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EO Series #10 - Failure Is Not An Option - Dr Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi
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“If you sell one, you can sell 10. If you can sell 10, you can sell 100. If you can sell 100, and it goes on. That's that has been my entrepreneurial philosophy. So to anyone listening to anyone who's interested about entrepreneurship, sell one. Don't be concerned about selling a million.” - Dr Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi
Dr Sassan’s story in incredible. From fleeing a revolution, to searching for truth through politics, to becoming an Attorney at Law, and finally becoming an entrepreneur - the twists will leave you in awe.
He has managed to grow German Imaging Technologies (GIT) for 24 years, despite these stats being stacked against him:
The average age of a business: 14 years
The % of businesses that reach $1M in annual revenue: 5%
The % of business that exceed $5M: 0.6%
GIT has become a printing solutions powerhouse in the Middle East and in Africa, while facing challenges like a paperless economy, a pandemic that shut down offices and numerous low-priced competitors.
It’s not easy being in the top 0.6%.
As I do with my guests, Dr Sassan and I travelled across a wide variety of topics, but the most beneficial part of this interview is when he delivered a short masterclass on how to set OKRs, you wouldn’t want to miss that.
Apart from that, we talked about:
00:15:26 🤔 Identifying A players and C players
00:20:01 💖 Loving to solve the challenges of business
00:36:28 ❌ Failure is not an option (unless it’s a controlled experiment)
00:45:59 🤝 Importance of being transparent to your employees
01:01:11 💰 Focus on selling one first
01:09:10 😊 Leading people with a smile
01:16:15 💡 Setting the right vision and purpose
01:23:11 🌟 Understanding and defining the North Star
01:34:33 🪖 Revolution in 1978 that changed Dr. Sassan family’s life
What I love about Dr Sassan is that he's sharp in business, but yet works hard to remain spiritually grounded - I wish I'd recorded our coffee conversation after the interview for you guys to hear. He's got the German efficiency mixed in with Buddhist concept of accepting suffering - it's a real fun mix, he's really quite a treat to share a room with.
I don't think there was a single dull moment in the whole interview, and I can't wait for you to listen to it!
This episode is brought to you by Entrepreneur's Organization - U.A.E.
To learn more on how to become a member, visit https://eodubai.com/ or reach out to EO UAE Administrator admin@eodubai.com.
Details about the EO membership: https://eodubai.com/member-benefits-new/apply-for-membership-new/
Where to find the podcast: ▶️ YouTube 🎙 Spotify 🎙 Apple Podcasts 🎙 Google Podcast Where to find Dr. Sassan:
Where to find Dr. Sassan: 💼 LinkedIn 📸 Instagram 💼 Business LinkedIn 📱 Business Facebook 📸 Business Instagram 🐣 Business Twitter ▶️ Business YouTube 🌐 Business Website
Where to find me: 📸 Personal IG 📸 Podcast IG 💼 LinkedIn 🖥 Website
My First Business is a podcast based in Dubai, hosted by Naeem Parvez. In each episode, Naeem (co-founder of Digitalina) interviews successful, but under-the-radar entrepreneurs in the city. The guests share valuable lessons they've learned on their entrepreneurial journeys, making each episode feel like a conversation with a mentor you never had.
Love From My First Business, a Dubai Podcast.
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