This document is a magazine from 2015 focused on women in business. It contains articles and interviews on the topics of women's roles and challenges in business. The magazine includes pieces on female executives, cross-cultural research on women in Chinese business, challenges for women entrepreneurs, and profiles of successful businesswomen. It aims to provide perspectives on what women's strengths are in the business world and how they may differ from men. The magazine has sections for experts, a young generation, and profiles of the authors.

1. zest mag
№3
women
in business
Almost Periodic Almanac on People’s
Development in Business and Other Spheres
Multilingual Development Magazine
2015

2. zest mag
almanac №3
St. Petersburg 2015

3. zest
MAG
2
#3
2015
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ZestGlobal
ZestGlobal
Zest Global
Opening Statement
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Burden of Leadership
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Myles Downey on
How People Learn, Coaching
and Women
Wonderful Women
at Work
Steve Glendinning
“Our Grass is Green. And Yours?”
On Women, Business and Many More.
Cross-Cultural Research
Ekaterina Khokhlova, Elena Morozova
Zest Partners
A Woman in Space: Man’s View.
Sergey Volkov on Women in Space
Julia Moshinova
On Women and Men
in Training
Elena Sidorenko
Female Executives
Larisa Tsvetkova, Yanina Ledovaya
Woman’s Role in Business
Julia Andronovskaya
Experts
Challenges and Opportunities of
Women in Modern Chinese Business.
Interview with a Chinese
Business Lady
Natalia Fey
The Journey is Different
Camilla Beglan
Catherine the Great: a Superwoman?
Paul Vanderbroeck
Red Dress in a Sea of Blue Suits
Elizabeth C. McCourt
Fitting in or Fitting Out?
Carollyn Roeminja de Faria
Interview with Melisa Hadenham:
a Woman in Business
Young Generation
First, You are a Human
Ekaterina Khokhlova
How to Give Birth to an Idea
the Right Way?
Julia Moshinova
5 Ways to Run Business Like a Girl
Renata Mokrova
About the Authors
CONTENTS
5
6
14
18
20
24
30
35
38
40
47
49
52
57
60
62
65
71
75
Zest Mag Team
Editor: Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Issuing editor: Ekaterina Khokhlova
Co-editor: Elena Morozova
Design and positioning by Yulia Razumovskaya
Photos and paintings by Pavel Kiryukhantsev,
Alisa Kiryukhantseva, Valeria Shadrina, Ekaterina Khokhlova,
Julia Moshinova, Elena Morozova
Zest Mag is published in Russian, English and Vietnamese.
500 copies printed in Russian.
300 copies printed in English.
300 copies printed in Vietnamese.
www.ZestLeaders.com
office@ZestLeaders.com
facebook.com/ZestLeaders
© Zest Mag 2015

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I am a feminist of a very odd type: I often
have doubts that women exist.
Nothing but the attempts to introspect into
a human nature, understand how a human
being is actually designed has been occupying
my mind for years. Sometimes the illusion of
comprehension sweeps over me, like a tender
surfy wave, and for a certain period of time
I am starting to believe that I have become
close to the essence of this interesting
matter. Although a moment later, a tsunami
called “woman” destroys everything that I
have been building so laboriously. I cannot
understand. I cannot rescue myself from this
incomprehension.
The modern world presents me more and
more new proofs that it is possible, and even
necessary, in all likelihood, to doubt the very
existence of women (although of men, as
well) and define these two human specimens
mainly as carriers of social metaroles. In other
words, a society based on the gender dimor-
phism, i.e. your fundamental biology, as early
as in your early childhood assigns you with
what is proper, allowed, appropriate, not ap-
propriate and prohibited to do. An objection
that a potential maternity, and later an actual
one, defines a lot is accepted. It is difficult to
dispute the latter. But is there anything else?
What is the situation in business?
Within the framework of this magazine we
have collected the opinions on what a woman
in a business world is, what her strong points
are, how she is different from those who are
called men. It is not a research. It is an at-
OPENING
STATEMENT
tempt to put together the views of smart and
bright people on this subject. Of course, the
views of women in the first place.
P.S. By the way, some men believe that women
are characterized by a certain car driving
style that is dangerous to others. My piece
of advice to these intellectuals: pay more
attention to how the bearers of beards and
mustaches (both of them!) drive. There is an
hypothesis that they are the most dangerous
people on the road. And what is indicative —
very few of them are women!
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
© Photo by Alisa Kiryukhantseva

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BURDEN OF
LEADERSHIP
Having climbed a summit to the top one fine
day you notice your being there alone. It is
lonely there, but there is no room for any-
body else. Certainly, any CEO is surrounded
by other people. Some of them may happen
to be regarded as to be his followers. Very
often these followers belong to the people of
his close circle, his deputies. But it does not
change much. It happens nearly all the time
that there are things which cannot be spoken
about or shared with anybody. Of course,
there are the substitutes: wife/husband,
mistress/lover, faithful friend, coach. But even
their capabilities are limited in the struggle
with your loneliness at the summit: in a room
where decisions are to be made one has to be
alone either often or always.
A leader seldom seems suffering from com-
plexes, but his complexes don’t go anywhere.
Moreover, they work in his favor and make
him overcome them. They turn a shy clam
into a brilliant speaker. They make a brave
fighter of a frightened shaking coward. Any
complex is a natural generator of energy. And
leadership requires a lot of energy. Maybe it is
not the only source of energy, but in any case
if it stops functioning, its effect should be
compensated by something else. Pulses flash
in the mind and beyond it: “I am the first”,
“I am a leader”, and “I am the best”. It’s
already a complex of superiority that starts
working, which is the reverse side of what
just used to be an inadequacy complex. The
greater is the success, the higher are the
expectations and the more energy is required
to maintain the status quo. Complexes do not
surrender easily; they keep consolidating at
higher and higher levels. A charismatic leader
gets mad or falls into a depression because
somebody didn’t love him enough. An intellec-
tual leader gets wild because somebody dared
to doubt the very foundation of a concrete
idea expressed by him. A leader will have not
only to take his complexes into account but
also even to cultivate them from time to time.
Once upon a time many years ago I had to
quit my job as a deputy CEO of a large retail
network. Prior to my departure I stepped in
to say goodbye to the CEO who also was the
network self-perpetuating owner. During
those couple of years that I spent in the
company we had become friends, therefore
our last conversation, a conversation of
former friends, had all the chances to become
sincere and interesting. In the course of our
brief dialog I asked my vis-a-vis with whom
he would be able to have a full-fledged and
open conversation in the future. He replied
by asking me a question himself: “What is the
purpose of talking to God?” That guy was a
very smart person and an extremely talented
entrepreneur, but a scab of godship had al-
ready encapsulated his restless soul. Those
whom nature or fortune granted significantly
more than the others become seriously de-
pendent on it. If it happens to a person early
in his life, it is particularly hard for him to
overcome the illusion of godship, and in case
it takes the acute clinical form, an illusion of
messianism.
Each of us gets leadership at a different price, provided that we aspire to it, of course.
However, one can assume that this price is always significant. Generally, being a leader is
burdensome. Let’s consider what leadership in business implies. For convenience let’s take
a figure of a CEO whom we usually attribute a need to be a leader. With a bit of exagge-
ration I, myself, call them “leadership nightmares”. I believe that there is a certain set of
such “nightmares”.
A leader will have
not only to take his
complexes into account
but also even to cultivate
them from time to time.
1 Loneliness
at the top
2 Inferiority
(inadequacy)/
superiority complexes
3 Burden of success/
fooled by godship
Author: Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Managing partner and founder of Zest Leaders
Country of residence: Russia.
Countries of current work/business projects: Russia, Vietnam, China, South
Africa, Great Britain.
Current area of activity/business: Complex systems of development for
leaders, teams and businesses.
© Photo by Pavel Kiryukhantsev

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portunity. Having resolved to whitewash the
reality you can quickly lose your link with it.
Since, on the one hand, without a clear picture
of what is going on you lose control and, on
the other hand, those who surround you are
often ready to add illusions to your picture
of the reality, particularly the illusion that
you are strong and, apparently, invincible.
Leadership is discrete and inconstant by its
nature, just as are those whom you regard
as your followers are inconsistent and ready
to betray you. You may not only be mistaken
about who they really are and what exactly
makes them be your followers, but also about
how long they will follow you.
You better not have any hopes that any
memory about you as a leader will persist
unchanged after your leadership will come
to an end due to some or other reason. Here
the important ones are not only those who
followed you, but also those who would come
after them and those who will replace the
latter ones.
Who was Aleksander Nevsky, a hero or a
monster and an exterminator of the Russian
people? Who actually introduced the Euro-
pean idea, Pseudo-Demetrius or Peter the
Great? Did Khrushchev blood his arms up to
the elbows or only up to his phalanxes? What
about living former and current leaders? Is
Lee Iacocca a savior of General Motors or its
destroyer and a puffed up peacock? Or is he
somebody else? Is it possible that someone
remains in the people’s memory as a per-
sonality with integrity and ultimately fair
image? The latter is not necessary, of course.
But still, the simplest thing, “Will you remain
in people’s memory or will time make you bite
the dust?” is also your leader’s burden.
It is impossible not to like your job, as, appa-
rently, billions of people inhabiting this world
do. But, thank God, usually it has nothing to
do with a leader. For him a burden turns to be
something else — adequation, identification
of himself with work. Constant thoughts about
work, a burden of responsibility, overcoming
difficulties, convincing others how important
the work is and, finally, love of what he does.
All the above brings a leader to the situation
when the boundaries between his own “Ego”
and work blur, and identification of himself
with work happens. As it was determined by
the applied psychotherapy long ago, the very
thought that “I must” is not only irrational,
but at a certain level it becomes ruinous to
both your life and your personality. Besides,
for some leaders it may form into impostor
syndrome, which is a characteristic for worka-
holics, when a subconscious fear that you are
not the person you pretend to be makes you
work eighteen hours a day without affording
yourself days off or holidays. It is also sad
that due to the above life bleaches and your
beloved ones suffer, and even the strong ones
get burnt in this fire. It is also sad that it
eventually would hamper your efficiency.
Business is full of risks and dangers.
Some of them are external and some rest
inside. They are followed by fears, real and
imaginary. They deprive you of comfort, they
are omnipresent: it takes them no effort to
spend with you the whole day, penetrate your
subconscious mind, make you sleepless. The
easiest way to impair them is to keep being
optimistic, add bright colors in the picture of
the world and business, close your eyes. How-
ever being a leader you don’t have such an op-
4 Identification:
«I = Work»
(in the acute form —
impostor syndrome)
5 Open eyes
and fear
6 Followers as traitors
(discreteness)
7 History perverts
memories about heroes
For sure you are not the only leader in this
world. And it is almost certain that there is
somebody stronger than you. And in the busi-
ness world this somebody might once express
an interest in your business, your followers
and the field where you reign supreme. It
may be unpleasant. Painful. Deadly. This is
something you have to live with, with these
meetings and the thoughts about them.
8 Meeting other leaders
(including those
who are stronger)
9 Life in a material
world (imposed
gauges of success)
Leadership is discrete
and inconstant by its
nature.
Business can be assessed differently. However
the first thing we do when we valuate it is
checking how much money it generates and
for how much it can be sold. If you own and/
or manage it, then it is also a valuation of
yourself and your leadership. In business, key
assessment has a material nature. No matter
how beautifully a narcissistic leader paints
his feathers, no matter how bravely a warrior
leader sacks fortresses, no matter how sweetly
a manipulative leader speaks, almost always
he would be drawn to earth by the material
results assessment. But the most unpleasant
thing is that at the same time such an appraisal
might not be deserved. You may just not have
enough time. You may achieve a mediocre
result under intolerable circumstances. A busi-
ness may be tiny, but last for ages. One should
be ready that the current number will be above
all, and it may be intolerably unjust.
Comments on the article “Burden of leadership”
© Painting by Valeria Shadrina. Oil on pasteboard

