The Beirut Blast: 3 lessons in conscious leadership, or lack thereof

On August 4, 2020, an extremely powerful blast at the Port of Beirut resulted in at least 220 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and a city-wide property damage making an estimated 300,000 people homeless overnight. The blast was linked to about 2,750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate that had been stored in the port without proper safety measures for six years.

The perfect storm

Though the Lebanese civilization dates back to about seven thousand years ago, the state of Greater Lebanon (known today as the republic of Lebanon) was only declared a hundred years ago on September 1, 1920 by the French as the Ottoman empire was being split.

In less than 30 years, Lebanon has gone through an impressive transformation earning itself the moniker of “Switzerland of the East” in reference to its financial power and stability during the 1950s and 1960s, while its capital, Beirut, was often referred to as “the Paris of the Middle East”.

A while later, the Lebanese war happened in 1975 when I was only 5 years old. Since then, Lebanon felt like that of a plane that took off and just never figured out where, when, and how to land.

Fifteen years on, in 1990, the war had come to an end. Still my mom, having had enough of the instability, took the initiative to have us immigrate to Canada. I have since made of Montreal my home away from home. It is a beautiful and welcoming place that allows me to dream of a decent life for my children, and theirs to come. Would I have stayed in Lebanon, a future would have been something that sadly, I could not have been able to afford them, let alone aspire to, myself.

Though it seemed that the war had stopped in 1990, it actually never truly came to an end. Lebanon has become that abusive person that keeps on revisiting the life of its victims, making them feel safe over and over again, only to bring back that hurtful reality that old habits die hard, that is if they ever do.

I can think of many painful events that took place, including the 1996 and 2006 Israel wars; the 2015 trash crisis, yes believe it or not, there even was a trash crisis; the ISIS terrorist threat that loomed from 2015 to 2019; and now the biggest explosion in modern times to impact a nation's capital.

If I learned one thing in my life, that is that the Lebanese people are extremely patient and resilient. They always find ways to recover from calamities fast. They have a tendency to self-medicate with overdoses of forgiveness, forgetfulness, and forward movement. That said, how well has it worked so far? Isn’t there a more fundamental issue that needs to be dealt with once and for all? Something that lives in the very knit of society, and at the heart the country’s political system?

The Lebanese constitution is colonialism imposed and it is built on the foundation of an inorganic diversity based structure that imposes quotas and controls. For example, the president must be a Maronite Christian which today represents about 21% of the population. The prime minister must be a Sunni Muslim which represents about 27% of the population. And the Speaker of the Parliament must be a Shi’a Muslim which represents about 27% of the population. This is a perfect recipe for attracting inefficient consensus-based leaders, fostering a culture of indecision in the face of important matters, and ingraining a culture of greed and nepotism.

It came as no surprise to anyone when the fragile balance of that country faltered under external pressures as tensions around Lebanon boiled in the late 1960s, with the rise of the Palestinian cause, the widening of the Shi’a-Sunni conflict for regional control, the expansionism ambitions of Israel, and the ill-conceived policies and strategies of some of the leading countries of the modern world.

The country as an independent Republic and its fragile political structure were only 32 years old when the war had started back in 1975. It lacked the time needed to cement its foundation, to develop a strong national identity for all, and last but not least, to enforce the necessary governance that any government would require in order to operate for the interest of its people.

Lebanon claimed its independence from France in 1943, and ironically today, in the aftermath of the Beirut explosion, the Lebanese people are begging, in despair, France’s current president, Emmanuel Macron, to re-colonize the country. It must possibly be the only place on earth that wishes recolonization upon itself, and maybe, just maybe, rightly so.

“And then many things became very clear... we learned perfectly that the life of a single human being is worth millions of times more than all the property of the richest man on earth.”

Ernesto Che Guevara

The Beirut explosion came as a reminder to every Lebanese citizen, to every Lebanese immigrant in this world, and to every earth citizen, that suffering has its limits. It also awakened the world community to fast develop a rarely expressed empathy towards Lebanon and its people, for they have been innocent victims of a failed structure imposed on them a hundred years ago, one that brought onto them a unworthy political elite that enticed division, war mongering, corruption, negligence, and a systematic culture of abuse.

