Hello everyone. I decided to keep the post "One my day ...." in my journal. For history and archive. Honestly, I did not expect that there will be so many responses from current and former Beeline employees, as well as from competitors :-) Who already read it on One day of mine, you can safely not read. Well, for those who missed it - at will.
My name is Mikhail Slobodin, a well-known person in narrow circles. Not a well-known leader of a very well-known Russian company. Companies with a glorious and vibrant past, a difficult present and an obviously bright future. I present to your attention one day of mine, May 21, which actually turned out to be a complete reflection of the fact that now the overwhelming part of my life is devoted to the bright future of this company. My other life, unfortunately, passes me by, which undoubtedly worries me and my family, but what to do - took up the tug, do not say that it is not hefty.
I am writing not only for you, but also for my employees - they are very interested in what they are doing general manager, although I already tell them a lot. So if you feel that there is a lot of information and comments - do not read and move on. They may not be for you.
1. Oh, this one standard call phone. Pulls you out of sleep at the 6:45 am scheduled by you. The beloved eldest daughter on the screen brightens up the awakening. The brain wakes up and turns on very quickly. I am glad for myself that I have not forgotten since yesterday that today I am taking minutes of my day.
Let's go ... I take a screenshot, at the same time lingering on the photo - the mood improves.
2. I quickly go to the bathroom. Every minute is scheduled in the morning, but there is a maximum order to fix it, so I try to follow it. I try to take a selfie in the bathroom - that's what many have told me. I decide to do this for the first time. It turns out horror, two attempts - the horror does not stop. Finishing torturing myself and the phone. Selfies are a special art that needs to be done especially - I even start to respect the girls from Instagram who do it very professionally.
For moral compensation and the elimination of self-inferiority emerging within the complex, I go out onto the balcony and photograph the view from the balcony in the bathroom. A wonderful day begins. Super. The mood rises after trying to take a selfie. Nature and interiors are better for me :)
3. I look around in search of something interesting and now - our miracle. A tree house and a swing tied to a branch is a childhood dream, and now this dream has become a reality for the youngest son.
The birds are singing, it's warm, the breeze - well, this day starts just fine!
4. Brushing your teeth, shaving and everything else - well, you yourself know what I mean :) Takes less time than photographing. Time is running out and we have to get dressed.
The workspace is very organized here. Spending more time planning how things are organized saves time every day. Ties (I even have two branded ties in my wardrobe for working in sales offices), belts, cufflinks, underpants, socks, including striped yellow and black socks - everything is at hand.
You can dress even in complete darkness. It takes no more than 4 minutes to get ready here. Well, do not forget about the badge - which in our country means a special love for Clients and knowledge of the NPS system (Our Service Indicator) - the badge is given only to those who have passed this exam. And those who did not pass - do not work for the Company for a long time.
5. A quick and modest breakfast - salad in pita bread and tea. Simple and delicious. I eat very quickly - the costs of a difficult childhood, so the tea does not even have time to cool down.
6. Time is running out. The large clock in the kitchen reminds you to hurry up. My working day traditionally begins at 8 am and to be guaranteed to be in the office by this time I have to leave no later than 7:10. Already end-to-end, and one important morning duty has not yet been fulfilled.
7. And here she is - my morning duty has come :) Our night watchman Funtik pulled himself up for the morning portion of his cat's happiness. A master begging, especially when he knows there is a great chance. We satisfy Funtika, in parallel, to save time, photographing and even filming a video. Oh, how little a cat needs to be happy. Has made one creature happy in the morning - the day has not been lived in vain!
8. Funtik and the blooming garden accompany me. It is certainly a miracle, going out into the street to breathe in the aroma of flowers, fresh morning greens, listen to the birds singing and walk not on the asphalt, but along the green path. These 30 seconds from the door to the car in the morning give you so much positive energy that lasts for a long time.
By the way, flowers and a garden at home often become "heroes" of my Instagram @myslobodin.
9. The jaguar has already arrived and is ready to take me to work. We deviate from the schedule a little - photographing still takes time.
10. Driver Sasha - has been working with me for over ten years, to be honest, I don’t remember exactly how long he is with me.
11. The beginning of my journey to the office is also sheer beauty. Linden alley in the village at the beginning of the path, and then the road goes through a forest that is very fresh in the morning, fresh because of the young greenery. The air invigorates as well as the bright, despite the early morning sun. To convey this feeling to you, I had to stop several times. But it's worth it :)
12. Having passed the forest and leaving already on the road, where there is nothing special to look at, I get down to work. My mobile phone is a huge window to the world and a control center. I check all social media channels - for starters, my favorite Instagram is the center of positivity, I see who and how many liked me, I like the works of other Instagrammers I liked - Dasha @daryadaryad, for example. I’m watching Twitter - our head of the Siberian region reported about passing the NPS knowledge test (I will not repeat it - you already remembered it earlier), I understand that Serezha can already be given a badge. The test is 100% passed - excellent. Well, at the same time I throw the news I like to myself in Flipboard, one of the best news gathering applications from my point of view. More than 2,500 people have subscribed to my magazine, in which I collect all the news about telecom, about our Company and competitors, these are employees of our Company, who can receive first-hand information almost online at a minimum cost.
I work out an evening trouble-ticket - in the SMS that comes to my phone, the phone number of the person in charge is immediately indicated (Simple. Convenient. For you - this is not only for Clients) and we investigate in hot pursuit what the problem was, how well-organized and organized the incident was has been worked out and what needs to be done to improve the system and minimize the risks of recurrence. Everyone knows that I will definitely call. Today in the morning we sorted out an evening incident in the Central Region, one of our IT systems, which ensures the operation of the mobile Internet, malfunctioned.
In parallel, I test the speed of the Internet, answer the e-mail that has accumulated overnight - there is not a lot of work mail there, but there is. The working day must be started from an absolutely blank slate :)))
13. 8:00 So absolutely imperceptibly time flies by on the road - I drive up to the office - we have it at the intersection of Krasnoproletarskaya and Sadovoye. In general, the road took exactly 45 minutes and I arrived close to 8 o'clock, but right on time. The sun is already beginning to bake, the sky is turning blue, the day will be hot. This is where my mission as a photographer ends before the end of the day, and my colleague takes over the photographic baton. daryadarya ... Well, now, thank God, you can fully focus on your work.
