Timur Goryayev has neither studied nor worked in Moscow or abroad. However, the 34-year-old manager has done the improbable in this country — teaching Russians to fight cavities and wrinkles with Russian-made toothpastes and creams. In 1994, Goryayev bought a Yekaterinburg investment company that in turn purchased Uralskiye Samotsvety, a toiletry manufacturer founded in the 1940s. Two years later, he left the turbulent world of stock markets for a more routine lifestyle in manufacturing at the firm. Under Goryayev — who owns 63 percent of the renamed Kalina and leads it to an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange — the firm has acquired new production sites in Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine and boasts some of the highest toothpaste and skincare product sales in the C.I.S.

The Leader: What were the challenges of switching to a new business?

Mr. Goryayev: The problem was to apply my management skills, which were good for a team of 20 people, to a new workforce of 2,000. And the atmosphere is different; in small companies you have close relations. People celebrate birthdays with their colleagues. Here, at Kalina, we don’t have that — there is more of a military mood. The instruments of management are different. In a small team, you take an individual approach to everyone, but you can’t talk face to face with thousands of people.

The Leader: What was your first achievement when you came to Uralskiye Samotsvety?

Mr. Goryayev: Well, I didn’t have the feeling that I was on top of a hill, spreading my wings to fly. It has been hard work every day, although I can recall my feeling when we bought a new factory in Omsk, a building with broken windows and a temperature inside as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius. A few months later, when I visited the factory again, it had nice facilities with air conditioning and heating. Then I felt a surge of pride in a job well done.

The Leader: How do you organize your workday?

Mr. Goryayev: I arrive to the office at 9 a.m. and look through departmental reports. My working day usually ends after 7 p.m. I have the feeling regularly that I’m doing less than I should do, especially when I leave before 7 p.m., but I try to fight this guilt complex. My colleagues are also not workaholics at all. They all spend weekends with their families.

The Leader: How are you shaping your company’s corporate culture?

Mr. Goryayev: We have developed a Ten Commandments for Kalina managers to follow. They’re on everybody’s desk.

No. 1 is learn the Biblical Commandments and they will help you. No. 2 urges workers to remember that the consumers of our products are actually our mothers, kids and loved ones. This means we need to meet a high standard of quality

No. 3 is the most important: Never lie. You can’t work in an environment where people are lying to each other. The next is that work is assessed by its result and by not the time it took or the sweat and blood it required.

No. 5 is that a department is evaluated by the performance of its weakest player. (
No. 6 is that there is no place for heroism in the company; there is no need to be brave if you’re doing your duty. If you’ve been slacking off and a deadline approaches and you concentrate all your energy, complete the task and then go around saying that you’re a hero because you’ve done the job in such a short time, that’s what I call an unnecessarily brave action, which is to be squeezed out of the corporate culture. We don’t need that.

No. 7 is that the word "impossible" is banned. Even if the task seems unfeasible, a manager can’t just say so and quit. He has to say what resources he needs to complete it. Life shows that everything is possible. Even a KGB mayor can be turned into a president, you know.

I can’t remember the others, as we’ve introduced them recently and I haven’t learned them all by heart.

The Leader: What does Moscow mean for a regional manufacturer?

Mr. Goryayev: The business mentality in Moscow has some specifics that affect business-to-business relations. Muscovites seem to be more concerned with higher short-term profits. Regional companies are more interested in long-term relations; they are more reliable to do business with. As far as marketing is concerned, we had thought that Moscow was going to be the launch site for our upscale skincare products. However, there are other places in Russia that can become good markets for us for a lower promotion cost. For example, we’ve recently discovered Surgut [a small city in Tyumen Oblast], which hosts many oil companies. The population there is not as spoiled as Moscow’s, who have greater choice and enjoy special treatment by both domestic and foreign producers and sellers, although they don’t fall behind in terms of per capita income. We’re currently making a list of cities in the regions that fit into our expansion plans.

The Leader: How important is politics in business?

Mr. Goryayev: Although it is not something I’m interested in, it is still important for businesses. For instance, my company has a lobby group that backs our interests both on the level of the local authorities and that of the federal government.

The Leader: How do you recover from stress?

Mr. Goryayev:
The Leader: Are computers very important for you?

Mr. Goryayev: I very seldom use computers at my workplace. I switch one on once a week to read the bulk of my e-mail. It may sound somewhat archaic, but I feel more comfortable working with paper. However, we’re currently upgrading the whole system and will soon have more computer-aided workstations.

The Leader: What other business sector would you like to have gone into?

Mr. Goryayev: Well, if I hadn’t gone into this wonderful cosmetics industry, I would have loved to do something in confectionery. Also, in my old age, I would be happy to have my own vinery. I can even imagine me sitting near an old castle with my vineyards stretching to the horizon and pretty girls squeezing grapes. Yes, when it comes to my turn to use false teeth, I will leave Kalina and go into winemaking.

The Leader: Do you believe it is possible for a person who lacks leadership skills to develop them?

Mr. Goryayev: I don’t think so. You see, diamond and graphite have the same element in their chemical composition, but are totally different things. The same is true with people — all of them have a pair of legs, eyes, ears and so on, but they’ve got different psychology and skills. Some of them are more comfortable when they have a boss who tells them what to do; others are more ambitious and strive for power.