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| Szczególnie polecamy |
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| MUTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN PEOPLE AS RECIPE FOR SUCCESS |
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Ten years ago, practically without capital & experience, You established an education company, which is listed in leader group of polish education companies. How did You manage to realize Your own idea of the future?
Dynamism& strength of development of my company is rooted in its idea. I studied during very interesting period, when there was struggle for liberty, ideas, certain system values. It was period of revolt. Communism was over & I taught, that there was right time to built what I had struggled for. Half a year later I had full idea of what I wanted to do. Generally, an idea is a result of personal consideration, meetings with other people & sometimes even painful experiments - result of many factors, between which main position is taken by quality of relations with other people. It is truth, that decision of establishing my own company was risky. But I would not accept formulation concerning lack of capital, unless you think exclusively about money. For me the capital means union of energy remaining in relations between people & money, enabling this energy to spread freely. First step towards establishing my company was my travel to United States.
Was it enough to acquire capital necessary to establish a company?
I went there, because I was looking for other models of behavior, I was learning & developing my interests concerning creative thinking, communication & interpersonal relations. I invested in myself because I wanted very much to realize my idea & I had the feeling that right moment was coming - my "five minutes". I knew what I liked to of in my life & what would be my company busy with.
Is there universal recipe for success? Does it depend form some specific factors, p.ex. from possession of certain personality virtues?
it is important, that everybody who has an idea ( wants to establish his own company, has first clear idea of its future & thinks over, what people & with what skills will cooperate, founding informal relations in the company. Every man has his unique personality - we are diversified by emotions & way of thinking, which makes people & their relations the most important capital of each organization. I experienced morbid relations between people, when I used to wor a primary & secondary schools. People told one thing, thought another thing & made ven something else. It made me keen on living in the world, in which people are able to communicate. I decided, that my company would teach exactly that. Morbid relations are one of basic reasons of many failures of each man. I wanted to teach new way of thinking, taking into consideration, that work with other man would be work with his intellectual, spiritual & physical spheres. This process is just starting. It seems, that for the time being, the society adjusted itself to what was offered by free market (in economic sense), but behavior & opinions on relations with other people remained on unchanged level. It was the main reason to carry into effect my idea, to break barriers in creating relations between people. Attitude & behavior of one man can influence attitude & behavior of other people. That way, I accepted the necessity to create new standards.
So, do You think, that people, leaders can be created?
Sometimes it is enough to put a man into right environment & he become a leader. To show differences, which can be achieve from making specific choices. I often underline, that leadership is not question of genes. Leader it is unique person, which is always interested in. Now I think, that it is a person, from which we derive intellectual or spiritual inspiration. Somebody, who possesses a model to follow, something, what we would like to know or to have. Such person is our leader, we want to follow him, for all our life or even only for one short minute, always till the moment until we reach what we were inspired by.
What leadership skill would You qualify as the most important?
Leadership is connected with personal skills, especially with communication. Communication is the basis of all relations between people, it is composed from: skill of hearing & pulling out what is hidden under specific words & empathy. During process of communication it is not at all the question of techniques type: uninterrupted visual contact with, interlocutor, which proves, that we tell truth or we listen carefully, it is not the art of communication. The art is the skill of full understanding of messages sent different way by other person, the interlocutor. If a worker says, that stable working conditions & salary are important to him, it means, that important for him is feeling safe. If leader hear the message & will be able to create atmosphere of safety making people to follow him trustfully, it will be the chance to succeed. People desire leaders fixing aims, directions & inspiring them to action. They work badly, when he stays close to them & says what they have to do. Leader knows by intuition how to inspire others & consider, that when following him they remain in harmony with other values & convictions. Virtues of personality & personal skills to cooperate with people are the most essential in all relations between them, in their professional life as well as in private life.
You mentioned some important factors, which enabled to be a leader: creative thinking, empathy, inspiring others, visionary disposition, but it is really possible to learn it? And if so, in what way?
