SimplyAbuDhabi XLI

I remember the first time I drove over the newly-opened Saadiyat Bridge in 2009, on to Saadiyat Island, when I was taken to a portacabin to review approximately 80 files of the proposed projects for the island. It seemed like I was literally in the middle of a desert island. I picked the first file off the shelf, and saw for the first time the contract for the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The second file was for the Guggenheim. The third was for a golf course, the next, the St Regis hotel and so on. It seemed like real life SimCity. Since then, more than AED 100 billion has been spent developing the island, into the incredible cultural and tourist destination it is today. And it continues to evolve: in March 2023, The Abrahamic Family House formally opened – a beacon of peace among people of faith deriving from Abraham. It consists of a mosque, church, synagogue, and educational centre – a further symbol of the way Abu Dhabi and the UAE continues to grow. Saadiyat is just one example of the exponential growth I have witnessed in my time in the UAE. I had the privilege during the golden jubilee of theUAEof interviewing 50 people who have all been part of the UAE’s extraordinary growth story, including H.E. Mohammed Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Aldar, which much of Saadiyat Island falls under. Each and every one of the 50 interviews told stories of the remarkable projects, developments and ideas that make the country what it is today, and where I am proud to call home. During the course of writing the book, I learned many things, not just about the UAE, but lessons that can be applied personally and professionally and which have profoundly altered my own outlook. How does one summarise? What does the Emirates stand for? What is the secret of success? What are the lessons? I do think that a few themes stand out, that I have summarized and grouped below. For me, I believe the EMIRATES stands for: E: Exponential Vision & Execution M: Mindset & Motivation I: Investment & Innovation R: Responsibility & Respect A: Adaptability & Agility T: Tolerance & Talent E: Environment & Ecosystem S: Safety & Stability Exponential Vision & Execution “We are like those who had climbed a mountain and reached the top. When we looked down, we still wanted to go higher to realise our goals. Despite all the achievements, we still have an ambition for more. That is my way of looking at things.” - HH Sheikh Zayed “Vision” is often over-used, but for me, the vision of the UAE can truly be described as “Exponential Vision”. A reporter once famously asked HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai, how much of his vision he had completed. He responded saying 10%. A few years later, the same reporter, seeing the visible change, asked the same question, expecting the vision to be near complete. HH Sheikh Mohammed responded that he had only accomplished 5% of his vision. Despite the huge achievements, the goal posts had moved. As he is well-known for saying: “The race for excellence has no finish line”. Another of his famous analogies is the following: “With each new day in Africa, a gazelle wakes up knowing he must outrun the fastest lion or perish. At the same time, a lion stirs and stretches, knowing he must outrun the fastest gazelle or starve. It is no different for the human race. Whether you consider yourself a gazelle or a lion, you simply have to run faster than others to survive”. This for me perfectly sums up the “Infinite Game” as articulated by Simon Sinek in his book of the same name, where he identifies, whether in business or in politics or in life itself, the players come and go, the rules are changeable, and there is no defined endpoint. There are no winners or losers in an infinite game, there is only ahead and behind. If one wants to understand the UAE, one has to understand that the guiding principle is that the nation is united by seeing a future in 50 years in which the UAE is racing ahead of everyone else across every metric. As the world’s progress accelerates, so does the vision. However, as Thomas Edison has been quoted as saying, “Vision without execution is hallucination”. As the UAE pavilion at Expo points out, not only was this “all just a dream” but this is a country of “Dreamers that Do”. You need the vision, but you also need to execute on that vision. Mindset & Motivation “The evidence of our material development that you see all around you did not emerge from nothing. It is the result of hard work, perseverance and commitment.” - HH Sheikh Zayed There is awork ethic and a growthmindset that underpins everything. HESara al Amiri, discussing how the UAE achieved theMarsMission, said: “For us, it was monumental shift in mindset, especially with regards to the appetite for risk. And this is what societally having a space programme does – it increases your appetite for risk because the bigger the programmes are, the chances of success are lower and therefore your appetite for getting into endeavours that are riskier becomes higher”. The UAE attracts people who want to make things happen. They can “chew the dynamism in the air”, as Sir Maurice Flanagan, founding CEO of Emirates described it. As Mohammed Omran, former Chairman of Etisalat said, “We want people to come here and win!” This is the land of opportunity. There is an optimistic outlook, and a positive perspective that pervades. Investment & Innovation “We must not rely on oil alone as the main source of our national income. We have to diversify the sources of our revenue and construct economic projects that will ensure a free, stable and dignified life for the people.” - HH Sheikh Zayed This diversification and investment in infrastructure and innovation is key to the Emirates’ success. As HH Sheikh Rashid famously said, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel”, pointing out that if Dubai didn’t diversify from oil, it would all be over in a few generations. Similarly, HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said, “In 50 years, when we might have the last barrel of oil, the question is: when it is shipped abroad, will we be sad? If we are investing today in the right sectors, I can tell you we will celebrate at that moment”. At the launch of Shams 1 solar field in 2013, he said: “The future, with its needs and challenges, calls upon us to embark on a perpetual quest for alternative sources of energy. This can only be done through the support of relevant scientific research. Our reliance upon knowledge and scientific thinking to achieve total development is the only way to bring our nation ahead to the stage of qualitative, non-oil production, a lesson learnt from nations with little or no natural resources”. Hub 71 and Area 2071 are classic examples where the leadership is proactively creating platforms for government entities in particular to disrupt themselves, and be a conduit for investment and innovation and set the stage for the next 50 years. On the wall of the Museum of the Future are inscribed the words of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid: “The secret to the renewal of life, the evolution of civilizations and the development of humanity is simple: innovation”. This is also etched into the foundations of the UAE. Simply Abu Dhabi | 301