All eighteen years of my working office career, I have worked only in international companies, so I will only write about them. The concept of "Russian manager" for me is not abstract, but definite and even eye-catching. I would like to describe it, systematize it, and then compare it with managers of other nationalities. I will try to comprehend and generalize not only the topic of what a Russian manager is, but also how he (and even more interesting - her) to work effectively and with pleasure with people from other countries.
I have already seen a lot of “others”, besides, in the last few months I have been watching them every working day, since I moved to work in Singapore. This is a city in which, like nowhere else, a mixture of Asian and pro-European cultures with an Australian accent has been taking place for many years or even centuries.
So, I am "The RUSSIAN manager". And the first column is about how you can recognize me
Like everyone else, I have a badge that I regularly search all over the office at the end of the working day in order to still leave the place where I spend most of my life. There is a corporate mail that you can answer 24 hours a day if you want, but I am an experienced corporate postman and sometimes I bring the contents of my mailbox to a record 3000 unread letters, which I delete every six months in one click. By this, by the way, I already differ from the majority of foreign colleagues, who have a better organization of the process than me. Just for information: the interruption of vital business communications from such irresponsible actions on my part has not yet happened, and, it seems to me, it will not happen.
I also have a corporate Skype and a phone where there was once a very personal WhatsApp, which over time has become another way to communicate with colleagues on work issues, and the truth is that if you know my mobile number, you can get me (in literally and figuratively) almost always.
I speak english. In the office in Russia, I communicate in the terrible "Runglish", and writing business letters in Russian a la "Dear Ivan Semenovich, I would like to present you a restructuring project …" gives me pain in my fingers, which echoes in the neurons of my brain … In my office life, I have made or explained how to do about 6,000 pages of presentations and have spent at least 72 full days in total on conference calls. It seems to me that this is still less than what people in consulting do. Maybe that's why I am not drawn to consulting. I proudly carry my professional marketer banner.
“Russian manager” - does this phrase have a meaning or is it just a collection of random words like “Indonesian fly agaric”? And if, after all, there is a meaning (otherwise - why are all these paragraphs below), then what does it mean to be a “Russian manager”? Is this good or bad?
I follow the dress code, but in its broadest sense: I do not appear in the office in an extreme mini or maxi, and to maintain the image of a creative person, for the second year already I go to work in sneakers, not only on Fridays. Why do I accept the office, mail and presentations the way they are: necessary, but at the same time boring, and I don't go into creativity or some kind of downshifting? Because I like my profession.
I never cease to find it absolutely wonderful when, from an idea of a product or a new service, thanks to me personally, an action plan with a short and long term is born, money appears for its implementation (the higher my position in the company, the more money becomes). Gradually, this plan already lives its own life, becomes more and more specific, more and more people are involved in it, and now ("ding!") They already scold you - they say, why sales this month are lower than the forecast. You explain reasonably and start working on a new plan. But the most important thing is that everything worked out - the idea became a reality! Of course, it is important that the ideas generate income, because otherwise it will not be possible to start the next project, and this is also what I get paid for.
I know that there are other professions, and like any normal office manager, I have exacerbations about the worthlessness of life under artificial lighting and in "meeting rooms" when somewhere outside the window there are the beaches of Bali and the mountain peaks of the Caucasus. But exacerbations pass, especially when I replace the abstract paradise in Bali with a completely real jogging for 10 kilometers (by the way, in March I will write a separate column about this), after which many unnecessary questions and desires disappear by themselves.
I think that's enough for the first acquaintance. In the next column (in a week) I will share my detailed observations on how I (like many others) differ from NON-RUSSIAN managers.
About the author:
Lyudmila Zueva is a marketer with ambitions and philosophical education at Moscow State University. He has ten years of experience at Procter & Gamble, then at Phlilps as Marketing Director. Of the achievements, she notes two "gifts" to millions of housewives - a multicooker and a vertical steamer once appeared on the Russian market thanks to her business recommendations, understanding of consumer needs and serious project work in preparation for the launch. And Lyudmila also enriched the Russian Internet with three hashtags: # cleanliness (feeling of satisfaction after brushing your teeth with a Soniccare electric brush); # I passed (social appeal to encourage women to undergo regular examinations by a mammologist); #dressdoesntsayyes(the motto of the charity run to raise funds in support of the "Sisters" center's hotline). In his free time from work and hashtags, he brings up two children, runs half-marophones. She plans to live in Singapore for the next three years. Thanks to this event, there is already a new hashtag #talktypeshows Singapore.
Photo: Press Services Archives, Getty Images
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