Management Quotas For Women Are Not Just Evil. The Discussion About Them Helps

We do not like when somebody tries to enforce something upon us. It especially irritates us, when it is related to the rules of Company management, as it happened now in the proposed European Directive regarding number of women in the leadership positions. After all, human resources decisions should be driven by qualification and personality traits of each individual, by the area of expertise of given company and by culture of each country.

The European Commission proposal had awakened a wave of negative emotions across whole country, across all levels and business branches. My spontaneous response is also very clear. Who will next time believe that the newly appointed member of a supervisory board got the position because of her skills, not because of her gender? How fast the 40% quota could be realistically in force when the current level of women in management in the Czech Republic is one of the lowest from the European Union (estimated at 4%-8%)? How could we remove emotions from the discussions when the suggested Directive clearly aligns men against women?

The EU proposal in any case represents a change, even though the individual members of the European Union still have to agree to it. It stands for the shift in the public viewing of the equal working rights. Each such decision brings uncertainty and fear while the number of influential and well paid positions could become even more deficient for men because of this step. All of that at a time when there is a lot of restructuring in place due to economical crisis, when there are plenty of men looking for new opportunities and the outlook for positive future is out of sight.

From the bird’s eye view I can say that the quotas are not just pure evil. After in-depth observation of the stories of women in leadership I have to admit, that there is something good about it. Viviane Reding, the EU Commissioner managed to bring up the debate about necessity of balanced representation of women in management. She gave a new spark to the debate by opening the today’s taboo of hidden discrimination for the top positions and women’s career glass ceiling. Reding has done that bravely at a time when the supply of quality top men-managers overcomes the demand and it is even harder for women to overcome the prejudices.

This article was written for the leading Czech economical magazine EKONOM No.48, Nov. 2012.

The Journey To Inspiration

The most satisfied, healthiest and happiest people in the world are those who have found their passion and who continuously cultivate it. They do not want to be just successful; they want to stand for something. They permanently search an inspiration for their personal or entrepreneurial growth and by that they awaken the enthusiasm of others. They nearly always find the time to support others. Their progressive goals give their life a lot of extra energy.

These wise people have realized that their dreams are fulfilled when they approach them with humbleness. The Austrian neurologist Viktor Frankl was very clear about it: “It is not possible to create neither success, nor happiness. They can only be viewed as an outcome. And this will only happen as a secondary effect when a person gives up himself to something bigger than his own being. Once a person manages to find his life mission, the whole world will become enlightened.”

I also like when things get moving. During the last years I have realized, that when I want to leave a footprint in his world, I have to start to change from within. When we will be happy and satisfied with ourselves, our positive inner peace will help to attract positive things into our lives. We will shine and our inner energy will be contagious for others - first in the small circles, later in the wider ones. And matters will turn to the right direction.

I try to encourage my colleagues not to be afraid of being themselves, of breathing for the Company´s growth. Last but not least to mobilize them that it is more advantageous for all to act as one team. I believe that the hurdles on our journey appear only because we need to further develop ourselves that we need to shift forward ourselves and the things and people around us. When we get into difficulties, it is necessary not to lose one´s head, not to give up the goals. We have to remain truthful to ourselves, to continue to listen to our inner voice and to our intuition. We have to expect the success and put maximum energy into everything we do. When we are sufficiently persistent and determined, our dreams will be fulfilled.

I am inspired by people, who target not only profit and growth of personal fortunes. I admire all those who have their passion for what they do and who always put a little bit of themselves to everything they do. When somebody mentions their name, the others became enlightened, because they remember well, how they recharged their batteries during the last mutual exchange of positive energies with this pal. Robin Sharma, the wise man and author of many development books, always tries to leave people in better state of mind than he found them. The imagination that everybody would have this approach is more than attractive.

The source of new ideas for me are not only the books of wise men (like Robin Sharma, Rhonda Byrne or Paulo Coelho, Steve Jobs or Jack Welsch), but also I am thrilled to meet interesting people during work, sport or social occasions. One of this special events was organized in September in Zlin by Jaroslav Rasa, the founder of ABRA Software, who is visionary and inspiring person himself. His conference Forum of Inspiration was devoted to the legacy of Tomas Bata, Czech founder of the worldwide-known shoe company Bata. 

We need positive role models more than anything else during continuously tough economical times. So why should we look for them abroad, when we can meet them in person in our country?

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This article was written for the magazine Business Woman - for their first ever issue - 1/2012.
You can DOWNLOAD THE ARTICLE (in CZECH).

