She is engaged in vocals, can overcome a dangerous descent in a canoe, overcome several kilometers on a bicycle, lose 12 kg in six months and infect the whole family with her example. This is all in addition to a senior position at Herbalife Nutrition with an impressive range of responsibilities and numerous business trips. How to keep up with everything in an era of high speeds, while maintaining calm and harmony with yourself, Irina Silina told in an interview with Psychologies.
Irina, tell us about your childhood. Leadership qualities were already being laid?
Yes, probably. Sport has played a big role in my life. At the age of 6, my parents sent me to gymnastics, I almost got into the Olympic reserve. Professional sports, serious training, I think this has greatly influenced my perception of life. While my peers were walking in the yard, we ran with bricks tied to our feet. Yes, don’t be surprised, in those years there weren’t much simulators, and the coaches used bricks for weighting: such an exercise for developing speed. Climbing a terrible rope, jumping over a goat that was getting higher and higher – gymnastics taught me to overcome myself, to strive for results. Then there was a music school – another important stage of my childhood, without which there would be no me today.
I wonder how music and efficiency are connected in big business?
Music teaches you to listen to the world around you, and this is one of the competencies that has been key at different stages of my career — in the consulting business, where I worked for a long time, in the pharmaceutical industry, where I was engaged in analytics, and now, as the head of a large region. The habit of listening attentively, sincerely and naturally, listening in order to understand a topic, in order to understand it, is all a musical school. And if you treat your daily life in this way, not only music, you will be able to catch and assimilate much more incoming information. That is why I have now returned to music, my daughter and I go to vocals together on weekends.
Knowledge of foreign languages (Irina Silina speaks French, English, Spanish and German. — Note. ed.) is also the ability to listen?
Yes, and it is no coincidence that many graduates of music schools then go to foreign languages. Through music, you learn to hear and memorize phonetic constructions and can more easily reproduce the sounds of a foreign language.
How does language help in life outside of work?
It helps at home, because we communicate with children and with my husband both in Russian and in French. I’m not talking about travel anymore. Without a language is now like without access to the Internet. In addition, language is not only a means of communication, it helps to learn and understand another culture. When you interact with a person in their native language, the relationships that are built between you are already relationships of a higher level of trust and understanding. That is why I am thinking of learning Hebrew, because Israel is now part of my new geographical responsibility in the company.
Your responsibilities at Herbalife Nutrition have grown significantly in the last year. But you still find time for vocals. Planning to learn Hebrew… How?
Of course, with the increase in the volume of work, I began to be at home less. But free time, which was traditionally spent on lessons with children, on joint trips to visit, to concerts, sports, self-development, remains, I keep it very carefully.
Women often flaunt multitasking, appealing to their natural ability to do several things at the same time … Is this about you?
Absolutely not about me! I’m not a multi-tasker, it’s very important for me to stay focused on what I’m doing without being scattered. For example, I don’t even call my relatives during the day so as not to be distracted from work. They know this and do not call me themselves, unless it is, of course, an emergency. But if I am working with a child, I am not sitting on the phone at this time, trying to simultaneously respond to messages in the messenger. And I devote my weekends to my family and self-development.
Share the secret of time management!
It’s simple: you need to allocate time on the calendar and distribute it in great detail. This also applies to weekends. On weekends, as well as on working days, I have meetings and classes scheduled every hour.
Describe your typical day.
I am a lark. I get up at 5-6 in the morning. I love the early hours, when everyone is asleep and you can put yourself in order, read. When I wake up, I make myself a breakfast from Herbalife Nutrition, which energizes me in the morning and at the same time is optimally balanced in terms of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. It’s very fast and convenient. It consists of three components: Aloe plant drink, herbal drink and I do light exercises and go to the gym, where I already do more thoroughly for an hour and a half. I usually walk and run on the track and swim. In parallel with this, I think about things, plan my day. This gives a sense of inclusion. I walk on the track and send messages to colleagues in WhatsApp. When I come to the office at nine in the morning, I have the feeling that half a day has passed. I don’t like to go out for lunch, because it takes a lot of time, and the preparation of a cocktail takes only three minutes, and you do not fall out of the work process. Delicious, convenient and fast. It is important for me to finish things faster and maintain a feeling of productivity and lightness until the evening. But dinner is certainly with the family: my husband is French, and in France the tradition of gathering at the table is very strong. At dinner, we discuss how someone’s day went. We make joint plans.
How far are you planning?
Personally, I plan for 1-3 years ahead, everything else is more like a dream. Of the specific goals for the next three years – to send his son to study. For the remaining time, you need to understand what topic he will choose for himself, where he will go.
