Jana Kotalíková: from Czech government to Philip Morris

Jana Kotalíková spent more than ten years alongside former prime minister Petr Fiala: nearly eight as spokeswoman for the ODS party, then as head of the Government Office. After last year's parliamentary elections she moved to the private sector and now leads external affairs at the tobacco company Philip Morris ČR. She shared her experience of both sides of the barricades at the Forbes event “Lepší Česko”.

The decision to change fields came as she approached her fortieth birthday. In her words, she felt she had spent too long in public administration and politics, and realized that if you do not change in time, you become “institutionalized” and grow less willing to take risks with the years. Leaving almost twenty years in the civil service and then joining one of the largest tobacco corporations makes two professional changes in the past year. Joking, she called herself the “ex-Tünde Barta,” comparing herself to her successor as head of the office.

She says she has noticed no negative reactions to her move to Philip Morris — quite the opposite: people approved of her leaving government for the private sector in order to share her experience. The company, Kotalíková believes, enjoys a good reputation in Czechia, partly thanks to its transformation and its course toward a future without classic cigarettes.

The main point of her talk was that business and the state understand each other poorly. “The business world is sometimes unfair to officials,” she believes: they are criticized for being slow and inflexible, although they are bound to follow lawful procedures and regulations, and supervisory bodies stand above them. What looks cumbersome to business may be a safeguard against hasty decisions: officials weigh them in a broader social and economic context.

How can the two worlds be brought closer? Kotalíková suggests internships for officials of several months at private companies or nonprofits — as, she says, is done in Singapore. That way a civil servant would see a different pace and dynamic. And conversely, people from business should spend time in government offices to feel the atmosphere and the logic of how officials work. In her conviction, both sides would only gain: more understanding and fewer snap judgments.

Kotalíková has appeared for several years in the Forbes ranking of the most influential women in Czechia.