Has Bata Something To Offer To Today´s Entrepreneurs?

The Bata Company does not differ much today from its international competitors: neither in the shoes quality, nor in price, advertising or the way of shoes selling. Customer can hardly find the original Bata entrepreneurial spirit in the Bata shops.

Nevertheless Tomas Bata (1876-1932), the founder, still belongs to those leaders, who inspire long after his death: not just by his own life mission, but also by his management principles.

Not just thanks to the lasting economical crisis, today´s Czech entrepreneurial world struggles to find its positive role models. It also looses fair play and partnership trust in business matters. Totally in contradiction with Bata leading principles, the main current goal remains one-off maximization of profit, instead of building lasting business partnerships. Biased disadvantageous agreements, supplying non-quality products or services, pressuring price of subcontractors or of employees bellow the healthy survival level, shortage of staff & its lack of qualification, postponing the payment of invoices, re-directing and avoiding of tax payments, no interest in support of the region or of education and charity – these are just few examples, how some Czech companies today artificially try to reduce their fixed costs, just to survive the tough times. Still they lose not just the trust of their partners, but also the ability to sustain their reputation and economical health in the future.

Bata has also lived during crisis and believed that: “Fight is the essence of live. Who does not fight, can never win.” But the famous shoes king was not interested only in the short-term winning. He was a visionary – builder. He believed that: “Good business is only when all are satisfied with the results. Good entrepreneur produces for customers, takes care about his staff and serves well the society.” Maybe that’s why Bata managed to use crisis as an opportunity for his Company growth.

His story forces us to reflection. It shows that entrepreneurial ethics, giving priority to customer needs, taking care about employees and the effort to do something good for the society may not be just empty claims. They can represent the magic key to unlock the competitive advantage. They can help to lead the company from the spiral of decline back to growth and to assure it lasting place under the sun.

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN FOR THE LEADING CZECH ECONOMICAL MAGAZINE "EKONOM"- you can download the original here.

 

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A lot of Bata´s inspiring ideas were presented at the Forum of Inspiration in Zlin, September 13th-14th.This conference was organized by Jaroslav Rasa, the founder of ABRA Software Company.

My contribution to the Forum of Inspiration attendees regarding people motivation is here available for download: MOTIVATION OF THE FRONT LINE by JANA BUDIKOVA . 

How To Leverage Twitter For Businesses And Individuals

See tips and much much more ... in the attached presentation.
Twitter For Companies and Individuals (PRESENTATION)

Twitter celebrated last week its 6th birthday. How can companies and individuals fully exploit its potential? What are Twitter worldwide key facts and figures? How does Czech Republic differ? What are the key principles of communication in the twitterverse? What were the successes and failures of leading companies?

Related Articles:

* How Vodacom Solved Its Twitter Crises? Read more ...How CEO Changed A Problem Into Opportunity
* When Your Identity Is Stolen on Twitter. Read more...The Other Vaclav Klaus Or The Other You On Twitter 
* Even Companies with reputation can get into crisis. Read more...Social Media Flops Of Respected Companies  
* Why You Should NOT ignore Twitter?Why I Am Hooked Up On Twitter?

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Feeling The Anticipation Of Unknown Like In Spring 1989?

I am privileged to meet several interesting and inspiring people. Lately they have one thing in common. They talk about an upcoming change, that they are not able to define more precisely. Something is in the air. No one knows when it arrives and if it will be positive for us or totally not.

When the first wave of crisis came, we were joking about the good times that passed away and we started to prepare ourselves for the worse.  But nowadays it is different. People talk about second wave of crisis and they do not forget to add their odd feeling that it will be combined with some kind of transformation for all of us.

The death of Vaclav Havel and subsequent funeral spectacle in the streets of Prague intensified the feeling even more. Suddenly the everyday news about economical and political corruption was suppressed by a reminder of what ideals we have fought for in 1989. This retrospective view helps many people to pause and remind self, what they want from life and what definitely not. The realization is obvious especially for the younger generation, which takes the torch from the passing ones. They sincerely come to pay tribute to Vaclav Havel and don´t forget to show with their fingers the victory symbol, they do not forget to ring the keys, similarly as their parents did twenty-two years ago.  

The situation was however different at that time. We knew well what we want to fight for. We wanted freedom of speech and the same rights for everybody regardless of our origin or participation in a political party. We wanted to open borders and free the economy. We thrived to exchange the absolutistic governance of a communistic party for a true democracy.

