The Stunning Character Of Krzysztof Pauch And His Endless Trust In Youth

Mr. Pauch, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you, and how did you come to be the business man you are today?

Witamy serdecznie! My name is Krzysztof Pauch, I am Polish and I am a man who has traveled a long road to success, and still following it; actually, I reckon that every road leads to success, if you finally get it. I was born when Poland was still in the grip of communism, when we (the young people of that time) were totally under control, and we could not take any initiative without the permission of our Government. For this reason, I could not dream of going abroad to develop myself, and I could not even think of having simple material things such as my own house or my own car – that would have been pure utopia. But when we entered the new Western European culture, a time of liberty, the world opened to us with plenty of space for new initiatives for those who were active and wanted to do and to achieve more. And I was definitely this kind of person! Anyway, I am still living in two parallel systems as I was raised in a different epoch and grew up in a new era in Europe which still goes on. In general, quite often my successes were like buildings erected on sand, unstable, and they very quickly fell down, they were lacking many things. So, one day I changed my way of thinking and my approach to many things. I began a very intensive period of work on myself. I started attending training sessions and seminars, reading the right books and working hard on opening my mind. Of course, I did not change my financial situation in a shot, it took a little longer. First I went to work in Germany, supporting old people; there my situation started to improve. I also treated this time as a great opportunity to work on myself and my character and also to learn a new language.

Constant learning is the key feature of a successful person. When I came back to Poland I had the idea of starting my own coaching and training company. I was convinced that I would achieve great success, and I was a different person. Finally, life led me to the FM Group Company, and this made my financial success come true. Now, I am devoting time to young people who wish to succeed in business, too.

Could you tell us what you studied and how your Education influenced your career path as a business man and an inspirational youth leader?

I made it into post-graduate studies. I was educated as a Hotelier, later I undertook History studies, then I was a therapist, I worked for many years as a teacher, and finally I was promoted to be a school director. I saw great results for others but not for myself, so I quit and started my own business. I went from company to company, making mistakes and even going bankrupt; I built my skills by reading books and carving out my own destiny. Education is quite often perceived as something that “interrupts” a business career – and sometimes that could be so because we often learn “unnecessary things”, but a wise man is a person who can see what may be useful in practice and how to put knowledge to good use. People could say that learning history, psychology or geography in not at all necessary in real life, but I cannot agree; I would say that by learning these subjects I developed my intelligence and knowledge about the current world, and the past helped me a lot in developing business assets and appreciating the state of things. And here is how I connected my studies with my career, and how I made myself on the basis of my skills. This is because, in my personal view, an intelligent person with wide horizons and the ability to use what he has learnt earlier is able to look at business in a different way, from a wider spectrum and perspective. With this attitude, it is easier then to build a big business. From general studies to languages, sometimes even the information we consider superficial is serving to develop our own business; it may be useful in establishing great communication with people, for example. And technology can help human beings, but as a support to human relations: we need people no matter what kind of business we’re in, the skill of communicating is a fundamental ability in business and for real life. 

How did you get involved in your business exactly and how did this change your life? How much of yourself is in it and how do you give direction to yourself to manage your workflow?

After coming back to Poland from Germany I was sure that I wanted to run my own business, and I could not work as an employee. My idea was to run a training company as I knew the field and I was confident in myself; plus, I knew that the world changed, and I would need to learn quickly to manage technologies. So, considering people my age were not acquainted with the new IT skills, I oriented myself to youth: I just decided that young people were the key and they were definitely much better oriented to hit the road abroad and move quickly around the world. So, I found an environment of people promoting entrepreneurship, active youngsters, not searching for a job, but creating new workplaces. That way I then could reach a lot of great young people and support them: it is amazing how combining my experience with the energy of young people brings great results. After a short time I had many project proposals in the field of network marketing, but I rejected them due to the fact that I had my own decision

making process based on trusting my intuition and instinct. Logical reasoning does not go alone. So, this is how I finally joined the FM Group, and I was absolutely convinced of involving myself in it completely, not just making a trial. When people start an enterprise and they wish to succeed they cannot “just try”, they need to be engaged and committed because to make a business grow there must be not only the right compensation plan and good products, but a proper education system in the business. This is why I started working almost immediately on developing an educational system, I was working 16 hours per day because I wanted to succeed and I knew it all depended on my efforts: and this is how by the end of the first year I had already built my Foundation.

We heard you say trust in youth and in their potential. How do you think that young people should/could start their own business or find their professional path given the actual situation in Europe?

