Far from his homeland, Ján Rehák challenged himself to be his students’ best professor, which led to him leading a group of them to first place in the world in social entrepreneurship.
“When I got to the classroom, my first words were: ‘Look guys, I’m going to be the best professor you’ve ever had in your life.’”
This is how Ján Rehák introduced himself to the first group he taught entrepreneurship to in Mexico at Tec de Monterrey’s Querétaro campus in his search to be happy through teaching young people.
Today, Rehák is a distinguished professor at Tec de Monterrey and national director of the Entrepreneurship program, achieving national recognition from the institution as an Inspiring Professor.
Born 35 years ago in Bratislava, in the former Czechoslovakia, he discovered at a young age that he had a talent for entrepreneurship, without imagining that a chance would bring him to Mexico to share his passion in a classroom.
This passion was demonstrated when he led a group from the Querétaro campus to a first-place win at a global social entrepreneurship competition in Brussels, Belgium.
Arriving at the Tec and becoming a professor
Rehák arrived in 2015 at Tec de Monterrey’s Querétaro campus thanks to a coincidence: being in the right place at the right time, he says.
Before ending his teaching relationship with the Comenius University in Bratislava, he was asked as his last assignment to represent the educational institution at a conference in Mexico.
“By chance and a lot of luck, the conference was held at Tec de Monterrey, and on the last day, I met Rafaella Diegoli, currently the academic vice-rector, who offered me the chance to come as a visiting foreign professor for a year.
“I stayed (up to) a third year as a visitor, and in the end, I was offered a position at the Tec: in 2018 I became a research professor,” he says.
“My decision was to become the professor I would’ve wanted to have.”
“To become the professor I would’ve wanted to have”
As a Tec professor, Rehák shares his mantra with a smile.
“My decision was to become the professor I would’ve wanted to have,” Ján says.
The words he shared with his first students at the Tec, to become the best professor of their lives, resonated with René Cosío, a young man sitting in front of him on that occasion.
“I’m still in touch with some of those students from that first class, and a semester ago, René became a Tec professor.
“He said, ‘Ján, I was inspired by what you said in that first class, and I want to give something back to the community.’ He’s a high-impact entrepreneur, he’s finished his master’s degree, and now he teaches entrepreneurship at the Tec”, says Rehák.
“I became the happiest person at the Tec.”
Rehák was a business owner and full-time professor in Bratislava in 2014, but his pace of life was unsustainable, so he decided to embark on a journey to find himself on a temporary stay in Asia.
“I’d become addicted to work and my company had grown, but it gave me no fulfillment. I was working 18 hours a day, and I said, ‘I’m going to sell the company, and I’m going to travel around the world,’” Rehák says.
“(Diegoli) told me I could go to travel through Mexico, get to know it, and then go to Asia. She told me that there are 330 days of sunshine a year in Querétaro, but it rained all month when I arrived in August,” Ján says laughing, since his idea was to be in Mexico only temporarily.
However, after a process of adaptation, he gradually began to feel better when he saw how he could transform his students.
“I suffered from impostor syndrome for the first few years. When are they going to realize that I don’t know anything? I had to do three times the work.
“I had all the material possessions you can imagine in 2014, but I was unhappy. I became the happiest person when I joined the Tec in 2015, doing something I was passionate about and seeing the impact on students and collaborators.”
“I became the happiest person when I joined the Tec in 2015, doing something I was passionate about and seeing the impact on students and collaborators.”
The challenge of leading a Mexican group to first place in the world
One of Ján’s greatest achievements was leading a team of students in 3 months to a win in a global social entrepreneurship competition using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to solve water and ocean problems.
Ján was coordinating an entrepreneurship activity at the Querétaro campus in 2019 when he accepted an invitation to the DigiEduack Global program.
“(They told me) the project was in 3 months, in October. If you think you can do it, go for it,” were the words Ján heard. Their main challge, the lack of time.
“(I accepted) and asked for support from entrepreneurship professors, mentors, and amazing people. The kids were working all night, 24 hours. They even had sleeping bags, but they didn’t even use them in the end,” Ján says with a laugh.
