In Belgorod, they noticed a long time ago. if somewhere in the open space, or in the forest, next to the swamp and creeping thickets, or in the most inconvenient places, where, as they say, no one has yet set foot, equipment suddenly appears. and they start doing something, look there Anton Kovalev. The sign is true, because few people here know how to create examples of successful entertainment businesses from scratch.
Suffice it to say that he started from scratch and commissioned a number of major projects as a manager, including Lazure Water Park, Dinosaur Park, Summer Water Park, Zoo, etc. Now Anton Kovalev is the general director of the amusement park “Kaleidoscope” in Belgorod. The old residents of Belgorod will say that it was simply impossible to start anything where there was no way to walk or drive, and the deposits of bad management are almost centuries old. And now there is not a park, but, so to speak, a pearl in terms of organizing recreation for children and adults. How does Anton Kovalev manage all this?
Yes, he is a candidate of economic sciences, but don’t we have enough candidates in our district? Sometimes you can’t even spit, you will definitely appear as a candidate.
Yes, he’s a professional trainer in the field of systems business and lean thinking, but that’s not great either, because there are dozens of wandering trainers these days.
Let’s also say that Anton Kovalev is a “Dragon Trainer”, that is, he teaches others this algorithmic language. And what? There are so many different languages. By the way, don’t worry, “Dragon” is a friendly Russian algorithmic language that provides visibility. A good thing, useful in business.
And yet the question remains. Is success an encyclopedia of skills, or is it the ability to make it through a crowd of competitors in any business?
System capacity
To fully appreciate the answer to this question, I recommend reading the book “The Power of the System” by Anton Kovalev. How to build a lean business. We even argued a little about the name. If a business is not frugal, but wasteful, then it is not a business at all, because collapse and collapse are inevitable. But if so, what is the title of the book about?
I immediately remember a phrase from the Brezhnev period. “The economy should be economic.” It is impossible to count how many ingenuities the unforgettable Leonid Ilyich made in this regard. At that time, it seemed to all of us that this was a tautology, absurd, stupidity, but in reality there was no such thing. The economy is a system, a form, the economy is the quality of this system, its content. And then everything falls into place. the economy should actually be economic, or, as Anton Kovalev says, economical.
How can you do it like this? This is exactly what Anton Kovalev, who holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation, talks about in detail in his book.
Read it, it’s really interesting. You will learn what the “Deming-Shewhart cycle” is, how the “Ishikawa skeleton” serves analysis, what the “SMART methodology” and the “Six Sigma concept” are. There is a lot of useful information here for real help in thought and work. And besides, it is written in a fairly graphic, fairly decent literary language, which is very rare for such books.
Problems as a stimulus for growth
At the very end of the book, if you read thoughtfully and not in flight, you and the author will come to the main conclusion. the foundation of lean business is lean thinking, when everyone is committed to change for the better, everyone. is engaged in self-improvement, and in such a business all problems are considered as experience and an opportunity for further growth.
An interesting idea and an extremely appropriate approach especially for our region, where today, to put it mildly, small and medium-sized businesses have many problems. How to solve them, how to build a business, when every day a new misfortune comes from the other side?
As you know, a decision was made to create the so-called in Belgorod region. “Free economic zone”. But “SEZ” is not a crutch, not a support, but a help that not everyone understands yet. And how can you use this help to benefit your business? You will find the answers to these and many other questions in Anton Kovalev’s book The Power of the System. How to build a lean business.
A systematic approach to organizing any business and managing production is not a wish today, but the only way to survive in the most difficult socio-economic and political conditions. That is why the title of the book is not only about the system, but about the power of the system, its ability to adapt to the real situation and find optimal solutions.
Coping strategy
The Moscow House of Books on New Arbat is like the Tretyakov Gallery in painting or the Hermitage in museums. The level, the traditions, the reputation that the understanding people now cherish more than the eye, because there is nothing more valuable in the modern world. You can wear any mask, no one spares makeup, but prestige is what is visible from a distance without advertising makeup.
As the Germans once appeared with a strong slogan. “Volkswagen – das ist auto”. A great Volkswagen is a car, and no need to add. So what is the rest? Think about the rest yourself, but if you want a car, then come to us.
The same can be said about the Moscow House of Books. it’s definitely about books, real books that you should own and read. Right here, at the Novy Arbat House of Books, on June 5, Anton Kovalev, general director of the Kaleidoscope amusement park, presented his “The Power of the System. How to Build a Lean Business”, which is essentially a step-by-step guide on how to turn a dream into a business and make the business successful. By Moscow standards and modern times, the hall was full, because the topic was really appropriate.
Anton Kovalev. Photo: V. Babin
Is Russian business today, especially those sectors that depend not only on people’s purchasing power, but also on mood, affected by sanctions and the general situation in the country in relation to the behavior of the SVO? Of course he does.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said this at the International Economic Forum recently held in St. Petersburg, and each of us hears about it every day in the Ministry of Defense reports on the situation in the Northern Military District zone.
Today, small and medium-sized businesses in the entire republic are experiencing great difficulties, but there is nothing to say about the border regions. In some places, the situation is simply catastrophic, as businesses are physically affected by shelling, in some places, close to it, as the cost of exporting raw materials increases, and the income from the sale of goods and services decreases.
And here, in fact, every businessman, every manager of an enterprise faces the question: what to do? Either close because the situation forces you to do so, or scream for help from the authorities.
Lean thinking
In his book, Anton Kovalev thanks fate for all kinds of difficulties that force an entrepreneur to think and find solutions, and calls each crisis a source of new knowledge on how to overcome any crisis. An interesting approach. And you have to agree, it’s very appropriate.
Let’s be honest, hardly all small and medium business entrepreneurs can boast that they show a systematic approach to organizing production in all areas and sectors. Just for everyone! Just like you can’t be a little pregnant, you can’t put everything in one corner of production and abandon everything else.
This is the basis of the manufacturing practice of Kaizen, a Japanese management system aimed at continuous daily improvement in the workplace and in companies in general. In all places and in all links of the production chain. And this is not just a technology for improving production, but a philosophical system, the goal of which is to create production without losses. It doesn’t happen like that, some will say, and they will be wrong. It doesn’t just happen, it has to be where people first think, then do something, and when they do, they still don’t stop to think about how to save time and resources and get the most profit.
Anton Kovalev quite rightly writes that the concept of lean thinking, to put it mildly, does not take root very well in many Russian enterprises. This is only because the cost of Russian products is noticeably higher than foreign counterparts. And what do the top managers of such enterprises do? A direct quote from the book “The Power of the System” would be appropriate here. How to build a lean business”.
“Instead of optimizing business processes, many of our companies go down the path of cutting operational costs by cutting staff. As a result, workers are burdened with additional work while maintaining the same level of wages, and this leads to a decrease in product quality, even in the short term.
Optimum business – not easy, but possible
How to optimize business processes? Very simple! But now we would not want to deprive you of the pleasure of finding out for yourself by reading the discussed book by Anton Kovalev, candidate of economic sciences, leading top manager of the Belgorod region.
By the way, we heartily congratulate the English-speaking public: “The power of the system. How to Build a Lean Business” has been translated into English and will soon be available in all foreign bookstores in English.