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Markéta Mravcová, by her maiden name Šlaisová, comes from Prague and she finished her studies at the IES with the PhDr. in 2001. During her Master studies, she spent a semester at the Humboldt University in Berlin. After this experience, still studying, she started to work as a Research Analyst at CDA. After finishing her Masters she joined the company EEIP, where she was a Consultant for RWE within the project of privatization of Czech gas industry. And that was a forming moment for her future career. In 2002 Markéta started to work directly at RWE as an Analyst and then she moved to a position of a Senior Manager, where she led a team of 5 people. In 2007 Markéta became a team leader of Sales Governance and was responsible for portfolio management, pricing and sales controlling across all RWE sales companies in CZ. After that Markéta had two short career breaks to fulfill her maternity duties, but she returned back to work soon. Since 2013 she has been working as a Senior Manager Commercial Modelling & Sales Business Development and currently she works as Senior Manager of Innovations & Sales Business Development. Apart from her job, Markéta devotes her time to coaching. She is a certified coach. Markéta spends her free time with her family, she likes skiing, cycling, mountain hiking, modern dancing and yoga. |
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You have also studied in Berlin at the Humboldt University. Was there anything surprising for you in comparison to the studies at the IES? The one thing that was different is the active participation and the engagement of students during the lectures and seminars. When they did not know something or could not follow the argumentation fully, they simply asked. In case they had a different view, they voiced it. It was a safe environment, where questions were a standard - it was good for all. Students at the IES participated less those days. The need not to be embarrassed was stronger than the need to learn and discover. Nowadays, I think, these differences are more wiped out, our society is developing in the right direction in this sense. Another thing that fascinated me in Berlin was the mixture of cultures and people. It is however not directly connected to the University, it was rather the character of the metropolis I have chosen for my studies. Berlin is a young and vital city, many new buildings were constructed during my stay there. On top of that, the living expenses were low compared to the rest of Western Europe - it was a perfect place for students from all over the world. I really like coming back to Berlin. When I started to work for RWE I did not expect to stay so long. I was lucky I could work at different roles and on different topics. There has been a lot of things to learn, to build up. I started with the pricing of transit and purchase contracts, I helped the company to enter the then emerging short-term energy markets. After 5 years I have moved closer to the end customer – to retail, and I started to work on the optimization of portfoliae of sales companies. When returning from my maternity leave I got an interesting opportunity to engage in arbitration with our Russian supplier. I applied my experience from the different parts of the supply chain. Now, my mission is to build a team focused on innovations and sales business development in retail. It is a wonderful job full of exploration of new markets, innovative technologies and fresh views on the needs of the customers. We are looking at solutions for savings, self-sufficiency and comfort. We are opening up to the world, negotiating partnerships with established companies as well as starts-up, cooperating more with the universities. The facts that RWE is a living organisation and that there is still something new going on in the energy market and at the company, are the major reasons why I have moved within the group for relatively long time. RWE is a baby and parent friendly company. They inform parents who are at home about what is going on in the company, invite them to various events, support flexible jobs and home office. However, for a successful cooperation, both sides have to be flexible and trustful. I personally wanted the smoothest possible come-back to work without a loss of contact with the industry. I believed that an early part time job would help enough. So I started to work part time at an ordinary position in the department which I had led before. After the second maternity leave, it was similar - I went definitely “down” as well. It was a kind of a bet, but it was worth it. Last but not least, the cooperation of the partner and the family are a necessary condition. In our family all this works naturally, the kids are having a real papa. Also our whole wider family really enjoys the kids, our kids enjoy the family. Anybody who has to be for any reason with the kids alone deserves appreciation. For me, coaching is something between a hobby and a professional development. I realized that especially some of my team colleagues asked me for advice to solve something, how to move somewhere. As I wanted to do this responsibly and helpfully, I started to attend a course of systemic coaching. It helped me learn how to work with people, and how to coordinate myself as well. It gave me a new insight into dealing with children, too. I apply some of the coaching methods in my communication with people in the team; I also coach some of my friends from time to time. You have quite small kids, you have to manage them, work, household. Do you have some free time just for you own? How do you relax? I really like time spent actively with my family and it is a great reward for me. This time (weekends and now with the warmer and lighter days also in the evenings) is sacred for me. I like mountains, hiking, cycling and skiing. I really like dancing and lately I enjoy yoga, volleyball or badminton.
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