Meet Zuzana Púčiková, Director of Policy Europe at EVBox, whom we asked about her experiences as a female professional in Brussels and about how she has overcame obstacles throughout her career.

For the few people who may not be familiar with your background and career path, can you provide an overview of your professional journey?

I came to Brussels as an Economics graduate over 15 years ago to learn French and meant to leave afterwards to finish my English literature studies, but instead got dazzled by this melting pot of a city and decided to stay. However, I needed a visa as my home country of Slovakia wasn’t an EU member yet, my French was still basic and I had no money. Solution? I found only one affordable English-language Master’s degree – in European studies. It was meant to be.

I went on to do internships and other EU studies before rounding off 360 degrees of the Eurobubble – with stints in EU institutions, trade association, consultancy and in-house leading PA at disruptive tech companies like Amazon, Uber and now EVBox. I always dealt with at least one of the ‘twin transition’ topics of digital and green, and mainly out of personal interest also with DEI which I think should go hand in hand with these (and other) areas.

Regarding my key milestones, they were without doubt the European Commission’s recognition of my work by appointing me ‘EU Climate Pact’ and ‘Diversity in Transport’ Ambassador. The stepping stones to get there were also among my most rewarding professional experiences – spearheading the sustainability and women-related commitments at Uber and EVBox. Of course with help from brilliant colleagues, and precious partnerships with civil society and others.

Lots of learnings along the way. One I’d call out is that you don’t undermine your professionalism, results and impact by being kind and respectful. That doesn’t mean that you can’t challenge your opponents, just treat them the way you’d like to be treated. It’s the right thing to do. And you never know, they may end up being your boss, as was my case.

And another learning I must share is the simple, yet powerful tool of TL;DR or ‘Too Long; Don’t Read’ (courtesy of the Uber rulebook). Whether you use the acronym or not, it basically means to start your e-mails or documents with a concise summary of what you’re trying to tell to and ask from the reader, followed by a lengthier text. It really helps your thinking clarity and to get a buy-in, especially from senior executives.

Was it hard for you to navigate the professional landscape as a woman in Brussels? How did you approach and overcome any difficulties you may encounter?

Looking back, I can say with certainty that it was more challenging to navigate the Brussels landscape as a woman compared to my male peers – as is still the case in most other professions. Women usually have to work harder and achieve more spectacular results to reach higher-ranking positions and salaries. And they do face misogyny, sexist remarks and are often mansplained to which undermines their self-confidence.

At the beginning of my career, I blindly believed in meritocracy. Only much later did I realise the double standards. Examples? Have plenty.

Like when I was called “too cheerful to be taken seriously”, while a male colleague with a similar attitude was being applauded for “boosting the team morale”. Since I wasn’t ready to change my character, I changed jobs.

Or the time I found out that I was paid much less than a male colleague in the same role. I picked up the courage to contest it and got a raise (and am still grateful to him for telling me!). When in the next role I was hiring a woman and got a lower salary range than for her male peer, I fought tooth and nail until I secured a figure that reflected her experience.

Or when I didn’t get a job and instead got a cold shoulder after I mentioned – already in contract negotiations – that I’d be taking legal days to get married, assumption being I’d immediately go off having babies. In future job interviews, I ostentatiously put my hand with the wedding band on the table and years later proactively mentioned my kids. Because the companies that still gender-stereotype would anyway not be a fit for me – or for this century, for that matter.

What advice would you share with aspiring women leaders looking to make an impact in their respective fields? How can a society foster gender diversity in leadership roles?

Dear PA sisters, you don’t have to behave like men to advance. But you need male allies – and female role models – in decision-making positions to help build and endorse your authentic way of leadership. Don’t hesitate to make asks and be open to opportunities, even if you think that the time or conditions aren’t a 100% match. Do calculate but don’t overthink it, as I did in the past. Whether it is a promotion or applying for a job that you don’t tick all boxes for, just throw your hat in the ring. It shows your ambition, gets you out of your comfort zone and can either open new horizons or put you in a better negotiating position. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

Of course, it’s easier said than done. Too many leaders still don’t understand what’s all the fuss about. But studies prove over and over again that diverse teams are better for the organisation’s brains, brand and bottom line. Yet, some leaders still remain deeply entrenched in archaic gender stereotypes, failing to recognise that times and roles have shifted – that today men also want to spend time with their children, and that feminine type of leadership is valid and effective.

