Personality in Power: Zelensky

In the lead-up to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, a widely popular president rose to power, a man with a unique capacity to read audiences and motivate followers—Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukrainian, but not too Ukrainian. Volodymyr Zelensky is a Russian-speaking Ukrainian from central Ukraine, a Jewish descendant of the decimated Jewish clans. He did not make his name as a Russian separatist or a Ukrainian politician. He is famous for being funny.

Lovable comedian. When Zelensky ran for president in 2019, people thought it was a publicity stunt for his show, in which he played an astonishingly inept ordinary citizen who accidentally became President of Ukraine. He had also dubbed the voice of Paddington Bear for the Ukrainian release, and in 2006 he won “Dancing with the Stars.” He was an “A-list personality.” And then he won the election!

Reader of audiences. Velensky’s ability to relate to audiences is so rare among politicians that anyone who has the skills is sneered at as a “populist.” But his acting skills were in place for phase two of the Russian invasion, and that was to give Ukraine a distinct advantage. Putin, on the other hand, has one persona—How can I make you afraid of Russia?

Deliverer of punchlines. Zelensky has the comedian’s capacity to read a monologue well—and hit his punchlines unerringly—unlike the dreary rambling and stilted delivery that often passes for orthodox political oratory. He knows how to sound genuine, which contrasts sharply with the cliched tone that characterizes Russian propaganda.

And he knows how to be inspirational, as this extract from his inaugural speech shows:

“We are all Ukrainians. There’s no less of a Ukrainian or more of a Ukrainian, the right Ukrainian or wrong Ukrainian, we are all Ukrainians. From Uzhhhorod to Luhansk, from Chernihiv to Simferopol, in Lviv, Kharkiv, in Donetsk, Dnipro, and Odessa - we are all Ukrainians. We have to be united, and only then are we strong” (McCallig, 2022).

It might turn out that Volodymyr Zelensky is the most important asset Ukraine had in place before the 2022 Russian invasion.