Korporátní džungle - Pavel Bouška - Jak nezabít iniciativu

You mentioned not killing the company's profit. I think many people don't realize that the most valuable thing we have in the company – and maybe even more so in your type of business – are the people. We are a manufacturing company, but I believe it's the same for us. The most valuable thing we have are the people. Of course, we have expensive equipment and machines, and we can make expensive mistakes, but to function well long-term, everything rests on a good team. So for me, investing in someone making a mistake, learning from it, and growing is an investment in development. I'm becoming more strategic and less executive, but if it were up to me, I'd use these methods more than sophisticated consulting and analysis. I think this is the path – everyone realizes that it comes from having people in the team who are connected with the company, who are fully aware that something didn't turn out as expected, but they take something away from it. For me, one mistake is okay, a repeated mistake stops being okay, and if it happens multiple times, it's not okay at all.

I always say this everywhere, and my friends who are older than me get angry, but I say, 'I'm old, so to put it simply: if I were to advise my 15-year-old son, I'd tell him the only way to learn quickly is to try more things, do more things, fail more often, fall on your nose. Only by that frequency of not being afraid and trying things do you learn. Experience can be shared – I can tell the team, 'This is my experience,' but at the end of the day, what you don't experience yourself... By the way, that's excellent for this, because we're always in deep water. My people sometimes complain, 'David, I was looking forward to finally learning something and using it,' and that's true, but then you throw me into another situation where I have to swim in deep water again. But the fact that they can make mistakes and do things independently is great – they learn and grow as people, personalities, and experts. It's the same in a manufacturing company as in a consulting one.

That's important for the team. It reminded me of something completely different: when I started, I started in banking, on the dealing floor – trading on financial markets. You handle big money, but you have to make decisions very quickly. You have to have Excel in your head to some extent, take risks, and it's fast. Then I started doing loans for large corporations, and I had the feeling that the whole world slowed down. A loan is just as complex as a derivative trade, but it takes months or weeks to negotiate, while the trade was done in a snap. So it was the same for me, but I think it's not bad to learn the speed first and then slow down, knowing what's essential.

Interesting. When I talk to people – new team members, even students – the most common thing I remember, which resonates with initiative, is that they say, 'I'm happy here because I have space to develop myself, to do something on my own. It's not just you telling me to develop here and do that. There's a bit of independence – when they enjoy something, they go for it and have space to do it. They're not just cogs in a machine.' But I also see the other side: they're sometimes thrown into deep water, and they wait. I say, 'Go ahead, do it, move it forward. The worst that can happen is you make a mistake.' They say, 'Then you'll be angry that I made a mistake.' I say, 'I'll tell you it was a mistake – I won't be thrilled and applaud – but it's okay. I make plenty of mistakes every day. So let's go.' Balancing that and keeping people's desire so that initiative isn't killed – I really value that. When someone comes with something, it's exceptional, and I want to preserve it. I say, 'That's great, let's go,' but also make sure it's in line with company strategy. I'm definitely a bad example in this because for people who don't know me, I might seem off-putting. I'm very open and don't mince words – not with anger, not with praise. So I'll say, 'This is stupid, this is good.' But I always try to add that it's not enough, because I understand the power of position. I often say, 'It seems like total nonsense to me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.' I know it's a bit of an alibi, because practice can look different. I try to tell people where I see it.

I have a relatively young finance guy in my team now – I love working with him. He's a bit more pragmatically focused, so he lacks some social skills, which is great because he's one of the few people who tells me absolutely what he thinks. I value that immensely. The communication is perfect. He comes with an idea about sales of our products, and I say, 'I don't think so, this is an area where I have experience, it probably won't work.' But if he comes with something from an area where I feel equally competent, it would be stupid to push my idea. I try to suppress my opinion or not say it. You gave the example of selling in Southeast Asia – we do sell there, but if it were somewhere else where it doesn't work, it would be foolish to let it develop further. I'd say, 'I have this life experience, I've been selling a long time, I think this isn't a good idea.' But when it's an area where I don't feel as competent, then I let it go. And thanks to that, beautiful collaborations arise. Colleagues who don't even report to me directly come to me and say, 'Don't be afraid, I don't want any executive thing, but I have this meeting and I'd like your advice because you're older and have negotiated in life.' I'm really happy when that happens. It's an area where I feel strong. On the other hand, I admit there are many areas where I feel very weak, and I'd like to go to them for advice. That's a great moment.

I have a big problem with that, increasingly. I try to maintain hierarchy – we've grown to about 1,000 people, so it's hard to do without it. I try not to interfere in individual matters, but I enjoy talking to people, having debates about specific clients or projects. I've been through the company from the very bottom. With new people, it's hard because when I go to a new factory and the local director, whom I've seen five times, I can't easily be informal. He might think I'm micromanaging when I ask how a machine works. I struggle with that. I'm maybe too dogmatic in trying not to interfere. Sometimes I even run out of my office to avoid being there. Today I have a relatively small team – I communicate with the CEOs of our new companies, top management in the group, about 10-12 people. So I'm back in a small company. But I miss it a bit. I have the same experience: when we merged, I moved up a floor, I couldn't have as many balls in the air, so I kept clients and the role of CEO representative, and I left advisory to a colleague. Now in some situations, I'm less than a regular partner because I don't want to say anything in a discussion – it would immediately be, 'Oh, David disagrees with how Zbyněk is doing it,' and that's the last thing I want. So I'm even more constrained and sometimes don't go to meetings at all. I'm nervous when the sales director asks me something – I wonder if it's in line with what we want, even though we're all three friends who like to go for a beer. It's hard for me to get used to.

So, returning to the topic, my life opinion is: anyone who shows initiative should be cherished and be okay. The difficult moment comes when we have to separate the wheat from the chaff. We're not just playing around – we have to work towards the common team goal. But so far, when I leave initiative to people, it's usually good for the common goal. It rarely happens otherwise. I see it exactly the same. You mentioned an example from years ago when we made bad packaging and the whole batch was a really expensive fuckup. The girl who did it is now our head of development and has earned many times more for the company over her career. She's the most important person in the company. So sometimes it's an investment in the future, even if it hurts. But you have to be sure of their loyalty and approach. Today I select people much more based on how I feel inside. I'm starting to get old – I look at younger people with a certain distrust. But I need to see that they want to work, develop, and live with the company. Everything else can be learned. Then I also need to see some resonance with our culture.

That's the last thing I wanted to say: culture is important for initiative to come from below. It's about signaling to people that it's okay to make a mistake, that I expect them to discuss with me. I tell them repeatedly. At first they don't believe me, they're afraid, they say something. But at the end of the day, when we're at the table and discussing, after half an hour they're shouting at me and I'm shouting at them, and that's fine. I love that because the dialogue is the best. So culture is the only thing that makes sense from my top position – what to care about. Paradoxically, it will show in the numbers when the culture works and everyone pulls together. Especially if we want to work long-term and not just watch quarterly results.