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COMMENTS
2. Inferiority (inadequacy)/superiority
complexes:
The word combination inferiority (inadequa-
cy)/superiority complexes evidently will remind
you of A. Adler who introduced it.
According to the theory, as long as we live we
compensate both serious shortages of some-
thing and possible traumatic circumstances
that make for them. As the result of the com-
pensations our virtues and advantages emerge.
Our parents help us to switch on such compen-
satory mechanisms, too. For instance, my mo-
ther who was school’s head of studies couldn’t
even imagine that I could get marks other than
perfect ones. I became not only an excellent
pupil, but also a head of the group, school’s
standard bearer, successfully participated in
a variety of extra curriculum activities.
I might as well get a swelled head and get
encapsulated into scab of godship. I was saved
from that by being in an exciting friendly cre-
ative environment that embraced great future
artists such as L.Dodin, S.Solovyev, S.Landgraf
etc. who were then students of gorgeous peda-
gogues.
To me it was very interesting and useful to read
this article. It was becoming more and more
powerful with each new statement. Is leadership
worth fighting for? I am more inclined towards
intellectual leadership, experts’ leadership.
Although I am aware that such leadership des-
tines a person to be only a well-paid employee,
in fact an intellectual day-labourer. Of course,
such a person is not a slave, but not a capitalist
either. Those who want to be capitalists might
need leadership. I think that those who feel
capable to successfully fight all the nightmares
should give it a try.
I would like to comment on three assertions
that seemed the most convincing to me.
6. Followers as traitors (discreteness):
I agree. Leadership is similarly capricious and
fickle as love.
What is the way out? Leave first.
Listen to the Duke’s “La donna è mobile”
(“Woman is fickle”) from the opera “Rigollet-
to” by G. Verdi.
7. History perverts memories about heroes:
It is true, we know nothing about leaders. I
lecture and train in leadership at the Stock-
holm School of Economics. The next session is
tomorrow. I anticipate that students would ask
about famous historical personalia, like what
kind of leaders they were? My answer would be:
we know nothing about either Lenin, or Stalin,
Hitler, all the more so, about Suvorov or Stoly-
pin. Only fragmentary information, reflected in
somebody’s mind and frequently deformed by
memories and censorship is available for us. Stu-
dents would sadly agree. Since I started working
in the leadership field I have not been able to
find at least one historical or a modern lea-
der. Well, maybe Churchill? But nobody already
knows anything about him, too.
What is the way out? Let’s drop the idea to write
scripts of our lives for our descendants.
As Marcus Aurelius said: “Do what you ought,
come what may”.
8. Meeting other leaders (including those who
are stronger):
Everyone has to live with it. At any time some-
body could claim your territory.
What is the way out? Be unrivaled and needed,
as long as your powder casks are not empty.
You will find a new pasture for yourself!
Listen to the aria of Figaro from the opera
“The Barber of Seville” by G. Rossini.
Elena Sidorenko
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, senior lecturer (docent) of the social
psychology department of the Faculty of Psychology at Saint Petersburg State
University, associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Russia,
Zest Leaders partner
Larisa Tsvetkova
Head of the center of expertise at Saint Petersburg State University, prorector
of biology, history, psychology and philosophy studies of Saint Petersburg State
University, professor of the social psychology department at Saint Petersburg
State University, doctor of psychology, the first vice president of the Russian
Psychological Society, Zest Leaders partner
Comments on the article “Burden of leadership”
© Photo by Ekaterina Khokhlova

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1. Loneliness at the top:
One feels more alone at the summit, I agree
with it. The extent of hardness greatly depends
on a concrete personality. I think that many
leaders would say that there is a lot of posi-
tive about this loneliness. To me loneliness in
this professional occupation is associated not
with negative emotions, but rather with the
moments when I may restore and accumulate
energy and ideas. To me much harder are the
contacts which are sometimes inevitable and
don’t generate neither ideas nor energy and
money, but are just a waste of time — the
most valuable and irretrievable resource. Well,
let us be even more alone then!
6. Followers as traitors (discreteness):
Followers-traitors and crippled memory about
heroes represent two related subjects. I think
most leaders face these phenomena to some
extent at different stages of their life. From my
point of view the best approach is just realizing
that people who evaluate your contribution
anew after you leave and create new idols for
themselves simply look forward, not backward,
adapting to new realities. It is an important
1. Loneliness at the top:
Indeed, from time to time successful execu-
tives and leaders have to face loneliness. Many
of them make the next step searching for their
equals. A model of elite membership clubs is
not new. In Great Britain until now there are
select clubs for the elite where not a single
pronounced word would leave the fireplace
room. Expensive education at EMBA level is
also a kind of a club where one can solve a
longstanding corporate problem, discuss new
market and industry trends, detect a similar
case and ask for advice from people of your
level. Certainly, even in such environment it is
not possible to share everything, but a format
of a select elite club or community helps
a person to resolve a problem of loneliness,
although in part so far.
4. Identification: «I = Work» (in the acute
form — impostor syndrome):
Social networks are over-stuffed with advice
“how to find yourself and do what you like”.
Since recently at least 6-10 books have been
published which are dedicated to the search
for the sole occupation that will transform
Anna Izmailova
SSE Executive MBA, Ph.D. in Pedagogy, head of the marketing and sales
department at Stockholm School of Economics in Russia
Ksenia Sosnina
President of ‘International Paper’ in Russia
a hobby into a job and vice versa. And if there
are those who have already found and happily
submerged in the beloved process, let’s be hap-
py for them. Certainly, a balance between work
and such things as family, travel, pleasures is
important, but if a person lives in a state of
a flow, maybe it is worth waiting for where it
will bring him or her. I know several examples
that give hope that there can be a happy out-
come. For instance, Natalia Shtaltovnaya lives
and works in Kiev. In her work Natasha follows
a principle: give birth to a startup, obtain
a result and enjoy yourself. She has success-
fully invented, implemented and increased
profit of several Internet projects, such as
maanimo.com (finance and insurance), and
now she is a producer of a TV-show called
Heads & Tails.
I have always been amazed by her persistence
working on a new project and devoting to it
all her free time, day and night. But upon the
completion new countries and horizons —
the Maldives, Cuba, Egypt — would be waiting
for her. Maybe it is her formula of happiness.
Everybody has their own formula. The most
important is not to forget what enables your
energy and drive.
human virtue and generally it works for the
good. Very rarely (if ever) a contribution of
the greatest leader in history happens to be
univalent and unconditionally positive. Leaders
experience vivid moments when they achieve
a result, recognition and success, and this is
their significant reward.
COMMENTS
Leaders experience
vivid moments when
they achieve a result,
recognition and
success, and this
is their significant
reward.

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P.K.: Is there any difference in how men
and women learn?
M.D.: In truth I don’t know so I can’t really
comment, but I have to think that they do.
P.K.: Is there any difference between good
men and women coaches?
M.D.: It is generally accepted that the ‘male
energy’ is more task focused, more transac-
tional, more solution focused while the ‘fe-
male energy’ is thought to be more relation-
ship focused, more process orientated.
I say male and female ‘energy’ because I
notice that men can demonstrate the more
female behaviours and vice versa. And there-
fore I am suggesting that these energies will
show up in coaching and a male coach will
tend to be more transactional and focused
on results and the female coach will have
more attention on the relationship and,
arguably, more attention on the nurturing
aspects of coaching such as personal deve-
lopment, more so than performance.
That said a “good” coach should be able to
provide the support that the player (coa-
chee) needs.
MYLES DOWNEY
ON HOW PEOPLE LEARN,
COACHING AND WOMEN
This question didn’t come to me by accident.
I know a prominent and recognized guru of
coaching who evidently lacks the ability to lis-
ten to the others. Besides, he is guilty of being
prone to intellectual competition which in my
view is also almost a contraindication
to working as a coach.
For me it is much easier to settle for observing
a trainer delivering a communication training
who is unable himself to provide a high-quality
communication or a leadership trainer who has
no leadership traits rather than to observe
a coach who is unable to listen.
P.K.: Have you ever thought that a woman
coach could suit this or that player better
than you?
M.D.: Yes, but not often. And the question is
well worded because of the word ‘suit’. There
are few ‘absolutes’ or unbreakable rules in this
area. What matters is that the player (coa-
chee) and coach are the right people to do
the job — on a case-by-case basis.
A competent coach can create sufficient rela-
tionship with almost anyone so in most cases
it should not make a difference. In therapy
this can be a very important question but we
are dealing with different kinds of issues in
therapy and the gender of the therapist might
be important, for instance if the client has
issues with a parent it might be important
that the therapist be of a different gender
than the client.
Coaching is more transactional and these
issues are less likely to arise. As an example of
an exception I would be careful who from my
team I would put in front of a senior manager
who had an aggressive management style.
Sometimes a female coach may be best because
she might occur as less of a threat but, equally,
a male coach might be better at keeping a con-
versation practical and unemotional. There are
no rules here and I would want to take account
of the specific individuals involved.
P.K.: How can it be that a famous and
acknowledged coach is at the same time
a person unable to listen to others?
M.D.: First, it would be my guess that they
are not actually coaching — they are pro-
viding something like advice, or leadership.
Something like that. It is impossible to coach
without listening. And I would then offer this
as an hypothesis for their success. We live in a
very uncertain world — and many people hate
uncertainty.
To such a person a coach who comes with
questions feels more of a threat and less of
friend. Someone who comes in with certainty
and ‘an answer’ is much more welcome. In
certain circumstances such a person can be
very useful but prolonged exposure leads to
the player becoming disabled.
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Managing partner and founder
of Zest Leaders
COMMENT
Respondent: Myles Downey
Country of residence: United Kingdom.
Countries of current work/business projects: UK, Belgium, South Africa and
Botswana (with IDM Business School), Russia and Vietnam (with Zest Leaders),
Norway.
Current area of activity/business and position: Director of Myles Downey
Ltd (providing leadership and performance coaching); Director of Enabling
Programmes Ltd (Enable is the first automated coaching system designed to
improve the performance of corporate employees); Director of The School of
Coaching International) providing coach training and leadership/management
training. Director of Zest Leaders UK; leading the Enabling Genius Research
Project; writing ‘Enabbling Genius’ (publication date November 2015).
Author of ‘Effective Coaching’ and of ‘Effective Modern Coaching’; founder
of The School of Coaching in 1996 (the first institution devoted to training
in coaching); creator of the first automated coaching system: Enable —
coaching for the many not the few, affordably.
The interview with Myles Downey to be continued on the next page
Interviewer: Pavel Kiryukhantsev

