Peek-A-Neo

Our lovely group: Now we became Peek-A-Neo. The Peekaboo and the Neo Neo Neo have merged. I can’t say who took over the other, but it was a mutual understanding and we all had a wonderful time mingling with each other. It was time to get out the things we learnt from our visits and present them to the other groups. Time was limited, thus we managed to finish with our limited resources.

It was so stimulating and inspiring to see the variety of ideas come out of most of the 80 delegates. I could see lots of talents and beautiful charismas that can easily grab anyone’s attention. Well, those people need to put themselves little higher on the stairs of success and climb faster to catch up the flying opportunities. I passed this note to some of the delegates. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that good on remembering all the names and this kept me somehow far from others.

I was amazed and thrilled by the acting talents some people showed, their incredible voices and sense of humor. The presentations could really show the outcome of the summit in the skills everyone demonstrated. It is right that the opportunity was not given to every individual and especially those who had something to offer. However, sometimes people should step back to allow others to shine as we have learnt from the summit.

The Ninth Day- Vodafone

The last visit was to Vodafone. This time it was all the delegates going together. We had a presentation about Al Johara project that started 14 months ago to help on women empowerment. It focused on employing women who are aged between 18 and 34 years old. The project was faced by some challenges when it first started such as language barrier as most of the women applied were not speaking English nor the project manager does speak Arabic.

In addition, most of the women were covering their faces which made it difficult to identify them. The biggest challenge was that they were untrained.
Hand by hand the women were given the necessary training 20% on services and 80% on skills and awareness to start facing the community with high confidence. They work from home and visit Vodafone only once a week.

I interacted with some of them and they seem to be happy working in such project that doesn’t tight them with time attendance every day. The success stories shared by the women were impressive and remarkable. One of them bought a house for her family. Another one got her driving license and then bought herself a car. Another one made one of the difficult deals that Vodafone officials were unable to do. How incredible having such wonderful and unnoticed moving gifts in the society! How wonderful giving them a chance to try and give from what they can offer.

Leadership in Action - Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Days

Sixth, seventh and eighth days of the summit were to see leadership in action. We had a couple of visits to various places in Qatar. The 80 delegates with their group leaders and the Mosaic team were divided into four groups.

Our group had the honor to visit Williams Technology Center in Qatar. The General Manager Mr. Damien Scott took us through the history of Formula 1 and the next evolution of formula 1 in Qatar. He spoke about the single focus and conviction of thinking to win and succeed that was common with F1 leaders. Then he spoke about the difficult times they went through during 2011 and described it as one of their worst years. He mentioned that part of this year challenge is that some people took more risk than they were supposed to take. It was difficult to allocate the required budget and find sponsors which affected the speed of the cars used in their races.

It is important for Williams as well as their competitors to have their unique style in motor technology. As part of their development strategy, they aim to bridge the gap between sport motor and industry, thus they have established the technology center in Qatar. They are also concerned about having a clear commercial goal, industrial applications and environmental friendly solutions. In addition, Williams F1 is contributing socially by inspiring and attracting the young generation to get into engineering.

The second visit was to Credit Suisse. First we had an introduction from the CEO, Aladdin Hangari. Then we watched a video followed by an interesting quiz. He spoke about how they could remain unaffected with the global financial crisis. His advice to banks that they have to stop the business that requires huge capitals in order to avoid risk and property trading, and focus on the clients satisfaction.

To him, the negative publicity about banks is not true as banks can contribute to helping people live better life by providing employment and training opportunities, and financing projects. He thinks that the best way to lead is by example. The leadership style he follows focuses on team approach, following procedures on reporting and weekly meetings, taking responsibility and accountability.

I loved the conversation we had with Mr. Fernando Cavargne-Sani, the Director of private banking. He was so honest and open. A person with high ethics and admires his own values and principles. I couldn’t believe that a person might be patient enough, creative enough and productive enough to stay in the same industry for about 43 years. That is a life time by itself.

Mr. Fernando is also very much concerned about his clients. He always listens and listens to them, finds the best solution for them and finds out what they really need. He believes that the change he wants to make is not an individual effort and has to be done by collaborating with other people. A great message he has passed to all people: Stop money out of money, fight money laundry, put some rules and regulations, take care of the money and give it to the people who really need it.

