manager of the year 2013 Who Are This Year`s Best Managers?

manager of the year 2013
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Finalists of this year’s MANAGER OF THE YEAR
competition, in front of the Žofín Palace
Who Are This Year’s Best Managers?
IN COOPERATION WITH
LEADERS MAGAZINE
Ing. Karel Žďárský, General Director of Farmet a. s., was named Best Male Manager of the Year in the Czech Republic and the Best Female Manager of
the Year, Ing. Jaroslava Valová, General Director of SIKO KOUPELNY a. s. They were awarded their titles on April 24 in Prague’s Žofín Palace, during
the announcement ceremony for results of the prestigious MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition. The competition took place under the auspices of
President Miloš Zeman and four hundred managers, entrepreneurs and important guests attended the awards ceremony.
The male and female Managers of the Year 2013 received the highest awards from the hands of the presidents of the three organizing associations –
Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SP ČR), Confederation of Employer and Entrepreneur Associations of the Czech Republic (KZPS) and
the Czech Management Association (ČMA) which was also the organizer of the competition.
Jaroslav Hanák, President of SP ČR presented the award to Karel Ždárský, along with last year’s winner, manager Jan Světlík, the General Director and
Chairman of the Board of Vítkovice Holding a. s., and Karel Mourek, Member of the Board of Česká spořitelna, the general partner of the competition,
and the President of the Senate, Milan Štěch. Jaroslava Valová received the title Manager of the Year from Jan Wiesner, the President of KZPS, Ivo
Hlaváč, the Director of the department of Public Affairs of the ČEZ, a. s. Group, the main partner of the competition, as well as Martin Pros, the Deputy
Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic.
From left: Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, male Manager
of the Year, Karel Žďárský, General Director, Farmet, female Manager of the Year,
Jaroslava Valová, General Director, SIKO Koupelny, and Jaroslav Hanák, President,
Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic, during a celebratory toast
From left: Rastislav Lukovič, Secretary, MANAGER OF THE YEAR
competition and Přemysl Čech, Moderator during the difficult
preparation for the ceremonial announcements
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Ivo Gajdoš, Executive President, CMA, in discussion with last year’s
Female Manager of the Year, Olga Kupec, Director, Abydos
From left: Přemysl Čech, Moderator, Jan Světlík,
General Director, Vítkovice Holding, and Karel
Mourek, Member of the Board, Česká spořitelna
Partner
TOP 10 – the ten best managers of this
year’s MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition
Those receiving awards included Young Managerial Talent up to 35 years of age, Ing. Aleš Gothard, head of the organizational unit of Metrostav a. s.
in Iceland; the Exceptional Manager of a Small Company of up to 50 employees, Ing. René Kocourek, the Representative of Wolf System spol. s r.o;
and the Exceptional Manager of a Medium-Size Company of up to 250 employees. The above-mentioned Ing. Karel Žďárský received this award.
Also the winners of the individual twenty-two segments were announced. See the list of the individual category winners at the MANAGER OF THE
YEAR website: http://www.manazerroku.cz/vysledky_21_rocniku_souteze_manazer_roku/
Ing. Zdeněk Liška, the General Director and Member of the Board of Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic was introduced into the Hall
of Fame of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition. He has served in this position since 1999 and, under his leadership, the Confederation
raised its role of a representative of employer and entrepreneur interest in the Czech Republic, particularly in the field of Council of Economic and
Social Agreement (a three-party governmental entity). The existence of the MANAGER OF THE YEAR competition, as well as maintaining its high
professional level, is personal effort of Zdeněk Liška, who participated in founding the competition.
