The academic definition of “Genius” is a person with high IQ, extreme creativity or something else altogether. However, it is also understood that everyone has a certain Genius in him/her that they have to find, trust and nurture in order to get anywhere near what we can qualify as extraordinary outcome.
While most people live and die unaware of their true ability to be differentiating and impactful, some manage to do just the opposite as they search for, discover their Genius, and put it to work… This is a tribute to the late Si- Hedi Bouchamaoui, a man I had the highest honor to have known, and the biggest privilege to have witnessed his attributes in action as I was at the very beginning of my professional journey. After over 30 years of extensive exposure to global and diverse leadership styles, successful and very impactful personalities, I find myself anchored at the very fundamentals I discovered with si- Hedi. They were the unwritten values that he lived by and drove through his team and circle of influence with full buy-in and compliance. Modern Corporations, as we know them today, write a set of core values and spend all their energy and time to pitch them with only limited success.
Courage is the first one to cite. Si-Hedi believed in himself and in the opportunities that he, then, saw before anyone else. He was never afraid of failing because it was never an option. He always incited his team to believe in themselves, stand up, fight for what is right and be ahead as long as they did the right thing. Integrity and ethical behavior were part of his personality, beliefs, and expectation of everything around him. I do not personally recall or have heard through others of any situation where he acted anything different and/or tolerated any such behavior.
Differentiation through quality and competitiveness drove an extraordinary commercial intensity that he led personally and developed his team to sustain. It is important to remember that all this was happening initially in an era when our own country’s institutions considered Tunisian companies and talent subpar. I recall times when Si- Hedi and his team spend countless hours and days brainstorming and looking for ways to differentiate the offerings and services. There was a lot of passion to identify and solve for all critical paths, and decipher the winning formula.
People were always in the center of Si-Hedi’s thoughts. He had the feel for talent and the vision for their potential. He appreciated the level of education and the institutions were they came from as he handpicked his younger team. He was always big on personalities that have trades of courage and winning mindset. I recall the multiple conversations we had on people skills and how one should learn how to navigate other people mindsets and adapt with the winning argument, offering, or solution. I also recall the one-on-one sessions where he pointed directly to my areas of development and guided me to work on them under his direct supervision. He had me labelled as “stubborn” which is another way of saying “opinionated” and / or “poor listener”. He was obviously correct with his assessment and pointed me very early on to some serious development needs that helped me throughout my professional career.
Si Hédi was a visionary with all the meanings of the word. He was always several steps ahead of everyone thinking of scenarios and preparing the ground for the next ventures. Most, if not all his strategic moves, were disruptive, setting higher standards, and stepping confidently in new territories.
I recall our discussion about his vision of getting involved in the upstream oil & gas drilling and production when the company was just establishing itself as a player in the midstream construction market. Only a few years later, that vision came to fruition and a new journey started exactly as si-Hedi saw it and predicted it… How can a person with such attributes of vision, courage, innovation, perseverance with strong compassion to people and the highest level of integrity not be a “Genius”? He certainly did not learn that in any school, but dug it out of his DNA and put it to work.
As I was writing this, digging into the past, I had a strange warm feeling as if all this happened just yesterday. His voice, words, gestures are still resonating with me to-date. After all, he was my first mentor and the person who helped me make my first step in a long and rewarding professional career. My highest respect to a unique person that I call a “GENIUS” who set the bar very high for success to a point where we can easily say that he redefined it.