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P.K.: What have you learned from women?
M.D.: Our workplaces are open to all kinds of
disruptive and damaging behaviours — po-
litical in-fighting, bad-mouthing others, bully-
ing. Most of this shows up when there is a
difference between one person and the majo-
rity. You can quite often see these behaviours
being visited on women in the workplace. One
of things I have learned from women is a qui-
et resilience — the ability to let minor slights
go by and to keep focused on their own goals.
P.K.: What have women learned from you?
M.D.: I am answering these two question
from my role as a coach and coach trainer.
I think that I have been helpful to some of my
female clients in helping them retain their
sense of who they are, and yet finding ways to
get ahead in the organisations in which they
have worked. And to operate then with what I
would call integrity.
P.K.: What could be a reason for a man
to become a coach? And what are the rea-
sons for women to choose this profession?
M.D.: Of course any answer I give to this and
the other questions here are so generalised
as to be almost worthless. However there are
some bad reasons to become a coach.
A large number of men that I know who are
or have become coaches do so either out of
a desire to “give something back” — where
they have experience — or live out a desire
to “make a difference”. There is of course
a real danger here in that in both cases the
coaching is not in service of the player and
their needs, but rather for the gratification
of the coach. The same can hold true for
female coaches of course.
I notice in the profession of coaching that
there is a disproportionate number of female
coaches. At a recent ICF conference the
women outnumbered the men by at least 10
to 1, if not more. And I think that the profes-
sion has become overly feminised, too much
about development (nurturing), and too
little about performance. This has me wonder
whether a need to nurture might be a driver
for women more than men. But I am wonde-
ring about this — I have little evidence.
P.K.: Have you and your player ever
switched during a coaching session from
searching efficiency to romantic relation-
ship with a woman? What happens next?
M.D.: I met my wife on a tennis court where
I was the tennis coach, so I am either a good
person to ask about this, or a bad one! That
said we have been happily married for 23
years.
Such a thing can happen. The intimacy of a
one-on-one conversation where it is safe to
speak about oneself, the projections of the
player onto the coach can be powerful. What
happens next is very simple — there is a
choice. You can’t have both a romantic rela-
tionship and a professional coaching relation-
ship. And once such feelings are acknow-
ledged I can only imagine that they are almost
impossible to put away so in almost all cases
the coaching relationship must cease.
One of things I have
learned from women
is a quiet resilience —
the ability to let minor
slights go by and to
keep focused on their
own goals.
P.K.: Is there any difference in how men and
women learn?
S.G.: I am not aware of differences, my view
is that humans learn in similar ways and the
inherent means by which they assimilate
knowledge is the same. There may be some
gender differences in learning during social in-
teractions between people of the same gender.
Men typically are comfortable speaking and in-
teracting in certain ways with their male peers,
and similarly for women. But this is because
at the extremes, men are men and women are
women. Overall however, I believe that humans
are wired to learn in the same way.
P.K.: What have you learned from women?
S.G.: Women have taught me to be aware of
my maleness. And they have softened me
in my approach to the world. While I like
to believe that I manage men and women
with the same respect and patience, women
tend to invoke a greater sense of rationali-
ty from me. Perhaps it is because I am less
STEVE GLENDINNING ON THE SAME MATTER
consumed by the egocentric nature of male
interactions?
P.K.: What have women learned from you?
S.G.: I believe many women have discovered
their confidence by working with me. I tend
to give high positive regard to all people in
allowing them to always find their high ground.
In a working world that is still predominantly
male, I would hope that women I have led and
managed have learnt that they can be of equal
if not greater value than men in business, due
to their natural qualities inherent in being
a woman.
© Painting by Pavel Kiryukhantsev. Oil on canvas
Women have softened
me in my approach to
the world.

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An increased focus on women in business has
raised a number of questions about whether
there are differences to men in business.
I have spent all of a 25-year business career
in the company of women. In fact more than
75% of my staff of 70+ over the past 5 years
has been female.
Also, as a pilot flying both fixed wing and he-
licopters, I have experienced first-hand the
increase in the number of female pilots in the
aviation sector. Of the 5 helicopter instruc-
tors I have trained under, two are woman.
In both of these environments, if there is
a difference between men and women, I
hardly notice it. The women I have worked or
flown with are as competent or better than
any man involved in the same activity, in
every sense. Or should that be… the men I
have worked or flown with are as competent
or better than any woman involved in the
same activity, in every sense. Gender is sim-
ply becoming less and less of an issue.
In business the performance outcome is not
dependent on whether it was achieved by
a man or a woman, shareholders tend to re-
cognise only the quality of the achievement.
In aviation, the male or female pilot is re-
quired to conduct exactly the same pre-flight
inspection of a complex, often large aircraft,
while the Pilot Operating Handbook does
not recognise race or gender. The operating
procedures remain the same irrespective of
the person applying them.
But one cannot get off the hook that
lightly — surely there are differences?
Both of the worlds I have referred to above
are less physical and predominantly more
cognitive and skills based. Perhaps in certain
occupations where physical attributes are
more important (many sports, or hard phy-
sical labour) women are less likely to
compete directly, but in all professions
requiring intelligence in problem solving,
decision-making, logical analysis and inter-
pretation, research, use of fine motor skills
and so on, in my view gender equality rules.
Am I still not off the hook; are there
differences?
Well, secretly, I find working with women
wonderful! They can be intolerant and they
can be overly competitive with other women
(I have certainly had to deal with my fair
share of cat fights in the workplace), but
somehow there tends to be a greater urgency
to get things done than men. While that may
seem a huge over-generalisation, women do
seem less consumed by the ego-syndrome so
typical of many men, and more invested in
the quality of outcomes. This may well be the
same instinctive investment a woman will
apply to a child from the moment of pro-
creation, bearing the responsibility of
a quality outcome.
In the same way a woman assumes primary
responsibility for nurturing her child into
the daunting and often unfriendly world, it is
likely she also draws on the strengths inhe-
rent in that process to manage her presence,
place and contribution in the working world.
It’s a kind of responsible determination.
Also however, I have experienced the mature
softening of personality on a return from
maternity leave, motherliness, but certainly
no less determination to succeed. Perhaps
Author: Steve Glendinning
Country of residence: South Africa (South African and British citizen).
Countries of current work/business projects: South Africa, United States,
United Kingdom, Russia.
Current area of activity/business and position: Group Human Resources
Director for Mr Price Group, a South African fashion value retailer.
Master’s Degree in Educational Psychology, studied at Harvard and INSEAD
business schools; has held senior executive positions in a range of industry
sectors; four years consulting with Deloitte and independently for two years
in numerous international locations; areas of expertise are in organisational
psychology and development, and executive/business coaching; has developed
own enterprises and many entrepreneurial projects.
WONDERFUL
WOMEN
a little more emotionally vulnerable, slight-
ly distracted, but generally more firm and
directive.
Wonderful women at work can be powerful
forces for change. I believe adaptability
tends to be quicker with women, while the
resilience of a determined woman in the face
of change resistance is a valuable charac-
teristic in the workplace. I am sure it is this,
amongst other factors, which is behind the
rise and rise of modern, working women into
positions ofleadership.
Maybe there are differences, but if
so I’m not too consumed by them.
When my first female helicopter
instructor jumped in alongside me,
I recall feeling a touch of curiosity
within myself about the pending
experience. As if there was something
different going on! But in the air the
passion was the same in both of us
and we were equal. Well… she was
a very much better pilot than me,
so not entirely equal, and she was
my teacher.
Most of all, she was just another
wonderful woman at work.
AT WORK
Conclusion:
Wonderful women at
work can be powerful
forces for change.