I think these two issues are crucial to tackling gender inequality at the top. We can get there only once our society fully grasps the value of diversity and stops gender stereotyping. In the meantime, we’ll need more affirmative action and quotas to deepen the first cracks in the glass ceiling before it can be shattered.

Important to keep in mind though that all this is not about excluding men. It’s about including women whose needs have been systematically overlooked in a world that is designed for men as default human beings – from male-modelled crash test dummies or heart failure trials to stab vests for police officers that make women more likely to get hurt or die. Caroline Criado Perez explains this very powerfully in her ‘Invisible Women’ – true eye-opener! We finally need to design women in and support from male allies can make all the difference.

Juggling a career and family is a common challenge. How do you manage this balance personally, and what strategies or practices have you found helpful in maintaining both professional and personal commitments?

Yes, parenting while working is a constant trade-off between conflicting demands on one’s limited resource that the time is. It’s the ultimate multi-tasking and resilience challenge that is impossible to fully grasp before one has children of their own. But it goes for all parents, so I count on you to ask this question to your future male interviewees as well.

To juggle the balance on my side, I rely on three things (beyond my equally involved partner) – planning, prioritisation and personal expectations management. With some discipline, the first two are quite straightforward. The third one is trickier because it may feel like lowering your standards. But it really is about being realistic. What I strive for is a balance overall, not every single day. Sometimes scales tip towards work. Other times towards Monopoly with my five and eight year-olds.

And if you’re co-parenting, it’s also good to split tasks for efficiency and accountability. I am Chief Entertainment and Gastronomy Officer and also oversee Crisis Management, while my husband skilfully presides Logistics, Healthcare and Administration.

As a seasoned communication expert, what is the advice you would offer to fellow Public Affairs professionals for crafting compelling and impactful messages?

Keep your messages simple, honest, impartial and timely (though I realise this would not make for a great acronym…). Basically, don’t use jargon, don’t invent or inflate facts, don’t bash competitors and make sure your messages are relevant in a given time or political context.

If your reader or listener can understand and trust you based on reliable facts that moreover link to what’s top of their mind, it’s a win-win. Instead, big no is to push corporate PR. It will at best be ridiculed, at worst backfire and almost surely not work.

From your vantage point, what is the most tragic mistake you see colleagues making in the Brussels Bubble?

Like myself when I was junior, a lot of younger peers don’t get away enough from their screens to meet with people. They try to impress with too much detail (remember the power of TL;DR!). And they often ‘listen to answer’, focused on finding an opportunity to jump in with their own views instead of trying to understand what they’re being told. All three make you lose the interlocutor and the information.

What’s the mission you aspire to achieve at EVBox? What drives you in leading the charge towards this goal? Can you tell us a little bit more about your company?

How I put it to my leadership and colleagues at EVBox is that I am their compass to navigate political landscape towards our North Star of making electric mobility the new normal. This vision and mission really resonate with me, which is why I joined EVBox a year ago, so that’s what drives me most. Other drivers are our cutting-edge products, brilliant teams and a unique opportunity that EVBox has defining the strategic direction of our EU-level sector association ChargeUp Europe as its current President.

To tell you a bit about EVBox, we’re a European-pioneer-now-global-player in EV charging. We manufacture ‘made in Europe’ EV chargers that are sourced from sustainable materials. We also provide software and services to smartly manage them. Our regular and fast-charging solutions are often sold ‘white label’ and branded by the clients, so I don’t blame you if you aren’t familiar with our name. But you may have seen our historical tulip-shaped chargers – and you guessed it, we’re Dutch.

Since 2010 when we were founded, EVBox shipped more than half a million of EV chargers to over 70 countries, promoted open communication standards and launched several meaningful DEI programmes. Like a rainbow makeover of our Amsterdam chargers to raise awareness for the LGBTQIA+ groups. Or our “OneChargerTwoLives” initiative through which we donate functioning charging stations to students in Dutch technical schools to help build skills for our sector.

We also have a podcast called REVOLUTION Live. Do listen in if you want to hear from industry experts about e-mobility topics du jour. (Hope this is not too much of a corporate PR, but you did ask).

Reflecting on personal growth, can you share a fear you once faced in your professional journey that no longer intimidates you? How did you overcome it, and what did you learn from the experience?

For years I’ve been terrified about not knowing what I wanted to do with my life (well, at least whenever people asked). What I didn’t realise is that you can still connect the dots retrospectively. So, what at one point felt like haphazard professional choices based on limited options I could access – due to my CEE, at the time non-EU origin, my inability to afford top-ranking Master’s or non-paid internships and perhaps my less bullish attitude as a result – actually had a connecting thread.