Our glass building is called "cucumber" by the employees. The team of the Moscow region is concentrated in it. Today we are working in it - we have Deep Dive, but simply a deep immersion in the business development of the Moscow region. Although my office is located in an adjacent building on the 8th floor, I will not get into it today.
14. View from the window of the office of the head of the Moscow region. Our cobbled street, a summer cafe under umbrellas. So far, the silence and desertion are still 8 am, but literally in half an hour the people will begin to pull themselves up.
15. We are all in light, almost summer has come, a good mood - now we will start.
16. But before you start you need to catch up with coffee a little (I know that you need to write coffee, but I catch up with coffee).
17. Our atmosphere is relaxed and cheerful, although we are discussing serious problems. The team of the region has recently been formed, the atmosphere in the team is very positive, and this is very good. In life, you need to treat many things with humor, but of course not to lose the essence either.
18. A lot has already been done - and the main focus of the discussion is how to consolidate the positive dynamics that we have seen in the last few months after the difficult 2013, what are the advantages of the new client strategy and the change in attitude towards the Client - the guys are optimistic. The enemy will not pass. Clients will be ours. What I like about the telecom industry is the real fight for the client. Everyone has their own "ways to work with the team" and we are looking for our own.
19. Sergei Rubtsov is our leader in Moscow, and I look to the future with confidence and optimism. A big start has already been made and big plans for this year - both from the point of view of the quality of the network and from the point of view of new services and opportunities that our Clients will receive. They haven’t seen anything like this for probably five years.
20. After analyzing the general situation, trends, projects and an action plan to "capture Moscow" and regain the trust of our Clients, I have a traditional meeting when visiting each region. Meeting key employees of the region is our growing shift. But until the guys have eaten all the sandwiches - I reserve a couple in order to ...
21 In order to bring them to our chief strategist - Artem Nits. He complained that I was going to eat sandwiches with key employees, and he was starving. Now Artyom will not starve - and there is a holiday on his street now. The task of the General Director is not only to ask, but also to help his team in difficult times, in order to ask even more later :)
22. 11:00 Meeting with key employees, many different questions, lively dialogue, I have something to think about, but on the other hand asked - what did you personally do to make the Company better, for the Client to become better?
A few minutes ago, the people cheerfully expressed their wishes to the General Director about what needs to be corrected and where, as a leader, I personally need to strengthen the work, and when the question returned to the return line, what tasks each of those present did personally and plans to do - this is where the people floated. So we need to work on the internal culture - both for me and of course for all our employees. Especially key.
23. I propose to compete and come up with a caption for this photo :) This is a legacy of the past, but they decided not to remove the pasted paper :)
24. This spring, there are bicycle racks in front of the office. So far, not many employees are arriving. But in Perm, our longtime critic and at the same time a regular client maksim_perm insists that they appear at every sales office. I'm afraid that the great Maxima will stand there in splendid isolation, and like this great one. But come on, let's see - summer will show.
25. The first part of the DeepDive presentation and discussion block is over - it's time to go to the fields. We load onto the bus.
26. 12:30 Now visits to retail stores are on schedule. Our sales centers. I ask you not to pay attention to the strange bag in the back seat, it accidentally hit the lens.
27. To exclude special preparation for a meeting at any one point of sale, and at the same time to check the functionality of the mobile application, I choose a sales office to visit right on the go through the application.
29. There are such amazing places in our Moscow. I myself was surprised when I saw it. You usually drive and don't look around - as a result, you miss the life of the city.
30. We are already at the gate. We have a common entrance here with Euroset. The place is brisk, exit from the metro. But soon this office will have to be cleaned - the Moscow government is "cleaning" the clearing in front of the metro. This is probably correct, but for us it is additional fuss.
31. First, we go to Euroset - this is not our competitor, but a partner. On many issues in the development of our network of sales offices, we focus on his best practices (although there are questions and problems there, like any business). Since May, MTS has announced. that stops accepting payments in Euroset. I decided to check - I entered at random a number belonging to MTS clients and transferred 100 rubles to his account. Everything is working. And some of the MTS Clients will also unexpectedly be glad to receive 100 rubles, usually the opposite happens in telecoms - they unexpectedly write off for something;)
32. A wide variety of telephones in Euroset - the eyes run up. And of course I look at how the proposals from our Company are presented. Everything is fine.
33. We go to us - entrance with Euroset door to door. I look at our explanation tariff plans for clients. It has become much simpler and more beautiful, but all the same, my inner sense of beauty tells me that the ideal is still far away. We will probably ask our creative bloggers for help and ideas - we will announce a competition.
34. Talking to our seller. We are discussing why we are better than we are still worse than our competitors. It is important that our employees know not only strengths our Company, but also weaknesses our competitors.
35. Now we go to the back room - this is the place that shows the internal culture in the sales office, and there you can see a lot in the nuances. But this is not the main thing - we are discussing how the new motivation system works and improving the quality of our salespeople's work. It was launched recently, much simpler than the old one and, in general, makes good progress, but every nuance is important here. And what is very important for understanding the quality of this system is how the guys perceive it and how they use it. Disassembled in great detail.
36. A photograph of the Company's management - the first time I was in the sales office after the appointment - October 2013 (this was the first experience of working as a consultant) there was also a printout on the wall - but the guys, in order not to change the entire piece of paper, changed only a small part - gluing it over the old one CEO new photo. We changed them so often that it seemed like a reasonable approach :) I keep that photo as a reminder of those times.
37. In moving between offices, we feed a little.
38. Now the next in line is the KNOW-HOW salon, this is the former ION and this is a new format for telecom - a full-scale store for the sale of any computer equipment and telephones with training and service functions. The weather is excellent and Sergey talks along the way about how this format differs from our traditional sales offices.
