Prague Leaders Magazine Issue 04/2014

Leaders Magazine IV/2014

now available in Brussels

Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, Czech Railways

Photo: Archive

CZECH RAILWAYS KEEPS GETTING STRONGER October / 2014 / 199 CZK

www.leadersmagazine.cz incl. electronic version

Brno I Ostrava I Plzeň I Liberec I Olomouc I Ústí nad Labem I Hradec Králové I České Budějovice I Pardubice I Zlín I Jihlava I Turnov I Karlovy Vary I Mladá Boleslav

David Štěpán – DOMOV

Zbyněk Passer – Hnutí PRO Prahu

Jan Kasl – 65 demokratů Jana Kasla

Marek Černoch – Úsvit přímé demokracii

Pavel Telička (ANO), former EU Jiří Vítekcommissioner – Patrioti

Leaders in Prague (upcoming elections October, 2014)

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publisher’s note & contents

Dear Readers, After a great summer, in my opinion, we are now basking in the beautiful colors of autumn and I believe that quite many or our readers have been in the forests trying to get as many mushrooms as possible. I don’t know any country and its people who are so happy about mushrooms picking. I believe it is a great tradition and a great opportunity to get away from every days worries and hardship to find the tranquility in the nature, not to mention using the mushrooms for culinaric and exquisites’ dishes during the long winter.

Despite, as usual, low activity during the latter part of summer we have managed to cover quite many interesting events, interviews, contributions etc. etc. to show you in this issue of Leaders Magazine.

To mention some; Presidential Visit to France, from the Senate we have Writers Festival incl. Honorary Guests from Morocco, the traditional, Senate Medals reception and also all Czech Ambassadors reception, Round Table event with Comenius, SAP event, Innotrans conference in Berlin, Day of Railways and Czech Railway celebrations of 175 years, Sommerfest by the German-Czech Chamber, Czech Master PGA at Albatross, ICC Conference about Latin America, 5th President’s CFO Golf tournament at Golf Park Dýšina, Indonesian National Day, Morocco National Day, Miro Gallery vernisage, the company Shobokshi Investment donation to FN Motol.

We are proud to have many interesting interviews such as Mr. Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the Chairman of Czech Railways Mr. Daniel Kurucz, featured as well on our front page, Mr. Jan Hamáček, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Milan Chovanec, Minister of Interior, H.E. Souryia Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco, Mr. Michal Zahrádka, Managing Director of Schunk group in CR, the well renowned Chef and Owner of Kogo group of restaurants Mr. Jovo Savič, Mr. Jim Chang, former Head of Foxcon Europe, Diplomats without diplomatic passport to mention but a few.

We also have highly interesting articles of various topics from our contributors. I strongly recommend to digest what these deeply knowledgeable people say and learn from their expertise and experience.

I wish you all a very pleasant and relaxing Christmas Holiday. Try to get the spirit of Christmas, be close to your near and dear, and be generous to those who have less or nothing. Next issue of Leaders Magazine will be out in January 2015.

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

events 10 State visit of the President of the Slovak Republic 11 State visit of the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman

in France

12 Senate Silver Commemoration Medals 13 Prague Writers’ Festival 22 Round Table of Comenius with Tomáš Tuhý, Czech Police President 24 SAP Big Data Truck has arrived to the Czech Republic 26 InnoTrans 2014 28 Day of Railways 2014 38 Shobokshi Investment donated 2,5 million CZK to support

clinical research of children cancer Neuroblastoma

46 HR specialist Rostya Gordon-Smith guest of the CFO Club 52 FRYDAY AfterWork Networking in Hotel Four Seasons,

August 15th, 2014

53 FRYDAY AfterWork Networking in Pálffy Palác, September 5th, 2014

FRYDAY/AfterWork Networking in Pálffy Palác

From left: Lena Rubenstein, Artist with her husband Ira-Saul Rubenstein, Senior Partner - International BusinessTraficon M&A Advisor CEE, Philip Harrison, Professional Coach, and Veronika Harrison, University of Bratislava  page 53

56 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador 57 Lions Club Prague Bohemia Ambassador 58 Summer Party of Czech-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce 101 8th professional meeting of Best of magazine at Mecca club 104 East-West Business Forum 2014: LATIN AMERICA

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contents info interviews

sport events

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Why should you travel by train? Just give it a chance…

54 5th President’s CFO Golf tournament

An interview with Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board and CEO , CD

88 European Golf Tour in the Czech Republic thrilled both the

18 „Politics is not and actually never has been considered a highly

esteemed human activity.“

An interview with Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the CR

culture events

30 We can see the light at the end of the tunnel

An interview with Jan Hamáček, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies

34 Diamonds are forever

An interview with Milan Sedláček, Sales Manager, DIC

36 „I would love to achieve a situation where policemen could spend

more time doing fieldwork“

An interview with Milan Chovanec, Minister of Interior

interview/Politics is not and actually never has been considered a highly esteemed human activity.

spectators and players

32 Jan Pištěk: Mutual Attraction Exhibition - an opening

ceremony held at Gallery Nová Síň, October 7th, 2014

50 Mamma Mia – famous musical arrives to Prague 84 Opening ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague and afterparty

in the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle

culture event/Jan Pištěk: Mutual Attraction Exhibition - an opening

From left: Jan Pištěk, renowned Painter and Martin Dostál, Curator An interview with Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the CR  page 18

44 „The model of monogamous marriage is not working“

An interview with Christoph Kraemer, European Communications

Director, AshleyMadison.com

 page 32

diplomatic events 14 Reception for all Czech Ambassadors at the Senate 66 National Day of Morocco 87 Diplomatic Reception at the Ocassion of Indonesian National Day

64 “I work very hard in order to lift up the negative perceptions

towards Islam”

An interview with H.E. Souryia Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco

to the Czech Republic

diplomatic events /National Day of Morocco

70 The orchestra is to be conducted by me

An interview with Jovo Savič, Owner, KOGO Restaurants

80 „Schunk belongs to its employees, and this is a very effective method.“

An interview with Michal Zahrádka, Managing Director, Schunk Praha

96 Ambassadors Without Diplomatic Passport – Helena Horská 98 Ambassadors Without Diplomatic Passport – Alexandra Brabcová

Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco  page 14 5

contents contributors 21 How to Survive the Age of Intelligence/ Ivan Pilný 33 State Service Act at Last? / Emanuel Šíp 41 Are we Wasting Time on Social Media?/ Tereza Urbánková 42 European Entrepreneurship: Don’t Forget to Scale Up/ Jan Muhlfeit 55 Seven Tactics Journalists Can Use to Manipulate You/ Cristina Muntean 62 Gurus of New Eating/ Iva and Joseph Drebitko 68 Is Doing Business in Europe Very Different from Other Places?/ Jim Chang 76 Balance: The Business-Life Connection Part VI: Why You Hate Work!1,2/ James A. Cusumano, PhD 78 Letting Go…/ Sanjiv Suri 83 Czech Change - CR Becomes a Climate Leader/ Jonathan Wootliff 86 A Trend that Cannot Be Ignored/ Elisabet Rodrigues Dennehy

contributors/Is Doing Business in Europe Very Different from Other Places?/ Jim Chang

From left: Leata Jelinek, wife of Canadian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Maureen Chang and Jim Chang  page 68

EU matters 108 An interview with Tomáš Prouza, Secretary of State for EU Affairs 110 EU Debates - unemployment in the Czech Republic is relatively low compared to the EU,

but in the long-term labour market poses a risk

111 EU Debates - Country specific recommendations should serve as a guide, the implementation

of reforms depends on the Czech Republic

112 Bussiness News

Leaders Magazine is a member of 6

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

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Photo: Archive

interview An interview with Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Czech Railways

Daniel Kurucz , chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Czech Railways, began his managerial career in the 1990‘s. He worked in many multinational enterprises e.g.

Japanese Fujifilm, Carborundum, Swedish Engineering company Sandvik AB, and in Agrofert Holding. He also led companies in India, China, Canada and the USA. Last year he became the executive director of operations and technology in the joint-stock company Czech Railways, and he became the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

He has been leading the company since February.

“WHY SHOULD YOU TRAVEL BY TRAIN? JUST GIVE IT A CHANCE…” Leaders Magazine IV/2014 7

interview Mr. Director, in early September the media reported that Czech Railways had an “earnings surprise”. Were you surprised too?

“We would be bad managers if we were surprised.

We follow the plan and continually monitor the results. But it is true, that our performance worked out even better than we expected.”

Do you consider yourself as a crisis manager?

“I have headed big companies in our homeland and abroad. All of them had problems and we were successful in solving them. In ČD I profited from my previous experiences in the industrial companies. In many aspects it is similar as in the steelworks, or in the chemical industry. Maybe the only difference is that the state behaves differently toward a jointstock company than toward a private owner.”

Do you consider the current significant turnover in operations as an “ultimate recovery from the downturn”? Or do you expect a further uptrend in the performance of Czech Railways?

“The group now realizes profits of 158 million Czech crowns. I consider this a great achievement, the result of hard work, savings and better sales. Besides passenger transport, all of the companies of the ČD Group are showing a profit.

I would like to emphasize that the improvement in results of the ČD group was due to participation of passenger transport, which showed an annual gain of 432 million. We realized about 137 million more on fares. Passenger transport remains at a loss no matter how we manage to improve the results (from last years -644 Million Crowns to an annual -262 Million Crowns). This is if we are talking about international accounting standards, of course. According to Czech accounting standards, the joint-stock company Czech Railways, our mother company, only shows a loss of 22 million. Naturally I perceive this as a step in the right direction, but it is necessary to continue to rationalize and search for new opportunities to increase sales. We must even do this from our other business activities.”

Savings for legal services, or in overhead costs, don‘t affect passengers directly. How complicated is it to save in order that a client can realize the savings?

“We cannot cut back on service nor maintenance. In fact it is the opposite. Even in the maintenance of vehicles, we spent about 150 million Czech crowns more than we planned, due to better results. We can save on overhead costs, partly on personnel costs as well as on oil and traction energy. Thanks to the “recompeting” of tens of supplier contracts, we realized lower prices of materials and services, including awards of electricity and oil. The deployment of new vehicles also helps us. Their consumption is lower and they are not that troublesome. When

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What is your biggest challenge?

“My biggest challenge at this time is to built an ambitious but realistic business plan for the year 2015. The work strategy of the group ČD up until 2020 is very necessary, which partly includes the selling of railway stations to infrastructure managers, bond issues, and the solving of historical burdens such as legal cases and development projects.”

You are the sixth general director of the joint-stock company České Dráhy. What should passengers associate your name with in the future?

“I want to achieve a profit in passenger transport for ČD, as well as reduce the quarterly debt. That is the target of our strategy up to the year 2020.

However there is still a long journey ahead of us, and this depends on my opportunities to make these goals come true.”

we talk about electricity, we would prefer to not have to pay a fee for future renewable sources.

We pay around 350 million crowns annually and e.g. German Deutsche Bahn are exempt from the fee in their country. Therefore, we have joined the initiative of large companies seeking an exemption. Sparing is also possible when dealing with a small schedule. I have recently given an example of the needless overheating of lighting in the depots. If you calculate this into the entire network, we are talking about millions.”

You have been at České Dráhy since 2013.

After less than one year you were promoted to the leading position. How difficult was the decision to accept that much responsibility for the entire company?

“When I was approached with this offer to lead České Dráhy, I knew the company already, which helped me. I knew that I would have a lot of work to do, but from my experiences in sports, I am used to a good fight. It was just a big challenge for me and I accepted it. I am ready to win (if I get the opportunity, of course).”

What should České Dráhy be most proud of?

“We are especially proud of the significantly better annual financial results of the entire ČD group, so that means passenger transport. In passenger transport we have reduced losses of 382 million CZK, we avoided a major reduction of our workforce, and we increased our savings on the maintenance costs of vehicles. We should be proud

interview of carving out longstanding contracts for operating in Prague – Berlin – Hamburg, even if this seemed to be almost definitely lost one year ago.”

Why should people travel by train? What is your answer to this question for managers traveling across the Czech republic?

“Try it! You will see it’s cool. You can do a lot of work on the train or you can just relax. To Ostrava or to Olomouc I would only go by Pendolino.

Otherwise you can go by Pendolino to Pilsen, Cheb or to Františkovy Lázně. To Brno we deploy Railjets, so why go there by car? Comfortable EuroCity trains also go to Ústí Nad Labem. To Slovakia you can go by a motorail and save a long way on the roads. No need to be confined just to long-distance trains. In recent years we have largely invested in regional transport. Just around Prague it is ideal to travel by the CityElefants. They are airconditioned and also have a first-class, where you can work peacefully.

How are your results affected by the reconstruction of highway D1? „I can’t assess this in financial results. It is true that we attribute our revenue growth in ticket sales to the increasing performance of transport. In other words, passengers travel with us for a long distance, so they spend more on tickets. This of course applies to connections to Brno and Moravia in general. Interest in trains however grows mainly through better services and more modern vehicles.

Passengers are gaining confidence in us again. „ Will a “decline” in passengers after the completion of this crucial highway affect Czech Railways? „No, because all trains to Vienna will now be via new Railjets, and meanwhile we are deploying the comfortable new Eurocity trains to Slovakia and Hungary. All of them stop in Brno. In Ostrava we are already running only good trains and Pendolinos. On the contrary, I think many people will prefer travelling by train.

It is comfortable, and unlike the road it’s safer „ What is the most “Czech” thing about Czech Railways ? „A certain kind of „ Švejkovství „, which indeed is generally true of the Czechs, and the tendency to improvise.“

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What is the biggest difference between the management of a purely private company and a national rail company? „The difference is that a private company has a clearly specified owner, and the target is always to maximize profits. Conversely, the national carrier performs, inter alia, the role of public serviceability of the state, and its largest customers are public sources, such as the Ministry of Transport and regional self-governments. On the other hand, the company Czech Railways is a standard joint-stock company. And if everybody will understand and respect this, I don’t see any significant difference in the style of management.“ Mr. Director, who do you consider a typical leader? „In leadership I have many years of experience, not only in the Czech Republic, but also from Sweden, the USA, India, and China.The idea of an ideal leader varies by area. But when I summarize it, the answer for me is this: it is necessary to distinguish between a manager and a leader. A manager is formally an acting leader,

who frequently uses his powers of a given position, and assigns tasks. But a leader is a person working primarily with ideas, motivation and self-reflection.

It is a person always willing to help, to advise, has a participative style, and is not afraid to delegate. He builds trust in his colleagues. The difference between a manager and a leader is identified by the mood of the people in the company. Leaders do it „a bit naturally.“ My model in leadership was my superior in the enterprise Samdvik AB, Mr. Lars Thoren.„ In conclusion, when was the last time you traveled by train? „I take the train all the time. Without knowing your business, you can not lead in it. Likewise, sometimes I‘m up early and I go to take a look at depots, to see with my own eyes how things go there. Sometimes I‘m excited and sometimes I see the need for improvement. „

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 9

Photo: Herbert Slavík

state visit

From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Angel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

State visit of the President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman in France

At the invitation of President Francois Hollande, President of the Czech Republic Miloš Zeman with his wife visited France on September 8th – 10th, 2014

From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Francois Hollande, President of France

A tribute to Czech legionnaires at Pere Lachaise cemetary From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Claude Bartolone, President of the National Assembly of France

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From left: Francois Hollande, President of France and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

Photo: Hana Brožková, Archive KPR

state visit From left: Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic and Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic

State visit of the President of the Slovak Republic

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At the invitation of President Miloš Zeman, President of the Slovak Republic, H.E. Andrej Kiska visited the Czech Republic on July 8th – 9th.

From left: Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

From left: Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic at their speech

From left: Andrej Kiska, President of the Slovak Republic and Miloš Zeman, President of the Czech Republic

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Photo: Martin Vlček

senate

From left: Doc. PhDr. Igor Pleskot, CSc., Czech Sociologist, Miluše Horská, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate, JUDr. PhDr Miloslav Stingl, leading Czech Ethnographer, internationally renowned expert of Aboriginal cultures and writer, Prof. RNDr. Emil Paleček, DrSc., Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, one of the internationally most respected Czech scientists, Associate Professor, Doc. MUDr. Miluše Havlová, leading Czech Doctor specializing in pediatric neurology, especially progressive neuromuscular disease, Ing. Bořivoj Kasal, successful Entrepreneur whose success came through honest and dedicated work, RNDr. Josef Kubát, High School Director, author of mathematical textbooks and living legend of Czech mathematics, Martina Zbytková, kindergarten teacher who saved lives of two pupils while risking her own, Ondřej Moravec, famous Czech Biathlonist, medalist from Olympic Games in Sochi, Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Prof. Ing. Jiří Witzany, DrSc., famous personality in Czech University world, Jan Bázler, taking the medal for PhDr. Darja Kocábová, renowned Czech Psychologist and Therapist, Gabriela Soukalová, famous Czech Biathlonist, medalist from Olympic Games in Sochi, Rudolf Jindrák, taking the medal for Karel Velan, Entrepreneur and philanthropist, Doc. MUDr. Dimitrij Slonim, CSc., renowned Czech Virologist, plk. Ing. František Mencl, respected personality from Fire and Rescue Service of the Czech Republic whose merits in terms of modernization of the services are undisputable, Prof. RNDr. František Vyskočil, DrSc., leading Czech Neurophysiologist, professor of physiology and pharmacology, author of hundreds of scientific publications, and plk. Ing. Miroslav Kváč, internationally recognized Athletic Coach who stands for unique achievements of Jarmila Kratochvílová.

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Senate Silver Commemoration Medals

Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, awarded silver commemoration medals of the Senate to fifteen significant personalities. The ceremonial event took place for the third time in connection with the celebration of the Day of Czech Sovereignty, September 28th.

Associate Professor, Doc. MUDr. Miluše Havlová, leading Czech Doctor specializing in pediatric neurology, especially progressive neuromuscular disease

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Professor, Prof. RNDr. Emil Paleček, Institute of Biophysics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, made an award to Gabriela Soukalová and Ondřej Moravec, the most successful representatives of the Czech Republic in biathlon.

Professor, František Vyskočil, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague

JUDr. PhDr Miloslav Stingl, leading Czech Ethnographer with Miluše Horská, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate

Photo: Martin Vlček

senate

From left: Mohamed Sbihi, Minister of Culture of the Kingdom of Morocco, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, President of the Senate, Kingdom of Morocco, Milan Štěch, President of the Senate, and Michael March, President, Prague Writers’ Festival

Prague Writers’ Festival

The Senate of the Czech Republic had the honor to host again Prague Writers’ Festival, under the auspices of Milan Štěch, President of the Senate. Honorable guest – Mr. Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, President of the Senate, Kingdom of Morocco, has accepted the invitation and arrived to Prague just for this occasion. The covering topics of this year´s festival were: Love, Hatred and Morocco.

Guillaume Basset, Deputy Director, Prague Writers’ Festival, Abderrahim El Allam, President of the Moroccan Writers’ Union, and Martin Vopěnka, Director, Publishing House Práh

Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah, President of the Senate, Kingdom of Morocco and Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic

Vlasta Brtníková, Prague Writers’ Festival

Michael March, President, Prague Writers’ Festival and František Bublan, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate

From left: Mr. Mahi Binebine and Michael March, President, Prague Writers’ Festival

H.E Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Morocco in the Czech Republic

Mr. Salah El Ouadie

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Photo: Archive

diplomatic event

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

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Reception for all Czech Ambassadors at the Senate On August 26, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Štěch hosted a traditional meeting of senators with the heads of representative offices of the Czech Republic abroad. The President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Milan Štěch and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lubomír Zaorálek spoke to the diplomatic corps on the ceremonial meeting, which was held in Wallenstein Palace.

From left: Jaroslav Zeman, Senator and Milan Čoupek, Consul General, Germany

From left: H.E. Richard Kadlčák, Czech Ambassador to Estonia, Tomáš Jirsa, Senator, and H.E. Jiří Havlík, Czech Ambassador to Brasil

From left: Veronika Balingit, VP; CNSLT - Systems ENG, Bank of America, and Thomas Grulich, Senator

14 From left: Martin Tlapa, MBA, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Industry and Trade and H.E. Jiří Brodský, Czech Ambassador to Denmark

From left: Dagmar Zvěřinová, Chairwoman of the Standing Senate Commission on Rural Development, Senate, H.E. Marie Chatardová, Czech Ambassador to France, Dr. Marta Bajerová, Senator, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

diplomatic event

From left: MUDr. Vladimír Dryml, Senator and H.E. Vladimír Eisenbruk, Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Peru

From left: Pavel Mikyska, Chargé d‘affaires a.i., Embassy of the CR in Yerevan, Mgr. Silvie Mejdrechová, Secretary of the Committee on EU Affairs, Senate, and Miroslav Krejča, Chairman of the Committee for the EU Affairs, Senate

From left: Rostislav Harazin, Secretary to the club of Senators, and Václav Homolka, Senator From left: Pavel Trpák, Senator and H.E. Jiří Slavík, Czech Ambassador to Saudi Arabia From left: Prof. Jan Zaloudik, MD, PhD, Senator and PaedDr. Alena Gajdůšková, 1st Vice President of the Senate

From left: H.E. Jiří Brodský, Czech Ambassador to Denmark, H.E. Jan Sechter, Czech Ambassador to Germany, and Milan Horáček, Member of the Parliament of the Czech Republic

Eva Davidová, Press Secretary and Petr Gawlas, Senator

From left: H.E. Ivana Hlavsová, Czech Ambassador to Serbia, and H.E. Hana Mottlová, Czech Ambassador to Ireland

From left: Michal Sedláček, Consul General of the CR in Los Angeles, H.E. Milan Dufek, Czech Ambassador to Norway, H.E. Miloslav Stašek, Czech Ambassador to India, H.E. Juraj Chmiel, Special Envoy for EU External Dimensions and newly appointed Czech Ambassador to Hungary, and Petr Bratský, Senator, PČR, Senate

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diplomatic event

Some of the invited guests

From left: Prof. Eva Syková, Senator, Jaromír Šlápota, President, ČSÚZ, and H.E. Livie Klausová, Czech Ambassador to Slovakia Lenka Diborová, and H.E. Richard Kadlčák, Czech Ambassador to Estonia

Ing. Valérie Ciprová, Head of Independent Protocol Unit, Senate Chancellery and H.E. Pavel Vošalík, Czech Ambassador to Vatican

From left: H.E. Miloslav Machálek, Czech Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Bálek, and H.E. Miroslav Kosek, Czech Ambassador to Afghanistan

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Lenka Pokorná, Embassy of the Czech Republic in Senegal and Ing. Vladimír Války, Director, General Inspection and Internal Audit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

From left: H.E. Miloslav Machálek, Czech Ambassador to Ghana and MUDr. Přemysl Sobotka, Vice President of the Senate

H. E. Kateřina Sequensová, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the UN and H.E. Pavel Kafka, Czech Ambassador to Egypt From left: Jaroslav Müllner, Head of the Secretariat of the President of the Senate and Karel Charanze, Counsel General, Russian Federation

From left: Ivo Šilhavý, Member, Board of Directors, Forum 2000 Foundation and H.E. Miroslav Kosek, Czech Ambassador to Afghanistan

From left: H.E. Lubomír Hladík, Czech Ambassador to Mexico, and H.E. Josef Rychtar, Czech Ambassador to Chile

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

From left: H.E. Milan Ekert, Czech Ambassador to Belarus, H.E. Vítězslav Pivoňka, Czech Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Kristina Larischová, Director General, Analysis and Communication Section, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and H.E. Edita Hrdá, Czech Ambassador to the UN in New York

From left: Jaromír Šlápota, President, ČSÚZ and Miroslav Nenutil, Senator

From left: Ing. Ivo Bárek, Senator, and H.E. Jiří Havlík, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Brasil

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From left: Kateřina Košaříková, Ivana Poděbradská and Lucie Štěpánková, Foreign Relations Department, Senate

From left: Jiří Uklein, Senate Chancellor, Petr Gandalovič, Czech Ambassador to the USA , and Milan Štěch, Chairman of the Senate in the middle

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interview

Photo: Archive

An interview with Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic

In this interview for Leaders Magazine, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Bohuslav Sobotka describes how priorities of the government changed due to the RussianUkrainian conflict, and the reactions he received after the enforcement of the Czech observations to European sanctions. The Prime Minister also says that it would be very unfortunate if the crisis grew into a latent Cold War between the EU and Russia, and if in the east of Ukraine we see a new form of the Iron Curtain.

„Politics is not and actually never has been considered a highly esteemed human activity.“ 18

interview Prime Minister, does the government have enough power to meet the priorities for the upcoming period?

“The government has only been working for eight months, and it would be sad if they already felt exhausted regarding the completion of their program priorities. On the contrary, we are able to fulfill our program priorities in accordance with the legislative plan of government, which only encourages our efforts and our process for the coming years. The first successful phase of government activities is behind us, with the recent adoption of the important Civil Service Law. This should lead to a more professional and better definition of roles between politicians and public officials in the implementation of government policy. In addition, we will be allowed to draw the European Union’s money needed to implement a series of economic, social and environmental projects for the next period. Since its establishment, the government managed to take dozens of important measures in these areas. I consider most important those that promote investments and the creation of jobs.Already the establishment of the new government and subsequent pacification of the political situation in our country has encouraged the activities of domestic and foreign investors. Czech Republic has again started to see economic growth, and government policy further supports this trend. However, everything that the government is doing is in line with 3 main goals: to restore the standard functions of the state, to ensure the “healthy” development of the country, and to ensure a dignified life for its citizens. We must earn back the people’s trust in this state. “ Have the current priorities of the government actually changed during the summer months?

Has an international agenda with subsequent economic consequences become increasingly important? “Yes, soon after the establishment of the government, significant remarks about the Russian-Ukrainian conflict appeared on the agenda in the area of foreign policy. As a member of the European Union, we are trying, along with others, to find the most appropriate approach to prevent any escalation, and contribute to a solution for this crisis as soon as possible. The policy maintains an effective combination of sanctions against Russia, as Russia certainly bears the greatest responsibility for the outbreak of this conflict. We will also use all possible forms of diplomatic negotiations along with the participation of all relevant actors - Russia, Ukraine, the EU and the USA. The aim must be to preserve the integrity of Ukraine, end all of Russia’s interferences into the internal affairs of the country, and ensure democratic development. “

What have you observed after the Czech enforcement of anti-Russian sanctions? Will there indeed be a “second round” of sanctions so damaging for the Czech economy, particularly for engineering exports?

“First I want to say that no matter how Czech Republic supported the policy of EU procedures towards Russia, I have always agreed with the Prime Ministers of the Member states who primarily sought diplomatic solutions. Especially when it appears that the sanctions affect the member countries

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more than Russia itself, and that they don’t weaken Russia, but rather strengthen the national position of the Russian leadership, so its aggressive behaviour towards Ukraine continues. Regarding the selective and cautious attitude of the Czech Republic to the escalation of sanctions against Russia, a similar position has been taken by other member countries - Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Italy and more. With this perspective we are certainly not alone in the EU, so it is not specifically Czech. It is natural that I, as the Prime Minister, tried to influence the structure of the proposed sanctions in order to minimise damage to the Czech Republic. And I’m glad I succeeded in this effort. In this regard, I reject accusations by the rightwing opposition that our country is not sufficiently loyal to the EU on the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. I smile when these accusations come from those who have recently thwarted our membership of the EU at every turn. It was my government that fine-tuned and confirmed our relationship with the EU. Czech Republic has gained respect in the EU again, which was lost as a result of the policies of previous right-wing governments. As regards the situation in Eastern Europe, it is necessary to assure our allies in NATO that all the safety guarantees are constantly valid, while it would be very unfortunate if the crisis grows into a latent Cold War between the EU and Russia, and in the east of Ukraine we see a new form of the Iron Curtain. “ The first “stress” test of the government parties were the May elections to the European Parliament.

In the media you said that you are not satisfied with the results. Have you analysed the causes of a record low voter turnout within the party?

“I am always satisfied with winning, so logically I am satisfied with the results of the last elections to the EP. On the other hand, I cannot say that the Social Democrats lost significantly; the results for the first three parties were close in regards to votes, as all of them - ANO, TOP 09 and the Social Democrats - received an equal four seats. While in 20082013 the Social Democrats won all parliamentary, senatorial, regional and municipal elections, in the European elections they have not been so successful

yet. Why? Without a doubt the important factors this year were the record low voter turnout, and as always in the case of the European elections, the absence of potential voters for the Social Democrats. These voters are more Eurosceptic than eg. voters for rightwing parties, as they show less interest in European issues, and they are less confident that the political agenda of the EU can somehow significantly improve their personal lives. They definitely prefer domestic political issues. I do not want their Euroscepticism to be solely blamed on the policy of the previous rightwing governments, especially the government ODS that systematically cultivated euroscepticism. It is now up to the government, meaning the governing Social Democrats, to prove to our voters that membership in the EU will benefit our country, and we must make them feel it in their personal lives. But it is not just the responsibility of the Social Democrats. Most essential is the policy of the Social Democratic policy fraction in EP, which has to bring Europe closer to the ordinary people of member countries, which generally means strengthening the European social agenda. In other words, the European Union has to become not only a well-integrated economic union, but also an integrated social union. “ Do you fear a low voter turnout even in the upcoming municipal elections? How can electoral abstention be prevented? And does it affect efforts to attract voters in your campaign?

