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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, attended part of an inspiring dialogue session titled “Leadership Flashes from the School of Mohammed bin Rashid”, which was organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Centre for Leadership Development, on the occasion of its 20th anniversary celebration. The session was attended by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, and His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Second Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Media Council.
The panel discussion was attended by Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairperson of Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, Member of Dubai Council, His Excellency Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai, and His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Commissioner-General of Dubai Police.
For the Infrastructure, Urban Planning and Quality of Life track, the Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai, where the session highlighted the visions and experiences of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and the leadership lessons in His Highness’s journey and their impact on consolidating the UAE’s pioneering position, and building models of ambitious leaders capable of proactive thinking and conquering the impossible.
Unique School of Leadership
During the session, moderated by media personality Jamal Al Mulla, Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the leadership philosophy of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, where Her Highness narrated stories and positions that highlight His Highness’s human and personal side, and how this side contributed to Her Highness’s journey of learning and inspiration, both on a professional and personal level.
During the session, His Excellency Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim referred to his experience working with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, His Highness’s unique school of leadership, and his strategic vision in the field. His Excellency also shared with the attendees a number of stories and experiences that brought him together with His Highness, highlighting the depth of his leadership vision and wisdom in dealing with challenges and achieving goals.
During the inspiring session, His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer reviewed the thinking of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in leading government work and supporting his team with continuous qualification and development and arming them.
With the necessary tools to achieve excellence and success, and how His Highness’s visions have contributed to building a new generation of innovative and distinguished leaders who effectively contribute to developing their communities and building a better future.
great father
Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum began her speech by describing His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, saying: “His Highness is a great father before being a great leader. He is a father to everyone. He has never been stingy with his fatherhood towards his team members and his people. He is our support, source of inspiration, pride and dignity, and the owner of the big heart.”
“Since my childhood, I realized that I share with my father an entire country, a young country with great ambition. His Highness was the youngest Minister of Defense in the world, and he assumed great responsibilities in a short period of time, which contributed to refining His Highness’s leadership personality. Despite these responsibilities, family cohesion is his first priority. My father is an exceptional person who is ahead of his time, even in raising his children. He follows the principle of friendship as a unique approach in his fatherhood, and is keen to activate the language of dialogue as a tool for communication between us. He is the teacher and guide from whom we learned the importance of initiative and bearing responsibility,” Her Highness added.
Her Highness pointed out that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is keen to spend time with his family members and meet his grandchildren, noting that this enhances the spirit of inspiration and determination among all family members. His Highness does not hesitate to motivate his children and grandchildren and encourage them to discover their strengths and distinctions and develop their talents, out of his belief that
Building a leadership personality begins with paying attention to talents, developing them, and investing in them in the right way.
Speaking about His Highness’s leadership approach, Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stressed that the secret of His Highness’s inspiration lies in the fact that he is the rare leader whose words are always coupled with actions, and whose achievements are based on facts and figures, noting that he fosters in his children a sense of responsibility and a sense of duty.
Her Highness said: “My father is always present with his heart, mind and body during our conversations with him. He pays attention to our strengths and supports us to be positive and active personalities in society. He gave us the freedom to experiment and take risks, and taught us that every mistake we make is an opportunity to learn, improve and develop. His Highness always encouraged us to be creative and innovative.”
Her Highness expressed her pride and happiness at the reflection of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s personality on her children, stressing her keenness to have them with their grandfather at all times, which contributes to refining, building and developing their personalities, especially since His Highness embodies an exceptional example and model of ambition, achievement and determination.
Forward thinking
During the session, Her Highness spoke about her father’s passion for culture and arts, and his love for reading, stressing that he is a first-class reader who believes that the secret to the success and strength of societies lies in reading. She said: “His Highness grew up in a cultural environment that inspired him and refined his poetic experience. He is a poet who is distinguished by his
His poems, with their cognitive value and philosophical dimensions drawn from life and rich experience, are treasures of knowledge and lessons in leadership whose echoes have reached the world, and rich references that contribute to the development of knowledge and creative thinking among readers.
Her Highness pointed out that the “Arab Reading Challenge” initiative was a dream of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who bet on the youth and new generations and succeeded in his bet, stressing that the success of this initiative globally is due to His Highness’s forward-looking thinking and his urgent desire to bring about positive and real change in the Arab world.
Inspiring Leader
For his part, His Excellency Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim stressed at the beginning of the dialogue session that talking about the personality of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum requires volumes, because we are in the presence of an exceptional leader who combines a comprehensive future vision, a passion for development and progress, great ambitions, the ability to change and develop, and an interest in sustainable development, in addition to his modesty and interest in the human and cultural aspect, in a unique combination of qualities that made him an inspiring global leader who was able to dazzle the world with the city of Dubai, which has become a global center and a leading city in all sectors.
His Excellency said: “Although I have known His Highness since I was 11 years old, 63 years ago, I am certain that I do not know much about His Highness’s unique and distinguished personality, which made him an exceptional leader.”
