This week in Prague felt like I was back at home. Although over 4,000 miles away from my actual home in Pittsburgh, the consecutive weekends travelling and then getting right back to work in Prague was a little bit much the past few weeks. Spending my whole week in Prague was a much-needed breather. I spent the weekend travelling around and seeing some of the different sights. This included a visit back to Charles Bridge, a couple of different occasions wandering around Old Town, as well as just some new restaurants and neat cafes. 

I also got to check out a neighboring town called Karlin, which has been recommended a ton by my coworkers. If there is anything that has made me feel close to home, it was Karlin, as it is what my one friend labeled the “Prague Strip District.” Karlín was built up mainly as an industrial zone, showcasing various rail yards and factories. It fell into disrepair before being built into one of Prague’s trendier areas after a ton of reinvestment over the past two decades. There are brick buildings all over that have been converted into housing, breweries, startups, and restaurants. However, there is still a very visible past that still exists in the town, as the skeletons of the buildings are almost always kept. It was awesome to see a direct comparison to something back home and it added a level of comfortability being a month into the experience.

The work week was also very busy when I got back from Croatia on Tuesday. Lucent is dealing with a ton of different deadlines in reference to one of their projects, as well as beginning to look at new land sites in both the Czech and Mexican markets. The beginning of my week included various briefs and long email chains that were used to inform new landowners about how Lucent operates. I’ve gathered that this is the hardest part of Lucent’s business model, as without the beginning steps of gaining the landowner’s trust, there is no way for them to move forward. Moreover, the company is only around 7 or 8 employees, so entering markets without a native presence creates challenges in explaining the importance of certain land plots to each landowner.

I feel that this directly translates to the different aspects of leadership within Lucent that I have noticed. I would say that I am a “lead-by-example” type of worker in all aspects. Whether it was at my high school jobs or in clubs at Pitt, I am more the type of person to lead quietly and just show a hard-working attitude. When starting at Lucent and assimilating into Czech culture, it was clear that leadership roles are prominently established; and they’re not to be tampered with. My two bosses that work in the office run the show and there is a level of respect that carries with that. They divvy up the small tasks between myself and my younger coworkers, whereas their work consists of the different site visits and tangible work. It is our job to set up the basis in which their meetings with outside parties are built on, and their job to then translate our deliverables at a higher level. 

At first, this leadership structure was a challenge to me. Some of the workdays were only filled with small tasks that felt miniscule in comparison to the grand scheme of Lucent’s operations. However, in the last couple weeks, the scope of what I have been working on each day has gotten clearer. Different small tasks have started to blend, and various deliverables I have created are starting to be used in different cases by my bosses. Although it doesn’t feel like direct leadership, making sure that my role in the company is taken care of presents leadership in its own way. Fulfilling my role frees up the time from tedious work and allows them to complete more of the work that moves deals forward – hopping on calls with landowners, investors, or partners instead of double-checking a spreadsheet. Although this experience has not placed me in a direct leadership role, I believe it will be invaluable, as it has shown me the opposite side of the spectrum. That regardless of who is in charge, the recognition of each employee’s role in the company is a non-negotiable for a successful business environment.