It is obviously possible. I know however, that it is much easier, if a person has some predispositions. For internal development of each man, very important is skill of making friends in his life & unselfishly favoring others by affections. I was myself many times favored by different people with their love & friendship, I know it gives me profit now. feeling, that we are accepted & loved for the only fact that we exist, is very important for us. It is amazing, how much would be changed in our life, if we learned for example how to forgive. One should have thoughts & feeling free of morbid emotions, in order to succeed in his life.
Do You think about such positive energy pushing forward?
Exactly. This "energy" in private & professional life of a man is the most important. I mean positive relations with different people, making friends & being true to ideas & also preserving & cultivating these feelings. There are them, which make people emotionally & intellectually more rich, give strength necessary to act.
You said, that relations are very important & Your workers affirm, that relations inside CKL S.A. are extraordinary, that You are for people not only the boss, but also mentor. They feel they have right to make mistakes & when they do not know something You peacefully discuss it. It all sounds a little bit unrealistic, is such organization culture at all possible?
In fact we are connected by extraordinary relations, for which we used to work hard together. Being leader in one's own company means taking care of people not only from point of view of their professional skills, but the whole man: his physicality, intellectual, emotional & spiritual efficiency. one should appeal to all these levels & reach everywhere with information. I managed to create open relations to that extend, that I am not afraid to present myself as a man. If a new worker join the company, I give him maximum of my attention. I know it will not happen, but I assume, that we will work together for all our life. If anybody assumes, that new person is suitable for half a year & take leave of him, it is exploitation. In new worker I invest everything he needs. People is really very important capital, one person can put strength to the whole company, however also one person can destroy it.
You, as a specialist in that field, are able to create right relations in Your company. Suggest, please, how to integrate specific professional circle?
Boss of the company should know of his workers feel safe. There can not be such situation that all people know, that one worker will leave & he does not know it yet. It is horribly wrongful. This person must know it first. If inside professional circle there are problems with people, this is problem for leader, it means he should fashion his character. As I said, being mentor means to take care of the whole man. One should appeal to all his levels & reach everywhere with information. Everybody wants to feel safe, be appreciated & it is human.
When motivation is not efficient?
When I have no time to talk with workers.
You mean evaluate workers?
No, no. people need to be heard, talk, have normal "human idle talk". I am interested by a person & not only by that, if she knows it or not. Maybe she has a problem, maybe she is ill, how to help her. It is possibly sounds tritely, but it is necessary.
Why managers play today more often on negative emotions? If they can point out a mistake, they do it immediately, there is so little positive motivation & possibly applause, nice atmosphere in the company motivate much more, than money & for use sure a negative "motivation" does not do it. 50 % of Americans leave the job, because they do not accept the atmosphere, culture of specific organization & the most often their direct superior.
In reality all people want to improve relations, but not all are aware of it. It is optimistic, that nowadays many people developed their possibilities. people of different descriptions were trained in many company - presently professors, businessmen - all who simply needed this knowledge or skill. Interesting phenomenon is presented by young people, they have completely other approach, they expect ready recipes, pills American way - they will swallow & everything will be done, they do not act to solve the problem. We entered certain circle of society based on competition. There is enormous competition, but competition assumes, that somebody shell be always defeated. This way we together create society of winners & losers & this is disastrous. Competition is at once a lost theory. Everybody should feel winner some way.
Being in such team, in which the common aim & common good is important, sound fantastic, but so unrealistic.
I am speaking about something conceptional. I am speaking about climate of cooperation, in which all workers will exchange between them their models of the world. I denied all models, trying to create to myself & to other people situation, in which previous models would be changed by others. Somebody, who watches a glass filled with water till half of its capacity - see, that it is half of liquid in it, but the other see, that it is half empty. The same is in life, it depends much from our perception but also from people surrounding us. I was lucky, I met exceptional persons in my life. I am so grateful to them, especially to those, who had accepted me as a man - it helped me so much in my life. They contributed in my way of thinking. Thanks to these relations I am there, where I am. This, what I am doing is not a business but establishing & supporting of relations with people.
Personality of business
Home & Market
Investment * Finances * Real Estate
February 2000* No 2 (91)
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