Vaclav (August 2023)

Vaclav, affable Czech-born, Swiss-based LinkedIn expert, is a bright, inspirational, and knowing force. His wisdom transmits itself in his internet content, his smile, his distribution of words, his approachability unrivalled. He is someone connecting the dots of individuals out there in the cyber working sphere. He shares what he knows to aid others. His face aglow with the bustling energy of life, he exudes a charm and warmth his peers are likely lacking. His online content bristles with, is shaped by, and drips with a passion for people, places, and shared experiences. He is a fount of knowledge.

Vaclav says that Swiss precision is his reason for being online a minute early when I join our meeting. “That’s how it should be!” he adds. I agree. He needs to leave the room briefly and reappears ready for action. He is in his office at the honorary consulate of Czechia in Basel, Switzerland, launching straight into what he will later tell me is his verbal diarrhoea, according to his late father. Behind him are just a plant, a clock on the wall, a picture frame, and blinds that are slowly dancing to a gentle breeze.

He looked at his phone, after saying he should not have before our meeting, and the news that his German friend Adolf – someone he met in a restaurant in Prague in 1985, and who had recently suffered a fall – has died at 83 years of age has reached him, momentarily flickering flames of sadness visible on his face. But he passes through it, the unstoppable force that he is, and moves onto the next chapter of conversation. This leads to a mention that his own family lives to ripe old ages and his genes are clearly onto something, as we mention earlier deaths and how they seem to occur more frequently than ever before.

His responses always come thick and fast, a sharpness, a youthful eagerness to interact, and perhaps even please, infusing his every interaction.

A father to three daughters, I can only imagine what bright sparks they might be having been half-fashioned by this man. I also extend the sense of magic I feel compelled to think his wife, and their mother, must be to include her.

His pate is near naked, short grey hair on the sides and top of his head. His eyes are blue – bluey-grey – and he wears glasses with black frames on the upper part and un-framed lenses on the lower halves (they are multi-focal, complex, several times corrected). He could not care less about brands, unless it is his beloved homeland, Czechia. Flashes of joy and fire invite themselves to his features with alarming frequency, an invisible queue somewhere nearby to them.

He tells me he got swindled recently and he cannot believe it happened. He focusses on how to move on and be positive, filing with the cyber police unlikely to bring any success, but it naturally rankles with him.

Only 2% of people are advancing humanity, Vaclav says, according to a Czech astrophysicist. He states he might be an expert on LinkedIn, but he is still a human being with lots of faults. He then takes issue with a well-known online platform that is clearly a dictatorship and its connection with his homeland Czechia, as he calls it, as it is increasingly known, as he regularly champions, otherwise known as the Czech Republic. He is incredibly enthusiastic about the ancient name ‘Czechia’ – growing in its popularity and use – which is the English language translation of what the Czechs call their own land. Vaclav talks easily, speedily, and it’s hard to keep up with his train of thought.

He tells me he is a polite person, but regarding some of the websites we mention he is seething and unable to contain his annoyance. His language, therefore, is bluer than I had anticipated, his passion overspilling.

He is chewing a Tic-tac whilst sending out missile comments, calling himself a rebel, stating he goes in the ‘opposite direction’ to the masses. It’s clear from the offset. He then tells me I am a classical uncut diamond and that it isn’t that I cannot do it yet, just that I have not yet learned it.

He has a slim wedding ring on the finger on one hand and a silver bracelet on the opposite wrist, each wrist adorned with what looks like a watch. One is his Samsung smartwatch. His real watch is a Citizen Echo Drive. His favoured timepiece is an Omega Speedmaster – an iconic model, the moon landing watch (the first watch on the moon). He used to be extremely knowledgeable about watches when he was younger. He is wearing a Mammut shirt – a light summer shirt that is easily washed and dried.

We talk about The Beatles, Dylan, and other great music (he mentions punk, reggae, and Frank Zappa) – not commercial rubbish – and end up with more blue words when it morphs into a discussion about recent cinematic release, Barbie, for which neither of us has any time.

He is Roman Catholic with a Buddhist mindset, correcting himself as he goes, aware brushstroke words are capturing him as we talk. He is relaxed about the portrait, an open door, inviting the experience in. He considers aspects of Czechia (often there, less since his parents passed away), Austria (seldom there these days), and Switzerland provide him with the feeling of being at ‘home.’

We then talk about Sugar Man star Rodriguez who died last week, Bill Fay, drinking alcohol and taking a break from it (not for health reasons). He likes the state of mind of having a few beers and relaxing but is bowled over by how good non-alcoholic beers taste. So, he hasn’t missed alcohol at all.

In his earlier workdays (post-chemistry education), Vaclav was responsible for a team, and fostered a huge financial income and big business for his company, but he didn’t like it. It wasn’t him. That shade not suiting him at all.

A ten-mile radius in Basel keeps his whole family nearby. He tells me that his experience of parenthood is that ‘coming of age’ is difficult, but he remains extremely close with all three of his daughters.

He then says, ‘I don’t give a shit if I am this age (sixty, I believe)! I love wrinkles. I love them on my wife.’ He went mostly bald at thirty, and he just wants to stay healthy and exercise. So, we discuss the spectacular advantages of walking, and how it can extend a life. Upbeat, not easy to get down, and an ice hockey goaltender (who trains once a week and plays matches sometimes), Vaclav is someone full of surprises.

He’s a straight-talker and likes sharing – online information, existential knowledge, you name it. He is transparent, not pretending to be that which he is not. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly, offers advice willingly, as it naturally spills forth from him, but the best of all – he puts stock in being yourself. The best version of oneself will suffice. Being unique is what matters, he says.

Vaclav is an inspiration, there is no doubt about it. His words, ‘you can do it, you just haven’t learned it yet’ echo in my mind long after the video call has ended.