As part of the survey, we contacted a total of 900 CEOs of companies from all spheres throughout the Czech Republic, of whom 180 took part, corresponding to a 20 % participation rate. Of the total number of respondents, 8 % were women and 92 % were men. On the basis of the survey, we can say that the typical CEO in the Czech Republic is a Czech citizen and a man between the ages of 40 and 49 who has worked in a management position for more than fi ve years.

Please download the whole Stanton Chase CEO Survey 2013 - Prague here->

• Make sure it’s at night. The darkness provides an element of surprise but more importantly, it allows you to be stealth.
• Make sure you take out the snipers on the top of the castle. That way you won’t get attacked from the top.
• Make sure you don’t try to attack. Commit to attack and capture. It’s do or die.

I have followed this without question but over the years I have added a few of my own thumb rules.

But let me start at the beginning.

And the beginning of all success is strategy.

What exactly is strategy?

Simply put, a  business strategy is a set of guiding principles that, when communicated and adopted in the organization, generates a desired pattern of decision making.

A strategy is therefore about how people throughout the organization should make decisions and allocate resources in order to accomplish key objectives. A good strategy provides a clear roadmap, consisting of a set of guiding principles or rules, that defines the actions people in the business should take (and not take) and the things they should prioritize (and not prioritize) to achieve desired goals.

Michael Porter argues that operational effectiveness, although necessary to superior performance, is not sufficient, because its techniques are easy to imitate. In contrast, the essence of strategy is choosing a unique and valuable position rooted in systems of activities that are much more difficult to match.

Porter’s seminal theory has been so insightful that no one has thought of challenging or changing it since 1996.

But times are changing and more importantly organizations are changing and with them so are business practices.

I firmly believe that strategy is not only about business. It should be used in one’s day to day life. Look around you and you will see how extensively it is used in other walks of life: politics, military, negotiations,

So if you want to learn the process of putting a strategy together. STOP READING THIS ARTICLE. Get on line type strategy process and you will get more than 100 sites to learn from

But if you want to learn something different then here we go.

I am here to tell you about Intuition.

The problem lies not in what strategists are trained to do: Porter’s perspective is powerful—so powerful that it has dominated both the teaching and the practice of business strategy for 30 years.

The problem lies instead in what strategic leaders are not trained to do. In caricature, Porter’s view casts strategists as practitioner economists who expertly analyze and manage market forces. I suggest that strategic leaders must also be practitioner psychologists who expertly analyze and manage their own and others’ thought processes.

Executives should trust their gut instincts and be masters of “theatre “

If you want to convince a group of influential people or peers about a new plan, or a program or an initiative that you want to implement, take out the snipers first.

Identify the most influential, take them out for a coffee, bounce the idea and to a large extent try make him believe that the idea is his.

When you are presenting a new idea, be stealthy about it.  Don’t spend an hour or more talking about it. Float the idea and sit back. There’s a reason you have two ears and one mouth. Listen more than you speak.

Throw the seed, let the team water it.

Similar in many ways to the way we manage change. Whether it is the passing of a near one or a new idea in an organization. We don’t use strategy for change management in organizations: it’s never about process, it’s about instinct.

Leadership is having the ability to be strategically intuitive.

Develop your third eye, your sixth sense. Everyone is born with it, very few develop it. No text book or professor will teach you this, but it is the most important lesson of all.

Train yourself to anticipate before it happens.

Much like F1 drivers. At 200 mph the driver has to literally divine and foresee and then counteract. He has no time at all to wait for a move and then decide what to do. That lapse will likely kill him. So he cultivates and disciplines himself to react before the act. Should he under steer, or over steer? Should he head for a pit stop on lap 12 or wait till the lead car goes in to refuel? Split second decisions that can alter fate and make or break a champion. And although he has all the sci fi gadgets he needs to help him take the call. At the end it comes down to his instinct.

So here’s your big lesson. Use your gut if you want the glory.

Because: THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT.

