1. The Leadership Dynamics in My Personal
Work Lived Experience
By
Yasser Al Mimar
May 22, 2012

2. Table of Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Ethics and Leadership Effectiveness ................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Organization and leadership effect .................................................................................................... 3
AUS Overview...................................................................................................................................... 4
SWOT Metrix at AUS ..................................................................................................................... 4
Leadership Traits .................................................................................................................................. 5
AUS and leading traits action ............................................................................................................. 5
Sustainability and Organization ......................................................................................................... 7
Sustainability on Stakeholders............................................................................................................ 8
Sustainable Development & Elements of Sustainability .............................................................. 10
People category ..................................................................................................................... 12
Planet category ...................................................................................................................... 12
Profit category ....................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................... 14
References ................................................................................................................................ 15
2

3. Introduction
With so many definitions of leadership I would say leadership is a common expression but it has
contain many diverse meanings which has been grouped in certain personal, a series of
behaviors. I believe leadership is the ability to see things others can't, so the word leadership
can indicate to the process of leading, this in turn, will lead to create process of social influence
in the support and enhance of others such as people, organization and even country in the
accomplishment of mission. “Leadership may be considered as the process (act) of influencing
the activities of an organized group in its efforts toward goal setting and goal achievement” -
Stogdill 1950: 3
Ethics and Leadership Effectiveness
History and researchers define successful leaders largely in terms of their ability to bring about
change for better or worse. So leadership could make the change in bad direction also but in
the eyes of some people consider as a good job, for instance, Hitler; great leaders in the history
include everyone and Hitler was part of leadership system but in the opposite direction. I would
therefore say a good leader is an ethical leader and the ethics are built from virtues, morals,
values, and principles. In the same time I believe the personal ethics will produce effective
leaders. Best example of ethical and effective leader was “Gandhi”. So without good ethics I
believe it is too difficult for a leader to develop integrity and truth or other traits that produce
effective leadership.
From my point of view, ethics is playing an essential role in leadership process and I would
strongly say effective leadership is a result of ethical behavior and applying for the standards
moral.
Organization and leadership effect
As a style, leadership is intended to make things happen in organizations. Thus, leadership is
playing major role in organizations because leaders are the people who can make thing done. It
means without leaders it will be difficult for an organization to achieve their goals and in the
same time leader cannot lead without someone following. So it is like exchange relation, for
instance, when good leaders create safety for their followers this, in turn, allows the followers to
perform and develop.
Nowadays, most leaders are facing the challenge of recruiting and holding on to competent
employees in organizations, furthermore, they are working in multiple directions in order to
maintain the dynamics of the organization's work and achieve the goals that set for the
foundation or institution. I would therefore like to add comments and clarify some points about
the leadership form which I have experience with and how it has effected positively on our
organization (AUS)
3

4. AUS Overview
AUS was founded in 1997 by His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi,
Member of the Supreme Council of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Sharjah, who
envisioned the university as a leading educational institution in the Gulf region. It is an
independent, not-for-profit coeducational institution. Based on an American model of higher
education and grounded in the culture of the Gulf region. It is academic institute and has a
vision to be the region’s leader in higher education, known for excellence and innovation in
teaching, learning, research and service. I will not be talking about the founder “His Highness
Sheikh Sultan” as a leader of the AUS organization but I would like to describe the person who
took up the chancellor position in 2008 and leads the university in a right direction - Dr. Peter
Heath
SWOT Metrix at AUS
As we know the SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a
strategic planning tool, useful for planning and decision-making at multiple levels within a firm,
organization, foundation or business. For AUS I would summarize the SWAT phrases and
describe the most important points since 2005 till 2010.
Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats
American model of Inefficient High demand for growing competition
education grounded in communication within education in the UAE from nearby public
the history and culture university and beyond universities and small
of the Arabian Gulf privates of our
University
Diversity and quality of Lack of comprehensive Increasing pool of Political and economic
(faculty, staff, students asset management geographically situation
and alumni) dispersed alumni
committed to the
university
U.S. and regional Lack of develop and Increasing appeal and Potential reduction of
accreditation sustain the AUS awareness of American support from the
model of education government of UAE and
his Highness
4

