“We need to look for a common social consensus, build civic society, and put pressure on both government and opposition by mixing different environments. We need to clearly realize our identity and roots, and hold on to them at all times, and learn all the best things we can from the world,” these words and ideas that are propagated in The Day on a daily basis were used by Larysa Ivshyna to open the meeting with the representatives of Ukrainian business, graduates, students, and future students of MIM-Kyiv. The meeting was organized as a part of a new joint project of MIM and our newspaper, Seasons of The Day. There were more than 70 people present, who voluntarily signed up in advance for the event that was starting at 7 p.m. on a weekday.
“The matter of history and the acquaintance with historical map is a decision every person should make for themselves. The main issues of today are spiritual, moral, and ethical problems of Ukrainian society. Our history was written by Russia, started by Peter I and his historians, and finished now by Putin’s people. History that is not ours and was thrust on us is the source of the lack of self-respect. Today society feels the urgent need to re-interpret its history. But the proper way of doing it remains a huge question for discussions. It should be done logically, wisely, in order to avoid the feeling it is being imposed on us,” Ihor MOVENKO, entrepreneur, 2002 MIM graduate, shared his ideas with The Day. Movenko was one of the first people to arrive at the meeting and took an “A student’s” place in the first row. “I have been traveling a lot lately and I do not stay in Ukraine that much. But I want to know the essence of what is happening here, keep my connections, and be aware of what is going on. I want to understand what people who continue creating something here in Ukraine think of tomorrow, especially the ones who work in media. And the opinion on tomorrow is usually based on what happened yesterday and what is happening today,” he explained to The Day. A lot of people present at the meeting feel the need of an “intellectual concentrate” and an active dialog with people who share the same ideas. “I have been watching what is happening at MIM for a long time now. Besides, I have been at Kyiv only few times during the last couple of years, and that is why I feel the need to make sure that there are more smart, not indifferent people than you see in your everyday life,” explained to The Day Viacheslav POKOTYLO, board director of Malyn Paper Factory – Weidmann JSC.
The masterminds of Seasons of The Day project think that it should become a useful discussion platform. The project itself emerged as a reaction to a request from successful businessmen who wanted to discuss the system of values in Ukrainian society and share their views on the world. After all, each person who wants quality changes of the rules of game in the country to take place is a potentially active citizen. President of MIM-Kyiv Iryna Tykhomyrova explains that her students’ interest in philosophical, historical, and social matters rises significantly; and this is a necessary requirement for development of a successful personality. Such dispositions resonated with The Day’s principle: “No chance to degrading!” and the meeting took place.
During the first lecture of the Seasons of The Day in MIM-Kyiv, a combined image of people who were present was formed. These are successful people who made significant achievements in their lives. They have their own enterprises or hold important positions in domestic and foreign companies. But at the same time, they do not measure success by their business achievements, they strive for the further self-development and new knowledge, they have a clear civic stand and realize that learning one’s own history is not something to be done out of boredom, but it is a vital need for Ukrainian society. It is obvious that these are the people who will give life to new Ukrainian business elite: responsible, conscious, and not indifferent. The kind that was discussed a lot during the meeting.
“A vast number of ‘diamonds’ is scattered in our country. But first of all, they do not shine because the light is not directed at them, and second, the system of moral values is not aimed at creating environment for real elite because our present one prevents from it. The drama of our time is that unlike Ukrainian government, official bodies in normal countries encourage or at least do not suffocate people who possess high moral values,” said Ivshyna. The Day’s editor-in-chief underlined that real elite, carriers of high moral values, can be found in any environment. As an example, Ivshyna mentioned the situation in Levky village, where local retirees challenged the general destruction and created a park all by themselves.
“Elite does exist in Ukraine beyond any doubt,” Serhii KLIASHTORNY, director of Alvi-Line LLS, MIM student, agrees with Ivshyna’s opinion. “Its representatives bear the best features that a Ukrainian may possess, regardless of where they work and what they are. Elite has always existed, and no complicated conditions can stop the process of education of modern elite. I think that family is the main tool in the upbringing of elite. I do not rely on modern system of education that much, though there still are institutions that can give proper education for people to become a part of elite. One of them is MIM, a place I study at.”
“It seems to me that situation with business elite is much better than situation with political one in Ukraine. The proper meaning of the notion ‘elite’ is the people that make our economics develop. There is a number of powerful sources that supply this environment with proper people, and MIM is one of them. If, of course, you do not narrow elite to a dozen of figures, who are often called oligarchs,” says Pokotylo.
“Responsible and honest business elite can only be set with your own good example. If a person is educated, if they have some moral principles, they will act like human beings in their business affairs. If that is not who they are, there is not much to be done in that case. If our business environment consisted of 80 percent of people with high moral values, those with lower standards would set goals for themselves in order to reach a higher level. It is quite paradoxical, but it is harder for people of high moral qualities to make business. Common business traditions in Ukraine are anti-moral today, and if you follow your moral guidelines, you lose your competitive advantage. You need to be fully conscious and have a very strong will not to sell your beliefs and moral values for an opportunity to earn an additional million dollars,” Movenko says.
Overall, the participants of the meeting agreed that Ukrainian businessmen need to obtain a clear civic stand in order to achieve success. Not the commercial kind of success, but the one that is evaluated over a long period of time. “By civic stand we mean quite high public activity. Though it is not always exactly like this: it is possible to have a civic stand without being a public figure. In our present business conditions, civic stand is tightly connected to politics. We do not have much space for public figures who are not politicians. I am sure: we have a lot of successful businessmen who have a civic stand. But it is not that obvious, because it is not them who are in the limelight; all the attention today is focused on politics. Civic stand is often used just to make business more successful,” Pokotylo says. And Kliashtorny does not think representatives of large business obtain civic stand at all. “Unfortunately, I do not think the majority of representatives of our large business obtains a civic stand as such. It seems to me that it is more typical for the representatives of medium business, people who are not engaged in politics. It is very important to have a civic stand, it is easier to hear people who are doing something useful, they have more opportunities to express their opinion,” Kliashtorny says.
It is notable that not only businessmen showed up for the meeting at MIM. For example, a doctor at Kyiv City Emergency Station Maksym Ionov started a discussion on modern education and the role it plays in the process of shaping a modern young person as a citizen. It has also become a good tradition that the students of Ostroh Academy always visit The Day’s events wherever the latter take place. This time postgraduate student Yurii Shushkevych, who intends to become a MIM student in the future, was present at Seasons of The Day meeting.
The next meeting within the Seasons of The Day project is going to take place in summer. And during the next two weeks The Day’s Photo Exhibit is going to be open at MIM-Kyiv.