Conscious Leadership

The Beirut explosion actually had me thinking and reflecting about conscious leadership in general. As I took a step back from the day-to-day aspects of this tragedy, it became more obvious to me that the only real and sustainable change will find its way through a top down reassessment of the country, one that starts with a swift leadership cleanse, followed immediately by a deep constitutional reform. None from the political elite should be spared. All, along with their close families, have been abusing of Lebanon and its people for just about 50 years now, and without a right angled turn, I see nothing changing for the next 50.

3 key missing conscious leadership traits come to surface as we reflect on the failed State of Lebanon.

Responsibility

On September 21, 1921, a tower complex containing Ammonium Sulphate and Ammonium Nitrate mixture exploded in the BASF chemical plant in Oppau, Germany killing about 600 people and injuring over 2000.

On August 6, and August 9, 1945, The United States detonated two nuclear weapons over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing more than 200,000 people, most of whom were civilians.

On April 26th, 1986, a human error caused a series of explosions that destroyed the reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, causing the release of a radioactive cloud. About 125,000 people were killed in the following years by illnesses caused by radiation exposure.

On March 11, 2011, triggered by an earthquake, followed by a tsunami, a nuclear disaster at Fukushima occurred, causing a great deal of human suffering, and that story continues to unfold. Around 150,000 people had to be evacuated.

The Beirut Blast caused much less damage than the above mentioned human tragedies. So why did it cause so much more local and external indignation? That is because the other tragedies were inexcusable accidents, blind spots, that should have been avoided. The Lebanon tragedy is not the result of government negligence, it actually results from the fact that people simply do no matter for their government.

I recall a time from back in 2004, a year after I founded Explorance, when my executive coach made me take a psychometric test. The purpose of this test was to give an idea of what kind of leader I would be. I found the results intriguing as the 2 top traits it uncovered about me were risk taking, and care for others. I found them curiously opposing. I thought the test was flawed. My coach pointed out that the results are actually a good indicator for leadership: “If you are driving a bus, alone, on an empty road, your appetite for risk taking may get you off the cliff. But if you have passengers on this same bus, you will drive as fast as possible, but never exceeding that limit that may put any of your passengers at risk of any kind.”

This conversation got ingrained deep in my conscience as it represented to me what responsible leadership should be all about: a perfect balance between ambition and empathy.

Businesses create great dependencies around them, a complete ecosystem that thrives and achieves stability in direct correlation with growth and evolution. These dependencies entail a leadership that has a highly developed sense of universal responsibility, instead of one that is solely shareholder obsessed, and certainly not one that is built around personal gain. When applied to government, leaders are expected to have an infinitely stronger commitment to universal responsibility, and a much deeper care for society as a whole.

The Beirut explosion is symptomatic of the severe lack of commitment to universal responsibility of Lebanese politicians and leaders. Running the country from their ivory towers of greed and incompetence, they seem to have disconnected their own reality from that of the people they are supposed to serve and protect.

This is how, and why, corruption and negligence were easily able to spread their roots, enticing the political class to encroach on essential public funds first, and as their greed further grew, they did not think twice about stealing directly from an increasingly impoverished population. Furthermore, they have harbored warlords and disruptive elements inviting a constant threat of war to the nation's doorstep, not only for personal financial gain, but also because war and instability gives grounds for, and justification to, the most self serving leaders to rise.

Hopefully, the Beirut blast and its impact acts as a lasting reminder that our beds, everywhere in this world, are burning. Hopefully this would motivate world leaders everywhere to exert their influence in the sole purpose of building a society that is committed to a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable existence.

Accountability

“The material had been there for 7 years, since 2013. It has been there, and they said it is dangerous and I am not responsible. I do not know where it was placed. I don’t even know the level of danger."

“There are ranks that should know their duties, and they were all informed. … When you refer to a document and say, ‘do what is needed.’ Isn’t that an order?”

Michel Aoun, Lebanese President

I found the statement above perplexing from an accountability standpoint. This is my second leadership lesson from Beirut's explosion.

First, in what world does a leader’s role start and end with a simple statement: “do what is needed”. This is a deflective statement that to me sounds like: "I don't care". It is not even delegation, as it would have come with a clear objective and associated outcomes derived from a sound strategy.

Moreover, the president goes on to point the finger at those that did not “do what is needed”. It is a clear failure in character not to have taken responsibility for an event that took place under one's watch, and to accuse instead those people that they have personally appointed and entrusted in their role.

