Radical Collaboration: How Princess Reema is Redefining Royal Influence
Diplomat, activist, executive, and yes, also royalty: Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud has held prominent titles and led groundbreaking initiatives, one of which even set a Guinness World Record.
In her current role as Saudi Arabia's first female ambassador to the United States, we spoke about her longstanding track record in launching and leading successful movements, and her ability to bring together various stakeholders to achieve a shared goal.
Defining Her Role
Known for her strategic approach to leadership, Princess Reema begins each new initiative by setting clear guiding principles and desired outcomes, which then defines her role up front. She emphasized, "The most important thing for me is to define the values and map the impact I can have in any role that I play."
This self-awareness of how she can specifically provide value, while still abiding by her values, was a recurring theme throughout our conversation.
Radical Collaboration
While her extensive expertise, myriad of accomplishments, and global name recognition inherently enrich any project she undertakes, Princess Reema elevates her contribution further by embracing 'radical collaboration,' which asks the question: "How can we create partnerships with unlikely parties to create the best result and have maximum positive impact?"
The basis for her belief is that by bringing unlikely groups together for a shared cause, they can do more faster, and better, than if you kept them separate or didn't work with them at all.
"I recognize fully that in any industry there's people who are malevolent actors and people who are benevolent actors. But I always wonder, what would it look like if we just engaged in a conversation and could find a shared goal?"
The Princess continued "Could we not actually achieve our strategic goals better if we bring everybody on board, show them their vested interest in better behavior, not just for their own personal success, but for corporate success and their team's success? Then, if they can't see it, they're just not people we need to work with."
Not afraid of a challenge in order to achieve a better result, the Princess's preference is maximizing collective impact when possible, allowing for easy amplification of the mission through buy-in and participation from multiple parties.
So how does she actually rally people around a cause?
For her new initiative WAVE, a collective action platform aimed at ocean restoration within a human generation, she brought together a world-renowned professor, an ocean conservation activist and a major Saudi oil company and asked, "What would it look like if you all actually sat at the table and had a conversation about how you could benefit from each other to create the change that the ocean community needs?"
Imagine successfully bridging a gap between people and organizations that are in similar verticals and yet traditionally haven't worked together. What a value that can create, not just for the parties involved but for the beneficiaries of the shared future vision that the parties are working towards. That is what Princess Reema is able to envision and uses as a driver in her multi-party initiatives: a highly-desirable and greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts solution everyone can work towards.
Diplomacy and Credibility
With the challenge of working in unlikely groups comes obstacles. To push past challenges and succeed, she again leverages the shared vision approach instead of other knee-jerk tactics in tense situations such as hard-balling or manipulation.
"We just need to put our professional hats on and say, what are we trying to achieve? How can I work best with you to get to the goal that will serve all of our purposes?"
Undoubtedly there are impasses in her diplomatic efforts. The way Princess Reema pushes past indifferences, yet holds firm to her values in moments of conflict, is with patience and thoughtfulness.
"You don't always get to choose the moment you're in. All you get to choose is how you react to it." In those defining moments, the critical question becomes, "how do I engage [using patience and thoughtfulness] to keep momentum moving and not drop the ball even when the moment is negative?"
Although keeping cool in moments of tension is not easy, Princess Reema advises "I have to keep working with everyone on the macro narrative even though we disagree on very specific points. I recognize that if I lose credibility, or I lose the ability to be a reliable partner even when I disagree, or if I lose my cool or I become aggressive, I can lose relationships. So the question becomes how can I convey the 'no' or the difference of opinion and still keep the ship moving towards the 90% that we all agree on?"
That's where credibility comes into play.
Credibility is that trait you look for when considering working with someone that will handle sensitive data or lead a big project that falls under your responsibility. Princess Reema, though born into a world of visibility and privilege, understands that credibility isn't inherited - it's built over time. Not surprisingly, her track record is stellar when it comes to credibility and follow through.
"Always be honest. Because the ability for people to believe you and rely on your word is something that is worth its weight in gold. So whether I am delivering a positive or negative message, people believe that I am sincerely delivering this message. Or when I receive a message [to convey] they firmly believe I will deliver it as it was received."
The Princess stresses to be honest not just in challenging moments, but in everything that you do. Alongside her steadfast belief in honesty, is her emphasis on hard work.
According to the Princess, the reason she rolls up her sleeves and jumps in to tackle the hard work alongside her her team is that "It's never executed to the best of everybody's ability if the people who are working on a project don't feel that their team leader is guiding them in the right direction [meaning] they'll only ever put in the amount of work necessary to complete a project."
In regards to her own credibility, the Princess conveyed that hers was built by doing the work and putting in the hours, and that "people appreciate consistency, honesty and action."
