Where to go and which way to take?

“Masaryk wanted his own state, Bismarck wanted to unify Germany and Martin Luther King wanted brotherhood between former slaves and slave masters. Their visions changed the world. Whose visions will change our country?” This was the preamble to an article published by Víkend HN, in which young economists, scientists, lawyers and other professionals shared their visions. The respondents included JINDŘICH ŠÍDLO (op-ed writer, Hospodářksé noviny), TOMÁŠ HRIVŇÁK (marketing consultant), TOMÁŠ SEDLÁČEK (economist, member of the government’s economic council NERV) or ANNA DURNOVÁ (political scientist and philologist). MARCELA MINÁŘOVÁ, our Senior Account Director at AMI, also contributed.

Please speak clearly

Everybody, regardless whether they are a company, individual, institution or a country, should have a vision that would propel them through life and be a source of motivation. A country’s vision must be widely supported by the people and should be long-term. It must not be a product of the government currently in power – there needs to be a consensus also among the opposition parties and among experts. It would not be good if the fundamental direction of a country changes after every elections, with every new government. But are we able to achieve this when our politicians act with only their short-term gains in mind, the management of the country changes with every elections and again, after every elections the government comes with new ideas? I am worried that democratic countries – regardless of the many benefits of democracy – are incapable of long-term visions due to the nature of the democratic system.

I dare not say in which areas the state should invest more resources or how to divide the available funds, but I wish to highlight the necessity of investing in human capital – in education and in prevention programmes in the area of financial and computer literacy, healthy living, environmental sustainability or prevention of xenophobia. The state should closely cooperate with business in education. Implementation of own projects or supporting the projects of other parties requires a lot of resources – in the range of tens or hundreds of million crowns. The Czech Republic should focus on projects that will teach people their own value, the value of the community, of other people’s vies – projects that promote independent thinking in the people. Such campaigns (if executed well) should certainly not be seen by the public and the media as wasteful management of resources as they would produce substantial savings for the state in the long run.

For me, a professional communicator working in Public Relations, whose daily bread is to relay the right information in the right form to various target groups, communication is naturally very important. I wish for our country to be able to explain – effectively and clearly – what it wants to achieve for its economy, why it is taking the steps it is taking right now. I want the Czech Republic to use communication as a tool for educating and motivating its people. Just as the government and its agencies hire lawyers and consultants, it should be natural that the state engages communication experts in its campaigns. Together they must ensure that communication is clear, useful and accessible to every person.

I believe that synergies with the private sector should be exploited to their full potential, and that the people should be involved. I assume that a country where the people trust their government, where there is good communication and where the visions are shared by a large number of the population would be a successful country.

Marcela Minářová

10.06.2011

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