Jiří Koleňák: My name is Jiří Koleňák and welcome to the Úspěšní (Successful) podcast, where my guests and I explore the principles and habits that drive their success. My guest today is Jitka Sládková, an inspiring leader in strategic development and marketing. Jitka served as Chief Strategy Officer and Marketing Director at the Brno Technology Park, where she focused on sustainability, innovation support, and connecting local and global business ecosystems. She brings over 15 years of experience working with startups, market expansion, and regional entrepreneurship. Welcome to the podcast, Jitka.
Jitka Sládková: Good day, thank you for having me.
Jiří Koleňák: Jitka, I always start by asking my guests what brought them the greatest joy in recent days. What was it for you?
Jitka Sládková: Surprisingly, I was expecting this question, and the answer might sound cliché: my children. I'm fortunate that they bring me joy every day. Resolving a complex situation with my son recently was absolute bliss for me.
Jiří Koleňák: Family and children are core values we completely share. What made you switch from studying tourism to studying finance?
Jitka Sládková: A chance encounter on a train! I rely heavily on intuition. I fell in love at first sight with a guy who was studying law in Brno. So I moved to Brno, where finance was offered at the university. I didn't care too much about the specific major initially, though as a little girl I used to visit bank branches with my father to deposit paper payment orders. Back then, bank branches were quiet, clean, and impressive. I always felt drawn to finance, but moving to Brno was ultimately driven by love and wanting to be in the same city.
Jiří Koleňák: You were shaped significantly by studying abroad. Why did you decide to go, and why specifically to Lyon?
Jitka Sládková: In high school, French was my second language. I didn't want an Erasmus program where I’d only speak English—I wanted to utilize my French. At age 20, I felt an urgent internal pull to study abroad, knowing I would regret it later if I didn't. When I told my father, he said he wouldn't give me a single dime. I thank him today for everything he didn't give me, because forcing me to support myself was his greatest gift. I chose Lyon thinking Paris would be too expensive. Ironically, I ended up at emlyon business school—the fourth most prestigious business school in Europe at the time—where expenses were actually higher! I studied alongside children of cabinet ministers from around the world. I originally planned a short stay, but extended it to 14 months, which completely transformed my personal development.
Jiří Koleňák: How did those experiences abroad shape your future career?
Jitka Sládková: Fundamentally. Being abroad alone forces you to step out of your shell and take full personal responsibility. In Western academic systems, there are no second chances or easy excuses—if you miss an exam, you retake the course next year. It instills self-reliance, rigorous discipline, and absolute honesty. I also took an advanced MBA course titled Economic Foundations of Business Strategies at what was then Europe's top business school, setting a new standard for my analytical thinking.
Jiří Koleňák: Early in your career, you worked at the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS). How did that impact you?
Jitka Sládková: While completing my doctoral studies, I worked at the Office. At one point, I was sent to Brussels to defend the Czech stance on bank interchange fees. Presenting internationally built my confidence in high-level negotiations. Understanding public procurement laws and regulatory bodies proved invaluable later when evaluating major infrastructure and corporate investment projects.
Jiří Koleňák: What initiated your shift toward business strategy, growth, and marketing?
Jitka Sládková: My natural personality—I am an inherent visionary. Traditional public administration doesn't accommodate big forward-thinking ideas. My father raised me to believe that no ambition was impossible. Seeing where a company can expand over 3, 5, or 10 years comes naturally to me, which led directly into strategy, growth, and marketing leadership.
Jiří Koleňák: Did you consider staying in Lyon permanently?
Jitka Sládková: I really wanted to! I loved the international environment and had a major crush there. Interestingly, speaking a foreign language unlocks a slightly different personality persona. The English-speaking Jitka is smoother, more diplomatic, and witty. The Czech Jitka is direct and sharp. Ultimately, I returned, lived briefly in Scotland, married a Czech fisherman named Pepa, and built my life here.
Jiří Koleňák: Despite an extensive corporate career, you never truly left academia. What does lecturing at university bring you?
Jitka Sládková: I view teaching as a civic calling. Society provided me with world-class education abroad, and lecturing is my way of giving back. I've taught practical economics for over 18 years. Rather than burdening students with 200 abstract graphs they don't understand, I teach four foundational macroeconomic frameworks and ensure they understand how inflation, tariffs, and trade policies impact real-world businesses, consumers, and global markets.
Jiří Koleňák: Was there a clear turning point when you realized you could execute projects entirely on your own terms?
Jitka Sládková: That arrived at the Brno Technology Park, where I served as Chairwoman of the Board. Having advised on 35 to 50 startup projects as part of consulting teams, serving as board chair allowed me to set strategic directives directly. When faced with complex challenges, I teach people never to accept binary options. There are dozens of creative solutions—finding alternative paths unlocks vast oceans of new business opportunities.
