# Transcript: Corporate social responsibility in a changing world

## Description

Who is Tomáš Salomon?



Tomáš Salomon is a Czech banker and investor. Since 2016, he has been the chairman of the board of Česká spořitelna, and since 2020, the president of the Czech Banking Association. From 2020 to 2022, he was a member of the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV). Tomáš Salomon has been repeatedly voted Banker of the Year in the Czech Republic (2018, 2020, 2021).

## Transcript

**[00:00:00]** Hello. Thank you for being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us being ready, for us be

**[00:00:30]** Greetings. Welcome to everyone who came here to the Magenta Experience Center.

**[00:00:35]** Welcome to everyone watching us live, whether you're at schools, libraries, or companies.

**[00:00:42]** I'm very happy that you're with us at Brain & Breakfast.

**[00:00:47]** Of course, you can also watch Brain & Breakfast in the virtual world from the Moravian-Silesian Innovation Center,

**[00:00:54]** so if you want to fly around as avatars, definitely don't hesitate.

**[00:00:59]** The breakfast is interactive as always, so please take out your mobile phones,

**[00:01:06]** so you can ask questions, go to www.slajdu.com, hashtag Brain.

**[00:01:15]** For those of you watching live on redbutton.edu, you can ask questions below the video,

**[00:01:23]** there's a little window where you can submit your question directly.

**[00:01:27]** I'll try it at the start, so I'll ask who of you has been to a breakfast before, or who is here for the first time.

**[00:01:36]** So it's starting to come in somehow, I can't see it well from here without glasses, but it's back there,

**[00:01:43]** but I think many people haven't been to breakfast before, so the voting will be open a little longer,

**[00:01:53]** so definitely try it out so you can then ask your question.

**[00:01:59]** Well, I don't want to keep you long today and I'm quite excited,

**[00:02:05]** because the topic of today's Brain & Breakfast is close to my heart.

**[00:02:11]** At Red Button, we believe that the world can be changed through companies, and so this breakfast will be about

**[00:02:19]** the role of companies in a rapidly changing world, in this new world,

**[00:02:24]** which we somehow entered without expecting it.

**[00:02:27]** And I'm very happy that Tomáš Salomon accepted the invitation.

**[00:02:32]** Tomáš, good morning, come join me here.

**[00:02:35]** Good day, I welcome you.

**[00:02:37]** Good morning.

**[00:02:39]** Tomáš is the CEO of Česká spořitelna, which is one of the largest companies,

**[00:02:43]** and certainly has something to say about this topic.

**[00:02:46]** And Tomáš, I know you 100% do too.

**[00:02:49]** I'm looking forward to your presentation and the floor is yours.

**[00:02:52]** Thank you.

**[00:02:53]** Thank you.

**[00:02:54]** Good morning.

**[00:02:57]** To those of you who came to this fantastic breakfast,

**[00:03:02]** and to those watching us online.

**[00:03:05]** Many thanks to Honza for the invitation.

**[00:03:09]** I don't know if I would call it a heartfelt topic,

**[00:03:12]** but in any case, responsibility or corporate social responsibility

**[00:03:19]** is very close to me for one simple reason.

**[00:03:23]** I have long believed that a person should do things

**[00:03:26]** they believe in and that somehow fulfill and move them forward.

**[00:03:30]** And from my point of view, it should always have an impact beyond that.

**[00:03:35]** It should move the world around us for the better.

**[00:03:38]** So I don't know how much this audience is focused on what is often called or abbreviated as CSR,

**[00:03:45]** because, like CRM, it can mean absolutely everything.

**[00:03:51]** It's a question of how the company or the person actually defines it.

**[00:03:55]** So I'll try to shed some light on a perspective that is relatively broad

**[00:03:59]** and from a higher level.

**[00:04:06]** And when I sent the presentation in advance on Monday, as requested,

**[00:04:08]** Honza, through my assistant, very gently said with pleasure

**[00:04:17]** that there are a lot of charts.

**[00:04:22]** So I understood that maybe this audience is used to different types of presentations,

**[00:04:25]** but I want to point out that I'm not a chart lover.

**[00:04:30]** From that perspective, that I would be obsessed with various charts and such.

**[00:04:35]** But I believe that the data and what I will show you and go through,

**[00:04:40]** because it's not about studying exactly what each bar means,

**[00:04:46]** it somehow reflects trends.

**[00:04:50]** And if the presentation and lecture is called

**[00:04:53]** Corporate Social Responsibility in a Changing World,

**[00:04:56]** I think it's very good, and I will devote

**[00:04:59]** almost half of the hour I have available to realizing

**[00:05:02]** what kind of world we actually live in and where we stand.

**[00:05:06]** Because if a person doesn't understand the context or doesn't grasp it correctly,

**[00:05:10]** and for young people who have lived most or all of their productive years in a boom,

**[00:05:14]** it's good to understand why it is that way

**[00:05:20]** and why it's necessary to ask what is different,

**[00:05:23]** or rather what will be different in the future, so we can responsibly

**[00:05:26]** shape the future towards better outcomes.

**[00:05:30]** So thanks for the invitation, don't be scared of any charts,

**[00:05:34]** when you look at them later and want to understand them.

**[00:05:40]** I will refer you to people who understand them much better than I do,

**[00:05:45]** and I will try to focus on the trends, because if you take, for example,

**[00:05:48]** Dana Prokopá from Pug Research or various others,

**[00:05:51]** Mr. Buchtík from STEM or Václav Smil,

**[00:05:55]** I can only recommend them, they are real insiders

**[00:06:00]** or, if you will, deeply informed sources you can read.

**[00:06:04]** It's not an easy read, it often leads to some depression,

**[00:06:12]** but I think it's good to realize

**[00:06:19]** that if anyone can do something about it, it's us.

**[00:06:23]** It depends on each individual whether they face the things

**[00:06:27]** around us head-on, whether we will actually build

**[00:06:38]** that social responsibility and future prosperity come from the individual.

**[00:06:45]** And companies are nothing more than organized larger or smaller clusters,

**[00:06:51]** of cells and individuals, and I strongly believe

**[00:06:55]** that the environment we live in depends on the individual and their responsibility.

**[00:07:00]** The environment we live in.

**[00:07:06]** Corporate social responsibility.

**[00:07:09]** Let's start with the graphs so we can get through them quickly.

**[00:07:15]** The red bar shows how we perceive whether the Czech Republic has a long-term government vision.

**[00:07:24]** And the best is at the bottom left because it's a ranking.

**[00:07:30]** This is not a percentage, not an index, just a ranking.

**[00:07:38]** So, of course, our relatively strong tendency toward pessimism

**[00:07:42]** and skepticism is reflected there, but still, we simply lack a long-term vision.

**[00:07:50]** And whether it's the government or the people involved in leading this country,

**[00:07:57]** from Singapore to Americans, who even if they didn't have one,

**[00:08:02]** most would say it's fantastic and that they do have one.

**[00:08:07]** That can of course influence the results, but if you look at relatively close Germans,

**[00:08:11]** who rank fourth or fifth, as well as Finns and Swiss,

**[00:08:17]** I think that long-term perspective and knowing where we are heading is something we lack.

**[00:08:22]** Here is another ranking, and we are in e-government, meaning digitalization,

**[00:08:26]** state administration ranks an unflattering 39th place between Bahrain and Belarus,

**[00:08:30]** and the ranking is again led by Denmark and Finland.

**[00:08:40]** These are not unknown facts, but in any case, it's part of the environment

**[00:08:46]** we live in and also a signal of what we should and could improve.

**[00:08:53]** Household debt fully reflects, let's say, some kind of morale, and it's alarming,

**[00:09:00]** because compared to 1998, we are in a very similar position,

**[00:09:08]** and the turn of 1998 to 1999-2000 was certainly nothing remarkable,

**[00:09:18]** but the decline and drop in recent years is something worth reflecting on

**[00:09:24]** and thinking about. What is even more frightening is that 20% of households are in the red,

**[00:09:29]** meaning they are unable to meet their obligations, whereas before the pandemic we said

**[00:09:35]** that about a quarter or almost a third of households didn't even have a three-month reserve,

**[00:09:45]** and we see this in the bank data and, I dare say, have very good statistics.

**[00:09:49]** Now it has shifted to a situation where one-fifth of households really cannot meet their obligations,

**[00:09:54]** and another fifth is in a position where they have less than a thousand crowns left monthly, or a thousand or less.

**[00:10:00]** So that's 40% of households on the edge or below the edge, or below the abyss, if you will.

**[00:10:09]** Not great.

**[00:10:16]** A very interesting graph, there will be two, and if you haven't seen it yet, it's definitely worth exploring.

**[00:10:24]** It's the Edelman survey, conducted every year.

**[00:10:26]** Just to note, if you see the gray triangle, it indicates the year 2020,

**[00:10:51]** So these are numbers collected in 2019 and published in 2020, so they reflect that.

**[00:10:57]** And it basically shows how competent, or rather how ethical, each of these segments is, which they highlight.

**[00:11:08]** Government or government structures, nonprofits, or business.

**[00:11:14]** And it's really interesting because on the horizontal axis you see competence from negative to positive values,

**[00:11:22]** and on the vertical axis you see perception, again it's an evaluation from a fairly broad spectrum of respondents,

**[00:11:31]** from unethical behavior to ethical.

**[00:11:35]** And you see the interesting shift from 2020 to 2021, or rather the data from 2019 and 2020,

**[00:11:42]** where the shift on the side of, let's say, government structures is not very flattering.

**[00:11:50]** That means people consider them less competent and less ethical.

**[00:11:54]** Unlike nonprofits, which are seen as not fully competent or not even reaching zero,

**[00:12:04]** but they behave ethically, and what's really interesting is that business,

**[00:12:12]** let's call it companies or the business environment, has again fallen below the line in terms of ethics

**[00:12:20]** and their behavior.

**[00:12:26]** And of course, this also shapes expectations about who can do good,

**[00:12:30]** or who can help us have a better future.

**[00:12:34]** I'll add one more chart with the very latest numbers,

**[00:12:39]** which haven't been published yet, I'm not entirely sure if the report is out or not,

**[00:12:44]** but it's the next shift, and what's interesting is that you see arrows

**[00:12:50]** indicating that competence and perception of business ethics is growing.

**[00:12:59]** Nonprofits, probably thanks to the war crisis and the pandemic, are moving into the positive competent perception,

**[00:13:04]** which is good,

**[00:13:10]** because they played huge positive roles in solving humanitarian problems

**[00:13:17]** and others that we had to deal with this year and last.

**[00:13:21]** Unfortunately, governments are steadily declining,

**[00:13:23]** so trust in them is falling.

**[00:13:28]** This basically answers the question of whether it makes sense to talk about corporate social responsibility.

