife

From left: Michal Zábojník, Owner of Dendra a.s.; Nina Zábojník, Student; Nina Gachulincová, Student; Štefan Čemický, Diagnostics and Research in Art AG - DRiART

From left: Bohumil Doubek, Workpress Aviation s.r.o. with his wife; MUDr. Ján Lešták, Owner of Eye Clinic JL; Jana and František Mandát, Publishers

From left: MUDr. Hana Kosová and Alena Miro

From left: Veronika Wolf, The Lobkowicz Collections; Jana Slavíková, Cushman & Wakefield

From left: Alena Svobodová, Vincentinum Foundation; JUDr. Cyril Svoboda; Michal Svoboda, Businessman JUDr. Jan Černý a JUDr. Dagmar Raupachová, Law Office Černý Raupachová

From left: JUDr. Ing. Luboš Mahdoň, Law Office Slovakia with his wife; Vladimír Valovič, Conductor and Director of Slovak Institute in Prague; Miro Smolák; Michal Zábojník, Owner of Dendra a.s.

From left: JUDr. Blanka Čechová, Notary; Blanka Čechová Jr., Writer; Mgr. Tomáš Engel, Board Member, Dejvice Theatre, o.p.s.; Mgr. Petra Šifnerová, Production of Ballet, National Theatre in Prague

Nikolay Bryakin, 2nd Secretary, Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Czech Republic with his wife.

From left: Mgr. Adam Sigmund, Law Office Žižlavský; Zdeňka Sigmundová, Trebbia Foundation; Ing. Zbyněk Janeček, Opel Auto; PharmDr. Denisa Janečková, Bayer s. r. o.

MUDr. Jana Peichlová, Psychiatrist and her husband; in the middle Alena Miro

29

CFO C LUB

From left: Dean Brabec, Director, CFO Club and Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little, Ivana Ficzová, CFO, PointPark Properties and Talent of the Year 2015, Zuzana Prokopcová, CFO, Český Aeroholding – placed second at the CFO of the Year 2015, Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade, Tomáš Kouřil, CFO, O2 Czech Republic – CFO of the Year 2015, and Marian Gramata, CFO, Karlovarské minerální vody, a.s. awarded third place at the CFO of the Year 2015

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF THE YEAR 2015 AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF A DECADE Ceremonial announcement of the best financial managers of the year 2015 and financial manager of a decade took place in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, on Wednesday 6 April 2016. Members of the CFO Club, Board of the Club, and CFO Academy awarded the title of the Chief Financial Officer of the Year 2015 to Mr. Tomáš Kouřil from O2 Czech Republic. The second place was taken by Mrs. Zuzana Prokopcová from Czech Aeroholding, the third place went to Mr. Marian Gramata from Karlovarské minerální vody. This year´s Talent of the Year was awarded to a woman, Mrs. Ivana Ficzová from an investment and development company PointPark Properties.

Financial Academy was also choosing the Chief Financial Officer of a Decade from the candidates who were awarded the titles in previous years.

The winner is Mr. Martin Novák, Financial Director of ČEZ a.s.

Marian Gramata, CFO, Karlovarské minerální vody, a.s. awarded third place at the CFO of the Year 2015, Vlasta Korec, Moderator in the back

From left: Dean Brabec, Director, CFO Club and Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little, Tomáš Kouřil, CFO, O2 Czech Republic – CFO of the Year 2015, and Patrik Choleva, CFO, Skanska

The award ceremony was hosted

by Vlasta Korec, popular moderator

From left: Tomáš Kouřil, CFO, O2 Czech Republic – CFO of the Year 2015 receiving the award from Patrik Choleva, CFO, Skanska

30

From left: Emil Šenkýř, Chairman of the Board, VŠFS, Ivana Ficzová, CFO, PointPark Properties and Renata Telínová, General Director, Scanservice a.s.

Zuzana Prokopcová, CFO, Český Aeroholding – placed second at the CFO of the Year 2015 and Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade

CFO C LUB

From left: Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade and Tomáš Kouřil, CFO, O2 Czech Republic – CFO of the Year 2015

From left: Antonín Brož, CFO, Canon, Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade, and Dean Brabec, Director, CFO Club and Managing Partner, Arthur D. Little

From left: Tomáš Kouřil, CFO, O2 Czech Republic – CFO of the Year 2015 and Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade Martin Novák, CFO, ČEZ – winner of the CFO of a Decade at his speech

Josef Štágr, Singer

Audience

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

31

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

From left: Mrs. Anna Kiseleva, spouse of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mons. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio, and Přemysl Sobotka, 1st Vice-President of the Senate of the Czech Republic

Farewell reception to the Ambassador of the Russian Federation H.E. Sergey B. Kiselev and Mrs. Anna E. Kiseleva

32

From left: Mrs. Anna Kiseleva, spouse of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Přemysl Sobotka, 1st Vice-President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, and H.E. Mons. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio

From left: Mrs. Anna Kiseleva, spouse of the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, H.E. Mons. Giuseppe Leanza, Apostolic Nuncio, and Přemysl Sobotka, 1st Vice-President of the Senate of the Czech Republic

From left: H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation and Jaroslav Vodička, Chairman, Czech Union of the Freedom-Fighters (ČSBS)

From left: H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation and Vladimir Ermakov, Chairman, Russian-Czech Joint Chamber of Commerce

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Jan Mládek, Minister of Trade and Industry with his wife and H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation

From left: Petr Bratský, Senator, with his wife, H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, and Jan Veleba, Senator

From left: H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation and Josef Knapík, Director, Land Survey Department Pardubice with his wife

From left: Jaroslav Vodička, Chairman, Czech Union of the Freedom-Fighters (ČSBS), H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, and Jaroslav Doubrava, Senator

From left: H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador, Embassy of the Russian Federation and Přemysl Sobotka, 1st Vice-President of the Senate of the Czech Republic

From left: H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation and Jan Kohout, Aide to the President of the Czech Republic, former Minister of Foreign Affairs

From left: Jaroslav Vodička, Chairman, Czech Union of the Freedom-Fighters (ČSBS), H.E. Mr. Sergey Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Dagmar Patrasová, Actress, Felix Slováček, Musician, and Jan Veleba, Senator

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

33

C HARITY

BALL

YOURCHANCE CHARITY BALL

From left: Gabriela Křivánková, Founder, yourchance, Stanislav Gálík, young successful Entrepreneur and Member of the Prague Business Club, Jana Merunková, Founder, yourchance, Jiří Polman, Director, Sandvik Chomutov Precision Tubes, Kateřina Mareková, Prague Business Club, and Mrs. Šárka Polmanová

Jiří Svoboda and Petra Kopecká, Dancers

Yourchance Charity ball was held on 23rd March 2016 in the beautiful Grand Hotel Bohemia Boccaccio hall. The ball was organized by community interest society founders – Jana Merunková and Gabriela Křivánková. Night programme was very diverse. Guests were part of a silent auction where they could obtain gifts made by participants of the project Začni správně, pictures or photographs.

Patrons of the project for young people leaving orphanages, Tomáš Marek and Eva Josefíková, launched a new book Hejno bílých vran aneb Normálně žít.

Kateřina Lichtenberková, manager of the project Financial Literacy to Schools introduced a new publication Prima život. The most expected moment was a professional dancers´ performance. Jiří Svoboda and Petra Kopecká excelled in ballroom dancing. Night event highlight was a Czech sopranist and also patron of the project Začni správně, Markéta Mátlová´s perfomance.

The moment that touched people´s heart were Albín Balát and Jan Mikula talking about their life in an orphange and how the project Začni správně helps to young people.

Kateřina Lichtenberková, Manager, Financial Literacy to Schools project and Stanislav Gálik, young successful Entrepreneur and Member of the Prague Business Club

34

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Tomáš Vokáč, DofE, Gabriela Křivánková, Founder, yourchance, and Lenka Vokáčová, Training Specialist, Man Power

From left: Jana Merunková, Founder, yourchance, Zuzana Šafářová, PR Specialist, Mercedes-Benz Praha, Gabriela Křivánková, Founder, yourchance, and Kateřina Lichtenberková, Manager, Financial Literacy to Schools project

C ONTRIBUTORS

From Gender Fatigue

to Traction! Let’s get real!

You and I claim that we are fair, impartial, and free from stereotypes and biases.

Science and research shows it is impossible to be free from natural propensities that make all of us fall into what is called default thinking. A place we go as a consequence of our upbringing, cultures, and yes the way our brain works.

So the first thing about getting real is to understand that it is of human condition to be biased! There you have it! In order for us to function in a world that subjects us to a 11 million pieces of information at any time, we need to use filters such as: perceptions, interpretations, preference, and selective attention. These are called mental heuristics.

The tricky part of this is that many times this process yields wrong or less than desirable outcomes. In my work of gender integration, this issue is pivotal. Unless we get to talk about the elephant in the room and develop some type of oversight to keep an attentive eye

where “the elephant” wants to go, we will lose this battle. There are great tools now you can use to “manage” this situation and help you and your team achieve optimal decisions. Take a look at Daniel Kahneman work, it’s fantastic.

The most important step is for you to seek these tools!

My work helps both men and women understand, become aware, and develop an inner voice – dialogue that helps temper and “calm” the natural propensity to jump into generalities and perceptions that keep everyone stuck! This is the reason I wrote my book.

The second thing we want to do is for men and women, to reframe the way female attributes are described and many times devalued, as desirable, yet not a par with what the business world “needs”. Funny since collaboration, empathy, good listening skills, are attributes that come at the top of the list of what is described as core competencies

needed to navigate and succeed in the new global economy. So let’s start to praise these characteristics and talk about them without hesitation. Let’s remember we are all in this together!

The third thing we need to do to get real is to understand that professional development programs need to be adapted to the gender nuances that help everyone debunk gender biases and stereotypes. This is what yields gender integration. The so called “universal” principles of leadership have to be experienced and articulated with a voice of authenticity and credibility. I get to witness those transformative moments, when people get real, when they become aware and experience their own AH-HA moment! Priceless!

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

35

G LOBAL F EMALE

SUMMIT

C OPYRIGHT : M ANAGEMENT C IRCLE AG, P HOTOGRAPHER : T HIES I BOLD , H AMBURG

Czech and Slovak Magazine as the Media Partner of the 3rd GLOBAL FEMALE LEADERS SUMMIT 2016 in BERLIN Lead the Future. Embrace Challenges. Discover Opportunities.

The summit, designed to become the exclusive economic forum for female executives, was held at the very heart of Berlin, in the elegant atmosphere provided by the Ritz-Carlton hotel, on April 17th -19th 2016 and smoothly organised by Management Circle.

The programme of the summit was designed to “master the Challenge of Change” according to six central themes (geopolitics, digitalisation, disruptive technologies, finance, talent management and customer innovation) to help provide inspirations and ideas needed for efficient decision making.

The prominent speakers included Baroness Catherine Ashton of Upholland – a former First VP of the EU Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kristalina Georgieva, Vice-President of the EU Commission, EU Commissioner for Budget, Human Resources and Security, Liliana Pavlova, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Philippe Legrain, Journalist and Economist, Michala Marcussen, Global Head of Economics, Société Gérérale Corporate and Investment Banking, Anne Boden, CEO of Starling Bank, Frank Kohl-Boas, Head of HR Northwest, Central and Eastern Europe and Kim Wylie, Global Lead for Change and Transformation both from Google.

Over the course of two days, there were 35 sessions and 50 speakers presenting to 250 participants, coming all the way from Argentina to China, with most of the participants coming from Germany, Austria, the UK and also China. The unique design of the summit combined different formats to maximise the information and inspiration impact and at the same time it kept the audience engaged during presentations, panel discussions, interactive sessions during “think tank academies”, addressing special topics as well as plenty of space for international networking during coffee and lunch breaks, as well as dinners. I am personally known to be a passionate networker, so I truly appreciated the time and the quality of conversations

From left: Sarah Taylor, GE Aviation and Linda Štucbartová, Consultant, Atairu and Senior Lecturer, Anglo- American University

36

since the participants were at the senior positions either at multinational corporations, SMEs, consulting businesses or owners of their own businesses.

I’d like to share three specific moments that I find unique with regards to my experience from attending various women summit and events. The first one was the depth and scope of various themes covered – ranging from the geopolitics to the future of financial regulation, digitalisation and transformation to the robotics. The second special aspect was the cohesiveness of the group, despite of the different backgrounds, all women were experienced professionals with an interesting background. The last important factor was that even though women were the target group, there were also men represented and the discussions refrained from frequently presented gender stereotypes and useless generalisation us vs. them, reducing women issues to debates on quotas and political representation.

The fact that the Czech Republic was represented only by Jitka Schmiedova, Head of HR, Česká spořitelna and myself covering the event, Poland had three women participants, while Slovakia and Hungary were not represented at all, made me think that more effort is needed to bring the countries and their women representatives to attend this prestigious event.

Now, let me present the Founder of the Global Female Leaders and CEO of Management Circle AG, one of the most renowned companies for continuing professional education in the German-speaking region, Sigrid Bauschert.

Mrs Bauschert, you first came up with the idea of the Global Female Leaders in 2013 as an alternative/ accompanying forum to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Can you tell us how it all started?

In spite of rising numbers of women in leading positions, there is still a huge gap in their representation in the international economic arena on a very high level - the WEF is a prime example. Therefore in 2013 I felt it was time for an economic forum for female executives and to establish a “female Davos” as one of our participants put it.

Another reason behind this summit is also that we women have different experiences from our male counterparts in the way in which we acquire knowledge and work along our career paths, and that it is even true for the way in which we network.

Therefore, we came together and will continue to strengthen this commitment in the following months and years.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Sigrid Bauschert, Founder of the Global Female Leaders and CEO of Management Circle AG

Having said that, male participants are of course not excluded. Their contributions are welcome and the experience to be a minority in an environment of economic leaders was eye opening to some.

So the idea was brewing in my mind for a while but it all really started earnestly when I approached Ellen Comberg to help me kick-start this venture. Being my house neighbour, Ellen and I became friends and subsequently successful business partners in initiating this summit. I approached her in March 2013 during a very early stage of developing the agenda for the first summit in Zurich. Ellen is an internationally-trained and well-connected entrepreneur and attorney. She brought her knowledge about economically relevant topics as well as her international network to the project, without which the summit would almost certainly not have reached the successes it has in this short time span.

Your company, Management Circle, organises several other international summits each year, in addition to many which have made it to the global stage. Could you shortly introduce them and tell us why you are making this global transformation?

There are certain topics which by nature have become a global phenomenon and which realistically can no longer be kept regionally. In the effort to uphold our company motto to provide education in an innovative and informative manner, we have launched several international events, with more in progress. As such, in addition to the Global Female Leaders, themes covering digital transformation, cybersecurity and talent management each form one summit in the Global Leaders’ Summit Series.

The 4th annual Global Female Leaders’ summit will take place on 7th-9th May 2017. What can Czech and Slovak female executives start looking forward to?

Czech and Slovak female (as well as male) executives can look forward to the continuation of the trends we have started in the first three summits: that is to engage on the most up-to-date and critical issues leading executives face today, whilst networking with the best and upcoming leaders of the current and future generations. Be a part of our vision and join us in building, not only a more just and successful society, but more crucially, a better one!

By Linda Štucbartová

I NTERVIEW

WITH

F RANK K OHL -B OAS

GLOBAL FEMALE SUMMIT

An interview with Frank Kohl-Boas, Head of HR Northwest, Central and Eastern Europe for Google

No One Will Motivate You at Google Mr. Kohl-Boas has working experience from Unilever, Shell and Coca-Cola. Since 2010, he has been Head of HR Northwest, Central and Eastern Europe for Google and as such supporting, together with his team, Googlers in more than 19 countries focusing on leadership, talent development and the evolution of an innovative, diverse and inclusive company culture. As opposed to customer-centric models, Google is an advocate of an employee centric organisational model as laid out in the company's letter at the time of their initial public offering in 2004. Kohl-Boas emphasised that Google was neither the first nor the only company to think employee-centric, quoting Sir Richard Branson “Clients do not come first. Employees come first." as well as German founder of the "dm" drugstores Götz Werner "If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients”.

Google regards every employee as a talent, and even if they leave, they are believed to stay in the ecosystem. Can you talk more about the Google ecosystem? I cannot imagine many people leaving Google, usually ranking a no. 1 desirable employer in polls. However, if employees leave, how do you keep in touch with them?

We have indeed a relatively low attrition rate of regretted leavers, which is great. Many employees leaving us do so because they have been offered jobs with other companies at an often times much higher level of responsibility and scope. Examples include Head of Online Department, Country Manager and the C-suite with other companies. A few have become entrepreneurs, establishing agencies, consultancies or online businesses. The online community in countries and by industry sector is still relatively small and one regularly sees each other at conventions, summits or business meetings. In addition, we have an alumni-network, Xooglers - that's the name for Googlers who left us - may become member of. And I should add that it is not uncommon that we re-hire former employees at all levels.

You mentioned a recruitment process and its tremendous impact on all other HR and Learning and Development processes. At Google, approximately 1/3 are referred by peers, 1/3 are sourced from in-house recruiters and 1/3 apply for open roles. You pointed out that A-class interviewers will bring A-class people, a B-class interviewer is likely to bring C-class candidates.

That is easy for you being so popular but what about the companies that are frequently citing “the war on talent”?

We compete for talents, too, especially IT Engineers are in very high demand but so are employees who want to lead digital transformation. Since Google's recruitment process is consensus based, every Googler who participates in the interviewing process needs to be an "A" interviewer. The "A, B, C" refers to a

simplified categorisation of employees with regards to their engagement. Only "A" employees are highly engaged and will aim to hire candidates looking for the same opportunities to find purpose, autonomy and mastery in their employment with Google and to enable others to do so likewise. Google's value proposition and attractiveness as an employer consists of offering a strong mission, transparency and a voice for every employee. All of these ingredients can't be purchased nor engineered or implemented by "golden rules" framed in hallways. You need to live and lead by them daily. It is a question of culture and the culture is owned by and lived by your workforce, which is why the recruitment process and its reflection of your company culture and its values is the single most important HR process you have and decisive for your ability to win, develop and keep talents in your organisation.

Google regards diversity not only as gender diversity but also in terms of culture, sexual orientation and/ or nationality. You pointed out that you need to have a male and a female candidate for each position. Being such an attractive brand, I can imagine that most of the categories do not pose a big problem. What about the age diversity?

To the best of my knowledge, Googlers, in the regions I support, can be anywhere in between the age of 28 to 52, with the majority being at or around 3540. From my point of view, it's not a question of the biological age, it is about the know-how and skill set and the mindset to keep developing both. We live in a "VUCA" (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world and to face or even succeed in it, you need a learning mindset. I don't think it is linked to an age but based on my observations, it often decreases the more experiences and routines we have and rely on. It takes an effort to remain curious and to stay aware and alert to changes around you and what that may mean for your know-how, required skills and behaviours. In a world where many changes are deceptive and come in a disruptive way, a comfort zone can become a danger zone. Are you willing to learn or even report to people who may be younger than you? Are you actively aiming to learn and try out new things?

temptation or at times their desire to replace their decision by mine. With some of them working remotely, they often have to rely on their own judgement anyway. That includes their approach to daily HR matters as well as their ownership with regards to the need and frequency about their business travel or acceptance of invitations to internal and external events of all kinds. They are adults and I rely on their assessment even at the risk of them taking a different decision than I might have taken. That said, it's my task to support them, by coaching (What do you think happens if...?), giving feedback (In my view, you did/ did not...) or mentoring (When I was in a similar situation, I ...). Freedom comes with responsibility and that's why I expect my team to keep me well informed so that I'm not taken by surprise and am in a position to take ownership for decisions and doings of my team including their potential mistakes or lack of judgement I'm ultimately accountable for.

