Q & A priority . Definitely , being able to grow to the abilities of people is very important . I think first of all you need a vision , because the CEO is a leader and then he has to see the realisation of what he has created . If he is a founder , he has to see what other companies are doing , where they are going , and then I think his vision is the next step . So , the vision for me is most important of the leadership abilities for the CEO to gather people and correctly distribute all functions among the team .
Marat : I think the main generator of successes is technology . Then , next is obtaining that feeling that you can do something much better than the others . If you feel confident that you can do something , even if you go and do the restaurant business better than any average individual . This is like pushing , promoting yourself to start something . You need a very high level of responsibility toward your customers about your product , who you serve and how you provide services – just to make sure you are really better than your competitors . Then you have a responsibility to your employees : you should train them , protect them socially and motivate them . Then there ’ s the responsibility to your creditors . Another thing that makes you successful is having a ‘ sixth sense ’ or intuition .
Siddique : I started my business when I was 24 . If you had asked this question three years ago , it would have been really complicated to answer . But looking back I can tell you now about leadership . For a long time , you may not realise the joy of being a leader . You just consider yourself a doer . Everyone has a vision , but I think a CEO can break down the vision into several blocks ; you have a larger vision , but the real trick is how you can dissect the vision into smaller components and how you can implement each in the game you want to play . Of course , the very important thing is how you harness a talent . A successful CЕO is never afraid of talent . This might be very difficult for a leader to manage other leaders . Very difficult ! You always end up in a conflict of personalities and sometimes an evil animal comes out eventually . I think this is the moment of truth . If you can really harness a talent rather than suppress it , you certainly are a leader .
Anatoliy : My opinion is the same in many aspects .
I certainly do not have several points , as Marat has , but for sure I have a clear ' vision ', and that Siddique says . I started my business when I was 21 , or even little bit earlier . Arman and I started our businesses when we were still students . It is important to have goals . Once the gap between setting a goal and achieving it took six to twelve months , now it takes up to five years , and some goals take even eight years to achieve . Let ’ s assume that some projects take an average of five to seven years from idea to implementation . And as Siddique noticed , during this process in various phases your colleagues may be replaced , not able to keep up the pace . The point is to believe . Belief is the important thing , to believe in results that seem as shaky sometimes as a castle built on sand . I think , the more we work , the more long-term is the overall goal . We achieve as we are on the way .
Armanzhan : I agree with Anatoliy . We started our businesses at the same time , a little earlier than Siddique . He was 24 , and we were 20-21 years old . I ’ m often asked this question : “ What is the secret ?” Now I ’ m thinking back : “ How indeed ?” If we recall how these were the years of 1990-1991 , when we had no idea about business plans . It ’ s probably only in the past two to three years that I ’ ve learned what a CEO is . We have been doing business by intuition . Our understanding of business was , in principle , having enough common sense . The maximum I read during the Soviet era were the books of Dale Carnegie . Now , when we are engaged in serious business , it is clear that we have a different outlook on all business processes . Now , I ’ m thinking , what was it then ? Yes , perhaps it was a vision , a power of our will , and a desire to achieve something , to be accomplished . But this was a key point for me : I have been helped by sociability , the ability to communicate with different people , not shying away from various dialogues , being able enter offices and ask questions . I think that my personal communication skills helped me , an important characteristic to highlight .
How does your leadership style change to adapt to a new corporate culture ? Does it change or are you the same as you were : do you stick to certain qualities and lead as you were leading 5 , 10 , 20 years ago ? What is changing as the time is changing ?
Eldar : We have two insurance companies in our group and so we have two different cultures . When it comes to corporate culture , there are tons of books written about it . When you start practicing the culture then you need to properly understand how it works , what is critical . You then understand this is more an art rather than a science . When talking about a corporate culture , how it ’ s being done is one thing to keep in mind .
Anatoliy Pobiyakho ,
Founder and owner of Line Group
supported by EUROBAK
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