Imposing Western corporate frameworks on the Arabian Gulf without a deep grasp of local culture is a recipe for failure, a veteran commander turned corporate executive has warned.
Edward Brown, a retired British Army Brigadier who spent nearly two decades leading operations in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, believes regional success relies on what he terms ‘working with the grain’ of Arab society.
His philosophy is captured in his new book, Rice Solutions: Success in Leadership and Management Beneath the Arabian Gulf Region, scheduled to hit Virgin Megastore Bahrain later this summer.
The framework stems from a realisation during Mr Brown’s time as a task force commander during the Iraq War in 2006.
“We were attempting to transition authority back to the Iraqis, and we were not good at it,” Mr Brown recalled. “We were trying to impose a Western democratic approach onto a country that was not ready for it. It was done in a way that lacked empathy and sophistication.”
This pivotal moment shifted his focus to regional dynamics. He was later seconded to the Kuwaiti Armed Forces for three years to lead officer education, where he enforced a strict rule: all Western training had to align with Islamic, Arab and local military cultures to achieve lasting results.
The book’s title originates from a memorable encounter during his first week in Kuwait. Having casually listed cooking as a personal interest on his biography note, Mr Brown was summoned to a traditional diwaniya meeting with the Chief of the Armed Forces and 30 senior officers.
“At the end of all the serious operational talk, the Chief suddenly asked me, ‘When you cook, do you cook with rice or potatoes’?” Mr Brown laughed. “I replied that as a Westerner, I leaned toward potatoes. He looked at me and said: ‘Exactly. But in the time that you are with me as an adviser, I want you to give me rice solutions, not potato solutions.’”
It was a brilliant way of rejecting Western military arrogance, Mr Brown noted.
“The analogy I use is that of a traditional dhow builder,” he explained. “A dhow builder shapes wood by planing and bending it with the grain, never forcing it against it. To get the best out of people and systems here, you have to listen and understand that grain.”
Following a distinguished 37-year military career, Mr Brown transitioned to the Gulf’s private sector, operating at COO and CEO levels. He emphasises that leadership principles taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst translated seamlessly into corporate management.
In his last commercial role as COO of an emergency fire and rescue company in Saudi Arabia, Mr Brown managed 650 employees and drove the localisation agenda far beyond expectations.
“We had a state-mandated Saudisation target of 40 per cent, but by the time I left, our workforce was 78pc Saudi,” he said. “We trained local talent to step up into head office roles, project management, and station commander positions. It worked because we tailored the corporate culture to align with their societal values.”
Furthermore, Mr Brown stressed that operating successfully in the modern Gulf means managing a uniquely multicultural workforce, which relies heavily on professionals from India and the Philippines.
While stationed in Saudi Arabia, he introduced subtle management gestures to foster mutual respect, such as celebrating major multinational religious holidays and placing crossed flags, the Saudi flag alongside the employee’s home country flag, on uniform shirts to acknowledge their distinct cultures.
Having made Bahrain his home for the last eight years, Mr Brown highlights nuanced differences within the shared regional culture. He notes that Kuwait can be commercially challenging and historically cautious towards outsiders, though once trust is earned, relationships are deep and lifelong.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has embarked on an exciting transformation under Vision 2030, though legacy bureaucracy and slower payment cycles remain hurdles for new businesses.
Meanwhile, Bahrain offers a unique calmness and a warm, family-friendly environment where, despite being smaller in scale, institutions like the Economic Development Board (EDB) inject significant energy into economic progress.
The kingdom has truly become a base for the whole family. Mr Brown’s wife, Ruth, is a physio and works as part of the senior management team at Amana Healthcare in Jasra. He also has three daughters, all of whom live and work in London and are frequent visitors to the family home on Reef Island.
Despite his deep expertise, Mr Brown remains humble about his status as an expatriate adviser.
“I don’t think a Westerner can ever fully master the grain because we weren’t raised in it,” he admitted. “There are still days where a situation catches me completely off guard. But if you show genuine empathy and an eagerness to listen, local partners will always work with you.”
The 120-page book is intentionally concise, written as an anecdotal journey rather than a heavy textbook. “I wanted it to be something an executive could pick up at Heathrow airport, read entirely during a six-hour flight to Bahrain or Jeddah, and land with a fresh, empathetic perspective on how to lead,” Mr Brown added.
The book is currently available on Amazon and as an audiobook.
avinash@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))