Success comes in cans and failures in cannots

Banking and financial maverick and Henley MBA alum Saleh Hussain, founder and president of Saleh Hussain Consultancy, believes that to get anywhere in life, you just have to start doing what you say you want to do. It’s a philosophy that’s propelled him to the top of his game as CEO of the Saudi National Commercial Bank in Bahrain and a board member of several leading banks in the Middle East region – as well as authoring over 30 books in the in-between moments of his busy work and life. He shares below his story in his own words.

It was luck that got me to Henley Business School.

One day, I was sitting in my office at the bank where I worked in Bahrain when the chairman of the board walked in. He said: “Mr Hussain, you’re off to Henley Business School in one week. Get your things.” And that was that!

I first took a senior management course and a number of courses thereafter before I completed my Executive MBA at Henley in 1992.

When I enrolled, I was not sure I would be able to do all the assignments – but my classmates, teachers, and professors made it very easy for me. On weekends, you’d either go to London or spend your time in the library, working and having discussions with peers. Mostly, I stayed and worked. 

There were 47 of us in the MBA class, all from different parts of the world.

The diversity is invaluable: you learn things that might not have been possible if you stayed in your own silo. Certain classmates and I would meet once a week outside of hours and talk about subjects that were worrying us, about where there may be changes in the future: telecommunications, television, our lives in other countries, freedom of movement. A number of us have kept in touch, and we’re from all over – Lebanon, Asia, Africa. We’re still friends. Some of us even went into business together. Those discussions reinforced my belief that the only way you can learn is to talk to people. Nature can teach you; it can teach you a lot, but not for 24 hours a day. I believe that for that, you need other human beings. That’s what we had, and it bred such diversity of thought.

One of my fondest memories of the Henley MBA programme is when we had to put on a play.

Five or six of us volunteered. I had to play that I was dead. But in this last scene, when I was lying there, I got up just a little too early. My classmate told me to stay there a little longer. I said to them: ‘Please, if I stay down here for even another few seconds, I might really die!’

Henley changed me completely.

Once I returned from my MBA, I made it my duty to give that opportunity to others. Anybody who wanted to do an MBA at the bank where I worked, I helped them to do it. It was a breakthrough at the time. A good number of people actually went and were able to complete their degrees. I don’t see it as us doing them a favour. They did us a favour, in fact. If they have an MBA, they’re more fulfilled, and they work better. The advice I would give them is: nobody will do it for you. It’s not a regular education – you’re going to have to put in a lot of effort. If you don’t, you might become outdated and unable to keep up with changes. But at the same time, I’d say: There is nothing impossible in our life, only in our minds. Once you start doing what you said you want to do, doors open for you and many unwanted doors close. I always like to say, ‘success comes in cans and failures in cannots’.

That psychology of getting going is also why I have been able to write more than 30 books in my lifetime.

I would travel a lot for work. And at the airport or on the plane, I would tell myself now I have time to write. And every day, I would write one page. Just one. Doing that, I would end up with two books a year on topics ranging from corporate governance to professional management. And for however long, that’s what I did. I wrote only what I had learned during my career – I made up nothing. I wanted to pay people back with the knowledge that I had received.

I believe that whatever you invest in other people is never enough.

Whatever you get in your life is from people. So, let’s pass on what we get to others as well. They are people. They are human beings.