Marwan Kheireddine’s Greatest Lessons as an Academic Professor

Marwan Kheireddine’s Greatest Lessons as an Academic Professor

Lebanese banker Marwan Kheireddine is not only the chairman of the board and CEO of AM Bank, but he’s also an accomplished professor at the American University of Beirut (AUB).

The Lebanese-born business mogul has maintained a lifelong love of learning. After returning to Lebanon, Kheireddine connected with the American University of Beirut, initially to be allowed access to their library.

“I didn’t go to that university. I’m not a student there. I did my undergraduate studies in London,” Marwan Kheireddine says. “I connected with them initially to see if they would allow me to access their library. And they said, ‘No, sorry. It’s not a membership; you need to be a student.’”

As Kheireddine was talking with the business school dean, the dean asked him if he’d be interested in teaching on a part-time basis. Marwan Kheireddine admits it was something that hadn’t entered his mind.

“The dean said, ‘Send me your curriculum vitae, and if we have an opening, we’ll let you know,’” Marwan Kheireddine says.

“So I sent him my CV. A couple of months later, I got a call from a different dean. They changed the dean. He said, ‘We have an emergency. We have a finance teacher that just told us that they would not be able to make it for that term. And the term starts in two days. Can you teach an introductory course of finance?’”

Kheireddine was happy to oblige.

“Absolutely, I’d love it,” Marwan Kheireddine responded, and that’s how his illustrious teaching adventure began.

“I taught all the courses of finance at the AUB over the 20 years that I taught at the AUB,” Marwan Kheireddine notes. “So I must have taught maybe 10 courses in finance, from commercial banking to risk management to introduction to financial analysis — you name it. Some of the courses, actually a commercial banking course I designed, are still being taught based on how I designed it.”

Marwan Kheireddine Was Delighted to Be in an Academic Setting

“The most important benefit that I got out of that is that I taught a total of more than 1,200 students,” Marwan Kheireddine explains. “I’m still connected to about half of those students, and some of them are my top-performing managers today in the bank because I was able to identify them. So, as a result, I offered them a job. And they’ve been with me, working with me for 10, 15, or 17 years. And they’re amazing.”

Many of them are now in middle management, and Kheireddine has found the journey of seeing them move from the classroom to the boardroom quite gratifying.

“The most important thing I’ve gotten out of it is satisfaction,” Marwan Kheireddine says. “I have the satisfaction that I was doing something good and exposing those kids to something they were able to learn.”

If You Want Minds to Grow, You Must First Plant the Seeds

Marwan Kheireddine is still in awe of the students whose lives he changed by offering his guidance and time.

“You have no idea how many people come to me and say, ‘You don’t remember me, but I remember you,’” Marwan Kheireddine shares. “I’ll meet them at the airport. I meet them in companies, and they say, ‘You taught me that.’ I mean, this gives me the most fulfillment.”

The other upside to teaching as a professor for 20 years is it sharpened Kheireddine’s public speaking skills. “Today, if you survey people who go on TV in Lebanon and explain the most about the economic situation, I will definitely rank as one of the top three because I have the experience,” Marwan Kheireddine says. “I can effortlessly speak about complex issues. And I learned that by standing in front of students for over 20 years.”

Kheireddine quit teaching after he began giving exams to his assistant to write and correct instead of doing it himself.

“I thought ‘Enough is enough. I’m not being fair to the students. If I don’t have the heart to do it, I’d better stop,’” Kheireddine explains. “So I stopped after 20 years, but I will go back to teaching at some point when I retire. I’m sure I’ll go back to teaching because I loved it. I loved the interaction with the students — the way they drill you, the way they ask you questions, and the innocence that they have.”

Marwan Kheireddine also misses the positive influence he was able to have on students’ lives and continues to want to be an inspiration to others.

“Sometimes you feel that you influence a student and turn their head by one degree, but that one degree makes them very successful in the future, and the gratification is enormous,” Marwan Kheireddine shares.

Why Marwan Kheireddine Doesn’t Typically Offer Business Counsel

While fellow business people and students have pressed him for business advice, Marwan Kheireddine is reluctant to offer formal advice. Instead, he takes a more holistic approach.

“I typically don’t give advice because in my culture, when you give advice, you become financially more responsible because you’ve given the advice,” Marwan Kheireddine says. “I found over the years that the best formula would be to explore options with whoever is asking you for advice to try and shed light on something maybe that they do not see. Then, let them decide their own course. Experience taught me that I shouldn’t offer advice. I should rather explore options with whoever asks me for advice and then let them decide and make the decision. They are responsible for that decision. At best, I would’ve acted as a consultant to them.”

Two decades ago, Marwan Kheireddine would have offered business advice with no apprehension.

“I realized that not everyone is structured in the same way. Not every person has the same abilities. Not every person would understand your advice the way you mean it,” Marwan Kheireddine says. “So I prefer to explore options with anyone asking me for advice and then let them decide on the best course of action that suits them.”