Special Interview for Millennial Success Stories, an inspirational interview with Ghassan Mirdad President of Schlumberger – Eastern Middle East (UAE, Oman, Iraq, Pakistan &Yemen)

As part of my quest in trying to figure out the best methodologies on how to  kick start a career and create breakthroughs, I decided to do a series of interviews with successful kick off stories from various fields. Most of these rather invasive interviews took place with people who are still junior, yet they have managed to create something in their somewhat short time in the field. For my first interview though, the premier, the uno, I wanted to start with someone who I thought had a start that is similar to most millennials I have met. He is one of my role models, and someone I was lucky to be exposed to at various occasions in different settings, most of the time on a rather one on one space. This interview is the longest as it is the main interview in the series. I tried my best to sum up 23 years worth of experience and knowledge in a concise way.

For most people in his Senior Executive Level, it would be almost impossible to meet them in a seemingly career revealing environment. But to my luck, he isn’t like most people as he prides himself being close to individuals at their entry level. He even told me on multiple occasions during the interview that with his type of sentiment, he was supposed to be more into the humanitarian /  NGO career. But, to us today he is Ghassan Mirdad, President – Eastern Middle East (UAE, Oman, Iraq, Pakistan & Yemen) at Schlumberger, the largest oil services company in the world. He is also someone who has impacted me on a personal level and even though we are in extremely different fields I related to his story and I believe his tips are very relatable. In 2018, he was chosen as one of the top 15 executives in the Middle East by Forbes magazine.

Let me before starting the interview give you all a short introduction on who Ghassan is. Born Ghassan Abdulaziz Mirdad Martial Arts, Football and sport fanatic. His father head of the main Military Hospital in Saudi Arabia. His mother an exceptional stay at home mother who always managed to launch successful businesses from the comfort of her home. He isn’t the oldest, he isn’t the youngest and he isn’t the middle child. His upbringing  comes up a lot during this narrative because his love for his family has shaped who he is today. A religious yet open minded person. Worked his way up the career ladder in Schlumberger starting as a simple field engineer ending up as the President of one of its largest factions. Graduated King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals with a degree in Chemical Engineering and has a degree in Business Strategy and Leadership from London Business School.

The answers I got from this interview are not what I expected at all so I hope you enjoy!

WN: is writer note or what I learned from every question.

Q1: Ghassan welcome and thank you so much for accepting this invitation, let me start with this why did you become a chemical engineer?

Well let me begin with this, I didn’t know what I wanted to be. All I knew was that I loved math, physics and chemistry. I graduated from a new top notch High School called Najd International School that was created by the late Prime Minister of Lebanon, Rafiq Al Hariri in Saudi Arabia. It was a great school and I had exposure to a large number of excellent teachers. From early on, I was interested in sports and I would excel in anything as long as I knew I could play football and Taekwondo.

When I graduated I had a friend and I remember this vividly, I told him that I wanted to proceed to King Fahad University of Minerals and Petroleum, and given that it was a really hard university he said that I wasn’t going to make it. That got to me in the sense that I felt he had no right to judge my abilities. So, I went in putting everything I got into it, even though part of my mind was always thinking I most probably won’t make it beyond orientation year. But I am a very stubborn person and I wanted to prove him wrong because I hate it when someone judges me without even knowing me genuinely.

To my surprise I was exempted to some of my math orientation courses because I had already taken advanced courses in my high school. I did well and I could pick any major I wanted. I asked Uncle Suhail who was a personal friend of our family, who later became my father in law, what I should study and he said that the energy field in Saudi Arabia was going to boom even more than it already had. Consequently, because I loved Chemistry the most, as I remember today teaching my peers organic chemistry, I studied Chemical Engineering.

WN: What I learned here was sometimes you feel invisible forces or your gut instinct pushing you somewhere, trust that instinct and JUMP!

The next question was one of my favorites.

Q2 Why did you pick Schlumberger?

Well it was one of the companies that you looked at and just thought, wow. But, there is a much deeper story here. I had an Arabic teacher that was from a modest agriculture family. He told us once a story about how he kissed his mother’s hand when he graduated and that event was stuck in my head. I never really understood what it meant to make my father proud except when a certain turning point happened in my life. I was in high school and I was part of the sport team. I was very athletic. I did every single type of sport I could lay my hands on. I had my eye on American sports as well like American football but it wasn’t a popular sport in Saudi Arabia at the time.

