I was so happy to see the cover of last Profit magazine (No.3). Under the title “Successful managers in Serbia” there was picture of my dear friend Miloje Sekulic, ePR director of McCann Erickson Public Relations company in Serbia, together with Ivana Kokalovic director of BS Prosesor IT company and Nikola Mircic sales manager of Microsoft Serbia. At the section “Profession Manager” there were three interviews with the title “Successful managers in Serbia”.

The article was also titled “Knowledge and smile” and it read: Commonly in Serbia it is believed that it is more important who you know than how much you know. Excellent cause to tell the story about managers who succeeded exclusively on behalf of there own skills and knowledge.

Excellent article and interview by Profit magazine deputy editor in chief Darko Milosavljevic. The right choice of people, the right story, and the right timing. We are all feed up by stories about “transition heroes”, the Serbian businessman who made it in the nineties. Great story about young managers who are the future, not the past of Serbian business.

I was reading No. 2 issue of Profit magazine and in the article “What is produced by business schools” I have read the following statement from Professor Mica Jovanovic dean of Megatrend University in Belgrade:

Students in Serbia can get all the knowledge they need here in Serbia and they do not lag behind their colleagues in the west. One of our students went to USA on Fulbright scholarship . She called us from graduate specialist studies and said: “I don’t have anything to learn here. Everything that is offered here I have learned at my faculty in Belgrade. If nothing I am learning English language.” – said professor Jovanovic with pride.

Have you noticed the statement “I don’t have anything to learn in the USA!“. She is going to be PhD or, who knows, may be even professor at Megatrend University, and she doesn’t have anything to learn at graduate studies in the USA. Serbia’s “intellectual elite” has nothing to learn from the outside world, because they know everything there is to know. That’s why we are one of the last (worst) countries in Europe, in every respect.

I would only mention what Professor Isak Adizes has said about learning, that he learns every day, and he is always behind, considering all that is to be learned. When we compare the statement of Mr. Adizes with one from Mr. Jovanovic, we can see why education in Serbia is in such a sorry state. Its not the problem if you know that you don’t know, at least, that’s the first step towards knowledge. The worst is to have illusion of knowing everything, when you realy don’t know that you don’t know.

Few days ago I was pleasantly surprised when I saw new web site for KBC „Bezanijska kosa” clinical medical center (university hospital). Apart from looking sharp and businesslike, it enables communication between doctor and patients and can also be used by blind people. Looking at their new web site you have a feeling you are visiting hotel resort web site, not a hospital. Way to go KBC „Bežanijska kosa”!!!

(speaking at press conference: Miloje Sekulic, McCann E-PR director)

Most surprising of all is that it is the first time I have seen governmental organization in Serbia paying such careful attention on their on-line communication. That’s probably because their on-line communication needs are handled by my dear friend Miloje Sekulic E-PR Director of McCann Erickson Public Relations company in Serbia. I hope other organizations in Serbia will follow KBC „Bežanijska kosa” on-line presence lead and make Serbian cyber space a place to visit,  enjoy and be useful for its users.

This is an article I read in New York Times - articles selected by Politika newspaper. It was written by Lisa Belkin, in her “Life’s Work” column. Its so much in line with my own article “Working with a smile”, I wrote in Emagazin few years age. You just must read this article. I scanned and OCR-ed it into my blog.

Work, in its most traditional sense, is the antithesis of fun. As my grandmother used to say, when I complained about a boss or a deadline, “There’s a reason they call it work.” Grandma would be beyond surprised at what Adrian Gostick and Scott Christopher have to say in “The Levity Effect: Why It Pays to Lighten Up.” The book, which is being published this month, examines how fun in the office increases the bottom line. “When they’re laughing, they’re listening,” said Mr. Gostick, an author and consultant on employee motivation. He and Mr. Christopher, a comedian and humor columnist for Human Capital magazine, chuckle as they offer favorite arguments: Being fun gets you hired. A study of 737 chief executives of major corporations found that 98 percent would hire an applicant with a good sense of humor over one who seemed to lack one.

Having fun makes people loyal. According to a survey of 1,000 workers conducted for the authors by the global market research firm Ipsos, employees who laugh at work tend to stay. Those who rated their manager’s sense of humor “above average” also said there was a 90 percent chance they would stay in their job for more than a year. If they worked for a boss whose sense of humor they describe as “average” or below, the employee’s chances of staying dropped to 77 percent.

Amusing people go far. According to a study in the Harvard Business. Review, executives described by coworkers as having a good sense of humor “climb the corporate ladder more quickly, and earn more money than their peers.” A good laugh is good for your health. A study from the University of Maryland showed that while stress decreased blood flow, humor increased it. By 22 percent.