39. We are talking with the guys about what we need to improve in order to have more Clients and more sales. The guys there are commercial, they feel the client and his needs better. All the same, the staff at KNOW-HOW is more experienced than in our young mono brand. The conversation turned out to be two-way. You get a lot from such meetings if you can listen and ask questions.
40. 14:30 The city lives its own life. It's great summer weather outside.
41. 15:30 After the sales offices we go to the control center of our entire Moscow network. The technical management office is located in Sokolniki. This office has a huge history related to the development of the company.
42. 15:35 But before we start discussing the quality and development of the network, we need to have lunch. By tradition, we have lunch at a local canteen. We eat for money, so if you forgot your wallet, you need to ask a friend. Sergei Rubtsov wished to document the fact of transferring 500 rubles to me in debt. It is necessary, by the way, to return the favor.
43. A full lunch - decided to take everything and a compote to try. All together it costs about 350 rubles. Not cheap for lunch in a corporate canteen. But overall it's delicious.
44. Feedback for canteen staff is a great and easy way to find out what our employees think and want. In this heat, our people have a strong demand for okroshka, which they express in different ways.
45. Mission Control Center - our control center for the Moscow network. Data about the current mode, problem situations are collected here, and the efficiency of the network and the quality of the service received by our Clients is analyzed.
46. One monitor is not enough - control is carried out in many parameters and in different dimensions... The colors on the screens do not always correspond to our idea of the presence, absence of a problem - but the guys live in their own color scheme, where red does not always mean bad :)
47. Our techies on their way are not used to paying attention to obstacles, but just in case for the most daring and direct - a special inscription on the door :)
48. We discuss how the operation of our equipment, base stations, controllers and all that stuff is analyzed. Their number is in the thousands - and here it is important to do this in the system, otherwise you will chase after two base stations - you will not catch a single one.
49. There are many thoughts and many questions to be solved. Yes, it's not easy work to drag a hippopotamus out of the swamp :)
50. Based on the results of the discussion, I draw what I would like to see as a reflection of the quality of service. They promised to do it - then, on occasion, I will show what is happening with quality in dynamics.
51. Imagine that one such "closet" serves almost 400 thousand subscribers.
52. The heat, everything is floating, and the bright sun, reflecting from the windows of the opposite building, gives such incredible pictures.
53. Business is made up of details. For example, it turns out that diesel generators are on trailers. And these trailers have not moved for several years. It seems illogical, but on the other hand, firefighters demand that diesel generators should be at a distance of at least 12 meters from the building. The territory does not allow, where will you stick them? So they stand in the eternal parking lot.
54. Together with the engineers we climb onto the roof of one of the buildings of the technical directorate to our base station. The sun beats down not like a child. What is it like for our guys, dressed in full outfit, in this heat.
55. At technical facilities, it is necessary to wear a helmet. Order is order - whether you are the General Director or not does not matter. The sun is bright, hot - that's the face is so displeased :))
56. The guys came to change the angle of the antenna. Taking this opportunity and a minute pause, I return the debt to Dasha - I photograph her at the time of adjustment. She looks, unlike me, extremely harmonious both in a helmet and with a camera.
57. The tilt change is only 4 degrees, and the communication is noticeably improved. The guys work out the outfit and finish the job. It's already six o'clock. We talked about different things, everything consists of little things. One of the biggest problems is getting to the site (this is the name of the site where the antenna is installed), here are the questions of the landlords, and the availability of the necessary keys to open the premises - we store thousands of keys with which our employees get to where they make the equipment work. Sometimes you have to go by hook or by crook to the place where you can do something with the equipment, especially when an emergency occurs. All this was discussed.
58. 19:00 After the "tour" in our technical center, we discussed many more technical and commercial issues. In general, the program of action is extremely extensive. So the connection will be better, the speed will be higher, and new offers for Moscow clients will be interesting. With a sense of accomplishment we are finishing the Moscow theme. My program is not finished yet. And the guys with a sense of relief are already going home.
Moscow is beautiful on this day - the blue and deep sky, bright sun and fresh greenery make everything somehow very festive. Moving to the next meeting. The only thing that annoys us is, of course, traffic jams. The very peak is in the center.
59. 19:45 Finally I get to the next place - I have a meeting with Amdocs CEO Eli Gelman. Amdocs is one of the leading software providers for large companies with a huge number of clients. And one of the undisputed leaders. We are discussing the implementation of the IT transformation project of our Company with their participation - the system will be simpler, there will be fewer mistakes and problems for the Client, and we will be able to make completely new proposals for our Clients. But it will take a decent amount of time. But the road will be mastered by the walking one.
60. 21:30 After the help of Eli Gelman (a small service is always pleasant, but I didn't have to do it) in his hitting Aeroexpress at the Belorussky railway station (he went to the St. Petersburg forum), I go home. On the way home, I sort out my mail, look at what happened from the news on all my information and social media channels. I answer, comment and all that.
By the way, I always wear my seat belt in the car. This is my habit from work at TNK-BP. They paid a lot of attention to safety and this habit, which remained as a reminder of this work, is supported by me as a memory of this very interesting period in my life.
61. 22:30 We arrived. It is already getting dark, but still light. All the same, summer is already very soon. My iPhone turned on again in event logging.
62. The first one who meets me is Funtik. Waiting for her portion of evening happiness :)))
63. An evening piece of happiness for a cat. This is my duty.
64. Outside there is amazing air and birds are singing, but not loudly, but in the evening. The view from the balcony to the gazebo - I can only get to it on weekends.
65. 22:30 Swam with the youngest son in the pool, he is still a night owl. Absolute energy and positive, joyful swam (at the age of 3, he swims himself without any improvised means, dives, gets everything he needs from the bottom - in general, the subject of our pride). He himself also threw off the burden of the working day and recharged. I do not publish the photos - my mother has a principled position on this matter.
23:40 But working programm not finished - it is necessary to finish the post in LJ, started a few days ago. Already at night I finish the final version.
