Are all leaders billionaires and are all billionaires leaders? Is wealth always a symbol of success? Can you teach yourself leadership qualities? How can we overcome the fear of uncertainty? What is vision and how can it help us to grow the size of our company’s capitalisation 30 times over? In an interview with Kommersant UK, Oleg Konovalov addressed these topics. Konovalov is a distinguished professor of macro management, renowned global business thinker, experienced mentor and consultant, as well as a senior coach and author of several books, including The Vision Code, which is a guidebook for creating a company's vision.
Why do you prefer coaching rather than developing your own profitable business?
I worked in the fishing industry for many years and I have owned companies in Russia and Britain. However, the fact remains that, in any industry, you come to a certain level in your career or your income, after which a race begins in which the aim is not to become stronger, but fatter. This does not interest me. I am a business thinker, my role is to create super-solutions to serious problems. I help people to build a future that will be better than the present. I don’t tell them what to do. Instead, I encourage a new way of thinking which helps them to achieve new success. If the leaders I teach become stronger, this will affect the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. With the help of vision, company capitalisation can grow 25-30 times over compared to ordinary company profits. I have taught and certified business coaches from 40 countries, this is the market. If you can induce it to grow and direct it, then this is a serious, highly profitable business. There are only about 50 coaches like this in the world; we know each other. My clients include the US Treasury, Saudi Aramco, and Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO).
How can a company create its own vision given the current high level of unpredictability? How can we overcome a low tolerance for uncertainty?
Life itself is uncertain, as is the future, which is why most people are frightened of it. Vision is the only certainty in this uncertain future. It plots a distinct course of action. It isn’t simply a dream or an aim; instead, it is a multidimensional space in the future which is being created here and now. The industry, country, company size, age, sex and nationality of the leader are secondary. What matters is the creation of a space which will determine the market niche, ensure the subsequent capitalisation and the provision of the necessary resources for a specific business.
My first recommendation is that you should have a clear understanding of the problem you want to resolve. Vision is a concept which is often interchangeable with the idea of a promise, or mission statement. It is a functional and pragmatic idea which can remain effective over long periods. A lot is invested into a company’s vision. You have to understand that the idea is bigger than you or your company. To handle it, you have to keep constantly growing as a leader. It’s also important to learn to communicate because you need to make others co-owners of your vision so that they understand what results they can achieve for themselves. Tesla is an example of a company that uses vision effectively. This is why you never see any adverts for Tesla cars, as their creators are so good at communicating their vision that they don't need to spend any money on promotion.
The second recommendation is to think about your deepest aspirations, write down what they were one, two and three years ago and then consider what they have become today. As soon as you realise which aspirations have always been with you, you’ll start to see the first shoots of your vision. Your goals and vision should be bigger than your problems as uncertainty is a problem which has no solution. However, as soon as you develop vision, this uncertainty will become secondary. I have a clear understanding of where I’m going because I’m creating my future for myself. Everything is interconnected, so there is no need for separate visions for the family or business.
There are two factors which cause uncertainty to occur. The first is a lack of a vision of your own future, and the second is the fears that people share, which are self-perpetuating. Each generation burdens the next with its mistakes. Fear of the future sits deep in the human subconscious. Currently, it’s popular to look for answers in Big Data, but this is a great mistake. Recorded data reflect past experience and dependence on the past is dangerous. Many entrepreneurs suppose that ‘if that’s how it was, that’s how it’ll stay’. But this is wrong, things won’t be like they were.
Can you teach yourself leadership qualities if you don’t feel that you’re a born leader?
Pragmatically speaking, a leader is someone who thinks bravely. Fear is a natural quality, everyone is afraid of something, and thinking confidently is a skill. The second skill is being able to learn. A real leader is constantly learning because everything in the world is changing, so people need to improve themselves. Being a leader is not physical labour, it is rather a psychological effort as you need to work with people. Leaders need to be able to take responsibility for others. This skill is measured by how well the fulfillment of your promises meets other people’s expectations. People grow under the direction of a leader. This makes the leader even stronger. Many rulers and politicians don’t take any responsibility; they make promises and then they break them. They have leadership qualities, but no responsibility. As a consequence, instead of being leaders, they are just foremen. This is why talent isn’t the key element, as this quality can be learned.
