Global Minds: At the start of a management mission abroad, it's better to listen than to talk
- Nikola Macková
- Oct 7
- 4 min read
Fifteen of the twenty largest companies in the Czech Republic have foreign experts in top management or the board. This suggests that foreigners have a significant influence on the domestic economy. Some of them took part in a special event of the Global Minds project, the purpose of which is to introduce more closely the high-ranking expats in the Czech Republic. During the meeting, a list of TOP 70 Board Members was presented. It features foreign members of the boards of directors of domestic companies representing 38 countries.
Nicolas Mucherl, CFO of the insurance company Kooperativa & Tobias Sonndorfer, CEO and Chairman of the Board of VIG Re.
One of the members of the TOP 70 club and one of the speakers at the meeting was Nicolas Mucherl, CFO of the insurance company Kooperativa, who also sits on the board of Kooperativa and the Česká podnikatelská pojišťovna. In the opening panel he was accompanied by Tobias Sonndorfer, CEO and Chairman of the Board of VIG Re.
The central theme of the debate could not have been anything else but questions related to the circumstances of serving in a responsible position abroad. Or could it? Is the topic of nationality even relevant in high business today? According to the Austrian Mucherl, as and when. „In VIG we believe, that insurance business is local and I am the only expat in the management, so nationality does not matter too much in this respect. But there is another perspective; one of my former bosses lived in Prague for more than 20 years. He spoke perfectly Czech, but whenever he walked to the cinema, he never understood why the Czechs are laughing. It doesn´t explain a question of nationality, but these unguided things which you have to read between the lines create a cultural difference we have to deal with. Nonetheless between Austria and Czechia, there is actually not too much difference, to be frank,“ he says.
Sonndorfer, a German, agrees. According to him, nationality is not a real topic, but indirectly becomes a topic precisely through the differences in cultural background it generates. However, this has its own considerable advantages. „What´s driving us is to get different perspectives on a problem and a true diverse picture of it. That is usually what makes it truly special,“ Sonndorfer says and adds that he feels the limits, which stem from his insufficient mastery of Czech. „I don´t speak the language good enough and I really miss it. The jokes are one thing, the other is, that language is a connection to the society and that is an element I´m truly missing in the business context, because you need this kind of roots when you want to operate globally,“ he admits.
Czech customs
It depends on the character or personality, but the life of an expat must more or less necessarily intersect with the cultural customs of the country in which he or she is working. Mucherl has a certain advantage in this respect, because part of his family comes from the Czech Republic, so the environment is not so foreign to him. „The group would say I am totally adopted to Czech customs because of my transfer to local company, so I am only working in the interest of the local company. It is true, that the standpoint here clearly changes the perspective very much. Beside that I like food very much and particularly I like the Czech food and that is what challenges my weight management, because every year here brings me two or three kilos more,“ Mucherl confess.
It is natural that the local team expects a foreign manager to have insight, an international perspective, and the ability to break free from perceptions burdened by local conditions. According to Mucherl, it is clear that more than that is expected. „It is clearly expected that you have also the link to headquarter. But, as I said, as a group we consider insurance as a local business.
Don´t be smart
According to Sonndorfer a certain adaptation comes naturally sooner or later. „If you continuously work in a certain environment with certain colleagues, you adapt automatically. I arrived here two and a half years ago, so I am adapted to some extent. Will I maintain an outsider perspective? I hope that I maintain some kind of a satellite perspective that is part of what is expected to be a CEO. That means I do not slip into each and every daily activity, so I try do like that,“ says Sonndorfer.
If they were to give their potential successors the most important advice on what to do and what to avoid before starting an international career, what would both speakers recommend? Mucherl's prescription is simple: listen. „Just be there and listen. Be aware, that as an expat you are sent from headquarter and people are not necessarily happy that you came. Your task is to be integrated and to gain the trust of the colleagues. Don´t be smart at the beginning, always try to be integrated first,“ Mucherl exhorts.
Sonndorfer agrees and continues by saying that the change of environment really brings so many new things that there is no room for mastery. „Different environment, people, nationality, language, everything new. Knowing everything better isn´t good start. Good advice is to settle first, there will be time to bring your experience and expertise,“ a VIG Re CEO concludes.
