Autumn with Global Minds II: HR, CX, law and real estate experts

Hong-Wha Ling, Rob Irving, Doğu Kir, and Tomáš Kaplan, representatives of VIG Re, Dentons, Vodafone, and himself, were guests on the second batch of the autumn series of the Global Minds podcast, which features senior foreign managers in Czechia as well as Czechs who have built careers abroad.

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Hong-Wha Ling

Hong-Wha Ling started out as a driver in the Netherlands. He soon discovered that he was not only good at driving cars, but also at managing human resources. "I realized that I could either drive myself or ask other students to drive for me while we expanded our operations. That prompted me to focus on HR during my economics studies," he says, describing his beginnings.

Ling then deepened his career in human resources and gained experience in international missions. He worked in Turkey, Romania, and Japan, and in January 2025, he moved to Prague. While his previous positions were in banking and insurance, the move to Prague and VIG Re meant a transition to reinsurance. "What interests me about reinsurance is that it combines banking and insurance," says the head of HR at VIG Re.

Rob Irving and Petr Zákoucký

In the 1990s, no one worked as hard as the Czechs. This a bit surprising statement came from another guest on Global Minds, American Rob Irving, who visited the studio with his colleague from the Prague office of Dentons, Petr Zákoucký. "One of the reasons I'm here is to help Czech companies with global operations and make it easier for them to create value," said Irving, Dentons' executive co-head of corporate law and mergers and acquisitions in Europe.

Although Irving is formally a newcomer to Dentons in Prague, in practice this is not entirely true. "We have been working with Rob on projects for our Czech clients for five or six years, so we and many of our local clients have long considered him part of our team. I am sure that most of our clients can benefit from his experience," explained Zákoucký.

Doğu Kir

Anyone considering a career abroad must be truly passionate about their work, says Doğu Kir, Vice President of Vodafone's consumer segment, in the next episode. A native of Turkey, he began his career in the banking sector. However, he found banking monotonous and longed for something more dynamic. He ended up in telecommunications.

When comparing the two industries, he points out clear differences. "From banking, I took away the impression that the system is essential. You have to set it up well and it will work. When I moved to telecommunications, I found that more important than the system are the people who can cause big changes, whether positive or negative. And when I came to Vodafone, I discovered another layer, namely corporate culture. Because culture is what influences people," says Kir.

Tomáš Kaplan

The last episode of the Global Minds podcast in 2025 was unusual because the guest was not a foreign manager, but a Czech who had built his career abroad from scratch. "I started out cleaning apartments, then accommodating guests. People who rented apartments repeatedly began to ask me what it would entail if they wanted to buy something in Spain. So I started looking into it for them," says Tomáš Kaplan, who has built a strong position as a real estate agent on the Costa del Sol.

Kaplan began his professional career in aviation, specifically as a flight attendant for an airline based in Abu Dhabi. This experience served him well, even though the nature of client relationships is different in both professions. "As a flight attendant, you are in contact with clients for a few hours, while in real estate, relationships are much more long-term, which requires a different approach," he explained.