There were many people from many organizations trying to woo the celebrity: he was ranked no 1 in the world and knew the power he wielded. He believed fame and glory would last forever.

When the idea was brought to me, I had no clue at all about the man or the sport he was a superstar. Do you know who the biggest brand in the world is I was asked: can we get him? I laughed and replied that I thought it was Darth Vader and am not sure we could get him!

I agreed and we got down to planning and assigned a champion of the sport from our organization to write a letter and approach the celebrity and finally to set up a meeting in London.

He came to the meeting in a country far away with his celebrity management company and I walked in 20 minutes late. Apparently no one ever kept the celebrity waiting, but I really didn’t care if the man signed up or not to me this was a business transaction that should generate value to my organization. So as per my instructions to my team they had to focus on the value add and not on the celebrity status .We sat down to negotiate and in less than half a day he had agreed to partner us.

Here’s the lesson: sitting down at a negotiating table not intimidated is the first step towards winning. Go in and go in as an equal. Be the intimidator if you can, aim for a win-win don’t be over awed and be prepared to walk away if it’s a win-lose.

To cut a long story short, the organization signed up the celebrity with the caveat that he couldn’t do the same deal with any other before we commissioned ours. There was a clause built in the contract that ensured that our country would have the privilege of being the first project the celebrity would put his name to. The deal was struck and everyone shook hands on it and signed the contracts.

Time went on and there was a hiccup with the time management schedule on our side .And one fine day there was an article in a newspaper in another country about the exact same project being flagged off by the exact same celebrity .A breach. A move that was against what we agreed upon.

Bells rang, whistles blew and everyone’s antennas started to vibrate. Emails flew; phone calls were made at all times of the day and night. But there was no response at all. The celebrity believed he was above the law and felt no need to act responsibly. He thought he was untouchable, above and out of reach of laws and jurisprudence and rules of ethical negotiations and societies.

The damage was done. The trust was eroded and the team went into damage control mode.

When you are high up in the organization, it takes time for rumbles to reach you .By the time I got to know of the situation, there had already been several attempts to contact the celebrity connect with him and engage him in conversation, but unsuccessfully.

As soon as I heard, I told them: settle. We don’t want to panic. Our word is our worth and we should keep it. To stay calm is to win.

My grandfather taught me this valuable lesson long before contracts and legal documents were dreamt of.

We lived in a small little neighborhood and when we needed to get some groceries my grandfather would send me running to the shop next door. But what about the money grandfather? I would ask, and in reply he would pull a hair out of his beard from under his chin and tell me go give this to the grocer. And I would do as he asked and the grocer never asked any questions at all.

Few days later walking down the street, the shop keeper would hail my grandfather and call out and show him the hair and my grandfather would pull the money out of his pocket and send me across the street with it.

There was never any doubt that the dues would be paid. A man’s word was his worth and that’s the way it should be even now. I know we live in a far complex world but always live by the principle of honesty and always be just.

Honor your commitments. I teach this to every team I mentor.

I outlined my strategy and it was in steps.

The first was to inform the celebrity and his team that if they went down the path of lose, then we would all lose.

The second step was to engage a top litigation company, the most renowned in the world, even today, its name alone is enough to scare everyone. The name alone big enough to bring us all on an equal footing.

The third step was knowledge. Always arm yourself with knowledge.

Being informed is key to winning. Not just my team but I too, went over the contract over and over again till we knew it backwards, forwards and sideways. There was no word, no loophole that would slide by us.

And we made sure our lawyers were on the same page as us.

We played out options and scenarios with our legal team. All the ifs and buts.

The fourth step was planning. More planning and then more planning again. This is 80% of the game. Execution is 20%.  Remember this well.

Once the planning was done, I played my trump card. I wanted my Denny Crane. Do any of you remember the famous TV serial Boston Legal? It was a favorite of not just mine but of an entire generation! Denny Crane was famous for never losing a case. Just seeing him walk into a room, opponents would throw down their pens.

