Three pillars of business survival during the war – Victor Shevchenko at the Forbes Ukraine Forum

Planning, intuition and adaptability – three pillars of business survival during the war. This is the opinion of Victor Shevchenko, co-owner of ZAMMLER GROUP and logistics department officer (Command Headquarters of the Territorial Defence Forces, AFU).

How did they manage to avoid stopping the company’s operations? What has the army taught them and what can business give the army? What advice can be given to young businessmen? Victor Shevchenko told about all of this at the  Forbes Ukraine Entrepreneurs’ Forum, during the panel discussion “Leadership during dark times”.

Has the logistics changed?

In a sense, no. We are doing what we always did. The working conditions and subjective attitude are different, though.

“When you need to bring mines first and flour later, and you need to drive under gunfire, with a rifle in your hands, you are not just performing a mission, you’re aware of your important objective – for whom and why you’re doing this. This is a key point why Ukraine survived. We all did what we had to do, without thinking about what would happen next”.

What has the army taught us?

First of all, patience and endurance.

“I used to think that it is a negative trait, because it makes you lose your time, and you need to move constantly. But now I understand that there are situations when you need to wait”.

What can the army learn from the business

The army is now actively learning from the businessmen, changing and developing, adopting their experience and knowledge.

“At the moment, about 70% of the personnel in the unit where I serve are former civilians. The rest are career military men. Our speed of decision-making and problem-solving is common for business and uncommon for the army”.

Three pieces of advice for business:

1. Planning. This is what saves your business and sometimes lives.
2. Intuition. You take everything into account, even if you have planned everything properly. Therefore, in case of unforeseen circumstances you need to rely on your intuition.
3. Adaptability. The companies that survived are those that managed to restructure their operations and adapt to the situation.

To conclude his speech, Victor Shevchenko noted that the most important objective for entrepreneurs at the moment is to keep going, keep working and keep paying taxes.