As a child of the Cold War era, I can honestly say that even after Perestroika , I had never even dreamed of a day when I might visit Russia.  Yet this October I found myself on a non-stop flight from JFK to SVO, the largest airport in Moscow.  The occasion was to finally meet in person our new Kennedy Training Network alliance partners, Big Tree Hospitality, which is headquartered there.   Here is a picture of me with our Russian colleagues:

                                 
(Pictured from left:  Andrei Malyshev, Managing Director, Anastasia, Senior Trainer, Doug,  Natalia, Director o f Training, and Anton Matveev, Commercial Director.)

Having worked with Andrei and Anton through numerous conference calls and Internet meetings, I knew I would be meeting some very special fellow entrepreneurs, and it didn’t take me long after my arrival to find out much they already know about the spirit of hospitality!  After first traveling from MIA to JFK airport, and then running at least a 2/3 of a mile in the terminal with my 40 lb. carry on bag as I heard the PA announcer calling out “Last call for passenger Kennedy to Moscow, please report immediately” you can imagine I was more than a little relieved to find the last open storage bin and fall into my seat for the 11 hour non-stop flight.  Upon arrival I quickly cleared customs to find that despite the early hour, there was my new partner Andrei right there to meet me and drive me through the 90-minute traffic jam (just like US!) directly to my city center hotel.  Although we had much business to discuss, Andrei insisted that I take some time at the hotel to settle-in and relax after my long journey.  Shortly later as I was unpacking I discovered with shock that I had somehow managed to leave my laptop in the overhead bin on my plane!

Can you imagine this feeling of being in a completely foreign country, preparing for a week filled with business meetings and a sold-out two-day workshop to conduct, and to finding this item missing?  Needless to say I was panicked when I dialed Andrei’s mobile number to report my problem.  He insisted I stay at the hotel while he drove back to SVO (90 minutes each way) to personally retrieve my computer, without sounding the slightest bit annoyed about the extra half-day in traffic.  This was my first evidence that genuine, authentic hospitality is alive and well in Russia!

Several days later I found myself in front of an audience of 25+ hotel managers ranging from GM’s, CEO’s, DOS’s, to frontline sales staff and supervisors.  For the first time ever I would be conducting this interactive two day workshop with a full interpreter, which I have to say I was a bit nervous about.   Yet as soon as I met the first participant, a very professional young woman who’s name was Lubov, I could tell that smiles, eye contact, facial expressions, and of course gestures would allow me to carry the day.  (As I later learned, it turned out that Lubov had traveled more than 24 hours by railway to attend my workshop, which I am certain is the furthest by far that anyone had ever traveled to see me speak.)  In fact many of the participants had traveled hundreds of kilometers to share in this collective experience.  Here is a picture of me with the workshop participants:

                                     

What a wonderful two days I had facilitating this workshop, which I was later told was one of the very first ever such “open enrollment” hotel industry training workshop ever conducted in Russia by private (non-academic) enterprise.  I have never trained a group of participants that were more completely engaged and obviously eager to learn about how to improve themselves and their hotels.   

As the workshop progressed it became evident that despite the differences in language, customs, and culture, the hotel managers there face largely the same challenges as we do here in the USA: Recruiting and selecting hospitality “talent,” communicating “the vision,” and ensuring the consistent delivery of hospitality excellence to a diversity of international visitors.  As I shared the same stories I share in North America, as I conducted the same training exercises/activities, and as I fielded the participants’ questions, it was almost eerie how similar the workshop experience ended up being, other than the delay in waiting for the interpreter to re-state my words .(Impressively nearly everyone understood English, not just the 50% or more of  the group that also spoke  English fluently.)

But what was most moving was the personal gestures of hospitality that were extended to me by the participants during the two days.  Whether it was Ludmelia walking me through the lunch buffet and helping me identify familiar foods, Natalia recommending that hotels in Egypt would also be very interested in my training, Elana and Olga volunteering to help assist with some of the activities, or Valeria, Andrew, and Demetry asking to each have a one-on-one photograph taken with me, each and every participant seemed to make the effort to connect with me in a personal way.  But most of all,  I shall  never forget being approached by Vadim, a distinguished gentleman who was obviously one of the most experienced GM’s at the session, coming  up personally to generously thank me at the end of the program and then making it a point to stand to my immediate right for the group photograph (above).   Here is a picture of me with Vadim at the awarding of the certifications:

                

The expressions of hospitality continued after the workshop was over.  Over a half dozen of the participants approached me to make sure I had company for dinner and also  making sure that I was going to get to see the sights in Moscow on my one day off before heading  home.  When it came to being tour guides, my new alliance partners at Big Tree hospitality exceeded my expectations.  Andrei, Anton, and also Maxim (who’s title is IT Director at Big Tree but who clearly understands he is in the hospitality industry) personally escorted me on a tour of The Kremlin, Red Square, The Intercessional/St. Basil Cathedral, the Historical Museum, and then ended the evening by taking me out to dinner once again this time with their charming and academically gifted  wives joining us.  It is hard to express in these words how moving this experience was for this cold war baby who has now found proof of what I have believed since I was an idealistic youth in the 60’s and 70’s:  That despite our cultural differences, in the end human beings worldwide are much more alike than we are different. Here are some pictures of from my day off in Moscow:

                                  
Doug and Andrei Malyshev in Red Square in front of the Historical Museum.

                                

(Above) The Intercessional Cathedral (Also known as the Intercessional Cathedral) opposite the Historical Museum in Red Square.


                                                

(Above) The Kremlin wall facing one side of Red Square.  This is the clock  tower where all of Russia celebrates New Years Eve as we do in Times Square.

                         

(Above) Apicture of a very small part of The Kremlin wall:

(Below) Later as the sun was setting on the ancient bricks, I captured this shot of one of the towers of The Kremlin in Red Square:

                                                 

After my tour of  the Intercessional Cathedral, Red Square, the Historical Museum, plus a stop at a pub for a shot of cognac, our timing was perfect was I was able to watch the hourly changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier right outside of Red Square. This is Russia’s monument to World War II, which they refer to as The Patriotic War.  As a huge fan of history, this ceremony was deeply moving and I recalled how different historians say the world would be even today if our WWII  Russian allies had allowed Moscow to fall into the hands of the Nazi army who came so very close to the city.   Yet when I noticed two elderly Russian ladies standing next to me who were weeping, themselves being living historians, it was that much more so.  Here’s a picture of the changing of the guards:

             

As a tacky American tourist, I couldn't help but to snap the following two pictures of two famous brands, Hard Rock Cafe and McDonalds:

        

Before I knew it my visit was completed and I found myself back onboard the Delta flight to JFK then home to Miami for a quiet Sunday evening at home.  Yet this journey still held one more exciting twist to the storyboard for me.  About 2 hours into the flight while the other passengers were mostly sleeping or watching the movie, I decided to stretch my legs in the back of the plane for a while. There I ran into another fellow traveler and we struck up a conversation.  When the topic turned to why we were each in Moscow, I  was extremely excited to learn that I was conversing with non other than Muddy Waters Jr., who has now asked me to just call him by his real  nickname which is Mud!  I couldn’t believe that I was standing there talking to the first born son of such a legendary blues musician. It turned out that Mud had just completed a concert in Moscow the night before and was headed home to Chicago.  We had a wonderful chat about some of the other Blues legends I admire, such as B.B. King, who’s daughter Mud now sometimes performs with, and also the late Bo Diddley, who Mud told me performed at his father’s funeral.  I am very much looking forward to seeing Mud perform in Chicago (or elsewhere) one day soon!  Here’s a picture of me and my new friend Mud that day: