You are a Partner at Grant Thornton Advisory. Your employees are recruited from the current IES students. Are they different from you, when comparing with your student times?

Definitely! From my point of view current students are better prepared and they are more self-confident than we were. It is clearly visible that the possibility of travelling, exchange stays and internships abroad give them a better starting position for their placement at the job market. These opportunities were not available in our times. Another difference I see is that current situation plays for young potentials thanks to the situation at the job market – the excess demand for talented young people over their supply. It is more and more complicated to find a quality member for a team. On the other hand, some of the nominees recruited from the students are excessively self-confident and they see themselves instantly as Managers. I do not remember this from my times. We used to accept that we had to work hard and only then we can climb the imaginary ladder up. My opinion is that there is no need to hurry and that the saying “More haste, less speed“ is still valid.

You collected your working experience in big corporations like Telefonica, IPB or Czech Post. How do you enjoy working for a comparatively smaller company? Do you feel the difference? (I mean smaller in the number of employees in the Czech Republic….)

It is all about people. More people mean more opinions and logically more conflicts. Large corporations are directed by a complicated system of processes which often limit the creativity and it wipes the basic values of the company. I do not say that everything is bad in large corporations (it gives you the opportunity for career growth, brings you certainty), however according to my experience I am happier where I am. We are not so small company (Grant Thornton), but we are still able to keep the basic values which we defined when setting up the company. When searching for a new colleague, we are deciding not only on the basis of his/her knowledge and experience, but we need to know that the newie could be our team member, if he is compatible with the rest of the “squad” and to our values. It still works that we still pull together and that is what we appreciate.

You are currently starting-up a new project in Slovakia. What is new for you in this job? Which of your working experiences are you on the other hand using a lot?

Since the last December we have been preparing a new mobile network based on the Sigfox technology, which is specific, because it is not intended to be used for calling or classic internet connection. It is primarily designed for B2B segment of the Internet of Things.
It enables very reliable and safe communication of things, sensors and devices, which can operate just with a battery for 5 to 15 years without any additional electricity source. This, thanks to the low price, means millions of devices. Above their data, there are applications and those are integrated in corporate systems. We are currently in the pilot operation and we are planning a roll-up of the network.

And which experience am I using? It is the wide network of contacts to clients that I have created after 8 years in consulting. Most of them are potential clients and that is the real advantage. We will be only so successful, how many solutions we would be able to sell. Generally, the majority of newly established start-ups ends by the ability, or if you like disability, to sell their ideas.

What is new for me is to create something from the scratch, when you and the few other people stand in the empty space and you start to build it from the ground. You choose where to invest the money first, you are solving the dilemma, if there is a time to build the company or if you let yourself to be absorbed by the commerce and the customers. Those are really important, however in a few months, the insufficiently prepared start-up and the process settings in the company may catch you. This paradoxically causes the problems when completing things.

What is your recipe for cleaning head from the working duties?

I do not know if it was due to “the middle age crisis “, but few years ago I fell in love with the long triathlon. I like the complexity of the mixture of these three sports, and the fact that it is sufficient to be average in every single one. It is important to add some other sports to the training, so I do cross country-skiing, yoga, fitness…You can never get bored thanks to this diversity and colorfulness. And what is more, at this sport you meet handful of absolutely gorgeous people.

What are your sport’s dreams?

Everybody wants to qualify for Hawai, and I do not believe somebody does not. On the other hand the combination of work-training-family, which I definitely do not want to omit, is a vicious circle and it is important to realize the real chances. Until the time of qualification I happily accept the fact that I am surrounded by the group of people with the same thinking, enjoy the trainings, the atmosphere of races. To be frank, that is the reason why I am doing this.