My Journey: 4 Leaders Discuss Life’s Lessons

“The world is not always fair. If you don’t control your destiny, someone else will.” As I later learn in our interview, these are not catchy phrases Petr Smida has memorized. These are statements of his life experience. Like so many in his generation growing up under communism, he witnessed his parents being forbidden by the authorities to practice their chosen professions. “Early in life, my father told me that the sooner I realized what life is, the better it would be for me.” Somber words of advice to a young man who would become the international success story he is today. His achievements as an international banker have been well chronicled in the banking industry press. Most recently, before returning to Prague as a private investor, Petr Smida was CEO of AlfaBank in Russia, an organization he transformed into what has been voted the “Best Bank in Russia” by Euromoney Magazine for three consecutive years under his leadership.

Some of his most important lessons and insights, though, have come from experiences that many would view as negative. “I don’t internalize failure or setbacks—period.” As he says this, he picks up a small, empty plate from our lunch table and holds it out to me. “Give me some feedback, Pepper. Come on, give it to me. I’ll put it right on this plate” “Okay, I’ll play along,” I think to myself, and then say things like, “Your subordinates are unmotivated. You don’t listen. People don’t think you care about them.” “Great! Thank you. Now, I’ll just take a look at these things you ‘put on my plate’ and see what I can learn from them and then, I’ll discard the rest and move on. Feedback is critical to anyone who wants to become a leader. But, don’t internalize it, learn from it and move on.”

He goes on to explain how this lesson was driven home earlier in his career in one of the most demanding corporate environments in the world—General Electric. “After selling my business to GE, I became President of GE MoneyBank here in the Czech Republic. I was in the role just six months and I received my first 360 degree performance evaluation. It was so bad I wanted to resign! I consider myself to be pretty good with the vision and strategy parts of leadership, but, in essence, what I was told was, ‘If you have a vision or strategy it’s a well kept secret from most of your employees.’ I was crushed! I had a choice to make. I could either internalize these comments, take the money I made on the sale and do something else, or, I could choose to learn more about myself, ask for feedback from my employees, and become a better leader.”

To say he did the latter would be an understatement. After four years as CEO in the Czech Republic, he was promoted and moved back to GE Capital’s corporate headquarters in the United States and given responsibility for more than 30 countries globally. It was while in this role he came to the attention of Russian financier, Mikhail Fridman, and recruited to AlfaBank.

“I learned that what I was missing, early in my career, was discipline. I did have vision, but I didn’t have the discipline to translate that vision into specific goals, which could be broken down into short-term achievements and understood by the people who were out there every day making it happen. Discipline is the key leadership trait that so many bright, talented professionals need to develop further. No one in any field of endeavor—the arts, sports, business—you name it—ever succeeds without discipline. One must have the rules, the regime and the process in order to get clarity and bring you closer to your goal.”

Smida hastens to add that one must not get too carried away with form—outcomes are far more important. “Wait a minute,” I interrupt, “that sounds like a contradiction to what you just said.” “Not at all,” he smiles, “the form is what you must have for the foundation of what you do, but, what I call ‘common sense compliance’ is the way you interpret that foundation to what is needed for a particular situation. Here’s an example of what I mean. If you can make your point in a short email, or brief conversation with the appropriate parties, don’t do it with 10 PowerPoint slides in a formal meeting. Use common sense to determine how best to comply with the needs of what you are trying to accomplish. It’s more of a holistic view than a pure process-oriented one. Many people think that if something is more difficult to do, it has more value, but it’s not always true.”

Our interview ends with him quoting the children’s story book character, Winnie the Pooh: “Today is my favorite day.” “Attitude—that’s what it’s all about”, he tells me. “The attitude we approach life with is a choice we are free to make every day.”