The interview was prepared by Žaneta Morovská, author of the book Manifest mladej ženy.
Dear Lucka,
thank you for accepting the invitation to this interview. I hardly know how to begin, so many questions come to mind. But right at the start I am curious: is this your first interview on the Powerlogy platform? And if so, why only now, after years of the company you co-own?
That question is spot on and direct – which is how I like them. Being invited to an interview by you, my colleagues, is a great honour for me and also a strong demonstration of my current life philosophy, that „everything is as it should be“. With the addition of „at the time it is meant to be“. Of course, as co-owner I could have initiated an interview myself, but I never did. Quite the opposite, I allowed for the possibility that perhaps nobody would ever ask me for one. Or even that a day might come when Powerlogy would not need me at all. Paradoxically, after this „letting go“ a great many things started to happen. But that is probably a subject for a separate interview. ?
„Letting go”… it is no accident that it is part of forgiving, too. I would be glad if you told me more about that some time; I would like to look into your philosophy. Today, though, I will be asking about your various roles and the sources of your energy. Where do you draw the energy to be a mother, a wife and, as co-owner, to help lead an ambitious company that grows and expands into the world every year? Can you tell us what your role in the company is?
I do not feel that I ever led Powerlogy, or that I lead the company now. Given my capacity alongside small children (5 and 1.5 years old) and a husband who devotes himself to the company 100 percent, it is not even possible, and it is not my ambition at the moment either.
My role in Powerlogy changes over time. Over the past 8 years I have tried almost every position. At any given time I did what was most needed – especially in the days when we were starting out. In recent years my role has become more specific. Naturally, since I have been with the brand from the beginning, I was there for every design change. That is why I am something of a guardian of the brand (Brand Curator). I like to compare Powerlogy to a child (my first ?). In that context I feel like one of its parents, alongside the other investors and of course alongside the founder Dušan. And from my role as „co-parent“ other responsibilities follow, such as the current interpretation of the company’s values and translating them into the culture, or a broad oversight of financial indicators and the company’s strategic direction. Combining these roles with the role of mother and wife would not be nearly so complicated for me if my husband and I did not work in the same company.
I would venture that we women, often unconsciously, can keep several things under control at once, and above all we can intuitively sense what may be the right or wrong step. If we point that out to a man who trusts our intuition, then perhaps we can speak of a certain form of co-leading a company. So what is it like to lead and build a company together with your husband?
Since Dušan and I are in it together, it is a great school for our personal life too. Our coach helped me enormously here; she taught me to understand what is called switching between roles. So now, before I say something work-related to Dušan at home, I routinely warn him that I am speaking to him as a „colleague“ and not as a „wife“. ? It helps our communication a great deal.
Thank you for this insight into your private life. Which of your roles do you like best? Do you manage to switch between them? And if so, how?
I have no favourite role.
All the roles I live are my conscious present choice and are part of me.
Together they form a whole. That is one reason I currently feel very fulfilled. As I mentioned, I often manage to switch between roles. I see it as a combination of my own learning with the help of a coach and then trying it out in real-life situations.
Where do you find the shared strength to handle everyday challenges, whether at home or in the company?
I have lived and breathed the company every day for many years. So do our children. Mixing work and personal life is sometimes impossible to steer. Especially with two POWER children. Sometimes we handle it better and sometimes worse. But it is our path and it gives us a lot, because we learn about ourselves.
I see great meaning in it, and that naturally motivates me to „keep going“. We find strength in better time planning, in each of us having time for ourselves, and it is certainly helped by our lifestyle and, of course, Powerlogy foods have supported us more than once. Whether our body or our emotions.
Speaking of Powerlogy foods, my number one for looking after my body is definitely collagen. And when it comes to holding up my emotions, nougat and pistachio cream definitely help. ?
In his posts and newsletters Dušan often opens up the subject of family and the need to balance family and working life. Do you think he manages it? (I promise not to tell him your answer)
I know that he knows how to do it. When he decides he will not open the computer on holiday to deal with work, he really does not. He has it in his own hands. But I do see that sometimes he would like to fit in both family and work (both equally), forgetting that a day has only 24 hours. So whether he is choosing between work and family in some sort of balance, I do not know. At the same time, each of us perceives that balance differently.
Dušan has repeatedly described last year as the hardest of his life. Do you see it the same way? What was your greatest test and what is your mindset for 2021?
Yes, I see 2020 similarly. At the same time I am very content, because although it was the hardest year, for me it was also the most balanced one. In other words, during the past year I probably felt the most content and complete. My greatest test was clearly the hard lockdown (March, April, May 2020) – both children at home, minimal time for myself or for work. That was when I felt the balance least.
My mindset for 2021 is accepting life here and now.
The approach I mentioned at the beginning helps me with that. „Everything is as it should be“.
I know you are currently on maternity leave. And to some extent you also work. How do you manage to find time for yourself, time for family and time for work?
Planning, help from a nanny, now and then from our parents since they live far away, and taking turns with Dušan. I think that, given the current pandemic situation as well, we are managing quite well. The thing we neglect most at the moment is our time as a couple. But we know about it and I believe we will do something about it soon.
Would you accept an invitation to Dušan’s podcast? It could be a pleasant and stimulating discussion. Useful for couples who build a family and a company at the same time. I am not hinting at anything.
If Dušan invited me onto his podcast, I would definitely accept. If it were a discussion on the theme of „married couples who are in business together“, though, I think it would be more useful if a third person moderated and asked the questions. I am not hinting at anything. ?
I have worked for Powerlogy for almost a year, so I have had time to take in the company’s vision and values. I have to say they resonate with me, and if the company did not live them in practice I probably would not be doing this interview with you. To put it simply, Powerlogy’s vision is to cultivate people’s strength and potential. Besides this vision, do you have a private one? What is your own WHY? What do you bring to your working day?
As I have already described in my view of 2021, my personal challenge is accepting life here and now. In the present. My personal visions change and will probably keep changing.
As for the working day, even the term „working day“ is something I often do not experience as such. A working half-day at most. I often work whenever I can. So I am in a phase where there is no space at all for any kind of „getting set up“. In any case, whenever that moment of work comes, it is a great joy for me, a relaxation, a way of being present…
Do you ever feel you are missing out by being on maternity leave? Would you ever swap with Dušan?
I do not feel I am missing out on anything. And certainly not because of maternity leave. Quite the opposite.
Dušan and I swap regularly, although all in all I am definitely with the children more. And if Dušan wanted to, I would not be against swapping.
What does feminine strength mean to you? Where does a woman’s strength lie (if you had to define it in one sentence)? Do you give that strength space in your own life? And where do you find it?
I became most aware of my feminine strength through my two births.
A woman has the ability to give life. And it does not have to be only a child; it can be a book, a company or something else.
Men can give life to a book or a company too, but I have the feeling a woman carries it more within her and can feel it differently. I also see a woman’s strength in her cyclical nature – but I have only recently begun to perceive this subject more deeply.
As I wrote above, I really do draw strength from giving birth. Births taught me the most about myself and I think they accelerated my „understanding of life“, supported my self-respect and ultimately my self-confidence too. I am very grateful for that.
How do you see the women around you? Do you feel women often push themselves into things and want to prove something to themselves or to those around them?
I see the women around me, I observe them, I learn from some of them, some of them I may teach… Who knows. ?
I do sometimes feel that women push themselves into things, but I have that feeling about men as well. I do not see it as an explicitly female matter. I see it more as a matter of ego, and I sometimes slip into it myself.
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