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Our respondents live and work all over the
world, in Russia, USA, Germany, Great Britain,
China, Vietnam, South Africa and the geogra-
phy of their birthplaces is even wider, includ-
ing France, Ireland, Italy and even Chile.
Respondents’ average age is 32 years, the
spread being from 22 to 52 years.
Average professional experience — 11.6 years
(from 3 to 27 years).
“Our grass is
green . And
yours?”
Studying a variety of women’s routes in business we, together with Zest Leaders’ team, decided
not to limit ourselves by putting together only articles and interviews, but to make our maga-
zine really lively and conduct a cross-cultural research. Our goal was to ask women all over
the world what the purpose of their work is, what their dream job looks like, what and who
inspires them and helps to move forward, and many other things.
Besides, we have asked some questions on statistically important data: how many hours per day
and week women work, how often they work overtime (or even have an open-ended work day), and
if there is a difference in pay compared to their male colleagues occupying similar positions.
ON WOMEN, BUSINESS AND MANY MORE
CROSS-CULTURAL RESEARCH
Countries
of residence
32% – Russia
8% – China
6% – other countries
6% – Italy
5% – Germany
5% – USA
5% – Great Britain
5% – Vietnam
28% – South Africa
These women work in absolutely different
fields, from finance to HR, consulting, and
jurisprudence.
We came to a lot of interesting conclusions,
and are very grateful to our respondents
for the time they have devoted to us, and their
sincere and extremely diverse answers.
We asked one of our favorite questions
“What for?”, i.e. “What do you work for?” and
received a wide range of answers.
Our ladies work:
Because they like their jobs,
Because they want to obtain independence,
including financial,
To develop themselves and advance,
To build a career,
To make this world better,
For acknowledgement, communication,
interaction with interesting people,
For self-realization.
22 years
3 years
52 years
27 years
32 years
11,6 years
Researchers:
Ekaterina Khokhlova
Elena Morozova
© Photo by Pavel Kiryukhantsev

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anonymous quotes. For your convenience we
split them by subjects: on the difficulties re-
lated to gender issues; on gender inequality;
on the importance of work and carrier in life;
on the concept of “having it all”; on women’s
looks in business.
The toughest thing I had to face — a dis-
crimination based on both gender and age.
Advice — clench your teeth and keep going.
Men have their own caste. Advice —
work hard. Listen attentively.
A woman faces constant gender chal-
lenges and violence of different level of
cruelty. The only defence is demonstration of
male qualities and mandatory visual perfor-
mance using nails, teeth and poison.
Advice: don’t think about it and don’t
pay any attention to it, advance no matter
what and preserve your professional easiness
interacting with other people.
I can’t say that I faced any real challen-
ges — perhaps just subject to the general
tendency of women not being promoted as
fast as men.
It is impossible. This concept is widely
advertised and popularized in the modern
society, but if you examine it closely and
attentively, you will surely find evident and
non-evident contradictions.
It can be done if you have the right
husband, employer and support structure, but
you need to adjust your expectations overall.
We have after certain time switch off
of cellphones, e-mails etc., as we find work
and social media increasingly encroaching
upon family life, also important are employer
lifestyle benefits that help make work/life
balance easier.
Any expression of sexuality is a provoca-
tion. But at the same time one’s style, haircut,
etc. may be used as weapons if one has
a cast-iron character, composure and the
ability to neglect humanistic and spiritual
fundamentals.
Some women sabotage their career chan-
ces by their sartorial choices.
An attractive woman who is well put
together will be perceived more positively.
I worked in an organization where the senior
leaders refused to hire women who were
overweight.
Interestingly, 17% of respondents state that
they don’t work overtime, at the same time
others do it at least twice a week, and ab-
solutely ALL Russian women give a positive
answer. We are glad to know that some of
them are self-employed and decide them-
selves whether to take overtime or not.
It is also interesting that only the respon-
dents residing in Russia (to be precise, 50%
of them) point at a distinct difference in pay
for the same work executed by women and
men: the range varies between 10 and 30%
in favor of their male colleagues. In most
cases foreign respondents gave a typical
answer “Not sure”, many of them explain
that it is confidential information not for
sharing. One may suggest that in Russia the
information about colleagues’ salaries is
more accessible.
Besides, we asked a question which is rather
provocative for this poll “Is building
a career your priority?” Most of our foreign
respondents, being under its spell, answered
positively. Interestingly having found
themselves free from the direct impact of
the poll’s hint/dictate/background magic
their reaction to the request to rate their
priorities was not that categorical: in most
cases their priorities primarily encompassed
quite different things — pleasure, kids,
freedom, family and friends, development of
leadership, health and happiness, maternity.
On the contrary, Russian respondents often
gave a negative answer to this question from
the very beginning.
Many mentioned that their role models were
such woman leaders as Sheryl Sandberg (also
Hillary Clinton, Carla Bruni, queen Rania of
Jordan, Melinda Gates, Mary Robinson, Nancy
Kline, Bridget von Kralingen, Benoite Groult,
Christine Lagarde). However, it is not less
important that many ladies said that they
admired their grandmothers, mothers, friends,
i.e. those whom they knew personally.
Since our poll contained open questions most-
ly, it would have been a crime not to share
with you a collection of most interesting
No, equality is not possible. It is normal
and good the way it is.
This type of equality is really important
for a small share of women, but, at the same
time, it is a mandatory symbol and a shield
in the society, where unspoken patriarchal
attitudes are so strong.
There is no need to purposefully force
gender equality, because it only enhances
specific sensitivity and tension around
gender issues.
Uni-gender teams tend to promote in
their own likeness (the ‘mini-me’ recruit-
ment policy). They truly believe that they
are picking the best person for the job. What
they do not fully comprehend is that the ‘best
person for the job’ tends to be subjective
and come from the frame of reference of the
person(s) doing the choosing — they tend to
see somebody exactly like them as ‘the best
person for the job’.
Work is something personal, which allows
maintaining a connection with society and
extending your space beyond the family.
It is very important to me to feel that I am
not at a stop, it may be a slow but even growth,
and this indicator is very valuable to me.
In order to be happy, you need to be able
to do the things you love and enjoy your life-
style. This then means that you need to be
excelling in your career, whereby you are suc-
ceeding professionally and get fair money. The
higher your fitness and energy levels are, the
more likely you will be to achieve fulfillment
in other ways.
On the difficulties related
to gender issues:
On gender
inequality:
On the importance
of work and carrier
in life:
On women’s looks
in business:
On the concept of
“having it all”:
The toughest thing
I had to face —
a discrimination based
on both gender and
age. Advice — clench
your teeth and keep
going.
Some women sabotage
their career chances by
their sartorial choices.

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MAN’S
VIEW
A WOMAN
IN SPACE: SERGEY VOLKOV
ON WOMEN IN SPACE
The interview with Sergey Volkov
We have been friends with Sergey Volkov for
a long time. Although I have never questioned
him about what and how those who are often
prohibited by law or at least prevented from
taking the wheel of even a civil plane do in
space. To reinforce the female factor and add
some space flavor I asked a young lady, Zest
Leaders’ consultant Julia Moshinova who in
my opinion has all the theoretic chances to fly
into space one day to interview him.
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Members of the International Space Station
crew 17 after the report of the head of
the state commission, Baikonur Cosmodrome

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cruitment, there is one woman among six men,
and we hope that she will make a space flight.
J.M.: What are the differences when work-
ing in space with male and female partner,
if any?
S.V.: No, there are none, because we don’t
have a gender disctinction as such: if you
work on board, you work with a partner,
not with a man or a woman, you work with
a cosmonaut in the first place. And any wo-
man who wants to become a cosmonaut
should realize it.
J.M.: What was the most interesting experi-
ment conducted by a spacewoman?
S.V.: Spacewalk by Svetlana Savitskaya when
she executed a welding operation in the outer
space. It was an absolutely unique experiment,
only a couple of people have ever executed
such an operation in space.
J.M.: Is there any distinction between
female/male tasks in space (which can be ac-
complished only by women or only by men)?
S.V.: There is no such distinction. Actually, at
this stage of space science development it is
easier to train a multi-functional cosmonaut
who matches certain standards, because a cos-
monaut has a wide range of tasks, and they are
absolutely different: today you are a physicist,
tomorrow you must become a plumber. There-
fore nobody would plan special tasks for women,
at least during the next 30 or even 50 years.
Tasks are universal. Today they are fulfilled by
a man and tomorrow by a wo-man depending
on the composition of the crew.
J.M.: If there is a woman in a crew, does
anything change in the relations between
the crew members?
S.V.: I don’t have a long experience of flying
in one crew with a woman, I had an expe-
rience of just 10 days, so I am unable to
describe any specifics.
J.M.: Do men and women space suits differ?☺
S.V.: They don’t, space suits are absolutely
similar except for certain slight anthropomet-
ric differences, but generally speaking a space
S.V.: Officially there are none. When female
applicants undergo a selection process they
should pass the same examinations, tests and
exams as male applicants. There are certain
differences in physical readiness standards for
women and men, but in general there are no
differences. Thus, if a woman wants to become
a cosmonaut, she should know that there
would be no excuses or ease.
J.М.: How many women pass the selection
process and are accepted to CTC (Cosmonaut
Training Center)? And how many of them,
approximately, are cleared for a space
flight upon the completion of training?
S.V.: Our Russian statistical data are not
absolutely objective and somewhat different
from the world data, because it turns out that
during the 50-year history of space flights
Elena Serova is only the fourth woman who
realized her dream in full: she was not only
accepted to the cosmonaut corps but also
successfully accomplished a space flight. In
the past recruitments of female cosmonauts
were rare (mostly because there were very few
female applicants). As to our most recent re-
J.М.: What is your personal attitude to
spacewomen?
S.V.: The profession of a cosmonaut is dif-
ficult by itself. In my view it is much harder
for women than for men to live in space,
especially because the crew on board is
dominated by men. However, based upon my
experience of joint flights with women
(I had a chance to start with a woman and
took command of the space station from a
woman upon the arrival), they work fine and
are high-class professionals.
J.М.: Yet, is it a woman’s job to fly to
the space?
S.V.: I tend to believe that space is more like-
ly a men’s area of work. I realize that spacewo-
men would disagree with me. Generally
speaking about the desire of women to be-
come cosmonauts, about 10% of all the appli-
cations to take training come from women.
J.М.: Are there any differences in require-
ments for women in the selection process
at the Cosmonaut Training Centre?
Every day modern women get control over new fields of activities leaving only small room for
competitiveness between a man and a woman: kids are being brought up, houses built, business
well set… Aren’t they stars? Certainly they are, but only on the planet called Earth. But it is
interesting to know what is happening in the real outer space, what things spacewomen do, and
even what exact image of a spacewoman do spacemen have. How are they regarded? We decided
to ask Sergey Volkov (Russian spaceman, Hero of Russia (2009), Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Rus-
sian Federation) about it.
Respondent: Sergey Volkov
Hero of the Russian Federation, cosmonaut instructor and tester of the 1st
class
(pilot-cosmonaut of the Russian Federation)
Shift changeover: the expedition 17 begins
Interviewer: Julia Moshinova
Zest Leaders consultant