5. Leadership Traits
Leadership is defined as “the process by which an individual determines direction, influences a
group and directs it toward a specific goal or organizational mission.” Furthermore, the trait
approach seeks to identify the personal characteristics and skills of leaders. This orientation
implies a belief that leaders are born rather than made and I believe the nature is more
important than nurture. From my perspective, I would say the leadership and leader are roles
performed by certain people who hold distinct features to achieve the required goals. So the
leaders who have these distinct requisite traits must take certain actions to be successful, such
as, sketch out clear vision, role modeling and setting goals.
Based on that, I would add five traits on which I believe leaders differ from non-leaders include:
directing/drive, honesty/integrity, self-confidence, cognitive ability and communication. In the
same time we can define a successful leader is a person who has influence; his/her words
impact upon the actions taken by followers. Therefore, the performance of a leader on
different aspects depends on his/her qualities.
AUS and leading traits action
For the directing, it cannot be given if it is not known by the leader, and in the other side
leaders cannot lead if they don’t give a direction for people to follow them. This also applies for
the drive’s trait or quality because leaders cannot be success unless they have ability to drive
change within their organization and this turn will lead the strategy, planning and
implementation of change.
For instance, Dr. Heath – the chancellor of the organization that I am working with have has a
clear imprint on AUS and has done a quantum leap in the path of AUS strategic plan by raising
academic standards and expanded university’s programs degree since 2009. Furthermore, he
has most important goal which is quality, so he directs AUS to attracting the best faculty
members, administrators and staff to serve the needs of the students and being part of the
global system.
About self confidence, I would say it is a tool which gives the leader inner strength to overcome
difficult tasks. People quickly sense a leader's self-confidence, and this quality results in
increased commitment and performance. From my point of view, I have seen Dr. Heath carry
self confidence’s trait because it was key and is tied to effective his leadership at AUS. As I
mentioned above the quantum leap has come from Dr. Heath Self-confidence which gives him
the courage he needs to take AUS—and himself—to a new level of success and this is what
happening in AUS now. I would strongly say this confidence comes from his previous success in
5

6. academic and work life “Dr. Peter Heath was the Provost at American University of Beirut for 10
years, where he played a leading role in the rebuilding of that distinguished institution. As
second officer of the administration, his scope of duties included every aspect of university
leadership. Prior to that, Dr. Heath worked in the US, where he made a distinguished record at
one of America's leading institutions, Washington University in St. Louis” so all these success I
believe were the results of the self confidence that Dr. Heath characterized by.
Regarding the cognitive ability, I believe the cognitive development play main role in the form
of leadership so when I am talking about the cognitive ability I mean the accumulated work
experience, intellectual maturity, awareness and ability to understand others and this itself is
the nucleus or seed to create the strategic thinking method in leader personality and
leadership's mechanism. For instance and I would never forget the decision that Dr. Peter made
when he has established a unit similar to “Transition Management Team (TMT)” TMT
committee who are selected from faculty and senior staff at the AUS based on experience, skills
and qualifications, and the aim of TMT is to bring up a real paradigm shift into our organization.
I believe this step is not only focusing on his wide knowledge or cognitively but I would strongly
say it is a part of the university’s sustained for successful future.
In the part of communication, I believe the success of organization comes from leader
communication skills. A leader must be able to communicate effectively if he plans to drive the
organization or his company to the right direction. So most of us would agree that leaders are
individuals who guide, direct, motivate, or inspire others and through effective communication,
leaders lead, this in turn, will lead to result that good communication skills enable, enhance,
and create the understanding and trust necessary to encourage others to follow a leader. Why I
am saying it will create a state of understanding because I have lived this period when Dr. Peter
filled up the chancellor position and how he analyzes an audience in every situation and start
developing a communication strategy that facilitates accomplishing his communication
objective. For instance, since the founding of AUS and till 2009, the university did not have a
division for communication among the staff, senior levels and students. Dr. Peter Heath has
applied the Leader - Member Exchange theory (referred to as LMX) at AUS which believes that
the relationship between leaders and members in an organization develops over time through a
series of observations, tryouts, interactions and conversations (Graen, 1987). He established
Strategic Communications and Media department which is connected directly to his office, the
purpose of this department as AUS internal aspect to get the useful proposals and opinions
from all categories then formulate it in properly form that serve the organization first and then
employee. He was always saying the listening is an essential skill in any rhetorical situation so if
you want to build up a right and trust communication between you and others you should give
greater attention to hearing what others say. For AUS external aspect Peter has a goal to
6