All that effort was rewarded when they traveled to Belgium and came in first pace.
“Suddenly, we were there in Brussels talking about what we were doing at the Tec. I gave a lecture there on our Tec21 Model, and they were like ‘wow.’”
“We were there with the European Commission, and it launched a chain of successes, of fantastic things for the department, for the Business School, and for the Tec,” Ján says with a smile.
His greatest recognition beyond an award
The professor says that coming in first place at the DigiEduHack led to him getting the national Inspiring Professor award, the greatest recognition that a professor receives from Tec de Monterrey.
This award is given to professors who have taught their students with excellence in the areas of Teaching, Intellectual Vitality, Service, and Leadership during the year.
Anther of Ján’s achievements was designing a Master’s Degree in Executive Entrepreneurship.
“It’s one of the greatest achievements of my life. I never imagined it. I obviously wanted to achieve it when I arrived at the Tec.
“I didn’t know if there was an award, but I saw that students had been given a statue of a golden ram and that there were photos of professors in the library. I wanted to be there,” Ján recalls.
“I’m a person whose purpose in life is to help the people I’m in contact with and those around me grow.”
Following his mother’s entrepreneurial example
Ján was born and raised in present-day Slovakia in a family of 4 siblings, an artistic father, and a mathematical mother who decided that, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 90s was an ideal time to start a business.
The fall of the Berlin Wall, on November 9, 1989, with the fall of communism, symbolized the end of the Cold War.
“My mom has a PhD in mathematics, and in the 90s, after the fall of the (Berlin) Wall, she was able to start a business.
“There was no private property in the country before that, so although she came from a family of landowners, at one point she was left with nothing,” Ján recalls.
Taking advantage of commercial opening in the decade, his mother started her accounting company, where Ján and his 2 brothers and sister occasionally helped out.
“It helped us understand a lot of things, and my brother and I actually studied administration because it was one of our inspirations,” Rehák says.
Ján finished his degree at Comenius University in Bratislava while starting a business with one of his colleagues, where he was in charge of creating a financial model that would later become his own company.
By that time, Ján was becoming more interested in teaching, so he participated as a volunteer in some non-governmental organizations and as a judge and academic debate coach at Tilgnerova High School in Bratislava.
“The first time I came to Mexico was in 2007 with an NGO program where I worked as a volunteer collaborating with children in leadership development, and I lived in Mérida for a year,” Ján recalls of the place where he first learned Spanish.
“I remember a conversation I had with my teammates. I was always inspired to teach, but I didn’t yet see it as a career,” says Ján.
New challenges in his academic life
After years teaching on campus, conducting research, giving advice, and even planning activities in the areas of business and entrepreneurship, Ján was given the opportunity to become national director of Entrepreneurship.
At the end of the day, I’m growing in a position with its own challenges, and it’s fantastic and fulfilling, but it’s also a lot more difficult.
“Designing the programs and trying to make it the coolest program of all the Tec business school programs is very challenging, but I’m surrounded by very talented people, and we’re doing amazing things,” he adds.
Ján was also one of the professors who participated in the development of the Tec21 educational model, which includes challenge-based learning, memorable university experiences, inspiring professors, and flexibility in how and when students learn.
“At the end of the day, I’m growing in a position with its own challenges, and it’s fantastic and fulfilling, but it’s also a lot more difficult.”
Ján levanta la mirada y toma una bocanada de aire antes de contestar lo que para él sería el sueño que, menciona, ha encontrado tras 6 años en México, a miles de kilómetros de Bratislava.
“Me he puesto a pensar quién soy. ¿Quién es esa persona que si le quitas los roles queda al final? He llegado a la respuesta que no sé si es perfecta, pero me parece interesante.
“Soy una persona cuyo propósito es hacer crecer a las personas con las que estoy en contacto y con quienes me rodean. Ese es el legado que quisiera dejar, una persona que haya ayudado a otros a crecer”, finaliza.
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