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suit is manufactured in compliance with
certain standards, and nobody may come out
of established parameters. As to the space-
walk suit (as a rule there are 4-5 such sets
on board), they are absolutely multipurpose
products and each cosmonaut makes them fit
individually, but the main skeleton is made of
steel so you cannot customize it.
J.M.: All the girls want to look beautiful!
Sergey, tell us please, do women use makeup
in space?☺
S.V.: I don’t remember, I even did not pay
attention… (Laughs)… Oops, honestly, I did
not pay attention, but probably we can look at
the photographs…There are pictures where
girls are with applied makeup and there are
some without any makeup, too. Most proba-
bly they take makeup with them for certain
special occasions.
J.M.: What is the correlation between
women’s fertility and flight time? Should
a woman give birth before or after a space
flight?
S.V.: I am not an expert in this field, but I am
aware that it is not recommended for male
cosmonauts to plan having children earlier
than 6 months after landing.
J.M.: How does a woman feel after space
flights? How does a flight impact her
health?
S.V.: It is difficult to describe specifics I
can judge just by physical appearance. For
instance, prior to my departure to Baikonur
I met Elena Serova just after her landing.
Overall she looked pretty good, although there
are certain signs showing that a person has
recently been in space.
J.M.: If the 8th
of March holiday falls on
the time of a flight with a woman do you
greet her? ☺ And if it is the 23rd
of Febru-
ary, do women greet men on this occasion?
S.V.: Of course, we always greet each other on
holidays. I know from my experience that if
Since 1963, when Valentina Tereshkova opened
the era of female space flights, 58 women have
flown to the outer space, out of them 45 are
Americans, 4 were born in the Soviet Union/Rus-
sia, two are Canadians, two are Japanese, two are
Chinese, Great Britain, France and South Korea
were represented by 1 person each. At present
Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy is in space.
any of these holidays is celebrated in this or
that country, men greet women and women
greet their male fellows. It is not necessarily
a day-off, because in a half-a-year period we
may choose only 4 holidays as non-working
days, besides we have to take into account the
holidays of our foreign colleagues. Thus, we
have to share holidays: 2 our holidays for rest
and 2 foreign ones.
J.M.: What is the break-down of spacewo-
men by countries?
S.V.: There is no doubt that America leads
in the number of female astronauts. In 2008
Karen Nyberg became the 50th
spacewoman.
In Russia we have 4.*
J.M.: Is there anything else on the “women
in space” subject you would like to share?
S.V.: A woman is always a woman, even if she
has chosen such a serious profession.
And there is an example. When our cosmo-
nauts were flying on the Mir space station,
as a rule all the crew members wore certain
“one-design-fits-everybody” clothing, and
it was not very beautiful or elegant. So I
recollect that when our women (and not only
Russian ones) were on board they would
always bring with them a piece of their own
outfit to please not only themselves but men
as well. For instance, it might be one of their
nice blouses, which would differ from those
standardly supplied T-shirts and undervests.
Certainly it tells a lot about the expression of
femininity even in such a tough environment
as cosmic space.
Yi So-yeon and the commander of the expedition 16,
Peggy Whitson, International Space Station

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Author: Elena Sidorenko
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, senior lecturer (docent) of the social
psychology department of the Faculty of Psychology at Saint Petersburg State
University, associate professor at the Stockholm School of Economics in Russia,
Zest Leaders partner
Country of residence: Russia.
Countries of current work/business projects: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine,
Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Sweden.
Current area of activity/business: business education and coaching.
Area of scientific interests: psychological influence, leadership, emotional
intelligence, motivation management, workshops on creating and delivering
trainings.
Author of 8 books and 15 business-trainings programs and workshops, member
of the Russian Psychological Society. In 2014 was listed as one of the best
business trainers in Russia in 2004-2014 in the nomination ‘Business communi-
cations and negotiations’.
ON WOMEN
AND MEN
IN TRAINING
I started my professional career as a junior
assistant at the Laboratory of Differential
Psychology and Anthropology. It was believed
necessary to separate testees by gender and
age and reveal their gender- and age-based
differences. If anybody forgot to analyze gen-
der-based differences, there came an accusa-
tion in “genderless” psychology.
Meanwhile my own observations confirmed
my belief that individual differences were
more important than any typological ones,
including gender-based. Several girls were
complaining that they were neglected as
colleagues. Since I was not neglected by any-
body, I sincerely believed that those girls were
simply trying to justify their own short-
comings this way. Like they were lazy, did not
read enough, thought poorly, worked letting
things slide and reasoned lack of respect to-
wards them by sexism (gender-based racism)
and not by their personal omissions.
One of my acquaintances explained any event
as if it was caused by peculiarities of men and
women. “What do you expect? Men are like
that” or “Well, she is a woman, so she is meant
to be so”. It used to make me very irritated. It
seemed to me that she thought like that, be-
cause she just… had nothing to do. She had
a well-to-do husband, no need to work, thus
horoscopes and stereotypes came handy.
It sounds strange, but an insight happened
only several years ago. Our beloved pussy cat
Dusia gave birth to a single kitten. Usually
she gave birth to four. We decided that, pro-
bably, it was her last delivery and decided to
keep the kitten. However, very soon it turned
out that, firstly, the kitten became a male
cat and, secondly, this animal had absolutely
different ply of character and behavior. He
seemed to belong to another species. Our
pussy cat was tender and accommodating:
if she disliked something she would softly
release herself from our hands and leave. The
male cat could grasp the caressing hand with
his teeth, sleep next to you and then bite
you abruptly. He used to jump harshly came
on people, hissed, marked the territory and
so on. We had to give him to our friends who
lived in the countryside.
At that time it occurred to me for the first
time that if a female and male cats differed
so much, then, maybe men and women could
differ in the same way?! A striking discovery!
According to V. Geodakian’s concept male
organisms represent a natural experiment
aimed at the search for new opportunities,
and female ones are the keepers of accumu-
lated useful changes. This is the exact reason
why prior to conception the number of male
germinal cells greatly exceeds the number of
female ones. At the stage of conception 190
male organisms are accounted for each 100
female ones, but at the stage of birth this
ratio changes to 105:100. The rest of the male
fetuses die already before the birth. Among
ten-year old kids the gender ratio is already
100:100. By an elderly age only 20 men are
accounted for 100 women. Women personify
stability and men represent quest. Among
women there are more moderately smart ones,
and among men there are more geniuses or
absolute fools, etc. © Painting by Valeria Shadrina. Oil on canvas

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Let’s use the statistics from my training
groups. In the groups of corporate top
executives men almost always prevail, while
in master classes for trainers women nearly
always outnumber men.
Mark Kukushkin reports a similar tendency in
his training groups.
V.P. Bagrunov, a Russian researcher, even
states that adolescent males, being more ten-
der creations, need much more thorough and
careful professional guidance, while girls
are suitable for any work, there is no need to
be ceremonious with them and they should be
given any laborious assignments.
E. Maccoby and K. Jacklin (Maccoby & Jacklin,
1974) distinguished only four differences
between genders:
a.space orientation skills (better developed
among men compared to women);
b.mathematic skills (better developed
among men compared to women);
On the other hand, after the results of
E. Maccoby and K. Jacklin studies had been
published other psychologists made repeated
attempts of research in this field and came
to curious conclusions which demonstrated
that even the existence of these distinctive
differences can be explained not only by gen-
der differences but by individual ones as well.
For instance, D.P. Waber (1976) assumed and
proved that the difference in successfulness
in passing tests depended not on the gender
How is it exposed in
business training sessions?
Ekaterina Khokhlova
Issuing editor of Zest Mag
COMMENT
c.speech habits (better developed among
women compared to men);
d. aggressiveness (more intense with men
compared to women).
Sometimes these differences are explained
by the fact that girls reach their puberty age
earlier. Bombardment of brain with hormones
impedes the development of mentation, thus
girls don’t have enough time to develop abili-
ty to orientate in space and mathema-
tical skills. It looks like they manage to form
their speech habits before the hormonal
bombardment. Aggressiveness could probably
be explained by the instinct to protect own
territory (K. Lorenz, 1994).
but on the individual pace of maturation.
Hence, all individuals (regardless of their
gender) who advance their peers in matura-
tion should be better at verbal tests than at
spacial ones.
Since girls mature faster than boys their
speech habits dominate the spacial ones.
Thus, two factors overlap: gender and indivi-
dual rate of general development.
Also, in 1978 L. Seals discovered that a lack
of mathematical training, typical for girls
enrolling in colleges, was the reason for their
developing a so-called “math fear”, which
made them not to select math-related disci-
plines as their majors. In other words a vicious
circle was formed: girls were poorly taught in
math and did not try to improve their know-
ledge out of failure fear. As the result special
courses were developed and books written
about the ways to overcome this “mathematic
anxiety”. Generally, scholars’ disputes about
the differences in gender-based capabilities
continue…
Generally, men are responsible for the
communication with the external environ-
ment (environmental flow of information
exchange) and women for preservation of
human race (generative flow of information
exchange). Males have a higher mutation
frequency, higher level of aggressiveness and
curiosity, they show more active exploratory
and risky behaviors as well as other qualities
which bring males closer to the ambient envi-
ronment (P.B. Tsyvian, 2011).
If we convert these numbers into percentage,
we’ll see very different graphs with statisti-
cally reliable differences in percentage shares
(φ‫٭‬ = 12, 22; р ≤ 0,001).
Men
Groups
Business training
Master classes
for trainers
Total
Men
1405
165
1570
Women
1028
396
1424
Total
2433
561
2994
Business
training
Master classes
for trainers
42% 71%
58% 29%
It turns out that female teachers dominate not only in
schools, female trainers dominate in training too.
Women
On women and men in training

