Next Stop - INDIA

Just a quick note --- Team TBS will make its next dent in the Universe in/at India.

Stay Tuned

Pride and Prejudice (and Productivity) – by Brian de Francesca

First – I need to thank the great evangelist of our cause - Stefano Bergamasco - for constructing and continually filling this blog with wonderful and valuable words and images from our visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Stefano – you truly “get it”, and I am proud to be on your team.

The title of this final blog entry is modified from the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have spent many years traveling to different countries doing work - I normally try to avoid dragging people along with me, because many people believe that showing up for work each day and staring at a computer is the same as being productive. And they also tend to sadly believe that you should not enjoy your work, or certainly not have any fun while working. Showing up for work is not the same as being productive or creating value. Consistently working until 7 and 8 o’clock at night, is not a sign of being a dedicated and productive person – it is a symptom of an inefficient system that does not permit people to have balanced lives. Many people believe that sitting in endless meetings with no clear agenda or follow-up action steps actually create shareholder value. Productivity is measured by output – not by serving time. On our recent trip to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I was joined by three persons who clearly understand the meaning of productivity, value creation and appreciating the miracle of our lives. Thank you Stefano, Roberto (BOB) and Youssef for having me along for the ride.

For weeks prior to our trip – they (Stefano, Roberto and Youssef) planned out the program – and shared the schedule with our partners in KSA using Google Calendar – the intention was to fully book our time in KSA and hit the ground running – which we did. During this pre-trip time, I did very little – so they truly deserve the credit for our success. Our local partner in KSA tried to explain to us that we would be lucky to have 2 meetings each day in KSA for a total of maybe 10. Interestingly, I had a conversation with a salesperson yesterday, who said that she had 3-5 sales meetings PER WEEK! During our 5 days in KSA we had over >15 productive meetings in two different cities! That is a productive WOW! Here is partial list of who we had the pleasure of meeting:

King Fahad Medical City (Ministry of Health): Engr. Turki B. Alharbi

King Khalid University Hospital (Teaching): Eng. M. Nazieh Osman, Eng. Mohammed S. AL-Garni, Eng. Ahmed M. Al-Asmari, Eng. Ali Abdulaziz Almasoud

Dallah Hospital (Private): Shameen Haq

GE Medical Services (Company): Ali T. Saleh

National Guard - Health Affairs (National Guard): Abdulrahman Saleh Al Shuail, Lloyd Schawsmidth

Protecta Vision (Company): Eng. Hani Z. Faddah

Security Forces Hospital Program (Ministry of Interior): Engr. Adel Abdullah El Eidan, Jamal Yousef Aseafan, Engr. Tariq M. Al-Zahrani

Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group (Private): Ibrahim Abu-Mushref

RTKL (Company): Marty McIntire, Jeff Davenport

Directorate of Health Affairs (Government): Dr. Sami Ba Daood

Saudi German Hospital Group (Private): Dr. Ezz El Arab Mohd. Ahmed, Eng. Ahmed Hassan

King Fahad Military Hospital: Colonel. Abdullah Al Utaibi

King Abdulaziz University Hospital (Teaching): Eng. AbdulHaleem Al Jawi, Eng. Lowai Masoud

Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital (Private): Eng. Ayman Galal Fahmy

Dr. Bakhsh Hospitals Group (Private): Ms. Rania A. Taha Bakhsh, Dr. Abdalla Salem Omayer

AHCSC: Hosam Afifi, Essam I. Essa, Majid Batterjee, Ahmed Bakeer, Khalid Mohd. Al-Ghamdi, Eng. Mohammed Mahmoud, Mohd. Akhtar Shaikh, Eng. Hamzeh Al-Lahham

I am confident that many of these initial meetings will blossom into long term mutually valuable business relationships.

But life and living is about more than a job. During our trip, I had hoped to toss in a bit more fun than we were able to – I was really hoping to get a football game going in the desert or something like that. Maybe next time! Khalid and Majid talked a lot about diving …hmmm… During our visit, we made some new friends, ate some interesting food – yes, Camel was on the menu. However, by dinner time, most of the team was quite tired and jet lagged and could barely stay awake.

I am very pleased and proud of our accomplishments in Saudi. We exceeded our expectations and set the foundation for a significant expansion of TBS into the Middle East. The team worked hard, was very productive and I believe enjoyed themselves in the process - this is my definition of success.

To take TBS to the next level - we must be faster, more efficient and more focused – and also more fun and more passionate about the value we are contributing to humanity.

And of equal, if not greater, importance to the productivity and fun - are the intercultural aspects of our adventure. In these troubled times of terrorism and environment time-bombs, it is refreshing to see a mixed group of Christians and Muslims and even a Heretical American sharing meals, thoughts, jokes, and yes, work. There is too much ignorance in this small world - which of course, leads to dangerous prejudice. It is sad to see the ignorance of racial and cultural prejudice. 200,000 years ago – we humans started out in East Africa. I guess we are all “Originally African”. I am proud of the productivity of our team of “Originally African” TBS team members in KSA. And later this month – TBS team members will be in India with our Hindu brothers and sisters …. And soon China with our Buddhist relatives.

I look forward to sharing future adventures with many of you. --- Be Brave ---

Brian de Francesca

May 1st & 2nd 2010 - Leaving Saudi Arabia

And the final day has come! Tomorrow morning I'll check-out from the hotel, attend the eHealth conference, go to the AHCSC offices to say goodbye to our partners and friends and take my flight back to Europe.

I have already described how good this working trip has been for me and for TBS; we met a lot of interesting people, learned a lot about the healthcare technology issues in KSA, better focused on our business opportunities in the Kingdom and in general gained a better understanding of this Country.

Before my internet account expires (the hotel has very good wideband connection, but you have to pay for it on hourly or daily bases) I really want to thank all the people that made this experience possible and effective. First of all my company, TBS Group, that thruogh its expansion plans makes my job much more interesting and exciting than I would have expected. Then my colleagues that shared with me the intense week of meeetings around Riyadh and Jeddah: Brian, Roberto and Youssef. And then the colleagues and friends of our local partner AHCSC-OLAYAN: Hosam, Essam, Khalid, Ahmed, Mohammed and all their co-workes we met and that supported us throughout the week.

I leave a special mention for my new friend Majid; we worked hard together to prepare the scheduling and the logistics for our visit and he has been a great guide for us during the days we spent in Riyadh visiting all the hospitals around the city. But most of all I want to thank him for his generous friendship, opening the doors of his house and spending so much time with me talking of our business perspectives, of our home towns, of our culture and religion: I really thank you and hope to meet you soon again, inshallah.