Jan Pirk, a renowned Surgeon and medical field manager (right),
the head of the Cardiocenter and Clinic of Cardiovascular
Surgery of IKEM, past award-winner in the MANAGER OF THE
YEAR competition, also participated in the event
Jaroslav Hanák, the President of the Confederation
of Industry of the Czech Republic, during Hyde Park
From left: Jan Wiesner, President, Confederation of Employer and Entrepreneur
Associations, Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association, Rostislav
Dvořák, President, Union of Czech and Moravian Production Co-operatives, and
Jaroslav Hanák, the President of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic
17
From the performance of Jan Smigmator
(left) at the accompanying banquet
manager of the year 2013
Jan Pirk, a renowned Surgeon and medical field manager (right), the head of the
Cardiocenter and Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery of IKEM, in a lively discussion
From left: Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic,
Karel Žďárský, General Director, Farmet, Jaroslava Valová, Female
Manager of the Year and General Director, SIKO Koupelny, and Jaroslav
Hanák, President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic
Jan Preclík, the author of the book
Managers with a Lion III, during its launch
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Hyde Park: in front, Pavel Kafka, President,
Czech Management Association
From left: Helena Šimáčková, Marketing Manager,Czech Information Agency and
three winners of the student essay competition, Eva Lisoňová, Jana Pastorčáková
and Markéta Řepová, all from the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava
manager of the year 2013
Jan Wiesner, President, Confederation of
Employer and Entrepreneur Associations
Jan Wiesner, President, Confederation of Employer
and Entrepreneur Associations (KZPS), presents
the award to the Female Manager of the Year,
Jaroslava Valová, General Director,SIKO Koupe
From left: Zdeněk Liška, General Director, Confederation of Industry of the Czech
Republic, Jaroslav Hanák, President, Confederation of Industry of the Czech
Republic, Pavel Kafka, President, Czech Management Association, and Jan
Wiesner, President, Confederation of Employer and Entrepreneur Associations
@
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From left: Exceptional Manager of a Small Company, René Kocourek,
Representative and Director, Wolf System spol. s r. o. and the Exceptional
Manager of a Medium-Size Company, Karel Žďárský, General Director, Farmet
From left: Jan Světlík, General Director, Vítkovice Holding, a.s., Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of
the Czech Republic, Karel Žďárský, General Director, Farmet, Jaroslav Hanák, President, Confederation
of Industry of the Czech Republic, and Karel Mourek, Member of the Board, Česká spořitelna
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interview
An interview with Ing. Aleš Graf, MBA, Chairman
of the Board, Centropol Holding a.s.
Labem be successful? We even continue a certain
patriotism by supporting the region through our
ENERGY HELPS (ENERGIE POMÁHÁ) fund.
Ing. Aleš Graf, MBA, is the Chairman of the
Board and sole owner of the companies
associated in Centropol Holding a.s. Among
these is CENTROPOL ENERGY a.s., one of the
largest alternative suppliers of energy. He was
included among the top 72 best managers in
the Czech Republic for the year 2013.
Mr. Graf, you received the Manager of the
Year Award in the area of providing services
for businesses. How does it now feel to be
in the top seventy managers from the entire
Czech Republic?
I’m a bit of a Doubting Thomas. I never treated
my business like a sport, a race or to chase
personal prestige. So when I learned of what
good company I was in, it was a chance to stop
for a while and look back. I’m from Ústí nad
Labem, which is where I have done business ever
since my studies and I’m proud I was able to
put together such an excellent team of managers
and employees even outside the capital city and
still achieve success. It feels like yesterday, when
in 2002 I started Centropol Energy with twenty
excited people and now it supplies electricity
and gas to more than 330,000 customers.
As you mentioned, you didn’t consider that
perhaps for reasons of prestige, it would be
better to have headquarters in Prague? Why
do you stay in Ústí nad Labem?
I was born here and I like this city. I have my
family here, people I know and what I call roots.
I already said this in another interview. My great
role model is Tomáš Baťa. Not only for the great
success he achieved in business, but also how
he approached business, how he worked with
people, his customer relations, the way he could
think in contexts of an entire country or the
whole world and perhaps even in the fact he was
a patriot originally from a small city. At the peak
of its glory, Zlín was almost like a state within
a state. Why couldn’t a company from Ústí nad
20 Leaders Magazine III/2014
When it comes to the approach to business.
What is your philosophy? What kind of an
approach do you prefer?
You know, I don’t think I’m the only one who is
deeply convinced that the mere vision of getting
rich is the worst possible motivation for going
into business. That’s business without a future
and in this regard we perhaps shouldn’t really be
called a business. That’s mere wheeler-dealing
and that’s the case even if it’s in millions. In the
beginning, there needs to be a dream, an idea,
a vision or a desire to create, improve, find or
move something. The moment the energy market
opened, the things that came to my head besides
a business plan were all the stories I experienced
and heard in regard to dominant suppliers. And
more than once I was able to show that it can
be done differently, that prices of energies don’t
need to always go only up, that the customer is
not sentenced to a simple role of a liege with
responsibilities and nearly no rights. In the Czech
Republic, there are plenty of entrepreneurs
who have short-term goals in the style of ‚I’ll
create, build, buy and quickly sell‘. I’ve got the
desire to build a long-term business and with it
a necessarily strong relationship with customers.
How do you view the business environment
in the Czech Republic in general?
Because of my children’s education, my family
and I live a part of the year in the US. Therefore
I have a direct comparison there and, with regret,
I must admit that our country doesn’t come out
too positively. There practically isn’t a day when
I wouldn’t be running into problems that often look
almost absurd from the US perspective. I’m not
going to begin criticizing the legislative standards
that unnecessarily complicate business, give
way to improper practices and other things. Not
everything is about the system, as people often
say here. Every system, including socialism, is
made by people and those remain the same. We
can’t endlessly complain that some other regime
is responsible for our present condition. It’s up
to us now and I’m often sorry to see how many
smart people in the Czech Republic waste their
potential by looking for loopholes, scheming,
avoiding and ‚outsmarting‘, instead of creating
or building something. Too many people have no
respect for rules.