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The higher is the position of group members
the more men are in that group. There are very
few women among top managers. It is a well-
known pattern. According to Alpha Personnel,
only 10% of specialists hired to executive
positions were women (see, for instance:
Т. Kazennova, 2012).
However, the higher is the level of the group
the more often their trainer is a man. Unfor-
tunately I don’t have any statistical evidence
to prove the last statement. It is based on
the opinions of my trainer colleagues whom
I spoken to recently. All of them are men.
It refutes a possible hypothesis that the
domination of women at my master classes is
explained by the fact that I am a woman my-
self. At the master classes delivered by male
trainers women’s domination is also observed.
Then where high class male trainer origi-
nate from? Men nearly never attend master
classes…
I have also analyzed the results of my work with
top teams (Board Members, top management
including CEOs). With a high level of accuracy
the total variable number of teams members
whom I have been working during the last 13
years is 390 persons, out of them 42 are women
(about 10.8%). It confirms the data provided
by Elena Sidorenko.
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Managing partner and founder of Zest Leaders
COMMENT
Conclusions:
1. Men on mid-level positions are
trained by women.
2.Men on top positions (CEOs) are
trained by men.
3.Trainers of CEOs are not trained by
anybody, they just emerge from some-
where themselves.
4. The less a woman thinks about
gender inequality the more chances
she has to become a top trainer.
• V.P. Bagrunov. Gender dimorphism. Scientific
report on the most important research studies.
L.: LGU, 1983.
• V.A. Geodakian. Evolutional theory of gender.
Nature, 1991, No. 8.
• T.A. Kazennova. Russia does not need female
business executives. (www.executive.ru)
• K. Lorenz. Aggression (so-called “evil”).
M.: Progress, 1994.
• P.B. Tsyvian. On correlation of genders, or how to
make a boy? (www.детинн.рф)
• Е.Е. Maccoby, C.N. Jacklin. The Psychology of Sex
Differences by Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University
Press, 1974.
References
Author: Larisa Tsvetkova
Head of the center of expertise at Saint Petersburg State University, prorector
of biology, history, psychology and philosophy studies of Saint Petersburg State
University, professor of the social psychology department at Saint Petersburg
State University, doctor of psychology, the first vice president of the Russian
Psychological Society, Zest Leaders Partner
For more than 10 years, Larisa Tsvetkova has been studying risky behaviour,
elaborating and implementing health-saving programs among various social
groups in Russia. She has been successfully cooperating with a number of go-
vernmental and non-government organizations. Larisa Tsvetkova is author of
more than 60 publications, including those aimed at preventing drug addiction
among young adults and adolescents.
Larisa Tsvetkova does a lot to consolidate psychologists’ professional soci-
ety in Russia. She is the head of the scientific-methodologist council that
elaborates curriculum in psychology for non-psychological schools/faculties in
Russia. Larisa Tsvetkova is working actively on popularizing and implementing
psychological knowledge.
Co-author: Yanina Ledovaya
Country of residence: Russia.
Countries of current work/business projects: Russia, Great Britain.
Teacher, researcher, PR and international contacts specialist of the Faculty
of Psycholofy of Saint Petersburg State University.
FEMALE
EXECUTIVES
Female executives
Discussing the issue of female executives in today’s unisex world one cannot help but start
with general considerations related to important components of success. Competence as
a combination of knowledge and expertise in a certain field of life and activities should
be classified as one of them. By some unknown reasons they teach math and literature at
school but forget to teach students how to live in today’s complex and quickly changing
world. To be able to communicate with people and, if necessary, lead them, quickly analyze
current situation, make decisions taking into account the interests of numerous vectors of
interest — business, employees, future company growth. Those who manage to master these
competencies become successful.*

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Besides, no CEO may afford being under-confi-
dent. Self-confidence is an important precon-
dition of success. If you are not self-confi-
dent yourself, how could others trust you and
follow your lead?
But still, what are the specifics of female
executives in particular? Trying to answer this
question one should recollect the specifics of
the female social role. These are preservation
of traditions and relations, establishing social
ties and contacts both inside and outside
a company.
Women (as cross-cultural research also
demonstrates) are less inclined to risky be-
havior. It may be perhaps amazing, but the
only universal characteristic describing a risk-
tending behavior, which was revealed by stu-
dies in various countries, is an attribute
of the male gender.
Men are more prone to take risks, the risks
tend to be greater and not always justifiable.
In this aspect nothing has changed over cen-
turies. Men follow their role of a “provider”,
a “conqueror”, a “transformer”. Preservation,
prudence and lower risk represent a female
competitive advantage. This is exactly what
distinguishes female executives.
In a very general form competence is connec-
ted not only with a habit but with a need to
study throughout the whole lifespan, expand
the repertoire of social roles, analyze everyday
experience, the results of your work, successes
and failures as well. These skills would in-
evitably help you to realize your uniqueness,
your competitive advantages and the reason
why you entered this world.
If you are employed by a company with
established traditions, try to understand the
“cultural code” or the corporate culture of
this organization — without it you would
never make it to the summit. Corporate
culture of the company includes aspects such
as corporate values, communication norms,
behavioral standards which are observed by
everybody — from the CEO to a secretary
and a driver. These are the things that bring
together all the company employees and help
them to speak a common language. If you
establish your own company, start thinking
about it from the very beginning, lay the
foundation of the organizational culture. This
is the basic uniting value. It is extremely im-
portant for the CEO to be the first to observe
the same behavioral patterns and stick to
the same values, to broadcast them to all the
employees, improving organization commu-
nications and his authority in the company.
Emotional leadership, i.e. the ability to mo-
tivate employees using one’s own role model,
leading by example and demonstating what
is expected from each employee, becomes a
cornerstone of the modern corporate culture.
However, if women would add to their role
of a “fireplace keeper” a little bit of man-
hood, in particular “feminine manhood” (we
use this oxymoron on purpose), such as not
overcoming obstacles but bypassing them,
dropping stereotypes, trying to look at diffi-
culties and problems from different angles,
being flexible, and resolving complicated hu-
man-related situations, they would definite-
ly succeed! In most cases female executives,
of all others, are distinguished by taking care
of personnel, i.e. people who are, essentially,
the cornerstone of any business. Emotional
leadership, the urge to hear feedback from
employees and take measures aimed at the
improvement of situations and processes
that were expressed in the feedback are the
things that a female executive would do
most naturally.
One should not also forget about learning
to use new technologies: nowadays a lot of
things can be done remotely using cloud-
based services and devoting the spared time
to the family.
There is one more “modern” and particularly
female advantage. It is networking, ability
to communicate and obtain work benefits
from the situations of positive interaction
with colleagues, partners and even potential
partners.
These reflections are worth summarizing by
a statement that brings everybody together:
in order to have, one should happen to exist —
this is the most important thing, while success
and career are just a part of life…
Competencies are visually observed behavioral
characteristics that predetermine personal
success in a working context. Please refer
to classical books by R. Boyatzis and
L. and S. Spencer.
Lower risk represent
a female competitive
advantage.
© Photo by Julia Moshinova

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on your “feminine” weaknesses, and you will
be treated as a strong personality, a strong
professional, a strong leader.
Nevertheless, in social perception women
and men don’t enjoy equal terms and con-
ditions. As a rule, a woman has a choice: if
she is not successful professionally, she can
always devote herself to her family, raising
kids, building a cozy household. Nobody
would perceive her decision as a weakness
or a defeat. On the contrary, a man does not
have such choice. Our society views him as
a real man only if he realizes himself, mainly
at work, in business, scientific research, etc.
Hence, business terms for a woman and a man
are unequal from the very beginning, because
in most cases men don’t have any alternative
to work. I believe that in this sense men are
even more discriminated against than women.
The issue of women’s role in business often
implies that a woman and a man possess
different management styles and different
views on similar work-related situations. My
experience demonstrates that it is not true.
Management never depends on gender, but
always on personality. Both a woman who is
capable to command a regiment and a soft
flexible man might happen to hold executive
positions. Female executives are believed to
depend on their emotions, but men are not
less subject to their moods! The same is fair
for recruitment. Is it necessary to be guided
by applicants’ gender when putting together
a team? I do believe that a hiring decision
should never be based on applicant’s gen-
der. Of course, maintaining a gender-based
balance creates a healthy team environment,
but the latter can be sacrificed for the sake of
the role balance.
Consideration of this matter leads us to the
issue of women’s presence regulation, for
instance, on a board of directors in certain
companies. In my view it is a sort of discri-
mination, too. As soon as we cut these norms
in stone, we admit that, besides candidate’s
professionalism, another factor may be consi-
dered in making a decision regarding brin-
ging an employee to a board of directors.
In this particular case it is a gender-based
criterion. I think it is already a direct dis-
crimination.
Nowadays in Russia there are many successful
woman workers, actually, more than in many
other countries. It has happened due to se-
veral historical and social reasons. The reality
is that it simply works this way here, and
we don’t shout about it, don’t declare, don’t
incorporate it in written rules. Men work with
women head-to-head (certainly, there are
exceptions, but we all know what they prove).
In my view it is a very good and healthy si-
tuation, and I wish it would last, but here a lot
depends on women themselves. Equality at
organizations starts with a simple rule: “Want
to be treated equal — behave this way”.
I see a passport to successful professional
interaction in avoiding putting any accent on
gender-based differences and not assigning
any special status either to women or to men.
WOMAN’S ROLE
IN BUSINESS
Are there any specific female features that
influence business? I am sure there are none.
In the work environment men and women
play the same roles. However, we often hear
that women are allegedly discriminated in or-
ganizations, not let to grow professionally at
the same pace as men do for the very reason
that they are women. I am sure that in most
such cases we deal with the reverse side of
feminism, when a woman herself, and not men
surrounding her, magnifies her gender.
The matter is that a woman has additional
instruments of impact on those who are
around: flirting, tears, etc. If she uses these
tools to achieve her work- and career-related
goals, she automatically nullifies her chan-
ces to be treated as a full-fledged partner.
She herself emphasizes her gender-related
differences and thus transforms profes-
sional interaction into a personal one. We
can easily demonstrate this issue using an
example of drivers. Everybody drives a car,
and sometimes we do it really bad, both men
and women. However, ladies are the ones
who believe that they are discriminated
among motorists, “harassed” on the road,
and they are furious about it. They demand
equal treatment. But as soon as they have to
change a couple of lanes where it is not al-
lowed, they justify their deed by the very fact
that they are women. “I am a girl, let me do
it! Be gentlemen, and I will not observe your
rules, because right now I am not comforta-
ble with them”. In my view, as soon as this
argument comes up, any discussion about
equality and partnership should cease. At
this very moment a woman assigned herself
certain differences based on her gender,
and thus, stopped being an equal partner to
other fellow-motorists. The same principle is
valid for the work process. Don’t speculate
Author: Julia Andronovskaya
Deputy director of staff and administration (staff recruitment and develop-
ment), ‘SUEK’, Russia’s largest coal producer
Expert in the Working group of the National Councilon Professional Qualifica-
tions in applying professional standards to the professional education system
Don’t speculate on
your “feminine”
weaknesses, and you
will be treated as
a strong personality,
a strong professional,
a strong leader.
Equality at organiza-
tions starts with
a simple rule: “Want to
be treated equal —
behave this way”.

