My Journey: 4 Leaders Discuss Life’s Lessons
“Act or be acted upon. This is the philosophy that has guided me through my life.” There is no emotion in her voice—this is a statement of fact from Renata Mrazova, CFO, ING Insurance Czech Republic. “Things are too complex and are moving too fast today to rely on how you did things in the past, which makes this philosophy more important today than ever before.” She goes on to explain how, in her view, not being flexible in today’s business environment, not encouraging a flow of new ideas, and not creating an open environment of trust in which your employees feel free to speak their minds, is to allow yourself to be acted upon by forces that will eventually destroy you as a leader.
It doesn’t take long, though, to discover that her philosophy is more complex than this. I have interviewed Renata once before, before the crisis, before the birth of her second child, and before she rejoined ING earlier this year. There have been many changes in her life in the past two years and I was interested to see what effect, if any, those changes had on her attitude and her style of leadership.
“I think the biggest insight I have had in the past three years is regarding flexibility. I have been a very structured person with a strong desire to be in control. But recently, a member of my family experienced a serious illness and it was then I realized that there are some things in life you have no control over—some things you simply cannot influence.” If you think, by this observation, she is heading down a path of surrender you would be very wrong. To her, this is just step one: acknowledge the facts. Step two is: asking yourself what you need to change in order to deal with the facts—your perspective? your approach? your expectations?—what? This is where flexibility comes into the picture: “This may be one of the most important lessons to learn for people who are on the way up. Approaching a problem (a fact) with a frame of mind that is trusting, open and flexible lowers the stress level, not only for you but for all those around you, and allows creativity to come out.”
I ask her for an example, but I wasn’t prepared for the frankness of her answer. “When I started as Chairman of Direct pojistovna in 2005 I was really fired-up and excited and my enthusiasm and belief in what we were doing helped me attract a very talented team. Then, something strange happened about a year and a half later—I began to question what I was doing, I wasn’t sure we were going in the right direction and my enthusiasm began to fade. I decided to deal with it in a very unconventional way. I met with my team and told them exactly how I felt.
To my surprise, they told me they were feeling the same way! Because of the trust and openness we had as a team, we dissected and analyzed everything we were doing—everything. Then, we reconstructed things in ways we felt were delivering more value to all our stakeholders and giving us more of a feeling of fulfillment as professionals. For me, as a leader, it was a big gamble—to be that open and trusting—but it’s who I am and it was the best way for me to express my trust and openness to my team. They rewarded my gesture with their own trust and openness and what followed was two days of exciting new ideas and changes that energized us, made Direct pojistovna a better company, and created a lasting bond between us all. Don’t get me wrong. If a leader does this too much, even once if done poorly, his or her team will abandon ship for someone who knows what they’re doing. But done properly, letting your team know you’re ‘human’ and bringing them in—making them part of the decision-making process—can work wonders.”
“If things were so good at Direct pojistovna, why did you leave?” Upon hearing my question, she smiles softly and says, “That’s where balance comes in. My husband and I wanted to have our second child and so, when things were in order at the company, I made the decision to step back and take some time off for my family.”
“What lesson would you pass on to the leaders-to-be, those on the way up?” “Many leaders just think they’re leaders, but they are really managers. They focus on daily routines and the technical part of work. They make decisions, but they don’t lead. If you want to be a leader you must find a way that is natural and authentic for you to go beyond the technical aspects of what you do and to connect with people on a human level. Leadership is about relationships. Relationships are why people go beyond what is expected of them, to be the best contributors they can be and that’s what good leaders do—bring out the best in people.”
What’s she working on to be a better leader? “Sometimes I need to shut-up and count to five before talking. I guess I’m still working on that control thing.”
