In the 1980s, I made several trips into the former Soviet Union to meet and work with students and professional people, and I was there in 1989 when unbelievably, the Berlin Wall fell.

The lessons and observations I absorbed in those days shaped my convictions as a coach of leaders and entrepreneurs. Next week an old friend and I will go back.

Here are six of my enduring lessons from that time:
 
1. Innovation happens when possibility or technique meet a market.

Smart entrepreneurs seek advantages that they know to be mutually beneficial–usually with personal creativity and resourcefulness. The most vigorous and light-hearted people I met on the street in the 1980s were trying to buy my jeans and my shoes–and to sell me fur hats and Soviet paratrooper watches. 

2. Affirm, acknowledge and reward what you want more of.

The Soviets rewarded compliance and obedience. It’s even more powerful when the reward from a boss or a coach or a friend is an affirmation of your competence and dreams.

3. The search for meaning, contribution and satisfaction is steady and ultimately irresistible.

The one and only time I was arrested in Russia, the interpreter whispered an urgent question when my interrogators weren’t listening, “Do you believe in God?” 

4. Freedom, having options, connects to personal courage.

Where there is possibility, encouragement, and a bit of risk, people explore and grow and get better. Two days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, I was scheduled to speak at the University of Leningrad. Instead of a discreet dozen students, a newly emboldened 200 showed up. We talked and debated for over three hours.

5. Too much of a good thing (in this case, government direction and control) connects to dependence, atrophy and resistance.

A Russian political cartoon appeared a few weeks later. It said, “Workers of the world . . . we apologize.” 

6. Choose colleagues that you laugh with. Especially when living in or even visiting a police state.

The Russians helped me to learn the difference between compliance and transformation. I’ll be twittering the lessons they still have for me during this twentieth anniversary return trip to what used to be Leningrad. You can follow our progress on Twitter.

My Best,
 Patty