People nowadays feel the transformation is on its way however concrete - generally accepted - formulation of what the change should bring us is missing. We are only at the beginning.

Vaclav Havel fulfilled his historical role. Even the timing of his passing away during the period of uprising discussion about the possible future arrangements is more than symbolic. People suddenly ask how much utopia there is in his claim of “Truth and love will win over lies and hate.” They remind themselves about their feelings from the beginning of the nineties, when the new opportunities opened up in front of them. Secretly they wish they would like to live it through once more. They would like to have again the euphoria and hope for the better future.  During the Velvet Revolution twenty two years ago they realized their own worth and the power they can have if they decide to use it to change the world for the better.  They used to have a goal that somehow disappeared during the last years. But their time still can come. Who knows?

It is very hard to anticipate what the future brings. With some exceptions – of course. I will never forget my university teacher (of Marxism-Leninism philosophy)  in 1989 who encouraged us on Wednesday, November 15^th to come with candles to Albertov (in the center of Prague) on November 17^th. He said there may be no lesson week after. And he was so right…

Regardless of what the future brings I would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Very Peaceful, Prosperous, Healthy and Happy Year 2012!

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Regardless of Personal Failures And Economical Crisis

The Czechs are in the most pessimistic mood measured during the last 18 years. At least according to a report from the research agency STEM. More than half of our population thinks that the situation will even worsen during the next five years. They are afraid of keeping their jobs, they are not sure if they will be able to take care about their family, in situation when they have to pay mortgages and when they have to cope with increasing living costs.

The suffering hits mainly the older ones, who are less sure to find a relevant job if things go out of the way in the current one. More and more people look for help at psychologists, who cannot always support them during these turbulent times. For jobless people it is becoming difficult to define long-term goals, and the general advices do not matter to them at all. They need to find new motivation to live fully, something very concrete, long-term, even though maybe small. They need to get the reassurance that something in life works for them well. They need hope that one small success can be replicated to magnify their self-confidence.

Everybody of us has the same opportunity to find the place under the sun on this planet, which would satisfy his/her needs. Even though sometimes the search for this place takes way too much time, even though it sometimes means that people have to get back to the roots of who they were before they started to feel the pressure of their surroundings, causing them to believe that they have to achieve or keep something very concrete, no matter what. There are many people who found the life fulfillment only when they escaped routine “lines” and only then started to do things that they truly enjoyed. They opened their small businesses, or they started to devote their precious time to others. They had to have a new goal, which they followed with passion. They had to adjust to the new situation. They learnt not to stick to money or job role, but to enjoy everyday life. Maybe they have realized that there is always somebody, who does not have so much luck as they have. Even small thing started to enlighten their day.        

Why some people are capable to live fulfilled life and others feel so empty? Why some of us wake up in the morning feeling the world is full of opportunities, available for them and the others feel pain of another day they have to somehow survive?

Happy people have one thing in common. They have lived through failures as well as successes. It was most difficult for them to learn to limitlessly trust their faith that they will achieve their envisioned goal - regardless of all the obstacles they faced on their journey, regardless of the fact that they one day felt burnt out and helpless. They were not afraid to step into the unknown. They continued to go fiercely for their dreams, outside their comfort zone. They explored new boarders. They personally grew (like a vintage wine) and this growth loaded them with additional energy and passion, it confirmed their life meaning. The more pitfalls they crossed, the more personal fulfillment they felt in the end.

The obstacles we face in life are not always a bad thing. We should be grateful for them as they stimulate us to action, they provoke us not to stagnate. The journey each of us chooses is only and only ours. We can choose between success and failure, fulfillment and emptiness, living or surviving.

Failures should be blessed. At least according to the successful author and marketing guru Seth Godin who said: „ My lesson was if I fail more than you do, I win because built in that lesson is that you get to keep playing, you get to keep failing, and sooner or later you succeed. The people who lose are those who do not fail at all, or who play so big they do not want to play again. They don´t try stuff. Only rarely the cost of failure is greater than the cost of discovering what works and what does not.”

How could we pass the torch of Seth Godin to many people who only know how to complain about circumstances and do not try to improve their situation, because of their fear of unknown? Despite the fact that they SAY they want to start over again (in work, personal life, in sport etc), they NEVER DO anything. They do not try to find a better solution for themselves.

It does not have to be like that. C.S.Lewis, the Irish author of The Chronicles of Narnia once said: “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.“ Let´s follow his thoughts and throw away the fear of future. If we are not passing away, we always have a chance to start over again. We always can fill the cups of our life. Exactly as Roman poet Horatius appealed already 21 centuries ago “Carpe Diem”!

