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By Pepper de Callier “We create stories to define our existence.” Elizabeth Gilbert A lot has been written about the power of stories and how effective they are at influencing the thoughts and actions of others. In my work with leaders helping them to hone their public speaking skills, one thing I tell them is to forget the words, and tell the stories. In doing this, we raise ourselves above the pedantic nature of repeating words on a slide, to creating a human link with the listeners. But, I would like to direct your thinking in the opposite direction: inward. The stories we tell ourselves become who we are and as Gilbert’s quote reminds us, they define us. Think aboutContinue Reading

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The European Commission is proposing a new regulation for a European digital identity that will be available to all EU citizens, as well as residents, and businesses. Digital wallets will be offered to people and businesses by the member states. The move comes days after the EU’s digital COVID-19 certificate program went live in the first seven countries (all EU countries will be in the program by July 1). The European Commission is composed of commissioners from all 27 EU countries. It helps to shape the EU’s overall strategy, proposes new EU laws and policies, monitors their implementation, and manages the EU budget. The new European digital identity wallets will be linked to peoples’ national digital identities. In this newContinue Reading

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By Pepper de Callier “Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother before his sister does.” Evan Esar More likely than not, your reaction to this quote is what mine was: a smile. But, thinking about this quote, especially in today’s world of polarization, the thing I began to think about was how the boy developed his sense of conscience. We aren’t born with a sense of morality, integrity, and right and wrong. Someone, along with our life experience, helps bring the concept of conscience into, or out of, focus. As parents, friends, leaders, members of civil society, the need to instill and develop a sense of conscience in ourselves and others has never been more important. I thinkContinue Reading

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2020 has changed so much about the way we live and work including our shopping and payment preferences and habits. The e-commerce surge that has accompanied the pandemic has created a growing preference for mobile payments. The shift to mobile payments offering people a secure, fast and simple checkout process is only going to accelerate. Small businesses can reach customers on mobile phones that are glued to their hands all day long. Mobile wallets such as Apple Wallet and Google Pay are the center point for a richer customer experience. Mobile wallets allow small businesses to reimagine loyalty programs in a convenient digital format that native to peoples’ mobile phones. People, in general, would more likely to shop with aContinue Reading

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To save a human life, it is not needed to be a superhero who sacrifices his whole life to help others. Regular blood plasma donating takes only a few hours a month and has the same effect. In addition, artificial intelligence will now provide all the necessary information about donations to the interested people on the website of the sanaplasma donor centers.  How is the collection of blood plasma? Who do the drugs made from it help, and what conditions must donors meet? These and many other questions regarding blood plasma donation will be answered by the new public, a new digital assistant of the company sanaplasma, which operates donor centers in the Czech Republic. It is one of the first solutions of its kind.  One of the first of its kind  The technology for sanaplasma in the form of a clever chatbot was developed by the Czech-Slovak startup Born Digital, which focuses on digitizing contact centers in cooperation with QUANTIMA company. The main task of the solution is to provide all the information about the collection of blood plasma to thoseContinue Reading

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The United States of America is the most generous country in the world over a long period of time according to the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) World Giving Index. Unlike Czechia that is among the least charitable countries. Americans love helping out people in need. Donating money to charity seems much less common for Czechs. I believe it is not a lack of generosity. In an emergency situation, or when people are touched by a strong story, they do not hesitate to help. Immediately and generously. Although generosity often goes hand-in-hand with charity, Czechs are just very slowly getting used to contributing regularly to charity. While society is getting richer, still a lot of people consider themselves not having “enoughContinue Reading

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By Pepper de Callier “Real leaders,” wrote the novelist David Foster Wallace, “are people who help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.” Over the years I have been asked many times to define leadership.  As you can well imagine, there are a number of very good, relevant definitions, depending on the challenge, the cycle the business is in, the resources available, etc., etc.  But, for me, a common thread running through all of them is the ability of the leader to bring out the best in people and get them to accomplish moreContinue Reading

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In: Arts, Becoming Digital, Featured

The students of art universities in Prague united and created a new digital gallery Vyšeart which was launched on 5th of May 2021 and will last until 31st of August 2021. Vyšeart connects 28 students of various art fields who created 14 pairs where 1 musician and 1 visual artist collaborate with each other. Each pair made one piece of art which consisted of musical aspects and visual art. The final artworks are displayed in the park of The National Cultural Monument Vyšehrad. Visitors of Vyšeart discover the artworks with their own smartphone and through QR codes which are installed in the park. The project is supported by The Borough of Prague 2, The National Cultural Monument Vyšehrad, HAMU, UMPRUM,Continue Reading

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By Pepper de Callier “There is no shame in being responsible.”  Anonymous In fact, I would add that responsibility is one of the most powerful elements of your personal brand.  Over the years I have spoken and written a lot about personal brands and the impact they have on one’s life.  Put yourself, for a moment, in the place of a hiring manager who is interviewing people for a key position—someone to lead a make-or-break project.  The finalists are all bright and have solid resumes, but you find out in referencing the candidates that one also has a deep sense of responsibility.  Which one would you want in that key position?  Let’s develop the thought a little further.  Think ofContinue Reading

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Mobile marketing — one of the most powerful marketing techniques … So what do you need to know to get started with mobile marketing? In today’s mobile-first world, brands are on the hook to provide great mobile experiences. But also start-ups and small businesses can connect with people through their personal devices. And hence, to stay current with peoples’ habits. You should know that you don’t have to develop your bespoke mobile app. If people own a mobile phone, they likely have and use a mobile wallet. To engage your customers, you can offer them your branded digital content for their mobile wallets such as Apple Wallet or Google Pay. This mobile wallet digital content is a digital substitute forContinue Reading