Written by: John Grisby, Professor of Management Practice & Managing Partner at Grey Matter Global Ltd.

About the Writer: John Grisby is a Professor of Management Practice and teaches Leadership on an Executive MBA programme at Majan College in Muscat, Oman. He is Managing Partner at Grey Matter Global Ltd., a consultancy dedicated to leadership strategy ‘4.0’ (The Fourth Industrial Revolution).

Middle East Leadership for the changing times

I teach the practice of leadership to executives (MBA) at in Muscat (Oman). Participants include government, private sector and tribal leaders. During the first session I ask the group, ‘What is leadership?’. It provokes interesting debate and a range of answers: personality, characteristics, traits, behaviors, culture, etc. Then I ask, ‘Who would like to experience Google’s Leadership programme in the U.S. called SYI-Search Inside Yourself?”. A large number raise their hands thinking they would learn ‘cutting edge’ or ‘state of the art’ leadership from a young, global, fast growing technology company. Think again. The six minuet video overview of the programme shows leaders meditating, doing yoga, asking introspective questions and speaking about the need to find work-life balance.  When I ask the Omani executives to comment there is utter silence and a roomful of very confused looks. Then one executive explains, “I meditate a lot too. Every day I wake up at sunrise and pray, then I pray at mid-day and at sunset.” Excellent. He’s understood the exercise and insight about the true meaning of leadership.

The concept of what leadership is (and is not) has changed since the theory was first formally studied in U.S. circa 1940s. Since 1968 over 1968 77,000 books have been published on the topic. Yet as a practice leadership existed in the Middle East for many thousands of years even before Western Civilization began. So what exactly is it?

Modern-day global leaders are faced with a multiplicity of leadership theories, models and approaches about how to effectively lead. The world, and particularly the Middle East, is experiencing significant changes in the environment, what people think and how oranisations operate. So if you are leader in the Middle East and asked to lead a team or an entire organisation, which one do you use?

Do you lead surround yourself with an inner circle of only people you know, related to or trust as suggested by the ideals of Arab tribal leadership?  Use charisma and absolute power over peers to intimidate demonstrated in a clan/feudal leadership? Expect totally loyalty and adherence to rules of law suggested by formal management or religious leadership? Motivate through success-oriented reward for thinking differently embodied in American entrepreneur leadership? Consider everyone an equal leader and ‘keep the peace’ demonstrated in a United Nations style type leadership?

There is no leadership ‘magic solution’ – but there is a way through the confusion of competing ideas. It is an evidence-based theory named Middle East Leadership Value Systems or MELVS. MELVS draws on the entire developmental history of humans, the region and business to clarify and resolve many of the dilemmas modern Middle Eastern leaders face.

Core Middle East leadership mindsets philosophies

There are various MEVLS at play in Middle Easter business world. There are obvious differences between countries, and less subtle between organisations competing in the same sector.

For example three major Turkish banks Türkiye Is Bankasi, Akbank and Türkiye Garanti Bankasi are all banks form the same country but have differing cultures and leadership philosophies. So too are the Saudi Telecom and Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.

MELVS identifies six core leadership mindsets developed from the history of business, politics, etc., each rooted in different complexity of life conditions:

Life Condition Complexity (LC)	Summary of Leadership Adaptations and Skills to Solve Problems
A: Basic Existence LC	N’: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve individual problems through        Subsistence-Survival
B: Pre-industrial LC	O: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve to solve group problems through      Security-Cohesion
C: Industrial Revolution LC	P: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve to solve individual problems      through Power and Dominance
D: Information & Knowledge LC	Q: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve group problems through      Master Plan and Management
E: Global Technology-Finance LC	R: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve individual problems through       Achievement and Entrepreneurship
F: Digital/Social Network LC	S: Life conditions activate/develop skills to solve group problems through      Community and Digital Networks
A’: Complexity-Problematic LC	N’: Life conditions activate/develop skills to individual problems through Problem        Solving and Functionality

   Dr. Clare Graves (ECLT) © Adapted by Grey Matter Global Ltd.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 1- Survival/Subsistence

“The only focus I have is on my survival”

MELVS 1: There is no dominant leadership mindset in (A) life condition complexity. In these conditions a leader cannot think in complex ways or make decisions. They are only focused on subsistence and survival. The closest environment we can find is the deteriorating life conditions caused by war, famine, natural disaster, etc.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 2 – Traditional/Tribal