**[00:13:31]** The public's expectation clearly exists,

**[00:13:34]** not only from the nonprofit sector,

**[00:13:38]** and today we won't talk about indulgences,

**[00:13:43]** about companies just doing something and occasionally sponsoring something for people or

**[00:13:46]** sending some money to charity.

**[00:13:54]** That's not the perception of CSR as I want to discuss it today.

**[00:14:00]** The expectations are high, and the responsibility of companies is clear,

**[00:14:06]** and it's not defined by the companies themselves, but by the people who believe and hope

**[00:14:11]** that these are companies that can make a difference.

**[00:14:16]** Now, two slides to take a break from the charts,

**[00:14:20]** which are just a certain surface.

**[00:14:25]** This is how we could historically view CSR,

**[00:14:30]** or the social responsibility of a large company that has its own foundation,

**[00:14:32]** focused on financial literacy.

**[00:14:35]** We have been dedicating a lot of time to this.

**[00:14:39]** And this is not a promo.

**[00:14:41]** I saw on the first slide when Honza was presenting,

**[00:14:45]** partners, there were many of our respected competitors.

**[00:14:49]** The Česká spořitelna logo is not there, so I can't resist using this moment to say

**[00:14:54]** that there is another bank as well.

**[00:14:59]** And I believe I don't need to introduce spořitelna,

**[00:15:02]** but I would like to introduce what we do.

**[00:15:05]** So this is, let's say, a more traditional view of CSR,

**[00:15:10]** which we will never give up and will continue to do,

**[00:15:13]** but I will spend most of the time on a layer that is not so visible

**[00:15:18]** and that I want you to understand and perceive

**[00:15:22]** and know why we do some things and how we do them.

**[00:15:27]** If anyone is interested even more,

**[00:15:30]** scan this QR code, there you have our non-financial report,

**[00:15:34]** which we are required to publish, like many other companies,

**[00:15:37]** and there you will find everything we do in this area,

**[00:15:41]** but that is only for those of you who are really interested in this field

**[00:15:45]** and want to read from the non-financial report

**[00:15:48]** all the things spořitelna is involved in.

**[00:15:52]** Well, the second economic transformation might be something

**[00:15:56]** you have heard about, and don't worry,

**[00:16:00]** I won't stray from the topic of social benefit

**[00:16:07]** or corporate social responsibility for long,

**[00:16:11]** but it is a very important matter.

**[00:16:13]** After all, we are a bank and an institution

**[00:16:17]** that deals with the economic side,

**[00:16:20]** whether of households or companies,

**[00:16:22]** but behind or maybe in front of the economy

**[00:16:26]** a lot of things are happening,

**[00:16:28]** so I think it's good to look at

**[00:16:31]** what kind of world we actually live in and why,

**[00:16:34]** and how this development is going.

**[00:16:36]** And the second economic transformation also has its significance,

**[00:16:39]** but we will get to that.

**[00:16:41]** No one will read this.

**[00:16:43]** But still, I think it's good to sense it,

**[00:16:48]** maybe those of you watching at home,

**[00:16:51]** we won't analyze it at all,

**[00:16:53]** but these are basically proofs of technological progress.

**[00:16:57]** It's on different timelines.

**[00:17:01]** Documented, for example, in the top right,

**[00:17:03]** how quickly the price of solar cells and solar panels dropped,

**[00:17:07]** how exponentially availability is developing,

**[00:17:11]** or it simply demonstrates social progress,

**[00:17:18]** or rather the increasing supply,

**[00:17:20]** that extensive side of growth,

**[00:17:24]** that we have witnessed and are witnessing,

**[00:17:27]** just as the saying goes, nothing grows to the sky,

**[00:17:30]** soon you'll see it has its dark sides too.

**[00:17:33]** And if anyone hoped the party would last longer,

**[00:17:37]** it simply won't.

**[00:17:39]** It won't, unless we make efforts to change some things.

**[00:17:48]** This is more of a warning.

**[00:17:50]** And it's not just the dark side of the previous slide,

**[00:17:56]** which is a combination of, let's say, growth evidence,

**[00:18:00]** but it's clearly shown,

**[00:18:05]** that the political uncertainty index, as it's called,

**[00:18:09]** is rising extremely.

**[00:18:11]** There's a red line for the world, blue shaded for Europe,

**[00:18:17]** and black for Germany.

**[00:18:20]** And political uncertainty is rising significantly,

**[00:18:25]** which doesn't give people confidence,

**[00:18:27]** and it reflects in the graph you saw a moment ago.

**[00:18:31]** That means they lack faith, lose faith, and don't believe.

**[00:18:37]** Another graph, and globalization is something

**[00:18:40]** that obviously multiplies those growth factors

**[00:18:44]** and helps that growth.

**[00:18:48]** What’s interesting about this graph is

**[00:18:51]** that basically half of the global GDP

**[00:18:57]** is generated by the sum of exports and imports.

**[00:19:01]** That means we are already so fatally dependent

**[00:19:04]** on global movement of goods, exports, and imports,

**[00:19:10]** that if we waved a magic wand

**[00:19:14]** and cut off this part,

**[00:19:18]** we would reduce global production by half.

**[00:19:26]** Globalization lowers costs and increases accessibility,

**[00:19:30]** raises living standards, and acts growth-wise,

**[00:19:34]** but it also has its other sides.

**[00:19:40]** There are no people, this is a graph.

**[00:19:43]** And I add, they won't.

**[00:19:46]** This is a demographic curve,

**[00:19:49]** indicated by those black dots,

**[00:19:55]** showing what would happen if immigration suddenly stopped again by some miracle.

**[00:20:00]** And these are more or less Czech data.

**[00:20:05]** But the demographic curve is relentless

**[00:20:10]** and actually goes against the growth trend,

**[00:20:15]** so if we don't do something smart in terms of investments,

**[00:20:19]** people's education, training, and reskilling,

**[00:20:21]** we won't see support

**[00:20:24]** especially from

**[00:20:30]** the labor force, to put it that way.

**[00:20:35]** Another combination of four graphs, don't analyze it too deeply,

**[00:20:37]** but I can't resist giving some interpretation

**[00:20:43]** of each individual graph.

**[00:20:47]** The top left one shows

**[00:20:51]** how the ability and willingness of governments

**[00:20:57]** to deal with structural problems is declining.

**[00:20:59]** If you look, the peak is somewhere between 1989 and 1994,

**[00:21:05]** when there was some effort, willingness, and ability of governments

**[00:21:11]** to restructure economies, or rather invest in them,

**[00:21:14]** to ensure further growth.

**[00:21:18]** But significantly only until 2014,

**[00:21:20]** I don't know if there is fresher data, probably yes,

**[00:21:23]** but the trend is undeniable.

**[00:21:27]** If we go down a bit, the second part just shows

**[00:21:32]** that money is getting cheaper and cheaper

**[00:21:35]** and we compensate for the inability to restructure and change things over time

**[00:21:40]** by flooding economies with cheap cash.

**[00:21:44]** The consequence is the top right graph,

**[00:21:47]** because it shows

**[00:21:50]** that debt and indebtedness of individual states is rising alarmingly.

**[00:21:56]** We looked a bit superficially at Greece here,

**[00:22:00]** which reached such a level of debt that it couldn't repay it,

**[00:22:05]** but if you look at the combination of many European countries,

**[00:22:11]** and it's not just Italy, which is often mentioned,

**[00:22:15]** but Belgium is also above the 100% debt threshold,

**[00:22:19]** and if you add to that the fact that low interest rates,

**[00:22:23]** which in the eurozone were long at zero or even below zero,

**[00:22:27]** are now necessarily starting to rise due to taming inflation,

**[00:22:32]** so the ability of states to repay their debts is approaching zero

**[00:22:37]** for a large number of states.

**[00:22:41]** And the yellow parts of those graphs show the ratio

**[00:22:49]** of total debt to gross domestic product,

**[00:22:53]** so you see that we are simply going over 100%

**[00:22:57]** and with rising interest rates, because we are still starting

**[00:23:01]** from relatively low interest rates, the ability to repay

**[00:23:05]** will change significantly.

**[00:23:07]** The red bars show how GDP is growing,

**[00:23:15]** so you see we don't even have the means, we don't produce enough.

**[00:23:19]** And basically the last graph on the right shows

**[00:23:27]** how the influence of populists is growing, which is nothing else

**[00:23:31]** but a combination of the previous factors.

**[00:23:35]** So when we realize what kind of society we live in

**[00:23:39]** and what is important for responsibility,

**[00:23:43]** if we want to continue the trend of flooding

**[00:23:47]** economies with cheap money, and the related inability to repay,

**[00:23:51]** as I demonstrated here with 40% of households

**[00:23:55]** that are on the edge, then maybe 50% of the state is beyond the edge.

**[00:23:59]** From a societal perspective.

**[00:24:03]** And it's morning, it's a pleasant breakfast here,

**[00:24:07]** so I don't want to depress you.

**[00:24:11]** I'm really not the one who studies graphs from morning till night,

**[00:24:15]** but to realize what and why it matters,

**[00:24:19]** because if we want to do something about it or lend a hand,

**[00:24:23]** then analyzing where we are is quite useful.

**[00:24:29]** We've seen the problems with the inability to grow productivity for a long time,

**[00:24:33]** I won't linger long on this graph,

**[00:24:37]** in other words, it's no surprise.

**[00:24:41]** It's just a reluctance either to see these things

**[00:24:45]** or to look at them from the right perspective,

**[00:24:49]** it's really no surprise.

**[00:24:53]** It's not even a consequence of the war conflict this year,

**[00:24:57]** nor a consequence of the global pandemic.

**[00:24:59]** These are just catalysts that amplify some of the trends

**[00:25:03]** and highlight them in the right light.

**[00:25:07]** This is not something that should surprise us.

**[00:25:11]** Let's take a closer look at the Czech Republic,

**[00:25:15]** to be relevant.

**[00:25:19]** This could fill us with hope and pride.

**[00:25:25]** The convergence of the Czech Republic in terms of how much GDP we produce per capita in purchasing power parity,

