Everybody loves to hate the Islamic Brotherhood of Egypt. Why we must learn from its incredible success

First it was the British, the Suez Canal & Egyptian Nationalism. Then it was a creation of Israel carved from Palestinian homeland. This was followed by the humiliating peace treaty between Egypt & Israel. Thereafter, the fight against Soviet occupation against Afghanistan. The Islamic brotherhood fought for one lofty theme after another.

It was 7/11 when the world came to terms with the transforming power of Islamic brotherhood that started in Egypt as a battle for national pride. With that single strike, Al Qaida an offshoot of Egyptian brotherhood, had transformed the way the world looked at itself.

While it did not lose its fundamental characteristic of a fight for self-esteem & avenging the wrong done against innocent Muslims, the brotherhood transformed itself from a small political movement to a scalable, aligned and very focused organization.

These and many such other transformation programmes undertaken by various religious sects and movements have compelling lessons for organizational transformation & strategy execution.

The single minded focus achieved by Islamic brotherhood through the concept of jihad against a formidable adversary was a strong unifying theme for a transformation programme. The theme was re-invented & adapted to align with the socio-political realties of the times, but it never lost its essence.

It could be communicated in a simple manner on the banks of Nile, deserts of Arabia, markets of Peshawar or the valley of Kashmir.

Any transformation programme needs to be powered by strong theme/s which can create a unique identity of their own. As market realties change, the transformation programme needs to reinvent itself & modify the themes and make them relevant to changing realties of different times & different markets.

There are many transformation lessons that can be learnt from the spread of Islamic brotherhood like the empowerment of branches & training (or indoctrination) academies for the fraternity.

However the ability to remain relevant & continuously seek and identify an adversary for jihad is the most important achievement of the strategic transformation programme.

It haunts me every time I board a local train or take my baby boy to a crowded supermarket. I never thought that the British interest in dominating the Suez Canal will have such a transforming impact on my life.