Can you share with our readers some “future recommendations and practices” that you are currently trialling and other companies may try to follow?

We want to do our part in creating better work environments which is why Eric Schmidt and our SVP, People Operations, Laszlo Bock wrote books about our HR policies and processes (How Google works, Work Rules!). In addition, we share our work practices and welcome other companies to contribute to a platform called "re:work" (link). I also see quite a few companies who experiment for example with holacracy, different pay and performance philosophies or new forms of learning ("edutainment"/"gamification"). It’s your people who put strategy into action and who have to utilise technology to the benefit of the company. So in consequence, relevance of HR practices will increase, requiring an employee-centric company culture which will become a major driver for success in the market.

By Linda Štucbartová

Your talk touched on transparency, feedback culture, sharing and learning.

How do you personally live the statement of Lazlo Block, SVP, People Operations in Google?

“Give people slightly more trust, freedom, and authority than you are comfortable giving them. If you are not nervous, you have not given them enough”.

I lead by setting objectives, leaving the how to achieve the objectives with my direct reports. I refuse the

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

37

SOCIAL EVENT

C ACIO G ALA E VENING WITH

W INNERS

13 TH IT P ROJECT O F T HE Y EAR SUPPORTED BY O RACLE

OF THE

AWARD CEREMONY

Audience with Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic,Jozef Švenda, CEO, ORACLE, and Dalibor Šidlo, Country Manager Czech and Slovak Republic, IDC CEMA ČIMIB special prize winners - from left - Prof. Zdeněk Molnár, CACIO, Xenia Malá, Brno Transport Company, Ladislav Straka, Service & Support Ltd, Miroslav Hübner, Chairman CACIO, and Aleš Špidla, Chairman ČIMIB

From left: Jozef Švenda, CEO, ORACLE, Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic, and Miloslav Marčan, Vice Chairman of the Board, CACIO Iva Herlesová, Business Development Director, Microsoft with her daughter

38

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Vojtěch Binder, Member of the Steering Committee, CACIO and Alexandr Karásek, CEO, Infocom Daniel Rosendorf, Information Security Specialist, ICZ a.s. in the middle with his wife and Miroslav Hübner, Chairman of the Board, CACIO

SOCIAL EVENT

WITH SUPPORT OF GOLD

C ACIO

PARTNERS :

ICZ, D ELOITTE , HP E NTERPRISE

From left: Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic, Vladimír Michálek, Servodata, Winner of the IT Project of the Year, Ivan Bartoš, EMTC, Winner of the IT Project of the Year, Biljana Weber, General Director, Microsoft ČR, Prof. Zdeněk Molnár, CACIO, Miroslav Hübner, Chairman of the Board, CACIO, and Jakub Jeráček, Servodata, Winner of the IT Project of the Year

From left: Rostislav Jirkal, General Manager, Servodata, Jozef Švenda, CEO, ORACLE, Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic, and Miloslav Marčan, Vice Chairman, CACIO

Josef Černý, Senior Consultant in Logistics and Production, ICZ a.s

Rostislav Jirkal, General Manager, Servodata with his wife Linda Štucbartová, Consultant, Atairu and Senior Lecturer, Anglo-American University and Jozef Švenda, CEO, ORACLE on the right

Fantastic team of CACIO who prepared the event with Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic on the right

Biljana Weber, General Director, Microsoft ČR

Petr Kuchař, Head of eGovernement Architect Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs

Zdeněk Pilz, General Director, Fujitsu with his spouse

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

39

Gala Evening

Gala Evening

Jiří Polák, CEO, CACIO with his wife Martina Jankovská

Winners of the IT Project of the Year on the stage with Jan Bartošek, Vice Chairman, Chamber of Deputies, Parliament of the Czech Republic on the left

Jozef Švenda, CEO, Oracle handing a prize to one of the winners, Mrs. Jindra Petrová

40

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Zdeněk Zajíček, President, ICTU and Miroslav Hübner, Chairman of the Board, CACIO during the celebration of the 18th anniversary of CACIO

FASHION SHOW

Natali Ruden, Fashion Designer at the final defilé surrounded by her beautiful models

Natali Ruden´s Fashion Show

y a W y M

The biggest fashion show in the history of the Czech Republic named MY WAY has marked the 20 year´s anniversary of the career in the fashion industry celebrated by a renowned Czech fashion designer Natali Ruden.

At the show, Natali Ruden introduced her new collection, traditionally made exclusively from the most luxury materials.

The event was moderated by a popular presenter Leoš Mareš.

The collection was presented by the top Czech models starting with Andrea Verešová, Gabriela Kratochvílová, Eliška Bučková, Kateřina Sokolová, and for the first time also by the beautiful models from the Slovak Republic, including Jasmína Alagičová, Bronislava Gregusová, and Mária Zelinová.

At the event, you could meet many renowned personalities and stars who cooperated or still cooperate with Natali. Personalities from music, film, or otherwise relevant industries. The event was visited by more than 800 guests from business, politics, and show-business sphere.

Natali Ruden, Fashion Designer and Filip Vaněk, Personal Stylist at the backstage

Fashion show was moderated

by Leoš Mareš

Nikol Švantnerová, Miss of the Czech Republic 2015

Andrea Verešová, Model and Miss of Slovakia 2009

Eliška Bučková, Model and Miss of the Czech Republic

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

41

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

H.E. I VO S CHWARZ , A MBASSADOR

TO I SRAEL

Czech-Israeli Relations at the Time When Past Collaboration Helps to Address Future Challenges

Having the possibility to interview H.E. Ivo Schwarz took me twenty years back, all the way to my university studies, when majoring in international relations resulted in one long research of the Czechoslovak assistance to Israel during its War of Independence. I also remember the times of my diplomatic career, when I was heading the Diplomatic Academy and met Mr. Schwarz; at that time he was the Head of Foreign Relations Department at the Office of Foreign Relations and Information and there was a close co-operation between the two institutions. When I was on a private visit to Israel, I decided to contact Mr. Schwarz and use the opportunity for a personal interview for the Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine. Despite his busy schedule, the Ambassador readily agreed and we had a chance to discuss not only Czechoslovak-Israeli relations (not a mistake but a reflection how is our country reflected and perceived), but also current security challenges and Mr. Schwarz’s outstanding career at various institutions of the public sector that are nevertheless rather secret in their nature.

Mr. Ivo Schwarz has been an Ambassador to Israel since October 2014. On October 28, 2013 he was appointed Brigadier General by the President of the Czech Republic. He was the Director of the Office of Foreign Relations and Information from 2007-2014, having assumed several leading posts at the Office since 1999. From 1991-1999 he was Director of Immigration and Border Police in Western Bohemia. Mr. Schwarz is married and has two children.

42

Excellent.

Let me mention Czech-US relations as an example. We have experienced that excellent relations are taken for granted and soon they might not be appreciated as such anymore.

Well, I expected some sort of a positive adjective and I apologise for my interruption, don’t you fear that excellent relations might be prone to deterioration?

Well, should I have a bigger space, I would have said close to excellent. Parallel to the nature of relations between people, relations between countries also do change in time

Mr. Ambassador, how would you describe Czech-Israeli relations using only one word?

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

P HOTO : P AVLINA S CHULZ

and evolve; however, the change in interstate relations tends not to be so sudden and takes longer. I am not afraid of a change in the nature, since Czech-Israeli relations have very solid roots. Besides, thinking about often mentioned belonging of the Middle-Ages Jewish community to and its role in the Czech society, next year we will celebrate the 90th anniversary of Thomas Garrigue Masaryk´s visit to British Mandate Palestine territory - he was the first European president to do so, thus recognising the status of Jewish settlers. Both sides, Israel and equally the Czech Republic are very much aware of this primacy and tradition.

The second special moment is marked by the Czechoslovak diplomatic, military and security assistance during the War of Independence.

Everyone in Israel knows that and those who were fighting during this War still remember holding the Czech rifle as their first weapon, and they all mention the importance of Czech airplanes and the military training provided.

The Czech Embassy still keeps in touch with the pilots, a former Israeli president Ezer Weizman being one of them, who were trained at various Czech air bases. Then the turning point came in

1967, when Czechoslovakia followed the Soviet Union and interrupted the relations with Israel.

However, the need to re-establish CzechoslovakIsraeli relations as one of the foreign policy priorities was mentioned in the famous speech of President Havel on January 1, 1990, to the very surprise of his foreign policy advisors.

And Vaclav Havel was again the first postcommunist president to visit Israel in April 1990.

Since then, we have been continuously working on mutual relations and currently we are able to discuss openly even issues that are not easy to address, which is a sign of a great friendship. On May 22, there will be a joined session of both governments in Jerusalem, which will present another opportunity to discuss and advance many issues further. The quality of Czech-Israeli relations can be documented by the total number of 20 visits (including G2G meeting) of the prime minister, both vice prime ministers, ministers or their deputies as well as Speaker of Chamber of Deputies visiting Israel in 2016.

I am very glad that such interest exists. As the Czech proverb goes, it is better to see once than to hear three times.

Such interest is quite unprecedented given the size of the Embassy. By the same token, is the Czech Republic also an attractive partner for Israel?

Yes, there is an interest about the Czech Republic, however the one of different nature; one cannot always apply reciprocity rule to bilateral relations. Given the history and the amount of migrants to Israel, the interest is still shifted to Czechoslovakia as such. Not many people either noticed or came to terms with the existence of the Czech Republic, and we held so many events together in close cooperation with the Slovak Embassy. There is a mutual co-operation in commercial, trade and start-up spheres. The Israelis come to the Czech Republic to become engaged in development projects and construction, chemistry and new technologies. And last but not least, we represent EU and UN like-minded country in the United Nations. Cultural relations also bring another special dimension. By the way, as we discussed history earlier, listening to the Israeli anthem Hatikva brings some tunes that particularly Czechs are very familiar with.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

43

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

H.E. I VO S CHWARZ , A MBASSADOR

TO I SRAEL

P HOTO : P AVLINA S CHULZ

From left: H.E. Ivo Schwartz, Ambassador to Israel and Re'uven Rivlin, President of Israel

So let us move forward to current issues, and particularly the one that has been your source of expertise, the issue of security. How do you perceive security from a country that has learned to live in the state of a permanent alert?

Throughout its history Israel has faced the challenges the EU is facing right now, such as defence of borders, control of immigration and verifying the origins of migrants. Israel has quite vast know-how, including some lessons what not to do, so we can benefit from those. The latest projects about to be launched concern cybersecurity and government system data protection as well as detection of parties at the state border. I believe that the threat Europe is facing is quite unprecedented throughout the history, apart from two world conflicts.

I perceive the European Union as a functioning system but far away from being homogenous.

The migrant wave has not only security but also trade and commercial consequences. Therefore, we need to start to co-operate immediately and share the intelligence. I think that it is not five to twelve but rather twelve sharp to act and to define basic principles of European / Western civilisation. Which will be the most important principles to defend and which will be the ones not so crucial so we can quit defending? From my experience and perspective, the protection of borders comes first to give us the time to deal with the mass of migrants already in and only then we can devote energy and also resources to solving the issue in the countries where problems originate or in transit countries.

The problem has a solution, but it is a global problem that puts world leaders and diplomats under pressure to find a common ground for cooperation. A lot has been said about economic migrants. But just to make it clear, economic migrants were those who went to the US at

44

the turn of the last century, they were willing to work hard under the existing harsh conditions, accept the reality of the new country, earn money to send it back, and eventually return to their country of origin. This is a true definition of an economic migrant and there are few people like this in the current wave.

Very few people coming from totally different conditions and societies are capable of accepting and embracing our cultural norms of behaviour and functioning. The last thing is to send a strong signal to those countries where migrants come from that they too should be responsible for finding a solution.

Well, I do not perceive such sharp divide in my career. After the Velvet Revolution, I spent my career dealing with security, foreign relations and diplomacy. In early 1990s, we re-constituted the Czech-German border and check points, controlled the flow, migration system and extraditing processes and all that going on during the time of the Balkan crisis when the Czech Republic was a transit country for Balkan migrants. So I view the current situation as a certain déjà vu, albeit on a larger scale. Then I was active in the Office of Foreign Relations and Information and I am sure you will understand me for not mentioning more details. However, this was the time when you and I met at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; that very fact shows how intelligence and diplomacy go hand in hand. I have always been interested in trends and best practices so I looked abroad for partnerships and cooperation. Mossad was one of the most efficient intelligence services, at that time led by my close friend Meir Dagan, and even Mossad started to be open for co-operation and I believe the two countries learned a lot from one another. After seven years of being a director at the Foreign Office, I got the offer to become an Ambassador to Israel. The circle is coming to close, as in Israel the issues of security and foreign policy are closely interrelated. I can make use of all the contacts from the Foreign Office. Due to the fact there is a compulsory military service in Israel that serves as a primary network, I have an easy access to most influential partners. Being a Czech Ambassador and a Brigadier General at the same time really works here and I am proud I can continue serving the Czech Republic.

By Linda Štucbartová

To end up more on the optimistic note, how do you view your career journey? How was the transfer from the secret nature of Office for Foreign Relations and Information into diplomacy?

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

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

P HOTO : P AVLINA S CHULZ

9

th

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE NGV 2016

From left: Vojtěch Kaksa, RWE Distribuční služby ČR, Luboš Trnka, Emission Laboratory, TÜV SÜD Czech ČR, Michael Schaarschmidt, Head Product Manager, Zukunft ERDGAS GmbH Německo, Petr Vomáčka, ÚAMK, Petr Štefl, Head of Technical Department, Czech Gas Association, and Stanislav Kopecký, Fire Rescue Department, Pilsen Region

PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT AND UTILIZATION OF CNG / LNG IN TRANSPORT

Jan Ruml, CEO, Czech Gas Association at his speech

Marek Tomíšek, Editor in Chief, Usporne.info

Matthias Maedge, General Secretary, NGVA Europe

9th International Conference NGV 2014 at Congress Centre CITY in Prague

Luboš Trnka, Emission Laboratory, TÜV SÜD Czech s.r.o.

Lenka Bočková, Head of Environmental and Labor Protection Department, ŠKODA AUTO

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016 45

From left: Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur, JUDr. Jaroslav Novotný, Lawyer, Editor in Chief, Magazine “Český a Slovenský Lion”

LIONS CLUB PRAGUE BOHEMIA AMBASSADOR IN

COOPERATION WITH

ZE E CH & S LOVAK L EADERS C ZECH

Guest of Honor: Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šedo, DrSc., Dean of 1 Medical Faculty of Charles University Topic: Where does the traditional medicine ends and alternative one starts? st

From left: Ing. Vladimír Páral, Writer and Ing. Jiří Málek, Entrepreneur and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

From left: Mgr. Jan Haur, IS Administrator and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Ing. Rudolf Kočí, Entrepreneur

From left: Ing. Ivo Románek, Publisher of “Stavební a investorské noviny”, Mgr.Jan Haur, IS Administrator and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

46

Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Šedo, DrSc., Dean of 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University

From left: Ing. Tomáš Spurný, Economist, Manager in The State Office for Nuclear Safety and Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc, Commercial Director, Secretary of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

I N COOPERATION WITH C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS

LIONS CLUB PRAGUE BOHEMIA AMBASSADOR Guest of Honor: 2TQH 2J&T ,KÄĽĂˆ /KMWNGE %5E *KUVQTKCP Topic: Myths and traumas of the Czech history

From left: JUDr. PhDr. OldĹ™ich ChodÄ›ra, Lawyer, former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Mgr.Jaroslav DrĂĄpal, Analyst, ÄŒSOB, and Ing. Jiří Nejezchleb, Tax Advisor

From left: Prof. MUDr. Aleksi Ĺ edo, DrSc., Dean, 1st Medical Faculty of Charles University, Petr LaĹĄtovka, Entrepreneur, Ing. AntonĂ­n Mika, Director, Trade Company "LAMMEX Ltd." and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, and Ing. JaromĂ­r Kaulfus, Entrepreneur

From left: Ing. Jiří Nejezchleb, Tax Advisor, Ing.Jiří Bříza, IT Analyst, and Ing. Rudolf KoÄ?Ă­, Entrepreneur

From left: Fra Karel Paar, Grand Prior of Maltese Knights and Ing. Petr KuÄ?era, CSc., Authorized Expert for the Construction Field

From left: Mgr. Jan Haur, IS Administrator, President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Prof. PhDr. Jiří Mikulec, CSc., Historian

From left: Ing.Jiří Opíchal, Executive Head, Allimex Trading s.r.o. and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Ing. Aleť Haur, Enterpreneur, and Ing.Jiří Nejezchleb, Tax Advisor

47

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

B ALESH S HARMA

An interview with Balesh Sharma, CEO Vodafone, Czech Republic

We In Vodafone Walk the Talk with Regards to Diversity 48

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

B ALESH S HARMA

Mr. Sharma, Vodafone is known as a company promoting women and diversity in general. How is this attitude influenced by your experience, being the only Indian in the company and often with regards to diversity, being the only male in the panel discussion to address such issue?

In Vodafone we believe that by being diverse and inclusive we will attract and retain the best talent in to Vodafone and make the best choices for our customers and shareholders. Everyone has a role to play in ensuring people at Vodafone can be at their best irrespective of their Gender, Race, Religion, Belief, Disability, Age, Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity. Personally I very much believe in benefits of diversity - based on my own experience – diverse teams are more creative and productive.

Your company is regarded as a challenger to status quo and other companies monitor your activities and implement them later as a proven practice. What are your top three „easy and quick wins“ to support diversity at the workplace?

I am glad that Vodafone is perceived as a company that sets trends in diversity area.

Talking about Diversity without concrete actions doesn’t have any impact. In Vodafone we make sure that every statement is supported by clear action.

In terms of Gender diversity I am a big promoter of our global maternity policy – enabling our female colleagues to work part time and get full salary. This helps our colleagues to better manage work-life balance and continue with their carrier. Many companies are lacking women in senior leadership role, I believe creating the right conditions for them will help women to grow and they won’t have to choose between carrier and a family.

In terms of LGBT diversity, based on a recent research, only 10% of companies focus on LGBT issues and engagement and they provide tailor made support/benefits. In Vodafone for example, among other benefits, we give LGBT employees a day off for the registration.

How do you see the diversity as an issue in the Czech Republic? The Czech Republic currently ranks on the 81st place out of 145 countries surveyed according to the World Economic Forum.

I was surprised to hear about a pay gap in the Czech Republic – women earn 21% less than men in the same roles. I am happy about the fact that in Vodafone we treat people equally, there are no differences in salaries. We have to realize that women play many roles – at work, at home. It is very important to create and offer support for women.

In Vodafone, you are famous for „walk the talk on diversity“. You introduced full compensation for part-time working women coming sooner from parental leave, you support parental leave for both women and men, you held every year diversity week to celebrate diversity in all aspects – gender, age, nationalities and others. With regard to technology, you make sure your technology and mobile applications help victims of domestic violence. What are other trends that you will be introducing?

