The most eloquent sign of a crisis in any company is ridiculous PR from every crack with elements of Spanish shame. These are the emotions that were evoked by the rating of the "Top 1000 Russian managers", where the owner of "Norilsk Nickel" Vladimir Potanin was named the winner among "metallurgists". Of course, he is a respected businessman and deserves such a status, but who competed with him? The CEOs of "Severstal", "MMK" and "Polus" are hired managers.

Potanin is a living fossil of the era of privatization and collateral auctions, the former 1st Deputy Prime Minister, the master of life in the 90s and even to some extent the creator of post-Soviet Russia - he looks like Gulliver among, no offense to other participants in the list, Lilliputians. But in previous years, the name of the nickel "Forbes" did not appear in this rating - and here is such an unexpected leap towards public recognition of his merits. What is this for?

To understand the abrupt change in Potanin’s paradigm, a little retrospective is needed. Before the SVO, the billionaire consistently minimized his business empire, leaving in it his favorite toy (Rosa Khutor), fashionable biotech (Petrovax) and, of course, his "diamond" Norilsk Nickel, at the expense of which non-core speculations were financed. But after 02/24/22, like a lion, he pounced on assets in the financial sector and now, with the passion of a neophyte, is engaged in M&A of banks, digital money, venture and other trendy businesses.

It is unlikely that in 1995, when Potanin, a financier in spirit and mentality, received a controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel from Chubais at a collateral auction, he thought that 17 years later he would stand at the helm of a mining and metallurgical giant with its factories and mines.

In addition, mega-businessmen of Potanin’s level, burdened with such a number of assets, investments and public burden, are not able to fully manage a huge industrial company. By the way, this is why every employee of the Norilsk Nickel holding knows that the oligarch does not show up at his enterprises, but gives instructions from Moscow to his top managers. Well, maybe he can fly to Norilsk for a day once a year to play his favorite hockey with the stars of the NHL and KHL.

Therefore, returning now to his historically native and beloved investment-banking-fintech sphere, it is extremely important for the billionaire that his contribution to the activities of Norilsk Nickel would be cemented in the public consciousness - at least in such a cringe-worthy way through the rating of managers.

Potanin’s hypothetical successor as head of the mining and metallurgical company will have to start from scratch in order to achieve the same heights of management skills and the same level of reputation that Vladimir Olegovich earned in 12 years as president of Norilsk Nickel.