Effective leaders take ideas to the moon, yet keep feet firmly on the ground; achieving the extraordinary is piecemeal for them. Their humility, passion and dedication is priceless, and has been chronicled for centuries. Today’s leaders are extending this list of virtues, with the ability to identify needs that are neither tangible nor visible. Their innovation and change is tapping into needs that hail from emotional disconnection with people, places and resources.
Great leadership examples ‘close to home’
Take Abdulla Al Shehhi, an Emirati on a mission. He recognises the importance of water and its dwindling reserves, dedicating his business to reduced water consumption. Many wouldn’t care – Mr Al Shehhi does. His first venture, Q2 General Cleaning Services, a car wash facility located in most major shopping centres, uses minimal water per wash while maintaining a quality service. Data now demonstrates a large amount of litres per car wash are saved through his car-washing methodology. No longer content with that success, Mr Al Shehhi is now exploring additional avenues to provide access to water that may otherwise be wasted.
Take the person behind squirrel.me, a great example of leadership in today’s business environment as it taps into consumers’ lack of discipline with money. Rather than having your entire salary spent in the first few days of the month, Squirrel withholds portions of a salary, distributing it weekly as per standing instructions. Governed and regulated for legal purposes, the company withholds an amount of salary until a dedicated financial target or goal has been met. Squirrel’s founder recognised the need for financial discipline by connecting with the emotional degradation of people in its absence.
Similarly, Ambareen Musa, from the financial comparison website Souqalmal.com, chose not to stand by and watch families suffer because they did not understand how credit cards work and the fees they can attract through misuse. Many wouldn’t care, but Ms Musa does. She is passionate about equipping buyers with the knowledge and ability to purchase within their means, and has done so in a language a layman would understand. This online marketplace takes the worry and complexity out of obtaining a credit card. Emotional reconnection and family happiness is again at the core of a business.
Humility is evident with founders of such initiatives. They recognise that leaders do not and cannot stand alone while forging positive change. They quite often do not take stock of just how far they have travelled until a major milestone or award occurs and then they pay the praise forward to their teams.
The world rewards their contributions
In today’s business landscape, the world pays homage to these “connected” business leaders. It provides them opportunity and power, allowing them to demonstrate time and again that leadership taps into a purpose. Without purpose there really would be no leadership.
Quite often the purpose is intangible. In Mr Al Shehhi’s case, he’s not driven by a product or service, but rather a genuine concern about lack of water, and hence his purpose is to both conserve existing water supplies and discover untapped sources of water. This intangible can only help in a world with dwindling reserves of water, and the business world provides greater exposure to, and support for, his ideas.
In Ms Musa’s case, she’s also not driven by a product or service, but rather a genuine concern of large entities having no empathy for families who may not have the same level of understanding regarding finance. And hence her purpose provides financial education, in plain English and simple terms. This then facilitates informed decision-making for families. This intangible can only help in a world with increasing debt and anguish; the business world in turn is providing Souqalmal.com greater exposure and opportunity.
This type of power and exposure produces positive influence, attracting a viral-like following that in turn become tipping points. These leaders identify great opportunity to serve intangible limitation, frustration, worry or concern, and ensure their actions bring efficiency, peace of mind and engagement.
The use of this power
With this power comes responsibility, and each of the above leaders’ immeasurable and invaluable responsibility is given serious attention. They understand that their dreams do not belong to themselves but to a future generation and ensure their beacon of hope will live beyond their own days.
It is true that leaders can be “out there”, exploring the land of creation and change. They dare to venture where others will not go, pushing limits and challenging processes at every opportunity. They no longer work only with new ideas in the material world but also connect with human needs in an emotional world, solving issues of an intangible nature. Leadership 2.0 is emerging at our time of greatest need. Are you willing and able to strengthen this movement, assisting where possible?
Debbie Nicol, based in Dubai, is the managing director of business en motion and a consultant on leadership and organisational development, strategic change and corporate culture
business@thenational.ae
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Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”