7. create communication language between the AUS and outside to sketch out a real picture of
the university on the regional and global level, for instance, “Dubai Ports World UAE Region in
January 24, 2011 signed an agreement with (AUS), under which AUS will provide advanced
training in leadership to management executives of the premier port operator.” The
partnership deal was signed by Mohammed Al Muallem, Senior Vice President and Managing
Director, DP World UAE Region, and Dr. Peter Heath, Chancellor of AUS. From my perspective,
the purpose of organization's leadership is not only directed to serve its strategies but the
leader should make from the organization a tool to serve the society in order to lead his
organization or foundation or even the firm to the achieve the vision. For instance, Dr. Peter
has gotten the approval from the board of trustees in AUS to establish a new elite business
district in Sharjah through its Research Technology and Innovation Park. The idea for the park
was inspired by the likes of the Tri-Centre Industrial Park in North Carolina in the US.
“We hope to create a virtuous circle of us providing students who do well in these companies;
who will then in turn offer research projects for our faculty and students to engage in” Dr
Heath said.
This action is consider as a step forward to enhance AUS level and build up a structure of
research, development and prominent place for the organization. So Successful business
leaders must shape their organizations to be more solid and flexible, in short better organized
to deliver value and achieve the missions. I believe the distinctive leadership will provides
direction on the way of lead and shape organizations in the future.
Sustainability and Organization
One of the most common and widely accepted definitions of sustainability is “meeting the
needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their needs” (Bruntland Report, 1987). And, from my perspective I would say it is the
process of living and working in a safe, in term of economic and healthy aspect which includes
clean air, water and energy, where each of us and the natural world has the opportunity to
flourish.
Many business leaders work to build up sustainability into their day-to-day operations. And, all
these sustainability programs are often dependent on a key leader who is able to play a main
role to achieve this mission. Therefore, a President, CEO, Manager, or even the Chancellor, for
example, who believes that sustainability is a key to the long-term success of the organization
or university, can help drive change and innovation that form the foundation for long-term
growth
7

8. I would like to give some examples about the impact of sustainability at the organization or the
university as follow – it will
 Reduce costs - energy cost and other power expenses
 Preserve resources - as heritage or culture of that country or city
 Enhance reputation - this, in turn will enhance the revenue and profit of the
organization or company
 Attract quality employees - the performance will be increasing and will enhance quality
in work
AUS has a notion and vision that youth, students and alumni have enough ideas to develop and
support the country future but it is a question of adopting them and turning these into
successful ventures. Dr. Peter “chancellor of AUS” says only education and developing human
capital would ensure that the UAE could sustain today’s lifestyle, for instance, in the academic
field AUS offer new degree in industrial engineering - This degree will cater to the growing need
of qualified professionals in this field throughout the region. This is done by the endeavor from
the chancellor (Dr. Peter) and AUS board members for their commitment and dedication toward the
development and sustain of the university.
Sustainability on Stakeholders
In parallel with sustainability effect on organization, I would say when organization, firm or
university chooses to incorporate environmental sustainability in its processes; it can affect also
stakeholders in different forms but as a final result the stakeholders can be affected in largely
positive ways.
The term "stakeholders" consist of different people category. Stakeholders might be customers,
shareholders, employees, students, faculty and communities. All of these individuals are
affected by a company's sustainability efforts, and those efforts affect society as a whole and
the local or global environment.
For example, in June 2011 AUS has lunched higher standards for academic buildings to sustain
the campus environment in general. The building incorporates the most advanced technological
facilities of academic infrastructure in the UAE and the region. “This building offers the best
practices of sustainability, design and functionality.” Dr. Peter said. So the new building with all
these facilities and functions will impact into stakeholders. Below is a chart which clarify the
8

