Finding the Strength to Take Risks: IBF Speaker Hasan on Inspiring Georgian Businesses

Exclusive Interview

Haseeb T Hasan, has lived in Dubai for the past 18 years with his wife and business partner, Zaufyshan, and over the past 21 years, through their organization Intek Solutions UAE, they have designed and provided one-on-one coaching to hundreds of CEOs, leaders, executives, singers, actors, politicians and celebrities. Many people have ranked their “Motivational Skills” amongst the highest of all techniques of training that they employ and more than 50,000 people have benefitted from their facilitation. He and his wife were Masters of Ceremonies at the recent Tbilisi IBF Sales Conference which was attended by more than 300 corporate executives. GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Haseeb to find out more.

Tell us about your background and what you do

I am 59. I grew up in Lahore Pakistan, which was once a very different place from what it is now, very much like Georgia today. I went to the best schools, college and the USA. My background was in finance: I got my education in Texas before going back to Pakistan, and later Singapore, to work at various multinational companies, including British American Tobacco, Merril Lynch, LU Biscuits and others. In 1996 I decided I wanted to do something on my own, rather than spend the rest of my life working for somebody else. My wife joined me and it’s been 21 years that we have been helping people and organizations around the world.

I like to motivate and inspire people, so I decided to move to the field of training and development and developed my own material and content. Today, our company, Intek Solutions, runs trainings on leadership, managements, sales, personality development, communication skills, negotiation skills, presentation skills, a whole range of different “soft skills” with the goal of improving the lives and motivation of our clients in 29 countries. Georgia is our 30th destination. We prepared for the IBF event by doing our homework. Now we understand several aspects of Georgian culture that even many Georgian might not be aware of. Study of cultures is an integral part of our profession and passion in life – to impact lives positively.

Is there a universal formula that can be applied in your field to bring the best out of individuals?

When I was first invited to Georgia to develop and design in-house training programs last year, I spent considerable time exploring the country and taking note of gaps and challenges for the Georgian culture. There is no one fixed formula: we change and improvise according to our audiences’ needs. Customization is our biggest USP (Unique Selling Point). Our strategy is to motivate our audiences and rekindle that fire in their bellies which has been put out over years of working in the corporate sector: the strict procedural, mundane, routines of corporate life often kills or greatly diminishes this crucial fire inside people once they’ve been a part of the system for too long. We work at bringing that innovation and creativity out, making them dream again, acquire new, healthier productive habits, and unlearn their old, unhealthy, unproductive ones – barriers to further success in life.

Everyone has issues, but it’s all about getting to ‘know yourself’. Indeed, our training workshops are all about self-awareness, developing actual tools on how you can motivate yourself and others, and have a better life both at home and in the office.

On your 4th visit to Georgia, what kind of insights and conclusions have you been able to draw about the Georgian business sector?

Georgian culture is one of the most unique and authentic cultures remaining on this Earth. For a long time now, the country has been invaded by the foreigners around them. So the Georgian culture, especially of the older generation who have lived through the Communist era, where Georgian culture was suffocated, became extremely ‘safety oriented,’ with the intention of protecting their families and children. They had no choice but to try and survive. Unfortunately, no outsider can help them if Georgians don’t help themselves. I say, ‘Wake up Georgians: you are a free country now! You just need to believe in your pure self. You are one of the best places left on this Earth to live- clean water, clean air, non-GMO tasty fruit and vegetables, amazing wines, breath-taking nature, and hospitality I’ve never seen anywhere else before!’

When we talk about sales, business development, entrepreneurship, real value-adding activities in an economy, people are shy because of that safety-oriented culture, and this kind of mindset is not going to get the country anywhere. We need to overcome this insecurity in our minds if we are to move forward. “Risk-taking” and “motivation” need to replace “safety”, as the go-words, because this a serious hinderance to the potential of this country. I seriously believe Georgians have a very unique responsibility of preserving their traditional values of respect and unconditional helping spirit rather than doubting each other within. Doubt and fear came from outsiders : it’s not a true Georgian characteristic.

The threats Georgia is now facing is that the Americans, Chinese, and Europeans are coming in, the country is opening up and to fit the international standards, certain gaps need to be filled. However, this can only be done with the successful leadership of those controlling the money and power; organizations need a purpose that is greater than simply making money; people need a cause higher than themselves; people need to visualize a future that preserves their culture, because a ‘cultural rape’ is taking place as we speak. As things stand, Georgia, like large parts of the developing world, is at risk of losing its own culture, threatened by the prospect of being sucked into the international capitalist, money-making machine where people are conditioned to go to work for the sake of it, and where profit for the sake of profit is the ultimate goal, with a total disregard for traditional human values. This is one of the biggest challenges in Georgia today.

How to move forward to change this culture? Is religion to blame?

One shouldn’t touch people’s belief systems. I’ve seen a lot of cultures around the world where innocent people have been manipulated in the name of religion towards money making and power play to control innocent minds. This makes people very judgmental and less tolerant of others. The concept of God, unfortunately has been misused to inculcate fear in people, hence distancing religious rituals from actual spirituality.

What you have to do is open their minds and make them realise that they have a certain type of ‘conditioned mindset,’ a need to unlearn a certain set of habits. Without going into specifics, our job is to facilitate a platform, to be a good channel for them, to visualise what the barriers standing in their way to success are. It is then their job to overcome them and find their own answers. So the answer to this question will vary from person to person.

When we say that "we want to preserve the culture,” I’m not talking about religious culture, I am talking about people’s culture: the warmth, the hospitality, the trust. These cultural elements are much more alive outside Tbilisi, in the mountains and villages where the people are much more authentic and kinder : we need to preserve those cultures. I’m not worried about Tbilisi, because as a major city it is destined to follow the rut of commercialism and survival. Yes, they want to be Westernized, they want to be Europeans, and on the outside they might be, but their thinking patterns show great values ; values that we cannot forget to understand and appreciate, rather than always look to the West as an example.

What we need to do is develop the country: foreign exposure is necessary but not to the extent that it changes them completely; rather, they should pick up only the elements that they need, and not the ones they don’t.

Is Georgia on the right track?

Yes. Georgia is opening its doors to foreign investment. Georgia’s annual growth is 4.3%, double that of any other country in the region. Prime Minister Kvirikashvili’s four-point agenda is a testimony of this, where modified income tax, governance, infrastructural projects, and investment in education are being focused on. Georgia is currently ranked one of the most reliable and business friendly environments in the region. The fact that Moody’s has already upgraded Georgia’s rating to one notch below investment grade shows that there is progress in the right direction. Now once that investment grade is reached, and if the skillset of the people of Georgia is not up to the mark, the multinational and commercially-driven organizations are going to start bringing in expats.

The Anaklia port project worth $2.5 bn, will establish Georgia as a major port city in this world, especially linked to the Silk Road. The Silk Road was the past and will be the future. Right now, we are welcoming people, but there will come a point when, if the country isn’t geared up to the global standards of professionalism, the Georgian people will start to look at foreigners as a threat to their livelihoods. Georgians need extensive Training and Development to catch up to international benchmarks of being a ‘global player in an international market.

Mate Foldi