Graduates of different years, entrepreneurs, opinion leaders and defenders gathered together in their alma mater for Alumni Leadership Day 2023 and the presentation of Alumni Awards 2023. We are very excited because every year our community grows and we come together to discuss how to move forward in light of new leadership challenges, celebrate our achievements and present the Alumni Awards.
Alumni Leadership Day is organized jointly with the UCU Leadership Center with the support and in partnership with the Ivey Business School Leadership Institute named after Igor Ignatovych (London, Ontario, Canada).
The event included a panel discussion on the topic «Resistance test: how to overcome crisis marathons?». Together with the speakers, we discussed today’s difficulties, challenges for leaders and crisis solutions. The discussion was moderated by Andrii Rozhdestvenskyi, PhD, lecturer at the UCU Business School, CEO of the UCU Leadership Center. We share a few of the most accurate quotes from the speakers with you:
«At critical moments, it is important to understand who we can rely on and who needs our help,» – Andrii Kyrykovych, director of Amadeus Marine, graduate of the Key Executive MBA 2021 program.
«State organizations are forced to think about war in advance. These are moments when heart fights with head. Head gives us rational thoughts, heart – ethical and internal conflict», – Oleksandr Starodubtsev, deputy chief of staff of the NAKC, serial reformer, founder of Prozorro.
«The challenge for us, as leaders, is to understand whether we have become 10-100 times better than we were at the beginning of the war. If not, then we have to work on it. Victory will come when we, our teams, our businesses become 10 or 100 times better than they were at the beginning of the war,» – Serhii Prokopenko, journalist, researcher, editor of Gwara Media, graduate of the MSc in Innovations and Entrepreneurship program in 2017.
«Josyf Slipyi bequeathed us to take care of Ukraine, the church and the patriarchate. Here are the three foundations for this: the academy, prayer, a consecrated life (humanity and service),» – says Svitlana Gurkina, candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of the Institute of Church History of UCU.
«I don’t know when this war will end and I’m not looking forward to it. I understood that you cannot run away from your war. If this is your war, you must survive it. You have to survive to help. You have to work and help as long as possible, that is, ALWAYS. Because we don’t know when this war will end, so we have to understand that this is a marathon. They ask me «Why am I still in Kharkiv?» If no one lives and works in a city, it will die. And I want my Kharkiv to live. That’s why I and my business are there for the sake of preserving my hometown,» – Olga Kryvchenko, CEO and co-founder of Qualium Systems, graduate of the Key Executive MBA program in 2023.
Another element of the event was the premiere of the film «Ukraine: Leadership Exam». It is about how leaders are born in times of cataclysms, one of the epicenters of which is destined to become Ukraine these days. The heroes of the film – pastor Gennady Mohnenko, Olena Vovk and Konstantin «Max» Krykunov – are representatives of completely different professions, united by the fact that at the moment when the established social hierarchy cracked, they not only resisted, but also led others along. At the event, we had the opportunity to talk with Konstantin and Olena, as well as work on the case and analyze the film through the lens of critical judgment.
«It is easy to live knowing that your purpose is more important than your life. That what you breathe will bring about change and benefit – and you truly believe it. Then food, comfort, gadgets are not important. Find that purpose!» – Konstantin «Max» Krykunov, junior sergeant and graduate of the MSc in Technology Management program in 2018, addressed the graduates.
«Humanity and humility help me to move on. If you admit to yourself that you are not ready for something, it helps you learn and grow. You cannot forget about humanity, because it is about everyone for whom you are responsible – taking care of relatives, employees, and the country. And it is returned to you a hundredfold», – Olena Vovk, co-owner of the Enzym Group company.
An important goal of our event was to collect money for the «Birds of Madyar» unit, in which our graduate – Konstantin Krykunov – is serving. From tickets to the event, individual donations and participation in the lottery, we managed to collect 160,350 UAN. These funds will go to the development of warheads for UAVs, which will help our soldiers perform combat tasks faster and better. Thank you to everyone who participated!
We are happy to welcome the Alumni community to our events, see you next year!
