Mr Agha Hasan Abedi founded BCCI (1972 - 1991) as the largest multi-national bank of the Third World. As President of the BCC Group, he did not see working in the bank exclusively in terms of profits and material gain. His unique management style and vision inspired a generation of bankers of many nationalities around the world.
INFLUENCE
Through every thought, word and deed we are constantly influencing our environment. The quality of that influence depends on the quality of the individual with whom it originates and his or her level of consciousness.
RELATIONSHIPS
Relationships mean relating life with life, and how in life can you have anything more pleasing and more powerful than this?
MANAGING THE CONTEXT
You have to ask yourself whether you are managing the operations, or the operations are managing you. Whether you are responding and reacting to situations and pressures or you make the things respond to you as well.
REAL MANAGEMENT
The conventional definition of management is getting work done through people, but real management is developing people through work.
PURPOSE OF OUR LIVES
Build the object and purpose of your life within you and not outside you in the mirage.
Addressing the seventh annual convocation of the prestigious Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, 1982.
LEADERSHIP
History shows that leadership at any level is not given - it is assumed by successful individuals.
Speaking to BCC employees (family members) of the BCCI Far East Regional Office and the Hong Kong Metropolitan Bank on the role of the individual and his environment, November 1983.
LIVE SPONTANEOUSLY
All parts of life are so interconnected, and the influence of each aspect of life on every other aspect so complex and diverse, that it is important for everyone to live spontaneously.
KNOW YOURSELF
Explore within yourself, explore outside yourself. Become an active partner in the exploration of the dynamic state of existence, exploring man's moving into and opening the door to a bigger cosmic dynamic.
SURVIVAL IN THE NUCLEAR AGE
We must move on - the horror of nuclear suicide squarely faced by masses and their leaders alike could bring the dawning of a new world awareness. We must live together or die together on spaceship Earth.
Addressing a distinguished audience of politicians, scientists, economists and businessmen, concluding a symposium held at the United Nations which included the presentation of the 1984 Third World Prize
POLITICS AND VALUES 
We are dealing with what engineers would identify as a total system. Yet our politics, and the values which underlie and shape them, are still locked in the divisions of an earlier age.
Addressing a distinguished audience of politicians, scientists, economists and businessmen, concluding a symposium held at the United Nations which included the presentation of the 1984 Third World Prize
GIVING
It is only in the act of Giving and receiving that life becomes a process; a process which is so wholesome, so embracing and so valuable; a process in quality and a process in infinity; a process from which we came into being and into which we are consumed; a process which is fusion of God's divinity and Man's humility.
Letter dated 15 January to BCCI family members
CARELESS GIVING
We are often hurt and we often hurt by unconscious and careless Giving. And this is every day eroding our innocence and purity and we are losing our wisdom, as innocence and purity alone receives the wisdom of God and it alone makes the quality of life.
Letter dated 15 January to BCCI family members
BRIDGE OF CHANGE
Change is the vital principle of existence; life is but a process of change. People live in the flux of change; they live in and through change, yet they are not sensitive enough to the reality of this all beholding phenomenon.
BCCI International June 1985
DISARMAMENT
Technology-led armament has been the rule for years. By contrast disarmament will require humanity to assert its primacy over technology.
Addressing a distinguished audience of politicians, scientists, economists and businessmen, concluding a symposium held at the United Nations which included the presentation of the 1984 Third World Prize
VISION
We should ask ourselves — do we relate only to things that are visible and tangible or to things that are invisible and intangible, such as ideas, concepts and, most importantly, to our vision? Do we have a vision of our own?
NO CONSEQUENCE
People are inclined unknowingly to become victims of relating only to the visible and the tangible and to things which come their way without the use of their will. They relate to routine matters only, they relate to things which are of no consequence to them or to their purpose, they relate to problems as they come to face them; they have no priorities
Discussion on the essence of management in BCC Far East regional office, Hong Kong
CHANGE
The important question that you should ask yourself is whether you are a subject of change or an agent of change.
Discussion on the essence of management in BCC Far East regional office, Hong Kong
CULTURE
Culture is a far bigger scope than the rules and systems to regulate the pattern and quality of activity; culture is a combination of environment, values and qualities of individuals.
BCC Marketing Conference in Oman on 17 April 1981
THE THIRD WORLD
The Third World has to rely on their own resources and they do not have the financial resources. But they have natural resources, and, more important than that, they have the human resources.
Interview with MidEast Report, a New York publication, October 1982.
MANAGEMENT FUNCTION
Bring the sense of possibility in yourself and to others. This is the management function.
Message for 1986 and future of BCC at meeting of all heads of central support office division in London
JUDGING OTHERS
When one person is judging the other person he judges from his standards and value systems. All this has a bearing in relationships.
Message for 1986 and future of BCC at meeting of all heads of central support office division in London
POSITIVE DYNAMICS
Dynamics is nothing but a sense of possibilities and relationships, flow of energy or flow of its power, the speed with which it flows and its quality. If the quality of relationships improves, if each person has a sense of possibility then a healthy and positive dynamics is created.
Message for 1986 and future of BCC at meeting of all heads of central support office division in London
HUMANITY
Humanity is neither knowledge nor the advancement in science and technology. It is humility, love, hope, faith, compassion, courage.
Addressing a distinguished audience of politicians, scientists, economists and businessmen, concluding a symposium held at the United Nations which included the presentation of the 1984 Third World Prize.
POWER
If we want power, we have to come to the state of nothingness from time to time.