Humanness in Leadership
Her solidarity with teammates is a sign of respect, and more than just good management - it shows her genuine care and appreciation.
Princess Reema has recognized that mutually beneficial relationships go a long way because as a leader she doesn't have all the answers.
With the teams she's worked with she attributed a sharp increase in her own learning as a result of being able to "absorb the skills of the various team members" which "upped [her] game to a level like you couldn't possibly imagine."
However, she stressed that it's a 2-way street: making sure she in turn continues to contribute her knowledge and expertise to help team members grow, even when knowing they may one day grow out of her team.
Moreover, her internal team is just one of her spheres of influence. As the first female Ambassador to the US for Saudi Arabia, Princess Reema is constantly navigating complex ecosystems across the world and has to do so delicately.
"I represent the voice of a nation, so I have to separate my personal opinion from the stated opinion and view of my country. And I recognize that the counterparts I work with are doing exactly the same."
Princess Reema added that the hardest thing when working in the government sector, particularly in diplomacy, is recognizing that the messaging that's going back and forth is not personal. Since ambassadors are conduits to deliver a message and the narrative of their nation, their job is to deliver it clearly and simply.
While her words are sage advice, the ability to put an organization's mission before your own is not one everyone can manage, nor should they.
If 'Know thyself' stands true, then 'know thy personality' should also be considered when choosing your role. Instead of battling to keep your opinions to yourself, you can avoid the likelihood of a slip up by understanding how you can best move your mission forward using the rules of the engagement in your field. Simply put, if you're not a diplomatic person, either learn diplomacy quickly or move to a career path that doesn't require it constantly.
Regardless of career path, to build momentum and make an impact, you need to know how to get to the right people within your ecosystem.
"When I talk about the 'right people' it doesn't mean the wealthiest or the top of the pyramid, it means the doers."
Princess Reema went on to say that when you meet people, you can recognize who are the doers, who are the talkers, and who fit into other roles such as PR or as she creatively-put, the 'pizzazz people.'
"When you're meeting people, in your head you need to map out who's who and how, [meaning] the function of how they operate."
To illustrate her approach, she gave an example that if you need a specific thing done by a company but you call their PR agency because you have their contact info, you're not going to get anything done. Instead, find the doer at the company for that function that you need.
Princess Reema also avoids ego: she doesn't only talk to the CEO or high-level employees, but she also gave a warning not to transgress the hierarchy of the company by leapfrogging someone [meaning going above the person before going to them first]. This approach maintains respect for the person and organizational infrastructure you're collaborating with (or hoping to).
Inner Circle Expectations
With the same principles of respect, the Princess navigates her own relationships by opening up about what she expects from her inner circle.
Without hesitation, she would disqualify someone from her inner circle due to dishonesty - a trait she 'cannot stand,' regardless if they are an eager achiever or a helpful doer.
As to what brings someone into her inner circle, she keeps a balanced approach: "I surround myself with someone who's a cynic because I need the pushback, I need the dreamer, I need the pragmatic financial yes / no / this makes sense person" and last but most importantly: the person who helps her to map ideas into action items, while staying true to her values and making sure the things she's wanting to pursue fit into her larger goals.
If saying no to a person of both power and prestige feels a bit intimidating, I felt the same way and brought it up at the end of our conversation. Unsurprisingly, Princess Reema displayed humility and self-awareness by demystifying her title:
"I have to remind them [the people in my inner circle], the princess was born to a family. The princess didn't choose to be a princess. It's simply a title. It doesn't come with any kind of intelligence or IQ points. It doesn't come with any of the skills that I would need to run a business or do my job. It's a title. It's what I make of it. My other title is ambassador. It is a role that I'm working in. It doesn't mean I am excellent at it or I have some sort of magical skill that makes me all knowing. I'm not all knowing. I happen to be sitting on the top of the pyramid of the embassy. But I'm part of an ecosystem. And so I need people who have a feet on the ground and will say, lovely, but no, and here's why. [I need] people that I can trust to give me that no and not get lost in the mystique of the top of this pyramid or a royal title."
Princess and Person
Speaking to Princess Reema, you feel a peaceful warmth due to her calming nature. With both her words and her actions, she illustrates her ethics, values, and consideration for the advancement of others. Even her participation in this interview is a signal of that amplification. She certainly doesn't need my help in promoting her efforts, yet she believed in the concept of sharing her strategies so that other people could learn to move their initiatives forward and make a positive impact.
When I first met the Princess, I was struck by her humanness. In our subsequent conversations she's somehow become more 'real' and yet remained enchanting at the same time. She is a princess after all.