“Our tribal inner circle is a family bond formed by traditions and customs”

MELVS 2: In (B) life condition complexity, the dominant leadership mindset is (O): traditional, tribal and kinship. Leaders are associated with legends and powerful wisdom. They are born into position within a core of semi-elites. They are concerned with maintaining group cohesion, values, customs and traditions. Followers organise in a circle structure around the center ‘chief’ or ‘patriarch’ in a demonstration of unity and for protection. Examples of leadership elements exist in the Bedouin dessert lifestyle and patriarch of family owned Arab merchant businesses passed down through multiple generations.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 3 – Power/Dominate 

“I maintain control through power and domination”

MELVS 3: In (C) life condition complexity, leadership mindset emphasises the idea of power and conquest (P). Leaders climb through the ranks through power and dominance. They can also be courageous and take risks necessary to move forward. Followers organise in a top down Big Boss/Small Boss/worker chain of command. An example of leadership elements exist in the authority and allegiance to Al-Za’eem (feudal lord).

Middle East Leadership Mindset 4 – The ‘Master’ Plan/Purpose  

“We follow rigorous principles and plans to achieve our purpose”

MELVS 4: In (D) life condition complexity, following and living by the ‘master plan’ becomes a central idea (Q). Leaders are chosen by class or status. They display patriotism, demand group discipline and have a sense of purpose. Followers organise in formal management structure where positional authority determines rank (Head Department/Division). Expression of leadership elements exists in the Islamic Sharia religion, Arab prophets and non-religious CEO/Director of a national government institutions or a military General.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 5 – Success/Innovation

“I seek strategic advantages to excel and continually improve”

MELVS 5:   Where (E) life condition complexity predominate, leaders maximize advantages and leverage competitive opportunities. Leaders are the most competent and smarter, who have developed a special competitive advantage over others (R). Key elements of leadership include highly skilled and motivated, financial rewards and being entrepreneurial. Followers organise in formal management structure where positional authority is flexible depending on competency. Expression of leadership elements exists in Dubai’s economic diversity, young Middle Eastern entrepreneurs and Directors of global mulit-nationals.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 6 – Social Network/Community

“We create conditions to empower and enable everyone possible”

MELVS 6: In (F) life condition complexity, leaders act as a facilitator/collaborator with followers (S). Leaders encourage performance through fun, participation and community. Social networking, emotions and intrinsic motivation are key elements. Followers organise in an equal circle structure with no identified leader in the centre. This leadership philosophy is rare in both the modern Middle Eastern and Western European world where global dominance, competition and financial bottom lines rule, but is emerging among the millennial thinking.

Middle East Leadership Mindset 7 – Complexity/Problematic

“I do whatever is necessary to restore order”

MELVS 7:   In (A’) life condition complexity, leaders aim to be functional and flexible (N’). Leadership is practical and leaders integrate the five other Middle Eastern leadership philosophies to find whatever works with followers at the time, place and circumstances. Followers are not really such. Everyone is aligned characterised by high levels of commitment and differences between people are expected and accepted.

Above, each MELVS is described individually and as a stereotype: in the real world they mix and combine in interesting ways to form the bio-psycho-social DNA of Middle Eastern Leadership.

The bio-psycho-neuro-socio ‘DNA’ of Middle Eastern Leadership

As the pace of change increases, and the business environment becomes more complex, there is a need to improve the skill level of all global leaders from ‘good’ to ‘great’. For such a vitally important strategic, economic and political region like the Middle East the rest of the world’s development will depending on it.

References: 

Beck, D., Larsen, T., Solonin, S., Viljoen, R., Johns, T., (2018) Spiral Dynamics in Action: Humanity’s Master Code, Publisher: Wiley.

Graves, C., (2009) Levels of Human Existence, Publisher: ECLET.

Graves, C., (2005) The Never Ending Quest: A treatise on an emergent cyclical conception of

adult behavioral systems and their development, Publisher: ECLET.

Grisby, J. (2016) CMI Insights: The Six Different Mindsets of Leadership http://www.managers.org.uk/insights/news/2016/october/the-6-different-mindsets-of-leadership

Maalouf, Elza S., (2014), Emerge! The Rise of Functional Democracy and the Future of the Middle East, Publisher: Select Books.