Are all the billionaires in the world leaders? Is the size of your fortune a sign of leadership qualities?
First of all, money does not determine how you think. Secondly, money is the result of producing value. On this basis, billionaires can be divided into two categories. The first is those who have earned their own billions by creating ideas and value. These billionaires leave behind an inheritance. They don’t talk about money. Instead, they decide what the future will be like and then they create it and lead people towards it. These are the billionaire leaders. The second category is rich people who satisfy their egos and ambition at the expense of others. They never lead and they do not create value. They are only concerned about money, of which they’ll never have enough. I wouldn’t call these people leaders. Many people measure success by the size of your bank balance. For me, success is the short-term result of a long-term effort. It’s short term as, for example, my achievements today may not be relevant tomorrow, just like old money saved up over the generations in a family which no longer plays a particular role. If we take a look at the list of billionaires, of which there are only 2,700 in the world, we’ll see that these days, it’s people who create value who are becoming rich. Amongst them, for example, there are quite a lot of people from Arab countries (the UAE attracts talent from all over the world). These people will leave an inheritance for future generations.
Which British business people of Russian origin impress you?
I don’t know, because I haven’t had the experience of working with them. Bank balances don’t impress me. I have experience of the mistakes people make, whether they’re of Russian origin or not. Prior to meeting them, my initial impressions, based on the person’s reputation, may be good, but when I see them, my feelings may change entirely, if rather than explaining their vision, they only talk about ambition. This is why I am very careful when saying who impresses me. To do so, I need to know what the business person creates and what their human values are.
What advice would you give to entrepreneurs whose business has suffered due to the war in Ukraine?
Thousands of people have suffered. Not only Russians and Ukrainians but also inhabitants of other countries who in some way were connected to or worked with Russian or Ukrainian companies. But will you just put up with failure, or are you willing to get up and start again? There is a big difference. The second step is much more important. It’s essential to understand that the present is a “burning platform”, a call to action. While we’re standing on it, we need to grasp clearly what we need to change to make the future better. It’s important that what you do remains valuable for others, whatever their nationality. Your attention should not be focused on who you are now, but on who you will become.
During a recession, any businessperson must first of all…
Focus on the creation of key values. A recession is the result of the overproduction of pointless things and the excess of money that was printed to buy them. The consequences can hit all economic sectors. If a business is in demand, it will survive during a recession, but if it collapses, that means that the company previously produced goods that had no particular value. Clients were acquiring using free resources which they no longer have. In straitened circumstances, the client profile changes and the way customers choose goods and services becomes more cautious and considered. People understand what they want, so only the most important articles need to be produced. Irrespective of their problems, clients will buy these things. Looking at the big picture, strong companies have always appeared during recessions, as businesses that are successful all the time do not exist, any more than ideally healthy people. A company in a recession is like a biological organism facing worsening environmental conditions. To ensure that your company continues to grow in these times, you need to shape it accordingly.
The recession has affected my business. Previously there were many inquiries that I might categorise as head-in-the-clouds thinking (they’d say vaguely ‘We’d like to do this…’). Now, clients set their aims more carefully.
What speakers’ seminars and webinars would you recommend going to in London?
I only visit the events of speakers I know, those who can give me practical knowledge and expertise in specific areas. It’s important for me to listen to people who can help me change my way of thinking. I wouldn’t go to motivational speakers, as motivation only gives you a short-term boost. I need speakers who can give me solutions, however modest, which I can apply immediately to become better and stronger. Go to the seminars or webinars of speakers such as Roger Martin or Rita McGrath, who are the best on the subject of strategy, or to Marshall Goldsmith for tips on leadership, or Alexander Osterwalder, who explains well the topic of creating a new business, or to Martin Lindstrom, who’ll give you the necessary tools in the areas of branding and neuromarketing. I wouldn’t go to a talk simply because of the language it was given in (all the above-mentioned speakers give their talks in English). It’s not worth limiting yourself only to learning in your comfort language. That would mean only listening to experts who speak your native language, and that would stop your potential dead in its tracks.
