Lebanese businessman Marwan Kheireddine says he’s grateful for the success he’s had and is often asked to share some of the secrets behind his accomplishments.

Here’s what Marwan Kheireddine has to say about the ambition that drives him and some of the lessons he’s learned along the way.

His motto in life is “Work hard and pray for luck.” Kheireddine has had a priceless set of experiences throughout his career. From opening Virgin Megastores in Lebanon to becoming chairman of AM Bank, he says hard work and praying for luck have always been part of the magic behind his noteworthy achievements. 

The introspective businessman has a quote he often likes to share with people. 

I tell everyone that they need to work hard, very, very hard, and then pray for luck,” he says. “I think if you really want to succeed, you have to [do that] because a lot of people work hard, very hard, and they don't make it big.

And according to Kheireddine, no one makes it big in business without working very hard. 

He’s organized.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is one of his top reads. The book teaches readers to be proactive; to begin things with the end in mind; to put first things first; to understand that in order to win, it doesn't mean another person has to lose; and to seek first to understand, then to be understood. 

While he read the book more than two decades ago, he says it helped him organize his thoughts and he still applies what he learned from the book to his life today. 

He believes ego can be a career killer.

“I don't have an ego, but I believe ego is the enemy of everything in life,” Kheireddine says. “I've rarely seen successful people failing, except when they trip on their ego. Ego is the killer.”

Working at the highest levels in the corporate world, Kheireddine admits he’s seen his share of egos.

“Ego is the killer and there's plenty of it, especially in my world, in people that are at a high level, C-level in the corporate world,” Kheireddine says. “I mean, egos that do not go through the door, and if they could only realize that a teeny-weeny little stone in their kidney could put them to the floor and make them scream like babies, they would realize how irrelevant they are in this world, how irrelevant they are in this universe, how small they are compared to everything around them.” 

He immerses himself in nature any chance he gets.

Growing up in Lebanon and spending much of his childhood as a Boy Scout, Kheireddine says he learned early on the importance of cherishing nature and being outdoors. Even today, he continues to spend any free time he has on weekends on a farm in the mountains of Lebanon. “I love nature,” he says. “I go hiking.” 

He has a generational commitment to improving the lives of the Lebanese people.

Born into a family with Druze heritage, Kheireddine’s grandfather was selected by the people of his hometown in Lebanon as a trusted source to deposit valuables for safekeeping.Kheireddine helped protect sacred religious texts and other treasures. In keeping with his grandfather’s traditions, Kheireddine’s father launched AM Bank in 1980 to continue the tradition of helping Lebanese people protect their most valuable assets. 

Marwan Kheireddine feels perseverance pays. 

Whether he was teaching financial courses at the American University of Beirut or serving as Minister of State in the Lebanese government, perseverance has always been on the menu for Kheireddine’s mission. “Perseverance pays,” he says. “Honesty pays.”

The HP 12C financial calculator has been a top career tool.

He says he bought the $82 calculator on Amazon for his son. “This is the financial calculator that I have used, and I learned using it [from] my father,” Marwan Kheireddine says. 

“It's a financial calculator that is only used by financial people. It's a reverse logic calculator. You don't need it, obviously, today because you can do any financial calculation on Excel, but it teaches you the basics of finance, and once you learn how to use it, you will learn the ABCs of finance, as opposed to simply plugging in numbers on your Excel sheet and getting the results. You will actually know what you're doing.”