Sahar El-Sallab, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the Commercial International Bank (CIB, bt100 number 13), is perhaps far from the traditional image of a corporate executive. A mother of two, a wife and a dedicated fan of Desperate Housewives, she still finds time to go to the gym and, on occasion, have lunch with her friends. Participating in several organizations and running for the board of the American Chamber of Commerce -- while currently chairing its Banking Committee -- El-Sallab says diversifying her activities opens up horizons.
Planning, she says, is the key to her success.
"It is very important to be [both strict and easygoing. Your clients don't want to see the stiff, rigid personality; they want to see the [relaxed side]," says El-Sallab, adding, "I'm a planner; I don't work haphazardly," as she shows us her agenda, which already includes appointments through the end of the year.
An early bird, El-Sallab starts her day at the office as early as 8:30am with up to two hours of replying to emails, answering questions and working intensively with her staff. From 10am to 3:30pm, she dedicates time to appointments and then it is back to her staff again until 6pm when her day ends -- if she's lucky.
Time is money. El-Sallab realizes the value of time and does her best to make use of every hour. "You have to ensure that the hour you spend in a meeting really [goes towards] affecting a deal, a solution or [finalizing] a complete transaction," she said.
Planning ahead for her meetings, El-Sallab comes in with information on who her client is, what he needs and what she plans to get out of the meeting. "I believe in planning and focusing to make the day successful," she says.
Managing the team is one of her keys to success, and El-Sallab believes in teamwork and the power of delegation. "I am a team player. I don't like to keep the job to myself and I know how to delegate [...] I give a plan and an objective that I look for at the end so when I delegate I tell [my team] this is what they should do and what I want the end result to be, and I challenge them to achieve it."
For El-Sallab, delegating is an art and is more than simply dumping the job on someone else. "If someone tells me, 'I will do the job, but I need your help,' I will be there for them." She also makes it a point to praise her staff when they've done a good job, taking them out for lunch and giving them the honorary plaques because "they deserved it."
Her success, she says, is due to her strong belief in the success of the whole and not the individual. "It isn't important for me to be the boss of the project but it is important that the project succeeds. I think when the institution grows and becomes successful, you grow with it and become successful. You have to make sure that your institution brings you up and not your name -- not Sahar El-Sallab. I want the CIB to become successful and then people will look around to see who is behind the success: It is me and my team. This should never be forgotten because this is the key to success."
Despite her success, El-Sallab believes she can learn from her subordinates as much as she can teach them. "I think it's very important to have a lot of meetings with your staff and to get closer to them. There is value added [in that]. I can [learn from] a point of view of a younger [staff member] who can give me a different perspective towards my work. They will always tell you, 'We need to do this quicker,' or on a different scale; they are more computer and IT literate. I think a witty director will make use of his staff very well and of the different talents around him."
Although she receives hundreds of emails daily, El-Sallab believes she has to reply to them all, either personally or through one of her three assistants. "I have received 10 missed calls in the past five minutes, but I write them down and return them all. Also, there isn't an email that will come to the bank and remain unanswered."
Looking ahead, she checks into financial performance every day because she "can't wait until the quarter ends to see the performance [report]." In this way she can manage any problems that arise early.
But El-Sallab couldn't have been so successful if her board of directors hadn't given her the space she needed. "I like to take the challenge -- I like to be the captain of the ship because I know how to reach the moon, but I don't know how to tell them. I am going to reach it -- just leave me to get it done my way."
By Nadine El Sayed
© Business Today Egypt 2007