O.K., laughter is beneficial. And potentially good for business. But isn’t that knowledge its own form of stress? I mean, what if you aren’t funny? Not to worry, Mr. Gostick said. “We define levity as more of a lightness, more being fun than being funny,” he said. “Great leaders have a way of bringing lightness into the workplace.”

In recent years, a growing number of companies have strived to have “lighthearted” workplaces, Mr. Gostick said. Bain & Company, the business consulting firm, does that by gathering more than 400 employees from around the world for the annual Bain World Cup soccer tournament. Lego America in Enfield, Connecticut, which manufactures toys, encourages employees to travel the company campus via scooter. Google holds roller-hockey games in the parking lot twice a week, has ongoing Scrabble tournaments throughout the day and boasts a baby grand piano in the break room. Some companies actually put a group or an individual in charge of planning the levity.

At the advertising agency iris North America it’s called “the Smile Squad,” said Stewart Shanley, a founder. The squad is responsible for “general well-being and serendipitous happenings” at the 475 employee agency, Mr. Shanley said. “Keeping people happy is what makes them perform,” he said. “The trick about running a successful business is to attract talent, and then this is the part people seem to forget, to manage and retain that talent. That’s what the squads are for.”

Also this is another excellent article: “Time Wasted? Perhaps It’s Well Spent” by Lisa Belkin, in her “Life’s Work” column, on similar subject.

Few days ago at the newsstand there was a “new kid on the block”, Magazine Profit. This is how it looks like on the newsstand, so don’t forget to get one while you can. It is so good!

It was published by some of my old friends from Emagazin, and it was all you could have expected. They have done a great job.

Also you can find my article on retail selling “Good day, neighbor” (Dobar dan, komsija). I plan to write series of articles on practical methodology of selling retail (retail selling system). I hope readers would find it useful to increase there retail sales effectiveness. 

Usually I wouldn’t just write a post about my day to day work, but this blog post  is an exception. Yesterday, we have organized in-house training “Innovation management and creativity” for Direct Media company in Belgrade. They perfectly fit the profile of “Funky Business” company, as described by authors of the famous book “Karaoke Capitalism”.

What can I tell you, I was delighted to be there with them. Young, bright, innovative, positive, I had a feeling I am reading “Funky Business” book again. It is a perfect case study of what you need to do to facilitate innovation in your organization and stimulate innovation culture at its best. We learned from them as much as they did from us, it was absolutely perfect giving-receiving relationship.

Here is a nice picture post from last weekend. I went to Kopaonik mountain on a press trip with 20 other journalists. We were invited by Uniqa Insurance company to cover FIS Ski Royal Cup opened by world famous skier Stephan Eberharter (Uniqa promoter).

I have been to many mountains around the world skiing and hiking, but this was my first trip to Kopaonik, the highest mountain in Serbia. I am sure these picures would tell the story better than words.

All of these pictures were taken by my friend Vlado Vujsic director of Vibilia.co.yu
I have brought my own photo camera, but the moment I saw Vlada I knew I am not going to use it, since Vlada is a real pro.

New information + case studies + exercises = competency

Few days ago, my friend Daniel Tavcioski and I have held presentation of our “Personal selling skills” training in Serbian Chambers of Commerce, Smederevo. Some 30 people, mostly entrepreneurs from the region, gathered to hear about what is selling, and how to become better salesmen. I am so glad we were able to implant the seed of selling knowledge, so much needed today, in our transitional economy.

At this moment in time in Serbia, when we are steadily moving away from European integrations, I remembered my visit to CEBIT fair in Hanover, Germany, few years ago. I was part of the press tour organized by Siemens.
Its not about me, I have spent most of my adult life in the west, but I feel said about Serbian youth. Unfortunately, all they would be able to do, for many years to come, is work as slaves for local clepto-cracy (tycoons) and keep voting for Vojislav Kostunica.

I can only hope these pictures are where Serbia will eventually look after. Hopefully we will leave the “elite club” of nations like Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan … and get back to our European roots.

The last picture is of Indian exhibition. You should have seen our neighbors, like Romania, Bulgaria … looking great. By the way, our exhibition booth looked like it was pulled out of a museum (of soc-realistic history).

In the last issue of eMagazin I have published an article on Active Learning. To summarize what is active learning I have used quotation from Benjamin Franklin (famous face looking at us today from $100 bill)

“Tell me and I’ll forget,
Show me and I might remember,
Involve me and I’ll understand.”
– Benjamin Franklin

My argument is simple: Active learning is not just education methodology, it is acquired state of mind change of the student, who is actively involved in the learning process.

