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| BEIED IN THE MEDIA |
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| "Above All Things, a Good Manager Must be a Human" |
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| "Pari" daily, May 26, 2004 |
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| Bulgarian Entrepreneurs are not prepared enough for the future |
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| An interview of Maria Veromirova, with Dr. Dale Miller, Executive Vice-President at BEIED, and Earl Sedlik, Executive Principal at BEIED |
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| Dale A. Miller, Doctor of Educational Administration (Ed. D. Stanford), served as President of several American colleges during his renown academic career, but, over the last 10 years, turned his remarkable energies to elevate business education and systems in Eastern Europe and China.He is Executive Vice-President for international relations at BEIED. |
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| Earl Sedlik, Harvard MBA and graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, taught at the Keller Graduate School of Business, with a distinguished career as a management consultant of small and average high-tech enterprises, currently Executive Principal at BEIED. |
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| "Leading the Transformation to Organizational Success" was the main topic of the 2-day seminar, organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria and BEIED (Business Education for International Economic Development). Dr. Dale Miller, Executive Vice-President for international relations at BEIED, and Earl Sedlik, Executive Principal at BEIED, shared their experience and knowledge in the management and marketing area in front of managers at different levels from Bulgarian and international companies, operating on the market in Bulgaria. Factors, determining success in the organizational planning, the instruments for taking decisions in the administrative financial management, sales management and others, were among the ten topics presented at the seminar. |
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| Q.: Would you briefly describe your activity in Bulgaria? |
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| D.M.: I came to Bulgaria for first time in 1998, when I lectured for first time at the MBA program. Our organization deals with business education and its single purpose are to provide assistance (to Bulgaria, in particular) to countries, regarding their preparation for upcoming changes in the global economy and increasing their competitiveness. |
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| E.S.: My first visit to Bulgaria was in 1998 too, when I supervised the MBA programs. Bulgaria and China were the first countries we directed our attention and efforts to. |
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| Q.: Have you already established contacts with Bulgarian companies and managers? |
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| D.M.: Yes, with several already, but we are not yet bound with a contract with any of them. We aimed to find what the main problems which are faced by Bulgarian companies are, to define them and also suggest ways for coping with them. |
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| E.S.: I just want to add that this time we met some of the representatives at the Bulgarian Government, as well as some people, involved with economics, eager to learn more about the economic situation in Bulgaria. |
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| Q.: What are your impressions on a Bulgarian manager? |
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| D.M.: When I came to Bulgaria for the first time, I was deeply impressed by the crisis with the bank system of the country. Still you were going through the difficult stage from socialism to market economy. You are still adapting, but a huge progress is apparent. My impression on Bulgarians in general comes out from my acquaintance with the students I used to work with. I have had lecture classes all over the world, but I have never met such talents. |
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| E.S.: I witness significantly better attitude toward Bulgarians and Bulgarian companies. However, in my opinion managers in Bulgaria are not well-prepared for the future. Having in mind we are people, instructing in the field of business and management, we have to do our best to raise their confidence and spirits, in order to be stronger to face any challenges. |
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| Q.: During the seminar, you represented all qualities, describing in the best way the best manager. Do you think they are applicable nowadays? |
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| D.M.: Oh, that's for sure. Yesterday we tried to demonstrate a bunch of common qualities people look for. They are typical neither for the US, nor for China. All people need to be respected, listened to, given the chance to take decisions. |
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| E.S.: I believe all of them exist in practice, separately or altogether. We have been witnessing numerous cases when managers stare into those qualities and realize they have to change themselves, to acquire some and apply them into their own company. It happened in the US, I am convinced it will happen in Bulgaria as well. |
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| Q.: What is the possession level for Bulgarian managers, regarding those qualities? |
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| D.M.: Again, my observation is based on my work experience with the MBA students. They definitely reached high levels of success. |
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| E.S.: I can notice many of those qualities in a large part of managers in Bulgaria, while at present there are a lot of managerial problems, peculiar to your country, mostly meaning the old-fashioned way of governing. I really think it is another thing that must be changed. |
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| Q.: If you have to make a comparison between management of companies in Bulgaria and the one of companies in the US, what are the similarities and the differences? |
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| D.M.: The main difference is that Americans know how to manage a company, while Bulgarians are still eager to learn how to. The learning tendency is also wide spread in China. It is just an East European way for learning and adopting new things. |
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| E.S.: The similarities: both parties are concerned about the present and the future as well. But honestly, you got more positive features lately, than in the US. The main difference: Bulgarian managers are much more encouraged to stare into the future, more positive about it, but also concerned about whether they will manage to take advantage of it. Attention of Americans is highly concentrated on new changes and adoption of new circumstances. |
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| Q.: What kind of resources are the most important for a company? |
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| D.M.: Of course, the key resource for each company, for each country, is the so called human resources. This fact is determined by many reasons, and one of them is fast spreading principles of democracy. Its definition observes people management - from them, to them. And you have to be aware that people work for a country, and politicians work for people. It is the exact same thing at a company, which means people are its most important element, its core. |
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| E.S.: People are the most important resource for a company, due to qualities they have, and also their attitude, adjustment and readiness for improvement, as well as their strong concern about the future. What matters most is the spirit of the company, not its money and assets. |
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| Q.: And finally, could you please share your "recipe" for being a good manager? |
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| D.M.: To me, first of all, a good manager has to respect people, their ideas, having faith in their willingness to make a great performance at work. And, above all things, a good manager must be a human first. |
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| E.S.: A good manager is a good manager when he embraces people, smarter and more skilful than himself. But it is not enough; he must encourage his co-workers to achieve their goals. |
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