**[00:25:29]** we have reached a level between Britain and Italy,

**[00:25:33]** so the convergence is undoubtedly there,

**[00:25:37]** and we can no longer pretend that we are a developing country,

**[00:25:41]** or that we are simply a post-Soviet bloc.

**[00:25:45]** We simply play a role in terms of size,

**[00:25:49]** and our current prime minister indicates this very well,

**[00:25:53]** because there is no reason to underestimate ourselves.

**[00:25:57]** We are a country of 10 million, rather larger than smaller in Europe,

**[00:26:01]** I would say, if you look at it.

**[00:26:05]** At the same time, we have converged to a relatively good economic position.

**[00:26:09]** The dots and dashes, but if you feel like diving into it a bit,

**[00:26:13]** they show that we have converged because those around us were worse and slower.

**[00:26:17]** And at the same time, it's a bit like a one-eyed man among the blind.

**[00:26:21]** Certainly, it's not because we know where we are going

**[00:26:25]** or that we are able to manage the growth of the economy healthily.

**[00:26:29]** I'll return again to the economic transformation,

**[00:26:33]** which from my point of view is desirable and necessary.

**[00:26:37]** But fine.

**[00:26:41]** This is also good to realize. Today, in terms of production,

**[00:26:45]** we are at the level of Germany. Germany is 100,

**[00:26:49]** we are even 103, we are able to produce

**[00:26:53]** added value per worker and per capita

**[00:26:57]** equal to Germany, which has always been our role model, great.

**[00:27:01]** The problem is that the added value of what we produce

**[00:27:05]** is only 80 percent. In other words, our economy

**[00:27:09]** is somewhat sub-manufacturing, the gap is not

**[00:27:13]** completely dramatic, it's not 50 percent, but we have a reserve there.

**[00:27:17]** And unfortunately, what remains to us

**[00:27:21]** from that added value is only 70 percent. There we somewhat pay

**[00:27:25]** a tax for privatization and foreign capital,

**[00:27:29]** and it's a problem because we have few companies

**[00:27:33]** purely in Czech hands, little Czech capital,

**[00:27:37]** and that also needs to be addressed for us to grow.

**[00:27:41]** But it's good to realize that we produce quite successfully enough.

**[00:27:45]** The added value, I did not include

**[00:27:49]** a nice graph that says,

**[00:27:53]** that we actually take from that added value

**[00:28:05]** rarely because we are very often focused, I don't like that word

**[00:28:09]** assembly plant, but there is a large part

**[00:28:13]** of subcontracting and deliveries that only serve

**[00:28:17]** to complete final products,

**[00:28:21]** where much greater added value is generated and what we should focus on

**[00:28:25]** and this is part of corporate social responsibility

**[00:28:29]** to think about it this way is research and development

**[00:28:33]** and the ability to sell your own product.

**[00:28:37]** And these are the two parts of the added value, which is not only greater,

**[00:28:41]** but I think we even have the prerequisites for it.

**[00:28:45]** It's just a pity not to use it.

**[00:28:49]** And this is a graph or a part that should

**[00:28:53]** completely fill us with pride,

**[00:28:57]** because complexity, in the good sense of the word,

**[00:29:01]** means diversity and complexity

**[00:29:05]** of the economy, is comparable to Japan and we are

**[00:29:09]** among the ten most complex

**[00:29:13]** economies in the world. And if you look,

**[00:29:17]** just look at the colors, the similarity

**[00:29:21]** to the Japanese is really big.

**[00:29:25]** I basically won't even comment on this,

**[00:29:29]** but if you're interested, we started publishing

**[00:29:33]** in Sporka, David Navrátil almost every month

**[00:29:37]** and regularly highlights the Czech Prosperity Index.

**[00:29:41]** We look at it from different perspectives, every month highlighting

**[00:29:45]** a slightly different view and this is one of the graphs

**[00:29:49]** we published. You need to look

**[00:29:53]** at the structure, it basically summarizes the previous slides

**[00:29:57]** and if you're interested, our analytical team,

**[00:30:00]** and David Navrátil will tell you everything about it,

**[00:30:03]** I won't hold you up here.

**[00:30:05]** However, if we look at the Czech Republic

**[00:30:09]** from the perspective of several different indicators,

**[00:30:12]** and I think this is an interesting summary,

**[00:30:15]** out of 27 countries in Europe we are 13th,

**[00:30:20]** in terms of automation and robotization, not great, average.

**[00:30:25]** We are the worst in housing availability,

**[00:30:28]** 27th place, we need 16 to 17 average annual salaries

**[00:30:33]** to afford an average home.

**[00:30:37]** In e-government, I highlighted Bahrain there

**[00:30:42]** Including Belarus, we rank 20th in Europe,

**[00:30:45]** so that's a bit of a comparison with Europe indeed,

**[00:30:50]** what's interesting is if you look further down, the shopping cart

**[00:30:55]** shows we are third in e-commerce.

**[00:30:58]** So it's not that our people are unable

**[00:31:01]** to use electronic and digital technologies.

**[00:31:05]** On the contrary, we are able to adopt much faster

**[00:31:09]** from contactless payments to mobile banking,

**[00:31:13]** that's what I see, but it's an interesting paradox.

**[00:31:18]** E-government is 20th and e-commerce is third, which is interesting.

**[00:31:22]** Education, we'll talk about that too,

**[00:31:26]** 22nd means that when some businesses and companies call

**[00:31:30]** for more vocational schools despite having many universities,

**[00:31:34]** and say we should have more vocational schools because we have

**[00:31:38]** overeducated people or maybe that's not true.

**[00:31:42]** These are people under 35 who have attained tertiary education,

**[00:31:46]** in other words, have a university degree, so we are 22nd in Europe there.

**[00:31:52]** And last but not least, science and research,

**[00:31:56]** that's the symbol all the way at the bottom left,

**[00:32:00]** we are 10th, which is not great either. So this mix,

**[00:32:04]** we will discuss where to invest or what to do

**[00:32:08]** responsibly to move forward,

**[00:32:12]** because the economy is also the foundation of that.

**[00:32:16]** From the very current energy perspective,

**[00:32:20]** it's not great either, even though we say

**[00:32:24]** we have one of the most energy-intensive economies

**[00:32:28]** almost in Europe,

**[00:32:32]** and maybe even in the world we are among the top performers.

**[00:32:36]** Similar to Americans, but the problem is,

**[00:32:40]** we are not self-sufficient. Maybe in electricity production,

**[00:32:44]** but definitely not in gas. So we have this structural problem too.

**[00:32:48]** Well...

**[00:32:52]** I would close it here with these graphs

**[00:32:56]** and in the next half hour or about 20 minutes,

**[00:33:00]** I will guide you through how we think at spostka,

**[00:33:04]** what we can do about it, how we can contribute.

**[00:33:08]** Because when the second economic transformation happened,

**[00:33:12]** we really want to help it take place.

**[00:33:16]** To happen within 30 years and from, let's say, a few communisms

**[00:33:20]** to today, I think we have nothing to be ashamed of.

**[00:33:24]** And that convergence suggests it too. But to move forward

**[00:33:28]** and to remain a prosperous country, we need to address

**[00:33:32]** certain trends, and for me that's the main layer

**[00:33:36]** of social responsibility—what we do for education

**[00:33:40]** and people's learning. And not just within the company,

**[00:33:44]** in spořitelna for their reskilling, so they can adopt,

**[00:33:48]** what we call 21st century skills, meaning the things

**[00:33:52]** needed to survive in the 21st century.

**[00:33:56]** That's digital literacy, financial literacy,

**[00:34:00]** and the ability to look at some of these graphs

**[00:34:04]** and interpret them correctly. This naturally requires

**[00:34:08]** the ability to learn something new every day. Likewise,

**[00:34:12]** what can we do to encourage companies to boldly invest

**[00:34:16]** in technology and not remain locked in the traditional

**[00:34:20]** demanding, production-intensive,

**[00:34:24]** let's say commercial and manufacturing model.

**[00:34:32]** We have a long tradition,

**[00:34:36]** spořitelna will be 200 years old in 2025,

**[00:34:40]** and it actually started

**[00:34:44]** with a very innovative idea, because by the year

**[00:34:48]** 1825 in Europe,

**[00:34:52]** it was the decade when what we now call retail banking was born. Until then,

**[00:34:56]** financial services were not accessible to anyone

**[00:35:00]** other than those who owned land or factories,

**[00:35:04]** because there was no way to save or work with

**[00:35:08]** the money you earned or the value you received

**[00:35:12]** for your labor and effort. The fantastic invention there

**[00:35:16]** was the passbook, allowing people to

**[00:35:20]** save and set aside part of their consumption, because that's also one of those healthy habits,

**[00:35:24]** to build some reserve, to save regularly.

**[00:35:28]** And now, fast forward, in the last five or six years we've been trying

**[00:35:32]** to reinterpret this responsibility,

**[00:35:36]** because it's a very strong DNA we have in our blood and very often

**[00:35:40]** we actually forget why we were founded.

**[00:35:44]** And when people talk about purpose-driven, meaning responsible companies

**[00:35:48]** or companies that have an inner drive and know why they exist,

**[00:35:52]** we actually weren't founded as a bank,

**[00:35:56]** even though banking is 400 years old.

**[00:36:00]** We were founded for a reason as a savings institution.

**[00:36:08]** And not only in Bohemia, because in 1825 it was Bohemia,

**[00:36:12]** but Erste, Estera, and Šparkase, which we own by chance,

**[00:36:16]** were founded in 1819. And that's how savings banks

**[00:36:20]** were established in Scandinavia, Benelux, Italy, all over Europe.

**[00:36:24]** Because the social pressure was such, the class of people

**[00:36:28]** who owned something, and I always say it was the mayor,

**[00:36:32]** the owner of some biggest company, and the innkeeper,

**[00:36:36]** who agreed that they wanted a savings bank in the town square,

**[00:36:40]** so that people caught in widening gaps

**[00:36:44]** and very difficult situations, who lacked faith

**[00:36:48]** and hope for the future, could focus on

**[00:36:52]** improving their life situation,

**[00:36:56]** and those people decided to help them.

**[00:37:00]** It wasn't some plea to the gods, it was actually a social solution,

**[00:37:04]** to a complex situation during the industrial revolution

**[00:37:08]** when people were not doing well at all,

**[00:37:12]** and society was definitely not cohesive.

**[00:37:16]** I think, with some exaggeration,

**[00:37:20]** we find ourselves in a relatively similar situation today,

**[00:37:24]** and we must be extremely careful, and the key is precisely

**[00:37:28]** responsibility not only of companies but also governments and the nonprofit sector,

**[00:37:32]** understanding, a formulation of a shared vision and idea,

**[00:37:36]** so that we can all collectively commit to some,

**[00:37:40]** let's say, promising and prosperous future,

**[00:37:44]** and so that we can all do something about it,

**[00:37:48]** because this is not fiction, this is wishful thinking.