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CHALLENGES AND
OPPORTUNITIES
OF WOMEN
Women hold up
half the sky.
Mao Tse-tung
IN MODERN
CHINESE
BUSINESS INTERVIEW WITH A CHINESE
BUSINESS LADY

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Meanwhile, Chinese women who created their
wealth by their own efforts have been domi-
nating the world ratings of female millio-
naires for several years already. Chinese legis-
lation requires at least one woman to be pre-
sent in a company’s management team. More
and more often one can comes across success-
ful female Chinese entrepreneurs, founders
and CEOs of large companies. It is particularly
characteristic to the most developed eastern
provinces of China. These women are known
for their independence, self-confidence, sense
of purpose, hard-working habits, tendency to
take risks and leadership.
Who are they, modern Chinese businesswo-
men? How do they live, think, create their
companies and manage them? Is there any-
thing we can learn and borrow from them?
For this interview we have chosen Linda Way,
founder and managing director of Paulinda,
a young, energetic and amazingly charming
Chinese woman from a modern coastal city of
Ningbo in Zhèjiāng Province. Linda Way is only
36 but she has been managing her company
for 16 years already. In 1999, in partner-
ship with her husband Paul, she established
a trading company exporting stationery
products for offices, schools and households
to the West. They called the company Paulin-
da having put together their first names.
Several years later her husband founded a new
business and she became the sole owner and
managing director of the company with a line
of 5000 products and more than 500 manu-
facturers. In 2005 in addition to the main
business Linda Way opened a factory for the
manufacturing of kids’ plasticine and mo-
delling material famous for their high quality
and distinction. Today 120 employees work
in two subdivisions of Paulinda. The company
exports its products to 64 countries, including
Russia. In 2014 its turnover was US $21 m.
In her evasive manner Linda combines Chinese
and European features, eastern and western
mentality. She is a remarkable representative
Author and interviewer: Natalia Fey
Country of residence: Ningbo, China (since 2011).
Countries of current work/business projects: China, Russia, USA, Sweden,
Australia, Vietnam.
Current area of activity/business: Business trainer/coach specializing in
cross-cultural interaction and enhancing the performance of multicultural
teams.
Author of coaching projects in various countries. Natalia cooperates with
the Russian-Chinese center of the State University of Management, Moscow.
Author of scientific articles, speaker on various Russian conferences for
business trainers (since 2004). MBA (International Business, Sweden), MSc in
Economic Cybernetics (Saint Petersburg State University).
Inhabitants of the planet have already got used to the fact that the Chinese economy has been
rapidly developing. News about successful Chinese innovations, transnational Chinese compa-
nies and brands like Lenovo, Huawei and Haier become more and more common. Jack Ma has con-
quered his place in the sun of global business. He is a phenomenally popular in China founder
of the internet store Alibaba. His compatriots are not far behind. Robin Li, the owner of the
major Chinese search engine Baidu, and Yang Yangqing, CEO of the transnational giant Lenovo,
are among them. But a question about famous Chinese women sets people wondering. Except for
the country’s first lady Peng Liyuan (who is called in her home country “Peony Fairy”) and
a group of singers, actresses and writers who are known only to the connoisseurs of Chinese
culture, most of us have not yet come across such personal examples.
of the new generation of Chinese business-
women who successfully integrated western
creativity, openness, straightforwardness and
firmness on the one hand and eastern tact-
fulness, flexibility, hard-working habits and
generosity on the other hand.
You rather judge yourself:
N.F.: Linda, tell us how you came into
business?
L.W.: My father was a director of a facto-
ry in Hubei Province where 3000 people
worked. I spent all my early childhood years
at the factory, it was my playpit. When my
time came to found a company and open a
factory I knew well what should be done and
how. I started my first business when I was
9: during a hot summer of school vacation
I delivered and sold ice cream to the em-
ployees of my father’s factory during their
short lunch break. At first I worked with my
girlfriends, but soon they quit that hard work
of handling large and heavy boxes and I had
to continue on my own.
N.F.: What lessons did you learn from your
first and very early work experience?
L.W.: Once I sold an ice cream to a worker who
did not have any money with him, and he pro-
mised to pay me the next day. But the next day
he did not keep his promise and failed to pay
me. That situation taught me to receive money
first, and then ship/deliver a product. Today
this approach helps me a lot during negotia-
tions and in business I strictly adhere to it.
N.F.: Describe the hardest decision
in your life.
L.W.: Until now in China young people greatly
depend on their parents’ opinion. The things
that young Western girls and boys decide for
themselves, in China are decided by their pa-
rents. More and more often kids are permitted
to go away and study in prestigious American,
© Photo by Elena Morozova

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N.F.: What would you recommend to young
businesswomen who are still in search for
their calling?
L.W.: I would recommend them to listen to
themselves and their deep wishes and aspira-
tions more often. If you have already settled
with your calling, don’t reflect any more, don’t
lose time, act bravely and create. If you are
still in doubt, don’t push yourself. Take your
time to obtain experience, get to know your-
self better, focus on your strong features and
weaknesses and then, undoubtedly, you will
find the answer.
Canadian or European universities or move
to a distant part of the country, Beijing or
Shanghai. But afterwards parents demand
that they come back, find them a bride or
bridegroom from their city in order to make
children live next to them.
Having graduated from the university I
refused to return home and took a decision to
live and work in Ningbo where my elder bro-
ther had already settled. My parents cut all the
lines of communication with me and did not
attend my wedding — in China it is consi-
dered a disaster. But I did not change my
mind, because by that time I already knew very
well what I wanted to accomplish and was
sure that Ningbo was the very place where I
would be able to do it, and I strongly believed
in my own abilities. Later our relations settled
and my parents moved to my city of Ningbo
and helped me a lot with bringing up my son,
which allowed me to focus on my company.
N.F.: Linda, is it popular to be a female
business leader in modern China?
L.W.: Unfortunately not very popular so
far. Very few Chinese women are brave
enough to make such a decision. In China
a traditional stereotype of a Chinese woman
still prevails with her main purpose as just
taking care of the family and bringing up
kids. Even a Chinese hieroglyph symbolizing
a man is a person with a head and for a wo-
man, a person with a belly. The word “good” is
graphically shown as a hieroglyph “a woman
with a baby”. So, come to your own conclu-
sions. Highly educated and successful young
women, particularly in small Chinese towns
and provinces, are not popular among Chinese
men and risk to stay single. Fortunately, with
the rapid development of China there has
been a change in values among the younger
generation. In large cities of south-eastern
China and particularly in Shanghai, one can
come across more and more families where
a woman is the main breadwinner.
N.F.: Linda, you are an unordinary person.
Despite your youth and femininity you ma-
nage a serious business, visit more than 20
countries every year, but you do everything
so easily and naturally, I would say grace-
fully. How do you manage it?
L.W.: There was a time when I used to run as
a squirrel in a cage and did not have time to
take a breath. But I managed to realize it at
a good time and reconsidered my priorities.
Today I still work long evenings, but I always
spend days off with my family. I have time
for myself, for meeting with friends, enjoying
arts, visiting a manicure parlor or a spa. I am
a captain of my life, and if I hit a roadblock
in my work, I may take a break and go shop-
ping for new clothes when I feel that I have
to gain new energy and enthusiasm in life
and drive in work.
If you have already
settled with your
calling, don’t reflect
any more, don’t lose
time, act bravely and
create.
© Painting by Valeria Shadrina. Watercolor and pencil on paper

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I was born between two generations of
women — one who fought hard for women’s
rights and understood the battle-by-battle
nature of every gain, and therefore the
precious thing that emerged, and the second
generation of women who tend to take them
for granted and see women’s rights as secure
and irreversible. When I was younger I erred
on the side of taking it all for granted.
That way of looking at the world extended
into my view of women in organisations,
making me a cheerleader for the ‘only the
best person for the job’ attitude. Then I had
a career and I juggled having children, and
I experienced some crossroads and transi-
tions, what Jon Kabat-Zinn might call ‘full
catastrophe living’.
What slowly fell was the understanding that
while the journey of some women through
organisations and career might look similar
to that of men, the waymarks and the rest-
stops and the pace and the back-up team on
that journey are often very different.
It has been a privilege to work with women
coachees on small parts of their journey
and to witness with them those differences.
Successful women in organisations tend
to be keen to maintain the pretense that
their journey mirrors that of their male
colleagues — to hide the differences for
fear of being put in the ‘female’ box and
being subject to some stereotype that will
damage their prospects, the ‘mommy track’
label being feared as the ultimate career
de-railer. Leaving aside for a moment the
moral arguments about penalizing people
for contributing to society by having and
caring for families, the cost to organisations
of having a highly valuable employee exit
THE JOURNEY
IS DIFFERENT
Author: Camilla Beglan
Country of residence: currently Berlin, Germany.
Countries of current work/business projects: Germany, Netherlands, Swit-
zerland, Ireland, UK, New Zealand, US.
Current area of activity/business and position: Owner of People Consulting
Practice.
BA, MBA, MSc. Camilla spent a decade in international sales, followed by
a decade with PwC advising companies and governments on all aspects of
organisational effectiveness. She also spent a number of years leading a Global
Learning, Development and Leadership function. She is an accredited mediator
and executive coach and is an Associate of Ashridge Business School in the UK.
© Photo by Alisa Kiryukhantseva

