What did men, women and children do for
entertainment before there was television? I guess every region had
its own unique ways of entertainment but with the Bedouins it was
storytelling, poetry, festivity and camel racing.
As Wilfred Thesiger records in his book The Sands
of Time the Bedouins are great story tellers. They could tell the
same story several times in the course of a week and their
companions would listen to it as if they were hearing it for the
first time and from this evolved their art of storytelling. I
recollect that when Umberto Eco, the acclaimed Italian writer was
asked to choose the best story teller of the millennium he named
Scheherazade, the author of the 1001 Arabian Nights. Given her
Arabic heritage did she have much of a choice to use storytelling to
save her beloved’s life? It’s a no-brainer.
The point I’m making here is that Arabs are
convivial people. Every small and big occasion is an excuse to meet
up over innumerable cups of “Gahwa” (coffee) spin stories and
celebrate life. As a people we feel each other’s pain and rejoice in
the successes. We can be extremely vocal in our disagreements and
highly demonstrative in our affections...
So my friends remember this humble rule, to
engage an Arab into your product, project or business, all you have
to do is to (NOT talk about your product, project or business!) and
focus on introducing yourself, NOT the typical way but through
“story telling” method, yes,, simply share a story (about anything
in life) over a coffee or tea, and later on you may bring up the
business talk… but make sure to let the story be the link that
attracts the Arab man/woman that you aim to do business with, you
want them to ask for more information on the story or maybe just to
chit chat over the story outcomes, that conversation which will be
build is a sign of a healthy new friendship, which is highly
important to achieve when doing business in the Middle East. Because
the first rule of all rules when it comes to the middle east
business world that it’s Not about the Business – it’s about the
Relationship.. Relationship.. Relationship.. did I say Relationship!
From the upcoming book of Ali Alsaloom,
Baraka Allah Fekum “God bless you all”
@li
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