Letter from Riyadh

24 Oct, 2011

Letter from Riyadh

I hope you have a moment to read this. 

I arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday; the most conservative city in a conservative country.  My work here is intense working 24/7 literally.  I woke at 3am Tuesday night to re-write of my slides for the next morning, based on what I had learned about the delegates that day.  Although I miss sleep, it is very important to adapt to the environment in this region.  I am on a steep cultural learning curve so 3am is fine for a few nights.  Be sure training here is challenging but extremely rewarding. 

I was born in Yemen, living there until I was 6 years old.  So I feel at home in this region working with Arabs from all over.  I was training 25 people; 4 English, 1 Aussie, 3 Indian/Pakistanis.  The rest Arabs from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi & Lebanon.  Mostly Saudis, many Doctors and almost all MBAs.  This makes for lots of intellectual and cultural experiences.  Mr Najeeb took me by the arm to see and sit in his office.  He gave me sweets and talked about his children.  A display of friendship.  Alongside their English MD, Dr Ahmed & Dr Nabil are the elder statesmen.  Both are very wise and pithy with their comments that are always precious nuggets of wisdom, the like I never get when training in the West.  Why do think this is?  Perhaps in the West the old wise ones have been pushed out by the high flying young bucks with no need for training.  What is lovely about the group I train in Saudi is the way the elder statesmen share their deep, deep experience with younger, newer members of the team.  Whenever Dr Ahmed leant forward to speak everyone shuts up in reverence, to hear another valuable gem.  It is beautiful thing elevating my content to a new level.  I hope we can all learn something from this behaviour. 

Beyond the work, people are keen to share stories.  You need to listen.  I met a lady who’s Great Grandfather was the King of Yemen when the revolution started (the reason my family was evacuated in 1969).  That makes her a Princess of a deposed royal family.  I get few delegates with that ancestry.  It was fascinating to hear her story.  Dr Khalil & Dr Sami spent time telling me about their work in Sana’a & Jordan.  Hearing these stories makes me feel confident about my knowledge of the region and really motivates me to do more work out here. 

I hope I can share this knowledge with everyone I work with. 

Not all the countries in this region are a world force in business, yet.  But looking at the wealth and investment they will be.