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Many organizations are struggling to get
more women into their top leadership ranks.
Some of the debate about how to resolve this
centers around the question whether
a woman can or should be a “superwoman”.
A superwoman is a woman who, by working
hard is successful in her career, as a mother
and as a wife. The debate has been particu-
larly virulent among women. Anne-Marie
Slaughter, who took a step back from her own
leadership career, believes that our current
society is lacking the will and the infrastruc-
ture for women to be able to combine these
three tasks to a satisfactory level. Nonsense,
says Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, as long
as you are assertive and “lean in”, a woman
can “have it all”. It would therefore be helpful
to take an example of a woman who did make
it to the very top of her organization and
became a successful leader.
CATHERINE
THE GREAT:
A SUPERWOMAN?
There are some compelling reasons why
Catherine, Czarina of Russia 1762-1796, was
called the Great. Two centuries after the
Middle Ages ended in Western Europe, Peter
the Great took Russia into the modern era.
Yet, Russia was still behind. Russia, ruled
by aristocratic landowners, depended on
the export of raw materials, and much of
its population was enslaved. Nevertheless,
Catherine managed to transform Russia into
a great power that would forever be involved
in Europe’s major decisions and conflicts,
laying the foundation for its superpower
status in the twentieth century.
Catherine’s vision was of a strong and mo-
dern Russia. To a large extent she realized
this vision. Her strategy to realize this vision
consisted of several elements. Through ex-
pansion and economic reform she set Russia
temporarily or permanently is just too high
given the much-cited ‘war for talent’.
I don’t want to make primary the issue of ba-
lancing career with children although this is
huge. And it isn’t something that only impacts
women once they have children — it is wider
than that.
Here are some of the coaching topics
I’ve seen:
“I would like to find a life partner but my
work leaves very little time for socializing —
should I find a different organization/role”?
“Should I postpone my wedding until my
partnership is secure”?
“Should I postpone children until I get my
promotion”?
It is a silent pain, which is often crushed
under the unending and rarely productive cor-
porate ‘better work-life balance’ debate where
it should, in fact, find a voice.
What I also want to stress here is the
tendency for many women to limit their own
progression to the top of organisations in
ways that are not always clear to them.
Here are some of the ways I see this play out:
Women often take on ‘special projects’ but
not business critical ones — ones that their
more career-minded male colleagues sense
the danger in and avoid. They then work di-
ligently to make a success of them, get lots of
accolades but ultimately it slows their ‘real’
track upwards;
Women often assume a quasi-HR role in
the business unit because of their strong
relational capacity. Suddenly they find that
they have the more tricky ‘people’ issues out-
sourced to them. This sometimes sidelines
them while their male colleagues overtake
them on the same career road;
Women often accept a lower entry salary
than they could achieve because they believe
that they can ‘re-set’ the salary base when
they have proven what they can do — this
often means that they get stuck in a grade
and salary level below their competence and
experience;
Women often assume that doing a good
job will be the only determinant of progres-
sion and so ignore a host of other factors —
managing their internal visibility; anticipa-
ting political movements; canvassing active-
ly for progression etc.
Coaching is very helpful in making explicit
some of the motivations for falling into these
traps and working with the coachee to make
sense of that and what is the right path for
them.
If you watch a group of diverse individuals
working together beautifully, what Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi would call ‘in flow’ or ‘in the
zone’, there is a little bit of magic happening
which defies the many attempts to disaggre-
gate and formalise it. Organisations need
a lot more of this magic and women are
a critical part of it. They need to be encou-
raged to continue and to find a way to get
their true voices heard, whatever their orga-
nisational realities.
Author: Paul Vanderbroeck
Country of residence: Switzerland.
Countries of current work/business projects: international.
Current area of activity/business and position: Leadership Expert.
Dr Paul Vanderbroeck Chartered FCIPD.
Specialized in the success of women leaders in complex organizations and the
success of such organizations by leveraging female talent.

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ticipate in raising her grandson, the future
Czar Alexander I. Prince Potemkin became
the love of her life and for a while the two
formed a real power couple. They did not have
children together. However, their respective
jobs forced the couple into a relationship at
a distance. For Catherine this was unsatis-
factory, so they separated while continuing
working together to grow Russia. Catherine
had a string of short-lived love affairs while
longing for a long-term relationship.
Catherine’s lovers were her only outlet in
a life otherwise filled with discipline, hard
work, and little indulgence in food or drink.
So, no, Catherine did not manage “to have
it all”. When it comes to Catherine, modern
women can both learn from her many and
unique leadership qualities as from her
downsides. She was great, but not a super-
woman.
institutions to individual direct reports, but
she never constituted a management team
that would assist her in leadership decisions.
Catherine was probably unaware that the
combination of her work ethic and absolute
authority created a lack of empowerment
among her subordinates. For example, she
required that every piece of correspondence
to ambassadors or foreign governments be
presented to her in full, not merely in sum-
mary, for approval.
What worked out well was delegating the
southern half of Russia and all military
matters to Prince Potemkin. She gave him
money and other resources for his campaigns
of conquest and let him handle things from
there. But being a perfectionist, Catherine’s
standards were so high that only an extreme-
ly talented person like Potemkin was deemed
worthy of empowerment.
Catherine’s leadership style prevented her
from leaving a management structure that
could ensure continuity under a less capable
or less mature leader, like Czar Paul turned
out to be. More important, it prevented her
from fostering teamwork among her senior
management. This became apparent after
Potemkin died, when rivalries among senior
managers sprang up. Catherine, in her sixties,
struggling with her health and distraught
by Potemkin’s passing could not wield the
strong leadership she once had.
What’s more, given her northern German
Protestant work ethic, Catherine was
impatient and constantly reminded people
not to waste time. She kept grueling hours
throughout her reign. She got up at five or
six in the morning to start working until ten
o’clock at night, six days a week.
What about her personal life? Catherine
came to Russia as the wife of the future Czar.
Her husband briefly took the throne only to
be toppled by Catherine a few months later.
His convenient death at the hands of his
guards ended Catherine’s unhappy marriage.
As Czarina, Catherine did not give much at-
tention to her son, but she did actively par-
on a path of growth. She restructured the
Russian Empire by putting laws into place,
setting up an effective tax collecting sys-
tem, and modernizing the army. She created
schools and institutions of higher education
to ensure a pipeline of educated talent for
the administration of the empire. With that
came a renewal of the “organizational cul-
ture”: torture was abolished and a state of
law was created to replace arbitrary justice.
Civil servants were henceforward subject to
performance appraisals.
Catherine was not able to realize her entire
vision though. She stopped short of abo-
lishing serfdom. A majority of the Russian
population lived in slavery, working on the
landed estates of the aristocracy. Catherine,
too afraid that she would lose the support of
the aristocracy, she did go through with her
plans, even if that meant compromising her
values embedded in the ideas of the Enlighten-
ment. Regretfully her choice had long-term
negative consequences. It held Russia back
into as an agricultural economy that missed
the Industrial Revolution. It took Lenin and
the Russian Revolution and the creation of
the Soviet Union to put an end to this. Also it
kept Russia’s population used to a top-down
system, responding well to the likes of Stalin
and struggling with democracy since the fall
of the Soviet Union. It is difficult to reproach
Catherine for doing so. She needed the sup-
port of the aristocracy. And perhaps this is
what it took to safeguard her other reforms.
Where Catherine went wrong, is in refraining
from putting a system in place that allowed
a successor to deal with the matter of serf-
dom and further modernize Russia. Catherine
had a very distant relationship with her son
Paul, who became her successor. She did not
prepare him for his role, because she was
afraid that he could become a rival. Paul and
a series of not particularly competent Czars
followed. More importantly, Catherine did not
delegate well.
Catherine believed in absolute rule. What
is more, she was a hard worker and a per-
fectionist. She delegated certain tasks and
Irrespective of the question whether super-
woman is something worth striving for, it
is important to realize that Catherine’s
failings were not as much the result of
a lack of infrastructure or an uncoope-
rative social environment. She epitomized
the mantra “If you want it done right, do it
yourself”. She would have been happier and
even more successful if she had learned to
delegate.
It is interesting that in Russian intellectual
environment one can come upon even more
radical and at the same time almost inverse
conclusions about Catherine the Great:
Catherine who wasn’t an extraordinary person,
from one side, living in an alien dangerous
environment, developed her leadership skills,
and from another side — in order to lead it
was enough for her to add some order which
was inherent to her German mentality to the
chaotic Russian reality — and it was already
a precondition to the success.
Pavel Kiryukhantsev
Managing partner and founder
of Zest Leaders
COMMENT
• Sheryl Sandberg. Lean In: Women, Work, and
the Will to Lead. New York.: Knopf, 2013.
• Anne-Marie Slaughter. Why Women Still Can’t
Have It All, The Atlantic. 2012. July/August.
• Paul Vanderbroeck. Leadership Strategies for
Women: Lessons from Four Queens on Leadership
and Career Development. New York.: Springer, 2014.
Further reading:

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RED
DRESS
IN A SEA OF
BLUE SUITS
When I became a professional, it didn’t seem
like my personality fit a blue suit. I didn’t
usually wear red, but I felt better when I
wore something that represented who I was,
intelligent with a little bit of fun, someone
willing to color a bit outside the lines.
Style Coach Carmen Adriana, of New York,
says that women “have more flexibility to
think about what they want to communicate
through clothes”. This doesn’t necessarily
mean spending a lot of money or having
the latest greatest fashion, “it’s more about
feeling confident and projecting that into
the world”. It hadn’t occurred to me that I
was sending a message, but it was my way
of creatively conforming to expectations. I
noticed this trait in other women and looked
to emulate what I connected with.
Almost every woman I spoke to about cloth-
ing choices say, with the caveat of not being
vain, their wardrobe is an important part of
their business persona whether they want it
to be or not. Women are taking more power
positions in corporations, becoming entre-
preneurs and owning their successes. In the
United States, close to 50% of the breadwin-
ners in families are women and this trend is
reverberating worldwide. Wendy Lappenga,
an executive with Integra-Source says,
“In this digital age, our brains are expected
to be visually stimulated. Choosing a black
suit and a white top might not be effective
because if people can’t see you, then they
won’t listen”. If Ms. Lappenga has an impor-
tant presentation, she adds color and admits
her petite size requires her to dress in
a manner that makes her more age-appropri-
ate and serious. The right attire allows her to
execute her job with more confidence.
Stylist Elaine Wang Yu of Simply Chic in
New Jersey describes her goal in styling as
“getting women to love their bodies and see
the beauty in who they are. If your stomach
gives you trouble,” she says, “then choose to
enhance an asset you like, such as a necklace
Author: Elizabeth C. McCourt
Country of residence and current work/business projects: USA.
Current area of activity/business and position: Executive/Life Coach and
Recruiter.
Juris Doctorate (JD), Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Writing, Coaches Training
Institute (CTI) with CPCC.
My story of the red dress started when I was about 8 years old, when my grandmother took
me to my first Broadway play, a performance of Annie. I was mesmerized by the songs, the
excitement of the stage, and the story of the little girl with the hard-knock life who puts on
her red dress and sings her heart out. My plan was to convince my mother that I too would be
wearing that red dress up on stage after I auditioned, got the part, and then moved to Queens
to live with my grandmother. I thought it was ingenious, and although my mother said no,
I never forgot Annie’s red dress and my dream.
© Photo by Pavel Kiryukhantsev