Life of Abdullatif al Sayegh - Research Paper Example

Abdullatif al Sayegh Abdullatif al Sayegh is known worldwide for the role that he played in media and communication. He was born in 1985 in Khobar Saudi Arabia. As any other child born in Saudi Arabia, Abdullatif attended Madrassa from where he learnt how to read and write in Arabic. His father was a religious leader and this had a lot of influence in his early life and development. Due to his father’s position, Abdullatif spent most of his childhood days studying and memorizing verses from the Koran. The leadership position of his father also influenced him into becoming a role model for his peer. Both his family and the society over expected from him. This influenced him into putting extra efforts in all that he did. Education is one of the areas in which Abdullatif became distinguished in the society. His father was also very instrumental in his success as a student in Saudi Arabia. After completing his secondary level education, he joined university of Tampa in Florida. Unlike most students in secondary and elementary levels of education, Abdullatif seemed to have decided about his future career at an early stage. His father was also supportive to his choice of career and study abroad. Abdullatif completed his studies successfully and spent several years searching for a job in America. Like other students studying in overseas institutions, Abdullatif had the dreams of working in major media houses such as the BBC and CNN. However, after failed attempt of securing employment in the media industry, Abdullatif decided to return to the Middle East. His return to the Middle East was beneficial to both his career and the upcoming media industry. After staying in his home country for some time, Abdullatif moved to the United Arab Emirates. During this shift, Abdullatif entered into a partnership with the government of Dubai in an effort to establish a self-reliant media houses in Dubai (Al Sayegh web). His shift to Dubai came at the time when different governments in the Middle East were looking forward to establish independent media houses that were of international standard. His involvement with the government of Dubai was aimed at establishing media houses that served both in the local and international level his studies at Tampa University focussed on the management of media and, therefore he had sufficient skills to manage media houses that are of international standard. This establishment included eight radio stations and three daily newspaper-printing houses. Abdullatif first worked on the radio stations before he began his work on the printing houses. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid also involved him in establishing of TV stations that later became well established both in Dubai and internationally. Among the TV, stations created during this partnership included the MTV Arabya and Nickleodeon. Abdullatif had outstanding management skills that enabled him to make the different achievements and breakthroughs in the media industry. It is often debated that his role in the Dubai media industry enabled him to rise to his current position as one of the most celebrated CEOs in the media industry. However, this is not the case since Abdullatif had quality education and skills in media and management. His role particularly in the MTV made him to rise to his current position. In addition, he enabled the MTV television to become a well-established global television. Although Abdullatif made a lot of achievement through MTV, he still had unachieved ambitions that he required achieving. However, Abdullatif intended to reach the viewers in the Arab world. This meant that the different TV stations had to air content accordance to the preference of the people within this region. Due to his experience and educational background, Abdullatif was not satisfied with the progress of MTV in the region level. This made him to establish strategic plans that would see the different television stations on an international platform. It was however, difficult to elevate the newspapers into international media due to their use of Arabic language. To ensure that MTV became an internationally recognized television station Abdullatif started by working on the quality of its content. This was aimed at ensuring that MTV aired programs that were of international standards. This included programs that could be viewed in different parts of the world without accusations of biasness. Other than the TV stations, Abdullatif also concentrated on his newspaper to ensure that it gave credible and high quality news to its readers. This involved providing quality and up to date information on both local and international occurrences. To enable him achieve this objectives, he required an appropriate team of employees that included people with different skills required to compile the news and run the media houses. At the early stages of his contract with the United Arab Emirates’ government, Abdullatif was allowed to use government cooperation as required. This indicates that Abdullatif worked as any other government’s employee during the early stages of the contract. However, his role with the government and the media houses changed and he became fully responsible for running the affairs of different media houses under his control. This included the three newspaper companies, eight radio stations and the three TV stations. His roles expected him to combine both the management of international and domestic business due to the change of MTV into an international television station. His ambitions of transforming MTV into a major global TV station were achieved through his dedicated team of employees. Currently Abdullatif leads a team of 1,700 employees who include media professionals, presenters, and technical personnel. Abdullatif believes that