Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, seen at right with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller earlier this year, offered advice about dismissing employees in his first magazine column. (Alexei Druzhinin/RIA-Novosti/Associated Press)

After having demonstrated his talents as an outdoorsman, in the martial arts and even as a painter over the years, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has now added a new role to his extracurricular slate: magazine columnist.

Trendy lifestyle magazine Russky Pioner (Russian Pioneer) published on Friday a first-person reflection entitled "Why is it hard to fire a person?" — billed as the leader's first such piece of writing for Russian media.

The magazine's editor-in-chief Andrei Kolesnikov, a prominent Russian journalist, has said in interviews that he thought the theme of dismissing an employee might be one that would pique Putin's interest.

"I myself don't know how I pulled this off," said Kolesnikov, according to Agence France-Presse.

"I believe that any editor in chief dreams of publishing such a columnist on his pages at least once in a lifetime."

In the column — leaked to Russian media this week and sparking a buzz in Moscow — Putin cautions managers at all levels about the serious step of firing an employee, sharing his view that too much change is not good.

"I am deeply convinced that constant shuffles will not improve things," Putin writes. "I distinctly understand that others who come in place of those fired will be like their predecessors."

Managers need to be action-oriented leaders, he adds, pointing to his own track record.

"I can honestly say … that had I not interfered in certain situations when I worked as president, Russian would long ago have had no government," he boasts.

If a dismissal is necessary, however, "you need to do this, above all, correctly," Putin advises.

'In contrast to former Soviet leaders, I always do this personally.… I usually call the person into the office and look him right in the eye.'

—Vladimir Putin

"As for myself, in contrast to former Soviet leaders, I always do this personally.… Before, people would find out they had problems from the television. I usually call the person into the office and look him right in the eye."

He added that he gives the employee an opportunity to defend himself.

In the column, Putin also reveals a considerate side, including his views on the importance of returning calls promptly and offering birthday greetings to colleagues.

"That's just my style of work with people," he writes. "I know that calling on a birthday when a person is within his family circle and congratulating him means leaving a trace on his soul."

Putin, the former Russian president and former KGB officer, has been shown partaking in a wide variety of pursuits over the years, including fly-fishing, hunting game and riding horses while on vacation, co-piloting a fighter jet, offering his own artwork for a charity auction and recording an instructional judo DVD (Putin holds a black belt).