“I am not afraid of low participation of our voters in the upcoming municipal elections, and I suppose we will see a significantly higher turnout than in the elections to the EP. Unlike the European issues, domestic issues are in general much closer to voters’ hearts. Domestic issues directly affect the places in which people live and work, and so those people feel that their vote can affect their situation. “ What are your priorities for the municipal elections?

“Our electoral strategy is based on the successes and election commitments that combine at a municipal and state level. Regarding the municipal level, there are our electoral programs “tailored”

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 19

interview to the needs of the citizens of municipalities and cities. Overall, these are questions regarding the management and development of local infrastructure.

Commitments in these areas will be given to all parties. As a left-wing party, our priority is the development of towns and cities in terms of public services. We do not agree that there are no left-wing and right-wing municipal politics. The maintenance and development of public space is a sign of left-wing politics not only at the national, but also at the local level. Regarding the state level, there we present the main obligations which we support as a government party. These include the promotion of investment and employment, the fight against usury and the excesses of executors, proving the origins of property, taking measures against drug dealers, expanding the capacity of nurseries and kindergartens, the construction of “starter housing“ for young couples, and consistent support of food safety controls and controlling the behaviour of multinational store chains.

In the presentation of our program, we absolutely rely on contact campaigns, with our candidates for Mayors and for municipal councils meeting voters directly, with the support of our Governors and Ministers. Our campaign is in full swing, and I personally have met with hundreds voters and have heard their views on municipal and government policy, and I take it very seriously.

“How do you want to reach voters in the towns where the Social Democrats have failed in the long term? What is your goal for Prague?

“In the medium and large cities, people vote in municipal elections with regard to the status of parties at the national level. For this reason, the recent municipal elections in these cities (except Prague) were the most successful for The Social Democratic Party, who had just won the parliamentary elections.

Based on the previous election results, ČSSD won the largest number of mayors (11). In the townships and the villages we traditionally saw the most successful independent candidates. For this year’s election, we want to keep the positions acquired in 2010.

In Prague, ČSSD is traditionally not very successful, however in 2010 the party ended up in third place with 18%, which was its best election result yet in the capital city. We will at least try to repeat this result.

At the top of our candidate lists for individual local council districts and municipality councils are the politicians who have rich experience in municipal politics. Prague is a sort of state within a state, by far it is the richest region of the Czech Republic, but it has its age-old problems which must now be solved effectively. It’s a question of quality of life in the city, which is also related to the maintenance of green areas, the strengthening of public institutions against the pressure of developers, the development of social services for seniors and handicapped groups, improving the availability of health services, taking measures to increase street safety, public transport development and transport infrastructure, increasing the economic transparency of urban areas and the municipality, etc. Our main goal is to make Prague home, even for those who still do not benefit from its high standard of wealth. Prague is the capital city of Czech Republic and one of Central Europe’s major cities.”

20 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

Bohuslav Sobotka greeted children from Slovakia who arrived to Prague on the bicycles during the project Tour de intelekt 2014

In the Senate, the term of chairman Milan Štěch is coming to an end. Do you want him to repeat this function?

“I consider Milan Štěch a great man, a Social Democrat, Senator and President of the Senate, and therefore I wish very much that he will defend his senatorial seat in the constituency Pelhřimov, and I have no doubt he will succeed. Likewise, I believe in the success of other strong personalities advocating our senatorial seats, whether it is Jiří Dienstbier in the constituency Kladno, Marcel Chládek in the the constituency Louny, or Alena Gajdůšková in the constituency Zlín. And I could continue listing others.

In this year›s senate elections our party will defend the most senatorial seats, and it is probably not possible to defend them all. I will be satisfied if the Social Democratic Caucus remains the strongest, if he can continue to significantly influence the politics of the senate and provide strong support for our government´s policy. If we remain the strongest caucus, we will propose Milan Štěch as its leader. « You have been in high politics since 1996.

At work you observed all the premieres of the independent Czech Republic. Under Vladimir Špidla, Stanislav Gross and Jiří Paroubek you led financial matters. You therefore have no distorted idea of the work that the Prime Minister is doing.

Still, has something surprised you in this regard?

“Life is full of surprises. One example is the form of the current government coalition. I had the opportunity as a former Minister to watch the work of a number of Prime Ministers closely, so that becoming Prime Minister was for me not an entirely a new experience.

A Minister is responsible primarily for his resort, but the Prime Minister for the whole government. The Prime Minister must therefore be able to have a fairly detailed insight into each departmental agenda, and assess its contribution to the political priorities of the entire government. He has of course his advisers, but for every government decision, including departmental, he goes out on a limb. The strengths of the Prime Minister should therefore be the ability to communicate well, to bring people together, to have the ability to understand them, to listen to them, to look at the people from the bright side and yet critically, but evaluate them fairly. This is difficult. “

The media’s image of Czech’s former Prime Ministers is generally negative. Is this a Czech “speciality”? Do you fear that too?

“I think it is not a Czech specialty, and it has something to do with the prevailing public view of politicians and politics in general. People who have some experiences with politicians do not remember the good about them, rather the opposite. Politics is not and actually never has been considered a highly esteemed human activity.

It brings conflicts, so that we have to solve problems and make decisions. In addition, we live in a time when the negative perception of politicians is growing. New faces and new groups in politics are often promoted because they are ostentatiously defined against the politicians, who “have been there”. But even with new faces, it soon shows that they are also politicians, and sometimes with even worse policies than those whom they originally criticized. “ Who, for you personally, is a true “leader”?

“For a chance to become a leader in politics, a person must take politics very seriously. Rather than as a profession, they must see it as a life mission, in which they demonstrate not only professional qualifications, but also the necessary moral qualities: the ability to lead by example, the courage to take the lead, the courage to take responsibility and go out on a limb. I mean a person who thinks often about political “leadership” in the context of democratic politics. I think that a true democratic leader is one who demonstrates the intention of fulfilling the general human principles in his own life. I imagine him as a politician who experiences public problems, who feels the obligation to publicly engage their solutions, and who is able to involve the public in the solutions.

I imagine him as a politician who, when convinced of his truth, does not betray it just because the majority of his colleagues and fellow citizens do not share those same beliefs. On the other hand, it is a politician who in defence of his views does not apply the tactic of “anything goes”, but who relies solely on democratic means such as discussions and arguments, and is able to tolerate criticism and learn from it.”

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

How to Survive analysis

the age of intelligence? enjoy, restore and maintain brain synapse. Take destiny into our own hands and have the feeling that life The Stone Age did not is not bad and we still enjoy end because we ran out of it. We do not want to be stones, neither is age of a copy, „used matches“, intelligence going to end getting into blind alleys and due to the lack of brains take one step forward and or neurons. This does not two back. We want to stop mean we can let our brains being afraid of unknown idle. The American writer things and risks.

Gore Vidal once said that We just want to be happy in our personal and professional life, to be effective as long as „the brain that doesn‘t feed possible and useful for people close to us, in our itself, eats itself“. profession too. from different regions but In the professional part of our lives are three What characterizes today‘s world and therefore crucial abilities: to be able to decide, to be able they have one thing in also us? Yes, neurons die, but are also born. Quite to learn and to be creative. To these abilities often we reconcile with our destiny, sometimes we have to add also the social and emotional common, their brains are we feel burnt-out. We feel that things are not attributes, communication skills, selfpromotion, art going that well as they used to be when we of getting on well with other people and art to bear not idle, and this ability were young. Parents, schools, companies and the strain. they transfer to other surroundings are killing the natural creativity in us. We point the finger at those who caused our people. unjust fate and collecting thousands of things In my recent book Máte that upset us. We solve crisis by rearrangement of seats on the board of Titanic. We are getting old, na víc! (You can do better) The fact that at any age you can do better than that is clear and indisputable. Anything won‘t mirror neurons along with empathy disappear. happen without you, let‘s paraphrase Hamlet - To I focused on brain. This be is to do and vice versa. book should be about We would like to bring From “The Information Age Arena” by Ivan how to train and use ones Pilný our creativity back, be and Tereza Kučerová published recently

by Albatros Media brain more effectively. It more efficient, learn to

By Ivan Pilný ■ Member of the Parliament, ANO party also includes the testimony concentrate and relax, President of Tuesday Business Network of several people, whom fight the fate, look for české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz thousands of things that we I highly respect. They are Today is not an age of information (what is information anyway and what are just bytes?), neither is it the age of the digital highway (they are usually blind alleys), or even the age of knowledge (everything can be found on Google), it is the age of intelligence.

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Photo: Archive

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 21

networking/discussion event Photo: Archive

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Hotel Pyramida – September 11, 2014

From left: Libor Sadílek, Owner, Klement, col. Tomáš Tuhý, President of the Police, Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius, Oldřich Rutar, COO, Mark2 Corporation Czech, and col. Miloš Bednařík, Director of the Police President´s Office

Round Table of Comenius with Tomáš Tuhý, Czech Police President

The top Czech managers and the representatives of the academic sphere met again at the Round Table of Comenius, this time with the Police President colonel Tomáš Tuhý. The Police President emphasized this meeting as a good possibility to clarify the meaning and the progress of reforms that have been under his leadership in process in the Police Presidium, but also in the entire police force. Tomáš Tuhý would like to see a strong and by the public respected police as a result of the reforms. Among the topics of the discussion evening was also a possible misuse of eavesdropping, or a need of visibility and accessibility of policemen on the streets of the Czech cities and towns. “We cannot lose the fight for a street,” added the President Tuhý to this issue. The Police President perceives the lack of specialized unit for the electronic fight as a sensitive imperfection and he sees the foundation of such a unit as one of his priorities. The audience brought up a wish the cooperation between private sector and the Police to be extended. In general, the discussions of the evening confirmed that the Police needs real outcomes and higher trust from the public.

From left: Libor Sadílek, Owner, Klement, col. Tomáš Tuhý, President of the Police, and Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius From left: Pavel Míka, Managing Director, Bago Sport and Tomáš Sokol, Partner, Sokol, Brož, Novák From left: Tomáš Sokol, Partner, Sokol, Brož, Novák, Vladana Horáková, General Director, Orea Hotels, and Petr Hostek, General Director, Hospital of Rudolf and Stefanie Benešov

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From left: Tomáš Čáp, Executive Vice President, Comenius, Pavel Míka, Managing Director, Bago Sport, and Dr. Michal Sičák, Managing Director, Derma Medical Clinic

networking/discussion event

From left: Vladimír Dohnal, Owner, TOP hotel Group, Jaromír Gajdáček, General Director and Chairman of the Board, Zdravotní pojišťovna ministerstva vnitra, and Dr. Michal Sičák, Managing Director, Derma Medical Clinic

From left: Mona Sandescu, Member of the Board, Klement, col. Martin Vondrášek, 1st Deputy Police President, and Libor Sadílek, Owner, Klement

From left: Daniel Rous, Head of Security, ČEZ, Mona Sandescu, Member of the Board, Klement, col. Martin Vondrášek, 1st Deputy Police President, and Libor Sadílek, Owner, Klement From left: Miroslav Honsů, Editor in Chief, Be the Best & Komora magazines and Vladimír Sitta, Government Specialist, 3M Česko

Matěj Bárta, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mark2 Corporation Czech

From left: Otto Kechner, University of Finance and Administration and Tomáš Sokol, Partner, Sokol, Brož, Novák

From left: Karel Muzikář, President of Comenius, Veronika Pražáková, col. Tomáš Tuhý, President of the Police, and Karel Muzikář Jr., Managing Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges

From left: Libor Sadílek, Owner, Klement and Jiří Chroustovský, Commercial Director, Klement

From left: col. Miloš Bednařík, Director of the Police President´s Office, col. Jana Macalíková, Head of the Police Communication Dept., and col. Martin Vondrášek, 1st Deputy Police President

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Photo: Archive

event

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The SAP Team: Roman Bláha, Sandra Slaštanová, Roman Knap, Lucie Kalinová, Michal Bezák, Jakub Černý, Florian Decker, and Juraj Polerecký

SAP Big Data Truck

has arrived to the Czech Republic The Big Data phenomenon is sometimes as Hamlet in the famous sketch of the Theather Jára Cimrman. Everyone talks about him, waiting, when he finally appears, but no one really knows how he looks. SAP Company decided to change it and brought Big Data Truck to Czech. We could see with our own eyes that the Big Data is not just imaginary phenomenon, but it can greatly affect our lives.

The Big Data phenomenon is sometimes as Hamlet in the famous sketch of the Theather Jára Cimrman.

Everyone talks about him, waiting, when he finally appears, but no one really knows how he looks. SAP Company decided to change it and brought Big Data Truck to Czech. We could see with our own eyes that the Big Data is not just imaginary phenomenon, but it can greatly affect our lives.

“Box! Box! Box!” Suddenly hears Jason Button in his headphones during a Grand Prix Formula 1. Emphatic command of his team to drove to mechanics to tire replacement at the very end of the round. Although racer himself have not felt any significant change

driveability yet, team engineers have precise data, so after consultation with the team they decided to change strategy.

This is how exactly it looks in cooperation with SAP racing team McLaren-Mercedes F1. In each car of this team are over 200 sensors, which generate about 50 GB of data in a single round. These data come directly to the centre of McLaren in Woking near London. Than starts In-memory platform SAP HANA, which is able to analyse and graphically display this huge amount of data (races are run from 50 to 70 rounds) in the real-time. The team thus has information that enable them to change planned strategy during the race and to achieve the best results.

What actually the Big Data are?

Using in Formula 1 is one of the great examples of the Big Data using in practice. Although this name sounds like big, the Big Data are not large especially its volume. Extensive databases are not new in the computer world. If we wanted to work with some great data set in the past, it had one condition. Data had to be structured and described, then was possible

Jiří Přibyslavský, Presales, SAP ČR explains data analysis based on Big Data

Data in the truck How can Big Data actually affect our daily lives showed SAP in their Big Data Truck that arrived to the Czech Republic on October 13th and customers or partners of SAP, as well as the general public could visit it until Thursday October 16th in front of the Prague Faculty of Information Technology ČVUT or at the metro Dušan Kachaňák, Business Developer, SAP SK and Julius Rusnak, CTO, Semantic Vision on the In-Memory Summit 2014

Michal Bezák, Presales, SAP ČR is interested in agenda of In-memory summit

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for various systems to work with them. The problem is that around us are constantly generated a huge amounts of data those description or structure are not possible. Those had to lie fallow until recently, simply because there was not enough computing power for their processing.

The situation has changed by new faster memories sort of flash disk, which replaced the earlier discs with very slow approach. And so could be given birth to the aforementioned SAP HANA platform, which is able to store all data in memory, which significantly increases the speed of their availability. Thanks to this we can also analyse unstructured data in real time and convert it into a comprehensible graphical form.

With which we can further work.

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„Big Data in your hands. It´s easy,“ says Michal Košťál, Account Executive, SAP ČR

Martin Helikar, Field Services Director, SAP ČR ready to race

„Look, there is a BMW with punctured tire nearby Frankfurt,“ shows Josef Rajnoha, Business Consultant, SAP ČR to the visitors of the Big Data Truck

station Budějovická. In the truck, incidentally which is otherwise used to carry on racing formulas, were seen several examples of what big data can do. Let us show you at least two examples.

Smart vending machine Buying a drink or a sandwich from the vending machine is not at first sight something which could be applied to the Big Data. But this needn’t be so. We could see the machine in truck, which did not allow to pay only coins for goods, but also credit card or NFC chip in a mobile phone. In order to receive such payments, it must be connected to the Internet of course. And the situation changes suddenly.

So if you will ever buy something in the future in such a machine, it will suffice you to attach your mobile phone and the splash screen will completely change. It won’t only set your favourite colours and machine will greet you by name, but it will straight offer you the goods that you buy most often. It is of course possible because the machine detects your phone, so the operator knows your shopping history and preferences.

Peter Mravčák, Presales, SAP SK shows the power of Big Data

But that's not all. Connecting of all machines to internet connections to the central office of the trader gives him access to the shopping behaviour of customers in all of his vending machines. And there may come into play the Big Data - Dealer do not have to know what the customer buys of course, but he can use the information from the machines, for example, to find out that customers buying sandwiches with wholemeal bread usually do not buy sweetened drinks, but water or possibly drinks without sugar.

So, next time you choose such as whole wheat bun with cheese, vending machine will offer you sparkling water at a discount. All this without the intervention of human hands is only by using the data analysis of customers purchase behaviour.

Get faster to the finish Sensors are not only in racing cars, but in all today's cars. There is a lot of talk about so-called connected car, especially navigation producers in cooperation with car producers are working on their internet connection nowadays. Then it opens the door to the situation that car would not only receive information

about traffic or traffic jams, but also to make available a range of other options.

In the truck could visitors for example look at a map that displayed traffic throughout Germany. It was simply possible to see how many cars are heading to Berlin or Cologne, how many Škoda cars are currently on the road etc. However at the same time were displayed vehicles based on information from the sensors that have a problem. So, for example, there may be all the cars driving on the highway to Frankfurt informed about the on-board computer display that in their direction is parked car. The driver of the car with lack of fuel automatically receives information about the nearest gas station, and so on.

All these information can travel to the traffic information centre, which can adjust traffic lights change interval based on their speed to ensure the best passability in the city. E.g. Company fleet managers can have them available too, they will have an overview not only of where their company cars are, but also about the fact that they need service or what is the driving style of the particular driver.

In the position of the pilot On the occasion of the Big Data TRUCK arrival SAP Company invited the most important customers on one of the largest go-kart track in the Czech Republic in Prague Praga Arena in Horní Počernice. They could visit the Big Data Truck exhibition and become acquainted with the analysis that serves the automotive industry, but also to compete on kart track or test feelings of Formula 1 pilots in simulator, which is used by pilots of Team McLaren-Mercedes F1. There were also seen some very interesting racing cars intended for the circuit.

Roman Knap, CEO, SAP ČR, is fully focused on driving in Formula 1

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exhibition Photo: Archive On the occasion of InnoTrans and the General Assembly of the Community of European Railways (CER) Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD have met with the head of the German Railways DB AG, Dr. Rüdiger Grube. DB AG are an important partner for Czech Railways in an international transportation. The two companies have entered into a long-term contract for the comfortable operation of connections on the Prague - Berlin - Hamburg since 2015.

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InnoTrans 2014 Škoda Vagonka unveiled in Berlin new representative of modern regional trains for Czech Railways named RegioPanter. Presented train traveled from Berlin to Brno, where it will be deployed to commuter traffic.

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The interest of InnoTrans visitors in Czech exhibition area was immense.

Welcome speech of Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, on his left Marie Vopálenská, Managing Director, ACRI, on his right Eva Dvořáková, Deputy Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Germany and Karel Dobeš, Deputy Minister of Transportation of the CR.

The Senate of the Czech Parliament was represented by Petr Bradský, Senator, Chairman of the Subcommittee of Transport of the Committee on National Economy, Agriculture and Transport, on the right Eva Dvořáková, Deputy Ambassador of the Czech Republic in Germany.

exhibition

Karel Dobeš, Deputy Minister of Transportation of the CR opening the program of the Czech exhibition area.

InnoTrans is the largest show of modern railway technology in Europe as well as one of the world‘s biggest shows. Once in every two years on the Berlin Exhibition experts from around the world gather to get acquainted with innovations in all sub-specialty of rail transport. Individual expertise and national expositions do present current developments in the field of maintenance and construction of railway tracks, security systems, energy, interior and its components or parts of vehicles. The biggest attraction is definitely the exposure in the open area, were most modern locomotives, wagons, multiple units and trams are shown to wide public.

InnoTrans 2014 hosted more than 2,758 exhibitors from 55 countries and almost 140,000 visitors.

The General Assembly of the Community of European Railways (CER) where Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, Czech Railways was elected to the governing body of the CER - Management Committee was held in the hall of the German Federal Ministry of Transport.

The Czech Republic had a dignified representation at InnoTrans. At the open area high-speed CD railjet from Siemens was presented, as well as electric unit RegioPanter from Škoda Vagonka and Škoda tram designed especially for Turkey. Special exposure of 400 m2 was devoted to Association of the Czech Railway Industry ACRI, which was represented by 21 Czech companies.

On the occasion of InnoTrans 2014 an extraordinary National train Prague - Berlin was dispatched. The pleasant atmosphere on board have been used for a travel to the fair by dozens of railway experts from Czech Railways, Railway Infrastructure Administration, Association of ACRI and others interested in the field of railway technology, from Ministry of Transportation, the Senate and other institutions and agencies.

The General Assembly of the Community of European Railways (CER) took place at InnoTrans 2014, and Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, Czech Railways was elected to the governing body of the CER - Management Committee. It happened at the proposal of the strongest European railways and their representatives - German Railways DB represented by their head Rüdiger Grube and director of Austrian Railways ÖBB Christian Kern, who is also the president of CER. Appointment of the Chairman of the Board of Czech Railways Daniel Kurucz in CER Management Committee represents a significant business valuation of Czech Railways and especially the very head of the company in international railway organizations.

On the occasion of InnoTrans 2014 an extraordinary National Train Prague - Berlin was dispatched painted in national colours of the Czech Republic.

The opening of the InnoTrans 2014 was attended by Pavel Surý, Managing Director of Railway Infrastructure Administration. On the left Marie Vopálenská, Managing Director, ACRI.

Departure of National Train to Berlin was accompanied by a pleasant atmosphere. Many participants took an advantage of the opportunity to have a photo in front of the locomotive decorated in the Czech national colors. Among those Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD, Tomáš Ignačák, Vice President for Business, Škoda Transportation, František Bureš, Chairman of the Board, DPOV, and many more.

Czech Railways and Austrian Railways ÖBB joint project railjet express train covering connections on the Prague - Brno - Wien – Graz will be launched in December 2014.

Speed trains ​​ offer considerable comfort such as reclining seats in business class, a pleasant atmosphere in the restaurant car or a small children‘s cinema.

Trains will shorten the travel between Prague and the newly opened Vienna‘s main railway station by about half an hour.

Hostesses in elegant uniforms have contributed to the elegant atmosphere on board the train, here together with Ondřej Michalčík, Director of Public Transport Department, Ministry of Transportation of the CR.

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event Photo: Archive

Antonín Blažek , Chairman and CEO, VUZ Praha together with Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD in front of legendary diesel locomotives nicknamed „Bardotka“ for their resemblance with the shapes of a famous actress Brigitte Bardot.

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Day of Railways 2014

Czech Railways celebrated 175 years of railways in the Czech lands.

Rail transport in the territory of the Czech Republic has 175 years of tradition. The first railway line was opened from Vienna to Břeclav, June 6th, 1839 and July 7th, 1839 was a festive day with inauguration of a firts train from Vienna to Brno. Distinguished guests and the public remembered this anniversary on a Day of Railways, this year held on September 27th.

On the occasion of the traditional Day of Railways and celebrations of 175th anniversary

of the arrival of the first train to our territory, rich cultural program was held in Břeclav. A number of historic and modern vehicles ranging from centuries-old steam beauties to advanced Railjet and Pendolino were presented. On the same day new public transport terminal was inaugurated.

Exceptional event attracted the attention of 30,000 visitors from all over the Czech Republic and abroad.

The fact that railways is not at its 175th birthday outdated and obsolete vehicle is clearly evident by its widely penetrated usage. Czech Railways, with almost 170 million passengers carried per year, approximately 17 journeys per 1 inhabitant, holds one of the first rung among the new EU member countries and an important place in the whole European Union.

In addition, interest in traveling by train in the last three years continues to grow, unlike bus service.

Rich cultural program was held, including pop stars. The moderator of the show was Patrik Hezucký.

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Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD greeting the guests of Day of Railways 2014

Among the guests who were presented a large exhibition of modern and historical vehicles were among others from left: Milan Kubíček, Deputy Director General, ŽSR, Jozef Luha, HR Director, ZSSK, Ján Uhnavý, Director of the Regional Directorate of Trnava, ŽSR, Štefan Kuruc, Director, Operational Division, Roman Kusý, wDirector, Inspection and Control Department, ZSSK, Jozef Peško, Director, Maintenance Department, ZSSK, Jozef Schmidt, Director, Division of Trade, ZSSK, Michal Štěpán, Member of the Board, ČD responsible for passenger transportation, and Oldřich Ryšavý, Mayor of Břeclav

event Steam and modern trains dragged attention of not only important guests, but also thousands of visitors from all over the Czech Republic and abroad.

Oldřich Ryšavý, Mayor of Břeclav and Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD during the ceremonial cutting of ribbon

Special train headed by ČD railjet was dispatched from Prague to Břeclav.

Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board

From left: Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD and Alexandr Křížek, CEO, Railreklam

From left: Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD, Milan Kubíček, Deputy Director General, ŽSR, Ján Uhnavý, Director of the Regional Directorate of Trnava, ŽSR, Oldřich Ryšavý, Mayor of Břeclav, Michal Štěpán, Member of the Board, ČD responsible for passenger transportation, Jozef Schmidt, Director, Division of Trade, ZSSK and Josef Smýkal, Member of the Supervisory Board, ČD Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board

During the celebration, the memory of the first Czechoslovak president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was presented in a form of his saloon car. The car was made​​ to celebrate Masaryk‘s 80 birthday.

Special cake in a shape of a steam engine and railjet train

From left: Daniel Kurucz, Chairman of the Board, ČD, Milan Hašek, Governor of South Moravia, and Oldřich Ryšavý, Mayor of Břeclav

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interview An interview with Jan Hamáček, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies

The Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Jan Hamáček will head the lower house of the chamber for one year. Is he still devoted to “his subjects” - foreign policy and security? And what are today’s entrepreneurs, who are focused on Russia and Ukraine, interested in most? In this interview for Prague Leaders Magazine, Jan Hamáček also says that politicians should act professionally, and men who pursue a life in politics should do so in the right way.

“Unfortunately, it does not look like we have reached the end of the crisis in Ukraine yet, but hopefully

we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Photo: Archive

30

interview Mr. Chairman, after a summer break, the meeting of the Chamber of Deputies now continues. Which upcoming tasks do you consider the most important?

“I would like to emphasise that we proceed according to the legislative plan of the government to ensure that the key laws are approved in time.

This enables us to fulfill our electoral program. The Chamber of Deputies in recent weeks has undergone a number of crucial tax laws, and also health and social laws. The fundamental law for the following days and weeks is of course the state budget. It is important that we have reached an agreement within the coalition, and thus there should not be serious problems with its approval. “ You recently attended the meeting of The Chairmen of Parliaments of forty-seven European countries. What topics currently prevail in such a venue?

“Such events have several aspects. The first is the official theme of the conference. This year it was focused on more general issues, such as security in Europe, the sovereignty of nation states, the fundamental constitutional rights and freedoms, and on these topics there were associated public debates as a condition of functional democracy.

Another aspect consisted of individual interviews with partners – where Chairmen of the Parliaments talked about current issues. In Norway, we met with colleagues from Austria, Azerbaijan, Norway and Slovakia. It is also necessary to emphasise that all the interviews and themes of the conference were mingled with today’s largest contemporary international political problem – the Ukrainian crisis. « How is the Czech Republic perceived in similar international summits? After all, political commentators recently tend to downplay the role of the Czech Republic...

“The Czech Republic is a medium-sized European country, and in my opinion our voice in Europe and the EU is proportional to our size. In the previous answer, I mentioned individual interviews with partners, and this is something I consider really important. We call that parliamentary diplomacy, which I am trying to strengthen during my mandate, as this also helps to strengthen our position in international relations.

The cooperation within the V4 group of countries is functioning very well, and we have excellent relations with Germany and Austria. The change in our European policy is very positively perceived across the EU. Czech Republic has returned to the mainstream of the EU, and that is good. “ The main topic during the summer months was the current situation in Ukraine. Czech political leaders took different attitudes to that - sometimes it seemed contradictory. Do you think that Czech diplomacy handled the “Ukrainian crisis” well?

“First, it should be noted that although the situation in eastern Ukraine has been calmed, it unfortunately does not look like the end of the crisis yet, but hopefully we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But back to your question, I have a contrary feeling that finally, after a long period of discord, the Czech Republic now speaks uniformly and thus comprehensively - unlike under the previous governments and former president. Our policy is responsible. We are honest partners of our allies, and

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at the same time we have the interests of our country on our minds. “ You are certainly meeting many entrepreneurs in your profession, who focus on Russia and Ukraine. What topics are they currently most interested in? And is it appropriate for the Lower Chamber to help them in uncertain times?

“Today, of course, the most important EU economic From left: Joachim Gauck, President of Germany and sanctions are falling on Jan Hamáček, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies Russia, and especially on Moscow. I’m trying to be active on this issue, because the Czech Republic is a pro-export country and now, due the Ukrainian crisis, we are seeing limitations on exports to Russia. Thus we have to help entrepreneurs find new markets. In the Chamber of Deputies, which I consider a good venue for supporting export, I have initiated several steps – e.g. a seminar on the financing of Czech export, which took place in the middle of September, and featured both the representatives of exporters and government Pan Ki- Mun, General Secretary of UN and Jan Hamáček, institutions. The result of that workshop was a number Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of specific recommendations, especially to the government, ČEB (Czech Export Bank) and EGAP (Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation). In the Chamber of Deputies can be well and effectively August we had a debate about the impact of sanctions linked with a focus on foreign policy and security. “ on the Czech economy and I discussed the current In terms of defence and security, do you want to situation with exporters. Of course we cooperate move from the legislative to the executive branch on these projects with partners - the Chamber of in the future?

