Do You Have to Have some Experience to Run a Country?

The president of large country is an actor. A great one.. but an actor. I watched some of his works.. I adored, honestly, his talent. He may have been be the best or one of the best actors in his homeland for sure.

You know how it all started? Never seen this ever highlighted even in Russian press, not to mention western media. There was a series on him becoming a president of Ukraine. I’m not joking. It was a well written and Hollywood-level-produced films of him taking over the country in a very peaceful manner and then running this country in surprisingly wise and friendly way. The series was shot in Russian language. Obviously cause the country mostly speaks (spoke) Russian. Google for “Слуга народа” to be sure. You don’t have to understand the language, any one-minute preview will work. Would you vote for this kind of guy? I certainly would. But I would vote for this kind of guy, not for this one in particular. Why? I explain below.

Think of it. Ukraine is (in fact, was) a country of 40+ mln people. Relatively size of Spain. And the guy who runs the country, in a very, probably most, difficult period of its existence, is a professional actor, not a professional politician, nor a manager. It’s clear that he does not possess the leadership talent. Just look at any video of him in action. Although he very well plays leadership. Obviously cause he is a great actor. If you ever worked for a large corporation imagine an actor being put on top of it. No talents other than the capacity to play a role. How would you expect her/him to run the company? Some years ago I ran a team of 40+ people and spoke to 1000+ audiences. I know what it is and what it takes. Here we talk about running a team of hundreds of thousands and addressing millions or even more if we count EU and the US. You have to have the knowledge and experience to handle it.

I once attended a conference where we spoke to a man, a Nobel prize laureate. He shared his life story, he changed scientific field every seven years and openly laughed on how the pattern repeated itself: it took 3–4 years for scientific community to accept him as a professional in every new field. In one of them he received the Nobel prize, and.. peacefully left. Yet again to pursue something new. Ukrainian president didn’t have three years to train, he didn’t even have a month. They released the third series in the end of March 2019 and on 21st of April he won the presidency.

What is the conclusion? There are people behind the scene who organized the whole thing and tell what to do. There’s no other way.

I also must admit that those who planned and executed the idea are simply genius. Up to the look of the guy.. everything is so well thought through and delivered.. this semi-military outlook of the hero with a coat of arms on the shoulder. I would love to applaud here.. but I will not. As the immorality of the undertaking negates the professionalism of the execution. People who run the show begin to actually peek out from behind the curtain and remind the audience that it’s a theatre. Know who is the boss here. Some openly share that human life doesn’t really matter. “We don’t care how many Ukrainians die..” In fairness, I note that this is said in the context of condemning the action of his own country — the US, if I understood correctly. But it’s a real quote from a real man who does possess power across the Atlantic. Well, I do care about human life, any life. That’s why I take time (and courage as well these days) to write this. It’s not only because those are my blood brothers who die from both sides, I do care about human life in general. “The task of human being on earth is to love another human being”, said last week a man I respect very much.

Another, although deeply personal, lesson that I get from the story is that as I fully stand for both my country and my people, particularly in the time of big armed crisis, I also admit that I care equally for human life. I feel pain when I hear about losses from the other side, not only of Russian soldiers and civilians dragged into this and dying or being wounded there.

“What can be done about it?” you may ask. Well, do not support the common narrative. Ridicule it staying away from right or wrong, good or bad. Like in renown ‘La Belle Verte’ film, “we stoped buying it and threw it away to the street.” By the way the movie is worth watching today, it becomes more and more relevant as we get immersed deeper into the crisis.

Finally I feel myself as this boy who reveals the naked truth as in Emperor’s New Clothes story by Andersen. Why no one mentions this? How can we be fooled, ridiculed to that degree at that scale? But that’s the subject of another story. The story of education.