Who are the masterminds behind the engineering of influence?
That was the driving question behind our latest CEO Roundtable held on January 27th, 2026 at the beautiful Mozart Hotel in Prague, on the topic: «How Influence Really Works.” We tried to unmask the discreet orchestrators of influence: how do they wire power, who do they serve, how do they work?
What made this truly exceptional was the gathering of senior professionals who rarely appear in headlines but quietly orchestrate outcomes – the shadow architects building reputation and defending strategic interests across Czech business, policy and media, including Jitka Nemecková, Corporate Affairs Director at Lidl; Dana Dvořáková, Director of Communications at KKCG; Jan Růžička, Chief External Affairs at PPF Group; Martin Roman, Chairman of PORG and Board Member at MOL; Tomáš Prouza, President of the Czech Commerce and Tourism Association (Svaz obchodu a cestovního ruchu ČR); Milan Hejl, Managing Partner at AMI Communications; and Veselin Vackov, Founder and CEO of Publico.
This rare assembly reverse-engineered influence’s mechanisms: does political access still work? How do reputations create leverage? Is Brussels eclipsing Prague? What’s AI’s emerging role ?
Key takeaways from the table:influence now plays out in public view, where access alone no longer cuts it without credibility. Narratives increasingly dictate political outcomes, while AI quietly rewrites the old rules of the game.