What do you see as the main reasons
Centropol Energy is so successful today?
There’s a huge amount of work behind it.
Precisely what I talked about a moment ago
caused so many people to be distrustful in
our country. When you come and tell them you
have something cheaper of a better quality, they
already look at you with suspicion. We had to
build a trust-based relationship between us
and our customers and, according to a poll
we had done, our clients are indeed the most
loyal in the market. Over time we were able to
create a system that never leaves our customers
without support. Then we added a number of
excellent benefits and services.
I don’t know what kind of a benefit I would
expect from an energy supplier.
For example, we created a program called
Family. And the contents of this package exactly
correspond to its name. For our customers,
we put together services that are simply and
occasionally needed in every household. We can
solve small accidents, such as water leakage
or a broken window, usually within two hours.
You simply call our assistance service. Or, for
instance, someone incurs an injury while at
their summerhouse, for this we have a health
assistance service that recommends the doctor
and their opening hours. And we can even
transport a client to or from a hospital. There are
many things. Our clients have various discounts
in hundreds of shops and our own e-shop. These
days, anybody can supply energy, but we want to
make sure our customers have no reason to go
anywhere else.
And what are your plans for the future?
What about expansion abroad?
There are many plans, but given the high
competition I would prefer to not reveal them.
If you are asking about foreign markets, then
our plans are certainly also directed this way,
but currently we’re in a phase where we verify
the options and evaluate possible risks. In
any case, the main goal is to sustain stability
for our customers here in the Czech Republic.
Again, I’ll go back to my favorite, Baťa. He was
exceptionally successful and yet even today both
his employees and customers remember him
with respect and honor. That’s the Holy Grail of
business I want to achieve.
Prepared by LM CENTROPOL ENERGY a.s. was founded in
2002 as the first player in the field of alternative
suppliers of electricity and today is one of the
largest sellers of power and gas in the Czech
Republic. The offer of cheap electricity (and
from 2010 also gas), excellent customer care
and a number of bonus programs quickly
became popular and today Centropol takes
care of providing problem-free supplies to
over 330,000 delivery points. Households
are among their main customers. Centropol
Energy a.s. also has a strong position among
significant clients such as ministries, regional
and city offices and big companies.
An interview with JUDr. Hana Machačová, Deputy General Director of Kooperativa insurance company.
What does the award of Manager of the Year
mean to you?
It is a prestigious competition and I really
appreciate the title Manager of the Year for the area
of insurance. And perhaps even more so because
as one of three women I was selected for the
TOP 10 Managers of the Year 2013. I see it as an
appreciation for my work, but mainly as an award for
the company of which I’m a top manager, a company
that gave me the opportunity to realize my potential.
I also had the opportunity to meet other successful
managers, which is always enriching.
What do you consider your greatest
professional success in the last three years?
If I were to evaluate my professional career,
then certainly being named the Deputy General
Director in 2012. But I’m even happier that
I was able to start an interesting tradition
in Kooperativa... when I was celebrating an
important birthday in 2012, I asked guests that
instead of gifts they should financially support
those who are in difficult life situations. In total we
collected over 750,000 crowns and this money
was donated to several charity projects. Also other
colleagues were excited about the idea and over
the last two years over 2 million CZK were donated
from private contributions to charity purposes.
In your opinion, do women have the same
chance to get to the highest managerial
positions?
It’s usually more difficult for women. Often they
make the mistake of trying to be like men. I’m
convinced that there is no point trying to fight
with so-called ‘male weapons.’ Quite the contrary,
particularly in trade women have abilities that men
lack. They are more sensitive, often communicate
better and are better at perceiving client needs.
Who was your professional role model
and who do you see at the most important
personality in Czech business?
I was lucky enough to have met a number of
excellent people who influenced my professional
life. Here I would like to mention Ing. Vladimír
Mráz, former General Director of Kooperativa,
because he brought me to the company and
supported me in the beginning.
The insurance field was influenced by
significant legislative changes, particularly
the effects of the new Civil Code. Where will
this become most apparent?
The most important change is notable in
covering health damage compensations. In
accordance to the law, these must be settled
in accordance with the principles of decency
and justice. It will now be much more possible
to evaluate specific situations, consider the
kinds of lifestyle the persons were leading, the
level of pain inflicted, how the injury or death
of a relative affected the family and how much
damage it was for them. Of course, this is a
correct step. Those damaged will finally receive
a more just compensation. On the other hand,
it’s also a challenge for the insurance companies
to convince their clients of the importance
of insurance. Because if they don’t become
insured, they will have to cover the cost of the
caused damages, sometimes several millions,
from their own resources.
Prepared by LM