Take a Chance: Interview with Rabih Torbay, President and CEO of Project HOPE
I recently went one on one with Rabih Torbay, President and CEO of Project HOPE. Rabih leads a global team of over 1,000 - implementing 64 active programs across over 25 countries - and has worked extensively responding to humanitarian crises including in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, and the United States.
Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?
Rabih: I’m not sure whether I follow wars, or wars follow me – my friends often tease me on this, but I’ll let you decide for yourself.
I grew up in Lebanon during the civil war, moving to Sierra Leone in 1992 just as the Lebanese civil war ended and a rebel war in Sierra Leone begun.
At the time, I was a civil engineer in the construction business, initially just staying in Sierra Leone for a couple of weeks. I ended up staying nine years.
When the rebels invaded Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, in 1999, many feared for their lives and left, including many non-governmental organizations (NGO). I stayed behind. Not because I was a hero by any means, but because I didn’t want to lose my business.
During that time in 1999, there wasn’t much construction work to be done, so I accepted an invitation to volunteer for two weeks with a humanitarian organization that was trying to establish programs in Sierra Leone. At that point, I knew very little about the non-profit and humanitarian world.
Soon after, a cholera outbreak occurred on Sierra Leone’s Tasso Island, putting 10,000 residents at risk, and I responded to a request from the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to help.
Renting a small boat, I headed to the island accompanied by a nurse. When I arrived at the clinic, I learned that about 120 people were dying every day from cholera. The conditions of the “clinic” – which consisted of four walls, no roof, no equipment and one disengaged, discouraged nurse – were shocking to me. I can still remember entering the clinic and the face of a thin, worn-looking child, 4 or 5 years old, sitting on the steps in front of the doorway with his mother.
I toured the clinic, which was really just two rooms, in about five minutes. As I was leaving, I found out that the child had died. Only five minutes had gone by, and he was dead. That was the catalyst for me.
When I returned to Freetown, I met with the MoHS, UNICEF and the WHO to formulate a plan.
I personally financed a return trip to the island the next day, purchasing medicines and hiring some nurses and sanitation engineers to come with me. We immediately started treating patients in that same clinic, worked on the island’s water and sanitation system, and educated the residents about cholera prevention – how they should protect their food, purify the water, etc. Within a week, the death rate went from about 120 a day to just two a day. And the next week, there were no more deaths.
The entire intervention cost less than $7,000. Imagine – $7,000 to save 120 lives per day.
That was the last time I ever did any engineering work.
From Sierra Leone, I worked in Afghanistan after 9/11, Iraq, Sudan, Lebanon, Haiti, Syria, Libya, and few other countries, where I learned a lot about problems, solutions and human resilience.
Two decades later, I’m now leading Project HOPE, a global health and humanitarian organization, who has their own history in Sierra Leone.
Adam: What are the best leadership lessons you have learned from leading a non-profit organization?
Rabih: Leadership is critical and leading by example is critical. We must always adapt to the current situation, as in our world, there are no two situations that are the same.
A cookie-cutter approach does not work in the humanitarian world. No two humans are the same. No two situations are the same. We must adapt our approach constantly. We are also dealing with people’s lives, so in a crisis or emergency, making quick decisions is critical. Just as medics have a “golden hour” to respond and make a difference, we too, need to respond fast - as this is when people need us the most.
In our responses, we believe in a do-no-harm approach. We also believe in a no-regret approach. If we make a decision that was not perfect for the situation, we learn from it and keep moving forward. When we make a plan and deploy a team to a crisis, we do not second-guess the decision. We stand behind it and support it. However, it is very important to be agile and adapt quickly to what the realities on the ground present you. We never go into any situation with the preconceived notion that we know what the situation is. When we face a problem, we look for and find a solution. After the crisis, we reconvene to see what worked, what didn’t work, and then learn from it for the next one.
Adam: What are your best tips for fellow leaders of non-profit organizations?
Rabih: Solutions come from communities, not outside players. And resilience of these communities is where hope and possibilities lie – especially during times of crisis. Through years of humbling humanitarian work experiences, I have witnessed the power of human resilience through challenges unthinkable to many, from the recent explosion in Beirut to health crises in Sierra Leone, from Baghdad to New Orleans.
For example, I was on the ground in Lebanon for the catastrophic explosion on August 4, 2020. I walked through the streets where my aunt lived, whose house was destroyed and where I spent most of my childhood…almost every person in those homes had a bandage or plaster on. And yet, youth volunteers in the hundreds were cleaning the streets, and people were opening their homes and shops to feed them and care for them. Those who were lucky enough to escape destruction were hosting other not-so-lucky families – and that’s a perfect demonstration of how we must put power in the hands of local people.
