I Have Never Had a Role Model
“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t”
– Bill Nye
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I have never had a role model. Yet, I know of a number of people that have positively influenced my life, in a way or another. I know it might sound fancy, but actually it is not hard to be part of this list. These people can be people I have never met, met once, or have met for a long time. These are people, from any age, gender, religion, ethnicity, corner of the world, that have done something I liked or found inspiring. People I looked up to. These are people that without knowing, taught me something, mundane or life-changing, that stuck with me.
Meet Oleg. He is a serial entrepreneur from Russia and just joined the list of people that made an impact on me. We had the privilege to meet him during one of our business visits in St. Petersburg. He is currently building the biggest pharmaceutical company in Russia (remember that Russia is pretty big). This is his second massive entrepreneurial venture. Oleg is nevertheless a very chill guy: he wears sneakers, loose jeans, a shirt, and a helmet when he walks around the areas in construction. |
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After hearing Oleg talk about his company, I felt inspired. Through his actions more than his words, he taught me the following three things:
1. Change your words and you’ll change your mindset.
Oleg was born in the USSR and during his early-adulthood he experienced the challenges of the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a born-entrepreneur, he had the problem of being in a place where entrepreneurship was basically considered sacrilegious. His desire to question the status quo was a problem for a place where every aspect of the human life was controlled by the communist government. His wish to travel abroad was also problem for it was an unachievable dream. And the list goes on…
But as I heard Oleg talking, I realized something incredible. The word “problem” is not part of his speech; instead, he talks refers to those instances as “challenges”. It is as if his brain was wired to eliminate that word. Such small change in his wording, I believe, led him to be where he is now.
Should he have approached the obstacles in his life as problems rather than challenges, he would have stopped long ago. The word “problem” has a tacit connotation of a big and unbreakable wall. A problem implies STOP. But rather, if we approach the very same things as “challenges” instead of “problems” we not only replace words but also reframe the entire situation. Think about it, and try it!
1. Change your words and you’ll change your mindset.
Oleg was born in the USSR and during his early-adulthood he experienced the challenges of the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a born-entrepreneur, he had the problem of being in a place where entrepreneurship was basically considered sacrilegious. His desire to question the status quo was a problem for a place where every aspect of the human life was controlled by the communist government. His wish to travel abroad was also problem for it was an unachievable dream. And the list goes on…
But as I heard Oleg talking, I realized something incredible. The word “problem” is not part of his speech; instead, he talks refers to those instances as “challenges”. It is as if his brain was wired to eliminate that word. Such small change in his wording, I believe, led him to be where he is now.
Should he have approached the obstacles in his life as problems rather than challenges, he would have stopped long ago. The word “problem” has a tacit connotation of a big and unbreakable wall. A problem implies STOP. But rather, if we approach the very same things as “challenges” instead of “problems” we not only replace words but also reframe the entire situation. Think about it, and try it!
2. It is okay not to be the smartest person in the room.
I had a class at Babson last year that was basically about how to be the smartest guy in the room. It was a very interesting course; I learned a lot. But there was something about the professor’s intention to teach us how to be (or pretend to be) the smartest person in the room that did not make sense to me. What does it mean to be the smartest one? Why would I want to be one?
Oleg helped me answer these questions. He is a casual guy who not only knows that he does not know everything, but also embraces such thinking. He does not want to be the smartest guy in the room –I believe he actually hates the idea of being that man. Oleg wants to be surrounded by people who are smarter than him, so he can learn from them (smart move right?).
For example, we learned that when he began his first company, he knew nothing about retail. He wanted to make the Walmart of Russia but there was no one to learn from or copy in Russia. On top of that, Russia was new at the market economy so Russians did not know much about accounting, customer service, or basically anything related to business practices. So how do you do it? Some people might see that as a problem and stop, but he obviously did not. He travelled to the U.S. to talk to the world’s leader in retail (aka Walmart). He cold-called someone in the top management of Walmart and explained his case. He then had the chance to talk with people who were smarter than him and attacked them with questions. Few years after, he sold his company, Lenta, for more than US$100 million.
I had a class at Babson last year that was basically about how to be the smartest guy in the room. It was a very interesting course; I learned a lot. But there was something about the professor’s intention to teach us how to be (or pretend to be) the smartest person in the room that did not make sense to me. What does it mean to be the smartest one? Why would I want to be one?
Oleg helped me answer these questions. He is a casual guy who not only knows that he does not know everything, but also embraces such thinking. He does not want to be the smartest guy in the room –I believe he actually hates the idea of being that man. Oleg wants to be surrounded by people who are smarter than him, so he can learn from them (smart move right?).
For example, we learned that when he began his first company, he knew nothing about retail. He wanted to make the Walmart of Russia but there was no one to learn from or copy in Russia. On top of that, Russia was new at the market economy so Russians did not know much about accounting, customer service, or basically anything related to business practices. So how do you do it? Some people might see that as a problem and stop, but he obviously did not. He travelled to the U.S. to talk to the world’s leader in retail (aka Walmart). He cold-called someone in the top management of Walmart and explained his case. He then had the chance to talk with people who were smarter than him and attacked them with questions. Few years after, he sold his company, Lenta, for more than US$100 million.
3. There is a big distinction between being successful and feeling successful.
If you see Oleg walking in the street, you would have no clue about what he has achieved so far. He does not show off his success. I already mentioned his casual work dress for instance. Maybe he prefers to wear such comfortable clothing because he works 84 hours a week (from Monday to Sunday, 12 hours a day approx.). Maybe. But something I know for sure is that he does not introduce himself as a successful entrepreneur or businessman.
The serial entrepreneur is building a massive pharmaceutical company. He is employing 380 people as of today, with plans of doubling such number in the following months. He has invested millions of dollars so far in Solopharm. He is still creating immeasurable positive impact in the Russian society against all odds. And he remains humble still.
The difference between feeling successful and being successful is huge, I’ve realized. The former is a decision, while the latter is a result of your actions. But more than that, when you feel successful, you are prone to fall into a trap that would most certainly bring you down: you conform, you stop pushing yourself forwards, you shut down your ambition. One thing is being a successful entrepreneur and another thing is feeling like one. Perhaps we should understand that success is not a destination but an ongoing journey that must be consistently reevaluated.
Of course we could spend much time talking about what success is all about, but that is not the theme of this post. If we share Oleg’s journey or not is of no importance. And whether he actually thinks of problems as challenges, whether he hates to be the smartest person in the room, or whether he feels successful or not, is not of importance either. My intention was to share the things that I learned from a humble guy I happened to meet during a brief conference in Russia.