Commerce, the International Chamber of Commerce, “It’s not on the agenda. As I stated earlier, I try to the Confederation of Industry and others. “ focus on these issues even in my current position. I The President of the Senate will be replaced highly appreciate the great trust that I receive from my after the autumn elections. How close is your colleagues, and in the position of the Chairman of the collaboration? And is it important for the chairmen Chamber of Deputies, and I do not want to disappoint of both chambers to find a common dialogue? them. “ “I communicate very intensely with Milan Štěch These days social networks an inherent part of and I feel that cooperation between the two chambers communication with voters. Do you have a profile? is working perfectly. This is crucial, especially for the And what is your opinion on this model? legislative process to run smoothly. I›m glad I was “Yes, I have a profile and I use it quite actively, in able to set up regular meetings of the Presidents of addition to Facebook I am also on Twitter. Since the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies with the I belong to a younger generation of politicians, I President of the Czech Republic, where we inform consider social networks as a natural tool of everyday each other about affairs that affect our institutions. I communication. Moreover, I think that this provides hope it will be the same in the future. « a very valuable direct response to the public, as it You have been focused on foreign policy and is a more authentic voice than that provided by the security for a long time. Can you also solve this agenda traditional media. “ from your current position? Do you prefer it?

Are you a professional politician? And how do “When I assumed the office as the Chairman of the you imagine a professional politician?

Chamber of Deputies, I had promised myself that I will “I like working in politics, although I would be able try to strengthen its foreign policy. I’ve already talked to make a living in a different field. However, I believe about the fact that I consider parliamentary diplomacy that politicians should act professionally, and men as one of the important tools of active foreign policy. I who pursue a life in politics should do their best at it. regularly meet with my partners, with heads of foreign Therefore my motto is “decency and professionalism”. parliaments. I deal with heads of states and Ministers Those should be the values of any serious politician. “ of Foreign Affairs during their visits to the Czech Mr. Chairman, who do you consider a typical leader?

Republic. I regularly receive members of the Prague “Different times require a different type of Diplomatic Corps and Czech ambassadors abroad. personality. There is no single definition, in my opinion Regarding security policy, I am in regular contact with results are important. “ people from the Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, and I participate in

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ international security conferences and other forums české znění naleznete na našich on this topic. I believe that the position of head of stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 31

culture event

From left: Jan Pištěk, renowned Painter and Martin Dostál, Curator

Photo: Tomáš Novák, Matyáš Fara

Jan Pištěk IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

JAN PIŠTĚK: MUTUAL ATTRACTION EXHIBITION

AN OPENING CEREMONY HELD AT GALLERY NOVÁ SÍŇ, OCTOBER 7TH, 2014

Born 10 August 1961 in Prague. Between 1981 and 1986, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague where he was appointed lecturer in the studio of painting, headed by Professor Bedřich Dlouhý, in 1990. In 1995, he ended his lecturing activity in order to pursue his own projects, exhibition activities and work for film and theatre.

His artistic career developed in several stages as follows: In the 1980s, he painted monumental abstracted symbols and archetypal forms-signs, for example prehistoric dolmens disguised by a sophisticated net of fine hatching. In the early 1990s, he became interested in constructed geometric forms, inspired by the mechanism of clockworks and the vegetative order of nature. In the mid-1990s, he achieved a turning point in his work through the extensive cycle “Japanese Gardens” with landscapes as the prevailing and fundamental point of departure in viewing the world and referring to eastAsian aesthetics. In the late 1990, he experimented with painted drawings of figural compositions, criticizing the deceptive world of advertising. Via other stages of development – painting projects in the first decade of the new millennium, capturing his own dreams and virtual worlds in the infinite outer space – he eventually returned to landscapes. His large-dimensional paintings deal with the essential issue of events occurring on our planet. His works are held by the National Gallery in Prague, Prague City Gallery, Aleš South-Bohemian Gallery in Hluboká nad Vltavou, the Behémot collection, collection of the city of Mikulov and numerous private collections both in the Czech Republic and abroad.

From left: Tomáš Zapletal, Partner, Cermak Eisenkraft, David Železný, Partner, Cermak Eisenkraft, Markéta Poláková, Manager, Gallery Nová síň, Karel Babíček, Curator, and Jan Pištěk, renowned Painter

From left: RNDr. Michal Lobkowicz, former Politician and Minister of Defense with his wife Lucie and family friend

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher and Jan Pištěk, renowned Painter

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From left: Michal Beníšek, Sales Director, Swiss Life and Jan Pištěk

From left: Karel Oujezdzský, Editor, ČRo and Musician and Stanislav Diviš, Painter and Musician

From left: Arch. Filip Ziegler and Theodor Pištěk, Painter and Film Artist

STATE SERVICE

analysis

ACT AT LAST? The Czech State Service Act (“služební zákon” or also “zákon o státní službě” in Czech), No. 218/2002 Coll., aimed at governing the position, service relations and remuneration of state officials had been adopted as early as 2002 but has never come to power so far, having been repeatedly postponed by subsequent amendments. Now it seems, in spite of all obstacles and conflicting opinions and interests, that it will get its power, even if in an adjusted form, as at 1 January 2015.

More reasons exist why the State Service Act should constitute at last an effective part of the Czech legal system. It was necessary to put an end to vigorous upheavals in state administration structures after every general election, or even after a larger change in the central government, reaching down to section heads, which led to instability and also to some deterioration of the function of state administration. In the new system official structures should be stable, and it should be taken as a rule that the politician decides on the agenda to be done and the official executes the decision by own rules and without any political intervention. This is considered to be one of important blocks against cronyism and corruption and, not least, is also an unfulfilled precondition of the Czech accession to EU, having been overdue for more than ten years.

But there were also reasons why politicians, both in the parliament and government circles and irrespectively of ruling coalitions, did not wish to wake the Act into being. The politicians were, and not unreasonably, afraid that independent professional officials might be reluctant to execute orders that are unpleasant or led by mere political interests; sometimes short-term, or even rather suspicious ones. It was also pointed out that the stipulations of the Act were to constitute new legal institutes and bodies that might provoke a bigger administrative burden and higher costs.

The key impetus to breaking these concerns was nevertheless the fact that administrative efficiency including public administration reform constituted an ex-ante conditionality for the drawing of EU funds during the 2014 – 2020 programming period.

The bill of the push-off amendment was passed by a group of Parliament members in January 2014 and underwent a discussion in the Chamber of Deputies under which it was found that the support by coalition deputies might not be sufficient for the bill to pass through. In the effort to reach majority

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in the said Chamber, the Government made, after a discussion with the opposition’s leaders, some changes in the bill.

The most important change was made by abolishing the previously conceived ”boss of all state administration bosses”, the Director General of State Service, who would have been, according to a French pattern, completely independent from political powers and have been fixedly installed in a newly created special office for a period of six years. The opposition considered it uneconomical and might also believe that such a person, nominated by the left-centre coalition, would have influenced the structure and activities of administrative staff for a too long time, in spite of future election results. Then it was agreed that this agenda will be entrusted in the Ministry of Interior where a special Deputy Minister’s post responsible for state administration is about to originate. Another change is in acceptance of political deputies of a minister that would assist in safeguarding the political line of the respective minister. In result of the changes, the initial calibration of the legal text inclined more to the favour of political management than of independent administration.

It is not completely clear how the question of guaranteed tenure of an office (returning to the pre-war Czech situation) would be handled, as it could make officials more resistant to corruption offers. This may be the main benefit from the tenure, and not the stability of the position itself, as the attractiveness of an official post is not now as high as some decades ago. Quality specialists do not need it immediately, as they can anytime move on to business sphere, and much is to be done in periodical testing the staff in particular, to prevent new legislation to build a safe haven for bureaucratic “moss-covered stones” who would scarcely find a job anywhere else. A potential future introduction of compulsory rotation of posts, known e.g. from the practice of the European Commission’s officials, would also be

a good deal towards better quality and flexibility of the staff.

It would be a self-deception to think that the classical contradiction between the political management of state administration and stability and safe position of official staff could extinguish by the mere introduction of the new Act. A functional relation of those always conflicting principles can be found only during growing good practice and learning-by-doing. Neither is the status of state officials the only essential problem to be solved in the sphere of government system. One even more important and equally protracted is, e.g., reduction of immense administrative burden of the overcomplicated Czech social and tax systems.

Emanuel Šíp ■ Partner, Allied Progress Consultants Association české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 33

interview An interview with Milan Sedláček, Sales Manager, DIC

From 1994 - 2000 Milan Sedláček was doing business mostly in raw-materials for the food industry. Since 2000 he has been engaged in parallel capital markets (Forex, commodity markets) and trading on the stock exchange. Since 2006 he has worked at the company Diamonds International Corporation (DIC) as Sales Manager and Certified Investment Specialist.

Photo: Archive

Diamonds are Forever Mr. Sedláček, how long have you pursued diamond trading?

“I started to cooperate with DIC in the year 2006, therefore almost since the beginning of it‘s being on the market. At that time, it served only as a kind of service to my portfolio, to which I was devoted.

However, in time, and I must say that it was thanks to changes after June 2007, when the subprime mortgage crisis started in the USA, I became more aware of the importance of this trade, and I gave gradually increasing intensity to it.

That time period is absolutely not comparable to the present. With zero awareness among the public about this business, it was in the beginning very difficult to overcome people‘s mistrust and fear of the unknown. However, trough persistent promotion of awareness, honest practice, openness to the media, and transparency of trade, the company has grown to its current size.

DIC has fourteen subsidiary companies, its own jewelry production capacities, the capacity for processing diamonds, and has commercial channels and an extensive clientele. In capital cities, where we have our subsidiary companies, we build showrooms. The showrooms are in this sense a kind of representative brand stores, where we introduce and sell our goods.

It‘s worth mentioning that our company has achieved a AA international rating of high credibility, awarded by the rating company Soliditet in 2012.

The business is much easier nowadays, because the public awareness is at a higher level, and our business background helps us as well.

34 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

Who are your clients? And how do you sell the diamonds?

Trading in luxury goods, watches and luxury fashion accessories involves a wide range of customers who are able to appreciate the originality, precision processing, and premium materials from which we manufacture. Our goods are made by the same technologies and procedures as the goods of the most renowned global brands in our specialisation, and the only possible way to buy it is from our company, which fully guarantees the quality and uniqueness. A series of our customers appreciate the uniqueness of our products, and that is the reason we create built-to-order original products, apart from our limited edition products, of which we also create a few dozens pieces.

Besides this range we offer investment loose diamonds. In this segment we offer complex services from consulting to sales, custody and after-sales services. Here, through our membership in the diamond exchange in Antwerp (Beurs voor Diamanthandel Antwerpen) and the Diamond Exchange in Dubai (Dubai Diamond Exchange DDE) we can offer the highest quality stones and parameters that best meet the conditions for meaningful and valuable investment in the future.

We can say that our client is every man who thinks about

his future, and who, due to his high standard of values, is able to appreciate the very best properties of diamonds, which differentiates them from other types of investment instruments, as we know from our everyday experience.

How do diamonds function as an investment?

The diamond is a natural mineral that is created in very limited quantities on our planet. Its occurrence is mapped in detail over long periods of time. The biggest and best quality stones have been highly valued since ancient times because of their rarity.

The extraction of raw materials has demanded higher and higher mining costs over time, which has also increased the price of stones. Since 2000, when the internationally recognised standards for trade in diamonds (Kimberley Process) and globally valid certification system were adopted, the diamond actually has become a globally recognised tender. If we have well-defined characteristics for each stone, we are always able to accurately determine the price that is valid worldwide.

A diamond is a medium for long-term conservative investment, where its owner, after a certain time, realises a gain from the resulting increase in prices over time. The prices of diamonds are characterised by very low levels of volatility. In the top stone we see de

interview facto zero volatility, suggesting a high price stability.

In periods of economic, political or other instability, diamonds historically behave as a counterbalance compared to other types of assets that are subject to price declines and price increases.

If you look at it in numbers, the long-term average return on so-called Investment Diamonds is between 6-18% pa. Of course there are diamonds that appreciate differently, but this is dependent on the parameters of each stone, and it depends more on the choice.

If we focus on a specific case over the past ten years, then e.g. stone weighing 1ct / D / IF for 10 years increased in value by 63%. Today it is an investment of just under 27.000 USD. If we look to a higher class of stones, then a diamond weighing 5CT / F / VVS2 has for the last ten years seen an increase of 184%. We are talking about a diamond at the current price of 365.000 USD. We could also choose other examples.

How about the authenticity of diamonds? Has a layman any chance to distinguish whether it is a real diamond or a fake?

Yes, this is an important issue. I must say that the layman has no chance to discover whether it is a real diamond or other material. On the market, especially in jewelery, there are stones which are very similar to diamonds and are thus presented. It is very encouraging that Czech Trade Inspection has become interested in this issue, and is trying to ensure respectability at the retail market.

For each customer it is very important to know from whom they buy. In recent years many online offers for diamonds have appeared, and also offers for free investment stones. Here, the customer must be especially vigilant. Because of my own experience I know that many things are different than presented on commercial sites.

Likewise, each customer should pay attention to the so-called merchants who offer „guaranteed quality and genuine diamonds directly from Africa at very competitive prices.“ I had the opportunity to consider several offers like that, and it has always been a buyers trap.

Anyone interested in jewels has the right to require a certificate from a merchant issued by an independent gemological laboratory. Better yet, attached to the jewels are so-called Reports which list all the technical characteristics of the materials the jewel is made of​​.

Any person interested in investment diamonds should require a certificate, issued by an independent gemological laboratory recognised worldwide. Our company cooperates with the world‘s most renowned laboratories (GIA, IGI, HRD), which use a common evaluation system established by norm ISO / FDIS 11211-1. In connection with security features such as security packaging, laser stone marking, and any certificate verification from a laboratory, each client has absolute assurance of a stone‘s authenticity.

You have mentioned that the diamond has unique properties compared to other types of assets. What characteristics are they?

Besides their conservative nature, and thus a stable price, it is also their complete focus of value into ​​ such

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What price development can we expect in the diamond industry in the future?

Given the world´s very limited resources of diamond-bearing raw materials, and the rising costs of their extraction, it is not possible to assume that diamonds will be cheaper in the future.

The latest detailed analysis at the end of 2013, which can be found in the client section on my website (www.milansedlacek.com), describes future development in detail. Currently, worldwide annually increasing demand for diamonds (about 5%) is balanced by increased production of the mining sector. In 2018 the world should realise four new mining projects. The subsequent period will be characterised by a gradual decline in production (by about 1.6% per year) due to the gradual closure of existing mines because of their extinction.

As a result, a widening gap can be expected between growing demand and restriction of the raw materials available on the market, which will have a big impact on the price of diamonds, as is expected by all experts in the industry. That is one point of view.

The second one incorporates an unclear view of the further development of the functioning monetary system. While the diamond (besides gold) again became an alternative form for the preservation of property values​​, it can be expected to have growing importance in the financial world. Some financial houses have already started to focus on this, and the diamond is expanding its scope to approximately 3/5 of the world, where the role of investment instruments has thus far not worked, or was in the past interrupted.

And this is an important aspect that will determine the growth of prices in the future.

a small piece of matter. There is a difference of storing 80 kg of gold compared to one stone weighing 0.6 grams.

Another important feature is the high mobility and the free transferability from one country to another.

Just look at the story of Jan Antonín Baťa, where he mentions how they transferred their capital abroad to begin to build their business in another country.

Then there is also the worldwide possibility of liquidity, according to the globally valid price list, which just confirms the diamond‘s nature as international tender.

And we must not forget its discrete nature.

A diamond is not a registered commodity anywhere in the world, and cannot be traced back to its owner.

So if we are talking about a strategy of building a property portfolio of different types of investments, then the diamond has an absolutely irreplaceable role and importance. Therefore it can be considered a part of the financial life of every successful man.

What direction will DIC take in the upcoming period?

First of all, we agree with the context described in the previous answer, and have taken necessary steps to ensure that our company will be a major player in this field. Our foundation is built on our nine-year history in the market with clearly defined results.

I can not describe our plans for the company, which we are preparing for the future. I can only say that the plans are really big.

Maybe you saw in the media a few weeks ago that for the next ten years DIC will be the general partner in organising the Miss Universe worldwide competition.

It‘s a huge success story that this Czech company received this prestigious project. It‘s also a huge responsibility and an obligation to prove to the world that we are among the world‘s elite in our industry.

However, this is only the first bit of the future mosaic.

At this time, the company‘s management is working hard to create the conditions for the planned expansion of business activities. Management is creating the background for planned growth of business production and related activities.

I am sure that the future will bring many new things and will strengthen the significance of our company, not only in the national branch but also on a global scale. We have really great challenges and a lot of interesting work in front of us.

Prepared by LM ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 35

interview An interview with Milan Chovanec, Minister of the Interior

I would love to achieve a situation where

POLICEMEN

could spend more time doing fieldwork “Dear Minister”, have you already got used to this salutation?

“I prefer a less formal salutation. Anyway I came to the Ministry of the Interior after thorough consideration and in order to do something good for this country. This salutation is obviously not offending me.”

You took over the Ministry in times when the media were keeping a close watch on a situation around police presidents. Have you ever considered this as a disadvantage?

“Truth is that I haven‘t had time to get used to the office and i had to solve an unpleasant situation in the police‘s top-management immediately.

I have never taken it as a disadvantage or even thought about it this way. As the minister of the interior I have the responsibility for running the police, as a citizen and as a politician I have an interest on stabilisation and the independence of the police and better conditions for their work. I am used to working hard so i started my first day in the Ministry with it.”

How detailed an overview have you had on other issues of the Ministry of the Interior before you got into office?

And what surprised you the most from this point of view in the early days?

“I have already had certain overviews about the situation in the Ministry of the Interior. But it is also true, that I could not know everything in detail Conditions of some things, e.g. The situation in semi-budgetary organization Service Provider for Ministry of the Interior or Czech Post forced me to send the controllers into both of these organizations.“ If you had to choose three problems which you would like to solve as soon as possible and three others which you know, you can not manage to solve in the course of the mandate, which would that be?

36 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

„Most needed is to stabilise Czech post and police force, which were decimated due to previous governments. I also considered collaboration between Ministry of the Interior and Police divisions with the Ministry of the Finance and Financial analytical unitas an urgency and to get back the ability of our state to fight against tax evasions consistently. There are also problems beside these, whose solving is going to take a long time and one mandate is not sufficiently long for them. E.g. the drugrelated crime. I made a decision to pursue the destruction of the drug underworld and to win the fight against drugs.”

What do you imagine when you hear the term “modern security service”?

“First of all, it is an operational Police and Fire brigade readiness for action. A modern security service is service which needn‘t be distracted by any artificially created political scandals.

It‘s personally stable and has adequate resources for it‘s own work. The basis is to have professionals in both services and we do have them. We as politicians have to ensure this.”

What would be a success to you as the head of the department?

“There are many issues and actual topics which are important to deal with, e.g. stabilisation of security forces inclusive of salary increase, heading of Czech post or to achieve really effective functioning of public administration.

However I would like to cooperate with minister of justice and simplify criminal procedure and allow policemen to spend more time in the field.

I would be very glad, if we can start the ability of the state to deal with tax evasions.”

You have the experience from both the public administration and self-governance.

How appropriate is this combination in your actual position?

“Long functioning in local government is of course a good background for politics. Personally, I think is suitable for politicians that before they come to “big” politics they should get used to the conditions in this area. In local government the relationship between politician and voter is a little different and you are able to see problems of people in different context.”

The agenda of your department is truly very wide. Which area have you studied at first?

And what interested you the most?

“Firstly I had to study the issue of heading the policy due to circumstances. After solving this

interview The interior minister and member of parliament of the Czech Republic, Milan Chovanec, has been in politics since 1997. He worked mainly at a regional level in the Pilsen region for fifteen years and was head of this area for four years. He became vice-chairman of the Czech Social Democratic Party last October and later a parliamentarian too. He is heading the Ministry of the Interior since January.

Photo: Archive

situation I started to study other issues of the department more deeply. I have already said, I was surprised by the Czech post issues. But hopefully this is slowly going to be better.”

Your grandfather was a politician too. Do you use his experiences? And would you approve your children to pursue you in politics?

“I hold my grandfather in high esteem, his experiences and advice which I obtained in my youth, I use a lot. It is not just that he was a politician. I loved to listen his stories from Second World war in my childhood. He

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actively participated as a resistance fighter.

Harsh interrogations, prison, concentration camp formed his attitudes. And thank him, I respect what our ancestors had done for our freedom. Now it is our turn to keep and protect the freedom for our children and grandchildren.

However, what my children decide about their future, I will obviously support.”

“Practically all my working in local and regional politics I consider a very good grounding for national policy. I can not see any side effects which could bring any disadvantages. Truly I have to say, as a citizen of Pilsen, I feel nostalgic sometimes for local government. Anyway I am not sure there is time to have those thoughts with this workload. “

Which advantages and disadvantages have your experiences from self-government for leading such a large office? And won‘t you miss local government?

Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 37

charity event IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia presenting a check as a donation to FN Motol for cinical research, on the photo with Prof. MUDr. Jan Starý, DrSc.

Shobokshi Investment donated 2.5 million CZK to support clinical research of children cancer Neuroblastoma 16th September 2014, Prague – The company Shobokshi Investment as part of its corporate social responsibility program donated 2.5 million CZK to the Faculty Hospital for a three-year research program for the most common type of cancer in early childhood called Neuroblastoma. The President of Shobokshi Investment and the honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia Hussein Shobokshi handed over the check to the chief of the Clinic of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology prof. Jan Starý MD. On behalf of Kapka Naděje, a charity that has been involved in mentioned research for a long time, Mrs. Vendula Svobodová attended the ceremony too. „Cancer of any type is an increasingly frequent disease at any age. The neuroblastoma which affects children under 15 years old is the most common cancer in childhood and we would like to help develop new methods of treatment and inform the population as the level of awareness among people is still low,” said company owner and honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia Hussein Shobokshi.

The donation was handed over to Jan Starý MD and Tomáš Esckschlager MD who are involved in the research and have many years of experience in the treatment of cancer. Mrs. Vendula Svobodová attended the handover of the cheque with Kapka Naděje, endowment fund dedicated to children with blood disorder, and cancer research means the next hope for them. „We decided to support this project not only because it is an important milestone in the treatment of children cancer, but also from our own experiences.

My daughter suffered from this disease and you find out in a moment like this that health is really the most important thing in one´s life,“ said finally Hussein Shobokshi.

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From left: Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia talking to Mr. Mohamed Ashraf Khalil

From left: Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia and MUDr. Aleš Vícha, Ph.D.

charity event

Fom left: Prof. MUDr. Jan Starý, DrSc., Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia, Vendula Svobodová, President, Endowment fund Kapka Naděje, and Prof. MUDr. Tomáš Eckschlager, CSc

Prof. MUDr. Jan Starý, DrSc. handing over the endowment fund Kapka Naděje´s award to Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia

Vendula Svobodová, President, Endowment fund Kapka Naděje handing over the endowment fund Kapka Naděje´s award to Hussein Shobokshi, President, Shobokshi Investment and the Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia

From left: Prof. MUDr. Tomáš Eckschlager, CSc. and MUDr. Aleš Vícha, Ph.D.

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THE CZECH – SAUDI BUSINESS FORUM

November 5th, 2014 at žofín Palace The subject of the first Czech-Saudi Forum held under the auspices of Jan Mládek, Minister of Trade and Industry is the development of strategic partnerships and business relationships between both countries. We would like to find new roads and ways of creating new opportunities in the market through strengthening relationships between the Czech Republic and Saudi Arabia. The main objective of the Forum is to not only share mutual experience but also to promote trade and investment opportunities between Saudi Arabia and the Czech Republic and to acquaint the participants with their prospective foreign partners and establish contacts for future mutual cooperation.

There will be participants from Czech and Saudi business representatives, government officials from both countries, import & export managers and trade specialists.

The Czech – Saudi Business Forum is organized by Shobokshi Investment led by company owner and honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia Hussein Shobokshi.

Hussein Shobokshi, Owner, Shobokshi Investment and Honorary Consul of the Czech Republic in Saudi Arabia

More info to be found at www.czech-saudi-forum.cz 40 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

social media

ARE WE WASTING TIME

ON SOCIAL MEDIA? We are living through a technological revolution and the rise of social media has not only changed how we communicate and interact with one another but it has also changed how we all view the world.

Access to information has become instant and when a major news event takes place, people get to hear about it first through social media sites.

And what’s more, people now expect it; it has simply become an integral part of our lives. In some cases the new form of media is actually starting to drive the news agenda.

Social media is here to stay and for those who haven’t yet joined the conversation, the risk in not doing so is growing every day. Many companies, competitors, clients and peers have a presence in social media, where conversations about industries and brands are happening daily. What’s the best way to look at social media? Social media should be seen as a means to an end, not an end itself and where social media tools can be shown to provide commercial advantage, they should be adopted for the workplace and employees should be encouraged to leverage them.

Which social media tool is the best?

This very much depends on what type of a company you are, what you wish to use social media for and what you want to achieve. LinkedIn is fast becoming the go-to place for both recruiters and jobseekers and it will continue to be a professional hub going forward. If you regularly post news from your website on your LinkedIn page, you continue to drive traffic to your website and ensure all your followers see a consistent message.

Corporate Twitter account can help you raise your profile. Set a minimum number of tweets per week, posted with a focus on promoting strategic contract awards, participation in industry-related 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 seven years she has been working and living in London, UK; currently she is Manager of Global Communications for AMEC plc, a large international engineering consultancy. Tereza also works as a freelance consultant in the area of communications and PR. She speaks Czech, English, Spanish and Russian and can be reached on terezaurbankova@yahoo.com or through her LinkedIn profile.

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events, CEO’s participation in current events/ conferences/speaking engagements, corporate and market-specific recruiting events, employees in the news, and important dates/results in your financial calendar – this approach should steadily build your database of followers.

Have you considered setting up your CEO’s Twitter account? It is also great for profile raising; however, thought leadership can be your secondary rationale.

This account can be used to establish an authentic voice of your CEO as a thought leader, demonstrating the strength of his/her values, expertise and industry knowledge and raising his/her profile, thus creating value and opportunity for the company. A CEO, through his/her personality and strong views, can become a brand ambassador for the organisation. Quality over quantity; and authenticity are key to success.

To give a sense of how valued a social CEO is, a Weber Shandwick (Global PR)* global study found out that 76 per cent of executives think that it is a good idea for their CEOs to be social. Among their reasons for favouring their CEO’s social participation is how it reflects internally – 52 per cent feel inspired by their CEO’s sociability and transparency. Looking externally, 69 per cent say that it enhances the company’s market credibility.

As a B2B company we haven’t seen much substantial value in expanding our social media presence to, for example, Facebook and Google+.

These are best thought of as a placeholder, to prevent an unauthorised page being created and/ or the company name being unavailable should we decide to adopt either in the future.

YouYube has proven to be a great tool to share people/community videos, company videos, project videos, etc. Videos should not be too long – ideally under two minutes in length! It is advisable to regularly refresh the existing content; however, it depends what role a video plays in promoting your company and what you do.

Or, you can even go one step further with things like Tweetchats or Google Hangouts, which are essentially online focus groups.

This is by no means a complete list and there are many more tools you can utilise. What companies need to remember is that branding is vital – people must know exactly and recognise who you are and what your values are.

Are we making the most of social media?

However, from a business perspective, I believe there is still some way to go before we can say social media is being properly utilised. Some companies seem to keep forgetting the word ‘social’ in ‘social media’ and that they can use it for more than spitting out press releases

and sales pitches. Social platforms should be 50 per cent listening and 50 per cent activity. How can you know what your customers want and expect if you’re not prepared to listen to them! The more you listen, engage with and respond to your audience, the better the longterm benefits of your online efforts will be.

Social media is an excellent marketing and advertising tool as well as a great way to gauge customer feedback. At the very least you should be monitoring everything people are saying about you and there are plenty of tools to help with this. And, there are additional things to consider on social media, for example, conducting regular online polls, a simple yet effective way to get people’s opinions.

Last but by no means the least, if you really want to get seriously involved in social media and make the most of it you also need to have a social media strategy. And, the first step, like any other element of business, is planning! How else can you determine if a campaign has been successful if you have no objectives and metrics? There are many examples of companies just ‘getting online’ and ‘seeing what happens when we post a few messages’. With social media and its intuitive use, it is very easy to get carried away.

One thing is for sure – social media is not going to go away and trying to ignore it will be a big mistake to make for any business or jobseeker. The world will move on and those who are not part of the journey risk getting left behind.

By Tereza Urbánková ■ *Source: Weber Shandwick / The Social CEO: Executives Tell All (2013)

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 41

global perspectives

Jan Mühlfeit, Chairman, Europe Microsoft Corporation Photo: Paul Pacey

European Entrepreneurship: Don’t Forget to Scale Up

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global perspectives Today, entrepreneurs are tackling the global economy and not just the local market. They face unprecedented challenges and threats, as well as remarkable opportunities. Today, innovation and entrepreneurship are about being fast enough.

These are just some key points to keep in mind when reading the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) new report “Fostering Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship in Europe” (2014). With the launch of the WEF report, I took part in a panel discussion on Open Innovation.

