REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

298 REFLECTIONS ON CHARACTER AND LEADERSHIP

The New ‘ Global Russian ’ : Open to New Opportunities

New global Russians are nascent entrepreneurs — young, enthusiastic,

talented people — who recognize the opportunities the new open society

presents. This group also includes former black marketers turning to

legitimate business and children of the nomenklatura whose original

career path via the Komsomol (communist youth league) no longer

exists, but who have been able to adapt to the new circumstances. What

these individuals have in common is that they see the creation of

business as an opportunity. They know how to deal with the ‘ Wild

East ’ environment. Thriving under chaos, they are able to deal both

with long - term, discontinuous problems and with short - term, routine

problems. More achievement - oriented and focused on the success

of their enterprise, this new generation will have the drive, the energy,

and the motivation to move Russia ahead. They will be less inclined to

pass the buck — more willing to take responsibility for their actions.

The Changing Workforce

As Russian business practices have matured, so has the Russian labor

force. There are more and more individuals with Western business edu-

cation and experience, and even those with no international experience

have been exposed to Western business ideas and concepts, now included

in educational curricula at universities in Russia. As the challenges of

organizations become more complex, this growing corps of talented

young managers may become both a blessing and a curse for top

executives.

New ways of doing business are necessitating new ways of managing

talent. The leaders of the organizations that I have studied embody a

wide range of approaches to managing their human resources. Some

treat their workers as disposable commodities, while others see their

people as their most important capital and treat them accordingly, invest-

ing heavily in their training and development, both in fi nancial and

emotional terms. The very concept of human resource management is

itself new to Russia ( Jukova and Korotov, 1998 ).

Managing Human Resources

Human resource efforts in the new Russia need to respond to people ’ s

motivational systems in an effort to encourage creativity and innovation.

Better selection processes can help ambitious companies identify people

who are able to function in a market economy. Additionally, companies