Hill+Knowlton Strategies welcomed a special “CEO” last week. Tomáš Šindel, an 18-year-old young man coming from the Czech Republic had been selected to participate in the “Leader for a Day” project. This initiative was launched by Europe’s largest provider of entrepreneurship education programmes, Junior Achievement Europe, and provides young people with the opportunity to learn from a high level executive by shadowing him for one day. The program exposed Tomáš to the hectic world of a Brussels consultancy: from preparing client pitches, to management meetings.

The young entrepreneur was passionate about management and technology and spent his day with Thomas Tindemans, CEO of Hill+Knowlton Strategies who declared “it is always refreshing to have young enthusiastic and entrepreneurial people around as they give us positive energy”.

Tomáš asked pertinent questions we sometimes forget to ask ourselves: what does it take to be a good CEO?  How do you lead an office with so many very different people? How do you prioritise and manage your agenda?  What should I focus on to move upward?

At the end of the day, Tomáš described his experience explaining that “I am very glad I came here. Being around Thomas has helped me to understand how to be a better leader of my own company. I have seen all the different aspects of this job. It is a rare opportunity that everyone should grasp and make the most of.”