The event was held at Microsoft Atrium in Berlin, where together with Sabine Brunswicker, Strategic Advisor at the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization IAO in Germany, I discussed innovation and entrepreneurship. The WEF report examines the challenges faced by Europe’s high-growth start-ups. It also sets out an agenda to help serial entrepreneurs achieve the critical mass needed to scale and compete internationally.

Stand up, Start up, then Scale up!

The analysis in the report, which was produced in collaboration with A.T. Kearney, comes from a survey of over 1,000 European entrepreneurs as well as interviews and workshops with policy-makers and other key decision-makers and experts in Europe and globally. The results indicated that the ecosystem for developing, and especially for growing start-ups in Europe is substantially less favorable than that in North America across all three phases of the entrepreneurial life cycle. These three phases are part of a new model for understanding how stakeholders such as leaders from government, business and civil society, as well as others, can better support serial entrepreneurs in Europe: 1. Stand up – This first phase of the entrepreneurial life cycle is about mobilizing Europeans to rise among the entrepreneurial lines. ‘Stand up’ is about promoting the attitudes and skills required by Europeans with the desire and the ability to create scalable entrepreneurial ventures.

2. Start up – After arming Europeans with motivation and capabilities, we must enable them with capital. This second phase is based on gathering the resources to ‘Start up’ a business, with particular focus on access to capital for entrepreneurs across the European Union.

3. Scale up – Skills and capital are vital for the success of an entrepreneur, but the key added ingredient is synergistic partnerships. Our entrepreneurs must ‘Scale up’ their micro ventures. This third phase stresses the need to enable ventures to scale, with particular focus on collaborations between entrepreneurs and large corporations. I cannot emphasize enough how important this phase is. Partnerships between entrepreneurs and large corporations that simultaneously improve the innovation capacity of both partners to create growth and jobs across the region, benefits the entire economic ecosystem. As important as this phase is, it is also one of the most challenging to master.

Ring the alarm!

The report reminds us of the importance of entrepreneurs to the health of the European economies: small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) account for over 99% of all firms, two-thirds of jobs, and 8 out of 10 jobs net generated since 2008, as well as more than half of the total added value created by businesses. With this in mind, the report also shares some alarming statistics

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gathered by the European Commission and WEF. 45% of Europeans say it never crossed their mind to start a business. If a bit less than half of Europe’s working population does not even think about entrepreneurship, yet SMEs account for two-thirds of jobs, then we have a gap in motivation, attitude and skills. If we want SMEs to account for two-thirds and rising, then we must close this gap and we must assess what drives individuals to have the desire and believe in their capability to start an innovative company or join a start-up.

Also according to the report, 79% of Europeans say it is difficult to start one’s own business due to a lack of financial support. However, this second phase is not just about access to funds, it is about making a startup into a viable venture that creates value. If it creates value, the funds will come and it will be able to secure the required financial capital it needs, and thus increase the likelihood for the business to break even. Even though it is estimated that only 50% of European startups survive the first five years or the ‘Start up’ phase of breaking even, fewer SMEs are able to ‘Scale up.’

Indeed, the ‘Scale up’ phase poses the real challenge.

While the statistics above are alarming enough, here is another one: even though the number of start-ups in the European Union increased by 370,000 between 2008 and 2013, the same number of SMEs and large companies registered no net growth. This shows that SMEs are disconnected and face difficulties in scaling up and thus making a significant difference to growth and employment across Europe.

Indeed, of the three life cycle phases, “Scaling up” is seen as the most challenging for European start-ups, with almost 40% of survey respondents believing that conditions were unfavorable in their country. “Europe has a strong track record in establishing innovation-driven start-ups. However, its weakness lies in helping these businesses grow in and beyond fragmented European markets,” said Philipp Rösler, Managing Director, Head of Centre for Regional Strategies, World Economic Forum.

We need to ring the alarm and raise awareness of the entrepreneurship situation Europe is facing, because the current situation is due to a disconnect in the ecosystem but not due to a lack of willingness on the part of policy-makers or actors in the private sector – 87% of survey respondents said that they are personally willing to support initiatives in their countries, while forum interviews and workshops identified a large number of multi-nationals seeking to incorporate start-ups in their business activities. Many senior policy-makers at both the European and Member State levels, including a number of heads of state and government, are highly motivated to improve conditions for innovative ventures.

It’s not productivity. It’s not information. It’s about self-awareness.

The first two phases of the entrepreneurial life cycle ‘Stand up’ and ‘Start up’ are the straightforward bridges that must be crossed for an SME to start and survive.

However, it is the development and maturity of a business that can contribute even more to European economies, and it is the ‘Scale up’ phase that is also more challenging than the rest. But why is that? The answer has to do with navigating unstable change, attracting the right human capital to support the growth, developing the talent, and other reasons. However, at the core of all these areas of high importance there is one underlying factor that can act as the igniting success factor for SMEs in ‘Scaling up.’ Although important, that factor is not what a lot of

people would argue, which is a lack of productivity, and is also not having access to up-to-date market information.

I believe it is improving self-awareness.

Entrepreneurs need to look inwards to themselves and their team because success is not only related to starting up and surviving as a company. Having the capacity to understand personal abilities, motivations, strengths and passions in relation to others, will help in understanding other players in the market and identifying innovative and synergistic partnerships. Indeed, selfawareness is key to personal growth, and to the growth of the start-up. Capacity for introspection is crucial in two key ways. Firstly, if entrepreneurs are aware and in touch with their own strengths and passions, and they leverage these in the marketplace, they will be able to tap into the opportunities that reside in the surrounding environment. This in turn will highlight the competitive advantage of the start-up in comparison with other enterprises. Secondly, if entrepreneurs know their own and their start-ups’ uniqueness in the marketplace, they can relate better to other innovators and other businesses, and better form working relationships that yield value and growth. There is accounting, finance, even entrepreneurship taught in business schools, but I think drawing attention to self-awareness should also be a focus in the business school curriculum.

Speed it up Czech Republic!

The government and policy-makers have formulated a good strategy to support innovation-driven entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic economy.

We have several strategic initiatives such as the Innovation Strategy and International Competitiveness Strategy, which reflect the awareness of policymakers that entrepreneurship is an important driver of our economy. I also agree with the “3i vision” that forwards innovation, infrastructure and institutions as priorities for the enhancement of the competitiveness of the Czech Republic. However, the Czech Republic economy is relatively small, which means it needs to be more aggressive or it risks lagging behind bigger players. Our economic strategy is well enough, but the government needs to speed up its implementation. We need to be more aggressive with exports, attract foreign investment, develop and train a flexible workforce, educate more engineers, and of course focus on innovation, infrastructure and quality of institutions. Part of creating innovation-driven entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic is also promoting strategic and longterm partnerships between companies and research institutions, and between the private and public sector.

This is also a point mentioned by Bohuslav Sobotka, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, in the WEF report.

We need to keep in mind that big companies have already mastered the art and science of ‘Scaling up’ and can take a proactive role in sharing best practices and in raising SMEs through the ranks.

I was very proud to be part of the Project Advisory Committee in producing this report, as I believe the analysis and the recommendations made will help unlock European Entrepreneurship Spirit. You can read all recommendations by downloading the entire report on WEF website.

By Jan Muehlfeit, Chairman Europe at Microsoft ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 43

interview An interview with Christoph Kraemer, European Communications Director, AshleyMadison.com

Christoph Kraemer is European Communications Director at extramarital dating site AshleyMadison.com. The second biggest paid dating site in the world, Ashley Madison has attracted huge numbers of users but also – not unexpectedly – a fair share of controversy. Unabashed, the company has recently expanded its operations in Central Europe, most recently in Poland, and now in the Czech and Slovak Republics.

Alex Went spoke to him for Leaders Magazine.

The model of monogamous marriage is not working Photo: Archive

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interview Christoph, you are originally from Germany, but also spent time in the USA and Spain. Does this visit to Prague feel a bit like a homecoming?

I was born to a French mother and German father, so I suppose I had good European credentials from the start. After graduating in history from Yale, I returned to Europe - first in the music industry in what turned out to be the dying days of that particular market, and subsequently running my own concierge business in Barcelona right at the time of the worst financial crisis for decades!

I actually visited Prague in 1989, just before the Revolution. Of course, I’m hoping that the launch of Ashley Madison here will be a kind of second revolution. We plan to invest $10m in advertising and marketing for Central and Eastern Europe; and if everything works out, the Czech Republic will play a central and crucial part in the evolution of the brand.

How have your studies and travels coloured your attitudes and thinking about social and sexual matters?

In 2011 I spotted an advertisement for a position at a new online entertainment company which turned out to be Ashley Madison. I spoke to my French mother about it, and she was very relaxed, as she’d seen it all before – divorces, extramarital affairs – for her it was part of human nature. And as for my French grandmother, well, she just shrugged. This more relaxed attitude is simply part of the way they think.

Of course, there are always going to be naysayers, but I believe it’s Utopian to think that one person is going to make you happy for decades, and that’s particularly true in these days of increased life expectancy.

My degree is in history, and looking at the historical record it’s clear that marriage has changed over time. What used to be basically a socio-economic contract between families changed dramatically in the nineteenth century, with the mobility brought about by the industrial revolution, and the emphasis on passion and feelings brought about by romanticism.

And what about now?

What’s very clear is that the model of monogamous marriage is not working. People are now creating their own kinds of relationships. Just as single parents were deemed unacceptable twenty years ago, and gay marriage is still not accepted in all quarters, so relationships outside marriage – single or even ‘polyamorous’ (with several partners) will take time to become accepted.

The Catholic Church has been one of your fiercest critics. You recently launched in Poland.

What has been your experience so far?

Poland is doing very well. It may come as a surprise to learn that Ashley Madison always does well in highly conservative areas. The more things are forbidden, the more people seem to want to taste the forbidden fruit. You can see the same thing in the Bible Belt of the USA, and also in Spain (with more than 1 million members), where one part of the population since Franco has been very liberal and progressive, and the other half deeply religious and conservative.

Till death do us part? No – everything argues against it. Monogamy is anti-natural. It’s simply not built into our DNA. Many studies agree that, biologically

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speaking, women are programmed to look for new partners every four years after the birth of a child. It’s nature’s way of improving the evolution of the race.

In Spain you ran a billboard campaign for AM featuring King Juan Carlos, Prince Charles and Bill Clinton, with the strapline ‘They should have used Ashley Madison’. The Czech Republic has its own fair share of public figures of fun. You must have had some fun deciding who to choose for the campaign here!?

One of our goals when using celebrities is to show a sense of humour. But also to show all the Joe Smiths on the street that cheating occurs at every socioeconomic level and that those who cheat should not feel ostracized for cheating and that really there’s no need to be embarrassed, because cheating is human.

The Spain campaign was a way of doing this. Don’t get me wrong: having lived and worked in Barcelona for many years, I’ve always deeply admired King Juan Carlos – but he’s human. Up until the time of our campaign there had been no really controversial coverage of the Spanish Royal Family – but I’m no respecter of pedestals. We were pretty confident that a campaign along similar lines could work here!

A survey in 2009 conducted by the Sexology Institute of the 1st Medical Faculty at Charles University suggested that both extramarital affairs and Czechs’ acceptance of them had declined markedly in the twenty years after the Velvet Revolution. What does your current market research tell you? If this trend is still true, what do you intend to do to reverse it?

You always have to take these statistics with a grain of salt. A study at Ohio State University suggests that both sexes give highly exaggerated answers to questions about their preferences. But I can tell you that in the Czech Republic the divorce rate is one of the highest in the EU, so the 500,000 visitors to our site we have had in the Czech Republic within just two weeks of launching the site at the beginning of July was not so much of a surprise.

Do you feel Ashley Madison legitimizes or encourages extramarital affairs, making them part of the mainstream? What do you say to those who accuse you of breaking marriages or encouraging deceit?

Basically, our job at Ashley Madison is to dedemonize – to destigmatize – such affairs, and to bring infidelity to wider public debate. And also of course to provide that all-important safe, secure and anonymous environment for meetings between lovers.

If you are 100% happy in your relationship, then nothing a website tells you is going to convince you to cheat. People need variety. You may love football and opera, but you wouldn’t expect your football fan friends to accompany you to the Marriage of Figaro. We should feel able to have different partners in the same way that we have different circles of friends. There’s a famous case from the United States in which two people dating on Ashley Madison, both unhappily married, divorced their respective partners and married.

Affairs do not need to be marriage breakers 84% of our users tell us that they still love their partner.

The Czech Republic is at the forefront of tech startups, some of which have become internationally well-known brands. How would you feel about having your idea poached? Would it be a bit like your partner having an affair?

Just as trust is important in our (strictly anonymous) dating service, so we want to be seen as a trusted company. Trust and openness are at the heart of our operations, and we believe that these values are strong and not vulnerable to competition.

And getting the right partner is of course the best way of strengthening any relationship. That’s why we have very high hopes for the Czech Republic launch. It has been the long-held dream of our founder Noel Biderman to sponsor a major sports team, and here in the Czech Republic we believe we may have found a favourable partner in the form of Sparta Prague, with whom we have had very positive and confident meetings so far.

Christoph, thank you again for speaking with Leaders Magazine. There’s no question that Ashley Madison will continue to make headlines, and we look forward to seeing how you get on in what could turn out to be a significant new marketplace.

By Alex Went ■

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 45

discussion event

Photo: Jan Šulc Rostya Gordon-Smith, HR Consultant, Director, PeopleIMPACT EMEA, Member of the Board, PMF - People Management Forum, International Ambassador with Dean Brabec, President, CFO Club and Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

HR specialist Rostya Gordon-Smith guest of the CFO Club How to handle increasing psychological pressure was the topic of last summer session of the CFO Club that was held on August 20 in AUREOLE Fusion Restaurant & Lounge in Prague 4. The guest Rostya Gordon-Smith ranks among fifty top HR specialists, moreover she is “living evidence”, that good work and life balance is not only a dream. Her contribution to the topic was highly appreciated by the audience.

From left: Mr. Nikoloz Bolkvadze and Petr Kubernát, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs

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From left: Josef Fiřt, General Manager, Euroenergy, Hana Strnadová, CFO, Fincentrum, and Martin Kašák, Head of Department Corporate Services, ČEPS Invest

Rostya Gordon-Smith, HR Consultant, Director, PeopleIMPACT s.r.o. EMEA, Member of the Board, PMF - People Management Forum, International Ambassador and Dean Brabec, President, CFO Club and Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little

discussion event

From left: Mr. František Vašek, Eva Vašková Čejková, Project Founder, ŽENY s.r.o., Rostya Gordon-Smith, HR Consultant, Director, PeopleIMPACT EMEA, Member of the Board, PMF - People Management Forum, International Ambassador, Helena Leisztner, Artist and Designer, Roland Leisztner, Real Estate Enterpreneur, and Mrs. Carina Novák Šetlíková

Josef Fiřt, General Manager, Euroenergy, and Mrs. Iva Brabcová Bartender show by Martin Baťha, the multiple master of the Czech Republic in the flair bartending, who received the bronze medal at the world championship in Cuba

From left: Lucie Urválková, Member of the Board and CFO, UNIQA pojišťovna, Jan Vinter, Chairman of Editors Board, CFO World, and Alice Maar, CEO, WINE4YOU

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discussion event

Part of the audience

Lucie Urválková, Member of the Board and CFO, UNIQA pojišťovna and Zbyněk Hutar, Editor in Chief, CFO World

Dean Brabec, President, CFO Club and Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little and Lucie Urválková, Member of the Board and CFO, UNIQA pojišťovna

Buffet

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

culture

BMW Zone at KVIFF

BMW CARRIES THE STARS AT THE KVIFF Two days before grand opening of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, festival president Jiří Bartoška took delivery of a fleet of 60 BMWs from Dr. Josef Reiter, CEO of BMW Group Česká republika. From July 4 through July 12, 2014, this fleet – primarily composed of BMW 5 Series and BMW 7 Series, though one can also find an all-electric BMW i3 among them – did cater to the motoring needs of major Czech and international personalities from the world of film. Mel Gibson stands out among this year’s stars from the silver screen, alongside Fanny Ardant, Alice Rohrwacher, Asia Argento and Andrey Zvyagintsev.

As of this year, which marks the 49th anniversary of the festival, BMW Group Česká republika and the Karlovy Vary IFF will collaborate under a long-term cooperation agreement, allowing BMW to make use of the honorary title of ‘Official Festival Car’ in 2014.

The actor, director and producer Mel Gibson pampered himself with a ride in the backseat of a custom-stretched 7 Series BMW, the exceptional comfort of which was later also taken in by actors Michael Pitt and Astrid Berges-Frisbey.

Among the Czech celebrities and public figures of note who attended the festive opening of the KV IFF was Dagmar Havlová, who herself uses a BMW for her acting and charity work.

The collaboration between BMW Group Czech Republic and the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival goes far beyond BMW being the festival’s “Official Car”, as such having provided a fleet of 60 cars. In the area in front of Spa 1, an exclusive BMW Zone has been erected, where visitors can take a peek into the world of BMW. The biggest crowd pullers are the latest BMW models, above all the 4 Series Gran Coupe, and the unique BMW X4, which combines the flair of a sports utility vehicle

with the compact body of a coupe. There, in the BMW Zone, one can also find the latest beauty to come out of the BMW M sports division – the M4 Coupe. And car fans will also be awestruck at the sight of the progressive plug-in hybrid sports car, the BMW i8. Aside from showing off the latest range of BMW models, the BMW Zone is also the place to go for a presentation of cutting-edge automotive technology, not to mention the attractive visitors’ program in the form of test-drives.

Among the first guests to the BMW Zone was Dagmar Havlová, who uses a 5 Series BMW for her charity and acting work. We also spotted the leading Czech physical therapist, professor Pavel Kolář, who uses a BMW i3 to get around.

BMW Group has been supporting culture on the global level for more than four decades.

Over the years, BMW Group has, for example, worked with the world-renowned film festivals in Hollywood, Cannes and Berlin, but it is also committed to collaboration within the framework of such projects as the BMW Guggenheim Lab and the German Museum›s Akademiegalerie, among many others.

BMW was transfering KVIFF guests, Mel Gibson as a top guest star at KVIFF arriving to the red carpet

BMW Group Česká republika

Physiotherapist Pavel Kolář at KVIFF BMW Zone

Dagmar Havlová

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 49

Photo: Archive

culture event

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

From left: Peter Kovarčík, Movie and Musical Producer, Ivana Chýlková, Actress, Jiří Langmajer, Actor, and Alena Antalová, Singer

MAMMA MIA – Famous musical arrives to Prague Opening reception of Mamma Mia took place in a renewed restaurant Továrna na iluze that presents delicious Czech cuisine based on recipes from the period of First Republic, which was a unique island of democracy and modern life in interwar Central Europe.

Famous singers from left: Petr Kotvald, Hana Křížková, Pavel Vítek, and Leona Machálková

From left: Marek Lefner, Operations Manager, Továrna na iluze, Denisa Fischerová, Operations Manager, Továrna na iluze, and Denisa Přibylová, Representative, Továrna na iluze

Peter Kovarčík, Movie and Musical Producer

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From left: Antonín Procházka, Actor, Jaroslava Kretschmerová, Actress, and Pavel Vítek, Singer

Peter Kovarčík, Movie and Musical Producer with a friend

Pavel Vítek, Singer and Ivana Chýlková, Actress

culture event

From left: Mr. Petr Červenka, Fawad Nadri, President, CzechAfghan Chamber of Commerce, Mrs. Alena Ježková, and Mr. Tomáš Dvořák

From left: Hana Křížková, Singer and Radka Fišarová, Singer

Sabina Křováková, Actress

From right: Leona Machálková, Singer and Sabina Křováková, Actress

Alena Antalová, Actress and Petr Kotvald, Singer From left: Fawad Nadri, President, Czech-Afghan Chamber of Commerce, Hana Křížková, Singer, and Ivana Chýlková, Actress with a friend

From left: Hana Křížková, Singer and Ivana Chýlková, Actress

From left: Leona Machálková, Singer, Pavel Vítek, Singer, and Sabina Křováková, Actress

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events

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

From left: Lars Klett, Attorney, Ueltzhöffer Klett Jakubec & Partner, Iwona Winiarska, Project Manager, Wunderman and Martin Michalík, Ernst & Young – Advisory – IT Risk & Assurance

September 5th, 2014

FRYDAY AfterWork Networking in Pálffy Palác From left: Hans Weber, CEO, FOSOTRA GmbH & Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague, Svetlana Skachykhina, Anglo-American University, and Miroslav Kalamar Svoboda, Dean, AngloAmerican University Zofie Angelic, Designer and Emilio Fornieles, Artist

From left: Hans Weber, CEO, FOSOTRA GmbH & Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague, Jana Rainieri, Century21, Geo Briggs, Consultant, and Robert Kiene, US Embassy

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Eliška Coolidge, Owner, Coolidge Consulting Services and Hans Weber, CEO, FOSOTRA GmbH & Managing Partner, FRYDAY Prague

Daniel Vávra, Owner, alarmyvavra.cz and Ivanka De Lu, Owner, School Agent

From left: Andrea Hrochová, Mary Kay, Hana Koželuhová, Bageterie, and Simona Zábržová, Sales Director, SUITU websites

Sandra Eddy, former Director of Canadian Chamber of Commerce and John Bean, Owner and Director, Bohemican International s.r.o.

events

From left: Lena Rubenstein, Artist with her husband Ira-Saul Rubenstein, Senior Partner - International BusinessTraficon M&A advisor CEE, Philip Harrison, Professional Coach, and Veronika Harrison, University of Bratislava

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August 15 , 2014 th

FRYDAY AfterWork Networking in Hotel Four Seasons Guests enjoyed lively evening

From left: Thomas-Georg Pöhlman, CEO Manager, ExpedEast Invesr INC, Milena Koptová, Senior Specialist of Backoffice, Citfin, Assem Al Sabban, Embassy of France, and Ladislava Kvasničková, Manager, Agročas spol. s r. o. Částkov

From left: Julio Horacio Martinez Cajide, Director General & Artístico, Tango ONE, Juan Braun, Charles University, Assem Al Sabban, Embassy of France

From left: Juan Braun, Charles University, Alain Chlala, Strategy Conultant, and Julio Horacio Martinez Cajide, Director General & Artístico, Tango ONE

Magical view of Prague

Nicoleta Pavlov, General Manager, WoodPAV s.r.o. and Oleg Dupal, Senior Customer Developper, Lufthansa Cargo Prague

From left: Stephane Gras, Four Seasons Hotel and Bernd Lanaganke, CEO, Creativevillage

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golf tournament IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Laura Hošek, winner of 5th President’s CFO Golf tournament

5 President’s CFO Golf Tournament th

5th President’s CFO Golf tournament welcomed players at Golf Park Dýšina on Wednesday 10th September, 2014. The tournament had rich program such as many inserted individual competitions; champagne, Belgium beers and whiskey degustation. Fashion show introduced collection of Tamson London dresses and Italian swim wear. Absolute winner was Laura Hošek.

Winners in category HCP 0 – 16, Mrs. Laura Hošek, Mr. Ondřej Balík and Mr. Marek Huml

Winners in category HCP 30,1-54, Mrs. Iva Kaláčová, Mr. Pavel Tůma and Mrs. Eliška Přibáňová

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Winners in category HCP 16,1 - 30, Mr. Igor Mesenský, Mr. Radek Mašík and Mrs. Hana Černochová

Dean Brabec, President, CFO Club and Managing Partner CEE, Arthur D. Little hands the Challenge CFO Cup over to Laura Hošek

media power

SEVEN TACTICS JOURNALISTS CAN USE TO MANIPULATE YOU

… AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM LIKE A STAR I admit. When I was a reporter at the Czech Business Weekly and wanted my piece of news, I would do (almost) anything to get it.

Never underestimate the perseverance of a journalist under time pressure, convinced that he’s representing the voice of masses that are entitled to know, or persuaded that you are hiding something. For a respectable media representative there is nothing better than the smell of a good story.

Good stories have dynamics: conflict, emotions and, from time to time, people who make a fool of themselves. There are legal and ethical limitations in journalism, of course. However, there are rules and there are rules. And some rules can sometimes be broken, particularly if a reporter is under a lot of stress, hasn’t received proper education or is simply looser in his understanding of professional ethics.

So, what can you do to make sure that, if you are to be part of a good media story, you’ll be on the winners’ side? Here are a few examples where lines blur between ethical and unethical media behavior.

Topic chosen, topic forgotten.

It often happens that a journalist would invite herself in for an interview and, upon request, provide you with a list of topics for discussion. It also happens that, during the interview, you realize that you are questioned to talk about some other different and sensitive topics. It’s too late to step back: what do you do? If you feel OK about the new topics, go ahead. Yet, if the reporter is obviously using the space to get you to talk about something that wasn’t previously agreed, rebuff the attempt elegantly. For example say that you didn’t prepare for this particular topic and thus can’t discuss details. If this doesn’t work because you are a CEO / politician who should know details, do your Cristina Muntean is a professional communications advisor, media trainer and coach. She has more than 12 years’ experience in Czech, Romanian and international media. In August 2010, Cristina founded Media Education CEE, a Prague based premium PR advisory and training agency. Her clients are top managers, diplomats and public officials who aim to make their voice heard in their community. In June 2011, Cristina was elected president of the Czech PR Klub and in January 2012 elected chairwoman of the Marketing Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Prague. Cristina speaks Romanian, French, English and Czech and can be reached at cm@mediaed.cz.

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

best to go back to your topics of choice elegantly (remember that priceless bridging technique?).

Crisis scenarios are part of any decent interview preparation. If you know that you’ve got a lot of skeletons in your closet, do yourself a favor and book some media training before going head on to the hot seat.

On the record / off the record One of the favorite tactics of investigative reporters is to encourage people to speak under any circumstances. They might even promise you that what you say will go off the record. What they might mean is, in fact, that they might not publish your name, but they will run the information anyway.

Make sure that you and the reporter have the same understanding of the term off the record. For your understanding: On the record = everything will be published, including your name, position and company. On background = the information will be published but your name won’t be connected to it. On deep background = the reporter will run the information without mentioning any sources. Off the record = the information won’t be published under any circumstances.

Several questions in one.

By asking you several questions in one the journalist may achieve that you will only answer his inquires partially and the reader might gain the impression that you left out some part of the answer willingly. When multiple questions hit you, note down all the issues and answer them one by one. Ask the journalist if there was something else in the question that he wanted to know and you didn’t address before moving forward.

Excessive aggressiveness, interruptions and jumping to conclusions If you come from Romania, being interrupted constantly isn’t something you aren’t culturally used to: it is part of our Latino inheritance. However, having someone jumping constantly in the middle of what you are trying to say, interpreting it, not giving you a chance to explain or raising the voice at you is unpleasant – particularly if it takes place in front of a camera. The worst thing you can do under such circumstances is to mirror the aggressive behavior back. In fact, many journalists consciously provoke sources they know are short tempered in order to reveal that part of a source’s personality to the public. Do not let yourself dragged into an escalating aggressive dialogue. State your messages clearly, look the reporter in the eye and breathe. You’ll be out of it in a minute anyway. Yet, while you’re at it, communicate with dignity.

Photo: Jakub Stadler

Details, details.

If the topic of the interview deals with numerous facts and figures make sure you have a sheet of paper containing such facts at hand, particularly if you go for a live encounter. By asking you detailed questions or pulling out figures that may surprise you a well-prepared journalist can catch you off guard.

Attention span smaller than a split second Under the pressure of the Internet and the need to generate more content, journalists’ attention span has been constantly reducing. Basically, during the interview they focus on one thing only: your words that can be used in an article. By firing questions and switching topics rapidly a reporter might pull you in an unpleasant time race. Stick with your message and never lose sight of your goal: why you decided to meet the reporter in the first place.

Opinion honey for loose flies Sometimes a journalist can also state an opinion in order to test your reaction. Particularly if you’re on the record state only opinions that you can fully endorse afterwards.

Should you prepare yourself well, you can face any media encounter and turn it into your advantage.

Understanding how journalists think and act is a fundamental skill for any leader. Media leadership comes with a price: sometimes you need to face your darkest demons in order to get some prime time coverage. Yet, it is well worth it. Media power isn’t for anyone: it is only for those who dare.

By Cristina Muntean ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 55

networking/charity

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

From left: Ing. Antonín Mika, Director, Foreign Trade Company “LAMMEX Ltd.“ and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, MUDr. Blanka Seifertová, General Practitioner, and Petr Laštovka, Entrepreneur

LIONS CLUB PRAGUE BOHEMIA AMBASSADOR Ing. Jiří Novotný, CSc., MBA, CFO, Ratiopharm and MUDr. Blanka Seifertová, General Practitioner

From left: JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Charterpresident, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic and RNDr. Pavel Kalášek, Advisor IS Management

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From left: Ing. Antonín Mika, Director, Foreign Trade Company “LAMMEX Ltd.“ and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Mudr. Michael Náprstek, General Practitioner

From left: Mgr. Jan Haur, IS Administrator, JUDr. Vojtěch Trapl, Lawyer and former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Secretary of LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

From left: PhDr. Ladislav Říha, Owner, CK RI-Tours and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Ing. Jiří Nejezchleb, Tax Advisor, Ing. Antonín Mika, Director, Foreign Trade Company “LAMMEX Ltd.“ and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

Guest of Honor: Jiří Bříza, Member of Lions Club

networking/charity

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Israel and Palestine through the eyes of a Czech cyclist

From left: Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur, Ing. Jaromír Kaulfus, Entrepreneur, and PhDr. Ladislav Říha, Owner, CK RI-Tours and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

LIONS CLUB PRAGUE BOHEMIA AMBASSADOR

From left: Prof. MUDr. Václav Mandys, CSc., Head of the Institute of Pathology, Prague, Ing. Anton Gerák, CSc., Commercial Director, former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and Secretary, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and Ing. Antonín Mika, Director, Foreign Trade Company “LAMMEX Ltd.“ and President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador

From left: Mudr. René Vlasák, Practitioner, PhDr. Ladislav Říha, Owner, CK RI-Tours and former President, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador, Ing. Tomáš Jadrníček, Project Architect – Entrepreneur, Oldřich Hořák, Owner, Hotel Bílá Růže in Poděbrady, Entrepreneur, Ing. Ladislav Bouček, CSc., Entrepreneur, former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

From left: Oldřich Hořák, Owner, Hotel Bílá Růže in Poděbrady, Entrepreneur, Ing. Ladislav Bouček, CSc., Entrepreneur, former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, and JUDr. PhDr. Oldřich Choděra, Lawyer, Charterpresident, LC Praha Bohemia Ambassador and former Governor, LCI D122 Czech Republic and Slovak Republic

Jiří Bříza, guest speaker

From left: Miroslav Hříbal, Entrepreneur, JUDr. Jaroslav Šátral, Judge of the Municipal Court in Prague, and MUDr. Blanka Seifertová, General Practitioner

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summer party

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Photo: Dean Batak, Zoran Kovačevič

From left: Bernard Bauer, Executive Director, DTIHK/ČNOPK, Peter Musil, Authorized Officer, SHT Dresden, and H.E. Detlef Lingemann, Ambassador of Germany

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

On June 26th, the annual summer party of the Czech-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DTIHK) took place at the historical site of the German embassy in Prague. The garden party attracted more than 950 guests, among them high-ranking members of the Czech-German business community and government institutions and associations. Next to the vintage and current Škoda models, the Chambers´ guests enjoyed an almost rainless summer night with cocktails, delicious food and vibrant music. Live broadcasting of a German football team winning over the US national team, shown on a big screen, put the icing on the cake of an accomplished and unforgettable evening.

From left: Martin Herrmann, Chairman of the Board of Directors, CEO, RWE ČR a.s., Bernard Bauer, Executive Director, DTIHK/ČNOPK, and H.E. Detlef Lingemann, Ambassador of Germany Bernd Felgendreher, Vice President Auslandsgesellschaft Deutschland with his wife

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Dr. Juliane Bauer, Lawyer, Dr. Bauer and Partner and Daniel Dietmar Schambach, ŠKODA TRANSPORTATION Deutschland GmbH

From left: H.E. Detlef Lingemann, Ambassador of Germany and Axel Limberg, Managing Director, EnBW CZ s.r.o. with his wife on the far left

summer party

From left: Rudolf Fischer, President, DTIHK/ ČNOPK and CFO, Siemens, s.r.o., Udo Dolezych, President, IHK zu Dortmund, Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade, H.E. Detlef Lingemann, Ambassador of Germany, and Bernard Bauer, Executive Director, DTIHK/ČNOPK

Udo Dolezych, President, IHK zu Dortmund From left: Ing. Vojtěch Malíček, Sales Manager, Železárny Annahütte, spol. s r.o. with his wife, and Mgr. Zuzana Košútová, MIOSTEEL s.r.o.

Rudolf Fischer, President, DTIHK/ ČNOPK and CFO, Siemens, s.r.o. ŠKODA AUTO a.s. – Sponsor table

B. Braun Medical s.r.o. - Sponsor table

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher and Rudolf Fischer, President, DTIHK/ ČNOPK and CFO, Siemens, s.r.o.

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summer party

Klaus Huttelmaier, President, Robert Bosch AG with his wife

From left: Mrs. Maria Soledad Aguire Luzi, Anna Pia Gludovacz, Consul and Head of Administration, Austrian Embassy Prague, and Mag. Martin Meischl, Commercial Attaché, Austrian Embassy Prague

From left: Renáta Knollová, DTIHK/ČNOPK, George Geveke, Managing Director, AHK Services s.r.o., and Mgr. Sylvie Reterová, Security Law Unit, Ministry of the Interior of the CR

Dancing group Tradición & Carisma

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From left: Gerhard Ludwig, Director, Volksbank Nordoberpfalz eG, Thomas Hanauer, President, emz-Hanauer GmbH, Axel Bartelt, District President of the Upper Palatinate, Dr. Jürgen Helmes, Managing Director, IHK Regensburg, and Richard Brunner, Director of IHK Regensburg - office Cham

summer party

From left: Jiří Mironidis, Chief Sales Officer, GL Provoz, Kaufland Česká republika v.o.s., Christian Karnath, General Director, Kaufland Česká republika v.o.s., and Jan Stupka, CFO, Kaufland Česká republika v.o.s.

From left: Kamil Blažek, Attorney, Kinstellar, Kateřina Práglová, Associate, Wolf Theiss, and LIbor Prokeš, Attorneyat-Law, WOLF THEISS Rechtsanwälte

From left: Petra Kandertová, Managing Director, Zátiší Catering, and Eliška Jehličková, Head of Sales, Zátiší Catering Group, a.s.

LBBW Bank CZ a.s. – Sponsor table From left: Gerd Endres, Chief Financial Officer, Bayer s.r.o. and Axel Gerhardy, Vice-Chairman of the Board, CFO, RWE ČR, a.s.

61 Železárny Annahütte, spol. s r.o. - Sponsor table

the good things in life

Gurus of new eating ( part I ) FOODS THAT PROTECT US We all know, that the basis of good health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is linked to our food. We know the best attitude in regards to food, is to eat less, but of a good quality, rather than larger quantities of cheaper quality food. It is necessary to know the correct food to eat and then adapt it to our individual needs.

In the last 15 years different studies have confirmed the effect on our health as a result to all food we consume and showed around twenty nourishments which are crucial for our health. However food doesn’t have the magical power to heal. Nobody has ever been cured of stomach cancer having eaten large amounts of broccoli, nor rid of diabetes after consuming many kilograms of tomatoes.

Quality food consumed in the optimal amount is the most effective way to prevent all diseases and does not have side effects.

How is this argument proven? Many tissues of people who have died without any pathological reasons were examined and scientists found out that 30% of women over the age of 40 had a micro breast tumour, 40% of men were found to have micro prostate tumours and 98% of the population had increasing malign tumours in their thyroid gland.

The reason for this is that our body produces daily a million precancerous cells. Some food items contain anti­tumorous substances which prevent the increase of micro tumours until their malignant stage. Plants for example the vegetables, which we consume, in their normal conditions are defending their existence from predators by biochemical war. They produce many thousands of phytochemical molecules, as for example; insecticides, fungicides or bactericides. By consuming these vegetables, our cells are using their anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemical, antioxidant, anti­tumorogenous properties and other abilities.

New nutritive ideologies suggest to eat at least 5 vegetable and fruit species per day –according to their seasons and regions in which we stay. This is the amount that should be achieved by everybody. These nutrients are the basis for our health but their impact is hard to be assesed globally. In the USA and Europe the modern population is obese, suffering from cardiovascular problems and diabetes, due to people eating the wrong way and consuming too many calories. Everybody should aim to eat less. The Japanese say: “Eat until you are 80% full“. This means that they are able to leave the table earlier before they are full. By slow consummation not only can we enjoy the meal but we also chew better which doesn’t

62 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

Fish platr

make it difficult for our stomach and digestion, so doesn’t result in us using our own energy. It is proven that our brain gets the information about being full in 20 minutes. That is the reason why it is good to take a small break during eating. It is also said that e.g. Japanese eat healthier also because they eat by chopsticks, so they eat their meal in smaller pieces and also take longer to eat their food.

Around 5 millions years of human existence our genes have learned how to use food reserves for times of starvation. The problem is that we consume an enormous amount of calories and in modern life we have less physical activities. 1.5 million of the worlds population is overweight due to consuming chemically treated foods. The food industry adds in foods; three cheap and unhealthy ingredients for better taste: fat, sugar and salt.

All of the three particles have high addictive abilities. Very famous experiments with rats show higher addiction to sugar than to cocaine.

Pure sugar is very rare in nature and the brain which needs sugar is able to recognise it immediately. The Food industry smartly uses this addiction same as the tobacco companies using the brain’s addiction to substances with high concentration of nicotine.

Homeostasis ( internal environment e.g. stable temperature, pH, concentration of ions etc.) is necessary for all organisms and is the basic concept of medicine. When this stability is disturbed, we get sick. E.g. consummation of larger amounts of sugar than is necessary is very dangerous. This results to, (mostly by children), inability to accept any longer bitter taste such as vegetables, green tea, sprouts, cabbage etc. A little discussed cause of cancer is obesity as a second most important reason right after smoking.

Vegetables, fruit, green tea, curcuma (a plant with the strongest anti-inflammatory effect) onion, garlic are the basic foods which make an inappropriate environment for cancer cells. Strawberries, olive oil, legumes, cereals, cinnamon, black pepper and thyme helps in almost 90% of situations to prevent diabetes; mellitus II type (which is non-genetic). The following ingredients help boost our immune system; leek, shallots, garlic, onion, lemon, seaweed, Japanese shiitake, maitake.

To strengthen our bones we need calcium.

Against the known theories that the largest or best source of calcium for an adult person is not milk but rather spinach, broccoli, avocado, kohlrabi, parsley, black radish and seaweed rich in protein and iron. To reduce LDL –which is bad

the good things in life

Mediterranean diet

cholesterol, on our plate fish should appear at least once per week such as; sardines, wild salmon, herring and mackerel. Walnuts, olive oil, garlic and onions and again a daily glass of red wine. To prevent breast cancer it is recommended to consume freshly groundflax seeds, turmeric, cabbage, broccoli, parsley, green tea especially and blueberries.

Needless to say, that 20mg of dark chocolate a day helps against stress five times more compared to green tea. It also protects our hearts as it lowers the blood pressure and the polyphenols contained in the chocolate dilates vessels.

A so called French paradox explained that although the French eat fatty food and large amounts of cheese, mortality level caused by heart attack and brain infarct are much lower than those in US or UK. The reasons for this are smaller portions of food and so-called “Mediterranean diet” as when fattening food is served with fresh vegetables, olive oil and red wine (contained resveratrol reduces formation of thrombus and so decreases cause of brain or heart infarct) it influences the organism positively, in an adequate amount. It is scientifically proven that adequate consummation of red wine can stop the expansion of some kinds of cancer and formation of tumors of the thyroid gland, kidney and rectum.

It is necessary to distinguish that the consummation of alcohol increases colon cancer but red wine helps decrease it. Again we have to think about adequate amount of what an organism consumes. Researches show that 7 to 20 glasses of red wine per week has a good effect on the health of the brain and prevents Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,

but consummation of more than 28 glasses of red wine per week increases the risk of getting Alzheimers disease or dementia.

Effect of food on the skin and the appearance of wrinkles is five times higher with consumption of butter, two times with consumption of milk products and refined white sugar, also called white poison. For prevention and protection for healthy skin consummation of green tea, fish oil, olive oil, pulses, yellow and red vegetables, artichokes, pomegranates and blueberries are important.

Many people cannot imagine the change of a life style and change of alimentation

whilst they are feeling healthy. They probably don‘t know how, what and where to consume.

Fortunately there are many people around the world who positively influence our alimentation, they are gurus of modern age and help us to find secrets of articles of food and make good decisions about what we should eat in the future. But more about that next time.

By Iva and Joseph Drebitko Photos: Iva Drebitko, archive ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

European fruits

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 63

interview Photo: Archive

An interview with H.E. Souryia Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco in the Czech Republic

“I work very hard in order to lift up the negative perceptions towards Islam” Ambassador of His Majesty the King of Morocco Mrs. Souriya Otmani graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Muhammed V. in Rabat. She worked for the Department of School Education and for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. She was a Chairwoman of the Department of Development Finance Cooperation and then she became a head of the Organization for the Integration of Women in Development.

Your Excellency, how difficult is it to become an Ambassador in Morocco? How long was your “path”?

“I think you mean “being a woman, how difficult is it to become an Ambassador” and not only in Morocco? Because being ambassador was during a long time and in many countries such a privilege reserved for gentlemen! It was well known that until recent times, ministries of foreign affairs were very conservative administrations and the diplomacy a kind of exclusive business for men.

But so luckily, times have changed and nowadays, you see so many successful women ambassadors representing countries from the five continents.

Moroccan women are very active within all spheres

64 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

of activities; they got involved in diplomacy some 20 years ago. I am a career diplomat, from the ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation, my path was a very typical and common one, I went naturally trough different positions within the ministry (head of section, head of department) and abroad (counselor, minister plenipotentiary, general consul and ambassador).”

You’ve noticed in interview for “zet server” that Czech businessmen do not know Morocco well. Why is that?

“What I meant by this phrase is that they should know more about all the investment, economic and commercial opportunities and business friendly environment Morocco offers today. Czech

Businessmen and companies have also a lot to offer to Morocco. My county is a promising developing country with specific needs in the sectors of industry, transport, agriculture, fishing, health, tourism, etc.. And the very high and competitive quality of the Czech technology could tailor some specific needs of Morocco and other developing countries.”

What are the main areas of Czech-Moroccan business? And what would improve?

“The volume of Czech-Moroccan Business significantly progressed during the last five years. Morocco imports from the CR, mainly, electronic goods, automobile spare parts and tires, information technology devices, rubber

interview and chemical products. Morocco exports to the CR fruits, vegetables, clothing, shoes, leather products, fish and seafood, electric engine spare parts. But I think there is much more to do in the commercial field between both countries and I highly encourage Czech businessmen to explore some very promising investment sectors in Morocco: agriculture machinery, agro-business, energy and mineral exploration, transport, tourism, construction, infrastructure, electricity, etc…”

Is Casablanca right place for entering business in Morocco, or would you advice any other place?

“Morocco is a stable and secure country. It enjoys a strong economic growth, it is the most prosperous country of the Maghreb region, the 5th economical power in Africa and ranked among top Arab places to live in. It is qualified as an emerging financial market and the second one in Africa. The Moroccan rate remains the same in Investment grade (Standard and Poor’s) and one of the much sought after by emerging economies such as China and Turkey, by oil producers and European countries.

Thanks to the policy of Free trade Agreements we signed with so many countries, by doing business with Morocco, you get access to a market of 1 billion consumers. Casablanca being Morocco’s chief port and main industrial zone is the economic capital of the country. The leading Moroccan companies and international corporations doing business there have their headquarters and main industrial facilities in Casablanca. The Czech Republic opened its Commercial Office last November in Casablanca which of course is one important place for entering business in Morocco, but it is not the only one. There are some other strategic economic axes, which are Tangier, Oujda, Rabat, Marrakech, Agadir, depending on your business areas of interest. Anyway, I strongly recommend to any Czech business man interested in doing business in Morocco to contact our Embassy or to communicate directly with the Moroccan Agency for the development of Investment.”

How is the Arab business mentality? It is different than European?

“The culture is different, the background is different, but even from an Arab country to another Arab country, and the mentality varies a lot. But from a personal point of view, if you want to be successful in business, you should not have European, Asian, African or Arab mentality, you should get the only mentality that could lead you to success and prosperity which is the “business mentality”: I mean by that: professionalism, strictness, harshness, honesty, full respect for your partners.

Is tourism in Morocco influenced by Arab spring?

“Not at all, very fortunately, the Moroccan tourism was not affected at all by the Arab political turbulences. On the contrary, I should say. Some tourists that used to go and visit Egypt or Tunisia have chosen Morocco or Turkey for instance, because of the stability and the security prevailing in those countries. It is the case of the Czech tourists going to Morocco: in 2013, we had 78% increase of the number of the Czech tourists visiting Morocco and the figures are still improving.”

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Is tourism one of your topics in Czech Republic?

“Tourism has always been one of the strategic sectors of the Moroccan economy and of course our Embassy, jointly with the National Moroccan Tourism Board, work hard to promote the Moroccan destination. Our Stand got during the years 2013 and 2014, an award from Holliday world travel in Prague and we are proud to be the 2014 honored country of this past festival and of the forthcoming Karlovy Vary Touristic Film Festival in October 2014.”

What do Moroccan people know about Czech Republic? And did you personally surprised most about our country?

“Every Moroccan person grew up at least once in his/her life with some Bata shoes! The Czech Skoda automobile is also very well known and Moroccans in general, do appreciate the global performances and high quality of the Czech Technology. Personally, before coming to the Czech Republic, I knew that your country was a beautiful one, but I am so impressed by the wonderful architecture, the castles and the so rich and diverse cultural life not only in Prague but also in the regions! I heard that diplomats compete to get the chance to be appointed in the Czech Republic and I fully understand why!”

And opposite- what do Czech people know about Morocco, what is the biggest prejudice they have?

“I have some very good Czech friends and I am positively surprised by the high number of the Czech people I met, telling me: “I visited once your country or I know your country!” But of course, generally speaking, and unfortunately Czech people don’t know much about Morocco, except that it is an Arab and Muslim country with all the wrong and unfair prejudices that unluckily stick to that. I personally and all my Arab and Muslim colleagues Ambassadors work daily very hard, particularly at the cultural level, in order to lift up the negative perceptions towards Islam. I think it is very important to differentiate between Islam which has always been and will always be a religion of peace, tolerance balance and moderation and those who unfortunately, are using and abusing of the name of our sacred religion to perpetrate acts of terror, crimes, horrors, and destructions.”

You said in 2013, in Plzen: “I don’t consider myself as a feminist, but I do care about women’s status in Arab countries”. It was one year ago.

How much did the situation change with bigger influence of Islamists?

“Yes, you are totally right, any right or status promotion, step ahead or evolution in the development in the women condition in the Arab world doesn’t mean women made it for good!

Setbacks are always possible and it is a nonstop fight to defend, protect and improve your rights particularly in the Arab region where some countries are deeply affected by political and social conflicts, wars or terrorist operations. Remember the unbelievable kidnapping of Nigerian girls from their school! It is sad to admit that first victims are always the females. In my country I am proud to say that we made a kind of revolution as regards the women condition with the adoption in 2004

of the new Family Code. This Law improved so much the condition of the Moroccan women and granted them important rights and duties for the sake of the whole family and children. Thanks to H.M Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco, who really cares about improving Moroccan woman condition and also thanks to the very dynamic women’s associations, we are pursuing our efforts in order to get better laws and regulations to protect and promote Moroccan women’s statute.”

Did you visit all of the Czech regions?

“It is now my third year in the Czech Republic and I make my utmost to visit as much regions as possible every year. So I managed to visit let’s say the main ones, such as Brno, Ostrava, Plzen, Hradec Kralove, Pardubice, Karlovy Vary, Cesky Krumlov, Usti nad Labem and whenever it is possible I met governors, mayors, universities rectors or deans and I participate to some business fora in relation with the Arab world. Some visits to other regions are scheduled.”

Which region impressed you most?

“I was positively impressed by all of those visited regions, I should say, since every single region got its own characteristics and economic, cultural and touristic potential. All the visits were highly informative ones and enriched me a lot.”

What‘s your biggest job task for autumn and winter?

“In fact, we are celebrating this year 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Czech Republic. My target is to take good advantage of this special celebration to get together the Moroccan and the Czech civil societies in order to promote a better knowledge and better understanding and to build some cultural bridges between them. I will have a very busy professional autumn, since our Embassy scheduled jointly with some of our Czech partners, Prague Architecture Week, Prague Architecture Festival, Musica Classica Libera, some interesting Moroccan cultural events in early October. Famous Moroccan architects, writers, painters, musicians and poets will specially come Morocco and from France to celebrate the Moroccan-Czech friendship. And as I mentioned above, Morocco is the honored country of Karlovy Vary touristic film festival, 2014 October edition which means we will have Moroccan music, gastronomy, fashion show and a lot of fun! Everyone interested is cordially invited to join us.”

Does Ambassador have any summer holiday?

And if so, how was your summer?

“Yes of course we do have and we deserve summer holiday! Usually we go back to see our family and relatives in Morocco. But this summer and giving my very busy agenda for the next weeks to come, I decided to stay in the Czech Republic and together with my family, we visited two wonderful castles in Uherske Hradiste region, Zamek Orechov and Buchlov Castle.”

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 65

Photo by Jitka Shams, Dana Minaříková

diplomatic event

Miloš Zeman, President of the CR and H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco

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National Day of Morocco Andrej Babiš, Czech Minister of Finance and H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco

Alessandro Alagia, Candidate to the Senate of the CR with his daughter Nicole

66

H.E. Sergey B. Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation and H.E. Grazyna Bernatowicz, Ambassador of Poland

From left: Karel Muzikář, President, Comenius, Jiří Žák, Consultant, Becker and Poliakoff, Ing. Milan Hovorka, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, and Benke Aikell, your Publisher

From left: H.E. V. Ashok, Ambassador of India and H.E. Tetsuo Yamakawa, Ambassador of Japan with his wife

diplomatic event

From left: H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco with her husband and in the middle Miloš Zeman, President of the CR

From left: Ing. Miloš Janů, Managing Partner, Czech – Kuwait Trading Ltd., MgA. Veronika Blažková, Head of Public Relations, Prague 1, and Ing. Oldřich Lomecký, Mayor of Prague 1 From left: H.E. Jean-Pierre Asvazadourian,Ambassador of France and Peter Keulers, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Netherlands

Hassan Mezian, Senator and H.E. Souryia Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco to the Czech Republic

From left: H.E. Souryia Otmani have hosted honorable guests - from left: Mr. Safadi, Member of the Czech-Moroccan Circle for Friendship and Cooperation, H. E. Belaid Hadjem, Ambassador of Algeria, Mr. Merouane Sadqi, husband of H. E. Souriya Otmani, Mrs. Táborská, Mr. Zdeněk Táborský, President, Czech-Moroccan Circle for Friendship and Cooperation, Andrej Babiš, Czech Minister of Finance, Marian Kováč, Vice-President, Czech-Moroccan Circle for Friendship and Cooperation, and Oldřich Bubeníček, Regional Council President, Region Ústí nad Labem

From Left: H.E. Souriya Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco in the Czech Republic, H.E. Jean-Pierre Asvazadourian, Ambassador of France and Peter Keulers, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of the Netherlands

From left: Pavlína Nytrová, Deputy and Member of Interparliamentary Friendship Group Morocco-Czech Republic, Václav Zemek, Deputy of Parliament and President of Interparliamentary Friendship Group Morocco-Czech Republic, H.E. Souryia Otmani, Ambassador of Morocco in the Czech Republic, and Ladislav Šincl, Deputy and Member of Interparliamentary Friendship Group Morocco-Czech Republic

Czech dancing group Sahar

H. E. Souriya Otmani and Mr. Milan Hovorka, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade

67

personal enlightenment Photo: Archive LM

From left: Leata Jelinek, wife of Canadian Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Maureen Chang and Jim Chang

IS DOING BUSINESS IN EUROPE VERY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PLACES?

FIRST OF ALL, WHICH PART OF EUROPE? Europe has been viewed by many people as one region and some even lump Europe into a group of regions including Africa, Middle East, and perhaps also Russia and some Central Asia countries, and treated all of them as the same. For large multinational companies, that may be fine from a title point of view as they have already learnt of the complexity and diversity within this geography. Yet, for new comers especially the mid or smaller size companies, this is a very dangerous interpretation and is one easy way of getting lost in trying to manage company business or even personal life.

Apparently, today‘s „ Europe „ is much more expanded than 30 years ago, which used to mean today‘s Western Europe. For business purpose, Central and Eastern Europe are equally critical as Western Europe. Some of them are new to market economy and government influence is still being experienced in varying degrees.

To compensate the unfamiliarity of new environment, many people become overly cautious, and compromise too much when important

68 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

decisions are in the making. I have seen some people or companies do things which they normally would not do especially in the eastern countries either due to local pressures or pressure from home base. A common argument is that it is the only way of making things work, or simply it is the way things work here.

This is true and we just need to cope with the differences. How to get a plumber or electrician, or how to buy and register a car could all be major

challenges, not to mention how to hire people and to deal with governmental regulations. All countries have laws and regulations and how to interpret them could be another challenge.

What I have learnt since I first came in 2000 is that we do want to adopt to the new environment with open mindset. Process and procedure can be very different and we need to see through the differences and focus on common objectives. In some cases, we learn more efficient ways of conducting business.

I do not see differences when it comes to basic principle of conducting business. Everyone is looking for efficiency and fighting corruptions and red tapes. It is up to us to uphold our own principles.

What has helped me in Europe and countries nearby are three key focuses below:

analysis

Maureen Chang and Jim Chang

From left: Viphandh Roengpithya, Asian University, Thailand, H.E. Norman L. Eisen, former US Ambassador to the Czech Republic JIm Chang, and Maureen Chang

1. Identify critical principles which cannot be compromised or bent.

My top guiding principles are:  Government TRANSPARENCY.  Proper Business CONDUCT.

What if these principles are not „ appreciated „?

Then it would be a clear case of „ NO GO „. It is better to know before any investment is made. It is our decision, no one else‘s.

In all my introductory business presentations when visiting prospective countries, Transparency is always my first page bullet point and I have never had any push back. In some cases, the host officials would help devise plans and procedures which will make these principles enforceable.

2. Learn and respect different culture and people.

We must remember that we are the “foreigners” and we are different from the local norm. This is really the first step. What comes next is just the same as how we do business elsewhere, establishing trust and earning credit. It all starts with respecting different cultures.

I can see the same thing happens even in the States when people move to other states or other regions. My family and I had to adjust ourselves when we moved to Texas, Florida, different cities in Asia and Europe.

3. Work double hard with one-way determination, i.e., MAKE IT WORK. Doing business in Europe is not that much different from the States. In order to get things done, we all have to work hard. However, in Europe, we also need to understand the language and culture background which shapes the business decisions.

It is very easy for a foreign investor to blame locals for not doing business the „ right way „. In fact, this „ right way „ means the way business is done elsewhere in home country, or even just an unrealistic wishful thinking.

We just simply have to work through it and make it

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From left: Karel Schwarzenberg, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman, TOP 09, Liu Chao - shiuan, Senior Advisor to the President, former Prime Minister of Taiwan, and Jim Chang

work. It takes determination and not being afraid to ask „ why not „ to whoever many times as needed until objectives are achieved. This is the „ no going back „ mentality that works wonder each and every time.

When I first came here, the top challenge was Customs. It was a long learning process by both parties as “mass production” back then was defined as the thousands per month, not what we were talking about - hundreds of thousands or millions a month.

Accordingly, the manual Customs systems used simply could not work and jointly a new electronic Customs systems was developed and perfected.

Jim Chang, ex-General Director of Foxconn / Hon Hai in the Czech Republic and Europe since 2000 until retirement in 2012. Jim has lived and worked in different parts of US, Asia, and Europe, and has had numerous new operations start-ups throughout his 40 plus business life. Now, he is learning new challenges for the next chapter of life.

The craftsmanship is very high standard. Together, we also found ways to measure the efficiency and made operations the most productive among all our operations globally.

Measuring and improving administrative staff´s performance remains to be the most difficult challenge.

How to create “service” attitude from “control” attitude.

Central administration needs to be a central “service” function rather than central “management” function.

You probably see the same situation all over the place although it has already improved quite a lot from before.

How to strike a balance between personal life and business life is a different story. This is a real case of cultural difference between US or Asia and Europe.

The two are considered to be contradictory to each other in US and Asia while Europe considers both are complimentary to each other. In many ways, this is a priority “choice” of personal life vs business activities but should it be a „ choice „?

Prepared by LM ■

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 69

interview

Photo: Archive J. Savič

An interview with Jovo Savič, Owner, KOGO Restaurant chain

The owner and chef of the successful Kogo Restaurant chain in an interview for Leaders Magazine describes why good relations with clients are so important. Jovo Savič was born in Sarajevo. After graduating from secondary school of hotel management he worked as a waiter and during that time he became manager of a restaurant.

In 1992 he emigrated to Prague with his family and two years later he launched his first Kogo Restaurant in Havelská street with his friend Goran Motika.

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interview

The Orchestra

is to be conducted by me Ninety percent of your interviews are made mostly because of your clients. Don‘t you mind that media prioritize who comes to your restaurant beside your cuisine?

“Most of the people who come to the restaurant come because of the meals and the atmosphere.

They don‘t care who is sitting inside. There are journalists and magazines who focus on who is with whom in the restaurant. Anyway there are many others who write about the cuisine.”

Was it possible to get famous in the 90‘s without well known people coming to your restaurant?

“When you open a restaurant, you never think about inviting the prime minister. We have never invited anybody like that. When we have organised a party or campaign we have just invited guests who come to us regularly. If the person is a businessman, has a private office, director of a bank or is a tennis player, is not important to us.”

The quality of the restaurants in Prague since 1992, when you started, has changed a lot...

“Prague is hundred percent better. If we talk about good restaurants and the materials which are used. There are many restaurants with nice interiors, many bars, many new things. Prague is definitely moving ahead.”

What sort of ingredients do you use in your restaurants?

