Hasannudin Saidin, CEO Coach Of Rubah Associates, On The Other Heart of Entrepreneurship
Ten years into building my own business, my physical heart required surgery.
Triple bypass has a way of slowing a person down. Entrepreneurship had filled my calendar with plans, clients and commitments. Devoid of energy for weeks, I began thinking about time differently. I asked myself what had been forming within me while I was building something outwardly visible.
The surgeons restored blood flow to my body. In those weeks of physical limitation, I turned my attention to another heart — what in my tradition is called the qalb. It is the inner faculty that holds intention, perception and moral awareness. It shapes how a person chooses, responds and speaks long before any strategy is executed.
Over the years, I had refined frameworks, developed programmes, and grown a steady practice. During recovery, I began refining something less visible. I paid closer attention to intention before accepting work. I examined the state of mind from which I advised others. I allowed more space before making decisions.
As strength returned, I committed to tending the qalb with the same discipline I once reserved for planning and execution. I began loosening my attachment to recognition and noticing the subtle pull to be seen as relevant. That inner work now shapes how I sit with founders and leaders, and how we examine ambition, growth and responsibility together.
Faith-conscious leadership, as I practise it, is a steady awareness that work carries meaning beyond transactions. It informs how commitments are made and responsibilities are carried. Business models, branding and marketing strategies remain essential. They operate with greater coherence when anchored in a well-attended inner life — a theme I explore further in Mission-Driven Strategy: When Faith Reframes People, Purpose & Profit.
The bypass restored my body. The ongoing care of the qalb continues to shape the way I build, decide and guide. It becomes visible in the quality of decisions made, the partnerships chosen and how promises are made and kept.