66. I set up an alarm clock for a new day and go to bed.
Mikhail Slobodin
General Director of OJSC VimpelCom since 2013. He held the positions of Executive Vice President of OJSC TNK-BP for Strategy and Business Development, President of OJSC Russian communal systems", President of CJSC Integrated Energy Systems (IES), Vice President for Energy and Director of the Department of OJSC TNK-BP Management. Candidate of Science (Engineering).
Mikhail, thank you for the time and attention you have given to Lifehacker. The first traditional question is: what does your workplace look like?
Very simple. I have a large office, but I use 15-20% of the area in it. Everything else is an entourage from the previous scope. The office has glass walls and constantly open doors.
I have a MacBook Pro 17 on my desk, which I take with me when I need it. I have no other computer. The general concept is that I do 95% of all work from my phone. The computer plays a different role: it is more convenient to write posts than on a mobile, because, unfortunately, LiveJournal has a completely inoperative mobile application. The rest I do with iPhone screen 6. Historically, I started using Apple products before the big fashion for this brand, and the technology of this company has been with me for over 15 years.
I also have a vintage rotary dial phone on my desk that doesn't work, and a phone for office conversations, but I rarely use them. And equipment for video communication.
What place do papers take in work?
There is one paper on the desktop - an A3 sheet with a plan for the week. And that's all. People come to me without papers, they show everything on the screen. Because a person who comes with Apple equipment can show everything they need using Apple TV, either from their phone, or from iPad, or from a computer. There is also an interface for Android devices.
What software are you using?
I don't use anything special or unusual. I make presentations with Keynote, I use Pages for writing. For business needs I use Word and Excel. I use iPhoto and Final Cut a lot when I need to compose videos, because I do a lot of things for the blog myself: I'm interested in trying everything.
In terms of communications, I use WhatsApp with a certain number of people who love to use WhatsApp. With people who love Telegram (for example, the CEO of Megafon Ivan Tavrin), I use Telegram.
Internally, we use Slack to connect top management and teams. This is one of the leaders in group work, we have about 80 employees using it. It is convenient to discuss team things with him online.
I use many other applications depending on the situation. If I go to take pictures, I use an application that helps to download photos from the camera via Wi-Fi (and I have a Canon EOS 6D) without making any manipulations with the memory card. If I take a copter with me, as I recently did in Georgia, then I have the dji-Vision application, which allows me to control the copter from a mobile phone.
How do you find out the news?
I do not read newspapers at all and do not experience any problems from it. I use MediaMetrics - this is a well-known news aggregator, quite fast and interesting. For IT and telecom news, I use Siliconrus. Of course, I watch RBC's feed through a browser. Plus, the company has a non-standard implementation of press monitoring. Not in the form of mailing in Word or HTML, we did it on the basis of mobile Flipboard apps... Thus, what the media writes about us can be seen in the form of a single stream not only by us, but in general by anyone who wishes. And a purely telecom business product - the Medallia application, which allows us to view Net Promoter Score indicators, service levels online, and receive relevant analytics online.
You are a very active user of social networks. How do you work with them?
From the point of view of social media, I have all the necessary mobile applications... Instagram is one of my favorites. I have 8.5 thousand subscribers there. This network is different high level positive, because there are more women on Instagram, and the female audience generates more positive content. In LiveJournal, in which there is a significant preponderance among users in the direction of men, and already of considerable age, sometimes it is just a trash. Nevertheless, it is an interesting platform that allows you to express your thoughts. Obviously, I use the applications “ In contact with" and Facebook Twitter works mainly on reception: there people often raise interesting problems and cases on the work of "Beeline". I use Snapchat to communicate with my eldest daughter.
How often do you check new posts?
Some of the information that comes through social media is work. Through the networks I receive feedback from clients: what is not working well for us, what is worth paying attention to. Such responses give a lot, because we have a service business and you always need to understand what is happening in relations with customers. Therefore, I regularly check what and how every two hours. If there is a problem, I forward it to those in charge of this sector, please give a report. The point is that such a process goes beyond solving a specific problem for one client. From each such case, a large number of meaningful conclusions can be drawn about what is going wrong in the entire system. It is the system that needs to be corrected.
We have a social media group in Slack where guys report important signals. Actually, Slack is a working tool that is checked much more often than social media accounts. Therefore, if something requires my quick reaction, then I react - it is not difficult.
Of course, I don't constantly sit in in social networks and I don't always look at updates every two hours, because events and meetings do not allow this. I sort out most of the messages when I go to work, from seven to eight in the morning, and when I return home: I look at the press monitoring, create a magazine on FlipBoard, forward messages and tasks. Travel time I spend doing deep screening of what happened and analyzing feedback.
A blog on LiveJournal is, in a sense, a form of self-expression, but it is clear that it appeared exclusively for business purposes. I would gladly spend the free time more interesting for myself and my family. But this is part of what we are doing at Beeline, with Beeline and around Beeline.
How do you plan your schedule?
Of course, I have a waiting room that draws up a schedule. And a fairly large number of events are held as planned, because a large organization has its own rhythm of life. I use the standard Mail.ru calendar, in it I look at the events that the assistants have planned, and I set up some meetings myself.
Do you always want to go to work in the morning?
Of course not. I flew in from Georgia last month. It's warm there, good, beautiful. And then - a blizzard, snow, get up early. I am an ordinary person, I really want to sleep, but the job must be done. Therefore, I almost always arrive at work by eight in the morning. A large team and a bunch of tasks is a big responsibility, and then you come to work, you get involved, you forget about all the morning difficulties. You know, as a joke: the hedgehogs cried, injected, but continued to eat the cactus. And then it turned out that the cactus tastes very good.
What is the place on the schedule for sports?
I do sports two to three times a week with a personal trainer. I go in for fitness or boxing, I want to increase the number of classes to four per week, I'll see if I can carry out my plan.
You have worked in many high-tech industries. When do you have time to study?
The knowledge from the university was of no use to me. The most basic thing I learned at university is the mechanism for acquiring knowledge. When I came to study, they were still teaching political economy, but after two years it became meaningless. The only subject that was interesting was economic mathematics, where we studied using Western textbooks. And I was certainly not taught what was happening in business in the 90s. All luggage is learning by doing. But 5-7 years ago I started reading books. When read correctly, they become a colossal source of information to look at yourself and around you.
