Arriving in a Country of Ambition
When I boarded my flight from London to Riyadh six months ago, I was leaving behind more than thirty years in Learning & Development and Organisational Development in the UK. I’d worked with organisations across sectors, from government departments to large corporates, designing leadership academies, building management frameworks, and leading cultural change programmes.
I thought I’d seen most of the patterns that shape how organisations grow their people. But nothing quite prepared me for the pace, ambition, and energy of Saudi Arabia in 2025.
Since arriving, I’ve taken on the role of Director of Consultancy at The Professionals, working closely with Saudi organisations across public and private sectors. From my first weeks here, one thing stood out: leadership development is everywhere. Ministries, giga-project authorities, banks, and tech companies are investing heavily in leadership academies, future leader initiatives, and high-profile training partnerships. There’s a visible determination to prepare people to take on the challenges and opportunities of Vision 2030.
As someone who has spent a career building leadership capability, it’s exciting to see this level of commitment. But I’ve also noticed something else, something that, if not addressed, could slow down progress. In many places, the management foundations that allow leadership to thrive are not as strong as they could be.
Leadership and Management — Not the Same Thing
One of the most important lessons I learned early in my career is that leadership and management are different, and you can’t simply replace one with the other.
- Leadership is about setting direction, inspiring people, and driving change.
- Management is about creating order, ensuring consistency, and delivering results.
Leadership without management is like building a skyscraper without reinforcing the foundations. It may look impressive at first, but cracks appear under pressure. Management without leadership is like running a factory without ever rethinking the product, efficient but stuck in the past.
Healthy organisations need both. Leadership provides vision and momentum; management provides stability and execution. In the UK, I saw that when these two capabilities grow together, organisations achieve sustainable performance.
Why Leadership Dominates in Saudi Arabia
Since arriving in the Kingdom, I’ve had many conversations with leaders, managers, and employees about why leadership gets so much attention here. Four themes stand out.
- Vision 2030’s Transformational Focus
Vision 2030 is a bold, ambitious plan. It aims to diversify the economy, create new industries, attract international investment, and deliver world-class services. Transformation is the core narrative, and in times of transformation, leadership feels like the natural priority. Leaders are the ones who set direction, inspire belief, and mobilise change.
- Cultural Respect for Leaders
Saudi culture places high value on authority, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire trust. Leadership programmes are a natural fit for these expectations. They create figures who can rally teams and symbolise progress.
- Fast-Tracking Talent
Saudization policies mean organisations are promoting national talent into senior roles faster than in many other countries. This is a positive move for national capability building, but it also means some new leaders may not have had enough time in operational or managerial roles to master the fundamentals of running teams, processes, and budgets.
- Visibility and Prestige
Leadership academies and high-profile training partnerships are easy to showcase — in the media, in annual reports, and on LinkedIn. They signal ambition and modernity. By contrast, strengthening management systems, introducing new budgeting processes, clarifying job roles, or embedding performance reviews, is less visible and often takes longer to demonstrate results.
The Risks of Skipping the Management Step
In my early months here, I met several managers who had returned from inspiring leadership programmes full of ideas, but then found themselves back in an environment where processes were unclear, priorities shifted constantly, and accountability was inconsistent.
The risks are clear:
- Strategy without delivery: Inspiring visions are launched, but projects run late, over budget, or below standard because execution systems aren’t robust.
- Over-promoted leaders: High-potential individuals are placed in leadership roles without the experience or tools to manage effectively.
- Over-reliance on external support: Without strong internal management, organisations lean heavily on consultants or contractors to keep projects on track.
- Staff frustration: Teams hear motivating speeches but work in disorganised environments, which can erode trust.
Building the Balance — Lessons from Experience
In the UK, the most effective organisations I worked with built leadership and management capability together. They didn’t see management as “the basics” to rush through, but as the essential operating system that supports leadership’s creativity and ambition.
The same principle applies here, but must be adapted to Saudi Arabia’s culture and pace.
- Strengthen the Management “Floor”
Before adding another leadership programme, ask:
- Do managers have clear role descriptions?
- Are planning, budgeting, and performance review processes consistent?
- Are project milestones tracked and acted upon?
- Do managers have the skills to give feedback, coach team members, and handle underperformance?
Even a “minimum viable management system” can create the stability leaders need to succeed.
- Blend Leadership into Daily Management
Leadership is not only about grand strategies. It’s in the everyday: how meetings are run, how recognition is given, how challenges are addressed. Managers can embed leadership behaviours into daily routines, using storytelling to connect tasks to the bigger picture, encouraging innovation within structured processes, and celebrating progress.
- Tie Learning to Real Projects
One of the most effective development methods I’ve seen is linking leadership learning to live business challenges. Instead of attending a programme and returning to business as usual, participants apply new skills directly to projects that matter, improving a process, launching a service, or saving costs.
- Use Cultural Strengths
Saudi workplaces often value personal trust and relationship-based decision-making. These strengths can be combined with structured follow-up and clear accountability. For example, open discussions in a majlis-style meeting can be followed by documented action points, assigned responsibilities, and deadlines.
My Reflection After Six Months
Saudi Arabia’s investment in leadership is one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen in my career. The ambition, resources, and belief in people’s potential are extraordinary.
But leadership on its own is not enough. For Vision 2030 to become not just an inspiring vision but a delivered reality, it must rest on a solid base of management excellence.
If leadership is the engine of transformation, management is the steering and brakes. One without the other risks losing momentum, or going off course entirely.
The real opportunity for the Kingdom now is to grow both together: to ensure every inspiring leader is supported by a strong management framework, and every capable manager is encouraged to lead.
That balance is what turns bold ideas into lasting achievements. And if my experience here so far is anything to go by, Saudi Arabia has everything it needs to get there.