I was building and using transferable skills like writing impactfully (or so I’m told). I consistently followed topics that had digital and green aspects. And I prioritized opportunities based on professional growth and positive difference I could make, not remuneration or status (as hard as it was to turn down some VP roles but in sectors that just didn’t speak to me).

How did I overcome this fear of not having a rock-solid answer on what I wanted to dedicate my life to? I didn’t. I just lived with it and joked to avoid answering this question.

And the learnings? Not having a grand life plan early on actually helps keep your mind open to different opportunities that you may not have considered otherwise. It’s ok to take time to find your purpose and passion, also because the path will likely not be linear but have deviations, U-turns, bumps and interruptions. Your best bet is to peg your career (and other) choices against your values, doing what you like and being able to make a difference.

Taking a moment to recognize the achievements of your colleagues, can you give kudos to one of your fellow PA colleagues for a recent accomplishment or contribution that impressed you?

Too many brilliant PA professionals to celebrate. Unless you stop me, I’ll be cheeky and mention four.

Jill Warren and Kevin Mayne who tirelessly fought the odds to secure the European Cycling Declaration, making biking and its many benefits a strategic EU priority.

Claire Darmon who campaigned for EU legislation on the right to repair which European Parliament recently turbo-boosted through their negotiating position.

And Georgia Brooks who’s not in PA but provides a safe haven for women PA professionals at The Nine, Belgium’s first female-focused members’ club that she bravely opened amid Covid uncertainty two years ago. All genders are welcome to visit as guests.

Aside from EU election-related matters, what do you anticipate being the buzzwords and key trends for EU Public Affairs in 2024?

It’s tough to imagine anything not influencing or getting influenced by the EU elections this year. But probably safe to say that the 2024 Eurobubble will still be abuzz with Ukraine and with some new, some not-so-new polarising debates.

Web 4.0, AI and algorithms versus their trustworthiness. Digital technologies versus EU’s strategic autonomy, cybersecurity and user protection. EU competitiveness versus Green Deal 2.0 (or versus anything else really, including global markets). And the EU versus “the other elections” taking place worldwide which, together with the EU polls, will impact a staggering quarter of global population and likely the global geopolitics.

Somehow, I also have an inkling – or perhaps it is more of a wishful thinking – that gender diversity and equality will be making it to the EU buzz list too. Fingers crossed.

Regarding 2024 trends in EU public affairs, I’d bet on fake news (as seen in Slovakia around our national polls last September), frugality (by the EU and the corporates, courtesy of slashed EU budget and inflation) and focus on transparency (Qatargate fallout). And I should add the clichéd but often true to ‘expect the unexpected’.

In your opinion, what are some innovative approaches or strategies that can enhance communication in Public Affairs?

Well, communicating Public Affairs already had to adapt to fit the current, post-pandemic reality. Everyone struggles with the information, sensory and agenda overload. Zoom fatigue. Many more meetings – hybrid, remote and in different time zones. Many more comms channels. Much smaller events turn-up. You name it.

So, we all need to try out new things to capture and retain the attention of our audiences, whether external or internal. It starts with crafting impactful messages as we discussed earlier. But I think we also have to bring in some fun, ensure good CX (customer experience; can’t help the corporate slang with this one, sorry) and think beyond our own goals.

On the fun front, not everyone can pull off legendary Spotify playlists like Commissioner Breton. But it can just be about adding a light-touch theme to your internal end-of-year note (helped me and my team to hit the coveted ‘everyone-read-it’ KPI).

Good CX is about putting yourself in your audience’s shoes. They will often not remember what you told them but how you made them feel. Did you make an effort to bring in examples from their local constituency? Did you raise points they care about or just hammered on about what you need? Did you respect the time you knew they had or made them late for their next meeting?

And the last bit is about lending your organisation’s name and weight to the important causes of others – whether an NGO campaign, a policy-maker initiative or a cross-sector coalition. They don’t exactly advance your goals? Perhaps. But it’s about “finding your voice to create a better society”, as The Good Lobby puts it (if you don’t know them, check them out and read their founder’s call to action for PA professionals). If you genuinely care and walk the talk on this one, your PA communication gets the biggest enhancement out there – trust.

DeHavilland can help you with all your public affairs needs. Get in touch to find out more.