Tao of life: Master class from a convinced individualist (I. Khakamada)

Abstract

How to combine career, love, self-realization and personal happiness? Irina Khakamada knows the answer to this question — a well-known politician, public figure, writer, TV and radio host, successful and beautiful woman.

Like a chef, Irina Khakamada created her own recipe for life, mixing ingredients as diverse as Eastern philosophy, Western business approaches, and Russian modern and postmodern culture. As a result, she managed to reach a state where nothing prevents her from being happy. How could you not share this knowledge?

The book is addressed to a wide range of readers.

foreword

The book you are holding in your hands is the third in a series of my works dedicated to the transfer of accumulated experience. «Sex in Big Politics» is about how, having an independent character, to move in the political establishment. “Success (success) in a big city” is about how to make a career and be yourself. And now the Tao of Life is about how to combine career, love, self-realization and personal happiness. In fact, how to play an author’s piece, even if you have to press the black keys of a vital instrument. The book is the final in a series of educational journalism. I tried to summarize everything I know about life, love and happiness.

What is the difference between a master class and a training?

The master class is deeply subjective and does not pretend to be objective. The master simply offers to try what he did well and brought him good luck. You can not believe, but try or adapt in relation to yourself. The main thing is to remove the barriers in the perception of the master and feel his energy, and then — how it goes. It definitely won’t get worse.

How does the master class of Irina Khakamada differ from others from the same area?

Since childhood, I stood out for my incomprehensible appearance. The Asian-Russian origin provided a cocktail that was sometimes impossible to drink. I grew up lonely and restless. Born in Moscow with an Asian face and not knowing Japanese, I felt like a stranger everywhere. Both in Russia and Japan. Much later, as an adult, I suddenly gained confidence in my self-identity. The ancient samurai family invested in me a powerful energy of life and responsibility, but demanded a large payment. Russian blood helps to be lazy and not burden oneself with duty and discipline. And the Armenian-Lezgin blood of my maternal grandfather awakens imagination and passion, even when I conjure at the stove in the kitchen. I stopped feeling sad about my otherness and, like a chef, decided to create my own recipe for life. I randomly mixed the ingredients: Eastern philosophy, Western business approaches, Russian modern and postmodern culture. And it worked! I felt good, and nothing in me prevents me from being happy. But there were no prerequisites for a positive vision of the world. Well, how not to share such a result?! So read on. If you like it, you can too, only faster than me.

PS Don’t skip chapters: each DAO («path» in Taoist terms) is connected to the previous one. Then you will turn to individual passages, but in the beginning it is important to get a complete picture. The repetitions are deliberate. So the key ideas settle better in the subconscious.

If you want live communication — I invite you to a master class. Information on the website: www.hakamada.ru

Chapter 1. Gave success

Success criteria

The middle class in the big cities lives, breathes, loves and mourns, concentrating on the single divine desire of the individualist. The name of the pagan god of the age of consumption is Success. Success motivates, activates and inspires. The absence of the light of a deity nearby upsets, insecure and eventually kills. Worshiping the Deity of Success has become the philosophy of life for a whole generation of pragmatic, MBA-trained and coached young people.

The criteria for success are crystal clear and understandable. This is:

• money;
• profession;
• place in the social hierarchy;
• and — oh, finally! — glory.

For a long time, the sequence of criteria remained unchanged. But then the phenomenon of total PR disease changed her:

• fame (whatever it takes);
• money;
• social status;
• profession (something vague, barely distinguishable).

Everything looks quite smooth. Then why does a feeling of insecurity arise, where do the problems of increasing self-esteem come from, a bunch of complexes, a lack of sex and love, and generally global fatigue? Why — despite the learned schemes and computer skills better than a pen — so many mistakes and inability to predict global and particular changes? Why is everything with such difficulty, with anguish, not taking off like an eagle on powerful wings, but as if climbing Everest? Why, when, after spending years, they reach the top, the joy is enough for a few moments?

I think the reason lies in ourselves. Common success, like a foreign face or mask, swallowed our personality like a shark without even choking.

A strange face takes away energy, does not develop intuition, does not preserve in us a sense of ourselves. The deity generated by the new era is grinning behind our backs, as crises, changes in the rules of the game and information bring some other order that is inaccessible to us. To know it, you need to stop and feel yourself, but we have no time …

So what to do?

I think — take off the mask, become yourself and develop your priority criteria for success. I am successful if:

• I am creatively self-fulfilled and feel happy;
• I am surrounded by people who are comfortable in communication, that is, I myself create a positive communicative environment for myself;
• I have exactly as much money as I need to provide me with peace of mind and a decent quality of life;
• I have recognition of my success from people I respect.

That’s it, pretty simple. It is this sequence that helps to master art de vivre — the art of living. It was this art that allowed me to change professions in time and voluntarily — from an associate professor to an entrepreneur, politician and creative freelancer — and find myself again and again.

Yes, of course, you will have to pay something for self-sufficiency and independence. Only cheese in a mousetrap is free. You will have to give up part of the money, fame, high status, and increase the risks. But happiness, believe me, is worth it.

Art de vivre is the greatest art of being successful first of all in your own eyes, and only then in the eyes of society.

Controlled indifference and the principles of success

So, how do you strike a balance between a soul longing for freedom and the standards of success imposed by a system of social ambition? How not to shy away from offensive definitions such as a loser, an outsider, a marginal, but do what you want? But at the same time, to ensure not survival, but an adequate quality of life. How to catch a fish according to David Lynch, and not ruin your life in pursuit of a 130-meter yacht, with which you don’t even want to fish?

Main principles

1. Controlled indifference, that is, a positive indifference to the fetishes of the external. Success at any cost as a goal threatens with poor orientation in time and space. Standard Success is nothing, it’s just a tool to move towards a dream. Money, fame, a position of leadership — if they do not bring you closer to your dream, then they are not worth the time. Do not care about everything that tempts your soul, but produces around a bunch of careerists and worthless accustomed. But controlled, that is, calculated indifference, freeing the soul, provides an online connection with the world and allows you to capture your upward flow. And then there is no need to puff and sweat, tearing the heart muscle on the way to the goal. One stroke and you fly…

2. The principle of relative indifference to the goal. There is only one way to it, but there are many roads. I didn’t manage to get a job in this company, I’ll get another one. Before the decisive battle, it is better to calculate all the options, including the worst ones, and the fear of losing will go away. Will win the desire to be happy.

3. The principle of maintaining a balance between mind and soul, between cold calculation and «I want.» Happy is he who knows how to be a pragmatist, but does not kill his dream and his «I» for the sake of a career. I survived in politics for 15 years and kept my energy only because I loved myself and respected my values ​​more than another ministerial post. At the same time, within certain limits, she made compromises, understanding the rules of the game.

4. The principle of «open mind». Become inquisitive, open to the world and people, which will allow you to capture the meanings and signs of your destiny. In the closed chamber of career life, signals cannot be heard and signs cannot be noticed. Here is an example of a properly tuned ear and quick response. By chance, at one of the meetings with party youth, I heard advice: “You have such an experience, you should at least pass it on somehow, write a book or something like that …”

A month later, I started writing the textbook Sex in Politics.

Success Tools

1. The main and absolute key to our success is the dream. There is nothing more complex than the simplicity of a dream. It is not so easy to find a dream in a heap of temptations. It’s like a needle, you have to extract it from a haystack in the form of luxury cars, Birkin bags, apartments and fancy watches. A dream that gives life energy not only to you, but also to the world. A dream that goes beyond all «can’t» and «impossible», just like in childhood.