Learning through books is hard. You can go to the MBA, where teachers will teach everything. But it is much more expensive, time-consuming, and 80% of all work is useless. If you yourself choose what to teach you, then you spend a penny, allocate as much time as you can. But this is a difficult plan to implement.
I mainly read business literature on English language... I can recommend from the most interesting books:
- John Maxwell, Five Levels of Leadership;
- Patrick Lencioni, Five Vices of the Team;
- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. I highly recommend this book to everyone, because it is actually about management, about the system, and about how not to do it.
You started to occupy leadership positions early enough. Should a leader be born or can one become?
It depends on what to call "early". In the nineties, when the old directors and their socialist methods stopped working, those who had just graduated from the university and who represented something of themselves quickly became the bosses. And I believe that leadership is a learned skill. An ordinary person can become a leader by rethinking himself and changing himself. Perhaps not perfect. There is an analogy with sports: at first you can not do anything, but if you train hard, monitor your progress, pay attention to mistakes and correct them, then you will definitely improve your performance. We can say that leaders are born and the rest did not have a chance. But to be a leader is very good level almost everyone can.
What is stopping you at work?
Nothing really bothers me. There are problems, of course, and everything takes time. The company operates in an interesting and competitive industry. There are external factors, but a lot of problems are inherent in the company itself, we interfere with ourselves, but we consistently fight against it. And I really want to move from solving problems to creating something new and breakthrough. Even if it is not as innovative as Jobs's, our industry is still more traditional, but I think in three years we will not be what we represent today. I hope to see a different level of work and services, and most importantly, customer service.
If you were asked to use some magic to perfectly master one skill without training, which would you choose?
I dream of singing well, but I have a big problem with my hearing. He can also be trained, but I am a person who likes to do everything well. Even if I spend a lot of energy on training, I will become an extremely mediocre singer. So I would ask to be taught to sing.
Life hacking from Mikhail Slobodin
First. Always try to do more than you should. Always try to raise the bar for yourself, otherwise you will quickly find yourself in a normal but mediocre zone.
Second. Learn constantly. Few remember the slogan "Study, study and study again", but in vain: life is too changeable. Those specialties in which you can work in five years, today do not even exist yet. Therefore, you need to look around and draw the right conclusions from everything that you saw.
Third. You have to believe in yourself. Not in the mode of stupid self-confidence, but it is imperative to try hard to do the job and weigh all the possibilities. Many barriers are eventually overcome.
Fourth. Compare costs with results. Sometimes it happens that a person has decided: I want to become someone. I worked, I became. And then it turned out to be completely incomprehensible why he needed it. So set yourself the right goals.
The third largest subscriber base in Russia, VimpelCom (Beeline brand), has been heading new leader- Vasil Latsanich. Previously, he held key positions at another telecom company, MTS. Will the new head copy the management style of competitors, will the issue of selling the operator's infrastructure be resolved, what about the Euroset stores that the operator has inherited and what is the role of the state in the telecom industry - these questions were answered by the new CEO of VimpelCom Vasil Latsanich.
In recent years, only the lazy has not noted that extremely negative trends are taking place with the formerly second largest operator in Russia in terms of subscriber base. Shareholder intrigues, significant debt burden and the need for austerity, and therefore underinvestment and failures in network quality, high staff turnover and partial reduction, lack of own retail and willingness to give everything to outsourcing - all this is the newest history of VimpelCom. The new leader will have hard times, but this is precisely what our today's hero sees as his goal. Moreover, he has extensive experience in telecom.
Vasil Latsanich has been the head of VimpelCom PJSC since January 10, 2018. He has extensive experience in the field of telecommunications, IT technologies and digital services. He has been working in the telecom industry since 2001, mainly in management positions in the MTS group of companies, where in recent years he held the post of Vice President for Strategy and Marketing, working at the Moscow headquarters of MTS. In this role, Vasil Latsanich was responsible for the company's commercial and strategic initiatives, as well as customer experience transformation and digital development.
Previously, Vasil Latsanich held a number of marketing and sales development positions in the Ukrainian and Russian divisions of Coca-Cola, responsible for the development of the company's global brands and products in regional markets.
Vasil graduated from the Lysenko Higher State Institute in Lvov. He holds an MBA from London Business School.
- You have worked for MTS for about 16 years. Have you thought that someday you will become the head of "Beeline"?
Of course, I never thought about it. And I never imagined it. "Beeline" was always interesting for me, but it was always far away.
You have been working at VimpelCom for three months. Are there any fundamental differences in the way companies approach business? How different is the corporate culture?
Naturally, there are differences, but they are less than I expected. These are still very similar organizations, in which they have the same technology platform, the same market opportunities and, interestingly, overlapping people, including leaders. Of course, the corporate culture is different in some nuances. We see different positions of operators and their different behavior, as well as different goals.
I would like to note that Beeline is a young and lively organization. This manifests itself in behavior. By the way, the biggest difference between operators from each other is associated with bending. To some extent, we have already become branded companies. As a marketer, I understand this very well. And the team and corporate culture support and develop this brand. The Beeline brand provides, in my opinion, more opportunities, it is more flexible than the MTS brand. In this sense, both approaches to the market and the market presence of a particular brand are also determined by its history and its specifics.
- What are the key tasks for you at the moment?
This year we are doing something impossible, as I believe, according to the definition of external people. We are doubling our retail. And let me remind you that we built the previous part of the retail, that is, half of it, in more than 20 years. But now we open the same number of stores in 9 months. This is a super task. It will be, I really hope, the best not only among operators, but also among all networks selling portable equipment. After that, we will also actively reform it and bring it online. Our ultimate goal is to really become more Internet addicted precisely in terms of withdrawal maximum number their actions with the consumer: buying, selling, servicing - all this is online.
- How do you plan to develop online sales?
A bright future is a future without practically any shops. Last year, the online store in Beeline retail, which was much smaller than what is now, both in terms of volume and turnover, occupied 1-3% of the points. Now it is already reaching 10%, and the retail itself has grown during this time. That is, we are not only able to grow retail, but also move some of this growth towards the online store. And I must admit that Beeline woke up quite late in this direction, but it is gaining momentum very well. I believe that the percentage of online trade will continue to grow within this retail, and in the bright future we will be reducing the number of stores. But in time I will not say now when it will be. This will depend on the market and competition. And then we will move some of the trading operations towards the online store, and in our own stores we will develop the model of the showroom, where you can come and learn something new. The trading experience will be more important than the trade itself.
- What do you mean by the "showroom" model?
This is what you can see in Apple Stores, for example. I often cite this example to my colleagues. There are very few products on sale in Apple stores, but there are always a lot of people who simply point a finger at these products, roughly speaking. It is very similar to a car showroom, where you come to get acquainted with a car product. And, as a rule, you don't immediately leave the store on it.
I believe that we will follow the path paved by our colleagues. We just joined it later. This is a service supermarket. For example, the rapid development of the last two years is accessories. They are more in demand than telephones. During the life of the phone, several cases change, several pairs of headphones, and all this must be taken somewhere. Both the cases and the headphones are tactile. You want to see them, try them on, try them on, and not just buy them by clicking on the Internet. This is the showroom - come, see, try on. Either buy there, or order yourself via the Internet. From the point of view of services - unequivocally: financial, insurance. Not only phone insurance, but in principle all types of insurance. This is a business that insurance cannot solve on its own, because insurance does not have such retail networks as we do. For the rest, for example, for a supermarket, they are not interesting, because there is a lot of fuss, and during this time in the supermarket huge flows must pass. And we, in my opinion, are perfectly tuned, and as a retail we can be more convenient for this than banking retail.
- Do I understand correctly that it is possible that “coffee to go” may appear in your salons, as is the case at gas stations, for example?
The store itself is really more than just a store that sells phones. It is very boring. Stores where you can change the tariff? This is all the more boring. Today's store format is evolving, and the experiments that we have done recently are just our attempts to find other new formats. I have already said that our task is not to build another retail store, but to make it better. Our offices must be the best. How will they be better? Will we sell phones better? No. They are all the same. Will we have better sellers? I certainly hope so, but you cannot count on it. Will we have better locations? All locations are the same. Then how can you become better? Due to the format. Due to the modernity of service and new methods of working with clients. This is what we will do first. And among this there are really other and new services, including those that competitors have. It can be coffee, it can be multimedia and much more. We will experiment and do not yet know the recipe for what the retail will be like, what the stores will be like. We will search.
When will you start the offline retail optimization stage and will close some stores? Apparently, there is nothing for Beeline to have such a large network, taking into account what you have just said.
The development phase will move into the reconstruction phase. It is obvious. A decrease in the number of salons is inevitable. Some of them will go into the showroom format with a large and good range of goods, services and further interaction with customers through delivery to small points that will be scattered across the country. But these will not be those big stores with big stocks, a lot of staff attached to these stores. We hope that this way the optimization will be more efficient. First, we need to make a good offline network. By the end of the summer, I think, we will complete the stage for the division and landing of the salons of the Euroset part. After that, our steps will begin on experiments, development, and reformation. Probably, this should take at least a year. We need to comprehend everything. And in the end we will come to the point of becoming an operator without retail, or at least without the retail that we are all used to.
Do you think that the retail market, after the latest deals, is following the path of operator retail? In this case, can we expect the appearance of such products as in Europe and America, when a subscriber is sold a contract with a smartphone and subsidized devices?
In fact, this has already happened. There are no independent players in this market. As for your question about subsidies, it all depends on the paying capacity of the population. And it is not too high for us. In Europe and the USA, subscribers pay much more. But in fact, they actually pay not for communication services, but for the installment plan of the device they bought. They pay for new ones iPhone models, Samsung, etc. At the same time, the share of communication costs is extremely insignificant.
What do you intend to do with the main business of the company? Recently, Beeline has lost second place in terms of the number of subscribers to MegaFon, and Tele2 is actively gaining a subscriber base.
The question with the subscriber base is entertaining mathematics, but for me it is not interesting. Ask your peers in the market if they are worried about this or not? I’m sure they don’t worry, and they are doing the right thing. The number of subscribers at one time was the most important indicator of the operator's development at the stage of penetration growth, the first sale of a SIM card, then the second sale of a SIM card to a second device, then before the sale of a second SIM card to a two-SIM device - all this was very important. This is what we fought with each other for, and now the fight is over. There is no point in chasing SIM cards. If someone's bases are moving, then this is not reflected in income - this is how MTS does. The colleagues had a great last year, and at the end of the year they showed good financial results, having moved out by 2% in the base. These 2% of the base are not important, because it could be SIM cards that few people used. Beeline also has such SIM cards, as does every operator.
- What is happening in the tower business of VimpelCom? Is the decision to sell poles and masts still in effect?
We do not exclude the sale of the tower business. Here the whole question is in the price. So far no one has offered us the price that we consider rational for ourselves. But we are open to negotiations.
- How do you feel about blocking Telegram? How does this affect the industry, the company and you personally?
I used Telegram, as well as other instant messengers popular on the market. Now, accordingly, I will not use it. I don't see a personal tragedy in this. Thank God there are other messengers.
- But what about the numerous Telegram channels?
I think that the channels migrate to other messengers and applications, they will not disappear. The question is that it was conveniently implemented and became a habit. Now the habits have to be changed.
As for the impact on the company, this is a short-term traffic loss within a few percent. For us, this is not super painful, because, as you perfectly understand, most of the traffic inside packets is not assigned to specific applications and resources, they are one. In addition, Telegram traffic took up a very small share of our subscribers. However, we will notice this. I will assume that people, like me, will switch to other messengers. After that, the traffic will be restored. Of course, this is the policy of the country, the policy of the legislator, we are fulfilling these requirements. This path has been chosen. As for the impact on the industry, what will happen to messengers in general? If Telegram is unable or unwilling to meet the requirements of the regulator, how will other messengers behave, because similar requirements will most likely be presented to them sooner or later. If they also do not satisfy, then they may have the same path as Telegram. Then new messengers will appear. Among them there are those that will meet the requirements of the legislation.
