Wael Ghonim, Google Executive and Revolutionary: A New Type of Leader?

One of the unlikely heroes of Egypt's revolution is Wael Ghonim, Google's head of marketing for the Middle East and North Africa, who sparked the protests through Facebook and Twitter. Is Ghonim a new type of 21st-century leader?

Ghonim took time off from his Google job to travel to his home country. He was the anonymous administrator of the Facebook page "We are all Khaled Said" in honor of a 28-year old Egyptian man beaten to death by police.

When Ghonim went missing on January 28, he became a rallying symbol for demonstrators.

Outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt acknowledged two days ago that the company is "very, very proud" of Wael Ghonim and his leadership.

The 30-year-old Google manager and others "were able to use a set of technologies that included Facebook, Twitter and a number of others to really express the voice of the people," Schmidt said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "And that is a good example of transparency. And we wish them very much the best. I have talked to [Ghonim]. We are very, very proud of what he has done."

In this emotional CNN interview after his release from detention, Ghonim choked up as he recalled scenes of the protests. "I am telling you, I am ready to die. I have a lot to lose in this life, you know... I work in the best company to work for in the world. I have the best wife and I love my kids."
 


"But I am willing to lose all of that for my dream to happen," Ghonim said, his eyes filled with tears. "And no one is going to go against our desire. No one."

This is the face of the new Egypt: A Google executive in a polo shirt and jeans who cries for his people on television. A man without a dogma or ideology. A man of humility who stands with the people on Tahrir Square, not with the rulers.

It could well be the face of 21st-century leadership.

In my book "The Rabbi and the CEO" I write that the Hebrew name for Egypt is Mitzrayim, which literally means "the narrows." Egypt has been a place of limitations, of constraining the human spirit.

But no more. Now Egypt could become a symbol of unleashing the human spirit, peacefully and for good.

Only history will tell whether the Egyptian uprising will lead to violence and war and bloodshed, or to freedom and democracy and human rights.

But this much is clear: It is Ghonim and other young leaders who have sparked the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Ghonim insisted that the anti-Mubarak movement is "the revolution of the youth and the Internet."

On CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, Ghonim credited the Internet and social networking as the keys to the revolution.

"If there was no social networks, it would have never been sparked," he told "60 Minutes." "Because the whole thing before the revolution was the most critical thing. Without Facebook, without Twitter, without Google, without YouTube, this would have never happened."

Above all, Ghonim displays humility. He also insisted that "I am not a hero."

"The heroes are the ones who protested, who are the ones who sacrificed their lives, who were beaten," he said. "I was just there writing on the keyboard."

What do you think? Does Wael Ghonim represent a new type of leader? Or is he a one-off exception to the rule of old-style tough top-down macho leaders? And do you know other leaders like Ghonim? I look forward to reading you on my blog (http://thomaszweifel.blogspot.com/).

All the best,

P.S. To download my new book Leading Leaders: The Art and Science of Boosting Return on People (ROP) for free, go to Leading-Leaders.