Society

Working abroad after the university is both a step forward in your career, as well as a valuable personal experience. HSE alumnus Mikhail Savkin, who is currently the Director of Global Strategy at France’s Schneider Electric, tells Success Builder how easy it is for a consultant to lead a nomadic lifestyle, why HSE should become a subculture, and how to survive in the French corporate world without losing your own cultural identity.

If you think all women in leather chairs are heavy-handed Miranda Priestlys in Prada heels, you might find yourself looking for a job your entire life. Over the last 100 years of women’s emancipation, the world has changed beyond recognition; being a mother, heading a large company, and looking good are all absolute norms for the 21st century. Anastasia Karpova, the CEO of the pharmacy chain Doctor Stoletov, tells Success Builder how she built her first business with the help of Saddam and Che Guevara, why the humanities need mathematical analysis, and why her pharmacies sell permanganic acid.

On October 10, a bench donated to the city by alumni of the Higher School of Economics was placed near the building at 22 Myasnitskaya Ulitsa. Graduates collected the money for the bench's installation in just one week. The bench's installation was also an occasion to discuss how students and alumni can participate in the city's development.

What is the connection between the cockroaches in our homes and the ones in our head? According to the work of HSE alumna Alisa Simonenko, the founder of the Reforma project, the connection is direct. Simonenko first created a pest extermination company before realising how she could help people find the source of their personal happiness. Alisa tells Success Builder how she uses science to give people peace of mind, why her project Reforma is not like the company Secta, and how to eat whatever you want without gaining weight. HSE Day, which is one of the university’s biggest events that took place on September 9 this year, featured the Reforma Higher School of Fitness.

It is sometimes necessary to take the less obvious route in order to succeed. HSE alumna Tonia Samsonova, the founder of the media startup The Question claims to have found a way to win over people’s attention. Samsonova tells Success Builder how to turn the practice of meeting people into a business, as well as how to avoid the word ‘advertising’ and how readers can avoid editors.

Psychologist and HSE graduate Daria Belostotskaya carries out research in gerontology — the science of ageing. She examines what orphans and the elderly have in common, why children and older people should talk to each other, and how art can help see the beauty of the old age. Daria spoke about her work in an interview with the HSE News Service.

Making money of insecurity is not actually a shameful endeavour, particularly if your business has an honourable mission. HSE alumnus Andrey Ruban, a psychologist and trainer, tells Success Builder how to gain entrepreneurial experience at the university, why creativity serves as the foundation of life, how word of mouth is becoming a marketing strategy, and what to do after you achieve personal happiness.

HSE alumnus Pyotr Zhukov owns two investment funds which comes as a surprise from someone with a law degree. In Success Builder Pyotr talks about bankers having nervous breakdowns, who dictates the dollar exchange rate and why he doesn’t give money to hipsters.

Nowadays, psychology has a very specific application in the world of business, as not a single large company in the world is able to get by without a staff of professional psychologists. Ksenia Babat, Senior HR Manager at Puma, tells Success Builder what a business psychologist does, how to start building a strategy for professional success as a student, and why she holds coaching sessions on the weekends.

Any budding economist would dream of rising on the career ladder to the IMF and consulting different countries’ governments on economic policy. HSE alumnus Vadim Khramov tells Success Builder how to move towards new goals, make an impact on the European economy, and put his teaching experience to use in the world of investment banking.