“Only the best ones. And we were doing that since the beginning. People kept saying to us that we are not normal if we import vegetables. More than ten years we have been importing besides vegetable

fish, meat and cheese. Ninety percent of materials used in our kitchen is imported. It is not only from Italy, but from Spain and France too.”

Have you always known that Czechs want good-quality raw materials? Or it was a risk in the beginning?

“Basis of our restaurant are domestic clientele including foreigners, who live in Prague.

Since the first day we tried to focus on this and on importing good-quality raw materials and that‘s why they are interested.

The Prague market is number one for us.”

And do they like to pay more?

“The one who wants to eat healthy and tasty food go to the restaurants where the cuisine is based on fish, and high-quality meat. There are people who don‘t have the budget to do that and that is the reason why they go to different restaurants. You know, it looks like we are little more expensive but the amount of our portions and mainly the quality of our food, if we talk about olive oil, vegetable, meat or fish.. that is the biggest difference.”

What are the very basics for a good working restaurant?

“Everything. From the service, raw materials, ambience, tablecloth, food preparation, chilled

The new restaurant in Quadrio Národni třída

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wine... You have to take care about everything.

Hardly anybody can imagine how much work we have to do.

Every day I come at eight and I leave at twelve, until we close. I come as the first and I leave as the last.”

How do you motivate yourself after so many years?

“I personally enjoy it very much. I don‘t do any parallel business, I focus just on the restaurant.”

You don‘t cook on television..

“I have already had some offers, but I refused.

I asked how much time does it take. I would have to be there four days a week. It´s not worth it. I rather focus on what I do, and that I do it the best I can.”

What kind of project are you preparing?

“31st of October we will open a new restaurant in the project “Quadrio” on Národní třída. This restaurant will be similar to Kogo - hundred percent good food, besides that will have a different concept and prices. Národní třída is very frequented place.

There will be more than one hundred and fifty places and a garden, so it will be huge.”

Two years ago you opened a restaurant in Špindlerův Mlýn. Was it easier than in Prague?

“In Špindlerův Mlýn Kogo is part of the Hotel Savoy and the restaurant had already been there in the past with different operator. At that time the restaurant didn‘t have a good reputation. Despite that we were able to help the restaurant in few months and we don‘t have any problems nowadays.

Many clients go there. They know us from Prague and know the quality of the food and service they get here.”

How do you plan to entice new customers?

“We are quite known by the Prague clientele.

We are going to entice guests by good service and

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 71

interview Restaurant Kogo in Slovanský dům

a new attitude towards food preparation, which will be based on grilling by unique techniques connecting classical charcoal grill with the system of a closed furnace. I believe that people who come to Kogo will feel well here.

What is your relation to the social media?

“We have the company Facebook pages and we present our news there. When we buy good tuna, we invite guests. But we definitely do not overwhelm anybody with the information. Anybody who comes to the Slovanský dům knows what to expect.”

I have read you haven‘t acquired Czech citizenship yet. Why? “I had some trouble with my personal documents.

But the next year I will acquire the Czech citizenship I suppose. I really want it. I hire over a hundred employees, I pay taxes and my son has Czech citizenship. I am hundred percent considering it, I hope the bureaucracy will be simplified.”

You started the business as a foreigner in the nineties. Is it easier for your colleagues nowadays? For example from Serbia.

“I have no idea how it is today. When I arrived in the 1992, it was not so competitive here. People from the whole world have started to come here, both the tourists and businessmen. If you compare Prague in 1992 and in 2014, the city is different. It is bigger, houses are reconstructed, modern business centers, amazing companies and shops. On the other hand, thousands of young people are having fun every night here. We can be compared to Madrid, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin.

Prague lives.”

72 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

Previous years trends are to have the quality restaurants even at Prague´s suburbs.

“We are not only in the heart of Prague , we do have a restaurant in Špindlerův Mlýn. We also have a restaurant at the Golf Resort Albatross. The truth is that nowadays anybody can have a restaurant outside the city center. We are already thinking about a new project om the outskirts of Prague but now we focus to Quadrio.”

How do you handle your free time when you have it?

“I have very little free time, but I play tennis in Štvanice regularly. At least for times a week between lunch and dinner times, the rest I spend here.”

In your business is it necessary to have good relations with clients?

“You have to be honest. You can not cheat the people. If I won‘t get good-quality food, I never offer it. The relations with the clients are friendly.”

Czech temperament is different than Serbien.

We are probably more introverts. Have you had to adapt to that?

“That is not true. Each nation has it‘s own characteristics. There are good people and bad people. I know many Czechs who are really great, having fun and they are not introverts at all.”

Who is a real leader in your eyes?

“I am the leader in my restaurant who is sharing the work with waiters and cooks. In some way the Orchestra is to be conducted by me. Example of the good leaders can be football trainers such as José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti are. They are good and they carry over their skills onto the players same as me on my employees. Or a really good politician,

who there are but a few in the world.”

You have a friendly and familiar relationship with the people who work for you. Is it a recipe for the success to have loyal employees who like to come to work?

“I prefer friendly and familiar relations, but there are borderlines. There have to be. In my restaurant it works well, but is possible that somewhere else it wouldn‘t work. The way of business which I do and my system are based on trust and friendship.”

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

ČSÚZ

It has become a tradition for the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute leadership to meet with the students in the first days of the course. Reception in the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute on July 2, 2014: from left the chairman Jaromír Šlápota and Vice Chairman Ivo Valenta among the students.

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STUDENTSHIGHLYAPPRECIATED CZECHLANGUAGECOURSE

ORGANIZEDBYCZECHOSLOVAKFOREIGNINSTITUTE

74

PhDr. Jan Dvořák had students from France, Baku, Lvov, Moscow, Vienna and Croatia in his class.

Photo: Archive

D E

E

ČSÚZ

From left: Chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota, Second Secretary of the Russian Federation Ilya Ageev, Vice Chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute PhDr. Libuše Benešová, Member of the Managing Board Hana Hlaváčková and the Chancellor of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Ing. Jiří Uklein, Ph.D. during the final boat trip on the river Vltava.

Thanks to the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute, sixteen students from foreign schools and universities could come to Prague this summer to improve their Czech language knowledge. The Institute realized the exclusive course for foreign students of Czech studies for the fifth time already.

Again this time, after three-week stay, students were leaving satisfied and excited about the program, Prague and the whole Czech Republic.

The chairman of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute Jaromír Šlápota opened the course traditionally in the seat of the Institute where the participants learned about its history, personalities and present activities that are, among others, oriented to support good quality of Czech education abroad.

This year students, whose trip and the whole stay, classes, cultural program including field-trips were financed by the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute thanks to its sponsors, not only improved their Czech but they also gained lots of unforgettable experience. Thanks to the vice-chairman PhDr. Libuše Benešová they had an opportunity to sight-see representative halls in the Prague Castle, thanks to the Institute’s member

Evermod Gejza Šidlovský they could see the historical halls of the Strahov library, they could visit places where important international meetings are held in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Černínský palace, they were informed about the work of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in the seat of the Chamber of deputies and the Senate, they saw the Old Town astronomic clock from inside and they left Prague three times to experience the atmosphere of the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary, to admire beauty of Telč and Lednice-Valtice areal in Southern Moravia and to enter historical silver mines in Kutná Hora. No wonder that during the final boat trip on the river Vltava, visited by the former chairman of the Senate PhDr. Libuše Benešová, the former chancellor of the Senate Ing. Jiří Uklein PhD. and representatives of the Russian and Austrian embassies, students had hard time to part with the course and their professors whom they surprised by an unusual gift during the diploma ceremony – they made them a chocolate cake.

“I have already participated in the Czech courses organized by Charles University, in the language course in Olomouc, Poděbrady and České Budějovice but the

Czechoslovak Foreign Institute course was the best of all,” twenty-five years old Nataša from St. Petersburg said when leaving.“Its precedence is a smaller number of students and the fact that professors are with them full six days a week, that we are forced to speak Czech all the time and that our professors immediately explain to us our mistakes.” They all stated in their final papers that being in the course they felt as in a big family where their classmates were as siblings and their professors as parents. In such atmosphere, they lost all their restraints to speak Czech easily no matter their mistakes that were gradually eliminated with the help by their professors. The best promotion of the course was written by Alesija from Minsk in her final paper: “Would I have ever become a teacher in my life, I would teach in the same way as we were taught in Prague. We had a nice, friendly atmosphere and it is very important for classes. I would like to prepare my lectures as interesting and entertaining so that I could arouse more intensive love for Czech in my students, in the same way as happened to me in this course.”

And indeed, that is the aim of the Czechoslovak Foreign Institute courses.

From left: Uljana from Moscow and Melanie from Vienna handed a cake over to PhDr. Helena Briardová and doc. PhDr. Ivana Bozděchová, CSc., members of the managing board, Czechoslovak Foreign Institute.

Foreign students - from right: Fidan Takhiyeva, Alesia Huk, Zeynab Bakhishova, Alesia Yaudoshyna.

One group of the students was taught by doc. PhDr. Ivana Bozděchová, CSc.

75

personal enlightenment James A. Cusumano, PhD

BALANCE:

THE BUSINESS-LIFE CONNECTION

Part VI: Why You Hate Work!

1,2

engagement, or as I like to call it Employment Enjoyment.2 They open with a heart-chilling statement that all too many people can relate to:

“The way we’re working isn’t working. Even if you’re lucky enough to have a job, you’re probably not very excited to get to the office in the morning, you don’t feel much appreciated while you’re there, you find it difficult to get your most important work accomplished, amid all the distractions, and you don’t believe what you’re doing makes much of a difference anyway.

By the time you get home, you’re pretty much running on empty, and yet still answering emails until you fall asleep [See Figure 1].”

“Work without love is slavery.”

—Mother Teresa ■ Employee Engagement also known as Employment Enjoyment is by far the biggest lever in creating a finetuned, efficient and highly profitable enterprise. It produces the Triple Win, often called the People, Planet, Profit Model, wherein employees, the company and the world all benefit.

■ Specific core needs for employees are defined and discussed and when met have been shown over and over again to produce the most fulfilled employees and most profitable companies.

■ Employee Engagement was an option in the past; however, moving forward into the foreseeable future, only those companies that foster it will stand out as premium, highly profitable enterprises run by truly fulfilled employees. *

*

*

Why You Hate Work was the eye-catching title of an op-ed in the New York Times several weeks ago.1 The phrase really bothered me, I guess because what the article had to say was right on the money. However, in addition to citing numerous research data that support the hyperbole of the title, the authors provide a list of sound solutions to meet the challenges discussed.

The lead author Tony Schwartz is CEO of The Energy Project, a consulting firm that specializes in helping companies increase employee

76 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

Wow, what a commentary on our work-life relationship! Their research consistently shows that increasing numbers of not only middle managers, but top-level executives as well, are feeling these same pangs of exasperation and frustration. They reference a study by a clinical psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School whose research focuses on employee burnout. In his recent study of 72 senior leaders, he found that every one of them reported signs of burnout [See Figure 2].

As I have pointed out in previous discussions of employee engagement, only 21 percent of employees in the western world are engaged in their work. Globally, according to numerous Gallop poles, the number drops to an unbelievable 13 percent! That’s a tragedy, as it says that the vast majority of people are not even close to reaching their human potential.

Schwartz and Porath conclude that “For most of us, work is a depleting, dispiriting experience, and in some obvious ways, it’s getting worse.”

Much of the problem is due to the ever increasing demand on employees’ time, taking FIGURE 1: Global competitiveness, a leaner workforce and greater demands on employees is creating higher pressures and personal dissatisfaction.

most of them into a space where it exceeds their capacity and therefore the where-with-all to truly access their innate talents and achieve an end result that is beneficial to the company, to the customer and to them. Why is this is happening?

First, we have become a global community with business competition never as fierce as it is today. Second, subsequent to the financial crisis, there isn’t an industry that hasn’t reduced its workforce by one means or another, and yet, the demand on employees has increased. And third, although stellar growth of digital technology has provided ready access to endless information, and in some cases, even access to wisdom and knowledge, we are constantly overwhelmed with our hyperspace connectivity. Sometimes we just feel emailed to death!

What’s the path out of this conundrum? The need for employees to be more efficient and do more in less time and with fewer resources will not go away any time soon. How do we deal with this in a way that not only gets the job done well, but also provides value and fulfillment to employees? The Energy Project has some concrete suggestions.

In a joint study with the Harvard Business Review of 12,000 white-collar workers across a broad range of companies and industries, they found the following outcomes to be nearly irrespective of industry or company. Employees are more fulfilled and productive when four core needs are met: 1. Spiritual—First and foremost, doing more of what they do best and like to do, and feeling connected to a higher purpose. In my book BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, I say they have found their innate Essence and connected it with a Need in the world that makes it a better place. They are working at their Life Purpose. That leads to Gratitude, which is always a source of long-term Fulfillment.

The spiritual core need is the strongest factor

A EDITOR’S COMMENT—This is the sixth article in a series based on the author’s latest book, “BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, SelectBooks, New York, 2013.” The book is based on three decades of personal experience on how to achieve success and long-term fulfillment in both your personal and professional lives.

Details concerning the book and points of purchase can be found at www.JamesCusumano.Com. B The author may be reached at Jim@ChateauMcely.Com.

personal enlightenment in increasing employee job satisfaction and company loyalty. It’s simple. It starts with the leadership team. If they are energized by the vision and mission of the company, their very actions spread like a viral contagion. Everyone wants to be part of a dream that makes the world a better place. Thus, the leadership and the employees become much more engaged when their work provides them with opportunity to make a positive difference in the world.

2. Mental—Focusing deeply on their most important tasks and defining when, where and how they get their work done. They don’t want to be distracted by endless and often useless poorly managed meetings. This is most often a trust challenge for employers. We have been educated and programmed with the “nose to grindstone” model. If an employer cannot see an employee working hard and long hours on the shop floor, he wonders whether the employee is truly working and contributing. The more effective channel to engagement is to provide the employee with a task and timing for delivery and then let him or her, within negotiated reason, decide where and how to get it done best for the company. The quality and quantity of the output should be the measure of performance and not physical observation of long hours of effort.

3. Emotional—Let’s face it, we all want to be loved. Feeling valued and appreciated for their contributions by management and their peers is a powerful driving force for all employees. Study after study over the years tells us that after a certain level of financial reward, feeling a sense of appreciation and value is the most important motivator for employees. Having a sense of caring by the employee’s supervisor increases their level of engagement and loyalty to their company.

4. Physical—Opportunities to renew and recharge while at work. Every two to three hours of intense effort, this could take the form of a 15-miute walk around the block or the building, a brief meditation, or even a 10-minute catnap.

For example, The Energy Project study found that employees who take a break every 90 minutes of intense work achieve 30 percent higher levels of focus than those who take just one break during the day. They also report 50 percent greater capacity to think creatively and 46 percent increase in a sense of wellFIGURE 2: Employee burnout now reaches throughout the entire organization, starting with senior managers and the CEO.

FIGURE 3: Numerous research studies demonstrate time and again that employee engagement is a powerful means to the Triple Win Model of People, Planet and Profits—Fulfilled employees, a better world in which to live, and a highly profitable enterprise.

being. When employees work well beyond the normal 40-hour work week, their efficiency drops substantially and they feel less engaged.

At Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, a company my colleagues and I built in less than 5 years from 5 people to 2,000 people and a billion-dollar publicly-traded enterprise, we had a mediation room, which was used frequently by employees to recharge and renew their creativity. It works!

This research shows that the more each of these four core needs is met, the more productive, loyal and satisfied are the employees. And, when employee performance escalates, a positive impact is felt on the bottom line, as well. Employees are significantly more engaged [See Figure 3].

Schwartz and Porath remind us of a well-known study carried out by the Gallop organization. In a 2012 meta-analysis of 263 research programs involving 192 companies, Gallop found that companies in the top quartile of engaged companies, when compared with the bottom quartile, had 22 percent higher profitability, 10 percent higher customer ratings, 28 percent less theft and 48 percent fewer safety incidents.

Finally, a word about trust as it pertains to Employment Enjoyment. Trust is the most reliable predictor of employee satisfaction, productivity and engagement. Inspired leaders know this and behave in a way that demonstrates complete trust. In my work over the years in founding and leading the growth of companies, I have found four company values that imbue trust throughout the company.

1. Be sure that all employees know that what they are doing is contributing in some way to a better world. It often is the case, but if not articulated clearly, employees may not recognize the value of their efforts.

2. Assure that all employees know and understand the overall strategy of the company.

3. Create the means for employees to clearly see how their efforts directly contribute to the corporate strategy.

4. Provide periodic feedback to all employees as to the company’s progress and the impact of their efforts.

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The implications here are that you can’t command enthusiasm, creativity and passion.

These are gifts that employees bring to work every day. They use these gifts if and only if they are engaged. Engaged employees, in fact, engaged people in general love to serve.

Engagement was an option in the past; now and for the foreseeable future it’s an absolute necessity for long-term profitability and success.

Employee engagement is a powerful force.

When accessed by the core needs mentioned above, even though employees are working with fewer resources and expected to deliver more, there is a remarkable triple win. Employees produce more, finds greater fulfillment, the company profits increase, and the world becomes a better place in which to live.

It’s simple human physics. When employee engagement climbs from 20 to say 60 percent, the employee is three times more productive and a happy camper, as well. Everybody wins. This is the only way in which companies can succeed for the long run under more demanding criteria.

What are you waiting for?

Sat, Chit, Ananda!

Enjoy your journey, make a difference!

James A. Cusumano, PhD ■

Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath, Why You Hate Work, The New York Time, June 1, 2104.

2 James A. Cusumano, BALANCE: The Business-Life Connection, Select Books, New York, 2013.

1

James A. Cusumano (www.JamesCusumano.Com & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Cusumano) is Chairman and Owner of Chateau Mcely (www.ChateauMcely.Com), chosen in 2007 by the European Union as the only “Green” 5-star luxury hotel in Central and Eastern Europe and in 2008 by the World Travel Awards as The World’s Leading Green Hotel. It is home to Chateau Mcely Forum™ (www.ChateauMcelyForum.Com) which offers programs that teach the principles of Inspired Leadership. He is a former Research Director for Exxon, and subsequently founded two public companies in Silicon Valley, one in clean power generation, the other in pharmaceuticals manufacture via environmentally-benign, low-cost, catalytic technologies. While he was Chairman and CEO, the latter – Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – grew in less than 5 years, to a $1 billion enterprise with 2,000 employees. He is coauthor of Freedom from Mid-East Oil, released in 2007 by World Business Academy Press (www.WorldBusiness.Org) and author of Cosmic Consciousness – A Journey to Well-being, Happiness and Success, published in English and Czech by Fortuna Libri, 2011. His new book, BALANCE: The Business—Life Connection was published in 2013

by SelectBooks in New York City. It was published in Czech in October 2013 by Fortuna Libri.

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 77

thoughts about alternative ways...

Sanjiv Suri Photo: Archive of Author

78 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

thoughts about alternative ways...

LETTING GO...

A couple of years ago, I started on this journey that I will share with you. Things were happening in my life that I was not able to control. There were issues at work and issues with some friends, issues in the family and then finally it started to show on my health. I was to be hospitalized and operated upon and I was wondering why all this was happening to me.

Why was I not able to control my own life. There was constant chatter in my head about the would have and the should have on all fronts – business, family and personal. The more I held onto these negative thoughts, the more misery I created for myself. I had collected a lot of negative garbage from the past in my head but I had absolutely no idea how I was possibly going to just forget and let go everything negative that had happened in my life and I started to look for answers. I was choking and literally unable to breathe till I came to the revelation that: “We cannot even take the next breath until we let go of the existing one”. The carbon-di-oxide has to be able to go out before the space is emptied and then it gets very quickly filled with oxygen.

It has been a tough and painful process for me but the learnings are worth every single bit of pain that I have gone thru. I had to take all of the negative garbage from the past in my head and let it go to make some space for gratitude and for all the positive things in my life. I had to start living in the present moment and not in the past.

Gratitude, Compassion and Kindness became the keys to letting go of all the negativity and the habit of sitting down everyday and writing down the three things I was grateful for in my life and doing a random act of kindness every day helped me a lot.

that came into my life and the timing of their coming and staying or going was everything I was never in control of but somehow I had always wanted to be able to control the future, where in reality I have realized that I have no control whatsoever. I was always embarrassed about being vulnerable and always tried to hide my weaknesses from everyone and always tried to put my best foot forward but then I realized that none of us is perfect and VULNERABILITY IS A STRENGTH because when we are sincere and open about our weaknesses, we connect with people at a much deeper level and create TRUST. I realized that it is about letting go of the EGO and simply being Compassionate and forgiving – because who am I to judge anyway.

“Change is inevitable”

I realized that to wake up to who I am I have to let go of who I have been imagining myself to be or who I have been pretending to be. Once I understood that CHANGE IS INEVITABLE and I am not in control, the only way is to anticipate and embrace change was to recognize that I AM VULNERABLE and use the vulnerability and sincerity as a strength to drive things forward by letting go of all the negative chatter in my head and make space for Compassion, Kindness, Gratitude and Humour. It is not easy to untrain and retrain a 54 year old monkey but every step in this direction opens my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities and opportunities and Magic. It is work in progress as I share this with you but the magic gets more and more awesome with every passing day.

Whenever I got hurt, it came from a gap between my expectations created in my own head and the reality. I obviously could never see things except through my own lens and based on my past experiences. I used to pass judgements on people. But as I grow older and hopefully a little wiser, I am realizing that what I see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which I am looking. I try to clean this window as often as possible and the view very often changes completely. As the Dalai If anyone asked me 24 years ago if I would Lama says “If I am able to let go and be more spend the next half of my life in Prague, Compassionate, I am the one who benefits with I would have laughed at them and to hide Inner peace“. If we love people not because of my ignorance, quickly looked for a map to our selfish interest but because of them, please see where Prague was. Nor was I to know consider “The toughest people to love are the 24 years ago that I would move from being a ones that need it the most”. As I realized this, hotel General Manager to the restaurant and my perspective changed completely and life catering business. Nor did I know that I would started to take a new turn. twice get involved in relationships and have four of the most adorable and most lovable When I understood that life is a paradox and children in the whole wide world. The people change is inevitable, I stopped to take myself

“We cannot even take the next breath until we let go of the existing one”

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“The toughest people to love are the ones that need it the most” too seriously and started to have fun laughing at myself and the fool I had been all these years.  I realized that the true me has Power, Love, Serenity and Gratitude within. I just need to ensure that I stay aware of it at most moments.

For me the journey is like a pendulum between my ego and the things that I associated with as me or mine and the tranquility of staying in the presence of my true self – the “I am“. The more I can stay away from my ego recognizing who I really am, the more peaceful, loving and happy I am, the more total joy becomes my nature and not my goal, the more I feel blessed and start to really enjoy life.  Wishing you enjoy this beautiful autumn too with your near and dear ones.

Sanjiv Suri ■

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 79

interview An interview with Michal Zahrádka, Managing Director, Schunk Praha

Photo: Vladimir Weiss

„Schunk belongs to its employees, and this is a very effective method.“ Michal Zahrádka leads technology company Schunk in the Czech Republic, which focuses mainly on carbon, graphite and tribology. Michal has worked well in the field of security, and he even built an international team of experts for the prevention and detection of economic crime.

How is research and development progressing in the Czech Republic? And are Schunk´s products made in Plzeň really Czech?

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interview The areas which the Czech branch of Schunk deals with are many. Your main slogans are “mobility, energy and industry.” What can we imagine that Schunk does?

“I’ll try to describe to you a usual day, based on the background of our products. In the morning you wake up and turn on the light. The power generators in the power station are turning our carbon brushes to transfer electricity. In the primary and secondary circuits of nuclear power plants are our seals. In the solar panels are our high temperatures grids.

If you own an electric toothbrush, inside are our components, as well as in a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner. You take the lift down from your flat, and in its engine are our carbons. If you travel by car, then you should know that e.g. in the ordinary middle-class car are about 37 of our components, from starters to sintered transmission parts to fuel injection. If you would travel by train, or tram, you would come across to our components of the earthing switches or the pantographs. Our parts are in jet engines of airliners, and our seal surrounds a shaft of modern ship propellers. Turn on your GPS navigation and a satellite which locates you is covered with our protective layer. And so we could continue speaking of our products until we would get to Mars, which is probably the furthest place our products have arrived, and despite that, you have probably never heard of us. This is because Schunk does not produce final products, but highly specialised components. Our world is in graphite and in articles thereof. « How much has Schunk’s focus changed in the Czech Republic over time?

“Last year the group Schunk celebrated its 100 year anniversary, and this year we are going to celebrate 20 years of the establishment of Schunk Praha. During that time, the philosophy of the Czech Schunk has fundamentally changed as a company.

From its original focus on efficient and inexpensive production, today’s direction of the company is determined by research and innovation. I think that Czech companies today, faced with global competition, have no chance to succeed with just a cheap workforce. For example, our standard product is the carbon brush the size of a cigarette pack, which over twenty years we have decreased in size by two times two millimeters.”

And could the products that you produce in Pilsen be considered as “Czech”?

“Yes, definitely. However the graphite is very extreme physical material, for instance electrographite is produced at a temperature of 3100°C, and this must go through extremely demanding production. Thus, for example, we have graphite furnaces for the whole world located in just two places - at the main enterprise in German Heuchelheim and in Austria. But the complexity is not about the technology’s portability, that is easy, but the experience and mastery of the people who are involved in the production. “Der Grafitierer” the master of the furnace - is like a violinist: half craftsman and half artist. His training is a long one, and takes over ten years for him/her get the necessary feeling for the material. In Pilsen we are

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engaged “only” with the final production of already produced materials, but the average length of employment is almost 9 years with our company.

And this testifies to a lot of things. “ During the economic recession, Schunk announced that it is one of the few companies that has not reduced salaries and is persistently successful. Have you maintained this “standard” even after the recession occurred? And do you currently notice more interest in investments in areas that are crucial for you?

“The answer is yes, yes and yes. Here, however, I must point out that Schunk is a bit of a different company. When in 1947 the company founder Ludwig Schunk died, he bequeathed the entire company to its employees. Part of his testament is also an emphasis on financial stability, investments from its own resources, and job protection. These are the values that we follow throughout our existence and values that enabled us to be much better prepared to face the crisis than other companies. “ Have I understood correctly that the company belongs to its employees?

“Yes, Schunk group formally belongs to the Ludwig Schunk foundation and this belongs to the company’s employees. With our socialistic experience this model sounds incredible, but it is very effective that the company does not have to divide the profits outside of the company, may invest in its own development, and in this way gains a permanent advantage over competitors in research and development. However, if the company successfully turns a profit, part of the profit is paid to employees, and those shareholders receive the same amount of payment, whether they are workers or managers. It is also an extraordinary phenomenon in today’s world. “ Recently, people often talk about the potential of the African market, especially in terms of demand for technology, mechanical engineering, etc...Do you see great potential there?

“Europe has done an absolutely fantastic job regarding help to Africa, in the whole spectrum of possible assistance, from individual volunteers to large international projects. Thanks to this assistance, Africa has moved forward enormously.

But unfortunately Europe could not adapt to this development. Maybe it’s the European perception of Africa. I worked in South Africa, so I realise that our attitude toward Africa and its needs is tied to stereotypes and in the European context, and kinds of post-colonial clichés. So in terms of development aid, Europe, under the perception of “Out of Africa”, keeps sending bags of flour, while China builds roads and builds infrastructure. Africa has great investment and business potential that can be developed hand in hand with assistance which Africa still needs. “ Research and development is therefore public investment, which is crucial for you. What are you currently “worried about” in this area? Is the Czech Republic or European Union a good partner?

“Probably every company at the top of technological development is worried about the protection of Intellectual Property. Plagiarism is always destroying the efforts of people who push research forward, and at the same time it raises prices. Schunk Praha is the main partner of the program called Research and Development of The Czech-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, where I see great enthusiasm and effort toward moving things forward. I can say that the Czech Republic is a good partner. “ By what are German companies characterised in terms of management? After all, you have a close relationship to the German headquarters...

“I can thoroughly assess only my own style of management... but for myself I can say that hard work, modesty and stability are great values. Let me give you an example: After the first meeting of the Group General Directors, all of those directors afterwards raised and quite obviously took their cups into the dishwasher. It’s a banality, but you learn a lot about the values of people with whom you work. “ Schunk is comprised of more than 60 companies in twenty-eight countries and has over 8,000 employees. How significant is the Prague branch?

“We are not dealing with navel-gazing, as the Englishmen say. Prague was the first Eastern European branch of the company, and still belongs to the production backbone of the Austria-Czech Republic-Germany company, and we hope that thanks to the investment in research and development, it will continue to be a valid player in the group. “ I have read that you used to work in security services. You even built an international team of experts in the prevention and detection of economic crime... Is it true?

“Yes, you said it very nicely. I have to write down this beautiful formulation for a rainy day... (laughs).

No seriously, we were working in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Russia and where we were really great. EY estimated the average amount of fraud losses in financial institutions to be 5% of turnover, and we achieved 0.2%. We were young and rude, a great party where everybody let it all hang out and sarcasm was everywhere. Unfortunately this meant traveling nine months of the year, and you cannot educate your children through Skype. “ And how did you develop into the front managerial position?

“That was a coincidence, as it happens. I worked in England as a manager in a financial group. In January 1999, a wise man poured me a drink after work, and asked me what I know about security and frauds.