So at 25,000 USD for one day, I bought a strategic legal prop. The most famous litigator in the world. And my brief to him was: don’t say a word.

His presence alone would silence the other team and his silence would intimidate them.

And to top it, I decided not to be present. I briefed my lawyer and my team to say the reason I wasn’t attending was because I was very upset and wanted to press legal charges and would under no circumstances negotiate .

My legal prop lawyer just sat there looking intimidating with his expression saying: go on, call my bluff. Make my day.

A couple of hours into the meeting, I got a call from my lawyer saying they had agreed to everything and would be willing to sign another document confirming our rights and their obligations. And our project would be the first country in the world to get the project up and running.

Here’s your most valuable lesson.

Negotiation has to be theatre.

You are in a play. The other party wants to win. They will do anything to win.

And you must construct your own win.

Use all your knowledge, all your information, all your skills, all your players and all your wits.

And then use your sense of theatre.

It is then that the force is with you, young Skywalker.

Live and learn so you can one day say: when I left you I was but the learner. Now I am the master.”

So why do we need others? If life is about being self sufficient, then why can we not row the boat alone?

In 1995, at the age of 26 while working for a leading oil and gas company in Dubai, I was asked if I would like to be seconded to our JV partner Malaysia for 12 months. I agreed on the spot because I knew it would be a learning experience for me. I would be outside my comfort zone, in a new country, dealing with a foreign culture, interacting with new people, and learning new business practices would help me in my journey as an executive or at the very least make me a better human being.

My journey in Malaysia was an extremely difficult one especially in the first 6 months because I used a value system that I lived by at that time to understand this new culture and to interact with people. I was arrogant, opinionated, thinking I knew better and more importantly, at that time, believing I was superior by virtue of birth and homeland.

This led to me being alienated, literally outcast and I had no idea why till my boss, one of the best I ever had and extremely wise and mature thinking man, sat me down and took it upon himself to metaphorically hit me in the face with life’s realities.

Because he saw my potential he took time out for me. With coaching and guidance (and that’s what makes a good leader) he opened my mind, my eyes and my soul. I realized we are all equal in color. Equal in our abilities to communicate. There are only 2 differences when it comes down to the wire.

Our ability to change and adapt to a new environment positively and to continuously improve performance for self, friends, family and the organization we work for.

I became more accepting, tolerant, and humble. I understood what leadership means without standing in the front. I understood that success is not mine, it’s ours. I recoginsed that human traits are not bad, just different.

And the result of this change was reward. I was awarded the biggest projects and the incumbent company asked for my tenure to be extended for 12 more months.

Two big things happened. I was the only Arab to have been seconded to this company and I built up an amazing relationship with suppliers, staff, the leadership team and the management of that region.

No one before or since has been feted with tears. From being the outcast I stepped into the inner circle and all because I understood and learnt how to be culturally intelligent.

And here’s the reason why I learnt: exposure.

Now when I grow, I grow vertically and horizontally.

Over the years I have NEVER changed my principles and they never change: integrity, loyalty, honesty, courage in my beliefs are non- negotiable.

What changes over time are values. For example transparency in Japan is different from transparency in France. But that’s another blog!

I recognize some people are lucky to get exposure, not everyone gets the same chance. But it is perfectly possible to pro actively seek exposure. It could range from actively going out and trying to learn the language of the region, to watching a foreign film every week to finding a culture counselor: someone you trust, someone who can help you understand how to increase your cultural intelligence.

And the most important tool for that is planning.

Even now, before every trip I make, business or otherwise, I spend at least 2 weeks preparing for the place I am going to. I spend days reading up and learning cultural nuances, habits, food, history.

It always helps to arrive prepared and that translates ultimately to being more rounded and more culturally intelligent.

Cultural intelligence opens up significant dimensions to us not only in terms of understanding and analyzing the world we are living in but also in direct terms of management and business development. This is the key that allows us to “listen” and understand habits, behaviours, contexts and markets that are different from our own.

