[irq]: techie interrupted

Her demeanor, which is diametrically opposed to the cultivated charisma of most American CEOs, seems to play well in Russia. Lukey, the former Ozon CEO, told me that it was Gavet’s personality that convinced him to hire her. “You hear these stories about how Russians need a czar or someone with an iron fist,” says Lukey, who now heads European operations for Yandex, Russia’s Google. “It’s the same in business. As a manager, you need to be trusted and respected and feared.” When he promoted Gavet, the first thing he did was give her the giant beige Audi. She protested, but Lukey explained that in Russia, CEOs must embrace the trappings of authority. “Being nice—the Western way—doesn’t bring results,” he says. “Russians need to be pushed.”

Gavet emphatically concurs. “You need to push and push and push on a permanent basis.” And so she does. She keeps a custom-made poster with the words nothing worth doing is easy in giant blue letters hanging above her desk. “That’s the mantra I use when the team tells me something is too complicated,” she says. “People keep saying, ‘We need more prioritization.’ I say, ‘Guys, what you want is less work. And that is not going to happen.’ “