9. increasing of students enrollment after apply the new strategies and sustainability agenda plans
to sustain AUS in order to meet the higher standard academic level
9

10. The Faculty members has been increased in 2011 - 2012
Sustainable Development & Elements of Sustainability
There are many definitions of sustainable development and all these definitions ultimately are
flowing into one place which is meets the needs of people and making sure that people
throughout the world can satisfy their basic needs now without compromising the ability of
people in the future to meet their needs.
The sustainable development is a new idea for many organizations and till date most
organizations do not generally recognize the possibility of extending this notion into their local
environment or to the world’s natural and human resources. Sustainable development,
nowadays, I believe it shape one of the greatest challenge that affects every one of us in the
world, in the same time, this concept needs to be incorporated into the policies and processes
of a business if it is to follow sustainable development principles.
For Example, at AUS the higher management overseeing by the chancellor Dr. Peter has started
since 2009 to activate the new plans and polices to meet goals of sustainable development
implementation. Dr. Peter has established and developing a meaningful approach for
stakeholder about the new strategies because it is considered a vital aspect of this
management system, and one of the key differences between sustainable and conventional
management practices.
10

11. When we say it is considered a vital aspect, the notion is to sustaining and enhancing the
human and natural resources that will be needed in the future. From personal experience and
as a member of web committee, in 2010 the Chancellor and Director of Strategic Planning have
decided to establish a web committee in order to change the whole AUS website and create
new website which is more communicating to the employees, visitors, and stakeholders. In
September 2011 AUS has lunched new website collaborating between SunGard Higher
Education and JADU, a global leader of Web transactional systems, to offer JADU Web Content
Management to provide AUS with more options to improve the quality, quantity and
management of web content and in the same time to change whole web servers which was
costing AUS hundred thousand in a year by new VMs (Virtual Machines) which are cost less.
As a result we can say sustainability engages and integrates in three different zones which are
social, environmental, and economic systems and this integration has formed main elements
that feed the sustainability effectively and permanently, they are people, planet and profit
AUS since 2009 till date continue to help the stakeholders look at cost and environmental
efficiencies as well as at the growth prospects that sustainability offers. So from my
perspective, the key concepts of sustainability revolve around the 3Ps. The people part includes
the ethics of how workers and the community are treated. It included ideas such as human’s
rights, labors and security. On the planet we can say the business taking responsibility for the
life cycles of the services or product which is used to ultimate disposal. I would say it is concept
that focusing on reducing externalities (unintended cost) and minimizing resources use such as
(water, electricity, carbon and packaging). For the profit part I would say it is relating with the
jobs growth, cost reduction, waste management.
11

12. In the end of 2009 AUS and has sought to consider the environmental, social, and economic
impacts of its decisions and projects to incorporating the concept of sustainability into its
academic and research programs, buildings and its organizational structure and management as
follows:-
People category:
 Chancellor of AUS- Dr. Peter and the provost work to enhance the quality of campus life
and support greater involvement of students, faculty, staff and alumni in the activities of
AUS
 AUS pay good salaries for faculty and staff, giving a Self-Directed Employee Benefits
Plan and providing a certain full insurance based on the plan that chosen from the
employee
 AUS has built housing complexes for the faculty to live on campus and by March 2012,
AUS will lunch 100 living complexes in order to let large number of staff get live on
campus
 From AUS students view- most of students considered AUS as high standards academic
education in the region. They have confirmed; It is needless to say that AUS is the most
qualified university in the Middle East with some of the most professionally faculty
Planet category:
 As I mentioned before, in 2010 the chancellor has taken his decision to establish
Sustainability Department to strive and improve AUS campus environment
 AUS enforce all resident on campus to use campus transportation services provided by
transportation division and try to use AUS bicycle and park in bicycle stands located at
several areas across campus to reduce the pollution and safe planet
 AUS recently has banned smoking throughout the AUS campus, and in step of conserve
energy at AUS
 In 2011 AUS built new School of Business which adopted the best international practices
of sustainability and conservation of the environment in terms of its design and usage.
 “Reviewing and developing recycling initiatives that will not only be in the academic
buildings, but also in the residential areas of AUS “
 For social awareness, the office of sustainability at AUS organized a tree planting with
the Day Care children from KG2. The keen children learnt about trees and their roots
and together planted four Ghaf trees
Profit category:
 AUS is an independent and nonprofit coeducational institution
 Recently the chancellor has enforced whole AUS departments to reduce the expenses
and consumption by approve polices and creating ideas and suggestions to understand
the concept of AUS economic growth, for instance, AUS cope with IT team will carry out
12

