Doing Business in the Middle East

The discussion of the Middle East in our household is one that I often try to avoid.  However, with some recent readings the topic of doing business in the Middle East came up and was discussed.  There are a lot of feelings involved when it comes to this topic of discussion.  My husband is a Marine and has come home from 4 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.  His views on the Middle East are not the same as mine and this can complicate having a discussion about how one could conduct business in the Middle East.

Where I see areas that would need to be adjusted, he sees areas where they are hypocrites.  Of course he is thinking in terms of the Muslims that he met while at war.  I think so often we use that view of those extremists to frame our minds on what and who and entire faith and way of life is.  I, personally, find there qualities of a good manager to be some of the best principles of great managers I have known.  While we may not say that our work is “an act of worship”, the satisfaction ones receives from providing can be immense.  So much so, that we see when a parent loses a job they can go into a depression as they feel worthless, unable to provide to their family and children.

Simple items like keeping promises, loyalty, building trust and being truthful are almost like the Golden Rule.  These are the things we all strive to instill in our children and hope of ourselves.  In certain area I can see no kickbacks being an issue in the Western World or in China where they are very common, but I think that it is a good act to not have kickbacks involved in business.  It can start to gray the lines of where favors can begin from.  “Aim for excellence”, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to aim for anything less.

All these amazing qualities, all these positive, uplifting words.  The idea that it’s not about what you can do for yourself, but what you can do for others, how one can help to give back to society.  While my husband can’t see these qualities, I hope that one day we all can.  I hope that the day will come where we don’t immediately presume that an entire faith is our to get us because of a few extremists.