His Excellency continued: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is a brilliant and intelligent leader who loves challenges in all their forms. He also has a high artistic sense, as he is a skilled poet, well-versed in Emirati culture and heritage, and is known for his love of Nabati poetry, through which he expresses his ideas and orientations. His Highness also enjoys exceptional patience, precision and methodology in his thinking, as His Highness looks at things from unconventional angles as a result of his amazing ability to think outside the box. These qualities are what made Dubai the “Pearl of the World” and built it into a global city.
His Excellency said: “His Highness has an exceptional ability to transform challenges into opportunities, and this is what distinguishes him as a leader who does not know the impossible. Even in the most difficult times, and when the world faces unprecedented challenges, His Highness comes up with innovative solutions, because his thinking is not restricted by the usual methods, but rather stems from a renewed vision that makes Dubai a model of resilience and excellence.”
His Excellency added: With every challenge, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum sought to provide us with a profound lesson; which is that fears do not affect a true leader, as leadership capabilities appear in times of crisis, and this was also clearly demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic, where His Highness presented an inspiring model in leading us to safety.
A leader ahead of his time
In turn, His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer stressed that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, is an inspiring leader… ahead of his time, and looking to the future.
He is a leader who says what he does and does what he says. His Highness’s ambition does not stop at achievement, and he always strives for excellence and leadership.
His Excellency reviewed some of the positions of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, which highlight the leadership aspects that distinguished His Highness and resulted in making the transformations that made Dubai an attractive global city to live and settle in. Among those positions was the position of establishing the Roads and Transport Authority in 2005, when Dubai was witnessing a rapid pace of development and traffic challenges with the presence of many development projects. His Highness assigned me to prepare a study within two months to establish an authority concerned with developing the transportation infrastructure, whose work model would be different from government departments, and to apply the institutional model similar to the global company to be flexible and able to meet requirements, out of His Highness’s belief in the pivotal role of infrastructure in enhancing the rapid growth movement at that time to lead global cities such as: London, Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong. The study was submitted within a month.
His Excellency said: The law establishing the Authority included provisions allowing the establishment of commercial companies, and today, after 18 years, His Highness’s vision has been translated into the establishment of companies including Salik, Dubai Taxi and Parkin with a market value of AED 46 billion. With His Highness’s support and direct follow-up of the Authority’s projects, the path of infrastructure, urban planning and quality of life, projects worth more than AED 200 billion have been implemented and important strategies have been launched to serve the emirate, the most important of which is the Dubai Urban Plan 2040.
In the context of his speech, His Excellency touched on the story of the floating bridge, which embodied His Highness’s innovative approach, and said: We presented to His Highness plans to build a bridge linking the two banks of Dubai Creek, which would be completed within two years. His Highness directed the implementation of an innovative solution used in the military field, which is the floating bridge, and it was completed within 6 months, and the projects followed one after the other, as the number of lanes on Dubai Creek increased from 19 lanes in 2005 to 60 lanes currently.
On the other hand, His Excellency stated that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum was distinguished by his challenge to difficulties and his refusal to recognize the impossible, which enabled Dubai to overcome the global financial crisis in 2008. Dubai continued, under His Highness’s directives, to implement projects and fulfill its obligations in this regard. One of the most important projects that was inaugurated at that time was the Dubai Metro project, which entered service on 9/9/2009. He pointed out that the exceptional leader is full of positive energy and is keen to think of innovative and quick solutions to overcome challenges, especially during crises.
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer added: “His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has made Dubai a city capable of adapting and withstanding changes and challenges. There is much evidence of this, most notably: Dubai is among the first global cities to organize the e-hailing companies sector: (Ehail). In 2016, e-hailing companies began to spread, such as (Uber and Careem), which posed a challenge to many global cities due to its impact on the operation of taxi services. His Highness was keen to provide the service due to
Due to its importance and the great demand for it from tourists, he directed the establishment of a regulatory framework for it, as an agreement was signed and a technical system was developed with the companies (Uber and Careem) in 2016 to operate the electronic reservation service, which is the first of its kind in the world, and this service currently transports more than 43 million passengers annually.
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer pointed out that His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum believes in the work team and is keen to appreciate and thank them for every achievement that contributes to enhancing the status of the Emirate of Dubai and achieving happiness for the people.
His Excellency continued: During the celebration of the opening of the Business Bay Crossing in 2007, His Highness suddenly approached the workers on the project, thanked them and took memorial photos with them. His Highness said: “These are the people who worked on implementing the project.” When the Authority was established in 2005, His Highness granted me the authority to select the work team from among the young leaders, and they now hold the positions of executive directors in the Authority and CEOs of the companies launched by the Authority.
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer stressed that the vision and ambition of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum are limitless, citing His Highness’s approval of the unique design of the Shindagha Bridge “Infinity” which expresses Dubai’s unlimited ambitions.