Of course, young people should take their step in the world of business, but they need to be attentive because a lot of people could try to take advantage of them. Not everybody has the same good intentions. You can detect something strange when you think about what you get once someone involves you in something: is that a benefit for who “helps you” or for you too, as a young person? Personally speaking, I really like to support young people, I am fully engaged in this; and that is the reason why I created a Foundation called “Młodzi dla Sukcesu” to provide young people with concrete support to learn how to run a business and to develop their own talents. At that level, I contribute my experience and the young people give feedback through their enthusiasm, passion, and energy. What is lacking in young people? I notice that they are weak in patience and perseverance while building their futures. Quite often young people revolt against authority and do not honor it because a lot of adults give bad examples to young people, especially politicians (a lot of them are willing to use young people only for their own purposes). I decided not to behave that way – and I even advise my circle of people not to act that direction, because we want to focus on something that is profitable to other people. We are not only working on developing a business but also on becoming better people, on changing ourselves. If we can accept that young people can make mistakes and learn from them, then we get their trust and we can lead them with our experience. Without a concrete, positive example and the experience of older people they are not able to do much. Stating that success is only when you are earning a lot of money is not success in my eyes. That’s the only way to inspire youth, and the possibilities are simply amazing!

In your opinion, what are the hardest fears and limitations that young people face today? 

I cannot be sure about it since I am not a young boy anymore, but I can say that they waste too much time on entertainment, watching TV and the like. Enjoying life is normal, but exaggerating and spending a lot of money this way puts obstacles in the way of developing a complete vision of a healthy working life and schedule. Without proper work, constant learning, focus and improvement there cannot be good results or significant success. So, first you need to surround yourself with the right people who believe in you; second, you need to learn how to build good relations with people. There is really a lot to achieve with absolutely no fear: the chance of making your wishes come true requires a wise way of showing your beliefs, it depends upon the environment you create and is implicitly part of the risk of building your own business. All this should be followed by support, and here a limitation: money. That is for everyone. But to build a solid business you need to be ready to see the different sides of life.

We know you are an optimistic, inspirational, and positive-thinking personality. How can this approach help young people in building their own careers? 

I cannot imagine how to build a beautiful life and a great career if you don’t believe in what you are doing for your future. Faith creates miracles – if I can say this – and that is why we need to create a positive environment in young people because they need to trust their own skills and chances. When I meet young people, I show them how to build positive attitudes, how to find faith in their futures, in their talents, no matter what kind of circumstances are around. Because if you believe in yourself and in your abilities you can achieve and make your wishes come true. The only thing is to build other elements like: perseverance, regularity, patience, self-discipline. Those are features that every human is able to learn. In the past I lacked these qualities, but I managed to have faith and believe in people, and young people need support to establish human contact and communication. Having such an optimistic approach to life helps people to face adversity, to overcome obstacles with their own thinking and minds, and, of course, we will have many different experiences on our way, but trust helps to meet more and more great people in life. Without trust in people and in the future none is able to build a big business.

Motivation: a challenge. How do you find it? How to motivate young people in team-building or individual work?

First of all, trust, as I said. Honesty – always trust young people; do not tell them that all will be easy because that is not true. Sometimes it is also necessary to give an order, to be tough and direct, to direct them. Saying that all is good even when it is not – that is not ok. The world is various, and people need to learn about real life and know that some things are not possible to do, and that there are some limits to liberty and freedom. You need to respect others’ freedom also, and a lot of people are crossing these borders. I train and advocate for cooperation, but the outside world teaches that young people are surrounded by competition and profit will not come easily – that is not thanks to me. It is fundamental to build cooperation little by little, by testing skills and resources, co-working with many people, with a long-term perspective which makes your business solid and stable. Motivation depends on being aware of who you are and what you can give while you are supporting other people, and while people are doing the same with you. And motivation grows and skills develop that way. It is also necessary to inspire people constantly to work on themselves, on their characters (with pros and cons). That is why creating and developing a positive vision for future success based on reality is an area where young people can lead. As a young person, I would not need external motivation, because it is short-term and it can bring few results; on the contrary, taking care of your environment, helping each other and training yourself bring the inner motivation which leads to success.

What are your hobbies and interests when you are not at work?

Not an easy question. Actually teaching is my hobby, and it gives me happiness and fun; it brings me to different places. I like to travel, to meet new people, and I am interested in many subjects. I like to train others to be happy people, optimistic and cooperative. I like this holistic approach when it comes to teaching and training, and I like to bring youth to discover new things and new places: for example, while I am giving this interview I am in Mikolajki, for a sponsorship in dancing because I like to dance. And I also love opera, theater, and music. Probably my hobbies are those things that allow me to enjoy life.

 What is the most beautiful thing you see in the potential of young people?

Be sure that their enthusiasm and their faith are amazing. It is always so amazing when young people are ready and willing to do, and we, professionals, we should not kill this wish to build new things.

To close this interview we ask you to send a deep and sincere message to the young people for their personal growth.

Learn as much as you can, observe carefully the world around you, and experience life. Work on yourself and then you will achieve great success and a great career. And the last thing, for whatever you are doing in life, use your mind, analyze, observe, and follow your heart.

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