Boldwin School’ s Leadership Style
Solaima Tarabay, MBA student at MUBS, interviewing Mr. Naja Faysal about Boldwin School‘ s Leadership style.
May 2014
1. As the CEO of BoldWin School, what is your main role in the organization?
I consider my role simply as“ supporting teachers and staff, and being of service to the school’ s stakeholders .” The“ stakeholders” are our customers( students and their parents ,( our suppliers( publishers and others ,( our partners( companies and other schools that we signed partnership agreements with) and the civil society( municipalities, NGOs and others .(
2. What are the skills needed to reach a manager position?
There is a major difference between being a manager, and being a SUCCESSFUL manager. While I won’ t make that distinction on myself, since I leave it to the people and time to decide, I however, can say that it didn’ t happen to me by mere luck or coincidence. I made the difficult yet conscious decision to leave a stable career and life in Dubai, and come back to Lebanon to start BoldWin School. The skills I needed were simple: 1. a sense of purpose; and 2. a deep desire to make it happen. Other skills needed were considered“ minor” to me, since I believe that if someone finds a definite purpose for his / her life and a deep desire to make it happen, other skills will be merely operational and learn-able. For those who work at BoldWin School and aspire to reach higher positions within the organization, the skills don’ t differ much, they need 1. to believe in the purpose and vision of the school and be totally committed to its realization; 2. to go the extra-mile in this direction, this means taking initiatives, working harder, defending the reputation of the school, keeping its secrets and most importantly being indispensable; 3. to be teachable, that is the ability and motivation to learn new things.
3. How Boldwin School is designed to achieve effective outcomes?
Boldwin School is a relatively small to medium-size organization, we are around 300 students and 50 employees, the first thing I chose for my leadership style, is to use an open-door policy, which means any member of our team is always welcome at anytime to talk about anything, and not only my door is open, but also my mind is open for understanding and consideration of whatever being said. The second matter is to remove any form of hierarchy or bureaucracy; I believe that sharp hierarchy is the enemy of initiative, self motivation, and creativity. To me, it is an industrial age leadership style, also called“ the carrot and stick” leadership, carrot in the front and stick from behind. The problem with this leadership is that it treats people as machines, in contrast however, leadership in the information age we are living in, regards people within the organization are the most valuable asset, and thus, we at BoldWin School try to engage people in decisions, ask for opinions, recommend tasks, and promote the sense of family and teamwork.
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مدرسة بولدوين العالمية