Our Diversity focus is on Gender, LGBT, Disability and Age and we are constantly looking at needs of our people. As the population in Czech and Europe is aging, we will soon introduce programs addressing this. Regarding technology: communication networks underpin every aspect of a modern society, enabling people to stay in touch with family and friends, access information and increase their understanding of the world around them while accessing services that can improve

health and wellbeing, enhancing skills and increasing prosperity for the population as a whole. We believe that our technology can have a transformational impact on society – a belief shared by the Vodafone Foundation who’s Connecting for Good strategy is focused on using our technology to tackle some of the most challenging social issues in the world. Our Foundation in the Czech Republic has already offered to the community of people with disabilities powerful ICT solutions: a smartphone for visually impaired people BlindShell, a transcription system Transkript for people with audition impairment, a reading trainer for kids with dyslexia Včelka and our last winner of the Vodafone Foundation Laboratory R-ITAREPS aims to help people with schizophrenia via ICT App to monitor their wellbeing and stay integrated in their communities.

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

49

G LOBAL P ERSPECTIVE

ATHLETES AND MANAGERS Tennis and life are alike, both must be played to the last ball. In order to go all the way, though, we must learn to manage our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy.

Technological development and changes are gathering speed and experiencing an exponential growth all over the world. At the same time, our lives are being changed at an equal speed – everything around us is in a constant state of flux and the sheer volume of information that surrounds us keeps multiplying all the time. The world is now digitally interconnected and has brought about the phenomenon of global competition. Everybody now competes with everybody else because nearly 99% of all information is widely available to all Internet users on the planet. What makes the difference between a winner and a loser in this new reality is the speed of reaction.

But this pressure to make fast decisions comes hand in hand with two potentially negative consequences: stress and compression of time.

In my opinion, we are all suffering exponentially growing levels of stress and the pressure put on managers also keeps increasing. Time compression was defined in 1995 by my strategy teacher and one of the best strategists in the world Mike Kami.

Echoing Moore’s law of technological progress, time compression basically means that the time available for decision-making is cut by 50% every two years. In other words, decision that we had ten minutes to think about two years ago must be solved in half the time today. This pushes business to make their decisions really fast.

Let me give you just one example. Thanks to technologies, analytical tools and a relatively small staff, Ryanair has been able to make crucial decisions very fast. Traditional airlines, on the other hand, remain under the influence of their labour unions and their capacity to make quick decisions is radically impaired, consequently damaging their success in the market as well as their bottom line.

In other words: Moore’s law and time compression offer an advantage to smaller and more flexible organisations. Larger entities cannot make decisions at the same speed even if they take on board the principles of lean and agile management. My experience in Microsoft confirms this observation.

When I joined the company, it had a total of 6,000 employees around the world. When I left, there were 125,000 of us. Surely, the decision-making process must be affected.

In addition to stress and time compression, we also suffer from an ever decreasing capacity to concentrate. Mobile devices, social networks, emails and phone calls constantly bombard us with new

50

information. Studies show that people are now able to concentrate for just 12 minutes at a time.

Furthermore, there is research indicating that if you are thinking about a topic while answering emails, for example, your IQ drops by 10 points. Such a dip in IQ is equivalent to going without sleep for 36 hours.

By the way, smoking a joint takes away just four IQ points. The information overload phenomenon is not unknown in the Czech Republic either.

According to a study commissioned by the MF Dnes newspaper as many as 34% of Czechs felt threatened by the burnout syndrome in June 2015.

In August, Intel published the results of a research that shows that two thirds of Czechs take their computers and mobile devices on vacation and actually use them to work.

As the pressures of stress, time compression and falling attention spans increases, the importance of resilience increases too. Resilience is the ability to keep one’s thoughts and emotions under control in order to deliver the best possible performance in a highly demanding environment. I believe that no matter what one does, the result is 90% the product of the mind and 10% the product of the actual activity one is engaged in. The only thing that we can claim to have totally in our power is our thoughts – the processes running in our brain.

I like to remind people that each of us is a Chief Mind Officer in his own right.

Our mental activity is 10% conscious and 90% subconscious. Everything that we are aware of falls in the conscious category – including our results and behaviour. The subconscious encompasses our past thoughts, emotions, mental images – our personal identity. The good news is, we can tap into our subconscious, too. For example, all visualisation techniques are based on the idea that a vision is the image of a world that does not exist but in which we believe.

How do these social changes affect athletes and top managers? Do they affect them in different ways?

The first difference is training. A top athlete spends 90% of her active time training. As for top managers, the question is whether they get any training at all.

At best, his company may send them to a course once a year but they will still be expected to deal with work-related tasks, emails and calls.

hand, has little or no time for recovery. Although they often get 4-5 weeks of paid leave each year, they tend to spend most of their vacation sitting in front of a computer screen with a mobile phone glued to their ears.

For an athlete to deliver a world-class performance, he needs high-quality nutrition, a balanced diet, adequate sleep and the ability to concentrate his energy and strength at the time of the actual performance. In the case of pole jumping, for example, it takes only a few seconds to decide who will get the Olympic gold. In order to prepare for this fleeting moment, athletes surround themselves with entire teams that provide the necessary support.

When it comes to managers, sadly, once again, things are much different. Due to time compression, managers often do not eat at all, drink only coffee and if they do eat it is fast food brought in by their secretaries.

And what about career spans? Things differ sport to sport, of course, but the career of a top athlete lasts between 5 and 15 years. It is between 30 and 40 for managers, though. Many people were astonished when I left Microsoft after 22 years in its top management. However, nobody would be surprised at an NHL player leaving after 22 years.

I doubt that top managers will ever work until the age 65. I believe that more and more people will decide to do exactly what I did. They will leave around the age of 50 because they will feel the urge to become mentors and coaches and help others get to the top. When outstanding athletes get to the end of their active careers they transition into training others but unfortunately managers work until they are really forced to leave. What they fail to realise is that when they finally take the leap they might not have any energy left to step into the next phase of their lives.

What happens during the off season? Again, it depends on the sport but most athletes have a period of relative rest lasting between two and four months. They spend this time doing fairly light physical training in order to stay in shape. For a manager, however, taking more than a few days of vacation at a time is unthinkable.

The second difference lies in performance. An athlete’s top performance occupies 10% of her active time while a top manager easily devotes 1215 hours a day to performance and often works on weekends, too.

We are not talking only about time compression in general but also about the growing pressure from investors who want to see growing financial results on a quarterly basis. Top managers’ season and performance expectations remain at a constant level throughout the year.

The third difference comes in the form of recovery.

Athletes dedicate relatively lot of time to it. They train 3–4 hours a day and then focus on recovery and mental preparation, including a healthy diet, ion drinks and massages. A manager, on the other

Psychology also offers an interesting insight into the differences between sports and business. I think sports psychology is much more advanced than business psychology. Sports experts and coaches have long known that sport is not only about what

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

G LOBAL P ERSPECTIVE

– are they really that different? athletes do and how they play, but also about how they think about themselves and how mentally strong they are.

In his book The Inner Game of Tennis, American coach W. Timothy Gallwey says that every tennis player has two selves: the self that plays and the self that thinks. To win, the tennis player must be able to connect the two. A former Slovak sledger once told me something similar: “A better sledge might give you a 0.2 second advantage.

A stronger mind and better concentration can give you three seconds, though.”

The goal of sport psychology is to find out how to get the best out of an individual. Business psychology, on the contrary, takes an entirely wrong path and focuses almost exclusively on time management – helping people to save time and prioritise their tasks. It fails to take into account the management of human energy. The ice-hockey coach and my friend Marián Jelínek says: “We now have excellent athletes who themselves think they are rather dumb and excellent managers who completely disregard their physical condition.”

The Ancient Greeks were able to bring together all four main types of energy: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. They added beauty and the good to the pile and came up with the concept of kalokagathia, an ideal of a complete, flourishing human being, which we have, sadly lost today. In order to achieve a long-time balance, a manager must take good care of her physical fitness and an athlete must strive to develop his intellect.

The resilience that we need to build up today is precisely about our ability to control and correctly channel energy while maintaining positive thinking.

Sport teaches people not to give up. I myself have learnt that tennis and life have something in common: “On the tennis court and in life, we are ultimately left alone to make all the important decision. People may give you advice but it is up to you to decide. Furthermore, both tennis and life must be played until the last ball.”

I have recently talked to several athletes who ended their active careers. These people often think that they have little chance of finding success in “civilian” life but I could not disagree with them more. Sport has equipped them with resilience and these people know how to use their energy and keep their emotions in check. I think former athletes are in a great position to succeed in other walks of life.

As I already said: “Everything you do is 10% about the activity itself and 90% about your thinking.”

Is there anything that could help us – whether we are top managers or regular employees?

Studies show that people tend to sleep less than six hours a day in the modern world. I think this is too little. Everybody should take at least seven

hours sleeping each night and they should go to bed and wake up more or less at the same time each day. Having a proper breakfast and then five to six smaller meals a day also helps improve performance. However, we should pay equal attention to the quality and composition of our meals. Fruit, vegetables, fish, avocado, blueberries, green tea, salmon, tuna, spinach and fish oils should dominate our diet because all these foods are good for the brain and improve its function.

90% of things that we people do are repetitive. We are the embodiment of our habits and behaviour patterns acquired throughout our lives. We do not like changing ourselves and we are quite happy with the novelty brought by the 10% of new things that we allow into our lives. This is precisely why it is so important to develop positive habits and rituals such as morning meditation, jogging and a healthy breakfast. It often takes these three simple rituals to set us on a positive path each day.

People also all too often underestimate liquid intake.

This is especially true for people who spend a lot of their time speaking, including most managers who should drink at least two litres a day. The best beverage is, of course, good old water, with no sugar added. We must be very careful about sugar because of its glucose response curve with its fast onset and high peek, which very quickly falls deep under the average, making you feel very tired.

I think that positive habits are one of the key factors that can help us build resilience and success in the highly demanding business world of our times.

Each and every one of us should learn to use our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual energy wisely in order to reach a better understanding of our life mission and devote our efforts to those activities that can actually take us to the ultimate goal of our life’s journey.

Taking regular breaks is also important. Our forefathers knew the drill: they worked for a while, took a rest and started working again. Today, however, we keep busy all the time, then go to bed, wake up and the rat race starts again. It is wise to develop a regular rhythm of work and breaks. The best strategy seems to be to work for 90 minutes and have a 15 minute break afterwards. It keeps people more productive and alert. You should also add regular physical activity to your routine. Try, for example, going to the gym or for a run in the park two or three times a week.

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

Managers should also take up meditation.

Meditation improves concentration and mindfulness, our ability to be present in the moment. It has a positive effect on our brains and makes us feel more emotionally stable. There have been famous experiments with monks who devote ten thousand hours or more to meditation and although they experienced pretty difficult things in their lives, they remained emotionally strong and maintained an inner peace.

Let’s talk a little about mindset, too. In order to face up to all the challenges and live our lives to the fullest, we need to constantly develop our mind without fixating on a single thing or goal. Our thinking must evolve as we try to improve ourselves.

We should concentrate on the journey rather than on the destination. If we take the right steps and live according to the principles I just described there is nothing that could stop us from achieving our goals. Furthermore, as we make progress on our journey, we must not ignore our inner voice our intuition. Many people are reluctant to trust their intuition because it seems to have no rational basis and cannot be explained by figures and analyses. On the other hand, let’s remember that intuition is the result of more than 10,000 years of evolution and there is simply no reason for us to disregard its messages.

I N COOPERATION WITH C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS 51

I NTERVIEW

WITH

R ENÉ Z AVORAL , C ZECH R ADIO ´ S D IRECTOR G ENERAL

CZECH RADIO

“93 Year Young Wise Lady Ready for the Best Years to Come” The very fact that Mr. René Zavoral was appointed at the age of 39 as Director General of Czech Radio made several headlines. However, Mr. Zavoral has had a remarkable career. He studied at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague. Already during his studies, he was an advisor to one of the Chairmen of the Senate. His career in Czech Radio started in 2001, only shortly interrupted by him changing a public sector for a private one and assuming a position in corporate communication at Komerční banka.

He returned to Czech Radio as Head of Department of Communication and External Relations; in 2013 he was Deputy General Director for Programme and Broadcasting.

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

Mr. Zavoral, you have been appointed to the position of Czech Radio’s Director General on January 21, 2016. Czech Radio is an institution that has played a significant role in both Czechoslovak and Czech Republic’s history. It has been enjoying a high degree of credibility, not only amongst its listeners but in the overall society. Nevertheless, do you feel slight nostalgia and even a burden that you are leading an institution that reached the heights of its fame and played the most significant role already in the past?

52

Quite the contrary. I truly believe that the best moments for Czech Radio are still ahead. We do not stand still, we are continuously working on the development of our programme, the quality of broadcasting as well as technologies applied. We represent a modern service that is interested in current trends, particularly working with multiple media.

Of course, we follow the history and tradition that is quite rare and unprecedented in comparisons to other institutions in the Czech Republic.

Czech Radio has been serving its listeners for

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

93 years and has been present during various moments, co-creating the modern history of Czechoslovakia – be it the Prague uprising in early May 1945 or 1968 broadcasts regarding the entry of Warsaw Pact armies.

It is only natural to feel respect and certain nostalgia towards the institution such as Czech Radio. You can also see this translated into the commitment to fulfil its role as a public service. It should be a media to help public get oriented in today’s complicated world, to bring objective information, culture, to educate and entertain at the same time.

I NTERVIEW The famous BBC is always presented as a model example of public media services.

However, is it a relevant example considering the size and the budget of the Czech Republic? And where else can one look for an inspiration?

BBC certainly represents a great example as far as public services are concerned, but to a certain extent an example that is unattainable. In the European context the comparison to BBC is very frequent and popular, and the Czech Republic is no exception. It is necessary to point out that the position of BBC in the world of the media is unprecedented. BBC is exceeding other public media services with regards not only to its size, but also its budget and the possibilities of programme offering. Referring to all of the above, I am not saying that we should not be inspired by BBC, quite the contrary. We are in close touch and we follow its stations, formats and approach and we are capable to learn and get inspired. We are a member of the European Broadcasting Unit that also presents a great possibility for the exchange of experience with other broadcasters. In the middle of April, we launched project Generation What with the aim to map attitudes of young people. Several public media from European countries participated in this project at the same time.

You have mentioned that Czech Radio is a partner and a guide. How do you see the trend of “agenda setting” that is not only to inform and reflect what is happening but by presenting certain issues to contribute to the elevated debate on particular topics? Gender, diversity, ageism, sustainable development are already topics quite present, what are other emerging topics that you see or you would like to be addressed more?

The task of Czech Radio as a public service provider is to describe events from all possible points of view, offer to listeners various opinions, facts, not avoiding controversial issues. We want to be a service that presents different impulses and so stimulates asking questions and thinking about current and debated issues. Therefore, we already follow the topics mentioned. Minorities represent another topic that we also follow very closely – not only with regards to national definition, but also in terms of cultural or social one.

However, the main part of the programme is focused on everyday events, both at home and abroad. The agenda of news is the one that needs to meet the challenge starting from a range of issues to be covered to the objective point of view of being presented. I personally feel that the work of our editors has not been easy for some time.

The migration crisis has been one item on the agenda that will be echoing through the society for a very long time. And not to mention how difficult it is to cover conflicts, such as Ukrainian crises, the war in Syria or terrorist attacks.

My ambition is for Czech Radio to pay attention to all issues important for a broadly defined Czech society and to maintain its credibility, independence and balance.

In your interviews about your vision, you have mentioned new technologies, digitalisation,

WITH

R ENÉ Z AVORAL , C ZECH R ADIO ´ S D IRECTOR G ENERAL

use of mobile applications. Which other trends do you regard crucial?

It has been a long-term strategy of Czech Radio to follow the trends in new technologies. Our aim is to offer to listeners a suitable distributional mix of options of broadcasting that will provide a stable and secure service, will expand and improve the programme of Czech Radio, including our services.

We are ready as far as digitalisation is concerned; however, the legislative framework that would enable the development of DAB broadcasting is missing. Nevertheless, we pay attention to the possibility of digital broadcasting, since it represents secure and stable broadcasting which might be important during crises. At the same time it enables the development of accompanying services, such as pictures or text files.

Having said that, with the same attention we take care of analogue broadcasting, since it still represents a very suitable platform. Furthermore, we have to develop a mobile application, be ready for high-speed internet or even the possibility of the so-called “hybrid radios”, which is a topic rarely discussed in the Czech Republic.

What is the current programme offering of Czech Radio for foreigners living in the Czech Republic or to Czech citizens living abroad?

We offer topical programmes in one of four nationwide full service format stations and also foreign broadcasting of our Radio Prague station.

The service of this station includes comprehensive coverage of news and debates of everything important that is going on in the Czech Republic in all three dimensions – political, economic and cultural one. Radio Prague broadcasts in Czech, English, German, French, Spanish and Russian. Its target group includes foreigners living in the Czech Republic, the Czechs living abroad, diplomats, journalists and representatives of international institutions.

You are a father of four children. How do you manage work-life balance?

Work is important for me, but family is even more important. I believe that I am very good at separating work from my family life, but it is sometimes very difficult. The first weeks after I was appointed Director General were quite challenging.

Spending time with my family naturally means for me relaxation from stress and duties. We like to travel and discover new places, both in the Czech Republic and abroad. I am looking forward to spring and summer coming and I hope I will be able to enjoy more free time.

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

Well, if they already do not belong among our listeners, I would like to invite them to become part of our “Radio family”, to check out our programmes and to find a programme and relation that would interest them. I believe that our wide programme offering caters for everyone’s taste – news and music on “Radiožurnál”, expert commentary on public affairs on “Plus”, cultivated entertainment on “Dvojka”, cultural events on “Vltava” and “Radio Wave” or “Radio Junior” for our young listeners. I should not

forget our regional stations and our special digital projects such as “D-dur” and “Jazz”.

To the readers who happen to be our listeners, thank you for your support and loyalty. Czech Radio works every day to offer the best broadcast, to be a modern radio and to bring to the public quality information, education and culture.

Did You Know?

Czech Radio is the only public radio service in the Czech Republic.

In addition to its main four nationwide full service format stations, Czech Radio also offers four special stations focusing on news and current affairs, classical music, popularisation of science and applied technical sciences and broadcasting to young audience. Each of the 14 regions in the Czech Republic has also its own regional service.

Furthermore, Czech Radio broadcasts abroad in six languages including Czech service for compatriots living abroad.

Czech Radio belongs to the oldest and most prestigious radio services in the world.

Its public broadcast started in May 1923, at that time it was the second broadcast service on the entire European continent. It took form of improvised broadcasts from a tent located at the Prague Kbely military airport.

The current Czech Radio building located in Prague Vinohrady neighbourhood dates back to 1933 when the Czechoslovak Radio was regarded the most advanced media outlet in Europe.

The frequent visits of Thomas Garrigue Masaryk seemingly anticipated the fact that historical events would take place in the very Radio building.

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

53

E NERGY C HALLENGE

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

Slightly Spiritual Menu

About Competitiveness, Cooperation and Grandma’s Pancakes “We are back at my Grandma’s kitchen in the 1960s, where there used to be a coal-burning clay oven, used for both cooking and heating. There was a ventilation shaft above the oven which my Grandma opened and closed using a long pole. She used to make whole wheat pancakes filled with boiled potatoes or grated cauliflower, white radish, and baked them in an iron pan over low heat till they were crispy and golden brown. Then she would put a big blob of homemade butter on top of each pancake while they were still hot. We would finish the meal with a ‘dessert’ pancake, served with a large heap of unrefined sugar that she had caramelised around the pancake,” Sanjiv Suri remembers as one of his first culinary experiences. He grew up as a vegetarian and never tasted meat until he was seventeen.

54

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

E NERGY C HALLENGE

What are your current eating habits?

