Essay: Leadership of King SAUD AL FAISAL

Leadership is seen to be a very important factor in organizations as well as countries since leadership can either determine the future of a certain country or organization, and it can also dismantle the same organization or country. Leadership is also based on strengths and weaknesses of an individual, and there are a lot of leadership theories that can be looked upon in order to understand how a leadership has brought about efficiency among people who work under such leadership. This essay will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Prince Saud Al Faisal as a political leader, and it will also discuss the qualities as well as success that the prince possesses and has achieved over the course of his professional career.

Being the second son of King Faisal, Prince Saud Al Faisal had 5 other siblings that were not step siblings. The prince was born in Taif in 1940. He got a Bachelors of Arts degree in the major of economics, which allowed him to become the economic consultant of the petroleum ministry of Saudi Arabia. Once the prince had gained a position in the petroleum ministry, he continued to progress in terms of promotions until he was appointed as the foreign minister in 1975.

Prince Saud Al Faisal had begun work as a statesman until he reached the ultimate position in his career, which was working as a foreign minister for the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia for the past 5 decades, until his demise in 2015. In his career, Prince Saud Al Faisal had also worked as the chairman of the Supreme Council of Saudi Arabia (Clasmann). This position made Saud Al Faisal even further prominent in terms of leadership and other similar qualities. IN this manner, the strengths of Prince Saud Al Faisal become quite apparent. The prince was highly efficient when it came to speaking the English language. He could fluently speak the language, and often chose to communicate with foreigners since he was able to relay his messages effectively. This also meant that Prince Saud Al Faisal was able to have good contact with other foreign ministers of countries that Saudi Arabia usually dealt with. In fact, over the course of his duty as foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, Saud Al Faisal had gained quite a reputation for being effective at conveying agendas of his country to other countries, which is typically what is expected of a foreign minister. This made Saud Al Faisal a good leader too in the manner that he was able to meet his responsibilities head on.

Another strength was the fact that the Prince would openly speak in public and would often speak in public in order to maintain his public image, and to show how he was all in favor of the people that he served. Again, this is great display of the strength of the prince since he knew his people believed in him. The only weakness, in my opinion, that the Prince had was the weakness of his Parkinson’s disease (Henderson). This disease has been a long rival of the Prince and the prince finally succumbed to the disease in 2015. In one way, it can be said that this only weakness was the downfall and reason of demise for the Prince.

The prince was known to be a humanitarian. He was widely recognized for initiating different kinds of philanthropic work during his lifetime. Furthermore, he was a man of the people. The prince knew how the hierarchy of needs worked, and in this manner, he was often able to increase the motivation of employees that worked under him. In similar manner, the Prince was also able to relate to the general people because he would always highlight and discuss general needs of the people, again, in order to raise their motivation and self-esteem in the long run. In this very manner, the prince was using Maslow’s theory of leadership qualities and skills (Mack). The prince was multilingual and could speak up to 7 languages, allowing very effective communication for him among his employees. During his years in the petroleum industry, Saud Al Faisal had widespread recognition among his employees, which means that he listened to them and also allowed them to grow under his leadership. When it comes to discussing the prince’s implementation of Maslow’s theory, it is apparent due to the fact that the prince is highly regarded in the diplomatic world He would raise questions upon issues that mattered most, and was well known for listening to his advisors and other people under his command. His ability to give out more delegation was also responsible for the kind of reaction that the prince was able to gain during his reforms and policies while he was foreign minister.

Saud Al Faisal has been recognized as a true leader at many platforms, and there are several comments about him which prove his popularity and dignity as a true leader. Former Soviet President Michael Gorbachev told Arab News. (2015, July 10) that, “If we had a man like Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Soviet Union would not have disintegrated.” Similarly, Amr Moussa, former Egyptian foreign minister and secretary-general of the Arab League while talking about the diplomatic capabilities of Prince Saud said that, “His bold stances benefited the Arab world. His was the voice of reason and sobriety. Rulers as well as government officials will miss him.” He further added that, “If the Arab world had 100 people like Prince Saud Al-Faisal, its situation would have been much better.” These sayings about him prove his popularity as a true leader.

Hence, it was discussed as to what are the weaknesses and strengths of the Prince. It was also discussed as to how the Prince has used one of the leadership theories that we have discussed s well as why the prince was so successful in front of the people, why he achieved such success, and what qualities the Prince possessed. In conclusion, it can be said that the prince’s job post as foreign minister was perfect due to the fact that the prince was outstanding in public affairs, was the people’s man of choice, and knew how to deal with different employees through different leadership theories.

References

Arab News. (2015, July 10). ‘If we had a man like Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Soviet Union would not have disintegrated’. Arab News [Jeddah]. Retrieved from http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/774321

Clasmann, Anne-Beatrice. “Discreetly, Saudis speculate about the throne succession.” 20 November 2009. M&C News. 12 march 2016.

Henderson, Simon. “Foreign Policy: A Prince’s Mysterious Disappearance.” 22 October 2010. NPR. 12 March 2016 <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130747807>.

Mack, Stan. “Maslow’s Theory & Approach to Leadership Style.” n.d. Small Business. 12 March 2016 <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/maslows-theory-approach-leadership-style-71607.html>.