When Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, went on an early morning walk around some government offices last week and discovered few employees at their desks, he may have been practising the art of "management by walking around", as described in the 1982 best-selling book called In Search of Excellence, written by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. The authors profiled 43 successful American companies and found they shared eight common themes. "Management by walking around", developed by Hewlett-Packard in the 1970s, involves managers wandering, in an unstructured manner, through the workplace to check in with employees or equipment. Many of the book's other themes, such as learning from the customer and fostering innovations, have since become entrenched global business principles. But Mr Peters, 73, claims that 100 per cent implementation of his ideas is now far more important – for survival's sake – than it was 34 years ago. Here the management guru reveals what it takes to foster innovation in your firm.
How can companies best nurture an environment that enables innovation to happen?
In the 49 years I’ve been learning about management, I’ve actually only learnt one thing – WTTMSW – Whoever Tries The Most Stuff Wins. Somebody said to me “you’re a really good speaker, what can I learn from you? I said: “you can learn that the 3,000th speech is likely to be a lot better than the third”. WTTMSW sounds easy, but in most companies you don’t get to experiment very much. I advocate turning the company into a laboratory, where people go off and do little things to try to improve. Every time you try, you’ll get a little better.
Should the innovation process involve everybody in the company?
It should involve everybody, but that’s not consistent with algorithmic hiring. Call centres have done big data research and say they don’t want people with imagination, because they don’t make as many phone calls. I disagree, because I want those people to be able to develop a relationship with you in 35 seconds. They need to be able to chat a little bit and be curious about you, and even if it costs me some short-term business, it’s going to help me in the long term. Increasingly, creativity is being taken out of jobs, but even in the worst of times, a good boss can have a different way of doing things.
Is anybody anywhere capable of being innovative?
A big part is context. A lot of cool stuff is going on in Dubai because Dubai is the biggest mess of human beings from all over the planet. Diversity is essential, by which I don’t mean gender or colour, but “short people, tall people, fat people, thin people, people who went to university, people who didn’t” – to be confronted with a variety of points of view. Mixing them all up stimulates the imagination.
How else can companies encourage innovation?
Ninety per cent of [mistakes] in companies are because the finance people don’t talk to the engineers who don’t talk to the marketers, and that slows everything down. It’s important to break down those barriers. The bottleneck is at the top, on the board of directors, where we see the least diversity of thought and the most consistency of background. It’s a killer. If you hang out with more interesting people, you become more interesting, and if you hang out with the same people, you don’t learn anything. Go to lunch with crazy people who have nothing to do with you. It’s the only way you’ll learn, and create a madhouse environment with plenty of opportunities for innovation.
Are SMEs much more innovative by nature?
By a factor of about a gillion. Big companies have their uses, but the future is small – research shows that new and small companies create almost all the private sector jobs and are disproportionately innovative. The smaller companies create over 100 per cent of our jobs in the US, meaning the net employment level for our big companies is negative and the essence of success is start-ups. One of my best friends at McKinsey, Dick Foster, looked at detailed performance data stretching back 40 years of the 1,000 largest companies of the US. He found the longer the companies had been in the database, the worse they did.
But won’t we eventually reach a point where all useful innovations have already occurred?
We’re always saying that. In 1898, the US commissioner of patents is reported to have said “everything that can be invented has been invented”. I think innovation will go on ad infinitum. A 2014 Deloitte-University of Oxford study anticipates that 35 per cent of British jobs will be lost within 20 years to automation, and the only way to beat that problem is to invent our way out of it. The pace of change now is going through the roof.
Who are the next generation of entrepreneurs?
Across the world, the rate of women’s start-ups is way ahead of men’s – in the US, by a factor of 5 to 1. Instead of beating their heads against a glass ceiling, women are taking the reins. They’re getting better educated, which means that companies should be trying to employ at least the same number of women as men across the board.
business@thenational.ae
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
The%20specs
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Scores in brief:
- New Medical Centre 129-5 in 17 overs bt Zayed Cricket Academy 125-6 in 20 overs.
- William Hare Abu Dhabi Gymkhana 188-8 in 20 overs bt One Stop Tourism 184-8 in 20 overs
- Alubond Tigers 138-7 in 20 overs bt United Bank Limited 132-7 in 20 overs
- Multiplex 142-6 in 17 overs bt Xconcepts Automobili 140 all out in 20 overs
The specs
Engine: 2x201bhp AC Permanent-magnetic electric
Transmission: n/a
Power: 402bhp
Torque: 659Nm
Price estimate: Dh200,000
On sale: Q3 2022
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
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Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
The years Ramadan fell in May
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Elvis
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Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Company%20Profile
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