The title says: State of mind change

In the article I have quoted what Diane Cromer has said about Active learning in my interview in eMagazin No.55:

Our seminars are performed as interactive workshops. Forty percent of the training is in the form of giving formal information (hard facts, or as some call it - theoretical knowledge), and sixty percent is as active participation, where participants exercise or practice in teams. Learning has to be fun, for the people to get deeply involved in the learning process, they have to enjoy it.

New information + case studies + exercises = competency

Serbian HR Association and Serbian Foreign Investors Council have very successfully organized the first Human Resources Conference “HR at the crossroads” on 3rd and 4th December 2007 in Hyatt Regency Hotel in Belgrade.

This was part of the news article I have written for Emagazin. Now, honestly, what can I tell you how it was? I can not wait for the next year conference to participate again. Everything, form conference events, content, speakers, participants, round tables to after conference events like networking banquet was extra ordinary. Impeccable organization. I had a strong feeling (deja-vu) I am back in the USA again (at Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York).

The most valuable asset of conferences like this is meeting new exciting people. I was very lucky to meet Mr. John Cantwell co-founder of Dramatrix company from Budapest. John was born in the USA (Long Island) and has lived some time in Flushing, Queens (New York City) where I also lived from 1986 to 1990, so we were neighbors at that time. John has lived in Budapest for the last 15 years and currently resides there with his partner Anita, and their two young sons, Levente and Akos.

You will have to see them to believe what they do. In short, they engage real actors as trainers to demonstrate (dramatize) communication (public presentation) techniques and styles. I hope we could work out some kind of partnership with them and offer our services together on Southeast European business training market.

Many thanks to Mr. Nebojsa Rako, my dear friend and organizer of this conference, HR manager of Holcim Serbia corporation and founder of Serbian HR Association, for the wonderful experience we all have had. It feels so good when you can have both of two different worlds, do good business networking, learn and hear good and useful things, and at the same time have so much fun.

Yesterday in Sava Center “PR-Week Belgrade 2007” conference was opened. I was present at the opening ceremony and not counting little glitches with electrical power shortages it went very well. Before the opening I had interview with Mr. Andrej Vizjak Managing Director of A.T. Kearney South East Europe. He is internationally recognized consultant and teacher at Munich University.

As always there are good new things you can hear from people coming from abroad. Here in Serbia its like in a closed box, where you can only here the same old ideas over and over again. I enjoyed talking with Mr. Vizjak. I liked so much when he mentioned the importance of social competences when they choose candidates for consultants for A.T. Kearney Consulting company.

Unfortunately, these social (and many other) competences are what is missing from psychological profile of the average “Serbian businessmen”, competencies like emotional, spiritual, empathy and the will to do good for the whole society.

Anyway, I lived in the west long enough (17 years) to know that their “spiritual” competencies are far from perfect. But somehow, selfishness, greed and excessive egoism is not as obvious and aggressive as it is here in Serbia. I sincerely hope European integrations will bring some positive change to Serbian society soon. As professor Isac Adizes recently said in his interview: To change people (their state of mind), you must first change their environment.

(picture from the interview in Sava Centar)

New information + case studies + exercises = competency

On Saturday November 10th we were in Novi Sad. Autumn session of Blog-Open has moved to Novi Sad and becomes international.

We had good time meeting friends and listening to something new and different.

How many more events like this we need in Serbia on our thorny path to EU? This event was definitely inspiring!

Click on the picture below to see vidio clip of Stephanie Booth’s presentation:

New information + case studies + exercises = competency

Few days ago I have read an article on Hochegger Srbija in E-kapija web site:

——————————————————————————————————————

Leading world PR network in Serbia – signed agreement on joining and cooperation between “Burson Marsteller” and “Hochegger”

General manager Severin Heinisch said the goal of his company is to become leader in their field in Serbia by the end of the year, and most developed PR agency on Southeast European market.

——————————————————————————————————————

Watch out for the last sentence:

to become leader in their field in Serbia by the end of the year

I tried to find them on Google, and can you imagine, they do not exist. When you type in “Hochegger Srbija” keywords, one of the results is showing Serbian PR association, where you can read:

Društvo Srbije za odnose s javnošću, Resavska 31 11000 BeogradWeb: http://hochegger.co.yu; http://www.hochegger.com;. Godina osnivanja: Maj 2007. godine.When you type in their local web address www.hochegger.co.yu – NO WEB SITE. Can you imagine? They want to be a leader in the communication industry in Serbia and they don’t have a web site. They have posted the web address that doesn’t work. And the worst of all, it means their contact email address doesn’t work.