Jiří Koleňák: What was your vision at the Brno Technology Park, and what key milestones stand out?
Jitka Sládková: Brno Technology Park is the largest tech park in Central Europe, hosting 14 major buildings and housing over 7,000 tech professionals, including Red Hat's major development headquarters. My vision is for every major regional city to build specialized tech parks reflecting local industrial strengths—such as a nanotechnology park in Liberec—enabling regional talents to work globally while living locally. Key milestones included hosting international diplomatic delegations and securing 1 billion CZK in project financing commitments for infrastructure expansion. On a smaller scale, I co-founded an interactive educational bee trail on site that yields 500 kg of honey annually.
Jiří Koleňák: What was the hardest challenge as Chairwoman of the Board?
Jitka Sládková: Managing public-private partnerships (PPP) and political dynamics. Communicating with public stakeholders requires extreme care—a careless public statement by a local politician can trigger panicked calls from international corporate headquarters in the US managing thousands of high-wage jobs in Brno. Reassuring global corporate tenants while navigating public sector procurement procedures required intense communication and strategic alignment.
Jiří Koleňák: Having advised dozens of startups, what is the key to startup success?
Jitka Sládková: Founders are often deeply in love with their technology, which is necessary, but they struggle to view their product objectively through the market's eyes. They frequently claim "nobody else is doing this," ignoring adjacent competitors or alternative use cases. Success requires detaching from founder ego, identifying paying target customers early, and pivoting tech solutions into industries where market demand is highest. Elon Musk didn't physically build every rocket himself—his power lies in visionary management and execution.
Jiří Koleňák: How do strategy and marketing intersect in modern business?
Jitka Sládková: They are two sides of the same coin. In traditional SMEs, marketing is often treated as an afterthought relegated to social media posts. As Peter Drucker noted, a company's primary marketing assets are its employees and overall corporate culture. Marketing is everything: your physical office, employee mood, customer interactions, and brand vision. True strategic marketing doesn't just tweak website fonts—it re-aligns business models around evolving customer needs, positions offerings in non-obvious market segments, and drives long-term revenue growth.
Jiří Koleňák: How important is networking for corporate and individual expansion?
Jitka Sládková: Networking is essential, though I have a funny personal twist: two years ago I realized I suffer from prosopagnosia—face blindness! I can walk past my next-door neighbors and not recognize them. To manage trade clusters and trade missions, I studied LinkedIn profiles beforehand to memorize key features. Genuine networking must rely on radical authenticity and shared value rather than fake posturing. During a trade mission to the US, my dry humor led to a connection with a fellow delegate; today we are co-developing three major projects, including an aerospace high school academy.
Jiří Koleňák: What do you consider your greatest personal and professional achievements?
Jitka Sládková: Personally, my family. My husband stepped back from his own career to care for our children for nearly a decade so I could pursue my professional calling—a rare and wonderful gift. Raised in a divorced household, building a happy 17-year marriage and raising two thriving sons is my ultimate triumph. Professionally, securing top ratings on multi-million grant proposals is satisfying, but holding my sons at night means infinitely more than any infrastructure project or political meeting.
Jiří Koleňák: Where do you draw energy and inspiration to keep growing?
Jitka Sládková: From authentic, unapologetic individuals who forge their own paths: Dana Čechmanová (founder of Punk Yoga in Brno), my lifelong friend Přemek Kučera, and you, Jirko. Being around visionary leaders who build trends rather than chasing them inspires me to keep innovating. When facing setbacks, my family keeps me grounded—I get up, make pancakes for my boys, stay authentic about my feelings, and keep pushing forward.
Jiří Koleňák: What core values guide your life, and how do you regain perspective?
Jitka Sládková: Radical honesty—with others and with myself. Whenever you compromise your authenticity to please someone else, it backfires. To regain perspective, I physically hike up to Kraví Hora in Brno to look out over the city, or go swimming, where the rhythmic physical focus clears my mental capacity. As Pitbull and Flo Rida sing, "Every day above the ground is a great day."
Jiří Koleňák: What are your near-term professional focus areas, and what advice would you give students considering international study?
Jitka Sládková: Professionally, I am expanding executive education programs focused on international market entry, EU grant funding, and strategic governance—sharing lessons from evaluating hundreds of European Commission projects to help domestic companies scale globally. To students: study abroad! Studying abroad grants student status, opens doors, expands cultural intelligence, builds global networks, and provides an unparalleled environment for personal self-discovery.
Jiří Koleňák: "Find abundance within your passion," says the ever-honest architect behind Newton University's relocation to the Brno Technology Park, Jitka Sládková. Thank you very much for joining us, Jitka.
Jitka Sládková: Thank you so much for having me.
Jiří Koleňák: To our viewers, thank you for watching, and see you next time with more inspiring guests!