I have come full circle and become 90% vegan once again. But since I’m in the restaurant profession, I eat everything. I’m vegan not for ethical, but energy reasons. It is more or less the way I judge all food. When I pursue a vegan diet, my energy level is at the highest. It decreases with milk products, goes further down if I add sea fish, further down with bio-chicken and it is absolutely the lowest when I eat red meat.

When I am home alone without my children, my only source of nutrition is a soup that I cook using three to four different kinds of lentils, quinoa and different vegetables. Everyone around me then gets a small pot. Luckily for them, it is always a different soup, as I use whatever leftovers I find in my fridge.

Do you believe that some ingredients are a priori good and others bad for people?

If you are happy, everything you eat will essentially do you good as long as you are not stuffing yourself with chemicals that are harmful to the body. But if you find yourself in a negative state of mind, no super or biofoods can help. The most important thing is what is going on in your head and the feelings with which you eat the food on your plate. It is very personal. Our body is so complex and the hormones we produce at different states of mind are so different that a positive state of mind is vital to physical health.

Has it always been your dream to run restaurants?

For about 12 years, I worked in the hotel industry – always in a large corporate structure – and I never felt very comfortable in the role. There was always too much politics and the customer was seldom the centre of everyone’s attention.

I wanted to get away from that. I did not come to the Czech Republic to open a restaurant – it was a coincidence. I had a few free months and my girlfriend at that time was posted to Prague to work at an embassy. I told myself it was a good time to try something new. We established the

company exactly 25 years ago, in March 1991.

We opened Café Museum under the stairs of the National Museum. Coffee was CZK 4.20 and the most expensive sandwich cost CZK 5.80. My first colleague, Dana, created an ingenious pricing policy. She had three prices for everything we were selling. Coffee was normally CZK 4.20, but if Dana saw a long queue in front of the self-service café, she promptly switched the price to CZK 4.50. If the place got really crowded, she changed the price to CZK 4.80. The back space was about 4 metres square so our kitchen was in Holešovice and everything was brought to the café by car. With our first chef, we used to walk around the Holešovice market at 5:30 in the morning, looking for fresh ingredients. Three months into the game, we were launching Vinárna V Zátiší.

Our strategy was to hire only recent graduates – people not corrupted by experience in other restaurants. For me, character has always been more important than knowledge. People can learn and gain experience throughout their careers. I always tried to select my co-workers based on their human qualities and I think it has paid off. The proof is that many of them are still with us today.

How do you work with your menu?

Our customers are the key - naturally. We change our menus based on their priorities. The system works as follows: If we serve 200 dinners in the course of an evening and there are 10 dishes on the menu, each meal should appear on a table in front of a customer 20 times (fair market share).

If we sell more than 25 portions of a particular dish, we consider it to be a star and no one is allowed to change it. I remember that on the original Zátiší menu we had marinated salmon with honeydew melon, beef Wellington and chocolate mousse, and they were so popular that they stayed there for over 12 years. If we sell less than 10 portions, then the dish is ready to be replaced. Since the beginning, we have always offered a “Special of the Day.” If it is sold out by 8:30 p.m., we try offering it again in a couple of weeks.

If we sell out the special three times in a row by

8:30 p.m., the dish then gets on a “parking lot” from where the regular menu is created. Every week, we change one item on the menu. If we were to change more than one, the quality of the meal preparation would temporarily drop until everyone learned how to best cook and present it. This way, they only need to focus on one dish. Food is becoming more and more about emotions and the overall experience as well as the quality of the raw materials used. We try to work closely with local ecological farmers and are very particular about the quality of the produce we buy. The whole experience in a restaurant should be about making the guest feel good about himself or herself.

People know you are a spiritual person, that your company donates over 30% of its profit to charity and, in general, you do not act like a typical businessman. How did this happen?

In 2007, I spent a few hours with the Dalai Lama. One of the things he told me, which still resonates with me, was: “Sanjiv, the people in my life do not get in the way of my spiritual practice, they are my spiritual practice.” So, I believe that I can be virtually anything – a strong person, a tough businessman, a compassionate father – but all in a detached meditative state of mind in which I am not emotionally attached to the things around me. This allows me to stay calm under most circumstances. A business is only a business. The nature of it is to make money or sometimes lose money just as the nature of a dog is to bark or that of a cow is to eat grass. I am passionate about the things I do and care about, but I also try to stay emotionally detached from the result. I would be more content after a race where I gave my best and came last compared to a race where I did not give my best and won. Most of us, quite unfortunately, lead our lives in a very competitive manner, rather than a collaborative one. That is one of the reasons I enjoy golf – as I am only competing with myself and trying to improve myself.

By Sanjiv Suri

55

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

CELEBRATION

From left: Petr Pelzl, General Major (ret), Senior Fellow, Prague Security Studies Institute, Libor Štefánek, Brigadier General, Commander of Air Force Czech Republic, and Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce

On 21st March, a traditional celebration reaching more than two and a half thousand years back in history took place under the auspices of Aria Boiohaemum Foundation and the Embassy of Afghanistan in the Czech Republic. On this occasion, General Abdul Wahab Wardak accompanied with other representatives of Afghanistan awarded diplomas to Daniel Landa, President of Aria Boiohaemum Foundation, representatives of LOM state company as well as the best pilots and instructors. In their speeches, the top Afghan representatives appreciated cooperation with Aria Boiohaemum Foundation and expressed gratitude to the Czech Republic and LOM state company for their care and military training of Afghan pilots.

56

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce, Eva Anderová, former Deputy Minister of Finance, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

From left: Adéla Zítová, Sales Director, PKE ČR, Ing. Aleš Ullmann, Sales Director, PSG – International, and Mrs. Zuzana Běhounková

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

OF NOUWRUS – NATIONAL DAY OF AFGHANISTAN

Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce at his speech

From left: Boris Milec, Cotton Club with his wife, Miroslav Hovorka, Consultant, Megawatts to Kilowats, and Jiří Janda, Sales Director, Megawatts to Kilowats

From left: Miloš Jaro, Agentura Miloš Jaro, Wu Lixin, China Bridge, and Pavel Halada

From left: Faziel Esmail, Vivax, E. Ghorbani, Geschaftsfuhrer, G&P Handels Gmbh, and Farad Naderi, Handelsagentur

From left: H.E. Jaroslav Bašta, Czech Polititician and former Ambassador to Ukraine, Eva Anderová, former Deputy Minister of Finance, Honorary Consul of Zambia and Business Consultant to Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, and Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce

Alimirzamin Askerov, Counsellor, Embassy of Azerbaijan with his wife

57

DIPLOMATIC EVENT Audience

Libor Štefánek, Brigadier General, Commander of Air Force Czech Republic during festive traditional ceremony

Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce during festive traditional ceremony

From left: Mrs. Martina Fialová, Lucie Orgoníková, Deputy Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, Office of the Government of the CR, and Olga Lounová, Singer

Vladěk Cinkl, ACV Group with his wife

58

From left: Daniel Pomije, Manager, Quix and Adam Brejza, Project Manager, Quix

From left: Khalil Abdul Qudus, Councellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Afghanistan, H.E. Wali Massoud, Afghan Diplomat and President, Massoud Endownment Fund, and Abdul Wahab Wardak, General LTG, Commander of the Air Forces of Afghanistan

From left: Abdul Wahab Wardak, General LTG, Commander of the Air Forces of Afghanistan, Libor Štefánek, Brigadier General, Commander of Air Force Czech Republic, and Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce

From left: Abdul Wahab Wardak, General LTG, Commander of the Air Forces of Afghanistan, Daniel Landa, President, Aria Boiohaemum Foundation during the festive traditional ceremony, and Khalil Abdul Qudus, Councellor, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Afghanistan

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Daniel Landa, President, Aria Boiohaemum Foundation

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

From left: Jiří Kala, Vinařství Kala, Ahmad Aziz Waziri, Pilot, and Mr.Marcel Havlásek

Arnošt Líbezný, Lieutenant Colonel, President, Association of Reserve Brigades with his partner

From left: Anna Brandejs, Owner, Brandejs Clinic with a friend and Daniel Landa, President, Aria Boiohaemum Foundation

From left: Mr. Aleš Pilař and Mr. Jiří Basl

Abdul Wahab Wardak, General LTG, Commander of the Air Forces of Afghanistan surrounded by pilots

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

59

T HROUGH A RT TO

P HOTO :

AUTHOR ´ S ARCHIVE

E CONOMIC P ROSPERITY

„The contribution of culture to our national GDP is seven times higher than that of a car industry”, this is a surprising outcome of a French study undertaken as a part of a worldwide research on the economic impact of culture and creation on a worldwide economic growth. When Francois Hollande decided to cancel the important Paris exhibition Monumenta due to the savings at the beginning of his presidential mandate, his decision raised a huge wave of displeasure and criticism and thus initiated a serious study on the impact of culture on the country´s economy. The results published two years later took breath away even from the most obstinate critics.

Simultaneously, based on the UNESCO initiative, Ernst and Young conducted a study focused on the same topic on the international scale and in December 2015 published the results. According to this study, the industry, officially called ICC – Industry of Culture and Creation, represents a turnover of $2.250 billion, which is for example more than a worldwide turnover of telecommunication technologies.

The positive outcome therefore is that culture and art creation undoubtedly belong among the non-negligible driving forces of the world economy. Further interesting results show that for example in Europe, the USA, and Japan the industry employs more people than a car industry. So, culture is not

60

only good for our amusement and entertainment as many politicians thought, but it is crucial for a worldwide economy. Economic analysts and advisors to various governments immediately provided proposals of major positive changes regarding the support of culture of every specific country. Investments into culture also became one of the strategies to solve crises in many European countries. For example Iceland, the country hit by the crisis among the first in Europe, decided to build a music hall as soon as possible, to help tackling its unemployment crisis in a construction industry as well as support their national pride and positive future expectations. China, till that time really behind in this industry, made culture its new strategic sector in 2009. Within five years,

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

China´s investments into culture raised by 200%. Today, culture represents almost 4% of GDP of Argentina. In Bangkok, the total number of companies operating in the culture industry increased to twenty thousand (dollars?) within ten years. Countries like Indonesia and Brazil, which considered their culture strategy a second-rate issue, are making massive investments in culture these days.

Italy has recently decided to increase its culture industry budget by one billion Euros, targeted on the war against terrorism too.

“They want to terrorise us, we will reply with culture,” declared Matteo Renzi. We would appreciate France doing the same thing.

As a surprise came the fact that Asia currently shares the highest part of culture industry

income, i.e. 34% of a worldwide profit, employs in the industry directly or indirectly 40% of the citizens, and has the highest percentage of culture consumers. Asia is immediately followed by Europe with 32% of culture income and 25% of employees, and then comes North America (28% and 15%). The USA and Canada, traditional leaders in the industry, have struggled with a lack of public subsidies since the 2008 financial crisis, despite the fact they are still on top in art creation, quality, and volume of university art education as well as the number of cultural institutions and the scale of culture events.

The top five cities leaderboard in the area of art is led by New York, followed by London, Paris, San Francisco, and surprisingly Singapore! Paris, profiting from the biggest and best preserved potential of cultural heritage, i.e. historic architecture, paintings and general artistic creation from the past centuries, nowadays profits also from the research of high technologies in the area of creation. Paradoxically though, it suffers from the lack of the state support of private investors.

It is interesting that the worldwide number one among the ten industry sectors (TV, visual art, music, print and publishing, commercial, books and libraries, live shows, video games, movies, and radio) is a revenue generated by the sector of visual art! Despite the fact that digitalisation is spreading rapidly and companies like Google, Apple, and Amazon are creating another major platform for culture. And it is in particular the Internet that enabled a quick and efficient promotion of European and American culture in Asia, Africa, India etc. However, negative issues are brought along too, in the form of a mass cultural hegemony, commercialism and globalisation, against which the countries with a strong cultural tradition are trying to fight.

With the current generally high unemployment, a very positive psychological impact is created by a prevailing interest in culture sector jobs. This is visible not only in developing countries. So, the added value of culture for economic growth is evident. Motivation to work in a cultural environment is higher than in any other sector, covers all age categories, and in comparison to other industries it is more diverse financially.

Psychologists point out another positive fact, saying that culture carries other values besides the economic ones too. It emancipates, stimulates, enriches, brings together, creates positive emotions, strengthens identity, and also represents a natural vector for good functioning of every democracy.

By: Ing. Arch. Iva Drebitko

61

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

R ADOMIL D OLEŽAL , MBA, D IRECTOR

OF

C ZECH T RADE

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

I

SEE IMPORTANT TO SET PRIORITIES The year 2015 has been very successful for Czech Trade. What are your aims for 2016?

Our aim for this year is to transform the enhanced activity of Czech Trade foreign offices into successful business cases and there are several aspects how to measure the success.

Not only numbers and the volume of export materialised but also further criteria, such as the size and experience of a company with export, the origins of the goods, whether they are traditionally produced or new products are introduced or whether a company is trying to access traditional markets or new complicated territories. We also want to portray successes of Czech companies in foreign markets more frequently in media and so to motivate and inspire potential future exporting companies.

Bringing the services of the Czech Trade agency closer to the regions in the Czech Republic represents the second priority for this year.

In March, we launched the “Export Coaching” programme, designed to attract the segment of small and medium enterprises aiming to expand into new markets. This programme offers a comprehensive set of services starting with the first consultation in the region, through the

62

detailed outline of the strategy drafted at the headquarters to the final stage, to assistance with the entry into the chosen foreign market.

The third priority is to enlarge the portfolio of the targeted markets that we want to make accessible to the Czech companies. Already at the end of 2015, we launched the preparation for the enlargement of the network of foreign offices to add new representations in Singapore, Iran and to open the second office in Bangalore, India and already the fourth office in Canton, China. Furthermore, we want to open an office in Lagos, Nigeria to cover the region of tropical Africa and to strengthen our offices in the Unites States, since Czech companies are very interested in this particular territory.

What are the trends supporting the export activities in other countries that can be inspiring and how does the Czech Republic, characterised by its open economy, stand in comparison with other countries?

We have been inspired by several cases presented at the meeting of the European Trade Promotion Organisations (ETPO). To mention some specific examples, Denmark is trying to link the foreign development assistance to the support of trade and support of the employ-

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

ment; in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia organisations supporting export are closely co-operating with early start ups and so speeding the process cycle with regards to the export.

Who belongs among your key clients now and what about your other target groups?

Czech Trade is primarily designed to assist small and medium enterprises; however, we also work with several large companies. I have already mentioned our programme “Export Coaching” in regions. In various parts of the Czech Republic we regularly hold export forums where heads of foreign offices introduce European and non-European territories. Individual consultations are being part of these meetings.

Furthermore, we have created a network of five offices in Ostrava, Pardubice, Brno, Pilsen and Ústí nad Labem. Regional export managers are particularly sensitive to the needs of local companies. In case of an export potential identified in a particular company, sectoral specialists from the Prague Czech Trade headquarters would prepare a specific strategy for an entry into a determined market that would also take into consideration the company readiness for export, its commercial strategy and a specific product. Employees of foreign offices then

AN

INTERVIEW WITH

R ADOMIL D OLEŽAL , MBA, D IRECTOR

Yes, such trends exist. I can mention the support of our agency for export companies that are highly specialised. There is an initiative in our office in Israel to assist with obtaining certification, key contacts and presence at important trade fairs with regards to the kosher rules around food products. make the service happen directly in the selected territory. The service is therefore tailored to the client´s needs and requests.

Our clients repeatedly confirm that our services have helped them make new connections, gain commercial opportunities as well as save costs and minimise risks connected to the entry into unknown markets. We regard export successes of our clients the highest reward for us.

Czech and Slovak Leaders Magazine has been recently extended to cover also Slovakia. How do you personally see Czech and Slovak relations?

I perceive them excellent, including the fact that my wife comes from Slovakia.

OF

C ZECH T RADE

I wish that readers are successful in finding interesting information, relevant for them to identify new opportunities and new ways to penetrate foreign markets, in having many ideas and last but not least in having enough drive to materialise their export visions.

By Linda Štucbartová, external collaborator of Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine české znění naleznete v elektronické verzi magazínu na www.czechleaders.com

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

When it comes to the civil service, the quality of human resources is often a subject to criticism. You have experienced both, the private and currently public sector. What is your approach to the leadership?

General directors of Czech Trade foreign offices are truly those who bear the biggest part of know-how. I have realised this fact as soon as I assumed my position. Therefore, it is crucial that the most qualified people serve abroad. In order to select new general directors, we have started to use the method based on the success factor index to ensure that the right ones are sent abroad having the right key competencies.

What is your approach regarding worklife balance?

I see important to set priorities, both in a professional and personal life. Feel satisfied on both sides and be able to separate time in between both of them.

Talking about separation, how do you see the theme of dividing competencies between two different ministries – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Industry and Trade? This seems to be a never ending story and evergreen for media debates, but is there an easy way out?

I believe that the solution lies in agreements between the two ministries concerned, specifying roles and scope of both actors participating in economic diplomacy as well as joined projects, such as the Client Centre for Export that offers all services of a unified foreign network which diplomatic missions as well as foreign offices are part of. Working with both ministries, we have created a Catalogue of Services for Exporters that include all of the subjects mentioned earlier.

There is currently a trend in the corporate world: to support many programmes to enhance diversity and so productivity. Are there any similar trends to help any particular highly specialised export groups?

63

P HOTO : K ATIE G RITT

OMNIPOL – PROUD SPONSOR OF THE OF

N ATIONAL D AY

P AKISTAN

National Day of Pakistan

From left: H.E. Andrew Hirsch Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States of America with his wife and H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan with his wife

T HE E MBASSY OF P AKISTAN IN P RAGUE ORGANIZED A R ECEPTION ON THE N ATIONAL D AY OF P AKISTAN AT H ILTON P RAGUE ON 23 M ARCH 2016 AND A T RADITIONAL P AKISTANI F OLK D ANCES AND M USICAL E VENING OF Q AWWALI ON 24 M ARCH 2016 AT L UCERNA C INEMA , P RAGUE . A RENOWNED P AKISTANI SINGER M EHMOOD S ABRI MESMERIZED THE AUDIENCE WITH MYSTICAL Q AWWALI MUSIC OF S OUTH A SIA .

H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan with Michael Specking, General Manager, Hilton Hotels in Prague

H.E. Ahmet Necati Bigali, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey with his wife

64

Ibrahim Ghaleb Ali All – Shoryi, Charge d’ Affaires of the Republic of Yemen with his wife

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Umair Ali, First Secretary with his wife, H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan with his wife, Mr. Kashif Rafiq with his wife, and Nabila Faran Baig, Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Pakistan

From left: Tomáš Kuchta, Deputy Minister of Czech Republic with his wife and H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan with his wife

Lt. General Josef Bečvář, Chief of General Staff of the Czech Republic meets the Ambassador of Pakistan

From left: H.E. Khaled M.Q. Alattrash, Ambassador of the State of Palestine and H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan wihhis wife

Pakistani children in traditional colorful dresses

From left: Mehmood Sabri, renowned Pakistani Qawwal, Hynek Kmoníček, Director of Foreign Affairs Department of the President´s Office and H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan

Hynek Kmoníček, Director of Foreign Affairs Department of the President´s Office delivering keynote address during Musical Evening at Lucerna Cinema

From left: H.E. Ahmet Necati Bigali, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, Mr. Mehmood Sabri , H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco and H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan

From left: Tomáš Kuchta, Deputy Minister of Defence, H.E. Tajammul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan, Miloslav Stašek, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic and Operational Section, and Javeria Rafiq, daughter of Ambassador of Pakistan

Mr. Mehmood Sabri and his group singing Qawwali

From left: Hans Weber, Manager, FRYDAY Prague, H.E. Franki Verwey, Ambassador of South Africa, and H.E. Pablo Macedo Riba, Ambassador of Mexico

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

65

The new generation of world-famous jet trainer L-39NG, unsurpassed passive surveillance and reconnaissance system VERA-NG, multipurpose turboprop L 410 UVP-E20 and ammunition production plants. These are just some of the products of OMNIPOL that has been one of the largest system integrator of defence and security products, systems and services in the Czech Republic since 1934.

