The leader’s speech

What could bring together two successful businessmen from such different industries? The answer is the cooperation on milk processing project.

The speakers with different approaches to leadership, but common creative passion for their businesses shared the experience of building production and communication processes in Russia, elaborated on the importance of open business, efficient HR management and gave a lot of valuable tips to the young specialists. Besides, Stefan Duerr even sang a few lines by a popular Russian duet when he was asked about his favourite song, which was quite a surprise for the audience.

In his speech, Stefan Duerr pointed out the difference in business management in Russia and abroad. According to him, doing business in Germany is like playing basketball: the rules are extremely strict, the slightest pushing is considered a foul. Meanwhile business in Russia is like ice-hockey: the rules are established, but you can play a bit rougher.

"The sad thing about Russian business is that it cannot embrace the idea of somebody else’s success, accept that it is a win-win situation: in Europe, if your partner earns three rubles while you earn a ruble, you are fine with it. For some reason, Russian business community is dominated by the idea that you can feel successful only if your partner is far behind you, which is a win-lose strategy. That is the attitude that should be changed."

Stefan also remarked that Russian employees are generally more motivated and enthusiastic than German workers: "A Russian worker will wake up at 6 o’clock on Sunday if needed. In Germany, workers will give you a number of strong arguments why they cannot sacrifice their well-deserved day-off. Moreover, Russian people are more likely to find an unconventional solution to any problem and are very flexible in ever-changing environment. That is why, people is the main asset of the company. A Russian employee is result-driven, not process-driven, therefore there are simply no insoluble issues in Russia."

The students were excited to learn that EkoNiva’s door is always open for young specialists. To Stefan’s mind, it is them that induce development of the company and fill it with passion and innovative ideas.

"Agriculture is an interesting and progressive industry. Over 700 students had internships on our farms last year. The most talented and promising of them were offered a job afterwards. In 2018, we expect to receive more than a 1,000 students", Stefan noted proudly.

To conclude his presentation, the President of EkoNiva Group gave a few useful pieces of advice for the young generation, "Don’t focus on grades, but never stop learning. Develop your logical thinking and speak at least one foreign language. Always challenge yourself with the question why you are doing something this way, not differently. Have knowledge of the most important economic parameters and processes in your business. Learn to be a leader."

Aleksey Andreyev continued the discussion remarking that he draws sheer inspiration from the ever-altering world around him, where it is necessary to be a bit of a dreamer: if the world keeps on changing, you need to find time for dreaming.

The speaker commented, "Paraphrasing a famous line: do believe, do fear, do ask. We are part of society. When people ask for something, communication takes place, personal features manifest themselves in the process. We can learn from each other only when we are open and we share. Fearlessness is a good feature, but ratio of fearless to cautious leaders is 50:1, i.e. generally, fifty leaders are careful and only one is a daredevil."

The overall discussion was immensely interesting and productive. It was an awesome opportunity for prospective businessmen, entrepreneurs and politicians to ask Stefan Duerr and Aleksey Andreyev burning question face-to-face. Today, these young people are trying to figure out what it takes to become a successful leader, which means that our country can expect glittering future full of glorious victories and achievements.

By Anna Palagutina
Source: Webseite EkoNiva APK Holding
Translation from Russian