My dream of becoming the president of Russia seemed reckless, but its fire allowed me to live and create both in politics and outside of it. The goal of making the country cozy and happy helped me find myself without exchanging my soul for money and statuses. So look for a dream in the pauses between work, and then the work will soon disappear, turning into creativity.

2. Hurry slowly. Envy, haste, greed lead to fuss and grave mistakes. The ability to pause, recover, restore peace of mind brings you closer to the goal, even if you break the schedule and fall out of the flow. Timely interruption of the flow of affairs is the art of stopping time in order to make decisions with a cheerful spirit, not a tired body. If there is no solution, it does not mean that it does not exist, it means that you do not have the strength to hear it.

3. Professionalism is everything, but not everything. Sometimes moderate amateurism helps to remove artificial barriers in the head. Do not be afraid to be a debutant, the main thing is to continuously study, but not by collecting diplomas, but by learning through life. Sometimes a classic novel or a film by Tarkovsky, Bergman, or a conversation with an interesting person will teach you more than the Department of Psychology of Moscow State University. Differentiate knowledge — a narrow professional will not survive in an era of change.

4. Communication is 95% of our success. The one who listens and hears, who studies the environment and establishes contacts, who asks questions correctly and receives knowledge and connections easily and free of charge, flies. The best is the one who, while protecting himself, knows how to shake hands and express his respect.

Conclusion: success is not a goal, but a way of thinking. And this image can be created, and it will become a reality. Success also has ethics — the ethics of respect for oneself, for one’s peace of mind. No one can crush you more successfully than yourself.

The art of being successful is the art of hearing yourself, hearing your heartbeat better than any cardiologist. What next? Then act, realizing that other people are no worse than you. By and large…

How to increase self-esteem

Indeed, how can you follow all the principles that I have so cheerfully outlined if, by nature, you do not have much faith in yourself? How to be, what is called, equipped mentally — to be psychologically prepared for your own success and really not «bend under the changing world»?

The path to sustainable success, especially in a crisis situation, both personal and social, is self-esteem with a + sign. Not signed! which means inadequacy, but with a calm +. I successfully failed my future achievements, underestimating myself, in private business and, on the contrary, broke through in politics when I was confident in myself.

So, effective self-esteem is the path to success. You can believe me, because I went through this path to the end, feeling like an ugly duckling until the age of 30, and only after 40 I finally found the belief that I was some kind, even if not white, but a swan.

So what methods did I use? You are welcome!

First, the world is what you are. Everything must be sought within oneself. Troubles and failures are a reason to figure out your mistakes and not repeat them. A smart person is someone who learns from their mistakes, a genius is someone who actually learns from them. (Unfortunately, no one learns from strangers.)

Second: they carry water on the offended. They were offended, they expressed everything to themselves and … let go and forgave. Your back will not hurt, and the energy of self-confidence will be preserved. Do not collect negativity around you, it will attract more negativity. Collect, albeit in small forms, positive and admire it every day.

Third: avoid words and expressions like “I knew it, (knew it)”, “It will always be like this”, “Nothing will come of it”, “Everything is clear, understandable”, and so on. Open your ears and wait for a miracle. A miracle does not tolerate generalizations, it is extremely individual and happens where it is respected.

Fourth: having set a big goal, move towards it in small steps. The main thing is to move… According to R. Branson, become a “when” person, not an “if” person. The eyes are afraid, but the hands are doing. Women will understand me … Evaluate success by modest achievements.

Fifth: look for an assessment of your activities among like-minded people, and not in a foreign environment. Don’t go out of your context. I am often complained that my books and master classes are designed only for the middle class. Yes, indeed, fair. I bring my experience to my environment. As soon as I go beyond its borders and start flirting with farmers and workers, everything will become a lie.

Sixth: if criticism, even if issued in a harsh form, is fair and develops your potential, do not take it with hostility or acquire complexes. If criticism destroys your personality and humiliates human dignity, “hit” backhand. This is the case when the risk is justified.

Seventh and last: do not prove anything to anyone! Get less aggressive raids and will not waste time on devastating disputes. Listen more and collect ideas. Being an optimist is the art of not creating unnecessary enemies for yourself from scratch. There are enough of them.

Well? Have you become a “glass half full” person?

I’m sure that yes, but if you also work ?!

How to get rid of overload and not get sick with procrastination

With effective self-esteem, life becomes easier, and most importantly, there are so many things you want to do! A modern young man (or girl) does not take the phone away from his ear and consumes food, relishing it with business negotiations. More precisely, on the contrary, he is trying to hold a business round, thoughtlessly chewing it, depending on income, with Japanese noodles or grilled sea bass. The result is gastritis and a wild overload that requires an urgent reboot. A person, tired of endless running, stops and … does not reboot, but falls into procrastination, which means he flies into the abyss of unrealized plans. I managed everything, analyzed it and realized that I didn’t manage to do anything along the way. Business homo sapiens paradox. So, to be or not to be, to be in time or not to be in time, or to hell with everything?

Let’s sort it out in order: let’s go from «everything for later» to «everything now and at once.»

Procrastination is a wonderful foreign word, a fashionable definition of our disorganization and laziness. Procrastination is the state of putting off serious things for later while 100% busy with everything else. Postponing, delaying, not starting under the pretext of being busy, even if it is absolute nonsense.

The causes of the «disease» can be different, and they depend on the type of people:

1. Those who are afraid of risk and responsibility when solving serious issues. It’s easier to fuss over trifles and pretend that there is no problem.

2. People «if». Projection is something that has already been mentioned earlier. If, yes, I would, and so …

3. Adrenaline junkies who proudly consider themselves anti-crisis leaders. Until it crashes, I will not do anything, and then, as a student, everything is at the last minute.

Procrastination, in my opinion, comes in two forms. Moreover, both of them are not inferior to each other in terms of population coverage:

1. Household — postponing current affairs.

2. Global — postponing vital decisions.

The second form is, of course, heavier. In fact, people put off life until later: changing jobs, professions, places of residence, resolving personal conflicts. Despite the understanding that it is impossible to live like this, the fear of change wins over the desire to become happy. A swamp is better, if only not to break the usual course of things … Or let someone do it for me. But this situation requires separate consideration, later, in other chapters.

Let’s move on to the first, everyday, Oblomovism. We endlessly go to the doctor (my problem), do not keep our promise to go to the skating rink with the child, do not draw up documents, driven by a natural feeling of hatred for bureaucracy, and realize that there is no visa when the holidays are already on the nose … The face of a traffic cop constantly makes us aching melancholy due to a failed technical inspection or lack of insurance. And so on… The list can be a lifetime. After signing the contract for this book, I bought 10 notebooks and 10 pens (I write in the traditional way, since the computer keyboard somehow suppresses inspiration), put the notebook on the table and decided to write a plan. Since taking a cup of coffee and writing a plan, it’s been … how much do you think? Month! But once I start, I can’t stop. What to do? How to overcome the psychological barrier on the path of accomplishment?

Someone wrote to me: “SOS! Help! The third year I can not finish painting the wall in the apartment. I painted three, but didn’t manage to finish the fourth, and now it’s been three years, and the wall hasn’t been painted yet.”