By building capacity in local communities, resilience unfolds to full potential. In my specific line of work, by investing in training frontline local health workers, or teaching the teachers so to speak, the community health benefit is exponentially better than finite supplies or in-and-out aid.
It is always important for non-profit leaders to understand that communities know their needs better than we do - they also know what works and what doesn't. It is imperative that we remain humble, we listen, we learn, we empower those communities with hope, and we treat them with dignity.
Adam: What advice do you have on how to lead effectively during times of crisis?
Rabih: Every situation presents you with a set of unique challenges and opportunities. Plans give you parameters and lessons from previous situations, but it is up to the team to determine what is the best approach. In a humanitarian crisis response, we often rely on, and learn from, the resilience of the people we are there to serve. Very often, they have the solutions and all they need is support.
These solutions also require creative partnerships across communities, private and public sectors. Single players can’t solve the big problems our world faces today. Collaboration is essential at micro local levels – homes, schools, community health clinics, cultural centers – and on a global scale. We must be transparent and communicate openly, be open to suggestions, make decisions, and always stay humble.
Adam: In your experience, what are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level?
Rabih: A leader is someone who gives those around them the tools and resources they need to do their job and help others.
You know, Project HOPE is people. It’s a people-to-people health foundation. That’s how we connect. And it has always been about the community, the doctors, and the nurses on the ground. The last thing we want to do is replace them. Our job is to support them and work at the community, clinic, and hospital levels.
We go and ask them, “What do you need? What kind of support do you need? How can we help you?” That’s how we come in and help them. That's how we lead - by empowering others. This is critical for any leader or aspiring leader. Listen, learn, empower and always do the right thing. Leadership is not a popularity contest; it is about doing what’s right and positively impacting the lives of others.
Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives and civic leaders?
Rabih: As an engineer, you want certainty about everything you do, right? You want to know everything before you make any decision. For me, one of the most important things that I’ve learned and the best tip I can give to entrepreneurs and executives, is to take risks.
Take a chance on people. Take a chance on people’s resilience. Believing in the goodness of humankind goes a long way.
Also, always surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. You don’t need to know or have every answer. Your job as a leader is to empower and get the best out of people.
You can do this by listening. We can learn a lot from listening to our colleagues, teams, communities and those we serve.
Adam: What is your best advice on building, leading and managing teams?
Rabih: Earlier I mentioned how we build capacity in local communities by investing in training frontline local health workers, creating a 'train the trainers' model. Then, those that we train go on and train others, and then others, and then others. Before you know it, countless lives are impacted, as those trainees train others and treat patients. This is what we refer to as ‘the multiplier effect.’
This multiplier effect parallels across fields. Build a team of top players and have them do the same. Before you know it, you have a network of top players, over-achievers who will impact the lives of so many, take pride and ownership in what they do, and never settle. Decentralize authority and decision-making. Encourage your team to take risks, make mistakes and learn from them. That’s the only way to get better. It’s the best way to have a lasting impact. Literally and figuratively, power saves lives. Decentralization – prioritizing human empowerment on the local level – is a promising path forward.
Adam: What should everyone do to pay it forward?
Rabih: Give a voice and a platform to those you impact. Share their stories and how the work that’s being done is transforming their lives.
I think one of the biggest challenges is getting people to know what’s going on in the world. When people hear only bad news, they don’t react to the good news that’s going on. You can't pay it forward if you don't have any direction. And you won’t connect to it as much if there’s not a humanizing element.
Once you find the path forward and ask, "Well what can I do about it? My $1, $5, one hundred dollars isn’t going to make any difference with the huge problems that we’re facing..." Know that the reality is every single penny, every single thought and action counts. Remember my story about the clinic in Sierra Leone? In that instance, $7,000 saved thousands of people on a remote island. Not that we can ever put a price tag on human life, but every penny and every positive gesture counts.
If all you can do is give a voice to those in need, you're still spreading hope. You're letting people know that others care about them, that they matter, and that there is hope on the horizon.
Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?
Rabih: I'd say it's the advice I gave earlier: Take a chance on people. It will make you work harder.
When you see people who have very little, or have lost a lot, who have endured such tragedy, and yet they still have a smile on their face - you'll never stop pushing forward. When you see that in others, it reminds you that you can't give up.
When you put other people first, and believe in them and give, it's a very reciprocal experience. When you go to a place like Beirut during a blast, and you see the youth who came from all over the country to help clean up the streets, help pick up the pieces, volunteer, donate money, donate medicines, donate food, and they’ve got nothing themselves, but they brought whatever they can to help...how can you not fall in love with the world around us?
Adam Mendler is the CEO of The Veloz Group, where he co-founded and oversees ventures across a wide variety of industries. Adam is also the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. Adam has written extensively on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, marketing and sales, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities and non-profit organizations.
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