The Story

Mohamed Isa’s first job was cleaning offices in an investment bank. Evening shift, 6 PM to 10 PM. He was trying to earn enough money to buy himself clothes and have some pocket money. His family was poor. His dream of studying in America stayed exactly that, a dream.

One night, he got up the courage to talk to one of the professionals working late. The man told him something he never forgot: “Regardless of what you study, make the best out of it. You will decide your future, not your degree.” When Mohamed went to clean his office, he picked up the man’s business card. Financial Controller of the bank. He never knew he was mentoring the cleaner.

Years later, Mohamed would walk into the same building to meet his external auditors. He served as Chief Financial Officer of a dual-listed investment bank for more than eleven years. Then, on 4 December 2015, he left. He was not unhappy, not burned out, not forced out. He was simply done. Somewhere inside him, a door had already closed, quietly, without fanfare, and he had been waiting for the right moment to acknowledge it out loud.

In the decade since, he has published 23 books, spoken at Google, trekked to Everest Base Camp, embarked on the Seven Summits Challenge, and created the Peak Leadership Model on a borrowed A4 sheet in a café in Muscat. He is pursuing his PhD at Kathmandu University, researching leadership under extreme conditions.

He lives in Bahrain. He is still climbing.