It means that Hochegger Srbija communication agenciy’s communication channel over the internet is closed. You can not even find a sign that says “Coming soon”. May be they will build their web site after they overtake the Serbian PR market.

Take a look at their mother company web site in Wienna. Now, can you tell me if their communication (message, visual sense, emotions it triggers …) goes along with our simple, local people in Serbia who drink “slivovitz” and eat garlic and bacon. Look at that foggy pictures in flash (upper right corner of the picture below), that are nervously moving around and look like blurred aquarium (yes, pictures are blurred on purpose).

Surrealism or clear and concise message?

I could understand if they are “creative” advertising agency, so everything is permitted to be foggy and un-clear. But I do believe essence of PR is clear and concise message, not to guess what the author wanted to say (like in Picasso paintings). By the way, it was spinning in my head, when I tried to decipher the message (if there is any message) looking at the pictures of two middle aged gentleman flying like ghosts over the screen.

I am not discriminating, I know Germans (Austrians) are top engineers, managers, scientists, even the best cooks or sweet makers, but I don’t believe they could be the masters for PR (communication) on our local Serbian Dragacevo-Guca-folk-music market. I am not actively involved with PR any more (we have moved to Business Knowledge), so I can say this openly. Who is willing to take a bet with me that this PR agency (I can not even pronounce their name) will be the leader on Serbian market by the end of this year?

I have done this interview with Diane Cromer few days ago and published it in emagazin in Serbian. I have translated it for you in English and here it is:

Enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making it …

If you are a manager, or business man, politician, or just somebody
interested in modern business methods, this fall in Belgrade there is
something you should write down in your agenda. Company “Cromer group” (www.cromer-group.com)
is organizing series of seminars on various subjects like “change
management and motivation”, “advanced PR”, and “business leadership”.
As part of my job as a journalist, I get to go to various trainings and
seminars held by leading business “gurus” from abroad. You have
probably read some of my interviews on the subject. This one I warmly
recommend. I have seen and heard Diane Cromer, and I can tell you her
seminar is something you would never forget.

Who is Diane Cromer?

Diane Cromer is a strategic communications specialist and
organizational development consultant with more than 25 years of
experience in the US and abroad. For the last 12 years she has worked
in Eastern and Central Europe especially in Serbia. She uses her
organizational development expertise and her experience as a former
journalist and business and government communications strategist to
help her clients solve complex business and policy problems.

She started her career as on-air reporter for TV station. While only
23 years old, she was the only woman to travel on the Presidential bus
covering the reelection campaign of former President Gerald Ford. In
her long and successful career, among many big business clients, Ms.
Cromer has worked with three Senators, 13 members of Congress, JBF
Financial Service of Pennsylvania, and American Medical Association.

With IBM Business Consultant Group, Diane managed strategies for
acceptance of key economic reform principles, including small and
medium enterprise development, privatization, and anti-monopoly
measures. She had overseen seminars for SMEs in 10 Serbian towns and
cities.

One of the biggest projects that Diane has helped lead was work with
the US Department of Defense Human Resource Management Department between 2005 and 2007 on the restructuring of civil work force. The task was to introduce the new organizational structure for 750,000 civil employees.

Diane Cromer has taught at the Yale University’s Campaign School for
Women and the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of
Business on communications and presentation techniques, where she
taught MBA students business communications, public appearance and
presentation.

What has motivated you to “come back” to do business in Serbia?

I grew up in Pennsylvania and somehow Serbia reminds me of my
birthplace. Belgrade is situated on two rivers as is the city of
Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. You have similar sense of humor, you are
hard working resilient people, and of course I have many friends here
in Serbia. Of my last seven birthdays, four of them I have celebrated
in Belgrade. I have worked on and off in Serbia since the spring of
year 2000.

Serbia is a country undergoing deep transformational change. With my
extensive personal experience in communication and change management, I believe I can help that transformation on many levels: in privatization, foreign direct investment, improving effectiveness and efficiency of Serbian businesses. Our company’s is about “Workforce development”. To succeed on the global marketplace employee training itself is not enough. We perform employee assessments, to find out how your work force align to your mission and goals. We partner with HR departments to help create the learning organization.

Everybody who listened to you said that you are excellent teacher. What is needed to successfully transfer knowledge to others?

We use business case studies and practical exercises. We take
examples from the real world and explore them in detail. They are case
studies from international and local companies. This way people can
easily identify with the problem, comparing business practices of
global companies with their local examples. For example in our change
management seminar one team is given to prepare change plan on business merger situation and another on acquisition. What we want to accomplish for our participants is not only to learn the business skills, but to learn how to think and make decisions.

