The Neighborhood Musician and the Crystal Factory

In the world of business, the grass is often seen as greener on the other side of the fence. Aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners tend to look at successful leaders in other industries or countries and believe that they possess the key to success.

However, success is not solely dependent on appearance or charisma. It is crucial to consider an individual's knowledge, experience, and personal qualities before appointing them to a senior position. In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life," Ziad Rayess recounts his experience with a British director who failed to possess the necessary traits for success, costing the business nearly a million riyals.

In his book "Shortcut for a Better Life", the writer Ziad Rayess mentions: There is an Arabic proverb that says, “People never like their own neighborhood’s musician,” i.e., the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. This proverb reminds me of something that happened to me in the late 1990’s. I founded a crystal factory to supply the local market and the region with high-quality crystal. The factory was founded with the expertise of a man from the Asfour family, a big name in the Arab crystal world.

But after the factory had been founded, it had trouble getting off the ground, and the contractual relationship between him and the company ended. There was a lot of talk at the time of benefitting from foreign expertise, and a factory director was brought in from Britain, as he was the foremost expert in those days in marketing and producing crystal. Of course, he received the commensurate high salary, stipends for periodic trips home, etc.

At the time, in addition to my work at my own company, I was responsible for monitoring management of marketing for the factory’s products. By virtue of the task I had been assigned, I had to deal with this new British director, a tall, blue-eyed man with a pure English accent and an elegant appearance, complete with a very neat tie.

But I realized that he was removed from the logical order of things and isolated from reality, in addition to being foolish in his operational spending and unsupervised expenses. At one factory board meeting, we had a stern discussion at the table, which was covered in fine crystal glasses produced at the factory, and what he said struck a nerve with me, although I don’t remember the details now.

What I do remember is that I, in the prime of my youth, an inexperienced man with little understanding of others at the time, overreacted. I took the glasses in front of me and, in my distress and extreme agitation, smashed them on the marble tabletop. Shards of crystal flew onto everyone in the room, in front of the managing director, and I marched off in a fit of agitation. That was my last day working on that task at that factory, but the next day, in a meeting with the managing director, I said,

“You know, this British director won’t do you any good. Because of him, you might lose up to half a million riyals, only to discover that he isn’t right, and you’ll terminate his services.”

Of course, the managing director denied what I said.

Six months passed before I heard that they had indeed terminated his services after matters had seriously deteriorated at the factory. There was also talk going around about his partiality. It cost them almost one million riyals. In my next meeting with the managing director, I apologized again, and said, “I’m sorry for my previous prediction that you would terminate the crystal factory director for half a million riyals, when it actually turned out to be more than 900,000!”

Yes! In fact, there are many examples in the world of business of people who appear as natural leaders, and some of them are very good at it, especially when they’re intelligent, good-looking, fluent, and charismatic. But they lack knowledge and wisdom. They don’t grasp the element of vision, seriousness, and responsibility, in addition to trustworthiness and transparency.

So when management decides to choose someone for a senior position, it’s important to consider the following:

1. Those people’s history and achievements in their previous professional life.
2. Whether they have knowledge of specialized professional capabilities.
3. Whether they have personal skills, like intelligence, wisdom, and impartiality, in addition to leadership qualities.

We must realize that these people are all around us, in every country. But we must be careful and do our research in selecting them, guided by God.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, while the appeal of a charismatic leader may be tempting, it is essential to look beyond the surface and evaluate their capabilities carefully. Personal skills like intelligence, wisdom, impartiality, and leadership qualities are equally important to an individual's previous professional achievements and specialized capabilities. A company can only guarantee the success of its senior management team by taking these factors into account.