**[00:37:52]** It's simply that when a large number of people agree

**[00:37:56]** that this is the right way, then very likely things will happen.

**[00:38:00]** Or there is a chance they will happen.

**[00:38:04]** So we actually don't want to be a bank, to exaggerate and don't be alarmed.

**[00:38:08]** We would like that by 2025 people say about us

**[00:38:12]** that we are a company that helps them achieve financial health.

**[00:38:16]** No one can deny that at first glance we have

**[00:38:20]** absolute brand awareness; few people don't know

**[00:38:24]** that a savings bank exists, whether they bank with us or not.

**[00:38:28]** But I would really like that when we turn 200 years old,

**[00:38:32]** people say that we actually help society,

**[00:38:36]** help individuals and companies to be more financially resilient,

**[00:38:40]** to be more literate, to understand the context, and that together

**[00:38:44]** we contribute to making life better here.

**[00:38:48]** and a future we aspire to.

**[00:38:52]** So social responsibility, as we see it,

**[00:38:56]** is not just about foundations,

**[00:39:00]** I see Karel here so he doesn't get too nervous,

**[00:39:04]** because he drives the things we do in the foundation,

**[00:39:08]** that's part of it. But social responsibility

**[00:39:12]** in my view is what the company actually does

**[00:39:16]** and it also does a huge amount of other things you've seen,

**[00:39:20]** because the substance of how it behaves, what it does,

**[00:39:24]** how it raises, teaches, educates its employees and clients

**[00:39:28]** is extremely important.

**[00:39:32]** And I believe that people will prefer to work in such a company,

**[00:39:36]** that this is actually part of our competitiveness.

**[00:39:40]** As a savings bank, we may be far from ideal,

**[00:39:44]** but we are definitely trying very sincerely.

**[00:39:50]** Now I'll tell you what we are trying to do,

**[00:39:54]** because that vision,

**[00:39:58]** to become a financial health company,

**[00:40:00]** is not just slides, these are concrete things we try to do,

**[00:40:05]** and I'll give you a taste, because I don't want to keep you too long,

**[00:40:09]** but if you're interested, of course we'd be happy to talk about it,

**[00:40:13]** or people who work on it. What I enjoy is that I feel

**[00:40:16]** the people working in the company enjoy it too. That's good.

**[00:40:23]** I spoke here about the low added value of the economy,

**[00:40:26]** so we really try not to just increase the volume of money spent,

**[00:40:31]** that's a side effect of what we do, but we try

**[00:40:34]** to truly give companies the courage and ability to invest in things

**[00:40:39]** that increase the added value they generate and keep.

**[00:40:43]** That means transformational, and we have an example of that,

**[00:40:46]** we started relatively recently, but we have a special program for it,

**[00:40:49]** like some preferential loans and the whole process chain,

**[00:40:54]** risk assessment, we can look at it

**[00:40:57]** with, let's say, future eyes, and it's not easy.

**[00:41:03]** As a company, we have been finely tuned over the last 20 years

**[00:41:08]** to sell financial commodities.

**[00:41:11]** And turning the company into one that can deal with

**[00:41:16]** current problems and not just sell whatever is on the table,

**[00:41:21]** is not easy.

**[00:41:24]** It's a really well-oiled, functioning, running machine.

**[00:41:29]** And when you decide to change it, you can't start anywhere but with the people

**[00:41:33]** or with some practices, that's why we went through a phase

**[00:41:37]** of agile transformation and now we're focusing on how to become

**[00:41:41]** a learning organization, and there's a huge amount of transformational

**[00:41:46]** or change management energy, and it's really tough.

**[00:41:50]** Because the organization, like a living organism,

**[00:41:54]** naturally resists.

**[00:41:58]** So low housing availability, which I also mentioned,

**[00:42:02]** is kind of in the middle. On that slide, we already have projects in the pipeline

**[00:42:07]** worth about a billion. We want to make apartments rentable

**[00:42:12]** in cooperation with municipalities at roughly 20% below market rent,

**[00:42:18]** and it's not charity, it's quite well calculated.

**[00:42:23]** We're willing to compromise on returns, and journalists often ask me,

**[00:42:29]** why we do it, what's the catch they don't tell them.

**[00:42:33]** And it's very simple. We are deeply connected

**[00:42:38]** to how society is doing and how people are doing.

**[00:42:42]** If people and companies don't do well,

**[00:42:45]** we can just pack it up. If sentiment worsens even more,

**[00:42:49]** talking about investment with someone who can't pay

**[00:42:53]** their obligations this month is absolutely irrelevant

**[00:42:57]** and they lose the loan. So we have to, and the more companies realize

**[00:43:03]** that we must contribute to changing the environment

**[00:43:07]** in a positive direction, the better. So we chose the biggest

**[00:43:11]** social pain points and found our relevance there,

**[00:43:15]** because we are the largest mortgage provider.

**[00:43:19]** Today, proudly, regardless of other logos, that's the case.

**[00:43:23]** We have the largest mortgage portfolio and provide the most

**[00:43:27]** volume mortgages. But what's the point if today

**[00:43:31]** barely 20% of people can afford it? And we could still

**[00:43:36]** hold onto that number one position for a while.

**[00:43:40]** But that's not good. So housing availability

**[00:43:44]** is a big issue and we have a fairly

**[00:43:48]** promisingly developing program for it. The pressure on family budgets,

**[00:43:52]** I'll talk about that too, because it's a phenomenon of recent years

**[00:43:56]** and a big topic.

**[00:44:00]** We'll need people to cooperate with us

**[00:44:04]** and be financially healthier. It just can't work otherwise, because

**[00:44:08]** otherwise you miss the conversation, but that's part of it.

**[00:44:12]** ESG or high investments in environmental protection,

**[00:44:16]** that's also a megatrend

**[00:44:20]** and anyone can call it activism,

**[00:44:24]** but simply that we are not leaving the planet

**[00:44:28]** in the same or better condition, that is also a consequence of

**[00:44:32]** not only globalization, but actually

**[00:44:36]** growth that is not sustainably based.

**[00:44:40]** So for us, it's a completely logical topic,

**[00:44:44]** it's part of the overall social climate.

**[00:44:48]** And for the tight labor market, meaning investments in robotization, digitalization,

**[00:44:52]** it's simply about the fact that people are not and will not be enough, and if we want

**[00:44:56]** people to do work that truly has higher added value,

**[00:45:00]** and leave the dull operational work to machines and robots.

**[00:45:04]** And technology allows that today, so it's nothing else.

**[00:45:08]** So now I will just briefly illustrate with some examples,

**[00:45:12]** but I want you to understand

**[00:45:16]** the layers of social responsibility

**[00:45:20]** and reflect on whether and which companies

**[00:45:24]** and in what way can contribute not only to

**[00:45:28]** being good corporate citizens. I consider that hygiene

**[00:45:32]** and a necessity, that I simply care about how the environment around

**[00:45:36]** the factory or the offices looks, what kind of environment I create

**[00:45:40]** for the people who work there. I think

**[00:45:44]** that without that, it just doesn't work anymore.

**[00:45:48]** Or maybe it does, but those are unsustainable examples.

**[00:45:52]** The layer that is for me much

**[00:45:56]** more sexy and interesting is how to actually change

**[00:46:00]** the internal functioning of the organization, what it actually does and why it does it.

**[00:46:04]** Like finding the meaning of how I can contribute

**[00:46:08]** to better societal development.

**[00:46:12]** That obviously includes the ability to talk

**[00:46:16]** with nonprofits, to talk with the government sector. That's not easy.

**[00:46:20]** We are very often perceived as competitors or maybe as nonprofits,

**[00:46:24]** as a source of some grants or money.

**[00:46:28]** But that will only work if we understand each other

**[00:46:32]** and talk together. And it's no coincidence they say

**[00:46:36]** that every country has the government it deserves.

**[00:46:40]** It's basically a reflection of the society. It's sad, amusing.

**[00:46:44]** You can shake your head however you want, but that's just how it is.

**[00:46:48]** And we must be able to approach even the political representation and the state

**[00:46:52]** with the attitude that we don't know everything. There is a huge amount of humility in what

**[00:46:56]** we actually don't know. But if we don't talk about it

**[00:47:00]** and if we don't do it together, then I simply don't believe,

**[00:47:03]** that it can be overcome. Or I think it's a much more effective

**[00:47:07]** and faster way. But it really does hurt a lot.

**[00:47:11]** So increasing added value. We have a specific program.

**[00:47:15]** We actually started working on it at the beginning of this year

**[00:47:22]** and it's fascinating to me how well it resonates.

**[00:47:26]** When you approach companies not with lending them money,

**[00:47:30]** but when you start talking to them about how they can

**[00:47:34]** invest properly and how they can change their business model.

**[00:47:40]** Many of them subconsciously feel that their competitiveness,

**[00:47:44]** as it is built today, is not sustainable in the long term.

**[00:47:49]** And a very strong bond forms there, and I dare say,

**[00:47:54]** even loyalty, because we have to take that risk with them

**[00:47:58]** and we have to help them with it.

**[00:48:01]** I have commented on housing availability in some way.

**[00:48:05]** I would also be very glad if you are interested in exploring everything,

**[00:48:09]** because even the developers feel it, although we might

**[00:48:13]** look down on them, many of them know

**[00:48:17]** that they just build something, sell it, build something bigger,

**[00:48:20]** sell it, and so on, but that doesn't work long term either,

**[00:48:23]** especially now that the cost of money has increased

**[00:48:26]** and property prices have gone up, suddenly they build something

**[00:48:29]** and find out they have no one to sell it to.

**[00:48:32]** Because people simply don't have the money.

**[00:48:35]** And the 20% who do have it, they either don't absorb

**[00:48:38]** or don't want more investment properties.

**[00:48:41]** A simplified view, and it's not nearly as critical,

**[00:48:44]** we have reached a volume somewhere around the level of 2019,

**[00:48:47]** which was not bad at all, so I don't count the last two years

**[00:48:50]** as relevant for comparison,

**[00:48:53]** but still.

**[00:48:56]** Housing availability is a problem.