13. ranging from an upgrade to their wireless environment to investing in desktop
virtualization and cloud services for disaster recovery and back up. The AUS believes
that technologies help organizations reduce their carbon footprint and reduce the
servers’ power and energy.
 The chancellor has approved AUS waste management policy specially in academic
department to handle all laboratory wastes in an environmentally sound manner and
manage in practical, useful and innovative way
 From my point of view, I would suggest to redesign AUS electricity and adapt system of
all campus to be installed with automated controls, reengineered AC systems and
energy efficient light bulbs
Actually Dr. Peter has a special look with the real perspective about the AUS profitability and I
strongly agree with him. He always assures that the any organization should develop strong
relationships with their customers in an effort to build brand and known base and this is what
we are doing in AUS. For instance AUS has
 Qualified faculty academic background,
 Strong financial aid for undergraduate students / student life opportunities and
 Employment welfare, Self Directed Employee Benefits
 Offers 25 majors and 48 minors at the undergraduate level, and 13 master's degrees
programs through the following academic divisions
In the contrast, Social responsibility has also become an important matter for people. Most
people nowadays, want to invest or get benefit into companies that are giving back to
individuals and communities; AUS is considered one of these organizations which are working
to offer best opportunities for the students, faculty or staff to join AUS. (Diagram Below)
“Education should benefit society as a whole, if it doesn’t; we have failed in our mission.”
Peter said.
13

14. I would therefore say, organizations in general need to create a plan that includes the three
elements of the Triple Bottom Line in order make it work. In the same time building Triple
Bottom Line strategies into businesses is not a simple task but this work needs to be thoughtful
and managed to reach and get best results and achieve the mission.
Conclusion:
To sum up, change is a major feature that organization and leaders have to consider today and I
would strongly say leadership can have a significant impact on an organization to direct the
organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. In other hand leaders must
have someone they can lead in order to accomplish what they set out to do. So it is equation
the aim of it serve the organization or society and even the world.
All these factors are grouped in my organization and have helped to identified the path of AUS
to the right direction and contributed to build up solid base to achieve the goals and missions.
The leader must defines the drawn goals and objectives which can be evaluated and results
reported to demonstrate to stakeholders that the investment in sustainability initiatives is
worthwhile due to the valuable results that can be obtained when applying this mechanism in
any organization
“Sustainability does not simply mean whether something can last. It addresses how particular
initiatives can be developed without compromising the development of others in the
surrounding environment, now and in the future - Hargreaves& Fink 2000”
14

