Kogi celebrated its 10th anniversary with an inspiring discussion with guests and world speaker Gustav Razzetti.
Oct 7, 2024
“In every corporation, there is an incompetent *climber who is most likely sitting somewhere close to you. His main mission is to endure until retirement...”
Yes, this is how we stirred emotions at the beginning of the evening among nearly a hundred guests who joined us to celebrate our 10th anniversary at the Orea Hotel Angelo in Smíchov. Michal Rožek, the idea maker and copywriter who took on the role of host, welcomed the participants in an unconventional way with a short reading from the book Unpleasant, which he and his colleague from the industry, Ondra Holomek, wrote specifically for Kogi. It is usually hard to come by, but feel free to write to us about it (the subtext reads: “The fish always smells from the head! But now that head is you!”).
The title of the book, however, does not reflect the atmosphere of the evening. On the contrary!
It was great to meet on the imaginary stage and reminisce about the early days with Jarda Jíra, who was involved in the founding of Kogi CON and is now a former owner. The second founder, Filip Černý, mentioned that from the very beginning of Kogi CON, we wanted to create values. However, it turned out that anti-divorce counseling, a network of dental clinics, or water production containers in the desert were not the obvious choices. For Jarda, it ultimately turned out to be construction, while Filip later, along with Pavel Kuhn and today an entire team, began promoting awareness in building and strengthening corporate cultures. And it makes sense (and has measurable results)! This was confirmed by our panel discussion guests: Martina Ježková, HR Director of Czech Radiocommunications, Gorjan Lazarov, CEO of Orea Hotels, and Petr Doberský, CEO of Czech Airlines Technics. Together, they offered a truly diverse range of perspectives on how corporate culture plays a very significant role in their organizations and why it should not be underestimated. “People are like software without which we could not restart,” offered the idea from Gorjan Lazarov, sharing experiences with the transformation of Orea Hotels, during which identifying shared core values such as care, innovation, and trust played a key role in fostering a cohesive team sharing the same goals. “Corporate culture is what connects people based on values,” he added.
Petr Doberský emphasized the key value of open communication and described how long it took for people in the company to understand that working on corporate culture yields results: “It couldn’t be done harshly; we had to consistently explain and proceed step by step to gain the mechanics' trust.”
Martina Ježková added that a strong corporate culture has a self-cleaning function. It naturally excludes those who do not share the same values. From her own experience, she also admitted that the hardest part of transforming corporate culture is convincing managers and directors not to compromise. Gustavo Razzetti: People do not leave jobs, but corporate culture
We ended the evening with a conversation with world speaker and corporate culture expert Gustavo Razzetti. “Corporate culture is what connects people or separates them. It is invisible, yet it has an impact. If it works, people do not notice it. They only discover it when problems arise,” he stated. According to him, nearly 90% of senior executives consider culture one of the three most important priorities, yet many do not know how to truly change it. “People do not leave jobs; they leave corporate cultures,” he added, also pointing out the importance of feedback to management and the active involvement of leaders in building culture. “Many companies mistakenly consider feedback as a tool for criticism. However, we should build a culture in which leaders actively seek feedback to improve and learn,” he stated. In conclusion, Razzetti also pointed out that cultural transformation is a long-term project. “Companies often confuse the culture they want with the one they actually have. It’s essential to understand that changing culture is an evolutionary process requiring continuous effort and understanding of where you are on the journey,” he concluded. His thoughts inspired all attendees and highlighted how crucial it is to pay attention to corporate culture as a key element of success in today’s dynamic work environment.
We thank everyone who joined us to celebrate the first decade. We wish you too to be surrounded only by strong corporate cultures where people feel good and lead to positive results!