**[00:48:59]** It's one of the basic life needs, and when people don't have

**[00:49:02]** a roof over their heads or, God forbid, nothing to eat,

**[00:49:05]** it's simply a problem and you can't build anything else with them.

**[00:49:08]** Reducing the strain on family budgets,

**[00:49:11]** that's also a big topic for us

**[00:49:14]** and it's about conversations,

**[00:49:17]** it's about healthy financial habits,

**[00:49:20]** whether I create some reserve in good times,

**[00:49:23]** whether we can help people when things really get tough and don't work out,

**[00:49:26]** so they don't fall into personal bankruptcies.

**[00:49:29]** It's not just education, but also education.

**[00:49:32]** We will reward healthy financial habits,

**[00:49:35]** we don't want to take on the role of a smart mentor

**[00:49:38]** and say, once you solve this, come back,

**[00:49:41]** we want to actually help people.

**[00:49:44]** That will be the role of our advisors and we want to digitalize it.

**[00:49:47]** There is a complete advisory layer here

**[00:49:50]** and the ability to help people with their right habits.

**[00:49:53]** You all know this too.

**[00:50:00]** Your watch tells you when it's time to get up,

**[00:50:04]** or that you should take a breath and counts your steps

**[00:50:09]** and rewards you with rings for exercising and everything.

**[00:50:13]** So I think it works exactly the same with financial habits.

**[00:50:17]** We call some clients or groups of clients turbo spenders,

**[00:50:22]** because whenever any opportunity arises, there are always things they

**[00:50:27]** need or want to buy, and there are a lot of them.

**[00:50:30]** I also know how good it is to live a healthy life, go to bed early,

**[00:50:35]** not eat too much sugar, not drink alcohol, and exercise.

**[00:50:41]** I don't do it, but I know it.

**[00:50:44]** And when someone helps me, whether it's a watch or how to get a bit closer

**[00:50:49]** to a healthy lifestyle,

**[00:50:52]** I'm glad, it suits me, so we want to play this role in the financial area.

**[00:50:58]** This one is about sustainability, we won't put it on a billboard,

**[00:51:05]** because the ESG acronym is not just about the environment,

**[00:51:11]** it's also about social and governance issues.

**[00:51:15]** I showed on the slide where we came from and how we started as a company,

**[00:51:19]** we are more involved in the social and governance area,

**[00:51:27]** but we don't underestimate the environmental area at all.

**[00:51:30]** Today, many companies tell us they can't even participate in tenders

**[00:51:37]** if they don't have their carbon footprint mapped and some basic reporting,

**[00:51:41]** which in many countries is required to even be allowed to bid.

**[00:51:45]** So it's a kind of forced necessity,

**[00:51:50]** but we want to look at energy consumption

**[00:51:53]** from a more complex perspective than just blindly complying

**[00:51:57]** with all the requirements.

**[00:52:02]** That's it.

**[00:52:06]** 50 minutes.

**[00:52:08]** So it wasn't that bad with the graphs,

**[00:52:13]** but for those of you who want to dig deeper,

**[00:52:17]** there are options for that.

**[00:52:19]** I'm happy to connect you with people who really enjoy that.

**[00:52:24]** That's all from me.

**[00:52:26]** I hope I at least conveyed some sense of social responsibility.

**[00:52:35]** I really don't want to make it a cliché.

**[00:52:37]** For me, it's an extremely important topic,

**[00:52:40]** but I found the dimension of everyday work there,

**[00:52:44]** not just some side job.

**[00:52:47]** Thank you very much.

**[00:52:48]** I'll sit down with you now.

**[00:52:50]** I encourage you to definitely ask questions via the slides, please, please.

**[00:52:56]** We already have a few.

**[00:52:59]** Before I get to the questions,

**[00:53:01]** I kind of noticed, Tomáš,

**[00:53:04]** not just from this presentation,

**[00:53:05]** but because I follow your collaboration with Dan Prokop,

**[00:53:09]** who was also a guest at Brain&Breakfast,

**[00:53:13]** that data is basically the alpha and omega

**[00:53:16]** to being able to make good and correct decisions.

**[00:53:19]** Is that the reason why the core part of your presentation

**[00:53:22]** was supported by this?

**[00:53:25]** Look, I'm more of an intuitive type.

**[00:53:28]** I had to force myself to do it and still have to.

**[00:53:31]** I got the basics back in GE, where without

**[00:53:36]** data and statistics, you simply couldn't or weren't allowed to make decisions,

**[00:53:40]** or at least you had to fake that there was some data

**[00:53:43]** to back it up. But I rely a lot on intuition,

**[00:53:47]** and increasingly I strengthen it with data,

**[00:53:51]** because there is a lot of information around us,

**[00:53:54]** and in different groups or bubbles, you can fall into the trap of thinking you know.

**[00:53:58]** The higher you are in the hierarchy, the more dangerous it is

**[00:54:02]** when you say, 'I know, I feel it, I have some personal experience.'

**[00:54:07]** So I have great respect for data

**[00:54:11]** and even greater respect and admiration for people

**[00:54:14]** who can work with data without getting lost in it,

**[00:54:16]** because I know many Excel wizards,

**[00:54:29]** who can spend their whole life on those tables and charts

**[00:54:33]** and never actually turn it into action.

**[00:54:36]** They just enjoy it and are completely excited about

**[00:54:40]** what they can read and do from it.

**[00:54:43]** But the practical side, where you confirm a hypothesis,

**[00:54:49]** compare it with what you see around you,

**[00:54:53]** with a feeling you might have and with experience others have more of.

**[00:54:57]** I think that's the healthy mix,

**[00:55:01]** but the obsession with data is important, in my opinion.

**[00:55:05]** One reason I invited you here is that

**[00:55:09]** you are able to flip those things into practice,

**[00:55:13]** which is important, because often just pointing something out is one thing,

**[00:55:19]** but you try to do a lot with those things.

**[00:55:22]** If you see it that way, I'm glad.

**[00:55:25]** I still see a lot of room there and data simply knows best.

**[00:55:29]** Whether you like it or not, that's the foundation.

**[00:55:32]** I want to get a bit more concrete,

**[00:55:36]** and feel free to ignore other logos.

**[00:55:40]** Yours can be there too, of course.

**[00:55:43]** You do a lot in education.

**[00:55:47]** Deserved activities, eruzměna, etc.

**[00:55:51]** Try to say a few things and share,

**[00:55:55]** if I were in education, what you aim for and specifically the things

**[00:55:59]** you do there.

**[00:56:05]** In the presentation, the belief was

**[00:56:09]** that the future prosperity of the whole society

**[00:56:13]** is built on a confident, therefore educated,

**[00:56:17]** and constantly learning individual, which is very, very strong.

**[00:56:21]** That's the foundation of civil society.

**[00:56:25]** If the foundation of civil society is an educated and confident citizen,

**[00:56:29]** then we have nothing to fear.

**[00:56:33]** If that person also goes to work every day

**[00:56:37]** or anywhere with open eyes and looks forward to

**[00:56:41]** what new things they will learn, then it's even better and I have no fear at all.

**[00:56:45]** Because we are a creative nation, we can adapt,

**[00:56:49]** and if we have that obsession inside us, so this stems from this belief.

**[00:56:53]** This is how I try to imprint it into the institution

**[00:56:59]** called Česká spořitelna DNA, because then I have no fear

**[00:57:03]** about how it will survive the next 200 years.

**[00:57:07]** And I believe it will also attract the right kinds of people.

**[00:57:11]** And we actually, over the last five years,

**[00:57:15]** have had the entire foundation program.

**[00:57:19]** They kind of flipped it towards education, towards learning.

**[00:57:23]** Now we're giving it a bit of a spin towards financial

**[00:57:27]** or 21st-century habits.

**[00:57:31]** But it has a strong and long tradition in Spostka, and instead of

**[00:57:35]** offering employees English courses

**[00:57:39]** or Excel courses, but I really don't want to mention that,

**[00:57:43]** because hopefully that doesn't happen so often anymore.

**[00:57:47]** We want to spark their interest.

**[00:57:51]** Interest in learning and at the same time tell them

**[00:57:55]** that this is the answer to living better,

**[00:57:59]** to having higher salaries, and for all of us to live in a society

**[00:58:03]** that is better. So that's it, I don't know if I answered,

**[00:58:07]** because we can talk about specific programs.

**[00:58:11]** Edu change too. Be interested that we have already been teachers live,

**[00:58:15]** now we are very happy with them, we support them from the start,

**[00:58:19]** and now they are gaining fantastic momentum.

**[00:58:23]** So these are very concrete things that we are very happy about,

**[00:58:27]** and now we are starting reflections on a culture that has in its DNA

**[00:58:31]** a learning organization on a daily basis.

**[00:58:35]** I actually feel that when I look at materials from people from teachers, live principals, and so on,

**[00:58:39]** so the professionalization of the nonprofit,

**[00:58:43]** I'll say, sector is actually cleaned up there,

**[00:58:47]** the data is clearly visible and so on,

**[00:58:51]** and a few years ago that wouldn't have been the case at all.

**[00:58:55]** So I feel that even in this, professionalization is important,

**[00:58:59]** because it sets some benchmark for how it should probably be done.

**[00:59:03]** But the question also for the second transformation is,

**[00:59:07]** how, as you think about the company,

**[00:59:11]** to imprint it onto other entrepreneurs and other

**[00:59:15]** companies here in the Czech Republic. I know there are many signatories,

**[00:59:19]** but it seems to me that it's still the same old group

**[00:59:23]** of people, but when I go a bit beyond the borders,

**[00:59:27]** it's not quite so rosy there.

**[00:59:31]** For me or us, because I consider myself

**[00:59:35]** one of the initiators of that challenge,

**[00:59:39]** we were actually surprised how we were able

**[00:59:43]** to easily agree with the usual suspects, the same old names,

**[00:59:47]** to simply agree,

**[00:59:51]** that these are personalities who have opinions and 10-15 years ago

**[00:59:55]** I dare say it wouldn't have been possible. But Radek Špicár says

**[00:59:59]** that the business has actually matured.

**[01:00:00]** that it has graduated, that it is starting to gain perspective, that it is beginning to realize, because even those people who were objectively successful in the last 30 years,

**[01:00:10]** built fantastic companies and are often mentioned as examples, realize that if it is to continue,

**[01:00:17]** it has to happen in some environment with some foundation and some superstructure.

**[01:00:25]** And that's really nice to hear. What we can do for that is to be a good example,

**[01:00:30]** which means it won't be an academic debate or some smart advice from afar, and that we will be willing to share some risks,

**[01:00:42]** especially as a bank, and that we will provide courage and actually highlight good examples of what has succeeded where.

