Philip Zepter: Serbia is in a gas chamber, you can’t think clearly if you are breathing in poison

Both success and lack thereof are down to organization – success depends on good organization, its lack on bad one. If you keep doing the same, while expecting a different result, you are making a mistake. That is what the president of Zepter International, Philip Zepter, said at the sixth CEO Summit, which was held recently in Belgrade. One of the most important topics for Zepter is air pollution, and people in Serbia, but also the entire region, he said, live in a gas chamber.

Zepter left the then Yugoslavia in 1979 with the intention to spend several months abroad learning German, but he never came back. As he said, where he ended up, he acquired experience, came to understand certain circumstances and saw a niche where he could start a business, which nobody had seen before.

He says about himself that he has always been a visionary. Although he has factories in several countries, he has never visited a half of his companies, and he sees some of his employees only once a year, at regular directors’ meetings.

– I in fact don’t run companies. In certain periods I take a look at the financial reports and see whether the performances have been met or not. I always predict things based on certain parameters which are outside the standard ones and based on which I predict events. I feel the pulse of a company and I react to what others don’t see and to what they don’t react – Zepter said and added that he didn’t like to deal with organization.

– I have never really been the operating director of a company who runs the business, I have only been a visionary, I see a problem and seek a solution to it. I have worked on making possible the things that seem impossible. If I see that they are truly impossible, I leave them alone. I am more of a strategist, my perception of business is that I deal with those things that are necessary for each individual. Whenever I want to explain a phenomenon, I start with the circumstances, the consequences that those circumstances generate, and then I seek a solution to that problem. I always start with the facts, there’s no room for assumptions with me – points out Zepter.

One of the most important topics for him is air quality.

– A journalist has asked me just now what I think about the perspective of Serbia and where it will go. I said – I have no idea! My perception of business in general is to start with the facts and seek solutions to certain problems. Because, you have not really achieved anything unless you first solve the basic elementary problems that are present here, anywhere in the region, or in the world, and that is pollution. If we don’t find a solution to that problem, we will become extinct – he said.

Zepter says that it can often be heard that, by insisting on that topic, he only wants to make people buy his products.

– Polluted air is a fact and you can’t escape it, and all I want to do is cast light on the circumstances and turn attention to how important it is – points out Zepter.

– You can’t have a healthy economy if you’re not thinking clearly, and you can’t think clearly or logically if you are breathing in so much poison. You people live in a gas chamber here, you’re doomed. It similar 40 years ago when I lived on the Students’ Square, and today it’s even worse – points out Zepter.

There is no awareness about this problem among the decision-makers, and as he says, even they can’t hide from the polluted air.

– They can only work on solving that problem. As a company, we are focusing on seeing an opportunity in this as well, and the initial idea and the meaning of the whole endeavor is to provide an air filter for each home. It’s better to have something than nothing – he says.

When asked whether, in addition to several factories in the world, he plans to open a factory in Serbia, Zepter says that he has thought about it, but that he has no time for it.

– That decision is complex on several levels, and I have no time for it. Back in the day, we had to put enormous logistics into motion to open a company in a country, but digitization has now changed everything. We have a situation now where we can manage the whole process from here, so if it takes root, you continue. I don’t believe in a society that can allow mass extinction to happen to it – and that is precisely what I’m talking about. I am not interested at all in financing, individual growth, or doing someone a favor. You simply can’t react normally if you don’t have healthy air – points out Zepter.

He also says that, during the 35 years in the Zepter company, over 4.5 million people have been educated, and when asked what his success formula is, he answers:

– To me, both success and lack thereof are down to organization – success depends on good organization, its lack on bad one. Let me remind you of what Einstein said about if you keep doing the same, while expecting a different result, you are making a mistake. In every job, it is important to have a certain circumstance from which an idea will be born that you will believe in. It is also important that what you believe in is a fact, but also to validate those who will follow that idea and mediate that mission, so that a success would occur – concludes Philip Zepter.

CEO Summit, which was organized by InStore Srbija and held for the sixth time in a row, gathered close to 500 participants this year. eKapija is a media partner of the event.

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