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Seth Godin challenges you to fail (VIDEO)

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2012 = The Year Of Mastering Value Creation from Big Data

Every minute you are not using Big Data means a lost business opportunity. In an information society, information is money. The trick is to generate value by extracting the right information from the digital universe. Forrester, McKinsey, and IBM have all issued white papers or reports in the last months discussing the impact that the analysis of big data will have on business. We may be on the threshold of a major period of exploration of the digital universe.

Big data isn’t anything new. It is just getting bigger. As the price of analytic software, sensors and communication devices continues to fall to one-sixth of what it was in 2005*), mastering of big data starts to lose intelligence offices privileges and becomes mainstream thanks to rapid business exploitation.

Big data refers to the totality of information available - all data that might help create a more complete understanding about an issue or person or provide an answer to some question. „Big data technologies describe a new generation of technologies and architectures, designed to economically extract value from very large volumes of a wide variety of data, by enabling high-velocity capture, discovery and / or analysis,” as per the IDC study. It is about finding answers where there are yet to be questions.

Historically all kind of data was used to confirm or support decisions that had already been made (bar and pie charts), rather than to learn new things and discover the right answer. The volume and unstructured nature of so-called “big data” prevented much in a way of analysis. It was very time-consuming. It required the ability to assimilate many kinds of media and info sources. But nowadays we have computers that are close to being able to look at large amounts of different kind of data to provide summaries, make suggestions, as well as to draw real-time insightful conclusions.

In recent months all kind of Companies – mainly coming from pharmaceuticals, retail, telecommunications or insurance industries - have started to deploy big data strategies. They are shifting their organizations from using intuition towards making decisions based on using large-scale data gathering and analytics. Via easy to operate, immediate, sorted internal and external information from around the world, companies obtain insights that would otherwise remain hidden. Using those insights Companies are able to better shape their strategy, to better manage their risks, to better than competition anticipate moves of customers and industry and thus they are able to improve their overall performance.

According McKinsey research such progressive companies record measurable improvement in productivity and other performance measures: „A one-standard-deviation increase toward data and analytics was correlated with about a 5 to 6 percent improvement in productivity and a slightly larger increase in profitability in those same firms. The implication for companies is that by changing the way they make decisions, they’re likely to be able to outperform competitors.“

As the big data management tools will continue to become standard business enabler, future competitive advantages will be in the hands of those, for whom it will become a new type of corporate asset. These will be companies that have made a commitment to regard data need highly. They will be able to build a low-cost, reliable infrastructure for data collection and storage using digital assets. They will be not only able to capture more and better data, but they will also have the possibility to do a fundamentally different decision making. They will be able to use data timely and effectively across the whole organization, they will be able to drive the changes in organizations that are coming their way. They will test hypotheses and analyze results to guide investment decisions and operational changes. They will collect best practices for leveraging and extracting value from data. They will no more operate in internal silos, as they will use one collective info-net.

 “The ultimate value of a big data implementation will be judged based on one or more of three criteria (IDC study):

-           Does it provide more useful information?

-           Does it improve the fidelity of the information?

-           Does it improve the timeliness of the response?”

Upcoming period of the digital universe exploration will not be without its challenges. But it will represent a unique opportunity for those Companies who are up-to-speed and ready for fast adoption of new technologies. Huge flood of data and analytical opportunities will create more value for people who can be creative in seeing patterns and for people who can be entrepreneurial in creating new business opportunities that take advantage of these patterns. The success of many enterprises in the coming years will be determined by how the Co. will thrive in driving the required enterprise adjustment – not just on the technical site, but on the cultural, people site as well.

*) „Technology has helped driving the cost of creating, capturing, managing and storing information down to one-sixth of what it was in 2005. Since 2005 the investment by enterprises in the digital universe has increased 50% - to $4 trillion.“ IDG study

The Prize Roman Stanek Has To Pay in the Czech Republic For His Success

Roman Stanek

The published one-sided emotional article of Jiri Donat came last week as a time bomb: “The $28.5 million backed company GoodData threatens our student startup Start2Cloud.com with lawsuit”. Article written in Czech and English. 

Roman Stanek, CEO and Founder of GoodData definitely deserves better publicity than that. Despite of what Donat says, this not a story of David and Goliash. This case shows that we have still a way to go as a country, or as individuals (being it seasoned managers or just students) in the area of ethics of communication as well as in respecting Terms of Usage of global company data and services. We just cannot ignore the law. 