**[01:00:51]** Because the day before yesterday, one of our subsidiaries Seed Starter, maybe you know it as a nice new investment branch,

**[01:01:04]** brought two people from Silicon Valley and so we had the chance to talk in a larger group for two hours about what is different.

**[01:01:13]** When we talk here about the ability to fail fast, meaning to make mistakes and learn from them, the perception there is exactly the opposite.

**[01:01:26]** People who are about to make an investment look for people and founders who have made as many mistakes as possible.

**[01:01:34]** They don't look for those who have succeeded four times already, because that's just a matter of statistical error, when again, or when they fail, or when they just...

**[01:01:43]** That's not failure, that's just learning, it's just insight, so

**[01:01:51]** you learn much more from a mistake if you are able to analyze it well and

**[01:01:58]** the answer to that is that it is actually not a mistake, it just hasn't worked yet.

**[01:02:02]** And I've experienced this many times, because it's the worst thing that can happen to you when

**[01:02:08]** you say about half of the ideas, I've seen this before, we've done this before, this already...

**[01:02:14]** That's just really bad. The environment changes, technology changes, and the idea that ten years ago

**[01:02:21]** was only a little bit flawed can now work fantastically.

**[01:02:26]** Or there will be more capable people, or people who are able to learn.

**[01:02:30]** So don't reject this at all, this is the essence of being ready to learn

**[01:02:37]** new things, being curious, being interested in what others do, not closing yourself off.

**[01:02:42]** That's really hard, people are basically lazy, they are comfortable, change is not easy for them,

**[01:02:51]** so the more people enjoy that things around them change and transform

**[01:02:56]** and are curious about it and their eyes light up, the better. It's not easy.

**[01:03:01]** That actually leads me to what you said, that it hurts inside the organization,

**[01:03:05]** so I definitely want to ask about that. You said that a few years ago

**[01:03:12]** Pořek was a perfectly oiled money-making machine.

**[01:03:18]** And that's not bad at all. Making money is simply right.

**[01:03:26]** I'm not saying it's not. There is a limit you might not want to cross.

**[01:03:31]** And I'm not saying that's your limit, but there are many companies that would gladly cross that line.

**[01:03:36]** And actually what you showed us here, and I say I agree because I know

**[01:03:41]** these things are happening, or at least that's how I perceive it, the change is huge.

**[01:03:45]** Huge. So what are the birth pains?

**[01:03:49]** I don't know if I can speak about birth pains, because everyone perceives it

**[01:03:54]** either individually, personally, that the institution pushes them out of their comfort zone,

**[01:04:01]** but there are people who are curious about it and like to see more possibilities and challenges around them.

**[01:04:11]** But when you program and prepare process-wise from a decision-making perspective,

**[01:04:17]** but also those 20-30 years, it influences the company so that it becomes attractive and sexy

**[01:04:24]** to certain types of people and, on the other hand, doesn't attract others at all.

**[01:04:28]** So this whole change process, so you can say,

**[01:04:33]** that it won't be academic again and won't just stay on some strategic slides,

**[01:04:39]** which management is familiar with and then nothing happens.

**[01:04:42]** This is how most company strategies and plans end,

**[01:04:48]** they are just presented, but essentially nothing much happens afterwards.

**[01:04:53]** It's a kind of mandatory corporate exercise that happens from time to time,

**[01:04:59]** especially with the arrival of new management, it happens almost regularly,

**[01:05:04]** it's presented as something new. And if you don't go one level deeper

**[01:05:09]** and aren't patient, you also need shareholders' understanding for it,

**[01:05:14]** so it can work. So the fact that it hurts and grinds doesn't stress me at all,

**[01:05:20]** because if I help myself again with the gym example,

**[01:05:24]** it also hurts and grinds there. It's not free.

**[01:05:28]** But in the end, when you overcome it, you actually feel joy.

**[01:05:32]** And here it's similar. And when people like it or more and more people like it,

**[01:05:37]** I believe they then seek it out and it becomes addictive.

**[01:05:41]** I don't know, we can touch on some specific things,

**[01:05:45]** very concrete, but I don't know how relevant it is for this audience.

**[01:05:51]** I am a huge admirer of Tomáš Baťa

**[01:05:58]** and I basically take from it that Baťa was good for 30% of people.

**[01:06:03]** That means the vast majority basically didn't work at all.

**[01:06:06]** The moment you joined the Baťa system,

**[01:06:09]** by 25 you had saved money, you knew how to manage it,

**[01:06:15]** how to read things, how to work well, how to learn,

**[01:06:19]** how to live properly, how to converse with people, etc.

**[01:06:23]** So I kind of go back there

**[01:06:27]** and always look at what has already been done.

**[01:06:31]** So I want to ask, do you also get inspired by that approach,

**[01:06:35]** because it was basically like a state within a state.

**[01:06:38]** Zlín was a town and then was elected three times in a row almost 100%.

**[01:06:43]** That means he actually built a system that I think is very interesting.

**[01:06:48]** Look, it's interesting and we didn't quite align on that.

**[01:06:53]** I listened to a book by Petr Banáš on vacation,

**[01:06:59]** it's called I am Baťa, I can do it, in audio version,

**[01:07:02]** and I will be giving it out for Christmas now,

**[01:07:05]** because yes, I believe there are better ones,

**[01:07:09]** because I have many books about Baťa.

**[01:07:11]** But until now it wasn't the biggest and strongest source of inspiration,

**[01:07:16]** however, I found so many parallels there,

**[01:07:19]** I think it's worth exploring,

**[01:07:22]** because it's a fascinating story,

**[01:07:25]** already relatively old for us,

**[01:07:29]** but it's just like clockwork.

**[01:07:32]** He was extremely stubborn and uncompromising,

**[01:07:37]** and I think it would be extremely difficult for him today,

**[01:07:41]** if he couldn't change the style he approached it with,

**[01:07:44]** but he actually built a global empire from nothing.

**[01:07:48]** Like selling from a poor Wallachian region.

**[01:07:54]** But then there's social responsibility, meaning,

**[01:07:57]** he actually wanted to change the world for people.

**[01:08:00]** That seems strange to us,

**[01:08:02]** because we all have more than we should at home.

**[01:08:07]** But back then, a lot of people,

**[01:08:12]** when we talk today about poor or vulnerable people,

**[01:08:17]** really went barefoot.

**[01:08:20]** And not just here, but he decided

**[01:08:23]** to expand into India and Africa.

**[01:08:27]** The Baťa houses still dominate many cities today.

**[01:08:31]** I find an interesting parallel,

**[01:08:34]** when we talked about solving the housing issue,

**[01:08:37]** which you also have, he opened completely new fields.

**[01:08:41]** It's all there, including the Baťa school of work,

**[01:08:47]** and the approach to learning, hiring the best people,

**[01:08:52]** regardless of where they come from, not limited to regional or national views,

**[01:08:57]** I recommend it. There are many interesting and nice parallels,

**[01:09:01]** and very responsibly not only to the region,

**[01:09:05]** but also to the country he lived in.

**[01:09:07]** Now I'll get to the questions we received from you.

**[01:09:11]** Hello, Tomáš. All these questions are interesting and scary,

**[01:09:15]** but what can I do as an individual to mitigate the impacts?

**[01:09:19]** Thank you for the answer. If I may say.

**[01:09:21]** No, they're not scary, no, they're not scary.

**[01:09:24]** It's just a matter of the perspective you read it from,

**[01:09:27]** but let's not avoid confronting reality.

**[01:09:31]** That's where I'd start, what can I do,

**[01:09:35]** maybe study some data

**[01:09:39]** and talk to people about how to interpret it,

**[01:09:42]** to be informed.

**[01:09:45]** Because if you're not informed,

**[01:09:47]** so you are very often actually the target of misinformation.

**[01:09:52]** Today, it's incredibly easy,

**[01:09:54]** to lock yourself into a digital bubble, into a social...

**[01:10:00]** group, subgroup, much easier than it was centuries ago, when you simply needed

**[01:10:07]** to learn something at the pub, and if you had a different opinion, you got punched.

**[01:10:12]** And today, it's so incredibly easy to lock yourself into some

**[01:10:20]** group and convince yourself that you are right,

**[01:10:25]** which is often very comfortable.

**[01:10:27]** So I would start as an individual,

**[01:10:31]** by challenging the things I believe and trying to back them up with data,

**[01:10:37]** and then actually being active

**[01:10:43]** and not giving in to skepticism or depression, like it used to be,

**[01:10:47]** and saying what I enjoy, what I can do, and learning something new every day.

**[01:10:53]** That's probably my advice, and if on top of that,

**[01:10:58]** you do things you genuinely enjoy and see meaning in,

**[01:11:02]** it really shows in the quality of your work and your satisfaction.

**[01:11:07]** I recommend to everyone that if they don't enjoy their work

**[01:11:10]** or it doesn't fulfill them, they simply shouldn't do it and should look for new opportunities and challenges.