investment on staff is critical in the success of any organization. In this case, investment refers to the direct contribution made by the organization on its staff. This includes formal and informal training and building the attitude of employees. Throughout his career as a CEO, Abdullatif spends quality time trying to build on the attitude of his members of staff. This is done through promotions, training and interactive forums whereby employees are given the chance to give their views concerning the running of organizations. His involvement with the media particularly his efforts in bringing international media into the Arab world through Dubai has enabled him to become an internationally recognized personality. Being an active player in the media industry, Abdullatif was quick to recognize that the Arab world was being left behind by new technology. This was in reference to the role that the social media was continuously playing in transforming societies. Lack of a social media that concentrated on issues of the Arab world was the man factor that made him realize the need of having an Arab oriented social media. In June 2010, Abdullatif decided to enter into the more dynamic world of digital and social media. Abdullatif began by establishing a social media organization known as Alsayegh. This organization was expected to offer excellent services such as interactive website across the region. Unlike other social Medias, Alsayegh media was expected to be biased towards the values of the region. Other than creation of the Alsayegh media, Abdullatif was also involved with website development (Hyatt web). This involved developing web content that was internationally acknowledge. He was also involved with the creation of mobile application and event management. His involvement with different activities required him to utilize his management skills and time management. However, he was successful in managing the different organizations and activities. His idea about the significance of investing on employees also contributed to his success (Gallos 231). Abdullatif valued training of employees and delegative style of leadership. This enabled him to delegate some of his employees to run the operations of the different organizations on his behalf. This enabled him to run different organizations successfully. The launch of MTV Arabiya enabled him to realize that it was possible to transform the media industry through appropriate corporate governance. Unlike other organizations or business, the media depends on the views of the public or the audience of a particular media. This implies that the ratings of the public concerning a particular media house play a significant role in determining its success. Abdullatif was aware of this aspect of the media industry and his involvement with the media was concerned with fulfilling the expectations of the public concerning his media houses (Sarah web). This indicates that his media houses were more concerned with their interactions with the public as they were concerned with their own success. However, this does not imply that his media houses compromised on the legitimacy of information in order to achieve satisfaction among their audience. Abdullatif was also concerned with the quality of his work as much as he was concerned with the expectations of the public. In this case, quality implied the credibility of information and the expectations of the audience. This was of particular interest among the audience of the three newspapers. Other than his involvement in information and entertainment industry, Abdullatif is involved with marketing and branding of different products. His role in marketing was necessitated by his involvement with the media and entertainment industry. Being in the entrepreneurship stage of production, he was more concerned with having a positive image or presentation to the consumers. His advertisements are among the best advertisements on televisions and newspaper. To achieve this role Abdullatif was also involved in development of positive attitude among his workers and delegate form leadership. Promoting a positive organizational culture among his employees also enabled him to achieve success in his operations. Due to his experience and skills in the media industry, Abdullatif was able to incorporate the Arab media into the world media. This has resulted to his direct and indirect contributions to the media sector that has enabled it to achieve international recognition. Under his leadership, the Middle East media sector has become instrumental in world news. He is considered to have been instrumental in the creation of leading Arabian international news TV stations such as the Qatar based Aljazeera TV. The media is highly dependent on technology and trends. His leadership and involvement with the industry proved that he was concerned about these factors. He was a leading figure in most international forums that aimed at establishing the role and future of media and technology. In 2006, Mr. Abdullatif was awarded the CEO of the year award for his outstanding service in both the digital and print media (Kippreport web). In 2007, he was awarded the CEO of the year award in Dubai. He has also been listed among the twenty most influential business leaders in the world. Works Cited Al Sayegh, Abdullatif. Chief Executive Officer, Arab Media Group. 2010. Ftconferences. Web 17, May 2012. Gallos, Joan. Bussiness leadership: a Jossey-Bass reader. New York: Sage, 2008. Print. Hyatt, Mayor. Prints and People, Metropolitan Museum of Art/Princeton. New York: free press, 2003. Print. Kippreport. From the CEO of Arab Media Group to the man who said "I made him an offer he couldnt refuse, with Kipps six easy steps. 2008. Kippreport. Web 17, May 2012. Sarah, Raper Larenaudie MTVs Arab Prizefight. 2009. Timenews. Web 17, May 2012. Read More