Well, what can I say? Let’s move from the simple to the complex, from the pleasant to the most unpleasant things. You can torture yourself with a wall, or you can offer to paint it in any manner to friends or children for your birthday, as well as combine going to the skating rink with chatting with friends. Similarly, shopping for household items at IKEA, a cup of coffee, and lunch with a girlfriend is more enjoyable than spending a Sunday afternoon getting a reluctant husband involved in the household. But putting the whole family in order in a library or photo albums can be a creative home holiday.

Now about the unpleasant.

Documents, visits to doctors and other nasty things should be distributed over one or two weeks, interspersed with regular business. Record all this in a two-week schedule by day and hour. Then write down these days and hours on reminder papers and hang them on the refrigerator, computer, in the toilet, in the bathroom on the mirror. Brush your teeth and read, and remember … If you live on a schedule, then postponed actions will be done by inertia. You, like a train, stand on the rails and pass all the stations on your way. I already mentioned that I hate going to doctors. The pause can last more than a year until I choose a day and time and enter it into the schedule for the next week. And about a miracle! I finally reach the station — the doctor’s office.

Your main enemy in the fight against procrastination is imitative employment:

• walk on the World Wide Web;
• hanging in LiveJournal;
• party glamorous flashing;
• TV;
• cinema (my case).

You don’t have to give up all of this. Being a slave to your recreational habits is a wonderful outlet, and that is the freedom to live your life the way you want. It’s just that all types of “hanging out” must be limited in time — well, for example, no more than two hours — and painted interspersed with business.

So, the art of dealing with procrastination is to maintain a balance between:

a) do not do today what can be put off. Solve problems as they come;

b) Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

The key is to plan your life for a short period: a maximum of two weeks, a minimum of one. Planning for a longer period is useless, even harmful. You torture yourself with your perfectionism and you will not be able to calculate the situation, because the era of change does not imply unchanged conditions of existence.

Now let’s move on to time management. How to get on track with your schedule and stay free?

Timing — operational schedule of life

The French eat by the hour. No lunch at a strictly defined time — no business. Americans are workaholics. But on Friday in the summer already from five in the evening on the golf courses.

We are not hedonists or workaholics. We are not free, we are loose. We live one day, we do not return calls, we easily take this word, we are always late everywhere and always, we walk irresponsibly, we live restlessly. Such a country is at high risk. Maybe we are not to blame, but something needs to be done about it. An astrologer once told me that the secret of my success is a combination of discipline and a free spirit. Beautiful phrase. Here is my recipe for success:

1. I have a schedule for every day. This schedule takes into account all my professional and personal affairs, entertainment, long-postponed events (see procrastination). It outlines the time and place (I don’t have an office) with minimum traffic, traffic, and the physical condition of the client (i.e. me). Therefore, I am not late, and if I do it, it is on purpose (see «Sex in big politics» and «Success (success) in the big city»).

2. Pleasures, hobbies, family — as they say, everything is included. Even when I was a minister in the government, the fitness club was strictly twice a week, and it was fixed in my schedule on a par with a meeting with the prime minister.

3. The agenda and week is built with prioritization. What’s most important, what’s less important, etc. Hobbies, kids, sports, dates, haircuts are just as respected as work. They are almost equal. But the party, flashing on television — how it will turn out. Going to the cinema, opera, etc. — everything is included in the schedule.

The main thing is not to concede in optimization, adhering to the principle: everything can be done in time! I’ve been living like this for the last 15 years and have time. Discipline and freedom are the slogan of modern man. Down with the workaholics, long live the enlightened professionalism of life!

On this optimistic note, we can move on to the topic of reboot, that is, getting rid of overload.

Reloading

Time management has another side — I want everything at once and now. Workaholism torments the spirit and the body, gradually turning the big world into a tunnel, even with light at the end. Endless busyness kills the soul. It is impossible to constantly pump muscles, both intellectual and biological. The brain gets tired, and the personality becomes dependent on the habitual. Everything non-standard leads to a state of stupor, inertia suppresses and wins. At this point it is useful to recall the mentioned “controlled indifference”. How, after all, to remove the overload and give yourself a rest, regardless of the vacation or weekend? After all, even a perfect computer “freezes”, and to restart it must be turned off from the network.

Full shutdown will be discussed later in the chapter on life. And now let’s try to figure out the current unloading.

During my odyssey in the federal government, I risked dying from my discipline, trying to fulfill all the instructions of the two vice-premiers, the government apparatus and the prime minister. Instructions rained down like snow on their heads. Their mass corresponded to the mass of meaninglessness generated by the lack of competition and the professional need to make a profit. I understood this very quickly, but it did not become easier from a deep thought about the fate of the bureaucracy.

Help came from a compassionate colleague. The secret of bureaucratic unloading turned out to be extremely simple and therefore ingenious: you put all the instructions set out on paper (there was no electronic government in 1997) in a desk drawer, preferably the bottom one. If the order comes again, you can proceed to action, and if they call on the phone for the third time about it, you must urgently fulfill it. Eighty percent of all cases fell away safely.

Do not forget! In state institutions, not all orders must be fulfilled. Relax and stay professional, not a fussy straight-A student.

Now let’s move on to private business, where the current unloading is more difficult, especially if you are a leader.

Until recently, business stars, coming off only on Friday late in the evening (at two in the morning in the center of party Moscow — traffic jams!), The rest of the time they led everyone and everything to exhaustion, not having a vacation for years. But gradually the situation began to change. Owner-managers began to search the market for extra-class top managers. The headhunters gleefully rubbed their hands. Finally, there was a demand for managers, as the owners wanted to swim, travel to Africa and Tibet, draw, dance tango, watch art-house movies and have fun in the theater, and not just “walk your wife” to pretentious premieres. Books on how to spend as little time on business and as much as possible on pleasure have become bestsellers.

Hired managers, too, in turn, began to think not about the amount of income, but about the quality of life, and not only after fifty, but already about thirty. They began to try to regulate their schedule based on time-costs, and it worked!

How? A person gives himself the installation:

1. I don’t want all the money in the world, I want just enough of it so that managing it doesn’t take away the pleasure of living from me.

2. I surround myself with professionals who are able to make their own decisions and take professional responsibility for them.

3. I distribute responsibility and risks horizontally and vertically.

4. I create a system for monitoring the performance of the company and people.

Goal: minimum expenditure of personal time and maximum profit! Here is such a paradox.

This model is good in constant mode. There is another, it is used by many freelancers (players in the stock and currency markets, financial consultants): I worked for two or three months, the same amount — creative recreation (travelling, sports, philosophy, meditation, hobbies).

But what if you are a hired middle manager? Chiefs over you — darkness, and subordinates — zero.

The first rule: when signing a contract, you evaluate the compliance of the position and schedule not only with your ambitions, but also with your lifestyle. Before agreeing to a full-time or part-time job, evaluate your life priorities: the need to exercise twice a week, take a vacation with a child in the summer, attend painting classes, dance classes, and so on. Theater, books, music, movies — everything can be done with proper time management (see above). But there are activities related to the need to coordinate with other people. You are not a Hollywood star to have a home trainer, massage therapist, nutritionist, cook, dance teacher, music teacher and so on. Income is not the same! So choose. If the main thing is money and a profession, this is one story, if the quality of life is another: then try to moderate your ambitions and NEGOTIATE ON THE SHORE. Include everything you can in your contract or negotiate verbally with your superiors.