**[01:11:16]** That's just the worst. Many of us stay in inertia

**[01:11:20]** and feel like it will change or feel like...

**[01:11:23]** Well, it's just a huge shame. Every day counts.

**[01:11:29]** What CSR activities do you think have the greatest positive impact on society?

**[01:11:38]** Well, again, if I address it on two levels,

**[01:11:43]** the first question is kind of

**[01:11:46]** being a good neighbor,

**[01:11:48]** and what you saw on that one slide,

**[01:11:52]** I try to...

**[01:11:56]** Because we are often expected to have a lot of money as an institution

**[01:12:01]** and just contribute financially to someone.

**[01:12:04]** But I always try to make sure that what we decide to support,

**[01:12:08]** because we can't save and support everything,

**[01:12:12]** what we decide to support

**[01:12:15]** somehow correlates with what we do.

**[01:12:18]** So it's not just a financial contribution, but also,

**[01:12:22]** let's say, a material, mental, intellectual contribution from the people who work at the company.

**[01:12:26]** So besides money, we also provide some content

**[01:12:30]** or lend a hand.

**[01:12:32]** That's the first thing that multiplies it,

**[01:12:35]** and then I really care about who comes for that money, in quotes.

**[01:12:41]** Meaning, whether it's someone passionate about the cause and close to the content

**[01:12:47]** or if it's, let's say, a large organization

**[01:12:54]** without any direct involvement and responsibility from the people

**[01:12:58]** who actually implement it.

**[01:13:00]** So I'm also interested in the example of the teacher for life, that's good too,

**[01:13:05]** because I remember when we supported that program at the beginning,

**[01:13:09]** the guys were really enthusiastic.

**[01:13:11]** Maybe somewhat naive, but we went through a really nice journey together.

**[01:13:17]** They learned a lot and are growing very well.

**[01:13:21]** So it's always about people, always about whether there is some

**[01:13:25]** contribution beyond the financial one,

**[01:13:28]** and I think that's what gives it a chance to have an impact.

**[01:13:33]** But today we played out a colorful range of where

**[01:13:36]** help is possible.

**[01:13:38]** That...

**[01:13:40]** Báťa said it nicely, when a person takes care of themselves first,

**[01:13:44]** they actually do the most they can, because then

**[01:13:47]** the system doesn't have to take care of them.

**[01:13:49]** But that's common sense, like on a plane they tell you

**[01:13:52]** to put on your oxygen mask first, then help others.

**[01:13:55]** So that sometimes scares me, that people,

**[01:13:59]** when we talk about leadership, if a person isn't balanced with themselves,

**[01:14:04]** it's hard for them to meaningfully lead others around them.

**[01:14:10]** And that happens too.

**[01:14:12]** Relatively unbalanced personalities,

**[01:14:15]** almost psychopathic in character,

**[01:14:18]** just get...

**[01:14:20]** Because they have the ability to captivate

**[01:14:23]** and they get into roles that then hugely

**[01:14:27]** influence those organizations.

**[01:14:29]** And you need to be careful about that.

**[01:14:33]** Because it starts...

**[01:14:35]** Everyone has to start with themselves.

**[01:14:37]** And that's what I said in the end,

**[01:14:40]** that a strong civil society is built on that.

**[01:14:44]** I'll try to continue here,

**[01:14:46]** how Česká spořitelna can contribute to changing education

**[01:14:49]** by promoting technical exact sciences over soft fields,

**[01:14:52]** even if it means more learning and less fun.

**[01:14:55]** And I'm asking on purpose in the context of leadership,

**[01:14:58]** where we've also talked a few times about this,

**[01:15:01]** that nowadays it is actually huge,

**[01:15:03]** like an important asset.

**[01:15:05]** A few years ago we had

**[01:15:08]** a special foundation called depositum bonum,

**[01:15:11]** when from anonymous unclaimed books

**[01:15:14]** we took money that no one claimed

**[01:15:17]** and it had long exceeded the legal period,

**[01:15:20]** so we put that money, about 1.5 billion,

**[01:15:23]** into the endowment of the depositum bonum foundation.

**[01:15:27]** We don't spend it,

**[01:15:30]** but it generates some income.

**[01:15:32]** And there we specifically focused

**[01:15:35]** on technical education,

**[01:15:37]** we supported Hejný's mathematics,

**[01:15:39]** and some other programs

**[01:15:41]** that led to technical education.

**[01:15:43]** Today I think we are a bit further along.

**[01:15:45]** We merged the two foundations, the Česká spořitelna foundation

**[01:15:47]** and the depositum bonum foundation,

**[01:15:49]** and we look at education change

**[01:15:52]** from a much broader perspective.

**[01:15:55]** I think we have earned

**[01:15:58]** a nice position and place there.

**[01:16:00]** That's why we joined with three other foundations

**[01:16:02]** to form the edu change.

**[01:16:04]** Because I believe it's about the ability

**[01:16:06]** to collaborate and communicate together.

**[01:16:09]** Only then is there a chance

**[01:16:12]** to achieve a positive change in the whole system.

**[01:16:15]** It's a very complex system.

**[01:16:17]** From founders to teachers and principals.

**[01:16:20]** There are so many stakeholders involved,

**[01:16:23]** that the education system,

**[01:16:25]** which still has roots in the old system, is not easy to change.

**[01:16:28]** It's not trivial.

**[01:16:30]** But we are trying.

**[01:16:32]** At the same time, we recently decided

**[01:16:34]** to focus a bit lower down,

**[01:16:38]** much more specifically on

**[01:16:41]** education in the area of 21st century skills.

**[01:16:46]** So we do not give up on the ability

**[01:16:49]** to influence together with others.

**[01:16:51]** And I am very glad and I think

**[01:16:54]** that the example of the

**[01:16:57]** Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports,

**[01:17:02]** the 2030 vision,

**[01:17:06]** defined by the team around Robert Plaga,

**[01:17:09]** has huge support today in the expert community,

**[01:17:13]** in the nonprofit sector.

**[01:17:15]** You won't find many critics.

**[01:17:17]** They were involved, formulated it,

**[01:17:19]** and the vision is gradually being fulfilled.

**[01:17:22]** Even the handover from one government to another,

**[01:17:26]** when Robert Plaga was willing to stay

**[01:17:29]** in a deputy position,

**[01:17:31]** is actually an exemplary model of continuity.

**[01:17:35]** And I think that is known,

**[01:17:37]** so I have hope, I feel

**[01:17:39]** that in the last five years

**[01:17:41]** things have been moving in the right direction.

**[01:17:43]** Is it fast enough?

**[01:17:45]** That depends on each person's appetite.

**[01:17:47]** The answer to that question is always

**[01:17:49]** not fast enough.

**[01:17:51]** But if we help more and further,

**[01:17:55]** maybe it will start moving even faster.

**[01:17:57]** Now I'll try to focus

**[01:17:59]** on the strength of the banks.

**[01:18:00]** We have a few questions here.

**[01:18:01]** There is a lot of fear about the collapse of monetary systems.

**[01:18:03]** What is your view?

**[01:18:05]** I wouldn't see it as so dramatic.

**[01:18:07]** Okay.

**[01:18:08]** I actually don't even know what a collapse of the monetary system means.

**[01:18:11]** And then Filip follows up with a question.

**[01:18:13]** Kráste, you explained money erosion to us.

**[01:18:15]** How do you perceive blockchain

**[01:18:17]** and these new things?

**[01:18:20]** Well, that's

**[01:18:22]** a completely separate topic.

**[01:18:24]** Whether it's the metaverse,

**[01:18:26]** or blockchain,

**[01:18:28]** and those new technologies,

**[01:18:30]** and their future,

**[01:18:32]** what of it are dead ends,

**[01:18:34]** and what exactly is the example of something

**[01:18:36]** that might be approached differently in two or three years,

**[01:18:38]** from a slightly different angle,

**[01:18:40]** and it will work.

**[01:18:42]** I think it's really important

**[01:18:44]** not to reject it,

**[01:18:46]** not to close off, but to actively follow these things.

**[01:18:48]** You need to try them out,

**[01:18:50]** somehow on a small scale,

**[01:18:52]** and find out what it's really about.

**[01:18:54]** The whole metaverse, as distant as it may seem,

**[01:18:56]** is nothing more than

**[01:18:58]** an extension of the fact that we all

**[01:19:00]** spend x hours a day

**[01:19:02]** looking at our phone screens.

**[01:19:04]** And whether in a few years

**[01:19:06]** we'll just have

**[01:19:08]** glasses on our eyes

**[01:19:10]** half the day,

**[01:19:12]** I really don't know.

**[01:19:14]** I wouldn't want that,

**[01:19:17]** because it feels relatively foreign to me,

**[01:19:19]** but if you look at what digital technologies have done to us

**[01:19:21]** in the last fifteen years,

**[01:19:23]** and how dependent we are

**[01:19:25]** on screens

**[01:19:27]** and all that,

**[01:19:29]** if you extend that curve,

**[01:19:31]** you can't completely rule it out.

**[01:19:33]** Whether that's good or bad,

**[01:19:35]** is too much of a

**[01:19:37]** futurology question for me.

**[01:19:39]** Yeah, yeah.

**[01:19:47]** But I think, almost I would say

**[01:19:51]** a certain form

**[01:19:53]** of digitalization of that currency

**[01:19:55]** or, because cash

**[01:19:57]** in the material sense of the word

**[01:20:00]** has a huge number of supporters for various reasons,

**[01:20:04]** so personally, I think we won't see dematerialization anytime soon,

**[01:20:08]** but what I think doesn't mean anything at all.

**[01:20:13]** But it will be a certain combination and that we will move towards virtualization

**[01:20:19]** and dematerialization more and more, I do believe that.

**[01:20:22]** It basically relates to a certain democratization of the whole thing.

**[01:20:27]** I have a nice example I realized recently at the National Museum.

**[01:20:33]** A fantastically renovated building filled with fantastic and very interesting content.

**[01:20:39]** And when the director of the National Museum told me how long they are actually sold out,

**[01:20:45]** and when we calculated how many children,

**[01:20:50]** because I think every child should actually see it,

**[01:20:54]** not only because of the building but also because of the content,

**[01:20:56]** so they can find something there, because it is an inexhaustible source of knowledge.

**[01:21:01]** Materialized in a beautiful building in the center of Prague.

**[01:21:06]** I would like all those children to have that opportunity.

**[01:21:10]** Even if all those children had progressive teachers and wanted to take them there,

**[01:21:14]** it is physically impossible.

**[01:21:16]** So if we want to democratize this source of education,

**[01:21:21]** to offer education as some kind of experience,

**[01:21:24]** we might have to virtualize it.

**[01:21:27]** And that is exactly something that really attracts me and seems sexy to me.

**[01:21:31]** And this is great.

**[01:21:33]** At the moment when I simply move in the virtual environment

**[01:21:36]** to some, nonsense or fiction,

**[01:21:39]** but to each their own, if it works.

**[01:21:41]** I am very democratic in this.

