Making yourself unnecessary: Zlata Vavrušková on building teams that grow without you
In this edition of our Women in Leadership series, we speak with Zlata Vavrušková, Chief Experience & Operations Officer at team.blue brand Shoptet. Zlata's leadership journey began at nineteen, thrown into management with no experience and a team twice her age. What followed was nearly two decades of learning that the best leaders are not the ones who stand in the spotlight, but the ones who create the conditions for others to shine.
How did it all start for you?
I was nineteen when I was first "thrown" into the world of leadership. I worked as a successful salesperson at the fashion store Mango and I was very ambitious. The area manager noticed this and offered me the position of manager of a new store. That was the beginning of a long journey, during which I discovered that what I enjoy most is working with people, developing them, and creating an environment where customers and teams thrive. It has been going on for 18 years.
What did those early years teach you?
In my first management role, I was not a good manager. I was nineteen and had people on my team who were a generation older than me. I had no idea how to earn respect, and I thought a manager had to know everything and have the final say. I gradually understood that true leadership is about listening, connecting people, and creating value together. A great leader is not someone who stands in the spotlight, but someone who allows others to shine.
Around thirty, I had a period of doubt. I tried various jobs: baker, postwoman, I even wanted to be a tram driver, but in the end, I naturally returned to leading people, and that is when I understood this was my path.
Where does your leadership philosophy come from?
I fully realised it when I joined Slevomat in 2019 and met the then COO, Ladislav Veselý. In the interview he told me: "My goal is to be unnecessary." That captured exactly what I enjoy about leading people. I am happy when I can create an environment in which people grow, teach them, delegate, mentor them, and watch them become independent and confident professionals. And when the entire company grows as a result.
How did you come to join team.blue?
I joined team.blue when the group acquired Shoptet in September 2025, but my story begins earlier. I have been part of Shoptet for almost five years, starting as Head of Customer Care and gradually growing through several roles into my current position as Chief Experience & Operations Officer.
What surprised me most is the scale combined with autonomy: you are part of a large international group, yet you still have space to shape things locally and drive real impact. What I enjoy the most is the opportunity to connect different teams, align processes, and build a truly customer-centric organisation across functions. team.blue brings together talented individuals from different countries and backgrounds, but there is a shared mindset: focus on customers, move fast, and take ownership. It is a combination of entrepreneurial spirit and strong collaboration.
How does team.blue support your growth as a leader?
What matters to me is having equal opportunities, trust, and the ability to grow, and that is something I do experience here.
team.blue supports leaders through structured in-house leadership programmes like LEAP. At the brand level, we invest heavily in developing managers through our own internal academy, complemented by external training. I am currently in a dedicated growth programme with my management peers. It is valuable not only for the learning, but because it helps us understand each other better as a leadership team, which translates into stronger collaboration and better overall management.
Has anyone shaped the way you lead?
I never had one specific mentor. It was more moments, meetings, and sentences that get under your skin. The one from Ladislav Veselý, or lines like "If you can't, stop" or "No one can see your work better than you." Small but powerful sentences can change the way you think.
When I mentor others, I do not just give advice. I help others find their own path, and when it makes sense, I add my own perspective. For me, mentoring is about helping others hear their own voice better, not taking over mine.
What would you tell your younger self?
Less talking, more listening. You do not have to be the best at everything. As a leader, you should adapt to others, not them to you. And do not be afraid to be expendable. That is the greatest gift you can give yourself and your team.
How do you think about AI in your work?
For me, the value of AI is in the combination of removing friction, speeding up innovation, and helping us deliver a more consistent experience at scale. It also reduces barriers like language, so we can support customers across markets without relying entirely on local resources, and it helps us communicate with them more consistently.
Another key impact is speed. AI accelerates the development of products, tools, and internal systems, allowing us to deliver improvements and new solutions faster across the entire team.blue group.
Where do you see the biggest opportunity?
It changes how we scale customer experience and innovation. Building useful tools and automations becomes much more accessible. I do not see AI only as a way to remove work. It will also create new roles, because someone needs to design, manage, and continuously improve these systems. I hope it removes much of the repetitive work and opens space for more meaningful and creative tasks, leading to more flexible and balanced workplaces.
How do you stay grounded in that?
It is about being curious but responsible. I encourage experimentation and adoption, but always with a clear focus on customer value, data privacy, and ethical use. Move forward, but not blindly.
Finally, what would you say to someone thinking about joining team.blue?
If you are looking for a place where you can make an impact, grow quickly, and work with smart, driven people, this is a great place to be. You need to be comfortable with change and ambiguity, but in return you get real ownership and the opportunity to shape things.
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