Absolutely nothing. Fifteen years later, another wise man poured me a drink and asked me what I know about graphite... It’s nice to know that even in today’s world Forrest Gump still has a chance. “

By Jaroslav Kramer ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 81

FROM BENEATH TO THE STARS Extreme temperatures, aggressive chemicals, high voltage and currents, mechanical stress, high speeds, harsh environment‌ Our experts are ready to provide you with our material miracles, guiding you to engineer paradise. We know how. Schunk Group www.schunk.cz  www.schunk-group.com

GAIA SPACECRAFT, new observatory for exploring billion of stars in Milky Way, launched in December 2013 by European Space Agency, telescope is equipped with two large primary mirrors coated in Schunk (image by ESA - C. Carreau)

sustainable development

CZECH CHANGE CR BECOMES A CLIMATE LEADER Politics can be more unpredictable that the weather, as Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek clearly demonstrated at the recent UN climate change summit in New York. In contrast to the country’s relative invisibility at such previous high level international gatherings, the Czech Republic attracted positive attention and significant praise for its unequivocal commitment to combatting global warming.

In a bold move, the government joined just six other nations in being the first to pledge financial support for the newly formed Green Climate Fund, established by the UN as a mechanism to transfer money from the developed to the developing world, in order to assist poorer countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.

Following the 2013 contribution of EUR 4.3 million to developing countries such as Vietnam, Mongolia, Ethiopia and Cambodia Minister Zaorálek announced to an audience in excess of 100 world leaders that the Czech Republic is ready to contribute USD 5.5 million to the Green Climate Fund over the next two years. He also unveiled the government’s plan to join the German Climate Finance Readiness Programme and provide additional USD 2 million to provide further help to fight climate change.

In spite of the Czech Republic’s past financial support to developing countries of more than EUR 12 million, becoming one of the first financial supporters of the Green Climate Fund arguably sends the nation’s strongest ever message of its commitment to playing an important international role in tackling mankind’s biggest challenge.

Providing such aid to poorer countries is far more than just altruistic. After years of difficult Jonathan Wootliff A former director of Greenpeace International, Jonathan Wootliff lives in Prague and works throughout the world as a sustainability consultant to business. He is Chair of the Board of Experts of the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development. He has consulted many large corporations including BP, Colgate-Palmolive, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool, and providing counsel to companies on the development of sustainability strategies that benefit the environment, society and business. Among his many activities, he helps companies to resolve disputes, forge productive relationships with non-governmental organizations, and build long-term sustainability strategies.

A qualified journalist with a subsequent background in public relations, Jonathan commonly assists companies with their sustainability communications.

He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com

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intergovernmental wrangling, it is hoped that there will be a breakthrough at next year’s UN climate summit in Paris, when a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol will finally be approved. But this urgent need for a new global consensus on reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs) can’t be achieved without the support of the developing world.

A major obstacle in reaching such agreement is concern that less-developed economies will be disadvantaged. It is argued that, as the main emitters of GHGs, it is the richer countries that should be held to account for causing global warming, and that it would be unjust to ask poorer nations to have to slow down their own development. The Green Climate Fund’s mission to provide compensation to those countries to fund ways to both mitigate and adapt to climate change is therefore critical to a deal being reached in Paris.

Last year’s floods in Central Europe wreaked havoc in parts of the Czech Republic, providing yet another stark reminder of the cost of climate chaos. With scientists now in general agreement that such extreme events are the consequence of such global warming, it is clearly in the Czech Republic’s direct interest to contribute to international efforts to find ways to urgently reduce damaging GHGs. Insurers report that the 2013 floods, which so nearly inundated the centre of Prague, caused the most expensive climate-related damage on record. The Czech Republic has significantly surpassed its Kyoto Protocol commitment in reducing national greenhouse gas emissions by more than 33 percent since 1990. But there’s an urgent need for an international agreement to further curb such emissions, if future disasters are to be avoided.

I’ve been attending UN climate summits since the Kyoto meeting in 1997. Such discussions can be quite ugly, often with our long-term planetary needs succumbing to short-term political agendas. There have already been alltoo-many lacklustre conferences at which world leaders have failed to reach agreement. Climate change experts are in no doubt that we cannot afford to allow the Paris talks to fail.

It seems that the recent New York summit, at which the Czech Republic shone, awoke our politicians from a kind of climate coma which seemed to have set in following the disastrous 2009 talks in Copenhagen which ended in deadlock. And the battle is now truly on to reach an international agreement to limit global warming to below 2C, a level deemed safe by scientists.

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

Photo: Archive of Author

Nearly half a million protestors took to the streets of Manhattan as world leaders gathered at the UN to push for an agreement, showing that ordinary people really care. The People’s Climate March was even joined by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who expressed his solidarity with public concern.

“Action on climate change is urgent. The more we delay, the more we will pay in lives and in money”, said Mr. Ban. The New York summit was undoubtedly encouraging. A new commitment of conserving the world’s rapidly diminishing CO2-absorbing forests was one of a number of positive initiatives.

But, most encouragingly, it a new sense of urgency which emanated from the event that will drive other high-level meetings scheduled between now and the all-important Paris summit in November 2015.

Climate change is already beginning to transform life on earth. Around the globe, seasons are shifting, temperatures are climbing and sea levels are rising. Meanwhile, our planet must still supply us with air, water, food and safe places to live. If we don’t act now, climate change will rapidly alter the lands and waters we all depend upon for survival, leaving our children and grandchildren with a very different world.

It’s good to know that the Czech Republic is committed to making a serious contribution in finding solutions and in actively participating in international discussions. That’s good news for the future prosperity and security of this nation, and for the world.

By Jonathan Wootliff ■

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 83

culture event

Opening ceremony in the MIRO Gallery Prague and afterparty in the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle Exhibition Wolfe von Lenkiewicz (*1966): Paintings 7. 7. – 31. 8.

2014

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From left: Miro Smolák, Owner and Director, MIRO Gallery Prague during his opening speech, Martin Janda, Interpreter, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, British Painter, and Mark Sanders, Mark Sanders Art Consultancy Ltd, London

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher and Ulf Landeberg, General Manager, Lindner Hotel Prague Castle

From left: Miro Smolák, Owner and Director, MIRO Gallery Prague, H.E. Ma Keqing, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in the Czech Republic, and Guo Zongguang, Cultural Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Czech Republic

From left: Mark Sanders, Mark Sanders Art Consultancy Ltd, London, Michael Haas, Owner, Michael Haas Gallery Berlin – Zurich, Mrs. Lisa von Lenkiewicz, Wolfe von Lenkiewicz, British Painter, and John Isaacs, British Artist

Giovanna Roklová, Art Consulting and JUDr. Jan Černý, Attorney, Law Office Černý-Raupachová

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From left: Peter Brožek, Dynastion and Petr Šťastný, Attorney-at-Law, Seddons Ltd

From left: Bystrik Denkocy, HC Olymp Ltd and Miloš Jaro, European-Russian Bank

culture event

From left: MUDr. Ján Lešták, Owner, Eyeclinique JL, Ing. Luděk Pollak, DiS, Owner, OFTIS-OPTA Ltd, Pavel Číčel, Evangelical Church, Jan Hadraba, Journalist, and Marian Hodoš, Art Collector Alexander Hemala, Moderator with his wife

From left: Gérard Gratadour, Photographer, Alena Svobodová, Prague Spring - International Music Festival, Mrs Gratadour, and Michael Svoboda, Judicial Expert

From left: Mark Sanders, Mark Sanders Art Consultancy Ltd, London and Tomáš Zapletal, Founder, Fire & Wind MUDr. Martin Papáč with his wife Erika

From left:Mrs. Lisa von Lenkiewicz, Robert Sterba with his wife Daisy, and Juan Braun, Journalist

From left: Taťána Mituchová, Student of Psychology, Ján Lešták, Owner, Eyeclinique JL, and Hana Sachrová, Account Manager, Knowlimits Ltd, Prague

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analysis

A TREND THAT CANNOT

BE IGNORED As I was doing research for my book about four years ago, I ran into a very interesting piece of data, industrialized countries were showing a trend of zero population growth or what many call “zero population replacement”.

I looked in a little deeper and as I did so, I realized this issue was going to become a major factor for companies and countries to think about and quickly implement some type of corrective action. The idea of lacking in your capacity to grow as a nation and have an available generation of young talented people take over what the previous generation is leaving behind seems quiet disturbing to me on various fronts. As a business person my thought was, how will companies be able to grow?

1 – How will companies continue to be innovative and identify the next best things to offer their customer and clients?

2 – How will organizations be able to plan for growth, when the talent poll is diminishing and becoming extinct?

3 – How can countries think of economic growth when they are carrying the burden of an aging population who can’t make substantial contributions to the economic engine?

4 – Why is this trend surfacing in countries that have different cultural traditions?

My explanation is the following: the common link in this issue is the anxiety of both men and women related to child care, managing work life balance and the constraint of time everyone feels to enjoy life outside of work. Work environments are pushing young women and men to make a very hard choice- commitment at work or having a family!

The most resent Mckinsey Quarterly published an article titled: Management Intuition for the next 50 years where the authors identified key trends emerging in our global economy. One of the trends is Aging population. Here is a summary-For the first time in human history, the planet’s population could plateau in most of the world and shrink in countries such as South Korea, Italy, and Germany.

That McKinsey is also looking at this issue with a sense of alarm, just as I did four years ago, most make you stop and pay attention to this situation…

This is something you can‘t ignore.

So what can you do? Today, right now?

First, start to reach out to your managers and develop a dialogue around working options and flexibility. One of the key factors that keep men and women from thinking about having a family is the fact that they BOTH need to work and the thought of caring for a child is frankly overwhelming. Even when they are willing to make any type of sacrifice the truth is that many countries are going through slow economic growth- the environment around them is not conducive to long term planning- unless you the employer come up with creative options.

Second, talk with your employees; ask what can you do to make it easier for them to factor family into their “modern life” - You will be pleasantly surprised at how creative both men and women can be in offering work style options.

Third, does your corporate culture send signals that in order to succeed and be promotable you have to commit to growling schedules, 24/7 availability, and never say “No, I can’t do that”?

It’s quite fascinating to me that today we still find global organizations asking their employees to behave as if we are still in the “manufacturing” era. Those days are gone and yet people still want to manage and “lead” by power and expect loyalty to the organization just because they are employed by you.

Don’t overlook this issue and let it to become a crisis, the consequence cannot be ignored.

Photo: Archive

86 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

By Elisabet Rodriguez Dennehy, President Rodriguez and Associates LLC ■

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diplomatic event

H.E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia to the CR with the Indonesian dancers

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Diplomatic Reception at the Ocassion of Indonesian National Day E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia to the CR surrounded by nicely dressed ladies

H.E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia to the CR in the lively debate with Karel Schwarzenberg, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman, TOP 09 party

Dancing performance

H.E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia to the CR , Hynek Kmoníček, the president‘s chief foreign affairs Advisor, and H.E. Sergey B. Kiselev, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the CR

H.E. Emeria Wilujeng Amir Siregar, Ambassador of Indonesia to the CR and Hynek Kmoníček, the president‘s chief foreign affairs Advisor at the welcoming speech

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sport event

Photo: Archive

Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters)

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European Golf Tour

in the Czech republic thrilled both the spectators and players In a historic moment, the first winner of D+D REAL Czech Masters became Welshman Jamie Donaldson. It was a coincidence that one of the world‘s greatest golfers won and also ensured his place in the Ryder Cup, the prestigious duel of Europe versus United States. During four days there were over nineteen thousand spectators at Albatross Golf Resort, which is an unusually large turn out for the premiere. A busy week was launched with a gala dinner in Troja Chateau accompanied by a special fashion show. Important partners and the main stars of Czech golf participated. On Wednesday amateurs and professionals in PRO-AM four-man scramble tournament competed.

This was an unforgettable experience for all who played. The main professional tournament was from Thursday until Sunday.

“After landing, Donaldson was immediately very unlucky when his bag with his golf equipment failed to arrive. Nevertheless, this did not change his mood at all and he happily accepted the invitation into Troja chateau for the gala dinner.

His clubs meanwhile arrived by another plane. He had his own strict daily regime: game, training, relaxation and we all did everything we could for his psychological well-being. When he forgot his “lucky sweater” at the hotel room, we brought it five minutes before the tournament began. On Saturday evening he expressed a wish to see Prague‘s center.

He enjoyed dinner in a luxury restaurant with a view of Charles bridge. On Sunday morning he won the

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tournament and delayed his journey home. This is a description of our care for Jamie, but we have tried to satisfy everybody. We were rewarded by thankful letters from players such as Nicolas Colsaerts (the winner of Ryder Cup) and well known golf manager Chuby Chandler”, David Truda showed the back stage situation.

The golfing world watched Donaldson‘s battle with Scotchman Stephen Gallacher for direct nomination to the European Ryder Cup team. Gallacher was unlucky in the Czech Republic, anyway, one week later he was additionally nominated by team captain Paul McGinley. We can conclude that in The Czech Masters there were two participants of this year‘s Ryder Cup. “Jamie Donaldson‘s face will be part of our marketing campaign which starts in November through the billboard medium. Sponsorship agreements for

the next year took place during the tournament – this applies purely to Czech and global partners. Golf is popular worldwide and very attractive for business customers. Until now there hasn‘t been any similar event in the central Europe which would satisfy similar demands. We were successful in achieving that.” remarked marketing director of Relmost, Pavel Poulíček.

Representatives of the European Tour signed Czech Masters as the best premier tournament that they have had in last few years.

“George O‘Grady – chief executive officer of The European Tour - personally came to supervise the preparations since Tuesday. He left very pleased.” Petr Dědek, the owner of the promoter company Relmost said.

If you don‘t want to miss the next years competition, save the date in your diaries for 24.8.-30.8.2015.

sport event

From left: Moshe Kohli, famous Indian Entrepreneur living in Dubai, Klára Spilková, successful Golf Player, Rudolf Liška, Estate Entrepreneur with his partner Maya, and Pavel Foubík, Owner, Brudra and President, CBC Dubai

From left: Sanjiv Suri, President, Zátiší Catering Group a.s., and Martin Ykema, COO, Vienna International Hotels a.s.

From left: Mr. Josef Hradecký, Mr. Balcar with his wife and Mr. Novotný with his wife Blanka Novotná, Multichannels, KB

Richard Martinák, Director, CentrGroup with his colleague.

From left: Nicolas Colsaerts, top European Golfer, Miles Tunnicliff, Player and Talent Development Manager, Georgia Golf Company, and Jamie Donaldson, top European Golfer and winner of the Czech Masters

89 Jiří Nouza, 1st Deputy Mayor of Prague

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From right: Jiří Nouza, 1st deputy Mayor of Prague with his wife, behind from left: Milan Bína, Owner, Golf Channel and Golf Digest, and Radim Šimara, Product Manager, Fischer

Dinner at the Troya Castle

From left: Benke Aikell, your Publisher, Eva Pašková, and Martin Ykema, COO, Vienna International Hotels a.s.

From left: Tomáš Gebrt, Technical Director, Relmost and Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters)

Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters) with his partner Eva

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From left: Ing. Rudolf Rabiňák, Executive Director and Member of the Board, Corporate Banking, Raiffeisenbank a.s., and Sanjiv Suri, President, Zátiší Catering Group a.s.

Bernd Wiesberger, top European Golfer and Mrs. Franziska Maurer

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From left: Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters) with his partner Eva and Bořivoj Trejbal, Director, Emirates Airline with his partner From left: Ben Cowen, Director of International Affairs, European Tour and George O›Grady CBE, Chief Executive, European Tour

Zuzana Moravčíková, Deputy Governor of Central Bohemia with her husband

From left: Rudolf Frýdl, Sales Manager, Trilux, Milan Zeman, General Manager, Trilux, and Michal Chalupa, IKAM Manager with his wife

PharmDr. Jana Doleželová, Lékárna Palladium, and Ivan Paggio, Managing Director, Golf.cz, s.r.o.

George O´Grady CBE, Chief Executive, European Tour, and Miss Martina Štýbnarová

From left: Aleš Cerman with his wife and Radim Šimara, Product Manager, Fischer with his wife on the left

Oskar Henningsson, Swedish Professional Golfer, behind Bernd Wiesberger, Austrian Professional Golfer and Joel Sjöholm, Swedish Professional Golfer

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George O’Grady CBE, Chief Executive, European Tour

From left: Miguel Vidaor, Director of the Tournament, European Tour, Mrs. Katarina Hladká, and Ing. Stanislav Lisner, General Manager, Albatross Golf Resort

Ing. Robert Kaubek, MSc. Managing Director, Shimandzu and Ivana Bordovská, Brand Manager, Moët Hennessy

Elmar Greif, General Manager, The Augustine Hotel and Veronika Joklová, PR Manager, The Augustine Hotel

Zuzana Moravčíková, Deputy Governor of Central Bohemia in her speech

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Photo: Renata Janásová, Ota Mrákota

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Jamie Donaldson on the first tee and finally the winner of the Czech Masters

JC Decaux with its owner Pavel Slabý (on the right)

Bernd Wiesberger

18th green, Bradley Dredge shakes hand with Soren Kjeldsen

From left: Eva Kynčlová, Relmost, Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters), Jiří Šimáně, Owner, Albatross Golf Resort

93 Stanislav Matuš with his caddy

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Organizers

Nicolas Colsaerts

From left: Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters) and Moshe Kohli, famous Indian Entrepreneur living in Dubai

Lukáš Tintěra greeting the audience on the 18th green

Joost Luiten

Final ceremony of D+D REAL Czech Masters From left: Jiří Šimáně, Owner, Albatross Golf Resort, Jiří Nouza, 1st Deputy Mayor of Prague, Miguel Vidaor, Director of the Tournament, and David Trunda, General Director, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters)

94 Paul Lawrie

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From left: Miguel Vidaor, Director of the Tournament and Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters)

From left: Pavel Foubík, Owner, Brudra and President, CBC Dubai, behind him Pavel Poulíček, Marketing Director, Relmost (promoter of Czech Masters), Ján Kotúč, Country Manager, Moët Hennessy, Jamie Donaldson, top European Golfer and winner of the Czech Masters Bradley Dredge, 2nd place in the Czech Masters, Petr Dědek, Owner, Relmost (promoter of the Czech Masters), Miloš Petera, Governor, Central Bohemia Region, behind him Jiří Šimáně, Owner, Albatross Golf Resort, Jiří Nouza, 1st Deputy Mayor of Prague, and Eva Kynčlová, Relmost

Press conference with the winner of the Czech Masters Jamie Donaldson

95 Audience

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

Helena Horská

I have been thinking about the aspects of regional cooperation and the role of the Czech Republic both within the Visegrad Four and the Central and Eastern European context for a long time. I decided to approach the issue from the economical point of view, rather than political one. The reason is the oscillating perception with regards to the Czech economy ranging from “the best pupil in the class overrated attitude” to pessimistic mood that “everything is lost”.

I chose to discuss the issue of Czech economic competitiveness with Helena Horská, a head of economic research and a chief macroeconomist of Raiffeisenbank. Helena Horská also teaches at the University of Economics and ŠKODA AUTO Vysoká škola, so the second issue to be discussed was the tertiary education in the Czech Republic and Helena´s experience with students and conditions from both private and public university. Diversity and women leadership was the last but not least issue, since we met at the ATAIRU Odyssey Leadership workshop.

Helena Horská is a University of Economics graduate, she also holds PhD. She attended one year post graduate program at the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany.

She received many awards, such as the Young Economist of the Year. Her working experience includes Česká spořitelna a.s. and Raiffeisenbanks. Besides lecturing at ŠKODA AUTO and University of Economics University, Helena is a member of executive council of Prague Economic Papers and cooperates with Bank Association. She likes relaxing with her family, gardening and also preparing Montessori learning devices.

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

It is hard question for the beginning! Generally, I perceive the world as very challenging. Big issues are pending in geopolitics (such as current Russia-Ukraine conflict), in economics (such as a threat of deflation in Europe) and finally in our personal life (an ambition to be supermen/superwomen). I see the tendency to get lost in information hurricane and in daily workflow and have no time to stop to think about our life journey – about its meaning and goals.

That is a pity. While geopolitics or economic performance is beyond our control, we have our lives in our own hands. I learned how to divide my day for work, family and our hobbies.

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The second question – how do you perceive the position of the Czech Republic?

The Czech Republic is a small country with a big potential. We are able to compete with technologically advanced products in the world but we still do not use all our capabilities. Instead

ambassadors without diplomatic passport of following rules, Czechs tend to seek exceptions.

As a nation, we are very judgmental. We judge everybody and everything, not only politicians and politics but also friends, neighbors and children. We do not like to stand out from the crowd. As a consequence, we are afraid to fail.

But it is wrong. We have a chance to learn from own mistakes! We need more confidence. Just look at toddlers as they serve as an example how to be brave in getting to know the world.

When you compare the economic performance of the Czech Republic to Visegrad Four countries from the macroeconomic point of view - is the glass half empty of half full?

The Czech economy has recently recovered due to the unexpectedly improved performance of small-and-medium enterprises. Higher foreign demand hand in hand with weaker currency supported Czech export and household demand revived as well. That indicated a limited impact of weaker currency on household budgets.

Unemployment has started to decline. The Czech economy is likely to overcome the recession.

Unfortunately, the pace of the economic growth (according the preliminary figures, the economy increased by 2.7% annually in the second quarter 2014) trails behind the neighboring countries Poland and Hungary, Slovakia being the only exception.

Though the Czechs are still the richest nation in Visegrad Four (based on gross domestic output per capita in purchasing power parity), the Czech Republic has exhausted foreign direct investment as a fuel of growth. Foreign investments still keeps flowing into the country but in considerably smaller amount. Moreover, the opportunity to utilize the EU funds available to support investment and consumption in our country was missed also and the Czech Republic has the reputation as the worst performer in using of EU funds.

Do you think that Czech general population understands and behaves accordingly to the macroeconomic trends? What is your main recommendation?

Generally speaking, the Czech population at large is conservative. Czechs wait till there is a higher chance to get a new job or higher salary on their paycheck. Than they feel more save and

happier. As it was mentioned above, Czechs tend to be risk-averse. On the other side, they do not look much around the corner. If somebody offers exceptionally good price of a good or extremely high interest rate on deposits, one should first ask: Is it a confident person/institution? Or what is behind the extra-favorable offer? We should learn to accept the risks of our decisions and do not expect that somebody (e.g. the government) rescue us like the handsome prince in the Snow White fairy tale.

The reform of university education is a topic of heated debates under both government coalitions either left wing or right wing. You have teaching experience from both the public and private university. What is your opinion?

I face gradually declining knowledge of students in math in my role as a university lecturer, for example. While students have improved their language knowledge, they are less competent in mathematics and logics. So, the education should be more balanced to provide good skills in both languages and scientific subjects. Foreign languages are the gateway for education but cannot be the only goal. Financing of education is a big challenge since it has not only economic but also social consequences. Distribution of funding based on number of students is road to hell. Neither the number of published articles and nor books reflects the quality of education at university.

The university lecturers need to have time to prepare for their lectures and to work individually with students more. Measuring the quality of education is not an easy task but it is feasible (via hard and soft data). We need to apply multi criteria evaluation to funding university education.

Women in the economy – do you have some hard data for those who are still reluctant to support any diversity measures?

The notion that “Women Matter” and the diversity in our teams and in management improve atmosphere and performance of the company is supported by a couple of studies, including that of McKinsey from 2010. This study concludes that companies with higher share of women in management report better financial results. Moreover, such companies tend to

Photo: Archive

Linda Štucbartová graduated from the Institute of International Territorial Studies. After a one year scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, she obtained a Diplome d’études supérieures from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Between the years 2002 and 2006, she worked in senior positions at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2006 she has functioned in the private sphere, and lectures at the Anglo-American University, where she was named the Chair of the Department of Diplomacy. In addition to training in negotiation and communication of clients from the private, public and non-profit sector, she regularly collaborates with NGOs in the projects of the International Global Young Leaders Conference and the Women and Leadership Programme. Linda Štucbartová is a member of the Rotary Club Prague International. She currently works for ATAIRU. Articles are extracts from her book Velvyslanci i bez diplomatického pasu (Eng. “Ambassadors without a Diplomatic Passport”).

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Photo: Archive

follow some long-term strategy rather than be constantly muddling their way through.

Unfortunately, the Czech Republic lacks behind many European countries in women employment. While in Nordic countries like Finland, Lithuania and Latvia, the difference between employment of males and females is negligible (below 5 percentage points in 2012, according to Eurostat), in the Czech Republic the difference is more than 15 percentage points the fourth highest gap in Europe. Only Malta, Italy and Greece display the higher difference.

Situation might get much worse since the aging Europe including Czech Republic will cause a gradual reduction of working-age population and higher participation of women might slowdown this drop. Under current payas-you-go pension system in the Czech Republic less workers equals to smaller bundle of money that might be redistributed to the pensioners.

So, the state pensions would have to be lowered or social insurance contribution rates (or/and another taxes) would have to be raised.

You have experienced ATAIRU Leadership program for women leaders. What is your approach to leadership?

I like approach “respect and to be respected”. Our talents and nature has to be respected and we have to respect talents of our family members (including children), colleagues and others. Much like the garden is nice when it is colorful; life is beautiful when it is diverse. “People always saying yes” are less conflicting and less likely provoke a progress.

The team is working as a complex organism. Each of cellules of the organism is important and carries a unique role. The right functioning of each cellule ensures that the organism performs well.

by Linda Štucbartová ■

Leaders Magazine IV/2014 97

ambassadors without diplomatic passport

Alexandra Brabcová This part of the series Ambassadors without a Diplomatic Passport focuses on men and women who often significantly contribute to the success of talks among official representatives of States – those who draft background papers, engage in preparatory negotiations or interpret at the meetings.

Let me introduce Alexandra Brabcová, a former interpreter to Václav Havel. Alexandra studied English and German at Charles University and then worked as a translator-interpreter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Having first interpreted for President Havel in 1990, she spent almost the entire 12 years of his presidency at his side.

President Havel’s spokesman Ladislav Špaček remembers her phenomenal memory in his book Ten Years with Václav Havel, describing an occasion when Alexandra won applause from Vice-President Al Gore of the United States after having interpreted President Havel’s monologue of considerable length on substantial international issues. At present, Alexandra is Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. She is now also launching a new project of her own entitled Inspired Choices, aiming to help both people based in this country and visitors from abroad find opportunities to enrich their lives through special social, cultural and human experiences.

Photo: Miguel Alonso

Mrs. Vendula Dobešová, Brett Gray, Executive Director, 1st International School of Ostrava, and Alexandra Brabcová

98 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

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

Let me begin by asking a typical question: What is your perception of the world of today?

The world of today is, to my mind, a world of contrasts. Humankind has made incredible progress in numerous areas of knowledge, science, technology, communication, etc., which makes it possible to prolong human life and improve its quality. On the other hand, many people are denied access to these achievements, nor can they participate in their creation, because of underdevelopment in their countries, restrictions imposed under various authoritarian regimes, armed conflicts, criminal activities, etc. Spreading all the good things that the human race is capable of doing and bringing their benefits to a growing number of people worldwide is a mission that should be pursued by all those who want this world to be a better place than it is today.

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

In the last 25 years, the Czech Republic has had the privilege of being part of the free world. Our country and its people have thus been in a position to contribute to the overall progress of the human race, and many Czechs have done so. Hard-working, enlightened and dedicated Czech men and women have made or participated in remarkable scientific discoveries; built up successful businesses; enriched our

ambassadors without diplomatic passport lives with great performances in diverse arts; saved human lives as rescue workers or medical professionals; worked selflessly in educational institutions or charities, etc. Some of these fine people have been part of international teams and won acknowledgement from their foreign colleagues.

In contrast to these worthy efforts, we hear every day about instances of individuals or entities seeking gain for themselves only and using unethical or illegal means to achieve that end. These unfortunate developments, and the absence or inadequacy of action to combat them, have had an adverse effect both on the way in which the Czech Republic is perceived and on the mind-set of the society: too many Czechs appear to believe that it makes no sense to get involved.

As on the global scale, the Czech Republic would benefit if the fine accomplishments achieved by Czech people served as a source of inspiration for others.

Cooperation with our partners within the community of democratic nations to which we now belong is clearly of great significance.

Exchange of expertise and experience with those who have dealt with similar issues as those that we face now can help us improve the overall environment in our country as well as its international standing. My vision of the Czech Republic sees it as a nation that acts on the international scene with self-confidence but also with respect for the opinions of others, as a reliable ally that is prepared to contribute to a common cause while enjoying the benefits of international partnerships.

occasion, I cannot do anything wrong now.‘ Interpreting for President Havel was an especially challenging task because of his special skill with the spoken word, and the significance that he attached to the choice of words when expressing his thoughts.

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Please describe a working day of an interpreter accompanying a Head of State. The protocol often gives an interpreter only a chair but no lunch or dinner. How did you cope with the permanent Václav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic, strain? And was it possible at all Alexandra Brabcová,and Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister, United Kingdom to experience something of the countries that you visited when accompanying President Havel?

An interpreter must be fully concentrated on German is of major significance too, given the conveying the speaker’s message as accurately volume of German investments in the Czech as possible. This necessitates thorough Republic. Can you say that one of the two preparation. A professional interpreter should languages is closer to your heart?

