Cultivating Well-Being Through Positivity: A Chat with Jana Šnajdrová

Jana is a member of the cohort that has completed their programme in June 2025 and has now embarked on her final deliverable, a Master Thesis. Equipped with fine-tuned people skills, Jana is the ‘go to’ person if you feel out of sorts or need a good laugh.

In her own words: Honestly, I believe that simply radiating positive energy, smiling, greeting people and sharing little honest compliments goes farther than most people realize. the smallest details that might seem unimportant are actually making a big difference. And yes, it’s my passion to have this in check, try to improve people’s mood and make the atmosphere as ‘clean’ and authentic as possible for everybody to coexist, cooperate and communicate in a healthy way.

Jana Šnajdrová

 

Tell me about your job. What do you like about it?

What I like about my job is definitely the people that I work with. We have very healthy, very close relationships within the team. Not wanting to go into some cliches about ‘we are a family’, but I can truly feel the authenticity in the daily encounters we have, and I think that helps a lot, especially during these times when the divestment is going on and there is a lot of uncertainty, pressure and stress to digest. We share a lot, and we know each other very well professionally and personally, and the Prague team’s vibe is really something that I am super proud of. I am and have always been sure that whenever there is a big challenge that we have to go through, we will walk through the fire and succeed… together.

But you felt the same way with your cohorts here in the Programme…

Yes, absolutely. Our cohort was just such a good fit. I was thinking about it a lot after the last corporate workshop where we got together also with the newest cohort. I am so grateful for all the people I met during the MBA. People say that it is at least 60% of the whole MBA takeaway that comes from the people you are in the program with. My classmates are not only super smart people but also very sincere and empathetic individuals. We were all very different, which reminded me of the situation at my workplace where we also have a very diverse team in all aspects – 19- to 65-year-olds, 33 different nationalities, everybody has a different character, temperament, style of humour.  But the openness to share with each other has always been the thing binding us together and enriching us all. The same I felt during the MBA; I felt very much at ease with everyone.

Once again, kudos on the Wellness research and recommendations to you and the entire team. Note to our readers unfamiliar with the Programme: during the second year, students actively work with a corporate or organisational sponsor to resolve internal issues during a 3-month period.

It was indeed a great experience for me. The cooperation with the team that I worked with on this project was really remarkable. Milena [also a student in the same cohort] was a perfect team lead, and in general it was a topic that is really close to my heart and close to what I try to do and focus on with the teams at work as well. The topic really needs to get more out there. We all have some challenges, worries and long to-do lists occupying our minds during the day, and it is important to learn how to self-regulate efficiently so that the stress does not slowly eat us from inside or bursts out on others. Companies do not necessarily need to enrol all employees into yet another training on mental wellbeing. They need to make sur their leaders and managers are transparent, honest, empathetic and available to their teams, it’s where I see the biggest impact. I truly enjoyed working on this project and I am also grateful for how Dominika [sponsor] was leading us through the process.

We have a decreasing number of females joining the Programme, from your perspective as a former participant, any suggestions or recommendations for us to reach a more balanced gender-based enrolment?

Well, it might be that potential female candidates for MBA are usually at the age where they finished university, worked on their career for a few years, and now they are possibly planning to have a family too, right? Maybe the family logistics together with work is already challenging a lot, and adding MBA on top of it would be too much? I’m not sure what is the male/female ratio in the bachelor or master programs, but I’d guess there are more females there compared to the MBA program. So maybe focusing on attracting more female candidates 45-50+?

Lastly, was the Programme worth the tuition and time you dedicated.

Absolutely,100%! My expectations were exceeded; I truly believe the program is of the highest quality that you can get in the Czech Republic. At the same time, you [Richard] and Vojtěch had this amazing human approach to us, so not only the educational aspect, but also the human level fit me very well, I feel enriched in so many ways after the two years. I would definitely 150% recommend to other people.

 

We thank Jana for her very frank and open discussion. Best wishes and much success in your life and career.

 

Learn more about our MBA students and alumni in a series of interviews: