Dr. Oleg Konovalov is a self-made and a passionate personality whose work journey has been colorful. He is originally from the northern area of Russia, Murmansk, which is above the Arctic Circle and similar to Alaska in terms of climate. For the last twenty years, he is living between two countries – the UK and Russia. He received a doctoral degree from the Durham University Business School (UK). He is a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, CEO’s coach, author of ground-breaking books, visiting lecturer at a number of business schools, a Forbes contributor, and a high in-demand speaker at major conferences around the world.
Magic happens outside the comfort zone
When asked him to define himself in one word, he called himself as an explorer. He always wanted to know what is there beyond the horizon or beyond his comfort zone or beyond a patterned way of thinking. He realized that if he was aiming to reach goals beyond his immediate needs, beyond his comfort zone, he needed to explore and adopt new ways of thinking every time he aimed for something new.
He must find new and deeper meaning at every stage of his life and professional development. He is responsible for making his life meaningful which is yet to be fully explored. The greatest beauty in the world is a fulfilled life. He steals from the world if he is not using my life purposefully and not exploring it in full. As soon as he shifted his focus from himself to the world, he saw the beauties of this world, the awesomeness of tranquility, the miracle of a storm. He learned that he expand himself by giving and adding value to others and helping them to grow and be explorers as well.
From Rags to Riches
Living live sails us through many experiences,when asked Dr. Oleg about his experiences he shared his story from facing gale eleven storms on a small trawler in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to the successful execution of global-scale business projects highlighted in the international media, from having nothing at hand to being considered among the elite of global thought leaders. He is passionate about helping companies to make a leap in performance by growing people. His work is to identify leaders’ and entrepreneurs’ strategic needs and help them to drive their companies to success.
His Vision
He believes we all are here to reveal the greatness of each other and help others to become giants and creators of the positive future which is a core of visionary leadership. Visionary leadership puts the needs of others above all. Today it is a competitive advantage for a few – tomorrow it will be the norm for all. His vision is to help a million of leaders to become visionaries by offering practical solutions and effective business tools and thus, allow them to make a positive difference to the world
Embrace the challenges as opportunities
It’s been said the embrace the challenges as opportunities for transformation , when asked Dr. Oleg about challenges , he spoke about two major challenges – closing the mind lag and developing courageous thinking. He narrated his life experience with us that few years back he found himself in a tough professional crisis after some heavy losses. He was exhausted, losing self-confidence, and had no clear idea of where to go. His previous achievements actually held him back, restricting forward-thinking and keeping him in a cycle, making the same mental mistakes again and again. One day he asked himself a simple question – What is greater, my goals and dreams or my problems? My goals, without a doubt! The answer was so obvious and powerful that it hit him like a bolt of lightning. When we begin to develop a vision, we mentally travel in time, from the present into the future, and need to consider mind lag, the difference between the present state of mind and one which is sufficient for the future we envision. Having a vision for the future in personal or business terms means closing this mind gap towards the future, not towards the past or present. Closing this mind lag is the most difficult task everyone faces when thinking of progressing further or overcoming life challenges and he is not an exception.
Setting out to create something with little to no resources is an act of great courage and faith. Everyone feels fear when standing in front of something huge and yet to be fully explored. Fear is a negative advisor that blocks one’s ability to make advanced decisions. Fear is the result of self-doubt and unclear understanding of one’s own capacities. This is a normal human reaction. Courage is a skill that helps to overcome fear and can be developed. It depends on how we live every day and get ready to respond to something unusual or seemingly beyond our control. The challenge is not to fall into a trap of fears but think boldly.
The Solution-Founder
Thought leaders often considered as content creators or problem-solvers. He sees his role as a solution-finder. He look for solutions to grand problems that allow solving multiple problems and make people and their businesses more successful. He created the classification of organization’s archetypes, namely producers, knowledge-dependent, location-dependent, donor-dependent and state-affiliated organizations from a biological perspective. This allowed defining optimal configurations of organizations and defining their typical and atypical pathologies and diseases which can be treated. He is the author of the Culture Power Pyramid that allowed cultivating a strong and productive culture and to fix it when it goes wrong, which is considered a bible for culture management for modern leaders.
A leader’s serendipity in finding successful strategies and effective solutions and approaches depend on a well-homogenized mixture of vision, competencies, intuition, luck, knowledge, focus, and concern of others. Here we should think of leaderology, a new but necessary term. Leaderology defines the beginning of the Renaissance period in modern management and leadership while helping leaders to reach a new level of success.
In his recent book, The Vision Code, he explored the concept of ‘vision’ and visionary leadership and revealed the secrets of building and executing a strong vision within any organization. Vision is a key leadership skill that can be developed as a practical business tool for leading a company today and into the future. When a leader taps into the power of “vision,” he or she creates a more meaningful business experience and ultimately, a better life. As a result of this work, he was named as “the da Vinci of Visionary Leadership” by many leading authorities of our time.
Commitment=Motivation
Dr. Oleg doesn’t rely much on motivation. He states that motivation is meaningless unless you are fully committed to your vision regardless of the challenges you’ll face. He seeks inspiration which comes with a vision that is greater than him or his daily concerns. Inspiration beats motivation in the long run. It is contagious. It helps to lift people towards their higher purpose encouraging us to think beyond the possible. Inspiration is a magnet for others. At the same time, his internal motivation that comes with inspiration springing from a clear vision can help inspire others to find their own motivation. External motivation without self-discovery is an artificial form of encouragement which only reveals those desperately aiming to get into a position of power at any cost.
It begins with a thought
Changing the world for the better is difficult. Many have tried and failed. It demands dedication, vision and hard work. But it starts with a thought. When that thought becomes a fully developed vision, solutions to inevitable problems will present themselves.Vision comes with responsibility for future generations. This is our duty, mine and yours to empower others as soon as we decided to take the role of visionary leaders. Strong vision never dies. We are responsible for the legacy we leave and for being a model for future generations. The next generation must be greater visionaries and we must give them that important spark. We are a living example for the next generation and what we do now and the way we think has a direct impact on how the next generation will go further.
This is particularly critical now when incredible changes are forthcoming. We can foresee a new generation coming which will redefine capitalism in a more conscious, ethical way, where positive societal impact is as important as profits. As the world is becoming more connected, people are realizing that we have tremendous social and environmental problems that must be dealt with and social responsibility becomes a true global movement, rather than just a paragraph on a shareholder annual report. We take responsibility for developing trust between generations. Our generation gains the trust of the next generation based on real facts and achievements. Our results are artifacts for future generations.
The insight in future
We are brought into this world as creators and his aim is to create more value for others and inspire others to share to make a positive difference to the world.We live in an unlimited abundance and infinite Universe and his vision lives as a manifestation of the infinite abundance. Therefore, his vision statement doesn’t have a period at the end. He sees himself exploring new terrains and creating as much as possible value for all leaders across the globe. He continues to evolve and reinvent myself and here we say it was right to call him “An Explorer”.