The second rule: constantly monitor the effectiveness of your work. The task can be solved by sitting at work until night, or you can organize the process in such a way that you can safely go home at the scheduled time. The main thing is not the result at any cost, but the result with minimal time spent:

result + min time = your sports club!

Remember this.

The third rule: people who want to reboot qualitatively and systematically look for and find work with the appropriate rhythm. Whom to be — a corporate employee or a freelancer? Important question. Test yourself and don’t give up. We will talk about this in the next chapter, since the question is directly related to the topic «Leadership».

And the last thing: how to reboot right at the workplace in order to prevent the brain from “boiling”?

• Close your eyes and switch off for at least two to five minutes.
• Ask the authorities to hang darts on the wall and periodically throw darts at the target. Switches consciousness very well.
• Five to ten minutes to listen to music from your mobile phone in headphones.
• Go outside for five minutes and «breathe» another space.
• Don’t skip lunch and dinner. Do not discuss gossip, do not get involved in disputes, but eat alone or with a very calm colleague. Avoid noisy «talkers» — they will completely load your brain, however, just like acid melancholics. Love yourself and use lunch to consume not only your daily bread, but also cosmic energy. Oddly enough, even in the Big City, she is present everywhere, the main thing is to understand where she is hiding.

And the last thing: if a hot time comes, when questions and tasks are pouring in from all sides and you are pulled, bringing you to hysterics, do not hysteria! We repeat the exercise:

• deep breath, closed eyes, exhaled, calmed down (2 minutes);
• figured out the sequence of doing things in accordance with priorities (2 minutes);
• methodically, step by step, they did everything, well, or not everything … Everything that was possible was postponed until later.

I remember how Deputy Prime Minister A. Zhukov, when he was a deputy and chairman of the budget committee, at the height of the adoption of the budget, when everyone was in a fever, calmly played chess and managed to do everything!

That’s how we protect our hard drive and get closer … well, of course, to LEADERSHIP!

Chapter 2. Give leadership

Where to begin

The concept of «leader» awakens the imagination, drawing, depending on our age and temperament, a variety of seductive pictures. As they say, who is in what much. Young people see themselves as Keanu Reeves in a chic office somewhere on the 65th floor overlooking Manhattan, sorry, the Kremlin, but without problems with the temptations of Lucifer in the face of Al Pacino. Those who are older sigh, imagining themselves in a large gilded office, at a long table in the manner of those who stand in the White House or the Kremlin. Silent people see how they break the applause on the podium of conference halls, and reflective ones see how the crowd in the desert listens to them … And me? Well, in different ways. In my youth, I did not try on the image of a leader, believing that this was a package for another product. And then somehow it shot up, right up to the president of Russia. Wake me up at night, I could issue the entire program of my presidential decrees with my eyes closed, as if under hypnosis.

And now — what does it look like now, after changing a huge number of cabinets? Now I recall Peter Heg’s novel «Silence», the reflections of a hero who asked the Almighty not for new notes, but for the opportunity to play beautifully those that already exist. «I am a musician. I made a deal with the Supreme. About playing with all the keys. And black too.

Leadership is the ability to play the game of life as intensely as possible, realizing that it consists of white and black stripes. In essence, people are divided into two groups in their attitude to life: those who are an instrument in the hands of others (they are in the majority), and those who play themselves. And everyone is happy and unhappy in their own way. Such a division is proved by many psychological games, the essence of which can be reduced to the following: if you keep a certain number of people in isolation, then in a week 5% of those who begin to organize life will be revealed. If you separate these 5%, after a week another 5% will be revealed — and so on up to 20% with a gradual decrease in the level of activity. But it won’t go beyond 20%. The remaining 80% will not initiate anything and will wait for outside help.

So where does leadership begin? What is the secret, where is the key that opens the door to the big game of the powers that be? I think the key is in the state of mind. Leadership is a feeling of pleasure experienced by a responsible egoist from owning his own game — first of all with himself, secondly — with the outside world. The principle sounds very simple:

• I own myself;
• I create the world in myself;
• I own the world.

Let’s, starting from this, answer a very Russian question: who is the boss in the house? Implying under the house own soul. If you are ready to answer this question: “I am!” — then half the work is done. Write on a business card: «Profession — leader» — and go!

PS Just do not forget: you will also be responsible for this answer, and not parents, bosses, subordinates, traffic cops, politicians, and so on … according to the list.

Tuning Tools, or Psychological Leadership

So, we agreed: the leader is not the one who is the most charming, the most charismatic, the most talkative, the most professional. Leadership lives quieter, more modest, in the back room of our ambitions, on the door of which hangs a sign «Responsibility». Moreover, the area of ​​the room is limited so far by the scale of our personality and has nothing to do with the UN meeting room. Although it is not yet known what is more, since in the matter of self-realization of the personality there are, in fact, no boundaries at all. But more on that later.

The room is distant, unloved, we rarely go there, and to settle there is quite a problem. I don’t want to take responsibility for my life, it’s easier to make claims to others, easing the soul with subjunctive moods or mentoring reasoning.

The second thing I propose to agree on or just take my word for it: leaders are not born, more precisely, they are not necessarily born. Anyone can become a leader, even the most insecure person. The main thing is to get angry with yourself, having reached the handle, say “I want” and take the first step, which, as you know, is the most difficult. So:

• be angry at yourself, not at the world around;
• convert positive anger into desires;
• take the first step;
• act to fulfill your desires.

I was the classic ugly duckling: miserable, helpless, friendless, a perpetual loser. She wrote decadent poems, about which, as a 12-year-old teenager, she told her only friend — a diary.

But then the desire to change prevailed. Become the leader of your life. Soon the opportunity presented itself. In Artek, I joined two other guys and we organized an escape from the camp in protest against the drill. And they won! We took a risk (although our parents could have been kicked out of work, us out of school), took responsibility and ran away. The drill is over, and self-confidence and new friends have appeared.

With this first step, my long journey to myself began, which continues to this day and, I hope, will not be interrupted in the near future. Why? Because it turned out that going to oneself is the most interesting thing in life, cooler even than speaking at the UN General Session — I once received this honor.

• the leader is the master of his own self;
• the leader is ready to take responsibility for his life;
• the leader is ready to take risks and achieve results;
• a leader is one who understands that there is no other way out but to become a leader.

If it doesn’t work out right away, you don’t have to tear your spiritual bonds — you can join another leadership at the first stage, and then gradually gain strength. The main thing is without fanaticism, as my friend says when he goes down the blue slopes, being a master of sports in alpine skiing. Only “dummies” prove something and hurry, and the players form the mood, and then calmly act in harmony with themselves.

Principles of formation of the leadership «I»

The first principle: non-resistance of laziness by violence. Which does not mean, of course, likening Ivanushka the Fool or Emelya in anticipation of a miracle stove or a miracle fish, it does not matter — golden or pike.

The art of a yachtsman is not only to fill the sails with the wind, but also to lower them in time or even go to the port to the parking lot when it is stormy. Life is not a competition, but a beautiful piece of music, and the frequency of the alternation of forte and piano depends on you. By tuning in to your tune, trying to feel yourself, you will quickly understand when to slow down and pause, and when, picking up luck, rush in full sail. There is no trend — step back, there is — take risks, and luck will come.