Let me leave you with a few of questions:

Do we know how to contribute to the business development of active organizations in today’s world that are at global and local level at the same time? Are we ready to identify new business opportunities in world markets? Are we able to sustain our business, ourselves and our colleagues with effective intercultural intelligence?

Bear in mind, an effective leader is one who can identify emotions and underlying values that are shared with followers.

And the true measure of intelligence is the ability to change.

Remember, to meet any challenge, you must first , Rise.

This is a philosophical thought that raises questions about observation and knowledge of reality.

Can something exist without being perceived? Can we assume the unobserved world functions the same as the observed world? What is the difference between what something is, and how it appears?

There is a well-known story of Hui–neng a well-respected Buddhist monk who later became known as the founder of the  Zenschool, who one day happened to be passing by two monks.

Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, “The flag moves.” The other said, “The wind moves.” They argued back and forth but could not agree. The Sixth Ancestor said, “Gentlemen! It is not the wind that moves; it is not the flag that moves; it is your mind that moves.” The two monks were struck with awe.”

This is how I see the story of Eurozone panning out. Globalization which was such a big buzzword not too long ago, is now a buzzword of a different sort. The carrions are buzzing and what we see happening in Greece may well be the start of the flag waving.

Perhaps what people are seeing are isolated incidents. Perhaps no one is stepping back and no one is noticing the bigger picture that is painted in grey.

I am sure you will have realized how the nations of the world have become increasingly interconnected? Think about it. At the supermarket you can buy products from all over the earth—oranges from South Africa, olive oil from Greece, wine from Italy. You buy clothes made in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, or Malaysia. In the evening you turn on your Korean made television set to watch your favourite program. Every day you drive your American, Japanese, South Korean or German-made car to work. Call customer service to discuss your telephone bill and you may well be speaking to someone in India. If you live in a big city, you have likely encountered people who have immigrated to your country. Surfing the Internet on your computer, you can keep up to date with news anywhere in the world, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Then there are those believed integration was the first step toward a “new world order,” one in which sovereign nation states will be dissolved in favour of large trading blocs led by a super world government.

Globalization is not new. Historically, people have left their surroundings and travelled to distant lands for four main reasons: conquest (the desire to control other countries); prosperity (the search for a better life); exploration (the desire to discover new lands); and trade (the desire to sell goods profitably). The primary agents of globalization in the past were soldiers, sailors, traders and explorers.

Finance ministers from top industrialised nations seek swift solution amid fears euro crisis will derail global economy.

Fears over Spanish banking sector prompt finance chiefs from the G7 to hold a teleconference call for noon BST, as Europe edges closer to agreeing banking union across the Eurozone.

It’s official – Ireland has voted in favour of the EU fiscal treaty, by 60.3% to 39.7%

Ireland’s affirmation of the treaty is not a vote for austerity, but a call for a joint European growth strategy.

Britain could be asked to underwrite up to €6bn (£4.8bn) towards a bailout of Greece if the country exits the Euro , according to a think-tank report released on Monday.

David Cameron may also face calls for concessions including a referendum on EU membership if a Greek exit prompts full treaty change, a report by Open Europe said.

There are growing concerns about the consequences should Athens leave the euro in a so-called “Grexit”, which have escalated in the run up to the Greek general election on 17 June.

The only way the current crisis in the Eurozone will be resolved quickly is if the European Central Bank (ECB) decides to print as much money as it takes to drive down bond yields across the region.

To be clear, I’m not saying that’s a miracle solution. Money-printing won’t change the fact that the Eurozone doesn’t work. The member countries are too different. All ECB printing would do is to buy time to find a ‘correct’ size for the Eurozone.

So in an ideal world, Europe would then go through the long and difficult process of discovering which countries’ voters were comfortable with being part of a United States of Europe (Greater Franco-Germania, effectively). That would entail common tax law and common bond issuance among other things. In other words, for the Eurozone to work, countries would have to be willing to give up their sovereignty.