Each of the two languages has presented me study the issues that are to be discussed, so as to understand the context, know the terminology, with different challenges during my studies as the names and places that are likely to be well as my work, and each of them has enriched mentioned, etc. The more an interpreter learns me. While I use mostly English in my work now, before the actual work begins the easier it is to I have maintained contact with the German handle the stress that comes with the profession. language through my membership in the An interpreter must also acquaint himself or German-speaking Rotary Club Prag Bohemia. herself with the program of the visit, including And I enjoy reading books in both languages. particulars such as the dress code prescribed Sometimes I simultaneously read the original for individual events, so at to have proper as well as a translation and think of alternative clothes ready for each occasion. This is not just solutions for the translation of the tricky phrases. a minor detail – if I had found myself improperly Is there something you would recommend to dressed at an official event I would have felt uncomfortable, and this would have affected my those who seek to learn a foreign language?

Learning a foreign language properly is performance.

You interpreted messages of major An official visit is never long enough to get a long-term process, therefore, perseverance significance, such as President Havel’s talks to know a country. Official delegations are and patience are a sine qua non for success. To with foreign statesmen about the our country’s often admitted to places that are not open to make the hard work somewhat less hard, I would integration into NATO and the EU. You told the general public but the time that they can advise everybody to choose topics that they enjoy me once how much you were aware of your spend touring places of interest is very limited. reading about, and try to read texts about these responsibility for conveying President Havel’s President Havel always wished that the program topics in the language they are seeking to learn. message exactly as he meant it. What did you of his State Visits should include less formal Listening to foreign songs and watching foreign feel in such strongly emotional situations? gatherings or visits to places that do not belong movies helps in the same way. When you want to To this day, I remember how I felt when to the standard routes for official trips, such as understand a text because you are interested in I accompanied President Havel to his first a visit to the Australian Aborigines or a tour into the content you will have the motivation to look meeting with President George Bush back in the country in India. up the unknown words or phrases, and you will February 1990. Before the talks began, while get a better feeling for the language generally. the Presidents posed for the cameras, I kept At present English is in most cases the first The multiple opportunities that are available thinking: ‘This is such a truly momentous choice of language learners; knowledge of for meeting foreigners and travelling to foreign countries are an additional incentive for, and a great help in, learning languages.

Linda Štucbartová graduated from the Institute of International Territorial Studies. After a one year scholarship at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew What should be done to ensure the and Jewish Studies, she obtained a Diplome d’études supérieures from best performance of an interpreter when the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva. Between the interpreting is used at business meetings, and years 2002 and 2006, she worked in senior positions at the Diplomatic what is most often done wrong?

Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2006 she has functioned An interpreter is expected to deliver a top class in the private sphere, and lectures at the Anglo-American University, where performance; therefore, the event organisers she was named the Chair of the Department of Diplomacy. In addition should provide conditions allowing him or her to to training in negotiation and communication of clients from the private, do so. public and non-profit sector, she regularly collaborates with NGOs in the As I mentioned before, it is essential that an projects of the International Global Young Leaders Conference and the interpreter is well prepared. For this purpose, he or Women and Leadership Programme. Linda Štucbartová is a member of the Rotary Club Prague she should be granted access to the background International. She currently works for Atairu. Articles are extracts from her book Velvyslanci i bez material. People who hire interpreters often fail diplomatického pasu (Eng. “Ambassadors without a Diplomatic Passport”). to realise this. Many times, an interpreter asking

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Leaders Magazine IV/2014 99

ambassadors without diplomatic passport Václav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic, George H. W. Bush, former President of the USA, and Alexandra Brabcová

for conference documents is told that the papers are confidential, that they are not yet finished, etc.

This is the wrong way of working with interpreters.

Professional interpreters are bound by the rules of the ethics of the profession and these include the obligation to keep all information obtained in connection with their work confidential. You have to choose a trustworthy interpreter, and then you have to trust him or her like you trust other members of your team. When a larger volume of material is to be processed an interpreter needs to have enough time to study it – it is much better to provide your collaborator with a paper that is not quite finished well in advance of the event instead of saddling the interpreter with dozens of pages five minutes before a meeting begins.

When a written speech is to be interpreted the interpreter should be given the text on paper. Written language is quite different from impromptu spoken language, and interpreting a written statement if you do not see it with your own eyes can be truly difficult.

When interpreting is done without headphones, those conducting the talks and the interpreter must be able to hear each other well – bad acoustics can thwart the best effort.

The same is true for seating interpreters. When the conversation is expected to include all those seated at the table the interpreter should not be given a chair behind the principal speaker’s back as is often the case – guests seated farther away often have difficulty hearing him or her, and the same is true vice versa.

And as regards the lunches and dinners that you mentioned earlier: While an interpreter certainly cannot expect to enjoy a full meal, neither should the organisers expect a top class performance from a person who has had nothing to eat nor drink for the whole day.

You presently serve as Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic. What are your principal activities now? Don’t you miss interpreting?

And can you listen e.g. to a lecture without silently interpreting?

My role in the Chamber consists in organising its activities – debates with guest speakers,

100 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

seminars, business mixers, social and sports events. All these events provide opportunities for business networking, and I enjoy bringing together people or companies who have a potential for possibly working together. I also compile texts for the Chamber’s GoCanada magazine, the Membership Directory and announcements for our website, www.gocanada.cz.

My work as an interpreter has taught me a great deal, both as regards language skills and otherwise, and the years that I spent interpreting for Václav Havel were truly unforgettable.

I treasure these memories but I would not want to go back to interpreting now. The main mason I quit lies in the nature of the profession. An interpreter can never express his or her own opinion; his or her role is limited to conveying somebody else’s thoughts. As the years passed I found it increasingly difficult to cope with this inherent restriction. When I listen to a lecture now I no longer feel any strong inclination to interpret it; I rather focus on the content. When a speech is interpreted, though, I may feel a tendency to judge my colleague’s performance.

When I organise seminars about intercultural communication and talk with the participants about countries that are close to Czech people Canada is usually named among the three most favourite countries. Can you explain the reasons for this closeness, and what would you say about Canada-Czech relations at present?

One of the reasons why Czechs feel a special affinity for Canada lies clearly in the essential role that has been played by the Czech Canadian community. Without those Czechs who found a home in Canada after they left the Czech lands escaping from Nazi rule, from the rising Communist regime or after the 1968 occupation, the relationship between our two nations would never be what it is now. Active Czech-Canadian business people were the founders of our Chamber of Commerce; one of them – the Chamber’s first President – was Otto Jelinek who is now Canada’s Ambassador to the Czech Republic. Another Czech Canadian, Peter P. Formanek, led the Chamber for 12 years

during which it grew into a highly-respected business networking organisation. A number of major Canadian companies have come to do business in our country and some – such as Magna or Bombardier – have established a longterm presence here, creating job opportunities for Czech people. Canadian owners and managers were the driving force behind the success of Oskar, the mobile operator that was later integrated into the Vodafone group.

Canadian brands such as McCain or Barnys, or pet food from Canada, are widely appreciated by Czech consumers. A major Czech-Canadian data management company, Adastra, has successfully operated in both countries. One of Prague’s topclass hotels – Four Seasons – is under Canadian management. The Sunny Canadian International School located near Prague draws on Canadian educational expertise in its teaching programs.

Kelly & Associates provide Canadian English language and soft skills expertise to Czech companies. Ixtent imports Canadian software solutions facilitating management of documents.

And we must not forget Baťa – one of the finest chapters in the history of Canada-Czech cooperation. Mr. Tomáš J. Baťa was one of the greatest supporters of our Chamber, and we are proud to host every year a sports event bearing his name – Tomáš J. Baťa Memorial.

Cooperation has been developing in the fields of science and technology as well as culture; a number of Canadian artists have brought wonderful experiences to Czech audiences. And there is also ice hockey – a permanent feature of the Canada-Czech relationship.

Recent months have brought auspicious news for Canada-Czech relations. The visa requirement for Czech citizens travelling to Canada has been lifted. A Canadian airline, Air Transat, has launched direct Prague-Toronto/Montreal flights during this year’s summer season. New Canadian investments have come to the Czech Republic; Borealis Infrastructure has become a co-owner of Net4Gas and the Molson Coors Brewing Company has completed an acquisition that includes Staropramen. Canada and the European Union finalised talks on the content of a Canada-EU free trade agreement that shall open up wider opportunities for trade and investment. Another trend that augurs well for the future of CanadaCzech relations is clearly visible in the area of contacts among young people. Canada offers programs facilitating the travel of young foreigners to Canada, and a growing number of Czechs are becoming interested in advancing their education and professional experience in Canada.

Let me finish where we began this interview.

The friendships and partnerships that have been developing between Czechs and Canadians contribute to the pursuit of the mission that I see as a crucial task for the human race: sharing and spreading the many good things that humankind is capable of doing.

By Linda Štucbartová ■ české znění naleznete na našich stránkách www.leadersmagazine.cz

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101 From left: Eva Hrušková, Actress, Jan Přeučil, Actor and Dr. Ivana Němečková, Owner, Aurum Clinic

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From left: Milan Švára, General Manager, Designhotel Elephant, Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine, and Petr Lžičař, Cluster General Manager, Le Hotels Group Tereza Herz, Actress and Jiří Zbořil, Choreographer

From left: Václav Salajka, Director, Oblastní charita Hodonín, Petr Vichnar, Sport Moderator, and Radek Koch, Co-owner, Mecca klub Prague

Pavel Šporcl, Violonist

Renata Votavová, CEO, Officity Furniture and Vratislav Dědoch, Importeur, Sisel Kaffé

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From left: Jaroslav Mejta, Owner, Mejta Zlín, Vlastimil Harapes, Ballet Dancer, and Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine

Alena Wilson, Fashion Designer

best of event

From left: Zdeněk Hostomský, Director, Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry ASCR with his wife Zuzana, Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine, Mrs. Jitka Jadrníčková, and Karel Oliva, Director, Language Institute of the Czech Academy Kateřina Veselá, Marketing Consultant and Drahomír Viktorín, Sales Director, 5P Agency

Andrea Kalivodová, Opera Singer

From left: Jan Lisý, Sales Executive, Accredio Financial Solutions, Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine, Kamil Komenda, Publisher, BYZMAG, and Martin Gargulák, Director, A1 Mobile

From left: Hana Robinson, Composer and Pianist and Dita Brančíková, PR manager, BVV

From left: Michaela Lejsková, Editor in Chief, Best of magazine, Jiří Drahoš, Chairman, Academy of Sciences of CR with his wife Eva

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discussion forum

Photo: Jan Tichý, source ICC Czech Republic

Li Yong, General Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

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Patricia Chumacero, Economic Analyst, Embassy of Mexico in the Czech Republic

East-West Business Forum 2014: LATIN AMERICA The conference for the promotion of international trade and investment did open a new period of mutual relations in the respective fields having ambition to become an integral part of actions aiming at further development of trade and financial cooperation. The conference opened the door for future long-term cooperation of financial institutions in order to support common projects in the Czech Republic and Latin America countries, as well as on the third markets of common interest.

Last but not least, the conference gave a new and unique opportunity to strengthen the concrete dialog of entrepreneurs and bankers, discuss the ways of developing economic and investment cooperation and establish new business contacts.

Filip Tůma, Export Consultant, CzechTrade Promotion Agency

Jose Ramon Perea, Economist at the Americas Desk, OECD

104 Jan Procházka, CEO, EGAP a.s.

discussion forum

From left: Jan Procházka, CEO of EGAP a.s. and Filip Tůma, Export Consultant, CzechTrade Promotion Agency

Karel Bureš, CEO of Czech Export Bank a.s.

Martin Tlapa, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

H.E. Carlos Appelgren, Ambassador of Chile in the European Union with panel speakers

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discussion forum

Michal Mejstřík, Chairman of ICC Czech Republic

Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Part of the audience

H.E. Mr. Carlos Appelgren, Ambassador of Chile in the European Union

Jaroslava Beneš-Špalková, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic

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From left: Stanislav Matocha, Adviser, Puro-Klima Export and Jorge José do Rego Barros Leal, Europaxle s.r.o.

H.E. José Julio Pereira Gomés, Ambassador of Portugal

discussion forum

From left: Miloš Janů, Managing Partner, Eco Chem Water Systems, Eva Anderová, former Deputy Minister of Finance, and H.E. Guillermo Federico Kreckler, Ambassador of Argentina

Paulo Neves, President, Institute for the Promotion and Development of Latin America

From right: Ivan Pilný, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, Jaroslava Beneš-Špalková, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic, Michala Hergetová, Editor, Czech TV4, Jan Mládek, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, and Martin Tlapa, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

Vladimír Dlouhý, President, Czech Chamber of Commerce

Ana Vich, Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of Spain in Prague and Alejandro Álvarez von Gustedt, Representative, Office of Strategic Alliances, Inter American Development Bank

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EU matters interview

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An interview with Tomáš Prouza, Secretary of State for EU Affairs

Photo: Archive

Before taking over the post of Secretary of State for EU Affairs, Tomáš Prouza was active both in private and public sector. He was Deputy Minister of Finance between 2004 and 2007, where he gained his nickname “Mr. Euro”, founded a well-known financial portal www.penize.cz, was one of the founders of financial consulting company Partners for Life Planning and before returning back to public sector in February 2014, he worked for the World Bank both in Prague and Washington.

108 Leaders Magazine IV/2014

On the occasion of 10 years anniversary of accession of the Czech Republic to the EU, Government’s Office of the Czech Republic presented a study showing a clear positive impact of EU membership on Czech economy. Why do you think that the EU is still perceived in a negative way by so many Czechs?

I don’t think the Czechs perceive the EU in a negative way. Unlike some of the politicians, most of Czechs are not Eurosceptic, they are

first of all pragmatic. The Czechs are aware of what the benefits of our membership are – especially the right of free movement that provides them the opportunity to work, live and travel freely across the EU. They also see the physical benefits of our membership – new jobs, new roads, better environment, etc. From my point of view, the main problem is the lack of awareness about the role the European institutions are playing in the integration process. Many Czechs find it

EU matters interview its position every year and the same goes for the EU at the global level. What should the EU do to reverse this negative trend?

The EU is now reviewing the results of the Europe 2020 strategy, the key ten-year European strategy for growth and jobs, and discussing possible revision of its targets, action programmes and governance for a postcrisis period. I believe the EU should focus on four key areas: investment in innovation, education and infrastructure; labour market reforms; improving business environment and dealing with the administrative burden; internal market deepening including digital market. We also need to make sure that no European policies worsen our competitiveness against the US or Asia.

the outcomes of the integration project, emphasize the benefits of our membership.

The Czech government has taken this way and is working hard to improve communication with the public. I heard about the idea to introduce the European tabloid newspapers supposed to attract the attention of European citizens and bring the EU affairs closer on a daily basis. Though it is only a joke, I really believe that the best way to make the EU “popular” is to show how the EU influences our everyday life. In this respect, a lot still remains to be done and there is a great deal of work ahead of us.

difficult to understand the role of the European parliament; they don’t even know our MEPs. Despite the tangible benefits they appreciate every day, the EU itself remains a distant and incomprehensible structure.

What do you think needs to be done to change this situation? Does the EU succeed in communicating the benefits of the membership to EU citizens?

We need to speak about the EU, present

Majority of the states that joined the EU in the same year as the Czech Republic have already introduced or are introducing euro.

Don’t you think that the Czech Republic should at least set a binding time framework for euro adoption?

The Czech government is aware of our commitment to euro adoption and we will take all the steps we can to complete this issue. Our ambition is to make sure there are no fiscal or technical obstacles for the Czech Republic to decide about the euro adoption before January 2018. As the next parliamentary elections will take place in November 2017, it will be up to the next government to take the decision. Therefore, we would like to prepare the Czech Republic for entrance to the ERM2 mechanism – the waiting room for euro. The second important step is to guarantee that the Czech Republic will keep the Maastricht Criteria. But the final decision about the euro adoption will depend on the next government.

When we look at annual competitiveness benchmarks, the Czech Republic is losing

The Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU suggests more flexibility in the EU fiscal rules for the sake of increased investment. Do you think it’s the right way to stimulate growth in the EU? The EU is gradually moving from the „crisis mode“ and discussing common efforts how to boost economic growth and jobs which belongs also to the top priorities of the Italian Presidency. Promoting investment which has been hit during the crisis, also in the Czech Republic, and boosting structural reforms should play the key role in this process. Existing Stability and Growth Pact rules already include sufficient flexibility which should be fully used.

In my opinion, Member States have enough space for investment respecting the current fiscal rules. Loosening of the rules could harm our credibility and the progress made so far. Our priority should be looking at options strengthening the ability and willingness for structural reforms and effectively using the existing European resources, not changing fiscal rules.

What do you think should be the absolute top three priorities for the EU for the next 5 years?

Number one: stabilization of the European economy and its sustainable development.

Number two: decrease of unemployment rate, especially among the young. We must prove to the young generation that the EU is still the best place for their career and life.

Number three: more effective internal market and reindustrialization of Europe as both are critical for the Czech Republic as the most industrial and highly export-oriented country.

I know you asked for three priorities but forget also must mention the issue of energy security which – if overlooked – might prevent us from dealing with all three priorities I just mentioned.

Mr. Prouza thank you very much for your time!

Tomáš Hartman Deputy Director, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU ■

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EU matters debates IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

Photo: Archive From left: Jaromíra Kotíková, Head of Labour Market and Employment Unit, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs, Jitka Hejduková, Director of Employers’ Relations Department, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, Štefan Duháň, Director of Labour Market Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, Radek Malý, Head of Social Analysis Unit, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, European Commission, and Tomáš Hartman, Deputy Director, CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU

Unemployment in the Czech Republic is relatively low compared to the EU, but in the long-term labour market poses a risk In the context of Europe 2020 strategy the Czech Republic proposed in its National Reform Programmes measures aiming at stimulating employment and labour market that have focused on increasing employment of young people, women and people close to retirement age through family and active employment policy measures. The progress of labour market reforms in the Czech Republic was evaluated by both the Council and OECD that recommended the Czech Republic to increase the age of retirement and participation of women on the labour market or introduce tax benefits for companies that provide jobs for people without experience. The reform measures aimed at creating new jobs and promoting economic growth were discussed during the debate co-organized by CEBRE, Czech Chamber of Commerce, European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic and European Parliament´s Information Office in the Czech Republic on the 13th May 2014 in the European House in Prague.

Jaromíra Kotíková, Head of Labour Market and Employment Unit, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs

Jitka Hejduková, Director of Employers’ Relations Department, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic

Štefan Duháň, Director of Labour Market Department, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic

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Participants of the debate

Radek Malý, Head of Social Analysis Unit, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, European Commission

EU matters debates

From left: Jan Bureš, Chief Economist, Era Poštovní spořitelna, Radek Špicar, Vice President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, Marek Svoboda, Director of Economic Growth and Development Policies Coordination Department, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic, Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic, and Michala Hergetová, Newscaster, Czech Television

Country specific recommendations should serve as a guide, the implementation of reforms depends on the Czech Republic

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In the context of the European Semester, Member States deepened coordination of their economic policies, partially as a reaction to the economic and financial crisis. Based on the European Commission’s Country Specific Recommendations that have been endorsed by the European Council, the Council formally adopted a set of recommendations to each of the Member States. According to the Commission draft recommendations from 2nd June, the Czech Republic should keep the government deficit below 3% of GDP, implement measures to strengthen the fiscal framework, ensure sustainable public pension system, reduce the high level of taxation on labour, improve the functioning of public employment services, increase quality of the education system and energy efficiency, and adopt Public Service Act. The potential of the recommendations to contribute to the growth of Czech economy was discussed during the debate co-organized by CEBRE, Czech Chamber of Commerce, European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic and European Parliament´s Information Office in the Czech Republic on the 19th June 2014 in the European House in Prague.

Michala Hergetová, Newscaster, Czech Television

Participants of the debate Jan Michal, Head of the European Commission Representation to the Czech Republic

From left: Jan Bureš, Chief Economist, Era Poštovní spořitelna, Radek Špicar, Vice President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, and Marek Svoboda, Director of Economic Growth and Development Policies Coordination Department, Office of the Government of the Czech Republic

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EU matters business

IN COOPERATION WITH LEADERS MAGAZINE

BUSINESS NEWS September 2014

112

DID YOU KNOW THAT…?

LET´S TALK NUMBERS…

…new EU rules for cross-border debt recovery were adopted?

In mid-May EU ministers adopted European Account Preservation Order that was proposed by the Commission in July 2011. This Regulation introduces new rules related to cross-border debt recovery that will help companies recover their claims across EU borders by allowing creditors to preserve the amount owed in a debtor´s bank account. Even though the European Account Preservation Order will, as alternative instruments existing under national law, only apply to crossborder cases, according to the Commission´s estimation small and medium-sized enterprises could recover up to €600 million per year. The Regulation entered into force on 18th July 2014 and will be directly applicable in all Member States (with the exception of the UK and Denmark) from 18th January 2017. …the Commission proposes to provide businesses with better access to Earth observation data?

In the middle of June the European Commission presented a proposal focusing on providing businesses and research institutions with better access to commercial earth observation satellite data. This proposal particularly aims to ensure better access to high resolution earth observation satellite data (HRSD) which is considered a key tool for fields such as environment monitoring, urban planning, natural resources management, agriculture, security and defence, and should also help to overcome obstacles to market development and to improve business conditions for related businesses. If the proposal passes the EU Council and the Parliament, Member States will be required to adapt their national law by the end of 2017. … EU sets new European energy security strategy?

After the introduction of the new European energy security strategy at the end of May by the European Commission, the European Council held its first discussion on that topic at the end of June. The new strategy addresses short-term as well as long-term challenges related to security of supplies and focuses on completing the EU internal energy market, upgrading energy infrastructure, diversifying external energy supplies, strengthening emergency and solidarity mechanisms, increasing energy production and energy efficiency. It also points out the importance of coordination of national energy policies and unity when dealing with external partners. The European Council also stressed out the need to reduce Europe´s high energy import dependency. …the Commission proposes to remove e-barriers?

At the end of June the European Commission proposed a new programme called ISA2 that aims to ensure better public services for EU business and citizens. The new programme covering the period 2016-2020 replaces the current ISA programme and will operate with €131 million. As more and more businesses operate across EU and often interact electronically with Member States administrations, the programme will support the modernisation of their administrations as well as provide digital services at national and European level. According to EC eGovernment Report 2014, availability of cross-border public services to subjects from other EU country is only slightly above 40%, therefore the new programme focuses on removing the electronic barriers and improving efficiency of public services and functioning of the internal market. …the Commission presented new guidelines for cloud computing?

As part of the Commission´s European Cloud Strategy the Cloud Select Industry Group developed guidelines to help businesses save money and increase trust in cloud computing services. Thanks to cloud computing individuals as well as businesses and public sector can save up to 20% by storing and processing their data in remote data centres. New guidelines focus on ensuring that all the key elements are included in the contracts users make with cloud providers, such as availability and reliability of the cloud service, quality of support services, security levels and better cloud data management. The guidelines will be first tested with users, particularly SMEs and they will also be on the agenda of the Expert Group on Cloud Computing Contracts.

International trade in services surplus has almost quadrupled in the last decade Since 2004 EU international trade in services has increased significantly. Due to strong increase of EU exports the trade surplus rose from €45 billion in 2004 to €173 billion in 2013.

In 2013, the highest EU28 surpluses in trade in services were recorded in Switzerland (€21 bn) and Russia (€15 bn), the United States and China (both €12 bn) and Japan (€9 bn).

These top export and import destinations of the European Union accounted for around half of all EU trade in services in 2013.

The main partner for both EU28 exports and imports was the United States representing 23% of extra-EU28 exports and 29 % extra-EU28 imports.

Consumer price levels differ from state to state The European Statistical Office has recently released figures which show that consumer price levels in 2013 significantly varied across Member States. While the highest price level for consumer goods and services was registered in Denmark (140% of the EU28 average) and Sweden (130%), the lowest price levels were observed in Bulgaria (48%), Poland and Romania (both 57%). Big differences in price levels were registered in all groups of products, e.g. price levels of alcohol beverages and tobacco ranged from 59% of the EU28 average in Bulgaria to 178% of average in Ireland. Price levels of all product categories in the Czech Republic were below the EU28 average, therefore the total price level for consumer goods and services reached only 71% of the EU28 average.

Annual inflation slightly up in the EU The European Statistical Office released figures showing that the annual inflation rate in June 2014 reached 0.7% and 0.5% in the EU and the euro area respectively. Compared with the previous month, annual inflation in the EU rose by 0.1 percentage point, but stayed stable in the euro area. A year earlier the rate was 1.7% and 1.6% respectively. While the highest numbers were observed in the United Kingdom (1.9%), Austria (1.7%) and Luxembourg (1.2%), negative annual rates were recorded in five Member States such as Bulgaria (-1.8%), Greece (-1.5%) and Portugal (-0.2%) The annual inflation rate in the Czech Republic was 0.0%.

Volume of retail trade rose by 0.3% in EU28 In June 2014 in comparison with the previous month the volume of retail trade increased by 0.3% and 0.4% in EU28 and the euro area respectively, according to the latest EUROSTAT data. The monthly volume of retail trade rose both in the euro area and the EU28, mainly because of the positive development in the food, drinks and tobacco sector and non-food sector.

While the automotive fuel sector fell by 0.1% in the euro area, it rose by 0.3% in the EU28. The highest numbers in total retail trade were found in Germany (+1.3%), Austria (+1.1%) and Poland (1.0%), and the largest decreases in Finland (-1.8%), Portugal (-1.4%) and Malta (-1.1%). Annually the retail trade went up by 2.4% in the euro area and by 2.5% in the EU28 mainly due to increase in non-food sector (3.0% and 3.5% respectively).

EU on track to achieve 2015 digital goals The European Commission released the EU 2014 Digital Scoreboard that focuses on progress made in achieving EU digital goals. The new data shows that the Commission is on the right path to complete 95 of its 101 digital actions by 2015.

Since 2010 the number of EU businesses and citizens that are using the Internet regularly has risen from 60% to 72% and the number of non-users has been reduced to 20%. Meeting the target of 50% EU citizens shopping online by 2015 will likely be met as the number of people who do so is 47% now. Although 100% of Europeans now have access to broadband, the lack of high speed connection, especially in rural areas, and of digital knowledge gap remains a problem. So far, only 14% of small businesses are selling online, while the 2015 target is 33%.

IN THE WORLD EU and China strengthen their customs cooperation At the last Joint Customs Cooperation Committee meeting held in Beijing EU and China singed three important documents

strengthening mutual cooperation. By signing a mutual recognition agreement both parties committed to recognising each other´s certified trusted traders, thereby offering them benefits such as lower costs and simplified procedures, including faster controls and reduced administration for custom clearance. Having signed mutual recognition agreements with USA (2012), Japan (2011) and now China makes the EU certified trader system the most widely accepted in the word. A new Strategic Framework for Customs Cooperation and a new EU-China Action Plan on Intellectual Property Rights focusing on priorities and objectives of mutual cooperation, communication and coordination in these fields were also signed.

Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine signed EU leaders signed the association agreements with Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine during the meeting of the European Council at the end of June. Agreements that include deep and comprehensive free trade areas are an important step towards strengthening political and economic relations between the European Union and the other signatories and also recognize the significant progress made by the signatories and their effort to come closer to the European Union. The cooperation with the governments and businesses of the three partner countries will bring wide array of benefits such as better protection of consumers and investors, more business opportunities for small and medium enterprises or increased transparency.

G7 Summit held in Brussels for the first time At the beginning of June the European Union hosted a twoday G7 summit for the first time. Originally a G8 summit was supposed to be held in Sochi, but due to Russian Federation´s actions with regard to Ukraine, the leaders of G7 decided at their meeting in March to move the summit to Brussels and meet only in G7 format. The representatives of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States discussed not only the situation in Ukraine and their response to the crisis, but also addressed global economic issues, such as climate change and energy security, development, trade, and unemployment.

During the summit G7 leaders also had the opportunity to discuss a number of bilateral questions and other foreign policy issues.

The next meeting will take place under the German Presidency in 2015.

EU ensures transparency in TTIP negotiations As part of EU efforts to ensure full transparency in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations between the EU and USA the European Commission released negotiating positions in five more areas. The individual position papers that propose to improve the compatibility of existing rules and regulations and establish closer cooperation for setting them in future focus on following sectors: chemicals, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products, motor vehicles, and textile and clothing.

Furthermore, the papers address questions such as how to avoid unnecessary duplication of testing and inspection of products, bring closer existing rules or align procedures for registering new products.

Albania was granted EU candidate status At the end of June the European Council endorsed the conclusion of the Council to accept Albania as an official EU accession candidate and to start its EU accession process, thereby making Albania the sixth membership candidate along with Iceland, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey. The Council´s decision was taken based on the recommendation of the European Commission and reflects the progress that Albania has made in the context of European integration. While it gives the recognition of recent reforms in the country, it adds that Albania still needs to focus on administration a judiciary reform, organised crime and fight against corruption and fundamental rights. Although EU candidate status doesn´t guarantee automatic start of accession negotiations, it brings benefits such as promoting foreign investment, job creation and easier cooperation with European agencies.

Brought by CEBRE – Czech Business Representation to the EU (kindly supported by CzechTrade), www.cebre.cz

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