Our business doesn’t need to operate in the Middle East to be affected by what happens there.

In this episode of Sulha Edge, Najla El Mangoush explores "The Choke Point” — the hidden geopolitical connections that can affect businesses through shipping routes, energy costs, supply chains, and capital.

Drawing on her experience as Libya’s Foreign Minister, Najla explains why geopolitical developments and commercial decisions are often far more connected than business leaders realize.

She also shares five principles for navigating these complex environments: listening, patience, credibility, dignity, and trustworthiness.

Because you may not know where your business’s choke point is until it closes.

What happens to trust after conflict ends?

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In this episode of Sulha Edge, Najla El Mangoush explores the hidden cost of conflict: the trust tax.

Conflict changes how people make decisions long after the fighting stops. Contracts take longer. Hiring becomes more cautious. Every handshake may require more proof.

For business leaders operating in complex environments, these behaviors can look like resistance or a lack of trust. But often, they are rational responses to a history you may not know.

Najla explores how trust changes shape after conflict, why relationships matter more than institutions, and the difference between negative peace and positive peace.

She also shares five principles for navigating environments where trust must be rebuilt:

Listening. Patience. Mediation. Dignity. Integrity.

The lesson is simple: trust cannot be rushed. It is earned through a track record, kept honestly, over time.

Where in your own decisions are you already paying a trust tax — without naming it?

🎙️ Hosted by Najla El Mangoush

Sulha Edge explores leadership, conflict, negotiation, and the human dynamics that shape our world.

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What happens when leaders mistake more data for better decisions — or money for value?

In this episode of Sulha Edge, Najla El Mangoush speaks with Professor Emre Alkin, economist, author of more than 37 books, university president, advisor to major institutions and companies, and musician.

They explore why trust is not a "soft skill" but a structural foundation for leadership, how leaders should balance listening with taking decisive action, and what Turkey's experience with inflation can teach European businesses and policymakers.

The conversation also looks ahead to AI and the future of work, Europe's investment gap, Turkey's digital transformation, and the changing requirements for businesses in an increasingly connected economy.

Professor Alkin also shares his philosophy of leadership, the importance of integrity and execution, why listening can sometimes be more powerful than giving advice, and why true wealth comes from turning money into value.

A conversation about leadership, trust, economics, AI, decision-making and what it means to lead through uncertainty.

Need strategic guidance? BOOK A CALL HERE - https://sulhaedge.co.uk/discovery-call
What do you do when you’re negotiating with someone who appears to have more power than you?

In this episode of Sulha Edge, Najla El Mangoush draws on her experience as Libya’s former Foreign Minister to explore one of the most important lessons she learned in diplomacy: the standards you accept in small moments become the standards you live with in every moment that follows.

Najla shares a real diplomatic experience involving boundaries, protocol and an ambassador who crossed a line — and explains why holding your standards isn't stubbornness or arrogance.

It is about consistency, trust and knowing what you are unwilling to normalize.The lesson applies far beyond diplomacy.

#Negotiation #Leadership #Diplomacy #ConflictResolution #BusinessLeadership

What does it really mean to be the first?

In this episode of Sulha Edge, Najla El Mangoush reflects on her experience as Libya’s first female Foreign Minister and the unexpected weight that comes with being the person who enters a room for the first time.

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Being first can mean being judged before you are heard, having your achievements questioned, and carrying the pressure of representing something larger than yourself.

Najla shares the lessons she learned from leadership, scrutiny, being underestimated, and navigating moments when doing the job well wasn't enough to guarantee recognition.

But being underestimated can also become a source of strength.

This is a conversation about leadership, visibility, resilience, and learning not to make yourself smaller just because others are uncomfortable with your presence.

Sulha Edge explores diplomacy, negotiation, conflict resolution, and the human stories behind leadership in complex environments.

Najla Elmangoush is Libya’s first female Foreign Minister and founder of Sulha Edge, a podcast that translates real-world diplomacy, negotiation, and conflict resolution into practical insight for business leaders navigating complex environments. Drawing on her advisory work across Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan, and her scholarship on Sulha, a Libyan tradition of restorative diplomacy, she surfaces the dynamics leaders often miss until it costs them. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Cambridge Centre for Geopolitics and visiting faculty at Topkapi University, a Fulbright alumna, BBC 100 Women honoree, and recipient of the US International Women of Courage Award. Each episode is built to help you act earlier, reduce risk, and make sharper decisions, without needing to master every environment you operate in.