BCCI International, July 1986
PROCESS OF CHANGE
The skill of management lies in remaining in tune with the universal process of change and its speed. When we succeed in doing this, we start to see what was previously unseen. We see a vacuum, which is also an opportunity. When this happens, we start to live through the process of change and our Life becomes transformed.
BCC Management Conference 1981 London United Kingdom.
EMBRACING CHANGE
We should remember that change creates a vacuum and opportunities spring up in its wake. Within us and around us there is always change. The secret of success and achievement is to be in tune with this change.
BCC Management Conference 1981 London United Kingdom.
ENLIGHTENED MANAGEMENT
We have certain values that give us a direction, values like humility which we see not as a moral value but as an element of scientific and enlightened management. It is pure delight to use humility to earn a living.
BCC Management Conference 1981 London United Kingdom.
ESSENCE OF MANAGEMENT
In every breath there is giving and taking. How can we avoid it in management?
BCC Management Conference, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 24 March 1983
ART OF MARKETING
Feeling Beyond - Reaching Beyond - This is the Art of Marketing
BCC Group Annual Management Conference, Vienna, Austria, 1984.
VALUE SYSTEM WITHIN US
Our value systems react and respond. We should have the value system which would enable us to have unimpeded growth for ourselves, for the organisation and for our society.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
EGO
We have to break the walls of our ego through the acceptance of change. Our ego takes away the mirror from us to see the world around us. It blocks our vision.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
HUMILITY
Humility is like having a clear state of our mind. We have to see that our values are in order and we are humble enough to have a value system to create a better life.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
HOPE AND INSPIRATION
Hope and inspiration are the two pillars of life, the twin qualities of living. Every day of our lives should be lived in hope and inspiration.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
TO GIVE AND TO TAKE
Giving is an element of our value system. We give in order to enrich ourselves. It is our way to God. However, there are some people who prefer only to take. In our greed only to take in life, we lose our basic human qualities. We have both to give and to take in order to be reasonable human beings.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
SPIRIT OF BANKING
Banking should be an integrated part of our life. It should not be practised in isolation: we have to live in fullness. We should do everything with the same spirit.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration is a state which results from the contact of the human spirit with the cosmic spirit: it creates a momentary spark, which remains a lifelong feeling and experience.
Addressing BCC officers at a conference during visit to Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1984.
CREATIVE INTELLIGENCE
Everything that is seen on the surface of life has its origin in the invisible. This abstract, unmanifest, invisible side of life is the home of pure creative intelligence.
BCC Management Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1982
ART OF MANAGEMENT - 1
Management is an art, a skill and a responsibility. Its primary function is to find the key to release human energy in life-supporting directions. Our energy must be of the highest quality, and we must have aspirations and ideals beyond reproach.
BCC Management Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1982
ART OF MANAGEMENT - 2
If we give ourselves completely to a purpose that is noble and pure, our enlightenment will guide others to the source of that light. Management of this nature cannot be carried out by external rewards and incentives.
BCC Management Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1982
PHENOMENON OF CHANGE
The phenomenon of change is the movement of a state of existence to a state of no-existence and back again to a state of existence. There could not be change, which is the process of life itself, if a state of existence did not move into a state of no-existence.
BCC Management Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1982
UNIVERSAL PATTERN
We can consciously become part of God's grand design. Whether we know it or not, we are part of a universal pattern. But by being aware of it, we can enjoy to the full its immensity and its beauty. This does not usually happen overnight.
BCC Management Conference, London, United Kingdom, September 1982
PROFIT
All management efforts, whether conceptual or by way of action, finally converge and flow into channels of productivity and it is needless to say that profit is the most important and the final product.
Message to BCCI employees, 31 May 1985.
HUMAN LIFE
Human life, in common with all creation, has its origin in some purpose and power and exists within the framework of certain principles which we call the Laws of Nature. We need to examine the reasons why we do what we do.
Addressing a strong audience of 2000 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, composed of top-level Chinese delegates, marketing experts from Europe and the US and representatives from a wide spectrum of business and political life: Grand Advertising a
MORAL FOUNDATIONS 
Every human activity has a moral basis and since trading, marketing and advertising are central human activities, I believe we have a positive duty to examine their moral foundations.
Addressing a strong audience of 2000 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, composed of top-level Chinese delegates, marketing experts from Europe and the US and representatives from a wide spectrum of business and political life: Grand Advertising a
MARKETING
Marketing when it is practised well is holistic, treating suppliers and customers, products, services and markets, with integrity both in the sense of honesty and in the other sense of treating them as a whole.
Addressing a strong audience of 2000 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, composed of top-level Chinese delegates, marketing experts from Europe and the US and representatives from a wide spectrum of business and political life: Grand Advertising a
EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES
For only when you see the possibilities within you, can you see them around and outside you.
GOOD MANAGEMENT
Good management should also have a clearcut purpose - a purpose worthy of its name. A purpose that has become the joint will of the manager and managed.
The Inaugural Address on REAL MANAGEMENT at the 1984 Management Convention of the Management Association of Pakistan in Lahore.
UNITY OF MORAL AND MATERIAL
The moral, which is equivalent to the principles and laws of Nature, governs all that is material. Hence, both must be acknowledged, treated, and felt as inseparable. No corporation can assume its identity and its quality without becoming one with its moral substance.
The Inaugural Address on REAL MANAGEMENT at the 1984 Management Convention of the Management Association of Pakistan in Lahore.