Episode 13 · Group Holdings
Cross-border leadership: Adam Malouf on transforming organisations across Dubai, Australia and beyond
The COO of the University of Wollongong and former Chief Investment Officer of Dubai's Knowledge Fund on leading across continents, cultures and sectors without losing the people along the way.
4 August 2025 · Hosted by Oliver Helvin
Highlights
Why this episode matters
Adam Malouf has led across private equity, real estate, government and education on multiple continents, including as Chief Investment Officer at Dubai's Knowledge Fund and now as COO and Vice-President of the University of Wollongong. His perspective on cross-border transformation is one of the most practically grounded on the podcast, and he is unusually candid about where the people layer is underinvested in most transformation programmes.
Key themes
The 80/20 rule applied to leadership attention
Adam's operating discipline is built on a consistent application of the 80/20 rule to where he spends his attention. Across private equity mandates and university operations alike, his observation is that most leaders spread their focus too evenly and dilute their impact as a result. He talks about how he identifies the 20 per cent that actually moves the needle in each new context and how that calculation changes between sectors.
Transformation is a people programme first
Adam has led transformation programmes across sectors and geographies, and his consistent diagnosis of failures is the same: the organisation sequenced systems before people. He talks about what the people-first sequence actually looks like in a large institution, how he has applied it at Wollongong, and why most transformation consultants who sell technology solutions are solving for the wrong constraint.
Cross-cultural leadership as a compounding skill
Adam has led teams across Dubai, Australia and multiple international contexts, and his view is that cross-cultural fluency is not a personality trait but an operating skill that compounds with practice. He talks about the specific moments where cultural misreading cost him time and credibility, what he has learned to read faster in a new environment, and how he now accelerates the calibration process when he moves into a new context.
AI in operations: shape it or inherit it
Adam is running AI-driven transformation initiatives at Wollongong and has a clear view: the leaders who are not actively shaping how AI lands in their organisations will inherit a version shaped by someone else, usually a vendor. He talks about what active shaping looks like at COO level, where the governance gaps are in most institutional AI programmes, and what he expects the university sector to get wrong in the next five years.
Transformation programmes that focus on systems before people fail. Every time. The sequence is not optional.
Takeaways
- Apply the 80/20 rule to your attention as a leader; most impact comes from a small set of decisions
- Transformation is a people programme first; systems and technology are what you build on top
- Cross-cultural fluency is an operating skill that compounds with every new environment you lead in
- AI in operations is already happening; the question is whether you are shaping it or inheriting it
- The move from investment strategy to university operations is a reminder that sector breadth compounds leadership
About Adam Malouf
Adam Malouf
Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President, University of Wollongong
Australia
Adam Malouf is a global leader with over 25 years of executive experience across private equity, real estate, finance, government and education. As former Chief Investment Officer of Dubai's Knowledge Fund he spearheaded investment strategies aligned with Dubai's long-term vision. Now as COO and Vice-President at the University of Wollongong, he oversees a multi-campus portfolio spanning finance, technology, people and strategic planning, including AI-driven transformation initiatives.
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