OMNIPOL is a reliable partner of governments in more than 60 countries worldwide.

There have been more than 3,400 training jets delivered by OMNIPOL worldwide so far. That is qualification that contributed to a strategic partnership for the project of L-39NG, a new jet trainer developed

by AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE, the largest aerospace manufacturer in the Czech Republic. L-39NG is a follower of the legendary L-39 Albatros, famous for its ability to operation in all climatic condition, excellent manoeuvrability and great aerodynamic concept, which made it one of the most popular aircraft among both military and civil users. There is no better proof of agility and reliability of L-39 than that it has been chosen by 15 world aerobatic teams for their performance. However, the new aircraft presents more than just tradition. With the latest technologies and equipment, L-39NG offers a unified

66

and comprehensive training system for modern air forces. Thanks to single engine conception, fully implemented condition based maintenance (including full service concept “support by the hour” for selected components such as the engine) and high modernity components, the L-39NG has unprecedented efficiency along with minimal maintenance.

The L 410 UVP-E20 is STOL twin turboprop commuter and cargo transporter manufactured by traditional Czech aircraft manufacturer Aircraft Industries, a.s. It is a well-proven 19 seat concept for civilian as well as military purposes with outstanding technical parameters and operational reliability that is easy to handle and simple to maintain.

L 410 is “at home” operating in the Sahara desert as well as in the Siberian tundra. This aircraft was chosen by the Nepalese airline Goma Air for operation in difficult local terrain and take-off and landing at LUKLA airport - one of the most difficult airport in the world. With its robust landing gear and low pressure tires the aircraft can operate anywhere needing just a few hundred meters of unpaved, rain soaked and undeveloped airstrips. The L 410 UVP-E20 is certified on the basis of FAR 23 regulation also received full EASA certificate. The aircraft is equipped with a certified autopilot. It is available in various versions: flying ambulance, paratrooper version, photogrammetric scanning, maritime patrolling and surveillance versions.

Air defence and passive surveillance are critical elements

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

in today’s military and security operations. OMNIPOL supplies unique technology of passive reconnaissance and surveillance developed and manufactured by their subsidiary company ERA a.s.

VERA-NG system allows automatic detection, identification and tracking electronic signals transmitted by air, land and naval targets. It effectively “sees without being seen”. Its system has the capability to be integrated with the TDOA system and displays simultaneously up to 200 real-time flying targets. SDD is the next passive system designed and manufactured by OMNIPOL´s subsidiary RAMET a.s.

It is a long-range system designed for strategic reconnaissance and monitoring naval and ground targets. High sensitivity of the system allows reception of signals reflected from the troposphere and thus ensuring a working range beyond the horizon up to distance of 700 km and 360°.

Last but not least, OMNIPOL designs, integrates and supplies production plants for special defence projects based on reliable and sophisticated solutions and products of Czech hightechnology manufacturers. In addition, Omnipol integrates these solutions into complex manufacturing systems with “turnkey” supplies. Propellant production is one of many examples of customised production solutions.

More information on www.omnipol.com.

By Jiří Škrabal, Marketing Director

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

A MAJOR OPPORTUNITY FOR THE CZECH REPUBLIC The Czech Republic has been in the international spotlight recently because of the government’s proposal to change the name of this great nation.

With the aim of giving the country a clearer identity, it is hoped that when our athletes appear at this year’s Olympic Games in Rio De Janiero, the UN will have authorized the name change to “Czechia”.

It may appear trivial, but the international image of the country is critical to its success. If the proposal is adopted, I hope it will go hand in hand with renewed efforts to enhance the reputation of Czech business as responsible.

I believe that the Czech Republic has an exciting prospect of becoming a global leader in sustainable development, move that would surely make this an interesting country in which to invest.

In spite of the world’s many problems, when we welcomed in the start of 2016, we had cause for a special celebration. Because this marked the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – see below – which every member state of the United Nations has agreed to embrace. As ambitious and perhaps idealistic as they may sound, their purpose is to help make our world a better place for everyone.

I would like to suggest that these goals present a rich array of opportunities for Czech business.

The SDGs represent a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years. They follow and expand upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed by governments in 2001 and expired at the end of last year.

It’s not so long ago, sustainability was seen by most companies as little more than a peripheral ‘green’ issue – providing good public relations opportunities and perhaps useful for reducing energy and waste disposal costs or supporting some worthy community causes but hardly central to a company’s core business.

That view is changing and business is heading towards a different and more encouraging place. Increasingly, companies from all sectors are having to confront and adapt to a range of disruptive forces including globalisation, increased urbanisation, intense competition for raw materials and natural

resources and a revolution in technology that is challenging the business models of many sectors while forcing all companies to be more accountable to, and transparent with, all their stakeholders.

As a result, sustainability is moving from the corporate sidelines into the mainstream. Faced with a future of uncertain energy costs, looming regulation on carbon emissions, concerns about access to raw materials and the availability of natural resources like water, companies all over the world are waking up to the reality that environmental sustainability is a key consideration.

Concurrently, those same companies are coming under greater scrutiny about their role in society. Fuelled by the explosion in online social networking, consumers, NGOs, the media and their own employees are holding companies to account about their treatment of workers, the sourcing and quality of their products and their corporate culture.

As companies navigate this uncertain business landscape, having a cohesive vision of environmental and social sustainability will help them develop new models for growth and opportunities to be product, service and market leaders. So there is surely no better time for the United Nations to launch these goals – a roadmap for good business growth for the next 15 years.

In some ways the SDGs seem like a continuation of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In reality, they are very different. Business, for the most part, didn’t focus on the MDGs because they were aimed at developing nations. The 17 SDGs, however, are relevant for every global company: they don’t discriminate between mature and emerging economies and their focus is on the broader issues that drive sustainable development.

But why should business really care? The SDGs are a product of two years of multi-stakeholder negotiations, including business and the private sector, and all 193 UN member states are preparing to sign up to them. While the SDGs are not legally binding, they will act as de facto regulation and drive the implementation of national regulation and incentives to see them succeed.

I have confidence that when global companies align with the SDGs they will have a clearer view on how their business helps or hinders a govern-

ment to achieve its goals, and the opportunity to evidence and maintain their license to operate. The goals will also provide a competitive advantage over those companies that don’t understand their impacts or fail to use the knowledge to revise their strategies accordingly.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) define global sustainable development priorities and aspirations for 2030 and seek to mobilise global efforts around a common set of goals and targets.

The SDGs call for worldwide action among governments, business and civil society to end poverty and create a life of dignity and opportunity for all, within the boundaries of the planet.

Unlike their predecessor, the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs explicitly call on all businesses to apply their creativity and innovation to solving sustainable development challenges. The SDGs have been agreed by all governments, yet their success relies heavily on action and collaboration by all actor, particularly the private sector.

The SDGs present an opportunity for business-led solutions and technologies to be developed and implemented to address the world’s biggest sustainable development challenges.

As the SDGs form the global agenda for the development of our societies, they will allow leading companies to demonstrate how their businesses helps advance sustainable development, both by minimising negative impacts and maximising positive impacts on people and the planet.

Without doubt, these ambitious new goals are important to the future wellbeing of our world. They also provide exciting opportunities for Czech business and the future reputation of Czechia.

By Jonathan Wootliff

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

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

67

D IPLOMATIC F ORUM

FRYDAY DIPLOMATIC FORUM with H.E. Andrew Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States

From left: H.E. Mr. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel, Ray Castillo, Counselor for Public Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Eliška Hašková Coolidge,Lecturer, Etiquette and Social Protocol, H.E. Tajamul Altaf, Ambassador of Pakistan, H.E. Peter Weiss, Ambassador of Slovakia, and Rany Movie-Eldin, Deputy Head of Egyptian Embassy Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague

The Anglo-American University (www.aauni.edu) hosted another FRYDAY Diplomatic Forum Event, welcoming H.E. Andrew H. Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States. The event was organized by Mr. Hans Weber, Managing Partner of FRYDAY Prague and Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, and co-chaired by Associate Professor Alan Krautstengl (President of AAU) and Dr. Tomas Vachuda (AAU Legal Counsel). H.E. Schapiro gave a speech focused on the relationships between the Czech Republic and the United States captivating the interest of the whole audience composed by AAU students as well as top businesspersons. A great debate followed, where the Ambassador addressed various questions raised by a very challenging audience. Afterwards, H.E. Schapiro participated to a dinner with selected participants at the Marriott Hotel.

From left: H.E. Andrew Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States and Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague

H.E. Andrew Schapiro, Ambassador of the United States

From left: Cyril Svoboda, Director, Diplomatic Academy and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Adam Homsi, Conference Interpreter/Translator (Czech hostage in Lebanon for 6 months)

D IPLOMATIC F ORUM

FRYDAY DIPLOMATIC FORUM with H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel On the 9th March, H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel, offered a speech, followed by a discussion, at the Anglo-American University (www.aauni.edu).

The event is part of the Fryday Diplomatic events organized by Hans Weber, Managing Partner of FRYDAY Prague and Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, in cooperation with the School (with the assistance of Pietro Andrea Podda, Senior Lecturer at the Anglo-American University). The discussion was challenging because of a motivated audience and a well prepared speaker. The nice evening terminated with a dinner for selected participants at the Marriott Hotel.

H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel

From left: James Rubinstein, President, Maxim Brand, Michael Cukier, Founder & Senior Director, PALBRIC ART FOUNDATION, H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel, Oleg Haman, Partner, CASUA, Pietro Andrea Podda, Porfessor, Anglo-American University (AAU), Jan Valdinger, Owner, Change Partnership, Marc Van Dongen, GRC Officer for MEE-CEE & CIS, SAP, and Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague

From left: Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague and Alan Krautstengl, President, Anglo-American University (AAU)

From left: Jan Valdinger, Owner, Change Partnership, James Rubinstein, President, Maxim Brand, Rany Kenawy, Deputy Head, Embassy of Egypt, Oleg Haman, Partner, CASUA, Eran S. Yuvan, Deputy Head, Embassy of Israel, and Marc Van Dongen, GRC Officer for MEE-CEE & CIS, SAP

H.E. Gary Koren, Ambassador of Israel

70

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

D IPLOMATIC F ORUM

FRYDAY DIPLOMATIC FORUM with H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada On the 22nd March, the Canadian Ambassador H.E. Otto Jelinek participated to a debate held at the Anglo-American University (www.aauni.edu). The debate is part of the Fryday Diplomatic Forum, organized by Hans Weber, Managing Partner of FRYDAY Prague and Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, with the assistance of Pietro Andrea Podda, Senior Lecturer at the Anglo-American University.

The debate focused on Canadian-Czech relationship, however the audience also enjoyed broadening the scope of the debate and involving H.E. Jelinek in open discussion about other topics (e.g. Separatism in Quebec). The debate was lively and friendly and was followed by a dinner for selected guests, held at the Marriott Hotel as usual.

From left: Renata Cukier, PALBRIC ART FOUNDATION, Khalilullah Noorzai, Second Secretary, Embassy of Afghanistan, Matthew Loken, Counsellor, Embassy of Canada, and Rany Kenawy, Deputy Head, Embassy of Egypt

From left: H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada and Hans Weber, Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague

H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada

From left: Omar Sattar, Managing Director, Colliers International, Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine, Magdalena Gomezová, Sales Director, Stavební interiérové systémy, Khalilullah Noorzai, Second Secretary, Embassy of Afghanistan, Matthew Loken, Counsellor, Embassy of Canada, and Rany Kenawy, Deputy Head, Embassy of Egypt

From left: H.E. Otto Jelinek, Ambassador of Canada and Mauro Lazzari, Managing Director, VIDATEC a.s. - TTC2 s.r.o.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

71

MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2015

KNOWS ITS WINNERS The finalists of Manager of the Year in front of Žofín Palace

On 21st April 2016, the results of this, already 23rd year of the Manager of the Year Awards were announced in Prague Žofín Palace. The title of the most successful managers in the Czech Republic for the year 2015 was awarded to Miroslav Dvořák, General Manager of Motor Jikov Group, a.s. and Radka Prokopová, CEO of Alca Plast s.r.o. Besides the representatives of the Manager of the Year organizers who participated in the selection of the winners within the Committee - Jaroslav Hanák, President of the Confederation of Industry and Transport of the Czech Republic, Jan Weisner, Chairman of the Confederation of Employers´ and Entrepreneurs´ Associations of the Czech Republic, and Pavel Kafka, President of the Czech Association of Managers - the awards to the TOP 10 best managers were handed over also by Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. The Awards were held under the auspices of Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, who also congratulated the absolute winners in the course of the gala evening.

President of the Czech Management Association Pavel Kafka

The arrival of the Czech President Miloš Zeman. From left: Jaroslav Hanák, President, The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and Jan Wiesner, President, The Confederation of Employers' and Entrepreneurs' Associations of the Czech Republic

72

From left: Michal Uher, Director, AMCOR FLEXIBLES SKRIVANY, Radka Prokopová, CEO, Alca plast and Manager of the Year 2015, and Miroslav Stančík, Director, PF PLASTY CZ

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic with Manager of the Year 2015 Miroslav Dvořák, General Manager, Motor Jikov Group

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

From left: Aleš Křemen, CEO, WOODCOMP PROPELLERS, Miroslav Dvořák, General Manager, Motor Jikov Group and Manager of the year 2015, and Joachim Grabowski, General Manager, KOSTAL CR

Managers from the category “TOP 10” at the press conference in Media café. From left: Jitka Hurábová, Jan Klas, Radka Prokopová, Monika Nebeská, Václav Valter, and Miroslav Dvořák

M ANAGER

OF THE

Y EAR 2015

From left: Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association, Jan Wiesner, President, The Confederation of Employers' and Entrepreneurs' Associations of the Czech Republic, Jaroslav Hanák, President, The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, Radka Prokopová, CEO, Alca plast and Manager of the Year 2015, Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic, Miroslav Dvořák, General Manager, Motor Jikov Group and Manager of the Year 2015 , Manager of the Year 2014 Zuzana Ceralová Petrofová, Vera Jourová, European Commissioner, Manager of the Year 2014 Daniel Beneš and Marcela Augustová, Moderator

Manager of the Year 2014 Daniel Beneš, CEO, ČEZ with moderator Marcela Augustová

Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic with Managers of the Year 2015 Radka Prokopová and Miroslav Dvořák

From the left: Věra Jourová, European Commissioner and Radka Prokopová, CEO, Alca plast and Manager of the Year 2015

Managers of the Year 2015 Radka Prokopová and Miroslav Dvořák

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

73

M ANAGER

OF THE

Y EAR 2015

Audience at Žofín Palace

From left: Miloslav Roček, Head of the Department of Medical Imaging, Motol, Roman Prymula, winner of the"Manager of the Branch - Healthcare", and Tomáš Gottvald, General Manager, Hospital of Pardubice Region

Jan Preclík´s induction to the Hall of Fame. From left: Jan Wiesner, President, The Confederation of Employers' and Entrepreneurs' Associations of the Czech Republic, Pavel Kafka, President, CMA, Jan Preclík, and Jaroslav Hanák, President, The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic

Finalists – Jan Klas, General Manager, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL THE CZECH REPUBLIC and Jitka Hurábová, CEO, LD Seating

Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and on his left Jaroslav Hanák, President, The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic

74

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

The speech of Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

CONFERENCE

GENDER GAP

MANAGERIAL PERSPECTIVE:

DIVERSITY AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE RELATED TO THE SELF-REALISATION OF WOMEN

The issue of equal opportunity, as shown at the conference Gender Gap: Women – The Key Factor to Success, which was held in Prague on 21 April, is challenging the entire world, although not enough to change equality between men and women for the better. The Czech Republic, for example, is hardly a model when it comes to wages between men and women. On the contrary, there is a big gap out there and women are being paid less money than the opposite sex for the same work.

A meeting on this topic, attended by women from around the world, was organised by the Czech Management Association together with the Club of HR Professionals to begin to reflect on the importance of self-realisation and the role of women in society prior to the ceremonious announcement of the winner of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2015. Again, it pointed out in particular the link between the competitiveness of economy and the proportion of women in top positions in companies and organisations. Speaking at the event were respected international managers, both women and men, in effect people who have been involved with this problem for a long time.

Speakers of the conference Gender Gap - from left: Jan Brezna, President, Club of HR Specialists, Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Czech Republic, Petra Janíčková, Moderator, Ivo Gajdoš, Vice President, Czech Management Association, Annika Elias , President, Ledarna – Sweden Management Association, Jitka Pantůčková, Societe Generale Albania – Macedonia, Louise Nylin, Programme Advisor for Europe and Central Asia at UN Women, Tanja Vainio, CEO, ABB, and Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association

Pavel Kafka, president of the Czech Management Association, noted the untapped potential of Czech women. If the situation were to change, it would affect the prosperity of the society as a whole, but especially the economy.

Enlightened managers are trying to give space to women, something which is definitely worth it. An interesting example is the gender issue understood by production co-operatives – roughly half of them employ women in senior management positions. They understand that not in every Czech firm profit must be replaced by a shared value, which is the result of the managerial experience of women.

Jan Března, the head of the Club of HR Professionals and a top manager of Kooperativa Insurance Company said that 40 percent of the total number of employees in Kooperativa are women and it is worth it. Today, collaboration is also more about emotions and sustainable development. Gender principles are part of it.

Discussion at conference Gender Gap - from left: Jitka Pantůčková, Societe Generale Albania – Macedonia, Annika Elias, President, Ledarna – Sweden Management Association, Louise Nylin, Programme Advisor for Europe and Central Asia at UN Women, Věra Jourová, European Commissioner, Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Czech Republic, Tanja Vainio, CEO, ABB and Petra Janíčková, Moderator

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

75

CONFERENCE

GENDER GAP

Discussion at conference Gender Gap - from left: Annika Elias, President, Ledarna – Sweden Management Association, Louise Nylin, Programme Advisor for Europe and Central Asia at UN Women, Věra Jourová - European Commissioner, Balesh Sharma, CEO, Vodafone Czech Republic, Tanja Vainio, CEO, ABB and Petra Janíčková, Moderator

The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Michaela Marksová questioned why some cultures have more attractive experience in putting a gender policy into practice than the Czech Republic. She says that a more thorough involvement of the business sector is required to allow companies to learn by example. The ministry has used European funds to prepare a project to help women navigate the process of applying for employment. It is also necessary to talk more about equality between men and women.

The task of Věra Jourová, a European commissioner for justice, consumer protection and gender issues, is to fight discrimination, strengthen equality between men and women, and negotiate a directive on discrimination. “Effusive feminism cannot be of help,” she stressed. It bothers her, however, that when discussions about gender opportunities begin, they are not generally well perceived. And that should change. The European Commission has come up with a strategy for Europe, whose principles can be summarised as follows: increased employment of women, more money for women, more women in decision-making positions, and decreasing violence against women. “Europe should export its gender idea to the rest of the world despite the fact that we have our own problems,” she said. In addition, nobody benefits when the skills of 60% of female university graduates in Europe are effectively unused. Allowing this female potential to lay fallow means wasted investment and talent. It is closely connected to the economy of every country, and to prosperity and sustainability. Women must also start to be paid for their work the same as men, and in this respect the Czech Republic is the worst in Europe.