- By the way, what will happen to the messenger that was launched as part of the Veon project?
The messenger works. There has not yet been a demand for him that would make his work impossible. This is for us good opportunity... Until recently, we looked at messengers with skepticism, because we understood that it is extremely difficult to gain a share in such a highly competitive market, but in the new conditions our Veon may have a second wind. Now the platform continues to develop on two applications - on Veon and on "My Beeline". We see both of these parallel developments as interesting and with high potential.
- Do you see how Telegram traffic was redistributed in the first days after the start of blocking?
Paradoxically, we saw that Telegram traffic increased. It is possible that people were simply saying goodbye en masse. We've also seen a rather strange increase in traffic on Skype lately. Moreover, we cannot understand if it is video, audio or messenger. We did not see any significant deviations in other popular messengers Viber and Whatsapp.
In one of your interviews, you said that you expect clear and understandable rules of the game from the state. What exactly do you mean by this?
We see a great need for active actions on the part of the state. But not only in the prohibitive sphere, but also in the regulatory and permissive part. For example, PJSC VimpelCom has acquired a large number of different frequencies, bought licenses, and regularly pays for their use throughout the country. However, some of these licenses cannot be used, because there are some restrictions that apply to us. When we bought these frequencies, it was said that they would either be cleared and provided to us, or that the current consumers would be moved. Nevertheless, it turns out that for many years there are some affected frequencies that cannot be used by operators. These are also limitations on the maximum power when the base station is operating, but not more than 2 W; full blocking when the BS is built but cannot be turned on. There are parts that we cannot build at all. This applies both to us and to other operators. This, in my opinion, is the most egregious violation of contractual obligations between business and the state and the failure of the state to fulfill its regulatory and licensing functions.
One more example. We are interested in developing services based on fifth generation networks. In this regard, we applied for frequencies for testing 5G, because we do not yet understand what they will be. We want to experiment, we want to try all possible and even impossible ways of transferring data. But we are not given frequencies. And they do not give them under various reasons, mainly under the guise of being contaminated, someone is using them. We are told that you can interfere with someone.
Well, there are also a number of questions, such as Big Data, work with consumer information, which we have in large quantities. Some of our colleagues in the Internet business are already using them, but we do not have such an opportunity. And the reason is very simple. If we do something, just like them, they will come to us and say that you are using the licenses incorrectly. No one comes to them, because no one gave them a license, they just take and use the data as they see fit. They cannot even be closed, because no one allowed them to work. These are exactly the things where business cannot do without the state on its own.
Continuing the theme of the role of the state. From July 1, the norms of the Yarovaya package will come into force in terms of storing subscriber traffic. Tell me, will you have time to fulfill the accepted requirements by the deadline - October 1? This is real?
Technically, we will do our best. But on my own behalf, I want to note a paradoxical situation when a law was adopted a long time ago, there is no specification text for this law. This is an absurd situation. For me, it is as if a law was passed stating that the colonization of Mars should be undertaken from July 1, 2018, but there is no text of the specification for the launch vehicle for mid-April. To build technological means in order to fulfill this law in the form in which we can now read it, this actually means building a multiple data storage system inside the operator. And at the same time, we do not fully understand whether it will only be mobile traffic, mobile and fixed, and then there is television. And it doesn't matter that all of this is licensed and preserved. We are a large operator of IPTV and television runs on Internet channels. Should you write this down too? If so, then these are completely different calculations. It's good that we have large data centers in our company. Therefore, we will be able to introduce step by step the requirements of the legislation in terms of technology, geography and volume. But I dare to suggest that none of the currently living operators will be able to fulfill by July 1 the letter of the law in the form in which it is now. I hope that there will be a normal agreement between the business and stakeholders that there will be a phased implementation with control, with the normal development of the technological site.
- How much will the implementation of data storage cost?
I am not ready to answer your question. We estimate our costs, prepare technical task... But I am confident that all the major operators of the mobile and fixed market will be able to find the funds and comply with the requirements of the law. But this will happen within a reasonable time frame. I have big doubts that small operators, including mobile and fixed ones, will be able to do this. There are hundreds of them in the country, and they have to do the same thing that big operators do. At the same time, most of their traffic comes from torrents, video, the same IPTV and other services. All this must be stored somewhere, processed, given access. Technically and economically it is poorly solvable. I would like to focus on this and hope that the law will be the same for everyone, and not only for those who can physically fulfill it.
- Do you have an understanding of what 5G is for from a practical point of view?
So far, 5G is an interesting dream that migrates from one product to another over time. I remember when 5G was first introduced in Barcelona, everyone showed self-driving cars. Much less is said about them now. Of the latest cases, this is industrialization in factories, a much more efficient connection than the usual Wi-Fi. This is the coverage of hotspots of traffic consumption within metropolitan areas, cities and buildings, partially reducing the load on 4G networks. We want to try all these options for implementing 5G, test them, give us the frequencies.
- At the end of our interview, I would like to ask how you came to telecom? How did it all start?
It all started, to be honest, for me with half-creative work - with a radio station. After working at the radio station for several years, I became imbued with this very interesting new business. And after that the first serious work began. This is Coca-Cola. I had a chance to immediately work with marketing. I wanted to move on. I just wanted not to miss something very interesting. In my opinion, it was mobile communications that were interesting that I didn’t want to miss. And when the opportunity arose, I fell in love with her. mobile connection- this is something that is constantly changing, constantly becoming different, constantly challenging itself and somehow trying to cope with this challenge. That is why I am still here.
- What, in your opinion, is the role of a manager in a company like VimpelCom?
