Ukraine is my home. I have lived in Kyiv longer than I have any other city. I expect to die here (though I plan to put it off for as long as possible) because, as that ultimate movie expat, Rick Blaine, said about Casablanca: “I’m going to die in Casablanca. It’s a good spot for it.”
I have a Ukrainian wife and three children here, as well as two children in America. I have seen the ups, the downs and the all-arounds of Ukraine. I have fought back as a business owner through regional and worldwide economic crises in 1998 and again a decade later.
I have seen bad leaders, and I have seen even worse leaders.
In 2005, I waged a battle with a worldwide mega-holding company that tried to put my advertising and public relations firm out of business. When the smoke cleared, they were more bloodied than we, and had failed to wrest our premier clients from us.
No one promised me – or anyone else – a Ukrainian rose garden.
When I was named chief executive officer of the Kyiv Post a year ago, it was a transitional period in my life. I had been a journalist, worked in politics, been an executive with a worldwide PR company and had owned businesses in the U.S., Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Now, I was returning to journalism.
It has been difficult. The newspaper was losing a lot of money, but we put a strategy in place and stuck with it. Today, the newspaper loses a lot less, and I predict a profit next year barring an economic apocalypse (an event that seems to occur in Ukraine with the regularity of hurricane eseason in Florida).
To put it bluntly, I am not necessarily better off today than I was when I first passed through passport control at Boryspil in September 1994. At that time, I had shed myself of the big boat on which I lived, a two-engine airplane, a shiny red Porsche and a few other unnecessary baubles.
There is something about this country that gets under your skin and stays there. It’s like that favored overcoat that, over time, becomes torn and faded but more comfortable. I came for a year, and now my ticket has been punched for the duration. In Ukraine, I have seen a collection of failed presidencies and – it sometimes seems – more prime ministers than there were players who suited up for Euro 2012 matches.
Speaking to a group of European and East European ambassadors at a dinner recently, I was asked what I thought Ukraine needed to pull its socks up and, frankly, to avoid becoming “Belarus Lite.” It was an easy question, but the answer I gave might strike some as reminiscent of Pollyanna.
I said Ukraine has the resources, but simply lacks leaders with courage and moral backbone. The first president who wants his grandkids to be proud of him – not for plundering but for building Ukraine’s future – will be the country’s first real leader. In other words, the first President to embrace an honorable legacy will be a hero for the ages.
So, what is the purpose of this personal narrative? I want to sell you something.
The Kyiv Post – along with our friends at the East Europe Foundation – are sponsoring a major conference in November. The theme is “Ukraine: Can the Sleeping Tiger Awaken?” We discussed the title and modified it numerous times. Some on our advisory board felt it was too optimistic.
I don’t think so. At least, it doesn’t have to be.
We believe this will be a different conference, and that is not a PR line, but it is a sales pitch. Rather than focusing on laying blame for past inaction or bemoaning the country’s political and economic shortcomings, the conference will explore how business can play a more pivotal role in Ukraine’s emergence.
“Sleeping tigers” are countries with high potential, vast economies and substantial human resources, and which are at the crossroads of trading routes. Yet, their potential is largely untapped to do political social or other development barriers. This is Ukraine.
“Leaping tigers” are developed nations in the full force of their development. They have high quality infrastructure and are business and foreign direct investment friendly. They have had the foresight to clear the path for commercial development by easing regulations and dismantling bureaucratic barriers. Their leaders are visionaries, not valueless empty raincoats.
Most of the nations of Southeast Asia are leaping tigers today, as they have been for several decades. Ukraine’s closest neighbor to have awakened is Georgia, though much smaller then Ukraine, it appears on the route to becoming a leaping tiger.
The Kyiv Post Conference “Will the Sleeping Tiger Awaken?” in partnership with the East Europe Foundation is set for Nov. 26-27th in Kyiv. We hope you will be able to attend.
Whether you are expat or Ukrainian, I have a feeling that most of you are like me. You dream of an awakening tiger in Ukraine.
Kyiv Post CEO Michael Willard can be reached at [email protected].