In an ideal world, strong leaders hold themselves directly accountable for every failure that happens under their watch. They take the blame away from everyone that reports to them. After all, nothing is more powerful than a firm Mea Culpa, with no “ifs” or “buts”.

When a leader assumes total responsibility for their failures, they pass a clear message that:

• it is OK to fail
• it is important to learn from our mistakes
• and it reinforces accountability as a core value in leadership, and society overall

Somehow, deep down inside, I feel that the government of Lebanon, and the political class as a whole, may have missed out on a golden opportunity to take collective responsibility and hold themselves accountable for what that they put their constituents, the Lebanese people, through.

Vision

"What happened today will not pass without accountability. Those responsible for this catastrophe will pay the price."

Hassan Diab, Lebanese Prime Minister

And here is the final conscious leadership lesson I observed from the Beirut explosion. Leaders are expected to have the insight and ability to pave the way forward by painting a picture of a future of hope through good, bad, and ugly times. Instead, the Lebanese prime minister chose to paint a backwards looking picture of crime and punishment, indirectly creating a retribution obsessed public mindset. Crime and punishment should be matters of the law, and they should be entrusted to the judiciary system.

It seems to me that a better response to this tragedy could have been a humble one where leadership simply acknowledges what they did wrong, and how they could have done better. They can then share a thought-out plan that reassures people how this will never happen again.

Finally, they could paint a picture that alleviates all pain, one that brings back hope. After all, people need to know that all the pain, the stolen lives and hopes, from this explosion, would not have been in vain.

For example, one can paint a picture whereas the Beirut Port area is transformed into Beirut Gardens. With its 300 or so acres, it could offer Beirut's citizens a third of the space that Central Park offers New Yorkers. Such an initiative would signal the beginning of the country's rising environmental commitment.

Furthermore, it would offer a badly needed green space in Beirut helping its inhabitants escape their concrete jungle when needed. Somewhere in the irony of this tragedy, it would offer long term benefits to those affected by the blast in direct proportion to the material damage they may have incurred. And those that unfortunately have passed would have their names and memories cemented in every corner of the gardens in gratitude for the change they would have inspired upon Beirut, and Lebanon.

What if the government takes it further and commits Beirut onto a journey towards becoming the greenest capital in the world. A capital where private car traffic gets drastically reduced, or event better eliminated with the instilling of a highly efficient green public transportation system, along with a large array of pedestrian and bicycle lanes that would all converge at Beirut Gardens.

And the port can move. There are other ports in Lebanon in areas that are less populated and possibly in more need of economic stimulus.

A Brighter Future, For All

This brings to light a discussion around the reinvention of Lebanon, and a refresh of the country's constitution, encompassing a new approach to diversity as a commitment and a long term investment of heart and soul, rather than a quota based political system. More importantly, the country desperately needs a complete shakedown of each and every person that has had some kind of power and control over Lebanon, or a part thereof, since 1975.

Phoenicia was an ancient civilization that originated in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean. From 1250 to 1100 B.C., over a 150-years period, the Mediterranean region suffered from severe droughts that signaled the collapse of the Bronze Age. The recovery of the Mediterranean economy thereafter is credited to Phoenician mariners and merchants, who re-established long distance trade. The Phoenicians served as intermediaries between the disparate civilizations that spanned the Mediterranean. Their movement brought along more than just goods, but also knowledge, culture and religious traditions.

The Middle East has been in turmoil for over 60 years today. There is no reason to wait another 90 years to do the right thing.

Like its ancestor, Phoenicia, Lebanon can take a leadership role and initiate tight bi-lateral agreements with all its neighbors, including Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Israel and Cyprus.

I have a dream that the Beirut Blast becomes the Ground Zero for lasting peace in the middle east, for everyone. This may very well be the time to turn the page, and let bygones be bygones. Everyone deserves to hope, and every child deserves a clear shot at the future.

Lebanon deserves fresh ideas. Lebanon needs help from all its people and not just the select few. Lebanon deserves to be built without having to be rebuilt. Lebanon needs to be loved more than ever.

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.

Khalil Gibran

While many Lebanese feel, rightly so, that they may have suffered for a little too long; while they may also feel exhausted from that lack of light they have been feeling deep in their hearts; one must remember that this 7,000 years old cherished land is what separates them from the sea, as it is for every other land on this planet, they are ours to cherish, respect and protect for the generations that follow.