Are you going to somehow influence his choice?
No. Choosing a university for a child with the words “here is a check from mom and dad, fly!” the exact opposite of what we do. We try not to voice our point of view. He himself must decide.
But is there any way to guide? After all, after graduating from school, many teenagers simply do not know what they want …
Yes, to avoid this, you need to give the child a choice from the ninth grade. To open a “barrier” to the world for him, to help answer the question: who does he see himself in this life.
How to do it?
There are many ways. First, you need to communicate a lot to help you find your calling on your own. Secondly, you need to try specific areas of activity. My son, for example, recently completed an internship at the Moscow office of Herbalife Nutrition as a call center operator. My task was not so much to acquaint him with the activities of the company, but to demonstrate what opportunities there are now in the professional world. My son called me on the first day of work and said: “Mom, my whiskey hurts.” And no wonder, because the work of a call center operator requires communication skills, the ability to concentrate and switch to different tasks. He realized that this is hard work, and he also realized that overcoming the distance in the office, which physically separates the workplace of the call center operator and the director’s office (and this is only a few meters), takes decades in career terms … My path to this chair took 20 years.
20 years ago, were you already planning to be a CEO?
Back then, I didn’t have that problem. But ten years ago, yes.
Is it possible to become a CEO without setting such a goal?
Can. Because here the question is not so much in a specific position. I left the institute and decided that you would become the general director. It’s more about what role you want to play in life. For example, in addition to my responsibilities, I was always looking for what else I could do at a particular place in order to increase the efficiency of work. It has always been important for me to achieve ambitious results. I always liked when life challenged me. Difficult situations motivate me. If you really play the game, then play it at 200%.
Losing 12 kg in six months was also a challenge for you?
Yes, changing my lifestyle, eating habits, self-perception – what I achieved with the help of the healthy lifestyle club was an ambitious task.
Are you in the club now?
I don’t go to I regularly work with a nutrition consultant on an individual basis. Every morning I send her a report on yesterday, what I ate, drank and how much, and she gives recommendations on what exactly needs to be adjusted in the diet.
And what are the results?
The volumes have decreased, the metabolic age has caught up with my actual age – 42 years, and in fact at the start it was 59, i.e. 17 years more. The energy level has gone up.
What is it expressed in?
The need for sleep has decreased, I now sleep 6-7 hours, and before that I hardly got enough sleep for eight. I go to bed at 10–11 pm and at 5–6 am I wake up by myself, before the alarm goes off. This happens because the body receives good nutrition, but at the same time it does not need to spend energy on the processing of heavy food. As a result, there is no feeling of fatigue even with a very busy work schedule.
How has Herbalife Nutrition affected your eating habits?
I started looking at food differently. For example, she refused fatty meat, which she used to eat more than necessary. Mayonnaises or mayonnaise salads are taboo. Now in my diet there are a lot of protein foods – rabbit, turkey, fish – and a lot of vegetables and fruits. If earlier broccoli, spinach, asparagus were practically inedible for me, now I am happy to cook them myself and order them in restaurants.
How do your family members react to your changes?
They are following me. Mom has been going to the healthy lifestyle club for the second year (she has minus 5 kg), my husband has long started using our cocktails and is looking at bioadditives, my son after the last February 14 came up to me and directly asked: “What to do and what to eat so as not to be frail ? And, of course, I’m very happy about it. I never forced or dragged any of them, I just set an example.
It seems that the work in the clubs run by the Independent Partners of the company is also based on this – to show everything by personal example?
Yes. We are greatly influenced by the environment, and when everyone around you is losing weight and working on themselves, you also involuntarily join in this. And the excitement is not only about losing weight, in my experience it turned out to be not such a difficult task. It is much more difficult to keep the result and improve it. I remember how during one of the first visits to the club I accidentally overheard what the girl sitting next to her was saying to her consultant. She absolutely sincerely, without hesitation, very simply talked about her changes in a week. At that moment, I caught myself thinking: “If she could do it, then I can do it too.”
Can you give an example of one of the company’s clients who particularly inspired you?
There are many examples. Recently, at the School of Leaders – this is a special event for brand distributors – I suddenly clearly realized that the results of working on myself are not in kilograms. Incredibly beautiful people came on stage. But they are beautiful not because they have good external data by nature, but because they have worked so hard on themselves. Here is a girl in a tight dress, not thin, and the clothes betray it. But she has a great posture, a radiant smile and some incredible proud stance. But the fact is that for herself she is Miss World, she lost 30 kg! Having done work on themselves, people come out with a different sense of self-worth, it inspires them, distinguishes them, and finally makes them happy.
We thank the Imago brand for the provided clothes.