Radim Jančura: "Meetings are a waste of time, I want everyone to use their own head"

The founder and CEO of the transport group RegioJet, Radim Jančura, spoke on The Forbes Show podcast about the cutthroat competition in the railway business, the company's failed expansion into Poland, and his unconventional approach to running a company with nearly two thousand employees.

A year ago Jančura handed over the leadership of RegioJet to Jana Skalická, who moved into the CEO role from her previous position as HR director. Some time later, however, she returned to her old role, and the businessman took the helm again himself. "Maybe I made a mistake — a great HR person doesn't automatically become a CEO you have the right chemistry with. We parted on good terms and came back together on good terms. Jana does her job brilliantly, and today I'm the CEO," the entrepreneur admits.

Jančura's management style is far from corporate standard. Despite large-scale hiring driven by new contracts in the Ústecký kraj and on the Prague–Brno line, the company essentially has none of the usual meetings. "I don't go to planning sessions. I consider them a waste of time and I don't want there to be many of them. I want everyone to use their own head," explains the head of RegioJet.

The businessman devoted particular attention to the unsuccessful venture into the Polish market. RegioJet entered with prices half those of the state carrier, but the latter responded by undercutting even further, cut off the company's advertising, refused to let it sell tickets at stations, and wouldn't sell the depot RegioJet had won in a tender — forcing the company to repair trains right out in the snow.

"I had to sacrifice Poland. To get banks to lend you money, you need to generate EBITDA. I do want to go back there, but only once the market matures — the way Czech railways eventually got smarter after the dumping scandal," says Jančura. In his view, business isn't about stubbornness but about knowing when to recognize that continuing the fight is pointless. Instead of an exhausting war in Poland, the entrepreneur is now focusing on a far bigger goal — dominating the Czech rail market.

Jančura also lifted the curtain on his personal life: at 54, the businessman has a 17-year-old daughter, and recently had a son with his new partner. He admitted he plans to have up to ten children in total: "People who have the means to support children should have them, otherwise our civilization will disappear."

By the Around Prague newsroom