Opinion

Leadership Qualifications are Universal

Whether you’re running a small company in America, starting a war in Ukraine, or defending your property, the requirements for success are the same.

To project the power needed to attract talent, motivate people, and promote good-will, you need three things: economic strength, technology sophistication, and a compelling story.

My company’s economic strength is measured by its financial statements. Putin’s business (aka his country’s economic strength) is becoming weak as it suffers from the commerce isolation he has created. Whether you like it or not, we live in a global economy. And Zelensky; well, he has the economic strength of ALL the Western countries.

On a scale of 1-10 ,my technology sophistication is probably an 8. I will give Putin this: he has technology sophistication of an 11, evident by his tribe of professional hackers. But Zelensky, he has Elon Musk, which is an out-of-this-world number.

As for our stories. Mine is decades long; eras, if you will, of surviving wars, recessions, inflation, and the birth of the internet.

Putin’s story is a lie. In the beginning, he was doing a pretty good job of isolating his people from the truth, but as more and more causalities and stories from the front-line seep in, his story is weakening.

And talk about a good story, Zelenskyy may have the best story of all. Lawyer turned comedian, turned actor, turned politician, turned war hero.

To me, President Vladimir Putin has over-estimated his leadership qualities, put too much stock in his fire power, and underestimated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s qualifications.