By the way, it looks like a game on Forex: leaving on time is also an art. When I left politics in 2006, many did not understand me. I had a clear answer to the journalistic “do not leave politics”, the philistine “feared”: “My trend in politics is over.” But it turned out that such an explanation does not work for one simple reason: apart from athletes, no one understands this principle. Often the fear of the new is stronger than the desire to be successful. The main thing is to hold on, but not to risk. No problems. But it’s there — in 80%.

The second principle is to combine intuition and logic when making decisions. Hearing what you «feel» is as important as hearing what you «know». Working intuition allows you to use the entire keyboard of your instrument. Overwhelming logic makes you not a musician, but an elementary school student stuck on basic exercises. So the leader:

• saves energy and saves the brain;
• does not beat his head against a blank wall;
• turns on intuition and changes life in time.

It remains very simple — to become an intuitive leader. But is it possible to develop intuition if it is not there by nature?

Intuition — methods of development

Actually, there are three methods:

1) the method of switching consciousness;

2) the method of expanding consciousness;

3) method of thread interruption.

Russia is notorious for its enthusiasm for blackouts. Polite and boring Europeans and oriental autists watch in amazement as a Russian tourist whoops around on everything that moves, both on the mountain and on the sea. And in a nightclub, he quickly moves from the sullen scanning of dancing to the ultimate relaxation as a result of the consumption of megaliters of alcohol. One can understand the national “we live together”, because that is how we live. The country is risky, unpredictable, aggressively uncomfortable, but beloved, temperamental, in general, dear. Understood and forgiven…

But the switching of consciousness, the expansion of consciousness is not ours, unlike nations that live from visit to visit to a psychoanalyst (USA) or absorb the ability to meditate with their mother’s milk (Japan, China).

Ours is not ours, but without intuition you cannot live in a country of complete chaos. Another thing is that we need to adopt our tradition and try ourselves, easily and naturally, to develop in ourselves what allows us to move through life faster, more efficiently and more fun.

Why switch consciousness? Once, when I was a deputy from the district in St. Petersburg, I had a chance, but very significant meeting with the director of the Institute of the Brain, Ms. Bekhtereva, now deceased. A wonderful Petersburger, a scientist, she invited me to her home, gave me tea with jam and slowly explained the nature of the subconscious and intuition. Without mysticism and other nonsense. In fact, she answered the question of one of my friends. The question was childishly naive and wise: if the human brain is involved in 5-6%, then why in the process of evolution the remaining 95% do not die off? At first I was confused, and then continued reasoning. The man of the future should in this case not be an egghead, but a walking lizard? A heavy big head is that — in reserve? For a rainy day? How is our reserve fund? The crisis of civilization, and the brain will work at 100% and save humanity? And while we live in an economical mode? Or does it still work all the way, just modern devices do not pick up these signals?

So, Mrs. Bekhtereva opened my eyes. The subconscious mind works on the same principles as the conscious mind, only faster and more systematically. The subconscious mind can pick up patterns of a higher order and is ready to produce a result. But that’s the problem, there’s nowhere. All cells of consciousness, as they say, are overbooked. Everything is filled with rubbish. If they are cleaned, then the subconscious mind will push the solution into the free space, and from there we can easily pick it up. And in order to “clean” your head and use all the possibilities of your brain, you must periodically switch your consciousness to something else, more creative, and free it from schemes, experiences and everyday life. So:

• clean the mind;
• use the subconscious
• the whole brain works;
• we get a solution.

Now let’s figure out how to do it. There are two ideas.

Idea № 1: we go back to childhood.

Once, after a TV debate, a psychologist approached me and sympathetically advised me to do something that develops fine motor skills. “Remember, the pediatrician probably told you: “Develop the fingers of the child, there is future intelligence.” By doing something with your hands, you:

a) relieve stress

b) develop intelligence;

c) rest

d) find new solutions.

I am an oriental person and I act according to the principle of «information — analysis — implementation».

So, the information was received, the analysis led to a sad conclusion: I don’t like sewing, knitting, painting pictures is ridiculous, however, just like portraying a sculptor. What actions? None. We opened our eyes and ears wider and catch the signs. You will not believe! Caught … six months later. A friend got stuck in the store and finally showed up, happily carrying a Chinese brush in his hand. What followed was a funny dialogue.

Me: Brush?

He (with pride): Yes!

Me: For what?

Him: For Chinese calligraphy.

Me: Can you?

He: No.

Me: Will you study?

He: No.

Me: Why did you buy it?

He: Very beautiful.

I am beautifull?! (I look.) Precisely, beautiful. (The heroine goes to the store and buys a brush.)

So I started doing calligraphy. Black ink and the technique of writing the hieroglyph turned out to be close to me. Even the blots were pretending to be works of art. You sit, write a hieroglyph, for example, “happiness”, and your consciousness completely switches to it, unnecessary thoughts go away. If before that the necessary decision did not come, and the mood was lousy, then after an hour peace of mind sets in, and later the decision is thrown into an empty cell, and most often not banal.

Idea № 2: we turn to art.

I don’t want to be a boring teacher and encourage you to read fiction books and watch classic movies. Once I watched our channel, which works for the outside world, where all the hits of Russian television were collected: serials, talk shows, humor, and so on. By evening, my head was like a suitcase, ready to burst from the junk loaded into it. What is the consciousness — the subconscious! You dumb down at cosmic speed and fall into bed as if you worked in a mine.

The publishers say that the novel as a genre exists only thanks to women, however, like the melodrama in the cinema. Serious cinema, not even the notorious arthouse, has no chance of survival — they do not watch it in cinemas. Wives pull their husbands to the theaters, but they rarely succeed, with disputes on the verge of scandal. And then the “Misters of the Middle Class” complain: where is my intuition?! Why do they tell me that I am uncreative, boring, and in general: why is it really boring? It is not possible to catch a new trend, to catch luck and in general to live somehow more fun and easier. More fun and easier — later. But more creative … I will give an example.

We were renovating the apartment. Two years. Horror. And finally, the finale — just about you can move. I hate to arrange the nest, but, apparently, age took its toll, and I wanted to decorate the apartment with my own hands, where my husband and I allocated a lot of space for the library. Brown. In a dark tree Cozy and Victorian solid. Everything is finished, it remains to accept the library made by our carpenters. Joyfully, in anticipation of moving and meeting with English design, I entered the living room and was stunned. The library was green! I will not describe our dialogue, words are still not enough. But the dry residue of hope did not leave: nothing can be changed. You can destroy everything, wait another three months and pay exactly the same amount.

In a state of complete desperation, I went through all the options, up to selling the apartment, since the library was more like a kitchen set, and money and patience ran out. And then I got tired and decided … what? Switch. I staged a film with my beloved Malkovich. A beautiful psychological thriller. The action takes place in Venice, in a magnificent palazzo. The hero (Malkovich) adores his young musician wife and gives her a XNUMXth-century harpsichord. I immersed myself in the film, forgot about my grief for a while, but hung a note in my head: I need to find a solution with the library. And suddenly I notice that the harpsichord is green and the walls in the palazzo are green. And everything is worthy, good and beautiful. And why? Because old. I was thrown out of my mind! At two in the morning, I called an artist friend to find out if it was possible to age multilayer paint and how much it costs. It turned out that it is possible, and if you hire students, then inexpensively and quickly, in three days. Which is what was done. The acidity and fantasy of the students did their job: the streaks turned the popular kitchen into a wonderful atmospheric library. All gloss and specialized design magazines noted a successful find in the form of an aged green texture. All: The problem has been resolved. The main thing is to watch a good movie in time, or read a good book, or … — well, you yourself already know everything, I will not repeat myself.

