The discussion, organised to facilitate networking among companies in Slovenia with foreign and mixed capital, saw the vice president of the IT group Comtrade, Klod Kolaro, argue modern leaders needed to lead by inspiring the workers.

They need to be adaptable and learn constantly in order to understand the changes happening in the company and the wider environment, he said.

Kolaro, who feels such leaders will also be capable of running the companies of the future in which AI will play an increasingly prominent role, also argued one top expert executing a service is worth more than 20 average employees.

The CEO of the Slovenian subsidiary of German mobile homes maker Carthago, Sandra Županec, focused on the trust of employees. She said one earned it by not only being a director or leader but also an adviser and listener.

She argued this approach had helped Carthago during tough periods when a rise in orders required work-time to be extended by two hours a day.

Absent the right dialogue with the employees, this would have been hard to achieve, she said, arguing reasons for fluctuations in performance had largely been successfully tackled with dialogue too.

The director of Geneplanet Marko Bitenc, who started the now hugely successful bio tech company at the age of 23 in 2008, highlighted the importance of being innovative, both for leaders and employees.

Meanwhile, their path to success was also presented at the event by Slovenia's former ski star Tina Maze and her partner and coach Adrea Massi. They pointed to cooperation, patience and adaptability as major contributors to success.