To make it possible for women to work with the right deployment, it is also necessary to pay more

76

attention to the balance between their personal and professional lives. The European Union is currently working hard to make that happen.

“We are looking for ways for women with young children to find better employment than before.

We don’t want to force the issue, rather offer choices so that women can manage both family and work. We are focused on the question of the role of the woman-mother in the company. This involves, for example, flexible working hours and the self-esteem of women. Most people in this country are convinced that only a man should be the breadwinner. The result then is the fact that retired women generally get less than men.

Gender, however, is not a qualification,” concluded Věra Jourová.

Lakshmi Puri is a Deputy Secretary General of the UN and representative of UN Women.

She has had more than 37 years of experience in promoting human rights and peace policies.

She is actively involved in issues concerning the economic development of countries and gender equality, the inclusion of the gender perspective in fields such as trade, migration and labour mobility, and is concerned about the pay gap between men and women. While she did not attend the conference, she expressed her views via video.

The UN sees gender topics as crucial for the employment of women and their relationship to economic growth in individual regions. She said: “If all countries implemented gender equality in their economies, the whole world would soon be a richer place. The UN is also striving to make that happen. We have formulated principles of sustainability on our soil for which we are now continuing to receive greater support. So far no one from the Czech Republic has joined in even though the opportunity is there. Our principles reflect specific solutions with the goal of making women and men equal, especially in employment

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

and work opportunities to avoid violating the law.” She likewise indicated that the movement for equal opportunity should be a movement of solidarity. The point is for individual countries to implement this shared vision so that it can be supported by the prime minister and president of the country.

A Program Advisor to UN Women for Europe and Central Asia, Louise Nylin has been working for many years on instituting gender equality and increasing the number of opportunities for women. She has also encountered the issue of equal opportunity and gender equality during the time she has held important positions in the United Nations. At the conference, she spoke on two thorny issues. What differences between men and women are responsible for the unequal distribution of opportunities and discrimination against women? And why is it so important for a society as a whole to give women so many opportunities? The basic solution should not be solutions that forcibly change social attitudes, stereotypes and entrenched patterns of thought from their positions of authority. Such intervention can only work partially. It is essential for each individual to be aware of the importance of the female element and its value.

Standing up for women and granting them equal rights is essential if we talk about successful companies. Louise Nylin said, “When it concerns economic factors, then we must realise that in many cultures it is the woman who significantly affects consumption, who makes everyday decisions for the family that can affect the prosperity of companies. Women and finance?

Long-term statistics show that women are much more responsible when it comes to fulfilling various obligations, such as loans. You cannot deny that their actions contribute to profits and a booming economy.”

CONFERENCE

Such a transformation, however, requires time and the gradual disintegration of barriers. It is also necessary to show women positive examples and let them gain confidence. Anika Elias, the current president of the Swedish Management Association and former president of the European Association of Managers CEC, however, emphasized: “Barriers to equality and diversity between the sexes in managerial positions will not alone resolve themselves. It is necessary to actively fight against them.” Equality is not just a question of fashion. On the contrary. Its importance can be seen in three areas where intervention is possible. Has it not been the combination of the words “to fulfill one’s potential” that has always pushed Europe forward as the birthplace of many innovations and the leader of the worldwide economy? Anika Elias said: “Allowing women and men to use their skills and talents means a major shift for companies in the field of competitiveness. If however we do not give opportunities to women, then Europe will bitterly feel the impact of its inaction in just a few decades. The shortage of excellent managers will be felt, and not only as the economic decline of the old continent.” The role of education and leadership aimed at promoting equality between women and men and bringing them to fulfillment in management positions is not light years away, but surely a progressive programme that opens up the eyes of companies and managers. Accor Hotels Group, Gekoplast, H & M are among the positive examples of those companies that value the potential of women and have the courage to entrust them with management positions, which, as practice shows, have great influence on the growth of these companies, their dramatic expansion and adaptability to rapidly changing markets. Anika Elias also presented several details that women can do for themselves: stand behind your success, be stubborn and persistent, look for

self-confidence, and realise that everybody has their fate in their own hands.

Outstanding managers among women in banking are Jitka Pantůčková, currently the chairwoman of the board of Société Générale Albania. Until 2010 she worked at Commerce Bank and was then appointed, as the first woman in the history of SG, the managing director of Société Générale in Macedonia. The problem of placing and properly evaluating women includes the fact that managers are appointed by men.

Nowadays, however, it is not only about pay equality, but also the age factor must be taken into account. A company typically sees a woman of fifty years old as spent, whereas a fifty-year-old man is a manager in his prime. And so the gender issue is about how people think, and diversity is a global concept affected by many factors. The way a company is managed changes; new technologies arrive on the scene. A personal and professional life is becoming more and more connected. If a woman wants to become a good member of management, she needs a good family background. And for the next generation of female managers, the upbringing of children in the family must be guided towards a certain level of equality. This often means a struggle of stereotypes inherent in us from generations back.

Diversity is a hot topic in the company ABB, at least according to Tanja Vainio, CEO of ABB in the Czech Republic. It is also attractive for her personally as the mother of two children. There are not too many women in engineering categories and they cannot fight their way into this field alone. To promote opportunities for them, the company sponsors a variety of activities, it has

GENDER GAP

a global mentoring programme for women, mini conferences for women are organised in several countries, and ABB sponsors female students.

“We think that diversity in the business sector is simply a good topic, and we like to pay attention to it,” she said.

Proof that gender issues are really being discussed on an international platform is confirmed by Balesh Sharma, CEO of Vodafone Czech Republic. And what has Vodafone done to improve the position of women in management? It is not afraid, for example, to give opportunities to women in the position of managing directors. There have been two such executives since the brand has been on the Czech market. “We try to hire women to help them in their careers,” he said up front. “Last year we started to cultivate women-mothers, we adopted new rules for parental leave, and we offer benefits to fathers as well as mothers. When possible, mothers can work from home, as we are technically equipped for it. It has been proven that if women can work from home, they can better concentrate and are not always thinking about what is going on at home. And you can see it in their productivity,” he explained further.

In Turkey, Vodafone offers women a mobile application for getting help quickly in the event of domestic violence.

The conclusion of the discussion was given by Pavel Kafka, president of CMA: “The gender gap is a highly enlightening theme that cannot change day-to-day managerial decisions, but it can gradually contribute to finding a solution, deliberately and with competence, for the benefit of women, the economy, and the future of mankind.”

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

77

An interview with

Pavel Kafka,

PRESIDENT, CZECH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

Ing. Pavel Kafka dr.h.c., has been President of the Czech Management Association since March 2011. He graduated from the University of Economics, majoring in foreign trade.

In 1994–2009 he was Managing Director of Siemens Czech Republic. In 2005 he became the absolute winner of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition.

This year he was also awarded the honorary degree, Doctor Honoris Causa, from the University of Economics in Prague for his important practical contribution to the development of management.

He currently works as President of the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD), Czech branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

CZECH MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION (CMA) is a voluntary association of independent executives – managers. It was founded in 1990 and its mission is to work on developing the professional skills of managers and their ability to lead working teams. It strives to contribute to improving business performance, competitiveness, ethics, management, culture of relationships and a responsible attitude of managers towards customers and the society.

Competition MANAGER OF THE YEAR was founded in 1993 and has become a traditional event to assess leaders in management in the Czech Republic. It showcases modern management methods, developments and trends. It also recognises great managers, presenting their achievements to the wide public and highlighting their role in the development of both Czech economy and society. It has been gradually extended to other areas, such as culture, sport and public administration. The finalists were announced on 12 April 2016 and the awarding ceremony was held on 21 April 2016.

78

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

AN On 22nd April you selected the best Manager of the Year. The basic criteria for the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition have been in place for a long time. However, have there been any improvements over the time, and have you brought some innovation to this year?

This year we’ve had no new terms. The main contribution is considered a contribution of a manager to the results of the companies or organisations managed by them. Of course, as the overall situation changes, our Evaluation Commission and the National Commission (we have a two-tier model assessment) judge certain aspects sensitively. Nowadays, I myself place increased emphasis on the issues of a sustainable development and stability.

Obviously, this area includes in particular the topics of innovation, equity and cooperative research, long-term environmental impacts, etc.

What added value goes to the winning the award?

I think the biggest advantage is feedback which each contestant of the competition receives.

But that is logical, since a basic skills of each manager must be the ability to navigate in an increasingly tougher competitive environment.

Therefore, every benchmark (comparison) is good. Undoubtedly, it is also beneficial to get into the society of the best, not only in terms of competition but also within the context of the “Club of Managers of the Year”.

Last year you revived a programme of conferences about the impact of female managers on the company. You’ve chosen the same topic for this year. Why? Yes, we decided to repeat the last year’s theme through a specialised conference which traditionally precedes the ceremonial announcement of the winners of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition. The reasons for selecting a gender topic were a few: firstly we evaluated the last year’s conference as successful, secondly the situation regarding the status of women in the workforce (different salaries for the same work) and their involvement in the management of the economy has not improved, and we also plan to present more experience from abroad. That’s why we invited the Deputy Secretary-General of the UN – Ms. Lakshmi Puri, who has this topic on his agenda; in addition, we invited the former President of the European Management Association Ms Annika Ellias and last but not least “our” EU Commissioner Mrs. Vera Jourová.

This year’s survey of yours among the finalists of MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition shows that they have a great deal of difficulty caused by administrative burdens and bureaucratic obstacles the number of which is still growing.

The answer is quite simple – the new additional burden that is not balanced by adequate

INTERVIEW WITH

P AVEL K AFKA

bureaucratic relief is a VAT issue and also short deadlines for resolving any potential discrepancies. More than half of the respondents agreed on this. Of course, there are other topics – construction law, unrelenting explosion of legislative news (for the last decade, the number of words in our legislation almost doubled?? !!).

As the other system problem, the respondents see weaknesses of the Building Act, slow computerisation of public administration, high costs connected with implementation of new legislation etc. Do you cooperate with other competition partners – the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and the Confederation of Employers‘ and Entrepreneurs‘ Associations of the Czech Republic – on tackling this problem? Do you negotiate with representatives of the state about the improvement of conditions for businesses? Do you already have any results?

With our partners – “The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic” and “The Confederation of Employers’ and Entrepreneurs’ Associations of the Czech Republic”, we seek to redress the unfavorable condition that is significantly negatively contribute to the international competitiveness of the Czech economy. Unfortunately, the results are not satisfactory. The main reason I see in a situation – there is a problem, but instead of assessment by the aims and purposes of law or regulation, things begins to juggle with individual words or phrases. Persistent effort to affect legislation in each situation only leads to complexity and confusion and can never have a chance for success.

The Czech economy grew strongly last year. How do Czech managers react to this? Did we produce, sell, provide more services? Or was it, particularly in industry, more about the game of numbers given by external factors?

The last year’s boom in the Czech Republic was supported by an increased demand from abroad – partly thanks to a decent local boom and also due to more attractive and improved competitiveness of our exports caused by the exchange rate commitment of the Czech National Bank. Another positive influence was increasing the internal aggregate demand, mainly thanks to European subsidies.

What are this year’s expectations of CEOs? Will they also increase their investment and hire new people?

Some of the influences above will positively affect 2016, but there will not be the same scope of last year’s European subsidies, and we can’t expect an unusually low price of oil. Due to these factors, I estimate a loss of 1–2% of GDP growth.

New technologies affect the fulfillment of people and their careers in the work process, form the deployment and utilisation of their potential. Do today’s Czech managers promote themselves more abroad than in the past, or in domestic companies, where it was common to only have foreign leadership?

For some time now, we say that our best managers – for example the finalists of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition - fully withstand comparison with managers in advanced countries. Therefore, more and more of them are successful abroad, especially the younger ones who have grown up in the new conditions of free movement, education and information.

I don’t think you can pick some common “national” specifics of our managers. It’s always an individual matter, although those with the success have skills such as flexibility and ability to adapt to work in other cultures – in other words, they have strong social skills.

By Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

79

D IPLOMATS

Irena Brichta WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

I have had the pleasure to know Irena Brichta for several years. We share two passions in common – making the world a better place in the realm of Rotary International as the largest service organization in the world with 1.2 million members and 35,000 clubs and supporting women and diversity.

If I am to characterize her by only one word I would choose energy.

She is remarkable for her eager approach and ambitious goals as well as reaching them. Just look at the unprecedented list of activities she is able to pursue besides her profession as a top executive search expert.

Irena is a Member of Board of Trustees (former Chairman) of Junior Achievement (Young Enterprise) Czech Republic; a Past Rotary District Governor for Czech Republic & Slovak Republic District, and Past President 80

and current member of Rotary Club Prague International, as well as a Rotary International Training Leader and now an RI President Special Representative.

Irena is a British/Czech national, her Czech parents came to the UK after communist coup d’état in 1948, her father was in the Czechoslovak Army during WWII based in England. She was born and educated in Britain, attending the University of Glasgow where she gained an MA Honors Degree in Czech & Archaeology, and subsequently an MBA at Strathclyde Business School after a British Council Scholarship year at Brno University.

She is bilingual in English and Czech; speaks intermediate French, German and Polish, with some Hungarian.

Since late 2005, Irena has been heading her own senior level recruitment firm, and has been helping clients with their senior level recruitment needs in the Czech Republic and across the CEE Region. A major focus has also been offering senior individuals and organizations, who seek to help and support their senior executives, transition management / outplacement programs – working with individuals to guide them as they find their next career move.

Prior to establishing her own business, she held the positions of Country Manager and Managing Partner for several international Executive Search companies. She has also experience from various sales and marketing positions on CEE Regional level at pharmaceutical industry.

How do you perceive today’s world?

Although my generation in Europe did not experience World War II, we did experience the Cold War whether we were behind the Iron Curtain, or living on the other free side, for me personally it was in the United Kingdom.

Until 1989 and the Fall of the Wall, this was the

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

world’s major concern along with the need to find enough oil to fuel our development.

However, today, as the tragic events in London, Paris and Brussels have proved, there is a grave criminal threat to our freedom and thousands of displaced persons flooding into Europe for a safer and better economic future. Is it a wonder parents across Europe are worried for the future of their children? Certainly it is a scarier world today than when compared to the one 20 or 30 years ago. We need to use our collective experience, work together with optimism and go forward positively, with confidence to create a better world – we can do it. Each of us can and needs to contribute to this better world.

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

This country in the heart of Europe has a role to play in the EU, making it a stronger more cohesive group of countries and maybe reminding other European countries of not being too liberal for the good of Europe. However, we also have to put our house more in order by focusing on ethics and integrity in every aspect of the Czech society. The Czechs were always at the heart of Europe. It is by no chance symbolic that this year we are celebrating 700 year anniversary of the birth of Charles IV, King of Bohemia and The Holy Roman Emperor who influenced and enhanced society across borders in all aspects of culture, education, politics and renaissance thinking. We should also be reminding ourselves of the great liberal and democratic legacy of President Thomas Garrigue Masaryk. We have great examples and traditions to follow.

You have been active in executive search for more than two decades. What are the main trends and changes that you have witnessed? In the sphere of executive search, can Czech managers compete with the rest of Europe? And for which qualities are Czech managers known and appreciated?

In the early 1990’s, it was more the search for former Czechs, or those with Czech or Slovak language ability, elsewhere in the world who could return and give of their expertise in management and organizational development to drive former state businesses into the modern world. Not everyone spoke the same language and cross cultural intermixing of ideas and experiences brought their own challenges.

Today, search for senior executives to fill senior roles means searching locally for those who are qualified and ‘fit the role and company culture’ as well as internationally for those Czechs who

D IPLOMATS are working in neighboring Slovakia or further afield. It is always a case if the person has the skills and experience, fits the company culture, and last but not least the question of his/ her motivation. Of course, today Czech managers compete with the rest of Europe in comparable sized organizations. There are still only a few who have reached the height of leading a European or world organization in their functional capacity: finance, general management, corporate affairs etc. Returning to their homeland usually means becoming a business consultant, coach, media figure or entrepreneur. Senior Czech managers have the same characteristics as other European senior managers – it depends where, in which position and organization they have gained their experience: each have certain strengths and skills which in the last 25 years have been further developed by exposure to and work in other countries in a variety of languages.

So today, Czech managers are sought after for their managerial capabilities just as are other countries’ managers.

You have been dedicated to the region of Central and Eastern Europe, can you highlight some interesting regional distinctions we should be aware of?

Each country of the CEE Region is different, marked by its own unique political, historical and social development through the centuries.

Interestingly enough, if you look at senior and middle management executives in Prague in international organizations, many of them are Slovaks. Is it a coincidence that they are more hungry for success, more ambitious, having more drive in many cases since they are coming from a smaller country and need to leave their mark?

WITHOUT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORT

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.

You are very active and involved in the Rotary International movement. However, „the club life“ might not seem interesting to fit younger generations lifestyle. Rotary International is still perceived as a mystery to many. What can Rotary International offer to prospective members? If someone is interested in joining, what do you suggest?

Come and see for yourself! Each Rotary club is different with different members – it is a group of people representing a variety of professions, who meet regularly, become friends, do good and have fun! The age group can be ranging from 30 to over 80 years of age! Young professionals appreciate exchanging ideas with ‘mentors’, those more experienced, and working together on community projects (local and international), however clubs need to be flexible when having younger members who juggle family, children and work commitments.

Sometimes the answer is to create an e-club where the members meet ‘face to face’ once a month, or just to understand that each age

group has its own limitations, but they can mix. Rotary offers local and international involvement to its members, who can visit any club in the world, meeting new friends, and new business contacts. Rotarians are focused on acting with integrity and have a high ethical standard, so they enjoy doing business with friends who have the same values.

Your current appointment by Rotary International President Ravi Ravindran mirrors not only the good reputation of Czech and Slovak Clubs (1 District of 70 clubs in both countries) but also the importance of women being engaged in Rotary. Women and leadership is one of the issues you also have been addressing. How do you see the latest development and what is your advice to women leaders?

Just go for it. Don’t let yourself be intimidated, or be despondent in the ‘man’s world’. Sure it is tougher for women to achieve their goals unless they have mentors within or outside their organizations. However, we need to have a strong voice in all aspects of society.

War is usually started by men with other men; women very rarely start wars. Women are focused on getting the job done and desirous of dialogue. My latest challenge is being made responsible, on behalf of the RI President, for the 27 Rotary Clubs (462 members) in Siberia and Far East Russia for the next 18 months.

It is a voluntary job (only expenses paid) to be juggled with professional and personal commitments. It is always the case that one asks a busy person to do another job, when you want something done!

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

In contrast to the current mood which might be quite pessimistic, I recommend to enjoy your life; work hard, play hard. Help to make the world a better place and change people’s lives.

Come and visit a Rotary Club near you (English speaking, German speaking, Czech or Slovak speaking) www.rotary.org.

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

81 P HOTO : A RCHIVE

R EPORTAGE

Czech & Slovak Leaders Magazine Goes WOW in London and Meets Annie Lennox workshops, but also by unique atmosphere as it bursts at the seams with more than 1000 people attending each day.

During six days of the festival, various range of issues and perspectives were covered. The contributions reached from lectures discussing women in the politics and economy, women and their careers in corporations, links between sustainable development and gender equality, male-led campaigns fighting for gender equality and last but not least the issue of toilets as a feminist issue.

