Leadership rarely starts with a plan. Often it begins with saying yes to an opportunity before you feel fully ready. In this partner spotlight, Magdaléna Wavle, Chief People & Culture Officer at Česká spořitelna, shares her journey from banking to Microsoft and back, how she leads with trust and adapts her style to the moment, and why the biggest barriers are often the ones in our own heads. As a partner of this year’s Leadership & Career Conference, she also offers practical advice for women preparing to step into leadership. Read her story.

Zlata Vavruskova’s leadership journey started early, shaped by ambition, trial and error, and a deep belief in people. Today, as Chief Experience & Operation Officer at Shoptet, she focuses on building teams that grow, take ownership, and ultimately thrive without constant supervision. In this interview, she reflects on the moments, doubts, and philosophies that defined her approach to leadership, mentoring, and customer experience.

According to research by Gallup, 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are fully engaged at work. While regular performance reviews exist in most organisations, feedback is often underused or treated as a formal obligation rather than a strategic leadership tool. The connection is straightforward: higher engagement leads to higher productivity, and higher productivity supports stronger business performance. The real question for leaders is not whether feedback matters, but how to use it effectively to support both people and results.

Five years ago, the idea of leading a fully remote team sounded risky, maybe even lazy. Today, it is one of the clearest signals that work has permanently changed. Slack notifications replaced office chatter, video calls replaced conference rooms, and productivity stopped being measured by who stayed late. Remote work did not just tweak how we work. It completely reset how success is defined.

Adriana has spent the past four years redefining what coworking can mean for people and their careers. As the Head of Coworking at CTP, she has built Clubco into a space where collaboration, growth, and human connection come first. From strategic expansion to everyday operations, her leadership ensures that every member feels supported, inspired, and part of something bigger. Her journey offers a powerful example of how thoughtful, community-driven leadership can transform not just a workspace - but the people who move through it.

When Veronika Burešová first stepped into the digital marketing world, she couldn't even tell the difference between PPC and SEO. Today, she heads one of the largest media groups in the Czech Republic and leads over 300 people. She's convinced that leadership superpowers aren't just toughness or ambition, but rather a mix of courage and kindness. "Kindness without courage is just trying to be nice and makes no real impact. Courage without kindness is simply harsh," says Veronika. In the interview, she further shares why being kind to yourself might actually be the most radical leadership strategy of all.

When nearly 300 professionals filled the WPP Campus in Prague for the Femme Palette Leadership and Career Conference 2025, the atmosphere was electric. It was not just another business event. The air buzzed with anticipation, curiosity, and connection. Conversations began long before the first speaker took the stage. People were laughing, exchanging ideas, and sharing stories over coffee.

With globalization and post-COVID trends, our world is more interconnected than ever. You can hire a team member who has never visited your country, collaborate with colleagues on the other side of the globe, or lead a remote project spanning multiple time zones. Easy? In many ways, yes – it’s never been more accessible. But let’s be honest: working across cultures still brings challenges.