Putin: a Dictator. Why?

The media and politicians in the West accuse Putin of being a dictator, managing the country autocratically. The criticism is directed at Putin as if it is his style, his personality, that makes him dictatorial.

I want to share with you my experience working in Russia before the sanctions. For over three years, I worked as an Organizational Symbergist™ (type of therapist for organizations that I developed over fifty years) with multiple organizations, including the largest bank in Russia, which had 250,000 employees.

From my experience—and that of my associates, Certified Symbergists, working in Russia—participation in meetings is minimal, if it exists at all. The leader is the only one who speaks. In one meeting, a CFO of a fifteen-billion-dollar company dared to disagree with the leader. He was immediately shut down by a very upset leader for daring to disagree.

I became friendly with the president of the bank and dared to ask him if, in the next meeting, he would allow people to speak. He agreed. He started the meeting by saying, “This time, I want to hear from you.” Then he went silent. What happened next, I did not expect.

The participants began interrupting each other. (Did you see how Zelensky interrupted President Trump in their meeting?) It was a shouting match. A terrible exchange, if one can even call it an exchange of ideas.

The president of the bank looked at me, lowered his head, and raised his eyebrows as if to say, "Do you see, Ichak?" Then he hit the table with his fist and said, "Enough!" Everybody fell silent, and the meeting resumed as usual. No one said a word anymore. All listened, took notes and went out to follow instructions.

This is not a single experience. This is the Russian culture. They have never had a democracy. They don’t know how to lead a discussion or listen to each other. They are used to someone telling them what to do, and to comply.

Putin did not create a dictatorship—he merely follows the culture. If he were to become more democratic and participative, the country would fall apart, just as the meeting fell apart when the structure was removed. When a leader is more participative and democratic—like Medvedev, whom I met—he is seen by the people as too soft and weak. Russian people want democracy, but they are not culturally ready or capable of behaving democratically.

To change the leadership style of Russia, the culture needs to change. That is what the Adizes Institute was doing there. We created an environment where people participated, shared opinions, disagreed, and learned how to deal with conflict productively. Russia needs this like a desert needs water. And that explains the success of the Adizes methodology in Russia. Unfortunately, due to the sanctions, we have been forbidden to continue our work there.