A Leadership Lesson from Ukraine

In 1990, I traveled to the USSR including Ukraine, which was still a republic of the Soviet Union (and St Petersburg was known as Leningrad). At the time one could only visit on organized tour so that you could be easily tracked - with rumors that the tour guides were KGB agents keeping a watchful eye. Who knows if any of that was true, but it added to the intrigue of the trip.

Over the weekend I dug out a birthday gift - a travel book which contained pictures of Ukraine with an inscription from - and a photo of - Valeri, a university student who was celebrating his wedding when we first met him in Kyiv. We sent a bottle of champagne to his table, got invited for coffee and vodka the next day, and ended up spending most of the following three days in Kyiv with him, his wife, and their friends.

We even violated our visas by traveling into the countryside for a final celebratory dinner and a raucous evening where, yes, I did have too much vodka. Getting back into the city was its own adventure hailing an empty bus along a desolate stretch of a road that was returning to the city, and being counseled 'not to say a word' so as not to give away the fact that we weren't local - as if being Asian wasn't a big clue.

We stayed in touch for a number of years hearing about how each other's lives were unfolding. Graduating from university, starting a family and beginning work. Ukrainian independence in 1991 was a proud moment for him and his compatriots as the Soviet Union dissolved. I've been holding Valeri and those who call Ukraine the Motherland in my thoughts.

And I've been thinking of the week that has passed and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. A week ago a columnist for The New York Times wrote that the president was in over his head with the Russian armed forces looming at the border, and an invasion imminent. After all, he was a comedian who played a president on a television show and now serves in that role in real life. The past few days have revealed President Zelensky's true colors - and then some. The narrative has quickly changed with his character and leadership being lifted up. May his nimble leadership inspire us all, in our far less harrowing work, to be agile, flexible, and never afraid to rise to a worthy challenge.