The journey, like a little life or somebody to take on the job

Irina Tarabaeva:

The most amazing things and phenomena are born at the junction of directions. At the so-called crossroads of human life. This is convinced Tyumen doctor, scientist, teacher and traveler Sergei Goltsov.  And the more incompatible are the phenomena in their essence and content, the more surprising are the consequences of these meetings, he believes. Recently, he was invited to take part in the HR&training EXPO 2018 conference, the key theme of which was "the Future of work". Sergey Viktorovich made a report "Diagnosis: traveler".

- Sergey Viktorovich, why did you give your report such a provocative title? Passion for travel – is that, in your opinion, a disease?

"To be a traveler is to be in a wonderful state. Yes, I put it in the "diagnosis" category, where the doctor puts the disease with a set of symptoms. The worldview of an avid traveler is also determined by a set of features. More precisely, a set of values, if we agree with L. S. Vygotsky, that personality is a structure of values. So, this set allows you to become a successful journey, and work with people to make a fuller and richer.

- It is not clear yet what is the relationship between travel and work? For me personally, these are opposite things. If only travel for someone are not a profession. But that's not what you mean?

"I dare say that the journey itself is a small life, with its UPS and downs. Since our life takes place in society, in joint work, in a team, and the journey takes place in a team, we can assume that it is a rehearsal of life. One of many, full of dangers and unpredictability, but in which we get involved on their own. In one of his works Leo Tolstoy wrote that "a man needs only three arshins of land," and Anton Chekhov, known for his love of open space, objected to him, saying, "nonsense is – three arshins of the earth need dead, and a man needs the entire globe." Here is how, tell, after such a dialogue to live, not traveling?

- Yeah, you've traveled the world!

- I was lucky to be in an amazing journey across the Pacific ocean on a raft of balsa wood as part of the international expedition KON-TIKI II, in which I was called as a ship's doctor Norwegian traveler Torgeir Higraff. I met there bright, smart and amazing travelers from different countries. With them I had to live 1 year on land and 78 days on a raft in the ocean! It was a meeting of different ages, genders, cultures – just like in our lives and our businesses… 

 That's what you mean!

- In any journey, a special role is given to the relations of its participants. Paving new ways, being in an alien and often alien environment, travelers are building new realities of relations, in which the most profitable way the resources of human capabilities are manifested. Such as the ability to work in a team, the will to have the result, responsible service to achieve a common goal, the ultimate disclosure of the physical, psychological and social conditions of the person as a person…

However, even in the journey, even in business – it all starts with Dating. And the first thing you always want to know about a person is the place of his birth. But, not only the geographical location of the place, but also the family environment of the person. More precisely, we are interested in the environment in which he was born and grew up.

Preparing for the expedition KON-TIKI II, I was in the Norwegian city of Bergen on the exam and acquaintance with the team. I was surprised at the similarity of the landscapes. And, later, already being in the Pacific ocean, again remembered Bergen. Looking at one of the participants of Eric Klassen's trip, I wanted to exclaim: "Hey, Norwegian, how much Russian you have in you!". Such a guy could be born anywhere in the vast North of Russia. Except, firebeard... But we have to be different in order to be interesting to each other.

- Sergey Viktorovich, it is still not clear what your experience of the traveler interested the organizers of the conference, if it was about the future of the work?

- Thanks to this experience, I was able to develop several recommendations for managers who are developing their business. And the first recommendation is: when hiring an employee, you should not read a resume, but ask where you were born, with whom you grew up, what games you played, what can you tell about your Homeland…

- Oh, remember, Exupery in "Little Prince" wrote: "Adults never ask about the most important. Never will they say, "What's your friend's voice like? What kind of games does he like to play? Does he collect butterflies?". They ask, "how Old is he? How much does he weigh? How much does his father make?"You know, I really like your first recommendation! I wonder what the others are like?

- I'll tell you everything in order. We must not forget about the teachers and mentors! When we grow up, we all need them. For example, I was lucky with them not only in medicine and science, but also in the addiction to travel. This teacher became my Professor Andrey G. Teslinov whose expeditions called "Living parallel" I accompanied as a doctor. And execution of professional duty is to monitor the health well – being of the expedition, the health of participants, to be prepared to provide first aid, turned to me and another opportunity of personal development.  In Papua New Guinea, West Africa (Benin, Togo, Ghana), East Africa (Rwanda, Tanzania), South America (Peru, Bolivia), India, Nepal, Bhutan..., along with researchers, anthropologists, ethnographers, I have studied different cultures through living in them. And almost example, concluded that teachers — they are guides to the new socio-cultural layer. I will quote the words of the same Exupery. He wrote: in the desert you stand exactly as much as your deities. I will allow myself the audacity to change this message: you are worth as much as your mentors are worth! From here my second recommendation: it is necessary not to read letters of recommendation of the previous employer which often do not reflect the real reasons of change of work, and to ask opinion of Tutors and teachers.

- Who's going to do it?

- Oh, that's a very important question. The world does not consist of students and instructors, it consists of a relationship between them. And humanity is developing through the establishment of new relations with the world. A world in which travelers (as well as employees and colleagues) do not build a new reality, but build new connections. It's like the number of neurons in the brain. It always remains the same, but the number of neural connections between them changes with the course of life. The more of them, the breadth of our thinking is wider. And the more our connections in life, the we become socially and culturally richer. And, of course, it is more effective in joint activities and work.

Travelers and colleagues form their structure of relations in the dialogue of cultures, thereby drawing and changing the picture of the world. At this point in the team appear very powerful pulling evolutionary forces that expand the space of psychism and transcendence (something that is fundamentally inaccessible to experimental knowledge), and generate new meanings.

For example, an employee who has visited dozens of companies before came to work. This is not a "runner", as is commonly believed, and looking for THEIR culture! And not fact, that you have he its will find. But, for the head – the presence of another (different, dissident) is always a step towards development! Seeing its otherness, we take root in the desire to remain unique, but at the same time we begin to see the world in fullness and diversity, understanding that we can change the world, people, ourselves. This leads to the third recommendation: it is necessary to seek and hire not those who are "the same as we are", but others – this will form the polarity of opinions and will allow to take a step towards development.

- I'm afraid few people will take note of your bold judgments.…

- They will be interesting to those who really want to develop. But I haven't told you everything yet. Resume. Scientific way to prove neither the presence nor the absence of human life, its purpose impossible. Whether a person has it or not is not a question of science, but of faith. In the old days, the son of the king was brought up as a future king, he developed the abilities, skills and manners necessary for Royal rule. The merchant's son had another purpose since childhood - to continue his father's work. The son of a warrior was destined to grow up as a warrior. These are all social purposes, which are quite rare nowadays. Children from school years can participate in determining their own way of life. They, now, personal care purpose. In older age, begins to show itself the idea of biological destiny – transferring the gene pool of the next generation. But, in the future, throughout life continue to look for people who have little social, biological and even personal purpose. They talk about its mystical variant - supposedly true life path person a kind of higher power. So I would suggest (this is the fourth recommendation), taking the employee to work, to find out from him the most important thing – who he sees himself? In his attitude to a particular destination will become clear, not who he is in life, but how he can show himself in the company (travel) in the best way.

- And what have we come to?

 We came to the topic of your CHOICE! Every person has it. Some choose the path, living a rich inner life, expressed in art, creativity, craft, their profession. Others are attracted by the desire to test themselves and to know the other through immersion in a different environment, programmed to die in their eyes and soar again, like a Phoenix. To get rid of yourself entirely, and then collect the shards of a thousand mirrors, but the other new one! Someone chooses the comfort of home, is engaged in the education of children, the cultivation of the garden. And someone plunges himself into the unknown, drawn by the campaign over the horizon, is a complete renunciation of the physical and the opposition of his choice of the danger of death…

The essence of this distinction is that a person choosing throughout life, processes the chaos of priorities in a complex order of values. So slender that a Mature person is even ready to sacrifice himself. This is important for teamwork. If you follow my recommendations, the employees who consciously made their choice, do so – selflessly, heroically, serving the common cause, common goals, and not just the head!

Want to understand this choice, ask the question for whom he is trying? The answer will indicate the direction of selection correctly. Example: two orderlies wash the floor. To the question, why? One answer – to the 15th to get paid, and the other to keep it clean. Both the 15th and the 15th will get paid... But the difference between them is obvious, isn't it? Thus, the fifth recommendation States: knowledge of the priorities of employees allows you to join forces in teamwork.

These five recommendations will give the Manager the opportunity to determine the front of management decisions that he is able to implement, not being alone, but working in a team. Then the sail of his business will be filled with a fair wind!

Sergei Viktorovich, and that all five recommendations, which are named here, you used, to create its team?

Believe me, I managed to do it by gathering a friendly team and creating a medical Corporation with branches in Tyumen and Moscow. The experience of the traveler played an important role in this. And, speaking of travel, I do not mean going to the sea, where only the beach, food and animation. Travel is the knowledge of the world and yourself in it. This is an adventure, a way out of a comfortable environment, new with nothing ordinary incomparable impressions, the search for which is the first step to development, and finding their real grace.