Leadership lessons from Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) for project managers
Billions of Muslims around the world believe that Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) to be a messenger of God, but that is not the topic of our discussion today. In this discussion we will treat prophet Mohamed (PBUH) as a human being and a leader who led hundreds and thousands of his companions to establish a successful Islamic state in the Arabian Peninsula.
The beauty of his leadership in a diverse cultures and societies in the 7th century can generate several lessons for today’s project managers
I tried to compile few leadership traits with examples in the table below. The complete leadership skills exhibited by Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) can be written in large books and can be found in the Islamic literature
| Traditional narration | Leadership trait | Leadership lesson |
| He trained his companions to love for others to have what they themselves love to have | Caring for yourself as well as for others | Caring for other helps you earn their trust. Help your team to make them loyal to the organization |
| He one day heard companions joking about the slim legs of another companion called Abdullahi Ibn Masood. The prophet told them that his slim legs are like mountains according to his faith. | Controlling emotions of others by respecting their physical weaknesses | Have a good emotional intelligence skills |
| He encouraged his companions to behave and told them one of the main deeds for entering the paradise is good behaviour. As an example, he told them to knock at the door and ask for permission before entering the houses they visit | Ethics in leadership is very important | Approach others with a good behaviour |
| He taught his companions avoiding whispering, backbiting, spying, speculation, mind games, and | Respectful team members | Discourage office politics to foster stable working environment |
| He enforced women and children protection. He encourage women to cover their bodies to avoid sexual harassment at public places | Encourage high standard working environment | Protecting vulnerable people in the team |
| He taught his companions to keep secrets of their colleagues | Trustworthy team members | Confidentiality |
| He taught his companions that one of the good deeds God loves is keeping promises | Keeping your word and decisions as a leader | Meeting deadlines |
| He warned those who cross the line and violate privacy of others | Privacy | Respecting other’s privacy |
| As he migrated to Medina he mediate two larger tribes whom had been fighting for centuries. He established strong bonding between companions of different backgrounds, languages, and cultures. | Teaching your team what they share is more than their differences | Conflict management |
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