People often ask: what about sports? I think that sport does not switch consciousness, as it requires a huge focus on physical effort. Switching involves relaxing and connecting with someone else’s imagination in order to awaken your own. This is how new ideas are born that have nothing to do with logic.

Now about the expansion of consciousness.

One of the pillars of Japanese business, a very successful entrepreneur who created the energy empire of Japan (a country, I remind you, energy-dependent), Konosuke Matsushita, in his master classes, which are more like poetry seminars than training, tirelessly repeats: expand your consciousness if you want to be successful businessman.

And that’s it. And no explanation. As a matter of course. Like, we all know how to expand our consciousness, we just do it every day along with exercises. Famed American director David Lynch joins him in his book Catch the Big Fish. The artist and the businessman, both at the top of their game, are talking about the same thing. There is reason to think.

So, how to expand consciousness? How to play all the keys provided to us by the Universe, how to strengthen the spirit of an independent creator of your life? Let’s start with the very concept of «expansion of consciousness».

It was introduced into wide circulation in the 1960s, during the era of the sexual revolution, by drug lovers. With the help of grass and chemistry, people tried to let space into themselves and fly away. It is clear that, with the exception of a certain number of professionals, the rest flew away forever and ended their lives in tears. But the idea remained. How to let the big world in without aids? How to catch the elusive — the breath of the Universe, your own destiny; how to become free, easy and at the same time … successful?

It turned out that this is possible. Perhaps if you decide to be in those 20% leaders of your destiny. Moreover, the fate that you felt and therefore did not spend a lot of time and effort going against it. Everyone has a chance, the main thing is to catch it.

We agreed: to expand consciousness means to let in the Universe.

But first, let’s open our minds. We are all the result of an informational genetic code, upbringing in the family and school, our education and standards of public opinion. Gradually, we develop a strong opinion about everything, we stop looking for other answers, we kill our curiosity, close our consciousness, turn it into a narrow corridor, dark, with powerful walls, where the sounds and smells of the big world do not penetrate. We do not hear, we do not see, we do not feel, and at the same time we supposedly know what is good and what is bad. And we die… being alive. Living corpses. If this state suits us, if we are warm and comfortable in the “I know everything, this is clear, this is right, and this is wrong” cell, then it is better not to read this book further. If we are charged with positive, active doubt according to the formula “Yes or no, or maybe,” then we will continue and try to destroy the walls of the corridor, let light into it.

My experience is interesting, but there is another.

I know a lot, but the world is wider than my knowledge.

I am able to be equal to the world.

You can negotiate with the Universe, the main thing is to be an interesting conversationalist.

If consciousness is open, now it is quite easy to expand it. The methods are very simple. Anyway, that’s what I do.

Consciousness expansion methods

1. Expand the circle of acquaintances (not necessarily friends), including people of creative professions. Call them to talk about what is closer to them, and listen carefully. Without even knowing it, they can give you a bunch of tools to solve your problems. I have a friend who goes with a guide to Tibet four times a year. You can say to yourself: “This is not mine” — and in a secular way, talk about nothing. And you can “get hooked” on a person and get from him a piece of what he experiences. And that’s it. Nothing else. But someday this foreign note will play in your part too.

In my youth, as a student, I accidentally got into the company of interesting people much older than me. For ten years, the girl was silent, listening, at first passively, and then doing everything to become an interesting object and subject of communication. This experience actually shaped my approach to life. Expand your consciousness every second effortlessly. Someone else’s experience, the experience of another world is more accessible outside the walls of classrooms.

2. At least once a year to travel outside the tourist flow. There is, of course, a certain excitement of an amateur in staring at another masterpiece in a crowd of tourists, ticking off visits to museums and cathedrals. Or rattling your boots in line for the lift. Or lie down like a seal on the beach, breathing in the side of your neighbor. Family holidays require absolutely justified sacrifices. But for the expansion of consciousness, silence, nature and loneliness are necessary. This is the only way to catch the breath of the Universe: in winter — on the seashore, in summer — high in the mountains or in wild places where no tourist has set foot. The big world requires self-respect, personal attention, a pause in your run through the big city. And then he will open the door for you. I already wrote that the emerald eyes of a red frog allowed me for almost two years to easily, without tension, defeat even the most aggressive and unpleasant opponents in debates. It was placed on my arm during a stop after a grueling journey through the jungle of Borneo, warning that the red back is poisonous. Without squeezing my palms, I looked into wonderful green eyes, and she carefully, somehow not like a frog, looked at me. Something elusive arose between us. And then the princess spread her legs and … flew away. Yes, it flew away in the truest sense of the word. In the jungle, most of the inhabitants glide with membranes. Such is the flying impenetrable world.

It was then that the idea occurred to me that in the concrete jungle of big cities it is easier to fly than to drive or walk. The simplest thing remains — to grow wings, well, in the extreme case of a membrane.

And finally, about the method of interrupting the thread …

Thread interrupt method

Recently, hiking in Tibet and the Himalayas has become a craze. For esotericism — to Tibet, for views — to the Himalayas. Many of my friends, having spent a lot of time on exotic tourism, enthusiastically told me about their reincarnation. They were enough for a month or two, and then the city absorbed their fragile new souls, dooming their victims to the eternal service of vanity. The mentioned friend does not count. This is a special case when everything is very serious.

So, how to arrange Tibet in the soul without spending a lot of money and time? How to break out of the flow, pause, catch your breath and catch the signals of your subconscious? The method is very simple: the already mentioned method of interrupting the flow if the flow is negative for you. But don’t forget to pause if it’s positive or neutral.

Well, for example. Nothing works out for you, your actions to achieve the goal all the time run into some random, but objective obstacles. Well, no luck, the stars do not help. If you’ve honestly tried everything already, that means you’re out of your flow. Just step back, lay low and watch. It is not necessary to betray the dream, but it is better to hold it on a long leash. Let him take a walk. Your intuition will suggest a non-trivial solution, you just need not to beat your head against the wall and wait for your flow, your stars.

And if everything is on the rise, do you feel like an alpha male (or female) and puff at full steam? You still need pauses to understand how to keep the flow, how to move on. Pause, silence, loneliness, disconnected phone — at least once a week. Just one day and not necessarily a day off. Do you feel tired, your head swells, there are no new ideas? Stop, get off the «train» at the first «station». Think in silence — in the country, just in nature, at home, when no one is around. Be silent, take up a hobby, art (see above), and a new vision will appear. Previously, I was afraid to interrupt the knurled course of daily affairs and was tired to death. The lap running classic was my government job in 1997-1998. After retirement, I learned to calmly take my time and accurately catch the moment of entering the game. That is how the decision came to return to parliament — already a party leader, and not alone. Which is what I did in 1999. Try it: at first it will be scary, and then you will like it, you will gain a great sense of freedom. Here is Tibet for you — free of charge, at any time.

Losers, outsiders, outcasts

Now the reader will exclaim: “You are talking about leadership, so what do losers, outsiders and outcasts have to do with it ?!” Wait, let’s figure it out.

outsider — an outsider, in sports — the last;

marginal — a person who found himself outside his environment, outside culture, outside society;

loser — a failed person.

Modern interpretation on the Internet:

outsider — a genius or psycho. Outsider art is in vogue. Dmitry Bykov believes that the outsider is watching the fussy fight. A very comfortable position. Kind of on the hill.

