3 Must-Haves for a CEO/ManagingDirector/ BusinessOwner Who Joins a Company or Leading a Startup in the Middle East

Let us start with Stephen Covey’s famous line, “Begin with an end in mind…”

Whether you are a CEO/Managing Director/Business owner who has joined a company or you are one of the entrepreneurs/business owners who set-up your own in the Middle East, you have to have work plan. When you have a framework to start on, you minimise the risk of failing.

Below points may help you in organizing your entrance.

1. The Company Business Model

Your business model will help you gather and organize all important details of your business operations such as the key activities, partnerships, customer relationships, cost structures, etc. There are many frameworks you can use to map your company’s business model, popularly is that of Alexander Osterwalder's.

2. The Organisation Structure and Manpower plan

More than a decade ago, first HR job was working for a Multi-national conglomerate in cement manufacturing and energy generation.

Prior to opening regional offices, we were given a blueprint of organisation structure with a start-up manpower plan. The plan contains information on budget, job functions, person specification and the time when you need to hire.

This is still helpful to this date, especially in the Middle East where the workforce is very much diverse. You can save on recruitment & headcount costs and you will also benefit from workforce diversity planned ahead. A good HR resource shall be able to help you on these.

3. The Sales Process

An Australian CEO whom I worked with, once advised me to always encourage stakeholders to ideate and then draw the sales process from the start.

Why? This will help you see the full picture of the sales process, plan realistic sales goals, identify the best sales team required, and effectively navigate cultural relativism of all the resources, in all the regions you will operate. Once you get this right, everything in support shall follow. Then you can constantly review this with your team going forward as there will always be a room for improvement.

I think this made a lot of sense and I have been advising clients on this from then on. Coming from a business leader and a Harvard Alumnus, with 36 years track record in leading successful businesses in multiple countries, I cannot argue.

How about you, do you have any framework you are using as business leader?