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In the late 1990s, when Stuart Henrickson was CFO for Koch Industries\u2019 Canadian operations, Chase Manhattan made him a job offer unlike any that he had received before.

\u201cIt was a fork in the road for me. Koch had been consolidating and bringing many of its operations back to their head office in the U.S., and it happened to be at that point in time that Chase brought me the opportunity,\u201d explains Henrickson, who reports that he was asked to spearhead a development bank for Chase in the Middle East.

\u201cSo, within the course of a week, I had to make a decision regarding whether I went down to the U.S. to be part of a Koch team that was already built or instead started to do something new with a blank sheet of paper,\u201d recalls Henrickson.

After 4 years with Chase, he would join the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, where he led investment banking for nearly 5 years before accepting a CEO position with Standard Bank MENA. \xa0\xa0

In all, Henrickson\u2019s Middle East career chapter would extend across 11 years, a span of time during which the Middle East\u2019s appetite for financial services escalated along with the price of oil, which\xa0grew from roughly $9 a barrel at about the time of his arrival to a high of $149 per barrel, according to Henrickson.

He recalls: \u201cThe Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)\xa0went from having a handful of Western-based financial institutions consisting of rep offices of between 2 and 10 people to growing overnight to eventually number some 1,500 employees. Dubai became the hub for the whole region.\u201d \xa0\xa0

Asked for some pointers when it comes to doing business in the Middle East, Henrickson says that board members and company management need to be treated differently.

He remarks: \u201cI remember that one board member from a large local investment house told me, \u2018The biggest difference between a European investment banker and an American investment banker is that the European knows full well that he needs to come back every 3 months for a year or two before he would get a deal, while the American comes over, doesn\u2019t get a deal, and leaves in frustration\u2014for good.\u2019\u201d

\xa0Still, the biggest differences in business are in the thought processes, he explains. \xa0

\u201cLeave your logic at the door\u2014so much of it is knowing what makes the other person tick,\u201d says Henrickson.\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney

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