Praise for Dubai Ruler’s tweets on good leadership
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, criticised a culture of mismanagement in parts of the Arab world in a series of tweets at the weekend.
The tweets to his 9.3 million followers said engaging in politics in the Arab world was “a waste of time”, and that morals had been corrupted. And he said there were too many politicians in the Arab world, and a lack of administrators.
“We have a crisis of management, not a crisis of resources,” Sheikh Mohammed said at the weekend.
When his summer tweet series began on July 26, he spoke of the difficulty in finding effective leaders, in an apparent lead-up to Saturday’s comments.
Sheikh Mohammed said the hardest mission he faced was finding leaders who displayed self-doubt and were not narcissistic.
He also drew thousands of comments when he posted that the best accomplishment was to change the lives of others.
“If your concern is yourself, then you are small.
“If your concern is another, then you are bigger than many people,” Sheikh Mohammed said.
He quoted a verse from the Quran referring to Prophet Ibrahim, saying that he was “a nation”, meaning he was a leader with all the good and righteous qualities.
Azza bin Suleiman, a member of the Federal National Council, replied: “The issues raised in these tweets are the cure to many of the world’s problems.
“Most crises within states and organisations are caused by the absence of leaders who prioritise public interests over their own. Feeling what others do and caring for their welfare is a distinguished quality for governments who wish to excel.”
Mustafa Agha, a renowned sports presenter on MBC, also hailed the posts, retweeting them.
“This is the job of a politician,” Agha said. Dr Mohammed Al Mahr, who works with children with cancer from Saudi Arabia, said: “In the Arab world, politicians have been interfering in education, health and justice until we had the worst education, worst health and a limp in the justice system.” This is not the first time Sheikh Mohammed, who is famously savvy with social media, has used it to convey his thoughts and observations.
He often posts his thoughts during the summer months under an Arabic hashtag that translates to “life has taught me”.
Unafraid of standing up for what he believes during last summer’s season of tweets Sheikh Mohammed criticised governments for looking backwards instead of thinking about how to build towards the future.
“One who doesn’t change will see the circumstances around him change and he will deteriorate,” he said.
“One who does not develop – the speed train that is the world … will not wait for him.
“And one who does not learn, each day that passes will increase their backwardness.” A month later he tweeted that a great organisation was one that invested the most in the well-being of its people, “as great leaders nurture and invest in the leaders yet to come”.
“A leader’s legacy endures when he empowers his people, spreads the virtues of loyalty and cohesion and plants the seeds of innovation,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote.
That month, he also posted an article on LinkedIn focused on countries’ need to spur their own growth and drive their own development.
“The world waits for no one. Those who do not learn and evolve can stumble and often fall,” he wrote.
“Nations, like people, need change to grow and develop.
“Some governments live in the past, many struggle with the present – a few are building the future.”