**[01:21:44]** I similarly perceive the necessity of virtualizing the physical world,

**[01:21:50]** because it is part of some technological-social development

**[01:21:57]** that we are living through.

**[01:21:58]** So I am very humble about what will happen and what will come.

**[01:22:03]** But I think the trend is also undeniable and inevitable.

**[01:22:09]** Let me ask a bit from the future perspective.

**[01:22:12]** How is the profile and role of a banker or bankers changing?

**[01:22:17]** What competencies and skills will they need?

**[01:22:21]** Each institution has to figure that out internally.

**[01:22:25]** But in our approach, it is a huge change.

**[01:22:29]** And that's a short time span.

**[01:22:33]** Very often, it's the same people, the same employees,

**[01:22:43]** who, 20 or 30 years ago, behind that counter, we wanted

**[01:22:50]** to handle relatively simple transactional operations as quickly as possible.

**[01:22:55]** To write payment orders and send money from one place to another.

**[01:23:00]** For the younger ones among you, this might seem like ancient history,

**[01:23:04]** but I experienced it.

**[01:23:06]** When we had queues at the counters and people stood there

**[01:23:10]** filling out payment orders, handing them to the lady like this.

**[01:23:13]** She retyped them to avoid mistakes, double-checked them,

**[01:23:17]** or another person checked them, and the money was sent from place to place.

**[01:23:20]** I experienced that, so I am actually old.

**[01:23:26]** But then we tried to turn them into a well-oiled

**[01:23:33]** sales machine. Whoever came in, see them as a target

**[01:23:41]** to fulfill the sales plan and sell them what you have in your sales goals.

**[01:23:46]** I don't want to belittle or downplay it, and I think

**[01:23:50]** it's legitimate because it was based, of course,

**[01:23:53]** on some research about what people need.

**[01:23:56]** But basically, it was harassment.

**[01:24:01]** The next stage of financial consulting.

**[01:24:04]** Then you find there's huge interest in explaining to people

**[01:24:09]** the difference between debit and credit cards.

**[01:24:12]** But I don't know if that really helps them.

**[01:24:15]** I'd like them to understand it, so that consulting

**[01:24:19]** focused a lot, and maybe still focuses,

**[01:24:23]** on the individual attributes of financial products.

**[01:24:26]** What can or cannot help people.

**[01:24:29]** And I see a completely different future for this profession.

**[01:24:33]** I think we will democratize

**[01:24:37]** and digitalize consulting, because it will be accessible 24/7,

**[01:24:42]** without limits, anytime, anyhow.

**[01:24:44]** And actually better, because the machine and machine learning have the ability

**[01:24:48]** to analyze data much more diversely than a consultant

**[01:24:52]** preparing for a meeting.

**[01:24:54]** But the human role, because I think

**[01:24:58]** there must always be a human touch behind it,

**[01:25:00]** because a person will always prepare and program the offer,

**[01:25:04]** so they will be the evangelist

**[01:25:08]** of digital technologies, to transfer trust to people,

**[01:25:12]** to explain to them what digital technologies are good for

**[01:25:15]** and when, on the other hand, it’s worth considering whether to adopt them

**[01:25:21]** or spend so much time with them.

**[01:25:24]** It’s not mentoring, it’s simply transferring trust in the brand

**[01:25:29]** and in advice, in the good sense of the word,

**[01:25:32]** and helping to develop the right financial habits.

**[01:25:36]** That’s how I see the roles, but not only as advisors

**[01:25:41]** in financial centers, not at branches,

**[01:25:44]** in financial health centers, which I believe we will have,

**[01:25:48]** and this is the role I want our advisors to actually adopt.

**[01:25:54]** I have a question here: how do you retrospectively evaluate the Bohemia Energy story?

**[01:25:59]** I think this relates to what you mentioned about the hassle.

**[01:26:03]** And what role did the savings bank play in it?

**[01:26:06]** For example, Petr asks here which savings bank pushed

**[01:26:09]** this supplier and then didn’t help at all.

**[01:26:13]** I think that from today’s perspective,

**[01:26:17]** the Bohemia Energy story is perceived, or I perceive it,

**[01:26:24]** completely differently than a year or two years ago.

**[01:26:32]** We did not hassle anyone,

**[01:26:42]** and maybe there were exceptions where someone felt that way.

**[01:26:47]** But the whole effort, because it was based on some analysis

**[01:26:51]** of household expenses, if you look at energy costs,

**[01:26:55]** they make up a significant part, and we tried to help people

**[01:27:00]** reduce part of those costs, specifically energy.

**[01:27:06]** We chose Bohemia Energy as a partner, and every smart person

**[01:27:10]** said after six months, you must have known in advance it would end like this.

**[01:27:14]** Today, companies in Germany are being nationalized,

**[01:27:18]** which are a million times bigger than Bohemia Energy.

**[01:27:22]** For exactly the same reason.

**[01:27:25]** And the fact that at that time this small trading company,

**[01:27:29]** and I’m not defending them at all, because they probably made many mistakes,

**[01:27:33]** which we could have anticipated.

**[01:27:36]** But honestly, if anyone had been given the scenario,

**[01:27:40]** which unfolded before all our eyes over the last two years,

**[01:27:44]** two years ago and told that energy prices would rise like this,

**[01:27:48]** this would happen and it would last this long,

**[01:27:52]** and what has been happening in recent weeks or months is completely unprecedented.

**[01:27:56]** Made even worse by the war conflict.

**[01:27:59]** So I think after the battle every general can see it.

**[01:28:03]** Through three audits: internal, external, and from the National Bank,

**[01:28:07]** of how we procedurally handled the Bohemia Energy case.

**[01:28:11]** To my surprise, I expected there to be even more findings.

**[01:28:15]** There were no procedural errors.

**[01:28:17]** Of course, I would handle it completely differently from a business perspective today,

**[01:28:21]** but everyone is smart after the fact. And I’m sorry about that.

**[01:28:23]** And we very honestly tried to actively help everyone who was affected.

**[01:28:27]** I think we succeeded in the vast majority of cases.

**[01:28:29]** But things happen. Those who do nothing, break nothing.

**[01:28:33]** Thank you. Jaroslav is still asking, and I was very interested.

**[01:28:37]** I’m glad this question is here because I would have asked you myself.

**[01:28:41]** I don’t know if you noticed the founder of American Patagonia,

**[01:28:47]** who handed over his billion-dollar company to fight climate change.

**[01:28:51]** What do you think about that?

**[01:28:55]** There are many examples of similar generous gestures,

**[01:28:58]** I don’t even call them gestures; I think these people are internally convinced

**[01:29:04]** that this is the right thing to do, because, as my wife says, a coffin has no pockets,

**[01:29:08]** and there are more and more people like that around us.

**[01:29:12]** For example, Ondra Vlček from Avast, you can see it too.

**[01:29:15]** I also consider myself a materially oriented person,

**[01:29:18]** but I say this because I am saturated in terms of material needs

**[01:29:22]** and have been for quite some time.

**[01:29:26]** So I find these nice examples, but I’m not naive and I’m not calling for everyone to do the same.

**[01:29:28]** But they are nice examples, and people have different relationships to their wealth,

**[01:29:34]** and a huge number of people who objectively have great wealth,

**[01:29:36]** don’t want their philanthropic efforts to be publicized at all

**[01:29:41]** and don’t want to put it in the spotlight.

**[01:29:46]** So I think this kind of judgment is often superficial,

**[01:29:52]** and we shouldn’t condemn people until we actually know them

**[01:29:54]** and know what they have done, good or bad.

**[01:30:00]** But it’s a nice example to make people realize that there are more and more people

**[01:30:05]** who understand the need to somehow contribute to solving the future.

**[01:30:09]** Tomáš, thank you very much for taking the time. It was great. Thanks for answering the questions.

**[01:30:14]** There were many, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

**[01:30:20]** And thanks for your attention and the invitation. Thank you very much.

**[01:30:26]** By the way, Ondra Volček was also a guest at Brain&Breakfast, we talked about this.

**[01:30:30]** I would like to ask you to stay with your mobile phones

**[01:30:40]** and give us feedback on how you liked the breakfast today.

**[01:30:45]** Please, we would appreciate it. We’re skipping ahead because we’re running out of time.

**[01:30:50]** What’s important and what we want to happen after the breakfast.

**[01:31:03]** There were definitely a lot of interesting data and examples shared.

**[01:31:07]** Please try to sit down together, whether with your colleagues at work

**[01:31:11]** or someone you watch Rain and Breakfast with, and talk about

**[01:31:16]** what you could do yourself or what your company could do.

**[01:31:20]** We would be very happy if you share that with us afterwards.

**[01:31:23]** This circle and reflection is something we really enjoy.

**[01:31:26]** I'll add that we also published a Brain & Breakfast with Kuba Nešetřil,

**[01:31:30]** founder of Českodigital, who also has something to say on this topic,

**[01:31:34]** so just check it out. I'm really looking forward to the discussion

**[01:31:40]** that will follow after Rain and Breakfast.

**[01:31:43]** If you find the time and are interested on October 6th at 10 a.m.,

**[01:31:47]** Libor Winkler from RSI will join Tomáš and me for a talk,

**[01:31:52]** along with Jozef Dovřáček from Zonentor, Stanislav Martinec from ComiModular,

**[01:31:56]** and Honza Školník, who is developing Broumovsko.

**[01:32:00]** I think it will be a nice discussion

**[01:32:02]** that will build on what we just heard here.

**[01:32:06]** Red Button has many projects, one of which is the Book of the Month.

**[01:32:11]** In October, Broňa Sobotka selected a book by Dale Carnegie.

**[01:32:15]** Be sure to visit rbkniha.cz, follow Red Button EDU,

**[01:32:20]** see what's happening there, and look forward to the next Brain & Breakfast,

**[01:32:25]** which will take place on October 13th.

**[01:32:28]** I'm very happy that Obonete Ubam accepted the invitation,

**[01:32:34]** an interesting figure and heir to a Nigerian king,

**[01:32:39]** who will talk to us about his black-and-white journey.

**[01:32:43]** So it will be another fascinating insight into

**[01:32:47]** how Czechs live and operate here.

**[01:32:51]** And for those who want to make October 13th a truly great day,

**[01:32:56]** I remind you of the Happiness at Work conference, where as viewers of Brain & Breakfast,

**[01:33:01]** you get a ten percent discount.

**[01:33:05]** So I will definitely go to Happiness after the breakfast.

**[01:33:08]** Thank you very much, and come join us for the next breakfast.

**[01:33:12]** And thanks again for taking the time.

**[01:33:14]** Have a great day, bye and see you soon.