Our seminars are performed as interactive workshops. Forty percent
of the training is in the form of giving formal information (hard
facts, or as some call it – theoretical knowledge), and sixty percent
is as active participation, where participants exercise or practice in
teams. Learning has to be fun, for the people to get deeply involved in
the learning process, they have to enjoy it.

What is the key to managing change?

The most important is to have all employees understand the change.
To be able to demonstrate it clearly so they understand how this change
relates to their own interests and interests of their company. One of
the most important exercises on our trainings is on how to create
organizations vision. Clear vision is the essential element of
successful change management.

The research shows that some 66% of all change management
initiatives fail. The most common reason for failure is that companies
don’t create milestones, or time pointers, and don’t monitor
achievements. They make decision on what needs to be changed, they
start the process of change, but they don’t follow-up on how is the
change really going on. Especially when compared to previously planned
time line of events-changes.

How do you make change happen?

The change is about changing people, and you change them by changing
their attitude and behavior. Also it is about communication.
Communication is not part of change, it is the whole of change. Change
can not be dictated, it must be interpreted to people in the right way,
so it makes sense to them, it needs to be meaningful. They need to
understand the reason for change, especially from their point of view
(what’s in it for them).

Picture from the interview:

Few weeks ago I have interviewed professor Isak Adizes for Emagazin.
What can I say, when after a month I still feel I have had exceptional
experience. What is so special is his commanding presence, his
incredible energy. And on the other hand, he is so openhearted and
straightforward.

Not a trace of egocentrism and arrogance you would normally find in
our university professors here in Serbia. I have just heard he is the
consultant to the richest man in the world (Carlos Slim). As opposed to
our “great Serbian academic figures” professor Isak Adizes is so humble
in his appearance (like a child). Now I have seen how the real
greatness looks and feels like.

So how am I going to start. Here is an article that got published in ProPR Magazine - Summer/Autumn 2007 issue. The magazine has a very narrow target readership so I hope here in my blog it will have a much broader audience.

Click on this picture to see the aricle or read the text below.

Article: Top managers and PR

From ancient times, every manager’s dream is to run the successful
business enterprise. If you ask managers today, what are the necessary
ingredients for success, they would most likely mention PR, but would
they really understand its importance?

Few years ago, as emagazin associate, I had an interview with Mr.
Thomas Farrell who was the spokesman for US Steel corporation. I asked
him about the importance of PR, and of course, for him PR was pure
communication, and communication is at the bottom of any successful
business enterprise. As little as we realize it, communication is
actually at the bottom of everything we humans do. If you ask managers
in our region what is PR, most of them would assume it as media
relations. Also, when they look for PR agency, they would most likely
look for somebody to just take care of their media relations. Word
“communication” would not even be mentioned.

Most of our top managers would agree they need superior IT
technology, strong knowledge base, developed innovation culture, and so
on. Only few would realize that everything they mentioned would, at the
end, depend on common people, on their own employees. Most of all,
their success or failure, depends on how well they all communicate,
between themselves and with the outside world.

Only ten or twenty years ago that was the problem in western
economies as well. Managers looked at business as science and
technology, not as people communicating knowledge and new ideas. As I
have spent most of my adult life doing business in the USA, I was
personally the witness when this view begun to change. Communication
finally became the “buzzword”. Like it or not, the managers realized
that “PR agency” is actually “Communication agency”. So when they look
to hire them, they would look for the agency that will help them not
only with media relations, but with their complete communication needs.

We live in the world without borders, where information and
knowledge flows freely and undisturbed. To stay competitive on the
global marketplace, any successful business enterprise in our region
needs to have not only PR agency as they see it now, but full service
communication consulting agency, offering complete business
communication solutions. It means having this agency as a business
partner, who understands your communication needs, and have the right
answers to satisfy them.

Author Miodrag Kostic, Owner of “VEZA” Communication consulting agency, www.veza.biz

I have been writing for various on-line and off-line publications and have used internet since 1989 (way before web). How come I am just now starting my blog, kind of late in my on-line career?

I don’t know. Probably because few weeks ago I have been at Professor Philip Kotler seminar and he said he is active on his blog (he is 76 years old). Than I was at the Jerry Weisman seminar and at the press conference afterwards, he said we can find everything we want at his blog (and he is in his sixties).

I have just turned 50 and since I am still feeling like 30, here is my personal blog.

Please enjoy it as much as I am enjoying writing it …