Being liked and being trusted are separate achievements here, and only one of them moves a mandate. On Thursday, I teach the difference.

The Story
In Kuwait City, an investor gathered his team for the first time after the break. He had a full quarter to plan. He began instead by asking how everyone's summer had been, and listened to each answer properly, which took twenty minutes. The planning that followed was noticeably more open than the same meeting had been the year before.

Cultural Principle
In Gulf professional settings, the tone of a season's first internal gathering tends to hold for the months that follow. What a leader opens with tells the room what kind of season it is going to be.

Takeaway
If you are convening your team this month, spend the first portion on the people rather than the plan. Those minutes are not lost. They shape how the room speaks to you for the rest of the quarter.

To your cultural intelligence,
Taqua