So as I stated earlier, the school was created by the late prime minister of Lebanon and his son Hossam was two years older and also an athlete. He was a very respectful boy, down to Earth and an excellent athlete. We trained together at school and his house often. After he graduated, he went to the States and died in a car accident. It impacted me, you know? I wouldn’t say we were close but I saw him frequently because we bonded over sports. The school then created an award in his name during my senior year. This particular award  continued for years after. If my memory does not fail me, it was based 60% on studies 20% for social engagement 20% for sports and 10% for your relationship with students. The school principle saw me before our graduation ceremony and I was talking about potential candidates and then asked me “what about you?”. Socially, I was a popular kid and my house was the place to go. I was a solid B in my studies no matter what, but I wasn’t the best. I wouldn’t have thought I stood a chance.

We went to the ceremony (an all male event)  and my father was there. First place was announced, and it wasn’t me. The winner went up, took the award, smiled and left the stage. The second place went up similarly. But, the host said my name and I couldn’t believe it. It felt like the whole stage was clapping their hands. I asked my father to come to stage to take a picture. I kneeled and kissed his hand, even though my dad hated such gestures, he teared up. It was this ”romantic” moment I had with my dad. A standing ovation was awaiting us yet again. That moment felt so special, unexpected but I made my father proud. And to make it even more splendid of a moment, my math teacher a person I looked up to looks at my dad and asks him “I want you to tell me how you raised such a marvelous son so I can raise my future son the same way.” The best feeling you can ever have in life is someone you look up to thinking this well of you. ( element of surprise).

When I went home that day, my mother asked me what I did to make my father so happy. That moment lasted a lifetime. Anything I did today was to make my mother and him proud. It’s that euphoric moment. That’s why I excelled and that’s why I became what I became.

I reflect a lot. And There are things that happen just because a story took place in my life.

WN: You might not know what career you want to start, you might just be that ordinary person with no significant career passion. In that case focus on making your parents proud. There is a thin line between doing what they want and making them proud. Making them proud is excelling in whatever you decided to overtake. Doing what they want is taking things to the literal sense and that’s bad in my opinion because no one can force you to excel in what you dislike. But, you can excel in what you are neutral at.

Q3: What is your secret Sauce?:

My main motivation was not to be President or in the spotlight and they always said that I was never going to be president because I am too nice, I don’t argue loudly and I am very calm.  

I know this is recurring but I would start first with putting my parents as the priority and trying my best to be good to them.

Second, I don’t have any hidden agendas I always want to help others genuinely not for the glory to help, just to help genuinely. Do you understand the depth of the world genuine?

I also really think that integrity as a value is the number one thing that you should have. When you do anything at work, do it as if everyone is watching you. It could be being good to contractors by paying them on time or never lying to clients. That’s my recipe for success it lies between integrity and helping others.

When you ask me how are you? I will either say as long as you’re fine I am fine. And I really mean that or else I will be worried. Other times I’ll say the health is well, family is good and my parents are pleased with me.

I have a theory in my life that is closely related to mathematics that is called the co-efficient theory. You need to know in your life what are the main essential things for you. Think of it this way:

X= A (B)

Where A is you, B is what you value in life and X is what you become.

For example: Ghassan times money or Ghassan times fame or Ghassan times position. What is your coefficient (B)? And how long will it stay a number before this coefficient becomes zero? If it becomes zero you become zero. That is why I picked my coefficient to be kindness integrity and being there for my family (my parents my wife and my kids).

Q4 What Advice would you give anyone to join the chemical field?

A4:

1. When you work, work as if the company is yours. That means you will work whenever and wherever.
2. Leave all negative people and ideas away because this is just going to kill you (the naggers) even though I lived with a really bad roommates at time as well, I had enough positive energy to change them into positive people. If you are going to deal with negative people know how to deal with them.
3.  We are not in heaven. There will always be something that goes wrong.

The attitude and soft skills are much more important than your education, because you can always take a break and go back to your education. But attitude and soft skills are two things you need to basically wove them in your character.

Q5: Where do you think the future is?

I think the future is in AI, data science and supply chain & logistics.

Q6: Any regrets?

My career was so nice and I cherish everything and I don’t think I would change anything. My biggest regret was my vacation time. I kept going home when I could’ve had a little adventure and discovered the world.