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There are often parallels made between sporting teams and business success and maybe we should look behind the success of our gold medal basketball team. Under the leadership of a (foreign) coach, a bunch of talented individuals came together to achieve what has been said is the biggest success for Slovenian sport since independence. This "history-making" Slovenian sporting success was not a result of foresight, i.e. supported or planned by the Slovenian state, the politicians and those who run the multi-million euro, stateowned businesses. It is worth noting that the largest Slovenian insurance company, Triglav, which is 100 percent state-owned, sponsored the Serbian basketball team, not our own winning national team -they invested in and financially supported our opponents for the European basketball gold medal.

Frequently I hear that a fundamental issue in this country is bureaucracy. Why did the bureaucrats not recall the reason why investors have left the country in the past when they were dealing with the proposed investment into Slovenia by Magna Steyr, a foreign investor who had a Plan B, an investment that was so very nearly lost and hundreds of new jobs with it! Why did it take the potential loss to kick-start the bureaucrats into action? Perhaps some of our key decision makers, those who will take our country and companies into the next decade, should take some notes from our success stories.

It is not only the leaders who must take some notes. There is no doubt that Slovenia is a country of innovative and talented individuals, Slovenia ranks ninth from 130 countries in this year's World Economic Forum's Global Human Capital Index, but why can't we translate this talent so that we can make the necessary breakthroughs on the world stage. Is it our inability to look beyond our borders, accept the ideas of those from outside who have 'been there, done that' and may be able to guide this human capital to global success? As a small country, we can be a niche player and we can be the best, but to do this we should learn lessons from others and be better at it.

Maybe we are too focused on the mind-set and not on the 'heart-set', a concept proposed by two leadership experts who suggest that businesses should focus on new approaches that come from different drivers than before. Or maybe it is that we are too reactive and we need to take on board the proposals of the author of 'Big Questions of Our Time', which raises questions that will face humanity from 2010-2060 and covers a broad spectrum of issues, including globalisation, suggesting that the world needs a preventive and not a reactive approach to deal with the issues facing humanity today.

Quality and Slovenia go hand in hand and in October, the EOQ Conference will be hosted in Bled. More than 400 panellists and delegates will debate 'Success in the Digital Era - Quality as a Key Driver'. Esteemed panellist, Ms Dong Mingzhu, President of Ghee Appliances Inc, who Forbes identifies as the "Iron Lady", shares her recipe for success in an exclusive interview with The Slovenia Times. We invite you to join us at the conference to hear how your business can achieve success in the digital era.

We encourage you to enjoy the good times in Slovenia and use the lessons of the past for a better future. To keep informed about the progress of this wonderful country, you can read the daily news at www.sloveniatimes.com, where you can also subscribe to our magazine and the monthly newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook, and look out for our tweets and updates.