Marginal — the borderline position of a person in comparison with the dominant group. Outcasts — a group of people who reject the values ​​and traditions of the culture in which they grew up (hippies, radical political opposition, alternative underground culture).

Loser — the concept of consumer society; a person who has not received a salary increase for a year, or according to Moscow (not according to European) concepts — those who travel by metro, or, according to the developer Mr. Polonsky, who does not have a billion (everyone laughs).

What? What happened? Why have meanings changed so much at the turn of the century? I think due to the defensive reaction of society to money as a criterion for success. Everyone is tired and fed up. We are still running along this path, but with less and less enthusiasm. And then Confucius whispers: “When paths follow under heaven, be in sight, and if there is no path, hide. Be ashamed to be poor and humble when there is a way in the country. Be ashamed to be noble and rich when there is no way in it.

Here it is — the secret of Chinese success!

Why am I all this? And besides, if you are a leader, this does not mean that you are the richest or most famous. It means you are the happiest without being a fool. Satisfied in the broadest sense of the word. I am satisfied with myself — my world — the outside world. «The world is what I am,» as the Indian sages said (read David Lynch). Creative individuals often do not fit into the schemes built by the consumer society, but at the same time they are happy and indifferent to the secular clichés of dividing society into the main and the marginalized. By the way, it is often the latter that are the engine of progress, the rest recycle the products of civilization. The world can be a supermarket where you strive to buy everything. Or it can be a boundless space in which you are looking for your place.

So the leader:

• seeks himself, and does not copy others;
• develops intuition;
• creates strong professionalism.

Speaking of the latter, it’s time to deal with business leadership.

business leadership

One day, over coffee, one of my husband’s business partners mentioned an artist friend of his who was fond of philosophy and systems analysis. I immediately pricked up my ears, because subconsciously I trust more people with imagination. If the latter are trying to figure out where civilization is heading, then, due to the lack of professional knowledge, they include not boringly worked out models of political economic theories, but a lively sensitivity to the inexorable movements of the Universe. Perhaps the most striking example is the amazing ability of Leonardo da Vinci to see the future. So, a partner’s friend identified three stages in the development of any society: turbulence, statics and dynamics. It sounds somehow, frankly, uncomplicated, but I, a candidate of economic sciences, got stuck. The conversation about the high soon ended, and everyone switched to business, and I went home, thinking deeply … Later, adding up the intuition of the artist and my boring academic knowledge, I deduced a certain formula for leadership in business, taking into account the modern trend of world development. Still, compilation5 is a great thing, for nothing I wrote my dissertation. Joke, of course. Own research also took place. I honestly analyzed my experience and the experience of the entrepreneurs around me. And that’s what happened.

Characteristics of the global trend

Stage I: turbulence. Characterizes a society in a state of destruction of old and formation of new institutions. It looks like a valley of geysers: sometimes it gurgles, sometimes it explodes, it’s dangerous to walk, because in the truest sense of the word you don’t feel the soil under your feet. Nothing to rely on. All countries of the post-Soviet space, including primarily Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, are going through a turbulent period. That is why the notorious stability is so coveted — everyone is just tired.

Stage II: static. Institutions are formed and ensure the stability of the system. There is an evolutionary progressive development of the economy and political systems. A classic example is the countries of the European Union. Tired of the consequences of the First and Second World Wars, Europe has created its own contractual model of coexistence and successfully does not rush anywhere, does not take much risks and is gradually expanding.

III stage: dynamics. The system, having mastered all the institutions, strives to become global leaders, making various leaps and breakthroughs. Who immediately comes to mind? Of course, China, India, Brazil and the most inconvenient but powerful center of the world economy — the United States.

But no matter how different all national models may be, they are connected by an ocean of globalization, which also experiences both calms and storms, like the recent global crisis. We all probably felt the breath of the restless elements of the world market. It seemed that globalization was subordinated to the most powerful financial institutions. An no. Everything happened quickly, unpredictably and mercilessly. And let down just man-made financial institutions. No one could predict anything, and it became scary. The element of the market sweeps away everything in its path no worse than a tsunami. There is an increase in turbulence in the global trend due to:

a) the complication of financial speculative transactions;

b) the emergence of new players and the redistribution of the economic order (China!);

c) aggravation of competition between commodity and non-commodity players.

Conclusion: the global trend lies beyond the limits of knowledge with the help of traditional tools. The era of «Great Chaos» is coming — an order higher than that which we are able to analyze. In Russia, the situation is further aggravated by imperfect and transitional national institutions.

Double turbulence. The megabytes of information pumped daily into our heads does not help. Horror! Well, was it scary? However, as they say, there is a way out. In the new conditions, you can become an effective leader. The main thing is to rebuild the individual leadership institution in accordance with new challenges. Be appropriate to them.

Leadership in the conditions of stable economic growth is based on three elephants. Here they are:

• responsibility;
• communication;
• professionalism.

Everyone knows this. And what is the basis of leadership when it is constantly shaking and it is for a long time? Optimists, of course, can live in the hope that soon everything will return and the rain of abundance will continue to rain down, moistening our ambitions. But I, a realist, have a suspicion that the world economy is becoming more and more like a cauldron in which soup is brewed not according to book recipes, but absolutely spontaneously. And someone throws spices there, just without thinking about what happens. There is no specific plan, as long as it is tasty. There was only one question: whose taste will be delicious? ..

Leadership in conditions of instability

Of course, we understand that in today’s business environment, the listed elephants need to acquire new skills, otherwise they will not survive. Moreover, it would be good to increase the family by two more individuals, one of which we have already devoted a lot of space in this chapter. My conclusion is this: a leader is able to penetrate the highest essence of an unpredictable order at the expense of five — attention! – five main qualities:

• intuition;
• responsibility;
• ability to take a hit;
• communications;
• professionalism.

We have already discussed intuition, professionalism is not even worth discussing. It is important to be imbued with one simple idea: on the growth of the economy, intuition is a bonus, that is, without it you can live on one salary, with the exception of playing in risky speculative markets. In conditions of turbulence, intuition is the same tool for making a profit as a stove or a hearth for a cook, and not painted in Papa Carlo’s closet, but as it is real.

Responsibility

It is clear that one of the causes of the global crisis was the total irresponsibility of representatives of big business. By building financial pyramids, entrepreneurs actually removed all risks from themselves. We take out a loan, we expand, we repay the loan by taking another cheap loan, and so on. Banks were happy to throw the seeds of financial and mortgage schemes into fertile soil, earning superinterest. And everything collapsed.

Conclusion: the volatility of the global situation requires the leader to return to a more conservative movement. Today, cautious developers include in contracts a rate of return of 4–6%, a maximum of 10%, and even then, if there are huge turnovers. And 25% is already adventurism. Everyone understood that less is better, and they professionally rejected triple-digit, and sometimes even double-digit yield growth. Somehow sleep is so calmer, and I want to live longer and be more insured in case of market crashes. The miser, of course, pays twice, but the greedy loses everything…

So, in unstable times:

responsibility = conservatism + rejection of excess profits.