Linda Štucbartová, a regular contributor of interviews with influential personalities to Czech and Slovak Leaders, attended WOW festival in London.

Women of the World festival started in London in 2010. Its founder, Jude Kelly mentioned that “we needed a place that could debate in a spirited, frank and inclusive way all the barriers and possible solutions to achieving an equal world, a place where we could celebrate all that girls and women have achieved“. The festival is now being present in 19 Commonwealth countries, nine more countries joining this year and the WOW festival aspires to reach 53 Commonwealth countries in the world by 2018 to become truly global forum and the largest feminist platform across the five continents to celebrate the incredible achievements of women and girls.

The festival is unique not only by its form as it combines talks, performances, exhibitions and

The keynote speakers included: the President of Malta – Marie Louise Coleire Preca, Director of Liberty – Shami Chakrabarti, the author of famous Vagina Monologues – Eve Ensler, the first female Secreatary General of the Commonwealth Baroness Patricia Scotland, the first woman who smashed a double glass ceiling – Inga Beale, the first woman to be appointed as chief executive of Lloyd’s of London in its 328-year history and so becoming the top in the LGBT power 100.

There was a special event to commemorate women who risk their lives to speak the truth – international women of courage who stand for human rights and justice in war and conflict zones around the world. The session called “Refusing To Be Silenced” presented Anna Politkovskaya’s Award to journalist and co-founder of underground newspaper Enab Baladi Kholoud Waleed from Syria. Other speakers included 2016 Nobel Prize nominee and the only Yazidi MP in Iraq’s Parliament Vian Dakhil and Mariana Katzarova, founder of RAW in WAR movement (Reach All Women in WAR).

The evening with Annie Lennox “triggered all sorts of feelings” and meant to inspire audience to contribute and make a difference.

Annie Lennox is known for decades as a music legend for record-breaking hits but also as a tireless campaigner for social causes, especially the awareness of HIV as it affects women and children in Africa. She spoke about “global sisterhood” and her responsibilities as a woman and a mother. The reason why particularly Annie Lennox cares about HIV is that when women are affected, children are affected as well. By now, with the current research and medicine, no child should be born with HIV and no mother should die due to HIV. Yet, sad and alarming fact is that HIV is still leading cause of death of women aged between 15 and 45 years!

Some facts behind why I care about diversity and gender equality (and in fact, we all should care…). t One in three women will experience a gender based violence during her lifetime. t The equal pay gap between a man and a woman on a same position is still more than 20%. Even in Finland, a country often mentioned as an example for gender equality, the difference still reaches 18.7%. t There are 757 million adults who cannot read or write a sentence and two out of three of these are women. t Only 22% of MPs worldwide are women. t Only 20% of women hold managerial positions. t 250 million women alive today were married before the age of 15. t According to World Equality Forum and the current rate of progress, gender parity will be reached in 2133.

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.

82

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

Sister Sledge – Jeans

Caitlin credit Mark Harrison

Women on the Move

Southbank Centre’s WOW Women of the World Festival supported by Bloomberg – Annie Lennox and Jude Kelly – Credit Belinda Lawley

Annie Lennox

Charlottechurch

83

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

C ZECH -L UXEMBOURGISH P HOTO : M ARIAN M AJIK

BALL

TS Starlet Brno – dancing group

10th edition of Czech-Luxembourgish ball took place under the auspices of the Czech Embassy to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in well known Luxembourgish Spa CASINO 2000 Mondorf –les-Bains on April 23 , 2016.

More than 400 participants enjoyed the Czech dancing music played by Fordance Orchestra and admired the performance of professional dancers. During the evening the specialities of the Czech and Luxembourgish cuisine were offered. The tombola winners obtained very interesting prix , e.g. two air-tickets to Prague, or weekend stay in Prague hotel for two persons.

David Odstrčil and Tara Bohak, Standard Danse

Filip Kočiš and Andrea Hrušková

David Odstrčil and Tara Bohak, Standard Danse

84

H.E. Petr Kubernát, Czech Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ms Vladka Perl, main organiser of the ball

DIPLOMATIC EVENT

Marek Dědík and Libuše Chytková

Mr Marek Pišný , Electric Boogie

Cymbalo band ŠMYKŇA

Filip Kočiš and Andrea Hrušková- Rock´n Roll show

Ms Marta Vacca Veselá-Chairwoman of the compatriotic association /ATSL/, Ms Katka Hanzelková-moderator

H.E. Petr Kubernát, Czech Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ms Vladka Perl and Mr Jaro Dockal , organisers of the ball

Moderators Mr Lubo Nenutil and Ms Katka Hanzelková and Mr Michael Oudes, Vodafone Director during the tombola

H.E. Petr Kubernát, Czech Ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ms Vladka Perl, main organiser of the ball and moderators

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

85

S ENIOR

MANAGEMENT

Protecting Your

t n e m t s e Inv

Increasingly the resignation period, represented by the two months that begin to countdown the first day of the month following resignation of an employee you’ve just committed to hiring, is a time for mischief that you are possibly not paying enough attention to. As a result, that neglect could nullify all of your efforts spent selecting and hiring a new employee, thus squandering the time it took and the money lost each day a key position remains vacant – especially if you have to go back and start all over again.

More than ever companies are striving to keep and retain good employees, rather than to simply roll over and witness them being stripped away. Perhaps your senior management feels the same and why not, good people might be difficult to retain, but they are even harder and more costly to replace. My point is, that some manner of the onboarding ritual of newly hired people should begin as soon as they accept your job and resign from their current company, rather than doing nothing and waiting until their first day at their new job. Otherwise, you might not be onboarding anyone and the fault will be more your own staff’s negligence than a company able to convince their employee not to leave them and to stay.

For example, I don’t wait until the end of the process, or after the job offer stage to discuss counter-offers with the candidates I recruit, I speak about it right from the beginning. I do a lot of

86

things before it is necessary; I enquire with them about their references before they are requested.

I talk with them about composing their resignation letters before they get a written offer. I do this as a preventive measure on behalf of my clients as well as to get a candidate to wrap their thinking around the seriousness of what they are doing. Changing jobs, for a good and valued employee is a big decision that bureaucrats or cynics take for granted; we spend more waking hours of the day with our co-workers than we do with our own family members.

For as long as I have been recruiting, during the very first meeting I conduct with any potential candidate telling me they want to look for a new job, I ask them, “Okay let’s say for instance, that we work together and you find a job, receive a job offer you like; when you resign, what happens if your company doesn’t want you to leave?

What happens when you resign and they say, “no, we don’t accept and we want you to stay.” What could they do to keep you and convince you to remain?”

The moment a job offer is accepted and signed, I coordinate with my clients, enlisting the help of both HR and management to remain engaged and proactive, maintaining coordinated and alternating contact with the new employee so that each week one of them, and I, communicate with the new hire being available if they encounter such overtures. I suggest the gaining com-

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016 2016 2016

P HOTO : A RCHIVE

pany use the next two month period to meet the new team members, take them to lunch and or meet them for coffee, get to know them because you’re going to anyway, when they arrive on their first day. Bring them into the fold and make them welcome as a member of the organization instead of leaving them essentially ignored, exposed to the forces of their current employer, who could be doing everything in their power to destroy what you were able to accomplish and prevent their departure.

Michael Mayher is an internationallyrecognized direct-search recruiter with 24 years of experience. Having worked closely with both job-seeking candidates and hiring managers, he possesses expertise and unique insight about every aspect of the hiring process, working at many different professional levels and market sectors. In the digital era, Michael is a “keeper of lost knowledge” regarding the details and finer points of the interview process.

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

BUSINESS EVENTS

April Events

by CZECH BUSINESS CLUB H OW R OMANA Š EDÁ ,

PRESIDENT OF

C ZECH B USINESS C LUB

PREPARED LUNCH FOR MEMBERS OF HER CLUB

Romana Šedá, President, Czech Business Club and Primož Skerjanec, Owner, Restaurant Foodadventure Nenasyta

Romana Šedá, President, Czech Business Club and Emil Fitoš, CEO, Atos IT Solutions and Services

From left: Jan Průcha, Insight Home, Libor Laichmann, Newton Management, Petr Šedý, Newton Management, and Evžen Varadinek, SWS

CBC L EADER - DISCUSSION WITH E MIL F ITOŠ , CEO, A TOS IT S OLUTIONS AND S ERVICES -D EGUSTATION OF C HAMPAGNE B LANC DES B LANCS

CBC L EADER DISCUSSION WITH

V LADIMÍR D LOUHÝ , P RESIDENT , C HAMBER OF C OMMERCE OF THE C ZECH R EPUBLIC

Vladimír Dlouhý,President,Chamber of Commerce of the Czech Republic and Romana Šedá, President, Czech Business Club

From left: Jaroslav Kunst, BOFIS, Matěj Lubor, iPublishing, Petr Šíma, NSG Morison advisory, Tomáš Rutrle, Komix, Petr Hotovec, Zenova Services, and Vladimír Vácha, Fest Tech

87

P ERSONAL

ENLIGHTENMENT

Life Is Beautiful Part II: A Gift For You1,2

James A. Cusumano, PhD “In your own bosom you bear your heaven and earth, And all you behold, though it appears without, It is within, in your imagination, Of which this world of mortality is but a shadow.”

William Blake

As we enter 2016, there are two critical movements in our world. The first is a disquieting transition towards greater unrest, insecurity and uncertainty. The second is less obvious but profound, and it is occurring more rapidly than most of us realize. An enormous number of people around the world are earnestly moving to raise their level of consciousness. They recognize that this is not only the best means to longterm personal fulfillment, but also the only path to a sustainable peaceful future for humanity.

In this context, I would like to share some thoughts for your consideration and meditation. They are a few ideas I have absorbed over the years from my teachers, and they have made a positive difference in my life. I hope they touch you as they have me.

Abundance We are born with everything we need for a life of fulfillment and success. But, all too often we measure our love, joy, health, wealth and other qualities by comparing ourselves to others. Perhaps thinking thoughts like, “I have a comfortable home, but not nearly as nice as my good friend John,” or “I have a loving husband, but not nearly as loving as Lucy’s second relationship

with her husband, or “I have a good job, but I don’t make as much money as my colleague,” or “I have a dependable Volkswagen, but my neighbor has a much nicer Mercedes.”

These comparisons are known as “object referral,” namely looking outside you for value and validation. “People will like me and respect me much more if I have a Mercedes instead of this Volkswagen.” The fundamental point that external comparisons miss is that a life of fulfillment always comes from within, knowing that you came into this world with everything you could possibly need to be happy and successful; and you can access these seeds of abundance whenever you so choose.

Even when things seem to be going wrong, there can be comfort in learning from your situation and recognizing that you possess the power to focus your energies on new possibilities, and the possibilities for abundance are endless. There are no limits to what you can have. Take time to think deeply about each situation that challenges you and find those seeds of potential success that will attract greater abundance into your life.

You and you alone, create your personal abundance from an infinite eternal source – Cosmic Consciousness. The core of your being, your spirit, is the ultimate reality, not what you perceive with your five senses. It is the root and ground of the universe, the source of all that exists. So why not internalize the following affirmation, “From this moment on, I invite unlimited abundance into my life.”

Much of your belief system has been shaped throughout your life by the thoughts and preferences of others. It is locked in your subconscious, connected to your ego, and it often runs your life. Is your belief system providing what you really want in life? If not, why not decide what you truly believe. To do this you must dig down deep into your core, your spirit, your soul.

Everything you desire is within you.

It easiest to find your core when you are living your Life Purpose, which is based on your strengths, something you do well and love to

do, something that makes this world a little bit better place. In doing so, financial abundance will likely follow; but, more important, you will find satisfaction, confidence, optimism and joy; you will experience abundance in all its forms.

You will have manifested your dreams to live a great life. If you are not in alignment with your Life Purpose, ask yourself, “What do I love to do and do so well?”“How can I use this to serve the world?”

The Universe – Mine, Matter and Spirit Your Mind is divided into three parts, your Subconscious, your Ego and your Conscious Mind (Figure 1). The latter is the reasoning force that tells you what you can or cannot be, do, or have. Matter is the five-sense experienced physical world around you that shows you the results of what you hold in your mind. Everything that happens to you, whether you label it “good” or “bad,” is brought to you by your mind.

Spirit is your deepest domain, the place of your interconnectedness with the infinite mind of the universe – Cosmic Consciousness. It is your absolute entrée into the field of pure potentiality.

Accessing the spiritual realm through the daily practice of meditation opens the way to manifesting your deepest desires. By changing your thoughts, beliefs, expectations, and intentions and connecting with stillness, you allow the unbounded, unlimited abundance of the universe to flow easily and effortlessly into your life. Why not focus on what you want to attract into your life? It is not difficult to do, unless you think it is so.

Consciousness The nonphysical part of your being, your spirit, is buried deep within your core. You are like an onion with many layers that must be peeled back to reach your inner light, which is Personal Consciousness (Figure 2). And once you do, nothing is impossible as your Personal Consciousness is connected to all others through Collective Consciousness and to Cosmic Con-

1) EDITOR’S COMMENT – The book is available from all Amazon websites. This is the first article in a new series based on the author’s new book, “Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules,” published by Waterfront Press, Cardiff, California. 2) The author may be reached at Jim@ChateauMcely.Com.

88

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS II/2016

P ERSONAL

Figure 1: The mind is divided into three parts: the subconscious, the ego and the conscious mind. The subconscious is by far the most important. It is who you are. It can be reprogrammed through meditation.

sciousness, as well. To access your inner light you must release your world of thoughts, feelings, perceptions and beliefs. The best way to do this is through daily meditation. It is a power beyond powers.

As you quiet your mind in meditation you will eventually squeeze out all interfering thoughts, even if it is for just moments at a time. In these “gaps” of nothingness you will begin to glimpse the deepest level of your spirit or soul. Your consciousness will expand and transcend the three-dimensional world, at first perhaps just for a few moments. And in this brief state, you will be amazed at the creative sparks that emanate from the universe into your mind. You will find ideas and solutions to challenges you never thought possible in your normal waking state.

That is the power of the gap.

Meditation You can obtain the details for a simple procedure for meditation elsewhere (Figure 3).1 However, allow me to share with you an exercise you can practice immediately for a taste of the power of meditation.

Sit quietly alone in a room with reduced lighting and filled with a modest volume of your favorite non-lyrical inspirational music. Assuming you are not a frequent yoga practitioner, sit with your back erect on a straight-back chair, feet flat on the floor, arms comfortably on your lap with your palms facing upward.

Figure 2: Every physical, emotional and spiritual action in your body is controlled by your Personal Consciousness. It is connected with all others through Collective Consciousness and with the “mind” of the Universe, i.e., Collective Consciousness.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Close your eyes and breathe normally for a couple of minutes and listen to the beauty of the music. Then, slowly begin to take in deep breaths, sequentially extending first your upper chest, working your way down to your diaphragm and stomach. Hold your breath for five seconds and then slowly exhale. Do this five to ten times and then return to normal breathing.

You will experience a quieter mind.

Now think to yourself, “Who is really listening to this music?” You will likely feel a still presence and several moments of the absence of thought.

You are in the gap and that still presence that you feel is your spirit, your soul, or whatever you wish to call it. Deepak Chopra calls this a state of Choiceless Awareness. Should you remain in this state through the power of meditation, you can manifest essentially anything you desire into your life. The only constraint is that it not bring any physical, emotional or spiritual harm to others. The possibilities to fulfill your dreams are endless.

Field of Possibilities The unlimited power of Cosmic Consciousness is always available to you. Making choices through the power of this unified field can bring a more fulfilled life for you and for those around you, and also help create a better world. Besides being intimately in touch with this force and the practice of meditation, it is also helpful to cultivate waking stillness by spending some quiet time in nature to notice and absorb the beauty that surrounds you. Listen to inspirational music and uplifting stories and cultivate relationships with optimistic people. In doing so, embrace your potential to be, do and have whatever you can dream.

It’s All About Love Nearly all of the greatest thinkers throughout history eventually came to the same fundamental conclusion in one form or another – Love is the most powerful force in the universe. In its deepest state it can literally move mountains.

And love is your absolute birthright. It is the essential, in fact, the necessary and sufficient condition for a fulfilled life. In the words of the metaphysicist, Neville Goddard, “Don’t go seeking that for which you are. Those who go seeking for love, only manifest their own lovelessness and the loveless never finds love. Only the loving find love and they never have to seek for it.” So, as suggested by folk rocker Stephen Stills, “Love The One You’re With!” And that One includes you, as well! It’s the means to all your dreams.

I wish you a happy, healthy and wonder-filled 2016!

Sat, Chit, Ananda!

Enjoy your journey, make a difference!

Figure 3: Anyone can learn to meditate. It is the most powerful and simplest means to reach your inner light, reprogram your subconscious and create the life of abundance you seek.

About the Author James A. Cusumano (www.JamesCusumano.Com) is Chairman and Owner of Chateau Mcely (www.

ChateauMcely.Com), chosen in 2007 by the European Union as the only “Green” 5-star luxury hotel in Central and Eastern Europe and in 2008 by the World Travel Awards as The World’s Leading Green Hotel. It is home to Chateau Mcely Forum™ (www.ChateauMcelyForum.Com) which offers programs that teach the principles of Inspired Leadership.

He is a former Research Director for Exxon, and subsequently founded two public companies in Silicon Valley, one in clean power generation, the other in pharmaceuticals manufacture via environmentally-benign, low-cost, catalytic technologies.

While he was Chairman and CEO, the latter – Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – grew in less than 5 years, to a $1 billion enterprise with 2,000 employees. He is coauthor of Freedom from Mid-East Oil (2007), and the author of Cosmic Consciousness – A Journey to Well-being, Happiness and Success (2011), BALANCE: The Business – Life Connection (2013) and Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules (2016).

1) James A. Cusumano, Life Is Beautiful: 12 Universal Rules, Waterfront Press, as an e-book or hard copy at Amazon.

Com, January 2016.

ČSÚZ

A moment of contemplation (from left): ex-minister Ing. Miroslav Toman, abbot Michael Joseph Pojezdný and the chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota.

I N COOPERATION WITH C ZECH & S LOVAK L EADERS

MEETING OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK FOREIGN INSTITUTE MEMBERS AND FRIENDS AT STRAHOV Meeting of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute in the Strahov Monastery has already become a nice tradition. This year, Felix Slováček, a member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, enriched it by his art when playing the song Ave Maria prior the New Year’s speech by the abbot Michael Joseph Pojezdný.

“This is a joyous occasion, when people meet, talk together and wish everything good in the next year,” the abbot said. Then he pronounced his carol wishes of “happiness, health, holy peace” and he added that

The Strahov library was admired by (from left) Mei Peterková, foreign member of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, Ing. Zdeněk Procházka, Sunny Yang and Božena Zychová.

90

everybody can have influence on something of it. “In particular, we can maintain and strengthen our health, which is essential for us, if we live healthy,” he said. “We can even contribute to the environment around us by our lives,” he continued and in that connection, he recalled that “it is very important to be wise, well-reasoned and able to make our own opinion about everything.” He concluded by a wish “Live nicely in the next year!”

The chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota then recalled that the Institute had a variety of personalities among its members during 86 years of its existence who contributed in different historical periods to the fact that the Institute could continue to exist and fulfil its mission. For all of them, he named ex-ministers Ing. Miroslav Toman and Ing. Eduard Janota, whose work the president of the republic appreciated by the high state awards last year, and he thanked the current vice-chairman, Senator Ivo Valenta, who contributes significantly to the functioning of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute today. In conclusion, he asked participants to preserve the all-round tolerability, which the Institute has in the statutes.

