Christmas Letter 96

[citimail] CMEA 22-DEC-96 19:47:50 028192 To: Victor Bashkirov (EUMOW:IB), Sergey Boyev (EUMOW:SPB), To: Vyacheslav Brylev (EUMOW:IB), Anna Chekmareva (EUMOW:IB), To: Alexander Chukhlantsev (EULON:CEEMEA), Yuri Danilenko (EUMOW:IB), To: Irena Eliseeva (EUMOW:IB), Elena Gavrichenko (EUMOW:IB), To: Ekaterina Goviadinova (EUMOW:IB), Julia Grigoruck (EUMOW:IB), To: Dea Gunia (EUMOW:IB), Alexey Iodko (EUMOW:IB), To: Alexei Kandidov (EUMOW:IB), Anton Karamzin (EUMOW:IB), To: Ella Korop (EUMOW:IB), Galina Kolesnikova (EUMOW:IB), To: Andrei Kuzmichev (EUMOW:IB), Genia Nazargalina (EUMOW:IB), To: Evelyna Nechiporenko (EUMOW:IB), Natalia Nikolaeva (EUMOW:IB), To: Katya Novikova (EUMOW:IB), Andrew Obrezanov (EUMOW:IB), To: Varya Orlova (EUMOW:IB), Tania Ozerova (EUMOW:IB), To: Liza Pochtareva (EUMOW:IB), Nikolai Pogorelov (EUMOW:IB), To: Yelena Poznykhova (EUMOW:IB), Helen Pykhova (AFTUN:IB), To: Evelyn Rodionova (EUMOW:IB), Tatyana Shpakova (EUMOW:IB), To: Alexander Sinenki (EUPRG:IBF), Konstantin Teleshov (EUMOW:IB), To: Zulfia Vershinina (EUMOW:IB), Natasha Yeremeyeva (EUMOW:IB) From: Miljenko Horvat (EUMOW:IB) Date: SUN 22-DEC-96 19:47 GMT Subject: Christmas Message ---------I thought of speaking to you all at the Christmas party but I thought it would confuse the new people too much. What I wanted to tell you is a number of things which in the spirit of Christmas and the New Year have been going through my head as one looks back at the year that was and focuses on things that are dear to us. This is in part motivated by several recent comments which Lena and others have made to me to the effect "are you at all upset when you see what is going on?". The sense that I got was the question was not really a question but rather "we know you are but still we want you to tell us." I am. I'm not sure that makes it any better but somehow from my observations of human nature it seems to me it just might. That said, let me tell you what else I was going to say. Continuing my "conversation" at the Christmas party 1995, I was going to talk about a few things I have learned and how I have personally been affected by you all. First of all, I was going to tell you how tremendously impressed I continue to be with something that I cannot quite put my finger on but which is what makes this country unique. This has been a year of incredible importance and the way in which destiny kind of came together was quite remarkable. From a building realization of a number of people that something important was happening (possible return of the bad old times) and that "something had to be done" to the miraculous sight of a 65 year old man with serious heart trouble dancing on a stage. How can you not be impressed with a man who managed to pull himself out of the political abyss and prevent a potentially disasterous thing from happening while literally putting his life on the line in the process?

There is a strength and vitality to people that I see around me that I try to understand but then I realize there is nothing to understand and instead you can just appreciate it. I continue to be impressed with what you all have done. Make no mistake you did it all yourselves and in the process grew to be people that I am proud and pleased to be associated with. I cannot but be impressed with the guy who 10 years ago picked me up to drive me to the airport in the worst looking car you have ever seen and insisted that "Mr. Horvat, please English so I can practice". He was working during the day and after 10 at night diligently learned to speak English by going through textbooks by himself. Life handed him a typically Russian share of personal disasters and despite it all he, to the best of my knowledge, has never been anything but helpful to everyone around him. I cannot but be impressed by the person who we all had some doubts about as to whether this person has the maturity and will grow to be "serious" enough to be a banker. It pleases me to no end that that person has clearly made it and will be able to do anything she pretty much pleases in life. Or the people who probably think I have not even noticed them in years and who do not know how much I get out of what I see when I look at them. The endless procession of our receptionists who proceed to show us how much more they can do; the lady who seems to have known she wants to work for Citibank when I first showed up at a real estate office to sign a lease or the guy who had trouble finding a jacket to go to the interview and in the event showed up in a jacket we all remembered. One thing I would like to tell you is that I firmly believe it is important to tell stories. I mean stories of the early days and how things were when there were only a few of us. The reason it is important and what most corporate environments do not understand is that without memories we are nothing. It is those stories and memories that will help the new people understand they are a part of a group of people that has some identity, that has a history, that is worth being a part of and contributing to. Corporate environments are funny - they seem to believe there is no place for emotions and they do not seem to recognize an undisputable fact - emotions are actually the only things we can get some satisfaction from (even money we obtain only to be able to do things which are emotional). Do not be affraid of your emotions or expressing them - they are the best part of what we are. So keep on telling those stories as if we were by the fireplace and the young folks are listening to the old folks telling them about who we are. As if we are by the fireplace at our first Christmas party when we could all fit comfortably around a single fireplace (in a few years the stories will get better and better every time so eventually we will hear that there was actually a roaring fire in that fireplace at the first Christmas party, which I do not think was the case). I also wanted to tell you that you are my source of inspiration

and the reason why I keep coming back and why I have not decided to buy an island somewhere in the tropics and drink cocktails all day long. A book which I recently read said that the first responsibility of any leader is to show a vision and the last responsibility is to say thank you. I still have a vision of what we can; what we will be together and perhaps I'll tell you more about that some other time but right now I am on the thank you part. Please feel free to share this message with anyone you think would care to see it.(I could not find a few people on Citimail) Merry Christmas to you all and a Happy New Year. Miljenko P.S. My piece of advice for your upcoming New Year's parties "nada menyshe pit, menyshe pit nada". ----------