SERVICES

Robert Bowie, PhD, American national with no Russian antecedents, has thirty-five years experience in the Soviet Union and Russia, excellent knowledge of the Russian language, Russian literature, culture and mentalities.

(All seminars, lectures and private consultations are conducted in English or Russian, or a mixture of the two languages. Some consultations can be done by phone. I am available to work in the U.S. or in Russia.)

For Business Corporations or Anyone Interested in Business Relationships with Russians

• Cross-cultural seminars on Russian and American mentalities, for Russian or ex-Soviet business persons and their families recently relocated in, or preparing to move, to the U.S.
  
• Cross-cultural seminars for Americans and other foreign nationals doing business with Russians/former Soviets in the U.S. or abroad
  
• Seminars and consultations for American business persons (and their families) who are preparing to live and work in Russia.
  
• Evaluations of business initiatives in terms of how an American business presents itself to Russians. Predictions in advance about how Russians will react to certain American approaches: positively or negatively.
  
• Work as intermediary between American corporations and their Russian employees

Need more detailed information? See “What I Can Do For American Businesses”

Other services

Seminars and consultations. Seminars on Russia and Russians for Americans and other foreign nationals going into Russia, Ukraine, or other former Soviet countries to adopt children

Miscellaneous. Seminars (or private consultations) for Americans and other foreign nationals going into Russia for other reasons (marriage, charitable ventures, missionary work, etc.). Slide lectures on Russian culture. Consultations for Russian athletes or entertainers relocating to the U.S.

WHAT I CAN DO FOR AMERICAN, CANADIAN, OR OTHER WESTERN BUSINESSES

Cross-cultural seminars. “I’ve witnessed many bright-eyed American managers and consultants arrive in my posts of Russia and Ukraine, only to depart sometime later bruised and beaten, a battering that might have been avoided with an expanded transnational perspective prior to their arrival” [Stephen R. Van Hook, “Melding Mindsets,” retrieved from the Internet at wwmr.org511.htm]. I can prepare such persons prior to their departure from the U.S.; I can give them that “transnational perspective” and, thereby, reduce the total numbers of bruises and batterings.

Cross-cultural seminars. I can present one or two day seminars for Russians and their families recently arrived in the U.S. to work for major American corporations. I can do the same for American business persons and their families bound for an assignment in Russia or the former U.S.S.R. These seminars cover the differences between Russia and the U.S. in all aspects of life, and the differences in American and Russian mentalities.

Evaluations of prospective employees. Russia is full of decent people, although decency is seldom rewarded materially. A Russian, in fact, may be punished for his or her integrity. I can be present at interviews, and I can tell you who is decent, trustworthy, and who is not. American interviewers may think they are capable of handling this process themselves. To a large extent they are, but if they don’t speak Russian and understand Russian mindsets, they are sorely limited. Why not rely on other Russian employees who have already earned your trust? This may work, but not always. Most things in Russia depend on what they call blat (connections, knowing the right people). Your trusted employee Ivan may be recommending Boris because Ivan’s Uncle Sasha is a friend of Boris’s father.

Evaluations of present employees. When I worked as a consultant for the International Red Cross in Central Asia (1992), I noticed many things that the bosses (A Finn and a Dane, neither of whom spoke Russian) were blissfully unaware of. Just one insignificant example: every time they filled up the company car, the locals skimmed off a little of the gasoline, in order to sell it for profit. If you speak the language and know the culture, you see things that persons without your perspective are never going to see.

Specialist on what’s happening locally. American business persons in Russia live in a bubble, depending on Russians to tell them what’s happening around them. They don’t, obviously, read the local papers or watch television. Their Russian employees will frequently tell them what they think the Americans want to hear. I can read the papers, watch the t.v., talk to local people. If I’m in, say, Chelyabinsk, for a couple of weeks, I can tell the Americans in Chelyabinsk what’s going on there.

Assistant at training or orientation sessions provided by American businesses for Russians. From their Soviet backgrounds Russians often look at such programs as a waste of time. Once they had to pretend to listen to Communist nonsense. They will approach American training programs with that same attitude, unless someone is there to tell them, “This is important! You don’t want to sleep through it, and you don’t want to talk to your buddy all the way through it (a common practice in Russia). Pay attention, please!” I can tell them that in Russian.

Intermediary figure. Although American businesses dealing with Russians are often sorely in need of an American who speaks Russian and knows the mentalities, few of them employ such a figure. They rely totally on Russians to translate for them and to connect with their employees. For many reasons this does not always work well. I once was talking to a Russian woman in St. Petersburg. She and her American husband had a USAID grant. I had attempted to get on several USAID teams, but they always told me, “What could you possibly do for us. Maybe translate?” This Russian woman said, “You are more qualified to work on a USAID team than any American I’ve met over here doing such work. You are the kind of person that every USAID program needs, but none of them have anybody like you.”

Intermediary figure. I can be present as part of a team of business executives traveling to Russia for negotiations. Not as a translator (I do not work as a translator), but as a specialist on Russian mentalities.