DUBAI : THE INSIDE STORY
New book reveals how Shaikh Mohammad’s CEO-like decisions coupled with a penchant for risk-taking put emirate on global map |
Through his book, Dr Yasar Jarrar, a former member of The Executive Office of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai, paints a story of a man and his vision that has transformed Dubai into the global powerhouse it is today.
‘The Sheikh CEO’ is a carefully crafted tale of Shaikh Mohammad’s enterprising approach to running Dubai, with a business-like precision, coupled with a penchant for risk-taking, even when the chips are stacked against him.
Perhaps the most telling line in the book describes a core principle that Shaikh Mohammad imbibes while running the emirate. The diktat is clear: economy should take the front seat and politics comes second.
Loving ode
Yet, even as a reader revels in his leadership traits, Dr Jarrar brings a personalised touch to his words, narrating endearing stories about Shaikh Mohammad, who will drop everything at a moment’s notice to treat his stressed out staff to a Chinese meal or keep up the traditions of his ancestors by hosting a majlis (informal meeting) at Zabeel Palace every Tuesday to ensure his people remain happy.
‘The Sheikh CEO’ is certainly a loving ode to an enterprising leader, but Dr Jarrar also weaves in a telling lesson or two about the visionary that is Shaikh Mohammad. Here are six insightful tales from his book:
1 Burj Khalifa was not meant to be the world’s tallest tower
The city is synonymous for being home to the world’s tallest tower, but according to Dr Jarrar, the original plan for the Burj Khalifa capped the building at a mere 90 floors — a far cry from the 163 floors that stand tall in the centre of Downtown Dubai today.
Dr Jarrar quotes Mohammad Al Abbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, which spearheaded the project, who recalls visiting Shaikh Mohammad during those early years to negotiate a land-for-shares deal with Dubai Government. The book describes Shaikh Mohammad quizzing Al Abbar on the plan for the tower and comparing them to the tallest towers in the world.
When he discovered that the Dubai tower would be nowhere close to reaching the dizzying heights that Burj Khalifa commands today, Shaikh Mohammad refused the deal and dispatched Al Abbar to return to the drawing board and come up with a new plan. Weeks later, the Emaar head returned with a drawing of a tower that he described as “20 per cent taller than anything on the planet.”
With that, Shaikh Mohammad responded with a smile, and said: “I think we can do this land swap.”
2 The Gulf Air stand-off
‘The Sheikh CEO’ describes Shaikh Mohammad as a forwardthinking ruler who realised early on in his public career that healthy competition would encourage a robust economy and pave the way for free trade. Dr Jarrar quotes Shaikh Mohammad in the book who recalls a story from 1985, a time when the Bahrain-based Gulf Air monopolised air traffic in the region. Gulf Air was using Dubai International Airport as a hub and sought to put an end to the open-skies policy. “They wanted to protect their market share and even set us a deadline of a few weeks to comply,” the book quotes Shaikh Mohammad as saying.
Without wasting a moment, Shaikh Mohammad refused the request and facilitated renting two aeroplanes from Pakistan and created an airline that we now know as Emirates.
3 If you build it, they will come
The ever-popular line from Field of Dreams is a testament to Dubai’s growth and the emergence of freezones such as Dubai Internet City (DIC) and Dubai Media City (DMC).
The book describes Shaikh Mohammad’s constitution to ‘act fast’ when making decisions, a learning that has been passed down to him by his father, the late Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
Dr Jarrar cites Mohammad Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Future and the Chairman of the Executive Office, who narrates a story about the origins of DIC. “Shaikh Mohammad took me for a ride in his car and we drove down to the Dubai-Abu Dhabi Road near Jebel Ali, part of which was a sabka [salt flats],” Al Gergawi is quoted as saying. Shaikh Mohammad looked out over the land and told Al Gergawi, “We want you to build an area focused on technology and media.”
And the project would not be funded by public money. To achieve the inevitable, the project leaders secured a business loan of $200 million from HSBC and today, DIC and DMC are home to some of the biggest names in the business.
4 Dubai Metro nearly didn’t happen
According to Dr Jarrar, taking risks is how Shaikh Mohammad plans visionary projects for his beloved city. The Dubai Metro, which today serves as the lifeline of the city’s public transport system, was a project that very nearly didn’t happen.
The book describes the Executive Council opposing the project, calling it a ‘white elephant’ and the fact that the city’s residents were simply not accustomed to the public transport culture. The project’s Dh19 billion price tag was also brought up as a potential hurdle.
Shaikh Mohammad reportedly heard both sides of the story but ultimately took the risk by instructing the Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai to commence with the metro project at the fastest pace possible. Today, Dubai Metro is more than 10 years old, having transported more than 1.5 billion passengers since its launch in 2009.
5 Airport wait time reduced
Perhaps the most endearing anecdote in The Sheikh CEO is Dr Jarrar’s revelation of how actively Shaikh Mohammad follows up on complaints made by the public. When the Dubai ruler heard about passengers being forced to wait close to 45 minutes to receive their baggage, he hopped into his car one night and drove down to the airport himself to witness this. Dr Jarrar narrates that Shaikh Mohammad actively spoke to passengers waiting at baggage claim and gave the airport eight weeks to halve this time. When the deadline was up, Shaikh Mohammad once again trekked back to the airport to check whether this had been achieved. Realising the goal had not been met as yet, he gave the authorities another eight weeks to achieve success or face consequences.
Three members from the Executive Office, including Dr Jarrar himself, were assigned to the airport with stopwatches for daily checks to ensure passengers were not inconvenienced any further. By the end of the 16 weeks, the luggage wait had been reduced to less than 25 minutes.
6 Mohammad Al Gergawi was discovered through a mystery shopper
We’ve all heard the stories, but confirms that Shaikh Mohammad often employs mystery shoppers to ensure government services are up to par and any problematic areas are actively addressed.
The book describes that in the 90s, the mystery shoppers started reporting back on a young man in his 20s who would often go out his way to assist people visiting the Department of Economic Development. The young man’s name was Mohammad Al Gergawi and Shaikh Mohammad was actively listening. A few years later, when Al Gergawi was offered a job in the private sector, Shaikh Mohammad heard of this and decided to offer the young man the position of Deputy Director of the Department of Economic Development. Today, he remains an integral member of Shaikh Mohammad’s core team.