A leader or CEO is a person who has tremendous opportunities in the company and who gives these opportunities to other people. This is, in my understanding, the CEO. The role of the leader is to figure out what exactly motivates each of your people, subordinates, colleagues and to help them so that this motivation works in the direction that the business needs. And in this, in my opinion, these subtleties of leadership, and gross forms of leadership: sticks, carrots, motivations, punishment - this is old. I want to see Beeline loved. Favorite employees, favorite visitors of stores, favorite subscribers and non-subscribers, too, "Beeline". So that "Beeline" was for many people something that they want to strive for, what they want to be, what they want to associate with and what they feel good about.
In chapter
One of the most famous Russian top managers, ex-head of VimpelCom Mikhail Slobodin, probably will not return to Russia in the near future. Here, questions have accumulated for him from investigators conducting a case of multimillion-dollar bribes to the former leadership of Komi. Slobodin said goodbye to the Beeline employees, describing his successes in the last letter. However, the facts show that under a top manager, the company lost to its competitors. It is interesting that everything that happens to Slobodin fits perfectly into the principle of "two carrots" invented by him.
Goodbye, our affectionate Mikhail!
Events developed rapidly. First, searches were carried out in Viktor Vekselberg's Renova. Then the security officials detained two top managers close to Viktor Feliksovich (soon the court arrested them). At the same time, they announced that they were establishing the whereabouts of another person involved in the criminal case on bribes to the former leadership of the Komi Republic in the amount of 800 million rubles. This top manager - Mikhail Slobodin, who once headed Vekselberg's company IES-Holding (now called T Plus). Since 2013, Slobodin headed VimpelCom ( mobile operator operating under the Beeline brand).
On the day when it became known that the investigation was interested in him, the top manager first announced that he was in France on a planned business trip and would soon return to Russia. Then he stopped answering calls from journalists. It soon became known that he voluntarily resigned from VimpelCom. And then he was put on the federal wanted list. The Vedomosti newspaper got hold of a farewell letter that Slobodin sent to the Beeline employees. The ex-director told former colleagues how well the company developed under him. But for some reason I forgot to mention that in the 3 years that he was in charge of VimpelCom, the operator lost to its competitors.
Leader and grief
At the end of August, the company's shareholders extended the contract with Slobodin. Although there was every reason not to. 3 years ago, when a top manager joined the company, it lagged behind MTS by 43.5 billion rubles in revenue and 26.7 billion from Megafon. In the past year, the gap with the main competitors has increased much more. MTS Vimpelcom has already lost 74 billion, and 43 billion to Megafon. It's funny that Slobodin himself once promised that everything would be fine with financial indicators in 2016. However, he failed to fulfill his promise. According to the results of the first half of the year, the operator's profit fell by one third. However, the shareholders felt that the CEO had created the preconditions for future growth. It will not be possible to test this in practice.
But Mikhail Slobodin has become the most transparent, open and eccentric leader in Russian business. What he just did not do. For example, once having had a good make-up, I got a job as an intern in one of Beeline's offices. There he ate cheesecakes, fought with clients and generally behaved, to put it mildly, inadequately. So Slobodin wanted to check how the company's employees react to non-standard situations. The top manager kept several blogs at once (now closed), personally communicated with clients on the network. He wrote articles for the Russian media, published a corporate newspaper. True, they say that he did not do all this himself, the promotion was allegedly provided by a whole team of PR specialists.
On this topic
What kind of manager was he
In his last letter to VimpelCom employees, Slobodin said how, under his leadership, it was possible to change the trend and increase customer loyalty. And one paragraph is so touching that it is not a sin to quote it:
“I very much ask our top management team to unite and move on, despite the extremely difficult situation that will develop around this in one way or another. For you guys, this is a serious test - a Leadership test. My energy, enthusiasm and humor - I would like to think that I have all this - you will miss, now you have to find these resources within yourself to charge your teams in this difficult time. "
There is a lot of lyrics in this “what a guy he was” message, but not enough facts. For example this: for last time VimpelCom lost not only to its main competitors in the “big three”, but even to the operator Tele2. It is known that for a cellular company the most important element of work is the construction of infrastructure, that is, a network, base stations... And according to this indicator, VimpelCom has overtaken not only MTS and Megafon, but also Tele2. The author of these lines also once had a "Beeline". Complaints to the company that there was no connection in their own apartment did not help. I had to switch to another operator and communication, lo and behold, appeared.
"Gentleman" failures
However, for Slobodin, all these problems are already in the past. Forbes magazine learned the details of the investigation of the case against the top managers of "T Plus". Allegedly, the arrested head of Komi went to a deal with the investigation Vyacheslav Gaizer, and also spoke about the activities of Slobodin in those days when he was in charge of the energy company. And at the same time, the source explained to the journalists the following: the top manager disappeared in France and “would be an idiot if he returned”. Mikhail Slobodin is clearly not an idiot. Perhaps he really planned to return. The manager even bought a ticket on the Nice - Moscow route for September 8th. However, the passenger did not show up for the flight and returned the ticket. It happened a day after Mikhail Slobodin was put on the federal wanted list in Russia.
However, this is not the most "tasty" detail. The manager could have been warned that the investigators had questions for him. Therefore, he flew to France not on a planned business trip, but, simply put, ran away. In addition, he wrote to his ex-wife a farewell SMS: "Oksan, now you can only rely on yourself." An explanation is needed here. Mikhail Slobodin divorced his wife 5 years ago, but he helped financially to her and two children who live and study in Great Britain (where he will probably move too, because France easily extradits suspects to Russia). Now he has a new passion and a 5-year-old child. Whether they stayed in Russia and whether they received a similar "gentlemanly" SMS is unknown.
Horizontal carrot at the back
Once Mikhail Slobodin came up with a rule of personnel management, which was widely disseminated on the Internet. He called this system "Two carrots". It looks like a carrot in an upright position and the same vegetable, only in a horizontal position. The bottom line is simple - a vertical carrot symbolizes all sorts of goodies: career growth, salary and status increases. But horizontal, or as he called it "carrot behind" - means a lever of pressure, punishment. Explaining this system with erotic overtones, the manager wrote that already when reading about the "carrot in the back," someone even fidgets in their chair from an unpleasant sensation. Judging by the current behavior of Mikhail Slobodin, he also felt the very carrot that this time was in the hands of the security forces.
