Once Upon a Russia: Voices From a Vanished Era
Why Business Leaders Should Take Heed
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About the Author:
Steven Fisher worked for thirty-five years with Citibank in emerging markets. His last two assignments, spanning sixteen years, were in the former Soviet Union, where he held senior leadership roles in Russia and Ukraine.
He is the editor and publisher of “Once Upon a Russia: Voices from a Vanished Era” a collection of true stories of foreign businessmen, diplomats, and students who lived, worked, and studied in post-Soviet Russia from the early 1990s into the 2000s.
Once Upon a Russia: Voices From a Vanished Era
For more than three decades, Russia stood as one of the most complex, alluring, and unpredictable markets in the world. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, foreign companies flooded into the newly opened Russian Federation, eager to seize unprecedented opportunities in banking, energy, consumer goods, telecommunications, and professional services. Many of those who ventured in during the 1990s and 2000s discovered a country undergoing a breathtaking transformation—where Western assumptions, business models, and risk assessments were repeatedly tested and often upended.
That world is now gone. The Russia that welcomed—or at least tolerated—foreign participation is now closed to most Western business, reshaped by Putin’s authoritarian consolidation, sanctions, the war in Ukraine, and deep geopolitical rupture. Yet understanding that earlier, more open period remains vital. It offers clues about Russia’s political evolution, its economic trajectory, and the lived experiences of those who operated within a system where opportunity and volatility always coexisted.
It is precisely this period—and the complex emotional, professional, and human terrain surrounding it—that Once Upon a Russia: Voices From a Vanished Era seeks to capture. This anthology gathers more than one hundred first-person essays from foreigners who lived and worked in Russia from the early post-Soviet years through the 2010s. Written by diplomats, journalists, entrepreneurs, bankers, academics, investors, military officers, aid workers, educators, and artists, the collection offers a textured and deeply human account of what it meant to navigate Russia during a time of profound change.
The book is a mosaic of lived experience with its sheer breadth of voices. These are not academic analyses, nor are they policy prescriptions. Rather, they are stories—moments recalled at kitchen tables, dachas and boardrooms, factory floors and embassy corridors. They encompass both the personal and the professional: the everyday frustrations of bureaucracy, the exhilaration of opportunity, the bewildering contradictions of Russian social life, and the emotional bonds formed across cultures. Each essay in the book is paired with a color photograph that captures the mood or essence of the memory, giving the book a visual depth rare in anthologies of this kind.
Some contributors describe experiences that were dramatic, even dangerous: tense encounters with security services, moments of geopolitical uncertainty, or business disputes that veered far beyond Western norms. Others highlight episodes that were humorous or absurd—encounters that revealed cultural gaps, translation mishaps, or the peculiarities of Russian officialdom. Still others recall scenes of quiet poignancy: a shared tea with a local colleague, a long winter walk, or the realization that the country they had grown to love was drifting toward a future totally at odds with their hopes.
Collectively, the essays form an intimate record of a Russia that no longer exists. They illuminate the social and psychological landscape that shaped the country’s evolution and the foreign professionals who interacted with it. They also offer a rare portrait of how outsiders processed the country’s transformation—its openness, its unpredictability, and ultimately its closing.
Although this is not a business book in the traditional sense, it is profoundly relevant to business leaders who once operated in Russia—or who may one day consider future engagement should circumstances change. Three themes stand out.
Understanding Russia means understanding its contradictions:
Nearly every contributor, explicitly or implicitly, grapples with the tension between Russia’s extraordinary potential and its structural obstacles. For business professionals, this duality was always central. Russia offered enormous upside—an educated population, rich natural resources, an expanding consumer base, and the possibility of outsized returns. Yet it also posed deep challenges: opaque legal regimes, corruption, shifting political winds, unpredictable enforcement, and the ever-present influence of the state.
The essays make these contradictions vivid, illustrating how opportunity and risk were intertwined. For future executives or investors, these reflections serve as a cautionary reminder: success in Russia has always required humility, adaptability, and an awareness that rational economic logic does not always prevail.
Relationships matter—and they cut both ways:
Many contributors emphasize the centrality of relationships in Russia: with colleagues, clients, regulators, local officials, and communities. Executives who succeeded often did so by investing in people and trusting networks, not by mastering procedural rules or contractual frameworks.
At the same time, relationships could become sources of vulnerability. Business leaders recount how informal ties—so important to navigating daily operations—could also entangle companies in political currents or expose them to unpredictable forms of pressure.
For current and future business professionals, these lessons remain timeless. Understanding Russian business culture requires grasping the power of personal connection while recognizing its limits and inherent risks.
The emotional dimension matters:
One of the anthology’s most striking insights is the emotional impact Russia had on those who lived there. Some contributors express enduring affection; others describe frustration, fascination, grief, or ambivalence. For business leaders, acknowledging this emotional dimension is critical. Russia was never just a “market.” It was an ecosystem of people, histories, and social forces that shaped decisions and experiences far beyond spreadsheets and investment models.
Recognizing that emotional complexity is essential to understanding how professionals responded to both opportunities and adversity—and why their memories of the place remain so vivid.
For former Russia hands, the anthology may evoke familiar challenges and insights. For those who never worked in Russia, it offers a rare inside view of how foreign professionals perceived the country during a pivotal era—knowledge that could one day prove valuable should geopolitical conditions change.
The book offers something unusual and essential: a collective human memory of what it meant to live and work in a country at the crossroads of history. For business leaders and professionals, the book provides practical lessons, emotional truth, and a nuanced understanding of a market where possibilities and risks have always been tightly intertwined.
It is, ultimately, a reminder that Russia has never been simple—and that the most important insights often come not from data or forecasts, but from the lived experiences of those who were there.
And, finally, for business leaders looking beyond Russia to other emerging markets—whether China, India, or Latin America—the lessons embedded in Once Upon a Russia: Voices From a Vanished Era are both transferable and timely. The essays underscore the importance of understanding not only formal institutions but also the informal networks, cultural cues, and historical legacies that often drive decision-making in transitional economies. They reveal how trust is built—or lost—across cultures, how regulatory frameworks can shift without warning, and how political change can quickly reshape commercial assumptions. Perhaps most importantly, they highlight the need for humility: the recognition that Western business logic does not always map neatly onto societies whose trajectories are shaped by their own histories, insecurities, and aspirations. For leaders seeking to operate effectively in any emerging market, these reflections offer a reminder that insight is earned through presence, patience, and the ability to listen.
Vol 3, No53 - BWR 10.12.2025
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