Leading Forward: Conversations with Nooruddin on Leadership 03/10/23

 

“If you lived during the time of Moses, would you most likely be a follower of Moses or Firaun?”

This - and many other points - were powerful insights and wisdoms shared in today’s sharing session with Nooruddin Abdullah, VP Group Strategic Relations & Communications.

Here are some awesome (sometimes hillarious) takeaways

💖Prioritize your health, and your family. Company will come and go - but family can never be replaced. “Kita ni takde la hebat sangat. Without you, PETRONAS akan jalan jugak. Tak payah perasan lah”

💸“Live within your means. Kalau you hanya mampu beli Ferrari, jangan beli helicopter”

💩🍽️ 🙊 A reminder on integrity: Would you want to serve a piece of “crap”  to your chilren? "Just a small piece, no harm right?" That’s what you do when you take bribes and “provide” for your family. You are essentially feeding them with filth.

🤝 Live with integrity. It gives you peace of mind. Siapa yang tak mencuri, takkan risau kena potong tangan. Those who have no integrity issues, you get to live with a clear conscience, without the fear of "getting caught".

⏳ Think Long Term, Play the Long Game

When asked about his greatest challenges/achievements throughout his career, he once shared  an experience at a country in Africa. Initially, the contract stated the government would not be charging any additional expenses to PETRONAS. However, after seeing production, the government got a bit… greedy. The President wanted to impose a form of a fee or tax, costing tens of mlilions of US dollars, violating the contractual agreement.

The team got together, and the decision was almost unanimous: Fight. Defend our rights. We have all the legal documents in our favor. It was obvious.

But Nooruddin saw it differently. If we fight, yes, we might win. But this will be a case of Fight & Flight: We save millions of dollars, but we burn the bridges. We will never be able to operate here again. But let’s look long term: if we stay the course, is it still worth it? What if we pay up these millions, once off - and reap the collaborative benefits, in the long run?

The president agreed with this unconventional decision. They took a calculated risk: "Lose the Battle, win the war" .

Years later, in hindsight, it was a decision that resulted in a Net Investment Position (NIP) of billions of dollars.

(Mic Drop)

✨And finally, my favourite takeaway:
“If you lived during the time of Moses, would you most likely be a follower of Moses or Firaun?”

When he asked that, the hall remained silent. And someone spoke up and said “Firaun”.

He said, “yes. The reality is, if we were alive in those days, we would have most likely followed the tyrant Firaun.”

On the surface: Firaun had it all: military might. Economic strength. A total system in government. Some of the greatest monuments and structures ever built in the history of mankind.

Compare that to Moses. This man with no army. No political, economic, or military strength. Just a stick, an ideology, a mindset, and immense determination. An ideology that, if exposed by Firaun, would have been punishable by a horrible death through crucifixion. This man would have had, at most, probably a handful of followers.

Yet fast forward today. Thousands of years later. People name their children after this man: Moses, Musa. From Muslims, to Christians, to Jews, even aethists.

But no one names their children "Fir'aun".

Stories in the Quran are for us to ponder and take lessons from. The lesson of Moses teaches us, the real human asset is the human capital. The real substance. What every leader needs to have. 

At the end of the day, what truly matters? How will YOU want to be remembered?