Those who didn’t want to, or who couldn’t cope with the entry requirements, would have to be provided with an exit route from the Eurozone. By easing the passage with printed money, it wouldn’t have to be a complete catastrophe.

It would be the honest, upfront way to do things. Having been through a financial crisis, everyone would now understand what they were signing up for.

But of course, that’s not going to happen. And it certainly isn’t what happened on Friday.

Instead, all Europe did was to say that in future they will be much stricter with countries who break the rules. How they will enforce these rules isn’t quite clear. The idea of trying to fine Greece for getting into too much debt is absurd.

Meanwhile, European banks are going to have to raise huge amounts of capital, at a time when they are going to be competing with their own countries in the markets.

That points to a massive credit crunch in Europe. In short, banks in the region will have difficulty raising funds. If banks can’t raise more money to support the quantity of loans they have outstanding, then they need to shrink their balance sheets.

That means – as James Ferguson regularly points out in the pages of a magazine that they’ll need to shrink the amount of lending they do to the likes of you and me: The best ways to play Europe’s banking crisis.

That’s bad news for European consumers and companies. Modern economies run on credit. So when the conduit of credit – the banking system – breaks down, it’s crippling for an economy.

And despite Britain’s decision to stay out of this latest treaty, we’re not immune to it either. Our banks are arguably in a better state than Europe’s but we’re certainly not home and dry.

The tree has fallen, are we listening? And if we are, what will we do so that we can

Rise ?

National talent has been declared to be on the top of the agenda, and indeed, Emiratis keep getting involved in more as well as more senior positions, especially in the governmental sector.  However, our day-to-day experience seems to suggest that if would be more effective if the national talent development strategy would not try to blend everyone in the same pot, but, on the contrary, would focus on implementing different strategies for different age groups.

It is well known that despite the small age difference, the younger Emiratis experience a significant generation gap with the Emiratis belonging to the previous generation.  This is mostly due to the fast development of our society in the recent years, especially in education (internally and opportunities for education outside the UAE) as well as in the overall experiences offered – which are usually welcomed by the younger generations, while the older ones tend to keep a more conservative and sceptical perception.

The wisdom of the older generation, combined with the enthusiasm and ambition of the younger one can be an unbeatable combination, however, efforts should be made towards developing these two forces in parallel, with a focus on bringing them together, instead of often treating them as the same.

 Focusing especially on this “older generation” (and we are really talking about the people that entered the work force in the 1990s), the conventional method of bringing in a foreign lecturer/ consultant in a fancy hotel meeting room, and again escaping from work, eating endlessly seems not to be bearing much fruit. The consultants, if truly committed to see results, have to take into account the culture, the tradition, the religion and the history of the local population and combine them all into their service so as to observe some changes at the least.

Why is this important? Obviously, this target group are the people that make decisions of whether or not you’ll get business from that organization. The local law protects them and their positions for as long as one can foresee, therefore, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. This group really wants to learn but in their own way, the environment in which the course is delivered has to be comfortable and to meet their needs, after all you can’t teach an art class in a science lab!

Using humour and a little entertainment won’t hurt. Don’t tell them what to do differently but ask them what they would want to do differently. Act more as a listener than a lecturer, they will go on for hours, but that’s fine, let them come up with the solutions that can benefit both you as a consultant and them as the end user. Trust me, have as many breaks as possible, and also take a smaller group and not a large one, otherwise you’ll end up giving a day’s course within a year. Use the famous JFK quote,” ask not of what your country can do for you, but of what you can do for your country”.

National pride is high on every Emirati’s agenda, use that as well as examples of the late president of the UAE Sh. Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. This will influence their subconscious and remind them not to take life for granted nor the blessings that have been bestowed on them.

Hopefully, the combination of using the cultural understanding with the latest developments in various business fields will bring value both to the individuals, as well as to the overall governmental authorities, assisting further in the implementation of the vision of our leadership for the future decades.   

By Omar Al Busaidy
Founder & CEO at Connections Middle East