Many years ago, the chief editor of an Arabic-speaking newspaper asked me to
interview Palestinian-Jordanian industrialist Elia Nuqul to mark a Nuqul Group
anniversary. To my surprise, what started out as a regular interview quickly
turned into a rare moment of insight and mentorship.
اضافة اعلان
As a young reporter, I believed that within a
professional setting, God was the actual “boss”, a conviction inspired by
Prophet Mohammad’s saying: “Work is worship.”
Philosophically speaking, to serve mere mortals was
dangerous, I believed; they could steer one wrong. Worse still, it was
impossible to imagine that sexist and biased peers and bosses, with
self-serving agendas, were capable of inspiring a moral path guided by higher
principles.
As a young woman who gravitated toward journalism at
a very early age, it became clear to me, once I entered the job market, that in
real life, workplaces and professional relationships were anything but utopian.
Against society’s widespread understanding of “right and wrong”, in real-life
situations some people cheated, lied, and manipulated their way to success
without an ounce of conscience to deter them.
My wish to impress the “All-seeing, all-knowing”
deity was not always welcomed by the “guardians of mediocrity”, who did
everything in their power to keep the curve at their institutions from shooting
upward past their own feeble benchmarks.
Disturbing their unexceptional performance levels
with higher expectations posed a direct threat to their ability to collect
their salaries at the end of the month for as little work as possible. To them,
excellence was the enemy.
Unfortunately, this mentality is an ethical illness
that seeps through most of Jordan’s public and semi-public institutions, where
every so often there is a group (if not groups) of naysayers who target
hardworking people with demoralizing messages — such as “it is all in vain — to
prevent them from serving their country to the best of their ability.
On numerous occasions, colleagues had gone out of
their way to urge me and other newcomers to “take it easy” or to “slow it down
a notch”. Some even shared tried-and-tested tips on ways to stretch out simple
tasks over the whole month by cheating our supervisors into thinking it was
impossible to finish them on time, or to a high standard.
In my mind, those who ventured to cheat unsuspecting
fellow humans often overlooked the fact that God could still see every move we
made and every intention behind it.
What Nuqul shared that day resembled much more than his journey to a life of economic success and fulfillment. It was about his mindset as a young man, as he paved a path of accomplishment, from scratch, while being true to his personal values.
Fortunately, my inner turmoil over this wide, and
almost institutionalized, acceptance of ethical degeneration was finally eased
the day I interviewed Elia Nuqul.
A few minutes into the conversation, I started to
realize that this was more than just an interview. It was a life lesson
imparted by a wise mentor whose every word reflected an unmistakable
undercurrent of moral leadership. To him, values and ethical consciousness were
the backbone of everything.
What Nuqul shared that day resembled much more than
his journey to a life of economic success and fulfillment. It was about his
mindset as a young man, as he paved a path of accomplishment, from scratch,
while being true to his personal values.
In the late 1940s, Nuqul arrived in Jordan with one
suit in his small bag and a few pennies in his pocket, having left the
Palestinian city of Ramallah by foot to start a new life east of the river.
Nuqul hailed from a Christian Palestinian family,
whose circumstances prevented him from pursuing higher education. Instead, as a
young man, he went on to work for a sugar merchant in Souq Al-Sukkar, downtown
Amman, to make a living.
He noticed that the worker at the shop’s main
counter had the habit of weighing the natural sweetener using a faulty pair of
metal scales and often charged customers a higher price for their purchases.
Nuqul was also deeply bothered by the man’s lack of cleanliness, by his
scattering sugar all over the place and wasting so much of the precious
crystals due to negligence.
Nuqul took it upon himself to talk to the man about
the problems and came up with a system to accurately weigh the sugar, while
making sure nothing went to waste. This caught the attention of the business
owner he worked for, who then asked him to apply his attention to detail and
high standards in the storage area at the back of the store.
There, the chaos was instantly noticeable. Young
workers took naps on the large burlap sacks filled with sugar, exposing them to
sweat and dirt. They also spilled sugar on the floor, leaving it to collect
insects and dust.
This time, Nuqul came up with two solutions: one
designed to instill a sense of responsibility and accountability in the
workers, the other to establish an in-house sanitation and hygiene code that
everyone had to adhere to. As a result, the shop made a quick turnaround in
revenues and improved its reputation, thanks to Nuqul’s trustworthiness.
Word traveled fast about his sincerity and work
ethic, which prompted a bigger trader to ask him to join his business. The
sugar merchant told young Nuqul that it would be a great loss to see him go,
but opening new doors for his career advancement was more important than
keeping him on.
A few years later, in the early 1950s, Nuqul started
his own small business downtown Amman, which grew in exceptional ways to become
today’s Nuqul Group, deemed as one of the country’s largest family businesses.
The group includes the famed Fine Hygienic Holding, which seems to be closely
linked to Nuqul’s earliest interest in good health habits and hygiene.
Nuqul passed away two months ago at the age of 93.
His legacy as the founder of one of Jordan’s leading industrial groups did not
come from business savviness alone. His journey will always stand witness to
the power of ethics and integrity in shaping a young man’s future, in a country
whose private sector and economy have been built on the shoulders of
perseverance and moral greatness.
Ruba Saqr has reported on the environment, worked in the public sector as a
communications officer, and served as managing editor of a business magazine,
spokesperson for a humanitarian INGO, and as head of a PR agency.
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