CEO Insights Magazine

“ Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice”. Jim Collins aesthetically elucidated in his book, Good to Great. Rewinding 30 years, Dr Mohammed Al-Najjar, A PhD holder from the University of Cambridge, UK and the CEO of MEGA Group, one of the most established and trusted consulting companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, had already cultivated the discipline and foresight to make that conscious choice, to become great. When his determination combined with his stellar academic career starting from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) with BSc and MSc in Engineering, continuing at the University of Cambridge, achieving a PhD in Operations Management, and an envious level of hands-on business experience, there was no turning back. 

Dr Najjar grew into a mighty, award-winning serial entrepreneur who set benchmarks in Saudi Arabia’s business and leadership landscape. He has worked with the c-suite level of more than 30 organizations over the past 30 years across businesses, as a business Leader and an advisor or consultant. Dr Najjar walked down a path he devised and defined, turning every business vertical he touched into gold. Dr Najjar’s success-ratio can be traced back to hands-on experience. Over the past decades, he has established five industrial companies with investments up to SAR1.5 billion ($400M), managed three companies specialised in consultation and services with investments up to SAR900 million ($250M). He increased sales revenue of one company by 42 percent in three years. 

In one year, he even achieved SAR80 million ($21M) savings from cost reduction initiatives in a petrochemical company. On the other hand, besides his extensive hands-on experience, what has helped Dr Najjar stand out in this highly competitive consulting space is his extensive research in Leadership and Performance Management in service industries, including in-depth study in large service companies in the UK. In the process, he also cultivated his expertise in world-class transformation & business excellence techniques, such as Lean Management, KAIZEN, TPM, Balanced Score Card (BSC) and Business Excellence.

CEO Insights Asia is delighted to engage in an exclusive interview with Dr Najjar, who talks about his leadership methodologies, the MEGA Group journey, his future perceptions of Saudi Arabia’s business landscape and much more. Below is an excerpt from the interview.

You are well-known for your unique leadership strategies. Tell us about the leadership style you follow.

I am a strong advocate of participative and collaborative leadership styles. To achieve high performance, it is crucial to maximize the utilization of the intellectual capital within the organization, specifically by leveraging the human resources we have. This can be accomplished by involving talented individuals in both business planning and process implementation, as well as in the operational aspects of the organization. Additionally, it is essential to encourage innovation and motivate individuals to bring new ideas to the organization.

Delving deeper into this, you have also developed a robust set of leadership principles that attracted the global business community. Tell us about this model.

I often tell people that my values are centered around three key principles, namely Trust, Discipline, and Creativity. I firmly believe that building trust inspires individuals to achieve their best. I strongly advocate Stephen M.R. Covey's philosophy on trust, and I promote trust and inspiration as fundamental elements of effective management and leadership. To build trust, one must embody honesty, integrity, fairness, confidence, and transparency. Trust empowers organizations, leading to delegation, autonomy, support, and involvement. I strongly believe that instilling trust is the backbone of having motivated individuals within the organization.

Secondly, I value discipline. I am a proponent of Jim Collins' "Good to Great" concept of discipline. Discipline encompasses punctuality, quality, thoroughness, and focus. It goes beyond mere attendance and punctuality to include the quality and thoroughness of work. With discipline, we can achieve perfection, efficiency, effectiveness, and stakeholder satisfaction. Breakthrough results require disciplined individuals with disciplined thoughts and actions.

The third value is creativity and innovation. Creativity stems from proper planning, vision, and an open mind. This approach leads to initiatives, improvements, cost reductions, and continuous competitive advantage.

You have also developed a distinctive Build- Operate-Transfer (BOT) approach, and you constantly give credit to your Cambridge University academic experience. Could you explain this model?

This is the model I developed from my learning experience at Cambridge University 25 years ago, combined with my practice, research, and readings. I strongly believe that to achieve impactful results, a leader must adopt the BOT approach. In this context, the leader's personal vision must align with the business mission. This synchronization involves building a strategic personality profile, operating with the knowledge and experience gained, and transferring this knowledge and experience while simultaneously developing the organization's capabilities. By implementing techniques and improvements and translating strategy into outcomes, we can positively impact results.

An essential element of this model is sustainability, which stems from active learning within the organization. This active learning cultivates high-performing leaders and builds high-performing organizations. This holistic approach is what I call the "Dr Najjar Leadership Model" or MAN Model.

Looking ahead, the Middle Eastern economy is undergoing diversification. What’s your take on the future of this transformation?

The economic growth in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, is set for a bright future. Saudi Arabia is experiencing a remarkable period in its history, driven by several factors, especially its new leadership. This distinguished leadership combines the latest strategic thought processes in government management with a robust leadership style to achieve its objectives.

Saudi Arabia's leadership is also undergoing significant transformations across various domains, including the economy, culture, education, industry, and social sectors. The government is at the forefront of applying cutting-edge technologies in information management and Digital Transformation perspectives, positioning Saudi Arabia among the top five countries globally in information technology development, including AI applications. This profound progress is evident in the government's adoption of the latest management information systems and techniques across its sectors.

Moreover, the government is embracing the latest practices in innovation, analytical thinking, and customer orientation while focusing on building the nation's capabilities by empowering the younger generation, both male and female, to take on leadership roles.

How is MEGA Group's focus aligned with these excellent prospects?

MEGA Group has focused on six distinct business themes for nearly two decades, including Human Capital Development, Customer Experience, Strategy and Performance Management, Digital Transformation, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Business Excellence.

Human capital development is our primary area, where we offer professional training and consultation for the government, private, and non-profit sectors. This includes various training programs for all organizational levels, ranging from leadership to middle management and operational staff. Our consultation services cover HR strategies, organizational restructuring, job descriptions, job evaluation, manpower planning, leadership assessment, and HR system development.

Customer experience is a relatively new field in the region, but it is growing rapidly as customer orientation and satisfaction become increasingly important. We conduct assessments to determine organizational maturity in customer service, develop strategies to enhance customer experience and create initiatives and programs to improve customer satisfaction.

In Strategies and Performance Management, we develop strategic and operational plans and establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Objectives and Key Results (OKR) using the latest scientific management techniques, such as the balanced scorecard.

Digital Transformation is another key focus for us. Saudi Arabia is among the top countries in successfully acquiring and implementing digital transformation techniques across various sectors, particularly in the industrial and government services sectors. We are actively involved in this area, with a team of experts working to build our profile and penetrate the market.

On the other hand, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is crucial for us, as we believe in supporting society by developing people's capabilities and contributing to various organizations. We have strong alliances with banks and other companies as well as several government entities that prioritize CSR, providing consultation and training in this field.

Finally, Business Excellence is an area where we strive to develop processes that meet high standards worldwide. Our work aligns with achieving international excellence models, such as the EFQM and Malcolm Baldrige Award, as well as regional models, like the King Abdulaziz Award.

Dr Mohammed Al-Najjar, A PhD Holder from the University of Cambridge & CEO, MEGA Group

Dr Najjar is a global expert in driving top-and-bottom-line performance by optimizing how organizations work, from setting strategies to ensuring they are successfully implemented. He boasts experience of having served both in executive operational roles with P&L responsibility as CEO, Managing Director, COO and GM and in the capacity of an advisor, not to mention his fantastic portfolio as a senior consultant for different national and international companies as well as for some ministries and government agencies.