With Love from the Ukraine
Spotlight on Emerging Leader Yuliya Filippovska
by Lyn Hartley
One year ago, in the depths of a Yukon winter, a curious envelope arrived in my mailbox sporting a foreign stamp. Inside I discovered an intricate paper card that transformed into a showy Christmas ornament. On the card were the words “remember Carmen,” and with fondness I recalled dancing to Bizet’s classical operatic tune with a special young woman from the Ukraine. Anyone who attended the 2006 Summer Institute will remember that the seductive song became a theme song for Julio Olalla’s module about finding the joy in leadership.
Yuliya lives in Kyiv, the largest city and capital of the Ukraine, with over 2.7 million inhabitants. In 1991, the Ukraine became independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union. For the last few years, Yuliya has been working as a corporate and government affairs specialist with Kraft Foods. On her Facebook page, Yuliya declares she wants to find ways to make Kyiv a better place to live in. The page also mentions that her favorite quote is Dostoyevsky’s “beauty will save the world.”
In 2005, Yuliya first attended the Shambhala Institute as part of the emergent leader program, while she was a graduate student in the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Journalism. Yuliya recalls how she first got involved:
“Ole Qvist-Sorensen invited me to participate in the Shambhala Institute. I did not know what it was going to be, but I was extremely excited. Nobody had ever extended such an invitation and support before, and I had never been before to Canada or involved with the Shambhala Institute community. I just trusted Ole, and interestingly, Ole just trusted me! I wanted to share the story about Ukrainian Orange Revolution and changes that were going on as I thought it might be interesting for people from the international community.”
The summer program had a tremendous impact on her own sense of leadership as well as connecting her to a global tribe of change makers. “My first experience was eye-opening. I noticed how I opened like a flower, because of the people there. Different people, bright people, who I preserve in friendship.” Yulia continues to stay in touch with people from Zimbabwe, Ohio, Palestine. She remarks, “The connection keeps going, and I hope it will become stronger. Just getting connected has power. During the first visit I will never forget the attitude of Zoughbi from Palestine, and his metaphor of the Shambhala gathering, like the vase with the water and the flower. The water was nourishment, the candle in it was light, and the flower was the beauty of what was happening there. That metaphor is very strong in my mind.”
Recently on Facebook she posted a series of provocative questions such as, “Where does confidence come from?” and “How to move from ‘me’ mentality to ‘we’ and ‘collective wisdom’ mentality—if the form is in the roots of the nation?” When I asked Yuliya about her thoughts on love and power she remarked, “Just yesterday I put the question on Facebook, ‘What is your source of power and energy?’ A colleague from Mexico wrote that love is the source of power. Love is power and love produces power. But as far as I get the quote, the power here means to have opportunity to apply and act with love—not only on the personal level, but on the national level as well.”
In regards to her work, Yulia believes that “love is the heart of everything and power is like the mind and hands. I’m learning to combine heart and mind and hands—love and power—and I see harmony in this combination. Once I learn it, I believe I can be stronger and maybe do something good and realize my dream. Love and power multiply when you share them with like-minded people.”
She goes on to say, “I believe that love is really in actions, either in the spoken word or in any deed or act. Love is not what it is, but what it does. I remember Julio Ollala’s words that power is good. Who said that power is not good? Power gives an opportunity to produce more impact with love or anything else you have, want or need.”
In discussing the connection between love and power, Yuliya is reminded of a recent example of political change in her country. “In Ukraine, there was a totally peaceful Orange Revolution in 2004, and one might say that there was a special political technology used, but it was people who refused to use any weapons or blood-creating actions. It was people who made the choice… even if people were from difference camps—orange or blue. There was love towards life, towards people, and this love, together with people’s power, created a miracle—even if now many people here got frustrated with the new government.”
Yuliya believes that this event marked a significant transition in the country. “I believe it was a very positive period in life of the Ukrainian nation to get together and say ‘no’ to the corrupted government. I consider the Orange Revolution a very positive step for the nation, though not for the government; it did not change it in any way, [but] there was a shift in people’s minds.”
Yuliya is committed to applying her learning from the Shambhala Institute in her work. Currently, she is exploring ways to organize a learning journey to the Ukraine, possibly starting with the World Café community. She also is enthusiastic about dancing and started flamenco dancing classes. “I’m definitely passionate about dance. Over the last year, I’ve been taking flamenco dance class, and I totally enjoy it! And there is a lot of ‘Carmen’ in it. And I notice a great difference between the Ukrainian folk dance and flamenco. Ukrainian folk dance has movements that give all the energy away to the public. With flamenco you create and preserve the energy around you and have a different emotional state. It’s interesting, that sometimes one needs to preserve, and sometimes one needs to give. It’s good to work with both types of dance.”
Keep your eyes on this bright young leader. She’ll be the one with a rose in her teeth, love in her heart, dancing up a storm with a global tribe of leaders making a difference in the world.
As the field editor, Lyn Hartley collects stories about practitioners working in the field of authentic leadership. Lyn lives in a small community in the Yukon and is currently completing her doctorate studies exploring contemplative practices and the role of the educator.