CZECH&SLOVAK LEADERS I/2016

The guests then had the opportunity to walk through the historical halls of the Strahov library accompanied by the director Evermod Gejza Šidlovský. In the Theological Hall, the director of the library said, that its name was given later, because initially there were books from all disciplines, as evidenced from the original inscriptions on the shelves. Now there are really 22 thousand volumes of theological literature in the hall. Visitors were interested in the small barred niche above the entrance door with the inscription Libri prohibiti. “The space is too small for the number of books, which have been prohibited at various times, so it actually never worked,” Gejza Šidlovský explained and he recalled that the Strahov library was open to the public very soon after its inception and that it was the first public library in the Czech Kingdom. Then he explained the history of the Philosophical Hall. When the first hall was no longer good enough, the collection has to be split into the other space of the monastery, and therefore a new building was built in the neighbourhood. But there was not money enough for the internal fittings. The city’s craftsmen were too expensive. Fortunately, the monastery managed to obtain the fur-

ČSÚZ

Meeting of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute members and friends at Strahov

niture from a defunct monastery in Louka near Znojmo cheaply. But because the shelves did not fit to the new building, it was turn down, and the hall was built again, already in the necessary dimensions. De-

From left: Sunny Yang, Jaromír Šlápota, abbot Michael Joseph Pojezdný, Ing. Zdeněk Procházka and Mei Peterková.

New Year’s meeting of the members and friends of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute in the Strahov Monastery was enriched by musical performance of Felix Slováček, the Institute’s member. Ave Maria was followed with pleasure by (from left) Ing. Ivan Resigned, Ing. Rudolf Hložek, abbot of Strahov Monastery Michael Joseph Pojezdný, chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota and vice-chairman and Senator Ivo Valenta.

molition, new construction, purchase and transportation of equipment from Louka and its installation were still cheaper than the amount which Prague’s craftsmen asked for making the shelves.

After the tour, the guests again gathered in the refectory of the monastery, where they could admire the murals and paintings, taste good Moravian wine and enjoy pleasant chat.

Hebr

Meeting of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute members and friends at Strahov

91

EU

MATTERS INTERVIEW

AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDRUS ANSIP, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Single Market

© E UROPEAN U NION 2016

We want a win-win situation for consumers and businesses

In May 2015, the European opean Commission proposed an ambitious us Digital Single Market Strategy. How do you evaluate Commission´s work on the he e proposals within the Strategy so far?

We have made good progress. ogress. In December 2015, we presented the fifirst two proposals l under the Digital Single Market strategy – the first, on aligning consumer digital contract rules around the EU; the second, on ensuring the portability of legally acquired content when Europeans travel across borders. Guaranteeing cross-border portability is especially important given the forthcoming end of roaming surcharges: from mid-June 2017, you will pay the same price to use a mobile phone while travelling in the EU as you do at home. In 2015, we also reached important agreements with the European Parliament and Member States in several areas that are vital for building the Digital Single Market. We agreed on the end of roaming charges from mid-June 2017, on new net neutrality rules, on the first EU-wide cybesecurity legislation and on stronger EU data protection rules. This latest breakthrough was a great end to 2015: a common set of data protection rules will improve clarity, provide legal certainty for everyone and benefit businesses and SMEs operating across borders.

92

In 2016, there will be more initiatives to build on the various successes of 2015.

You are planning to propose new rules to stop e-commerce businesses from blocking customers to access their websites. Does it mean that you will force small and medium sized companies to sell in all 28 EU countries and deal with 28 different rules?

We want a win-win situation for consumers and businesses. We will certainly not require businesses to deliver throughout the whole EU or regulate prices across the EU. However, consumers need transparency and better opportunities to go for the best possible deal available in the Single Market. They should not be prevented from accessing more attractive offers available in countries other than the one where they reside. A public consultation on geo-blocking shows that a majority of

respondents from both the consumer and company perspectives agree that consumers should be able to purchase and access services from everywhere in the EU. In which way do you plan to regulate online platforms?

The Commission is to unveil a communication on the role of online platforms. These new business models respond to the needs of customers. New national rules are appearing.

We need to assess if any EU action is necessary on the basis of a clear analysis: we have already made good progress in this respect by conducting a consultation and studies to further explore and define the problems and identify potential regulatory responses. In this consultation, the emergence of platforms is generally seen in a positive light. There are concerns, however, over the growing

EU market power of some platforms in relation to consumers and suppliers. Most respondents felt platforms should be more transparent, notably on the collection, use and presentation of data; they also saw the need for fighting unfair practices.

What will the new rules of Cyber security require from the businesses?

These new rules will require operators of essential services in the energy, transport, banking and healthcare sectors, as well as providers of key digital services like search engines and cloud computing, to take appropriate security measures and report incidents to the national authorities. Security incidents having a major impact on the provision of services provided by the companies will have to be reported to the competent national authority. For example, an electricity outage caused by a cyber-attack or the unavailability of a cloud service provider that would prevent users from getting access to their content could be subject to such reporting obligations.

The Commission has agreed with US partners on the new framework for transatlantic data flows, called the EU-US Privacy Shield. What kind of rules will the companies have to comply with?

With this new framework, our businesses, especially the smallest ones, have the legal certainty they need to develop their activities across the Atlantic. The new arrangement includes obligations for companies handling Europeans’ personal data: U.S. companies wishing to import personal data from Europe will need to commit to robust obligations on how personal data is processed and individual rights are guaranteed. It also includes effective protection of EU citizens’ rights with several redress possibilities: complaints have to be resolved by companies within 45 days. A free of charge Alternative Dispute Resolution solution will be available. EU citizens can also go to their national Data Protection Authorities, who will work with the Federal Trade Commission to ensure that unresolved complaints by EU citizens are investigated and resolved.

to reduce roaming charges, domestic mobile prices have been decreasing as well.

According to the European Commission, the Czech Republic is developing slowly in digital agenda. What would you recommend us to improve?

In our last Digital Economy & Society Index Digital (DESI 2016), the Czech Republic ranks 17th out of the 28 EU Member States. Overall, Czech citizens have a good level of digital skills: 77% of them go online regularly. Czech SMEs are amongst the EU top when it comes to selling online: 23% of them sell online while the EU average is only 16%. E-Commerce represents 17% of the turnover of Czech SMEs, the second highest score in the EU, after Ireland. 12% sell online across borders. However, the Czech Republic is below average in digital public services, which is its main challenge to progress further in the digital economy. Our DSM strategy will help the Czech Republic – and the EU as a whole – to do better.

When you were a Prime Minister of Estonia, your government was a paperless one. How can other governments follow the e-cabinet approach?

The Estonian government stopped using paper for its cabinet meetings back in 2000.

It’s so more efficient; it saves a lot of time, money and resources. We are working on a new e-government action plan for the next five years, aimed at modernising public administrations in the EU. We will launch a pilot project to encourage them to apply the “onceonly” principle with businesses across borders.

This means that businesses will not need to give away their information more than once to

MATTERS INTERVIEW

the public authorities. It will help save time and money and will force public services to be better connected to each other. We will also accelerate EU countries’ transition to full e-procurement and interoperable e-signatures and we will make interconnections between business registers a reality by 2017. It is estimated the use of e-procurement in Europe would save over €50 billion a year.

What are your priorities for this year?

My priority is to deliver on our DSM strategy.

We need to build on what has been achieved so far and present the rest of the proposals by the end of the year. First, we will have a package of measures for industry – including on cloud and an ICT standards plan – in early April. Then, an e-commerce package including a legislative proposal to tackle unjustified geo-blocking.

I firmly believe that people and businesses should not be restrained by barriers when they shop or sell online. There will be a string of other important proposals in 2016 in key DSM work areas: more on reforming Europe’s telecoms laws, on cyber security and to promote the free flow of data, just to mention a few; more to come this year on copyright as well, as we set out in the strategy paper in December 2015. I count on the support of the European Parliament and Member States to make this happen. I expect them to work quickly with us so that Europe can really benefit from digital opportunities.

Thank you for the interview!

Alena Mastantuono Director of CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

Extra-charges for roaming in the EU are expected to end by mid-2017. What are you doing to help the operators get ready for this change?

Many operators realise that roaming charges are not sustainable in the long-term. Because of roaming charges, people are afraid of using their mobile devices abroad. This can’t work: you cannot tell people “don’t use my services while in another EU country”. But we recognise that the end of roaming charges is an important change. For those fearing a negative impact on domestic prices, I would like to remind that since EU regulations have been introduced

© E UROPEAN U NION 2016

EU

DEBATE

CEBRE Founders Met Czech MEPs Participants of the meeting

From left: Stanislav Kázecký, Vice-President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, Vladimír Dlouhý, President, Czech Chamber of Commerce, Jan Wiesner, President, Confederation of Employers’ and Entrepreneurs’ Associations of the Czech Republic, and Alena Mastantuono, Director, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

Social dumping in transport, Single Market Strategy for Goods and Services, development of the Digital Single Market, but also refugee crisis, market economy status of China and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership TTIP – these were the main topics highlighted by founders of CEBRE-Czech Business Representation to the EU at a regular meeting with Czech members of the European Parliament.

ANTI TAX AVOIDANCE EFFORTS HAVE TO BE GLOBAL The European Commission proposed its Anti Tax Avoidance Package on the 28th of January 2016.

It’s primarily focused on preventing aggressive tax planning, boosting tax transparency and creating level playing field for all businesses in the EU. Concrete measures of the package were discussed by the representatives of EU institutions, business sector and non-governmental

From left: Milena Hrdinková, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, Jiří Nekovář, Chairman, Tax and Insurance Expert Team, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, Luděk Niedermayer, Member of the European Parliament, and David Ondráčka, Director, Transparency International Czech Republic

94

From left: Jiří Nekovář, Chairman, Tax and Insurance Expert Team, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic and Luděk Niedermayer, Member of the European Parliament

Circular Economy – Opportunity for Society

Silvija Aile, Department of Waste Management and Recycling, DG Environment, European Commission

From left: Zdeněk Horsák, Board Member, EMPRESS, o.p.s., Jan Mraček, Board Member and Chairman, Environmental Department, Czech Chamber of Commerce, Pavlína Kulhánková, Director, Ecology Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, Pavel Telička, Member of the European Parliament, Silvija Aile, Department of Waste Management and Recycling, DG Environment, European Commission, and Tomáš Hartman, Deputy Director, CEBRE-Czech Business Representation to the EU

Pavel Telička, Member of the European Parliament

EU

DEBATE

Participant of the debate

The European Commission proposed new vision of the transition to the circular economy by 2020 in its December package. Commission´s Action Plan, goals of the Circular Economy Package and its impact on Czech economy were discussed by representatives of EU institutions, business sector and nongovernmental organizations on 9th February 2016 in the European House in Prague. All speakers agreed that transition to circular economy is an opportunity for overall transformation of the economy. However, it will be a long-term development that will take effect in the next generations.

From left: Zdeněk Horsák, Board Member, EMPRESS, o.p.s., Jan Mraček, Board Member and Chairman, Environmental Department, Czech Chamber of Commerce, and Pavlína Kulhánková, Director, Ecology Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic

Participants of the debate

organizations on 31st of March 2016 in the European House in Prague. All speakers agreed that it will not be easy to achieve consensus among all 28 EU member states in this area. Furthermore, it will be important to apply measures of the package globally.

From left: David Ondráčka, Director, Transparency International Czech Republic, Dieter Kischel, Directorate General for Taxation and Customs Union, European Commission, and Ladislav Minčič, Director, Department of Legislation, Law and Analysis, Czech Chamber of Commerce

From left: Milena Hrdinková, Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic, and Jiří Nekovář, Chairman, Tax and Insurance Expert Team, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic

95

EU

MATTERS BUSINESS

DID YOU KNOW THAT? European Commission launched new platform for alternative dispute resolution between consumers and online traders On 9th January, the European Commission launched new online dispute resolution (ODR) platform to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies. New platform will allow consumers and traders to settle their online disputes, both for domestic and crossborder purchases, without going through lengthy and costly court proceedings. When consumers and traders file a claim, the dispute resolution bodies will act as a referee between the two parties to resolve the issue. It is another important step towards the digital single market. The online platform is officially accessible from 15th February.

New measures against corporate tax avoidance proposed The European Commission proposed new rules for fair, efficient and growth-friendly taxation in the EU with new proposals to tackle corporate tax avoidance.

The Anti Tax Avoidance Package, reflecting the current global political and economic approach to corporate taxation contains concrete measures to prevent aggressive tax planning, boost tax transparency and create a level playing field for all businesses in the EU. Key features of new package include legally-binding measures to block the most common methods used by companies to avoid paying tax, a proposal for Member States to share tax-related information and actions to promote good tax governance internationally.

European Commission presented sustainable energy security package Energy security dimension is one of the cornerstones of the Energy Union strategy, a key political priority of the Juncker Commission. On 16th February, the European Commission presented its energy security package to equip the EU for global energy transition and to address possible energy supply interruptions.

The package sets out a wide range of measures, such as moderating energy demand, increasing energy production in Europe (including the renewable energy), further developing a well-functioning and fully integrated internal energy market, as well as diversification of energy sources, suppliers and routes.

The Energy security package follows new global and universal agreement on climate change, adopted by world leaders on 12th December 2015 in Paris.

EU supports steel industry On 16th of March, the European Commission published its communication called “Steel: Preserving sustainable jobs and growth in Europe”, that presents several measures to help European Steel industry overcome current difficulties it has to face caused by global overcapacity and unfair trade practices by certain countries. For example, the Commission suggests investing in future solutions and technologies, education and skills and also new policies in areas of competition, energy or emissions trading.

Member states agreed to exchange multinational companies’ financial information Economic and Financial Affairs ministers of EU member states agreed on automatic exchange of information on country-by-country reporting. These rules are part of the EU’s aim to increase transparency in tax-related matters and will apply to multinational companies that operate cross-border in the EU. The

96

exchange should help relevant authorities to better identify companies that are trying to escape paying taxes in country where their profits are made.

LET´S TALK NUMBERS! In the third quarter of 2015, the overall EU employment rate has reached its highest peak since 2008 According to the 2015 winter edition of the Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review the overall EU employment rate has reached its highest peak since 2008 in the third quarter of 2015, although the progress is unevenly distributed among Member States. The employment and activity rates have continued to increase in the EU, across all population groups and most notably for older workers (55–59 years). The Quarterly Review also confirms that the employment was up in all broad sectors except for agriculture and construction, mainly driven by the service sectors.

Gender pay gap at 16% in 2015 According to Eurostat survey, the gender pay gap in the EU, meaning the difference in salaries between men and women, stood at 16.1% in 2014. There were big differences between member states, as for example the pay gap was only 5% in Slovenia and Malta, while Estonia, Austria or the Czech Republic recorded a gap of more than 20%.

Fully operational Single Market could add up to 1 trillion EUR to EU GDP According to EuroCommerce, the European retail and wholesale federation, there is a vast potential for economic growth if the EU eliminates fragmentation and barriers for creation of fully operational single market and digital single market. According to European Parliament estimate from 2015, a true single market would add 615 billion EUR a year to EU GDP, with additional 415 billion EUR from the digital single market. EuroCommerce therefore urges EU policymakers to make single market a reality.

EU and euro zone GDP up in Q4 2015 In the last quarter of 2015, EU GDP grew by 0.4% compared with the previous quarter. In the euro zone, the growth was 0.3%. In yearly comparison, the EU GDP grew by 1.9% in last quarter of 2014, while the euro zone GDP by 1.6%. The highest quarter-toquarter increase in GDP was registered in Sweden (+1.3%), Estonia (+1.2%), Poland and Romania (+1.1%), while the decrease was seen in Croatia (-0.5%) and Latvia (-0.3%).

Growth of industrial production in January 2016 Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the EU, published results of its survey focused on industrial production in the EU and euro zone in January 2016. According to Eurostat, the industrial production rose by 2.1% in euro zone and by 1.7% in the EU compared with previous month. In comparison with January 2015, the production increased by 2.8% in the euro zone and by 2.5% in the EU. IN THE WORLD! EU and China agreed on the scope of future bilateral investment agreement EU and China leaders agreed on an ambitious and comprehensive scope of the future EU-China investment agreement. New deal aims to improve market access opportunities for their investors by guaranteeing equal conditions for everyone. Both

parties also want to address key challenges of the regulatory environment related to transparency, licensing, authorisation procedures, and to provide high level of protection for investors and their investments. The negotiators are moving now into the phase of text-based negotiations that will continue throughout the year.

EU and Brazil to develop 5G mobile technology According to the available data, by the year 2020 there will be 26 billion connected devices and 70 percent of people will own a smart phone. The 5G will become backbone of the EU Digital Single Market, industry, modern public services and innovative applications.

To face this global challenge, the EU signed an agreement with Brazil to strengthen cooperation in this strategic area. They have committed to develop a global definition of 5G and to identify the services, which should be the first delivered by 5G networks.

The EU and Brazil, close trading partners, have been cooperating on information and communication technologies since 2008. Similar cooperation agreements are also being discussed with India and the United States.

EU – U.S. Privacy Shield presented by the European Commission At the end of February 2016, the European Commission published a legal text of a new agreement between the EU and the United States on transatlantic data flows. A new framework called EU-US Privacy Shield replaces the existing agreement, Safe Harbour, which was declared invalid since October 2015 by the decision of the European Court of Justice. Along with the published text, the Commission presented an adequacy decision. The new Privacy Shield reflects requirements set by the European Court of Justice.

The US authorities committed to enforcement of new rules and emphasized thorough enforcement of the personal data protection.

Commission agreed on new approach to protection of investments with Canada The European Commission and Canada already agreed in 2014 on the Free Trade Agreement know as CETA. This agreement allowed reformed investment dispute resolution system, focused especially on full transparency of governance and clearly defined standards for the protection of investments. However, the new treaty moves this collaboration even further. It contains all the main elements of the new EU approach to investments and represents a clear commitment of the EU and Canada to replace the current ISDS system with a new mechanism for dispute resolution and move towards a stable multilateral investment protection system. In addition to improving the conditions for investment, CETA will offer EU companies better business opportunities in Canada. The Agreement will, for example, eliminate 99% of tariffs, remove administrative barriers and open the market of services.

EU to help Cuba with economic development During his March visit to Cuba, European commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica announced that EU will provide Cuba 10 million EUR funding for its development. 7.7 million EUR will be used on modernization of Cuban economy, while the rest of the aid will be used for studies on agriculture, climate change, sustainable development and modernisation of the society.

Brought by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

THE PLACE WHERE LEADERS ARE SEEN MÍSTO KDE JSOU LÍDŘI VIDĚT

www.czechleaders.com INTERVIEWS | EVENTS | PR | EU MATTERS

Pamatujete si prvních 1000 dnů svého života?

Pocit bezpečí, výživnou stravu, koupele v čisté vodě, návštěvy lékaře? Nejspíš ne.

Právě díky těmto zdánlivým samozřejmostem ale nyní čtete tyto řádky.

Jenom během dnešního dne zemře 16 000 nejmenších dětí zbytečně na podvýživu a běžné nemoci.

Dejte dětem z nejchudších zemí světa šanci přežít – staňte se Přítelem dětí UNICEF ještě dnes!

Váš pravidelný příspěvek 365 Kč měsíčně zajistí za rok terapeutickou výživu pro vyléčení 3 podvyživených dětí.

Registrace na www.prvni3roky.cz