Life Insights from an

Aging Corporate Leader

Dr. Sami M. BaroumMarch 15th, 2010

•Live with a vision•Manage with principles•Leave a legacy•Go with the flow•Nurture talents around you•Spread the message•Entrepreneurs start early•Mistakes are treasures•Professional life more than a job•It’s rarely “black & white”•Maintain sincere intentions

Insights

Live with a Vision

• It makes the journey a joy• It brings out the best in you• It improves your personal productivity &

reduces life distractors• Make it a wholesome one • $$$ is just a means

To be the most successful publicly listed strategic investment group in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) region.

 By most successful, we mean:

 “being most profitable in terms of sustainable returns on

investment to our shareholders, the most ethical and committed in our behavior and actions, and the most sophisticated in the

way we satisfy our customers”.

 

Savola’s Vision

5

Providing Compelling Direction

Strategy Road Show - Electronic Voting

1. STRONGLY AGREE

2. AGREE

3. DISAGREE

4. STRONGLY DISAGREE

BEFORE AFTER

Q. I have sufficient Clarity on the Group’s Growth Strategy?

1 81.8%

2 15.9%

3 2.3%

4 0.0%

Manage with Principles

• Stop being schizophrenic

• Leadership is about integrity

• Don’t compromise your dignity

• Stand for what you believe in

7

Only 1 in 10 companies experience sustained, profitable growth

0

20

40

60

80

100%

% of Companies meeting successive criteria(95-05)

Universe

% ofuniverse

100%

32%25%

SustainedValue Creators

11%

Sales CAGR> 5.5%

Net Income CAGR >5.5%

Source : Bain & Company high performance organization database

8

High performance organizations build a system, with leadership and values as core

elements

5. Instill a winning culture

3. Develop and deploy talented people

4. Excel at front-line execution

2. Define clear decision accounta- bilities

1. Provide compelling direction and leader-ship

Source : Bain & Company high performance organization database

9

Leadership & Culture ARE the highest distinguishing characteristic of high performing

organizations

0

20

40

60

80

100%

Vision &priorities

61

37

Decisionroles

42

23

People

4037

Front-line

34 32

Culture

54

26

Difference in % of 'Strongly agree' answersbetween 'High performers' and 'All others'

Leadershipteam Structure

Measures &incentives Back-office

Capacity tochange

Source : Bain & Company high performance organization database (n>500)

10

Why Culture?

Culture creates a distinctive corporate identity

Culture determines and guides sustainable ethical behavior

Culture drives success in the business through fostering a

climate for growth

Culture fosters and encourages good business practices like

Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility

Culture promotes and facilitates the practice of sharing

mistakes and key learnings across the organization

11

“Leadership behaviours” is the single most important factor that influences

culture

Source: Bain EIU Organizational Survey (n=201)

Which factors have a strong influence on your organization's culture?

0

20

40

60

80

100%

Percent of respondents

Leadershipbehaviors

80

70

Evaluation andpromotion systems

56

44

Type of peopleencouraged to leave

41

Type of peoplerecruited

Compensationsystems

12

Walking the TalkSavola Management Conference - Electronic

VotingQ. Savola’s decision to take the write-offs in 2008 was the right decision, in line with its ethics and

values

7%

7%

86%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Indifferent

Disagree

Agree

Agree includes those who strongly agree and those who agreeDisagree includes those who strongly disagree and those who disagree

13High performers (n=151)Average companies (n=610)

Savola is performing well relative to int’l benchmarks and is improving

• Clear vision & priorities

• Structure aligned with value

• Deep and well deployed talent

• Measures focused on what matters

• Cohesive leadership team

• Clear decision roles

• Blurred vision

• Misaligned structure

• Deficient talent

• Inadequatemeasures

• Confused decision roles

• Uncoordinated leadership team

Vision and priorities

Structure

Right people, right jobs

Measures and incentives

Leadership team

Decision roles & accountabilities

Lead

ers

hip

Acc

ou

nta

-b

ility

Peop

le

• Superior capabilities & execution

• Effective and efficient G&A

• Poor capabilities and execution

• Bloated G&A

‘Mission critical’ front-line activities

Back office G&A

Cu

ltu

re

• High performance culture

• Make change happen

• Low performance culture

• Change paralysis

Performance culture

Capacity to change

Fron

t-lin

e

1 42 3 “Outperforming”“Satisfactory”“Underperforming”

Savola Group 2007 (n=189)Savola Group 2008 (n=335)

Leave a Legacy

• It’s a film, you fool!

• It’s the treasure you’ll leave to your kids

• It’s the stories you’ll tell to your grandkids

Go with the Flow

• You’re a feather carried by the winds of destiny

• See the signs

• Take the easier route

• It doesn’t conflict with itqan

Nurture Talents around You

• They make it fun

• They will deepen your learning

• They will make you proud

Spread the Message• You will start believing it

• You will attract a similar flock

• Be a catalyst for change

• Ethics is gradually built through continuous

bombardment

• Talk to more than just the brain

Entrepreneurs Start Early

• Avoid the deepening salary trap

• Do it between 27-37

• Build your stash early; markets make take-off any time

It’s Rarely Black & White

• We are all humans and swayed by our personal agendas

• Almost any decision can be turned into a success or a failure

• Life has too many variables to determine causal relationships

Professional Life is More Than a Job

• What are you doing to your community

• It is your job after you retire

• It is spiritually uplifting

Mistakes are Treasures

• Recognizing, admitting, accepting, and analyzing

• It takes courage

• You will make the learning explicit

• Organizations can avoid repeating them if internalized

Maintain Sincere Intentions

• We maintain good and sincere intentions

• We believe that Allah will be with those with sincere intentions