An outraged business leader, I’m sure, will now yell, “Wow! But what about the law of the market: maximum profit is an indicator of efficiency! This is the main motive for the movement of capital — read Marx, comrade author! I read Marx, but the national flavor of Russian business led us far away not only from Marx, but also from all other main world roads. We are being shaken across the virgin lands of the market with our kickbacks, concepts, bureaucracy, irresponsible greed, total distrust of everyone to everyone. As a result, we are sinking deeper than all developed and oil-producing countries in the global crisis. After all, not a single forecast for the passage of the crisis by Russia tangentially came true, the immune system did not work for an external virus, the body turned out to be sick. That is why other tools to cover the resource gap do not work. Only loans or government loans. That is why, hating the government, everyone is trying to hang around it, dreaming of making more cheap irresponsible money. That is why the model for distributing risks and obtaining investment funds through partnerships is developing with such a creak. One very well-known recruiting company (the so-called headhunters), in the wake of the crisis, expanded the partnership from three to five people, adding one working partner and one “sleeping”, that is, not working for profit. As a result, quality and financial resources have been added. But this company:

a) transparent;

b) refused state finances and, accordingly, corruption;

c) innovative, with proper management of human resources and distribution of functions between partners. No one interferes with each other and provides synergy.

The crisis was successfully passed. But these are the minority. Russian business owners, for the most part, walk around with a sign «I’m in charge, the company is me, I’m the owner, I turn whatever I want.» So they drown in their shtetlness.

• responsibility;
• risk reduction;
• risk sharing through partnerships.

One day, a Swedish company distributing economy-class information products in the Russian provinces invited me to give a Leadership master class in Sochi. The audience is typical – regional top managers, 400 people. The company went through the crisis well, did not cut staff, kept sales, did not get entangled in debt. What’s the secret? Among other things — in the details. I noticed that representatives of the leadership from Sweden were flying with me on the plane from Moscow, whom I only learned about when we arrived at the hotel. Why? Because I traveled in business class, and they traveled in economy class, I went through the VIP lounge, and they traveled in the usual way, I rode in a Mercedes, they were on the bus. And all cheerfully, benevolently. Having paid a fee, they also presented an iPhone. Here it is — Swedish socialism in action. We reduce costs, but do not raise prices, we do not pursue super profits, we protect people, we save on bosses, that is, on entertainment expenses. These are not our super offices, Cadillacs, 10-star hotels, when the corporate cash desk is a personal wallet, and an advance payment for work is another reason to satisfy personal Wishlist.

Responsibility = exclusion from the cost of «immodest expenses».

Do not confuse the image of the company with your own desires.

keep hitting

Resilience is a more popular «training» buzzword. But it seems to me that the concept of “holding a punch” is wider, more powerful and more accurate for a leader who holds the business under any circumstances. You can be stress-resistant and take positions. You can endure small adversities well, but not withstand a serious collapse. The ability to «take a hit» is not a property of temperament, and it does not depend on willpower. This is a philosophy of life. A person who takes a hit is confident in himself and in the rightness of his cause and fights to the last. Like an athlete or a person in an elevator. I got stuck in the elevator twice: once — in Cannes, the other — in Moscow. In France, the French pressed the call button and negotiated with a voice from the outside world. And then they quietly waited. I also calmed down, but since there was no time, I began to look for some special buttons. And found. And pressed. And the elevator went. The second time, already in Moscow, I pressed all the buttons, but, of course, I did not hear anyone in response. Then she calmed down, remembered all the films with similar scenes and forcefully pushed the doors. Holding the gap between the doors with my foot, I pulled the handle and opened the second door, as the elevator was stuck, having moved only a little. And she went free.

It’s the same at work. Even if tomorrow there will be a nightmare, today there is still time, the main thing is to calm down and look for a solution. During the crisis, in fear and hysteria, many fired the best specialists, or adopted erroneous survival tactics, or surrendered to the raiders and actually killed their brainchildren themselves. How, in this case, to find new customers, restructure debts, keep the team, negotiate with the bank? How is communication changing, what art of negotiation should be mastered, how to build creative teams? More on this in the next chapters. What are we all about leadership? .. In the end, everyone wants to be effective, including ordinary performers.

Chapter 3. The Tao of Communication

social communication

It’s good to have the Internet! You can hate people and, hiding behind any virtual mask, water them, especially unloved ones, in the tail and mane. And you can, with cheerful irony, as Dmitry Bykov once did, dedicate an ode, for example, to Khakamada and thus show yourself at the same time. You can shoot a one-minute short film with a master class in one phrase and send it to YouTube. I tried it and I liked it. And you can also search for friends on the Internet, sit in forums and, for any reason, reach the handle in creative self-expression. Everything is possible, and without leaving home, from your “I”, shabby jeans or a dressing gown. Uncompromising and relaxed. Moreover, now the majority of users, including my advanced girlfriends, prefer, even while in Moscow, not to make phone calls, but to write SMS. And how convenient it is to express feelings for the opposite sex in writing! You can write something like that — wonderful, subtle, kind, because the object is not present alive and it’s not scary! Yes… Creativity! If you are not a blogger, you are finished, life is wasted. Get inspired and write.

It was harder for us at the time. My half-brother, who lives in Tokyo, first came to Moscow when I was 12 years old. He began to learn Russian at Moscow State University and tried to establish contact with me. But my jaw cramped from embarrassment. I just nodded my head and remained silent. So he left, deciding that I was dumb. And I was not dumb, just social autistic, silent. For me, talking and communicating was like jumping into ice-cold water — scary and painful. And if there was the Internet, I would instantly tweet something, and at the same time download the Beatles, well, I would take advantage of all the other benefits of the Network.

After the departure of his brother, off and on. Due to the lack of communication skills in the ninth grade, I broke up with the boy, then I did not pass the interview at the Institute of Asian and African Countries of Moscow State University and almost flunked the session in the first year of the Peoples’ Friendship University. Luckily for me, a kind professor came across, who put a “5” in advance and advised me to start talking, otherwise it would be a disaster. «When?» I asked. «Tomorrow,» replied the professor.

I am a Japanese person, tomorrow means tomorrow. My heart was pounding in my throat, even my ears were sweating from fear, but I began to stretch my hand in class and speak. And I did it, no one can stop now …

So, why did I suffer in vain? Does the information age free us from the need to communicate skillfully? Does the classic formula developed in the business West back in the 1990s: “100% success = 80% communication + 20% professionalism” no longer work? It wasn’t there! Everything is relevant, and even more so in an era of instability. And even more so in Russia — a country of paradoxes. On the one hand, everything is built on personal relationships, and not on the law, on the other hand, the majority does not know how to build these relationships. Gloomy salespeople in stores, bosses who strain everyone for any reason, rudeness and aggression in the back — all this can only be justified by a lack of sun. We have everything with too much: either swindlers who will talk to death, just to swindle on something, or annoying «baiters» who, in their simplicity, are worse than swindlers. But balanced communication helps to manage a business, find orders and customers even at the bottom of a crisis, catch signals of the future from smart interlocutors, communicate with smart people, make worthy people of the opposite sex fall in love with you, start a new life with new partners and friends. Do not list everything. And all this in the real world of feelings and energies. There is no living human energy on the Internet, it is not even transmitted via Skype. The world is diverse, and each resource is unique.

Well — persuaded? Then we went to master the resource of communication with people in the flesh and blood. With the living. I did it, and you can too. The main thing is to reverse the usual conditions of the task: to be able, to know, to want. In this case, the key is to want, and opportunities and qualifications will quickly appear, just like driving a car. So:

• the initiator of communication should be you, not «uncle»;
• need tolerance for others, do not dwell on yourself;
• everyone has problems, not just you;
• turn on the interest in people.