Roman Stanek has managed something what the other Czechs just dream about – he has founded a very successful GoodData company, based in San Francisco, that is booming (+ 500% yoy growth) on the fast developing computer-clout market. He obtained investments’ back-up from famous Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, that holds stock among others also in Facebook, Groupon, Twitter and Zynga. And he has the privilege to work directly with Google’s enterprise chief, Girouard, that joined the GoodData management board this summer. Stanek’s task as legal representative of the company is to assure proper Company governance (including intellectual property rights / data protection). 

On the other hand Jiri Donat (ex Siemens, ex Deloitte, currently Associated Director in A.T.Kearney) the CEO of Start2Cloud.com, that is operated by students, fights his strange battle with Roman Stanek via media. Donat has decided that he disputes publicly the GoodData Terms of Usage and provided readers and other media houses just one-sided emotional information. But this was not enough for him, Donat published even the details of e-mail correspondence written by Stanek. Donat decided to emotionally describe just half of the story, to obtain the public support for the “poor” students, who have no chance to win the legal battle (as if he knew the law is not on his side). Justifying himself that he had to do it because Roman Stanek had Saturday and Sunday to reply his e-mail which he did not manage (note: generous when Mr. Stanek lives in San Francisco, and he was not warned about the Donat' s threats). 

Czech Tech community is now divided in comments into two camps – one group believes that this is just a PR campaign of a start-up for generating awareness. Of a start-up that does not care about ethics and rules of communication, that should withdraw the questionable data first from their website and negotiate their usage with GoodData afterwards. The other group supports Donat in his pursue of own interpretation of the law and side the story of "poor students" who´s project is now in danger. They don´t judge the legal perspective, they look on human aspect of the whole thing.

Respected start-ups in the civilized world prefer personal talks and search for win-win solutions before using the power of public voice.  Respected start-ups do not build their company awareness on the principle of attacking others. Respected leaders do not publish other party correspondence, especially when hiding own steps. Successful start-ups base their audience engagement on quality of their products and services. 

I am sure that because Roman Stanek believes that “Tough times create tough Companies”, this small episode will help Good Data to strengthen their position and also they will be more ready next time to face surprising unfair attacks, especially if they come from the home country. 

I personally wish that next time, when we, the Czechs, send the messages to the world, they will have such substance, that will inspire other nations and generate respect for what we, here - in small country - are capable to invent, not the stories similar to fake David and Goliash, where the need to obey to law and ethics are disputed. 


Roman Stanek

Is one of few Czech entrepreneurs who managed to transfer his success traits to the U.S., the home of tech innovation. He is today well known among business circles and Venture Capitalist in Silicon Valley, as the Company GoodData - which he founded and which he leads as CEO – has its head-office there. 


Nowadays Good Data have back up of $28.5 million investments funds, coming mainly from famous Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, that holds stock in all four of the highest-valued privately held social-media companies: Facebook, Groupon, Twitter and Zynga. 


Roman could receive this backing up of such a famous VC firm, only because he never thought his Czech roots were a limit for him. He always believed that: “We live in a flat world. Building thriving start-up Companies is possible also in Europe, or even in the Czech republic.” Nationality does not matter. But for the Company scale and networking purposes it is advisable to be based close to the TECH beating-heart center – close to California. 


Community, collaboration and governance are the three focus areas of Roman. Roman also shares the Seth Godin’s wisdom, that “It takes three years to be an overnight success, sometimes more.” Roman – although still born under state controlled and planned communist regime - built up his way as self made serial entrepreneur of three global companies. His real success came during the last decade, when his booming companies were acquired by leading multinationals: NetBeans (acquired by Sun Microsystems) and Systinet (acquired by Mercury Interactive and later Hewlett Packard). 


Andreessen Horowitz’s O’Farrell on GoodData: “I see the startup becoming a billion dollar company.” 


Girouard: “GoodData has an amazing opportunity to build a huge business, and GoodData has taken a unique and promising approach to leading in this market.” 


GoodData

Started back in 2007 based on the insight that cloud computing could enable businesses to operate more efficiently when linked with data analytics, simplified processes, best practices and actionable insights – in sales, customer service and other areas. Over 2,500 companies, including Software AG, Time Warner Cable, Capgemini and Pandora Media, rely on GoodData’s data intelligence products. The company has seen 500% growth in overall platform usage in 2011 alone and is currently managing over 6,500 unique customer data mark. And more than 2 million reports were executed on the GoodData cloud BI platform in July of this year.

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