15. References
1) Nancy Lockwood, “The Changing Nature of Leadership,” Society for Human Resources
Management Briefly Stated, April 30, 2007, Available from
http://www.shrm.org/research/briefly_published/LeadershipSeries. [Accessed 15/05/20121]
2) Leadership: Give Direction, January 21st, 2009. Learnthis [online] available from
http://learnthis.ca/2009/01/leadership-give-direction/ [Accessed 15/05/20121]
3) American University of Sharjah, (n.d.). Wikipedia [online]. Available from:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_of_Sharjah [Accessed 15/05/20121]
4) Daniel Bardsly. University's new head sees UAE as 'unique, (Aug 10, 2008). The National [online].
Avaianble from: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/education/universitys-new-head-
sees-uae-as-unique [Accessed 16/05/20121]
5) Leadership qualities (n.d). Khmerwriyer [online] Available from:
http://www.khmerwriter.com/essay/leadership_quality.asp [Accessed 16/05/20121]
6) Dr. Peter Heath (n.d). American University of Sharjah [online], Available from:
http://www.aus.edu/site/custom_scripts/profile_details.php?profileID=1 [Accessed
16/05/20121]
7) AUS to provide leadership training to DP world (January 24th, 2011), Albwaba [online] Avaiable
from:http://www.albawaba.com/american-university-sharjah-provide-leadership-training-dp-
world-executives [Accessed 16/05/20121]
8) Deborah J. Barrett (n,d) Leadership Communication: A Communication Approach for Senior-
Level Managers (pdf). Available from:
http://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/27037/Leadership%20Communication%20-
%20A%20Communication%20Approach%20for%20Senior-Level%20Managers%20-
%20Barrett.pdf?sequence=2 [Accessed 16/05/20121]
9) Rania Moussly (November 7, 2010). Creating a Sharjah business hub. Gullfnews [online].
Available from: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/education/creating-a-sharjah-business-
hub-1.707259 [Accessed 18/05/20121]
10) John Gibney, Alan Murie (June 2008).Toward a ‘New’ Strategic Leadership of Place for the
Knowledge-Based Economy [pdf] [Accessed 18/05/20121]
11) Michael Fullan (n.d) Leadership and Sustainability [pdf]. Avaiable from:-
http://www.cdl.org/resource-library/pdf/march03nwsltr.pdf [Accessed 18/05/20121]
15

16. 12) Sustainable development (n.d). Department for enviorment food and Rural Affairs [online].
Avaiable from : http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/economy/sustainable/ [Accessed
18/05/20121]
13) University leadership councils innovation (18.02.2012). Media and press. khalifa University
[online]. Avaiable from http://www.kustar.ac.ae/media/news/2012/News_18022012.aspx
[Accessed 18/05/20121]
14) Paul Raybin ( October 18, 2010) . 5 steos towards improving your organization sustainbility.
Airdye [online] available from: http://blog.airdye.com/goodforbusiness/2010/10/18/5-steps-
towards-your-organizations-sustainability/ [Accessed 18/05/20121]
15) Staff Report (June 14, 2011). Sharjah varsity gets new school of business studies. Gulf news
[online] Available from:http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/sharjah-varsity-gets-new-school-of-
business-studies-1.821291 [Accessed 19/05/20121]
16) AUS Organization (n.d.) Fast Facts About AUS for Fall 2010. AUS website. Available from
https://www2.aus.edu/ir/info.php [Accessed 19/05/2012]
17) Osmond Vitez (n.d). The Impact of Leadership on Organizational Performance. Chron [online].
Avalable from:- http://smallbusiness.chron.com/impact-leadership-organizational-performance-
2970.html [Accessed 19/05/2012]
18) American University of Sharjah holds awareness drive to reduce power consumption (March 30 -
2011). Ameinfor [online]. Available from:-http://www.ameinfo.com/260693.html [Accessed
19/05/2012]
19) Shiva Kumar (October 28, 2011). American University of Sharjah Chancellor building a lasting
institution. Gulf News [online]. Available from:-http://gulfnews.com/life-style/people/american-
university-of-sharjah-chancellor-building-a-lasting-institution-1.918291 [Accessed 20/05/2012]
20) Robert Hogan, Gordon J. Curphy (June, 1994). What We Know About Leadership: Effectiveness
and Personality – Article
21) John Luffrum (n,d) Sustainability in Practice The Bottom Line [PPT] [Accessed 19/05/2012]
22) Connie I. Reimers-Hild (January 1st, 2012). Sustainability through Profitability: The Triple Bottom
Line. [PDF] Available from:-
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=kimmelpapers
[Accessed 19/05/2012]
23) John Luffrum (n,d) Sustainability in Business [ppt] ] [Accessed 19/05/2012]
16