The third visit was to Doha Youth Center. We had two presentations delivered by Global Change Makers supported by British Council about the Time Bank Project and Basic Life Support. Majd Al Shibli gave a very interesting presentation about the Time Bank project and his personal experience in volunteering and spreading the importance of time and its ethics amongst the youth. Time Bank is a virtual bank that deals with hours and promotes for appreciating the value of time and using it the right way. It teaches the youth self investment, culture of volunteering, and corporate and social responsibility. In addition, it aims to build a network of dynamic youth who are eager to help the society and a network of funders to help the youth and enhance awareness.

The Time Bank team is a sold team that has media, marketing team and implementation team. It ensures the project sustainability by having a map that organizes tasks. Even if someone steps down and leaves the project in the middle, the map keeps it running. The team also focuses on using technology such as blackberry service and face book as it is the fastest way of approaching and reaching the youth than using papers. That is also part of their plan to remain green and environment friendly.

Finally we had a very active presentation about basic life support and first aid. Hatim Elaji spoke about the importance of CPR. He was so energetic and has a great sense of humor and enthusiasm towards his responsibility on convincing us. This was part of his volunteering work and change making task on raising the community awareness of CPR. He insisted that our role on saving someone’s life is more important than the hospital.

Fourth and Fifth day- Leadership and Change

Fourth day of the summit was about leadership and change. Again there was the stunning Binna Kandola and Stuart Duff talking about engaging people in change. We had an overview of the change curve and the various stages of change. The practical exercise involved this time around four people per group. It was challenging and exciting to identify the stages of change of the given examples as they were somehow similar. But we made it all right.

To me, the most exciting part was to implement it on myself. I can happily say that the change curve taught me more about my current situation and the change I am going through. Now I clearly understand what I require to go to the higher stage. It is about giving us a logical explanation of what a change means.

The lecture covered the part of engaging people in change emotionally, strategically and influentially. It also covered the types of leadership:
- Unconscious/ Incomplete (Direct leadership)
- Conscious/ Incomplete (Coaching and mentoring)
- Conscious/ Complete (Support)
- Unconscious/ Complete (Delegate)

As a reflection of this session, I went looking for a mentor. And here I go with my group leader Shaeb Alnajjar. I chose Shaeb because I was amazed and inspired by the way he accepted the change in his life and went on towards his successful future. He was a good listener, paid attention to my story and provided me with wise and smart pieces of advice.

Then we come to the fifth day of the summit. It was a continuation of the last session about change in addition to action planning and sustainability. In the beginning, Binna and Stuart spoke about influence and persuasion. What works when you have been influenced? Why do they influence you? What people say and how do they behave?

We had an interesting exercise and this time my partner was Dr.Umair from Jordan. He played the role of the persuader and was able to convince me with his reasons though I was trying to be more reluctant. On the second part of the exercise I was supposed to be the persuader but I turned up to the pursuer. Dr. Umair was so influential and the example of the exercise just worked very well for his advantage.

I learnt that the importance of influence by words is only 7%, body language 55% and the tone is 38%. Thus I have to pay more attention to my body language when persuading someone.

I also learnt that leadership skills can be born and built in a person. Leadership authorities can be extended to others and a leader should know when to step back and allow others to take a major role on leading. There is no perfect leader, rather, there is a leader who is always keen to learn, try and review and get feedback. It is good to have roll models, yet not to be copying them or under their shadow.
It was the last day with Binna and Stuart. Frankly, I felt bad. I really admired their knowledge, humility and humbleness. They have not made any gaps or barriers with us and it was a great pleasure to be in their lectures.

Then we had the sustainability lecture with Will Day. I liked his name so much. He presented so many frustrating and shocking facts; nevertheless he was impressive with his way of presenting. He said “Prediction is very difficult especially about the future” and he is right.

Will Day raised some serious and challenging questions: what needs to change? What are the priorities? What are the obstacles? How might they be addressed? And the most tricky question was: what does success look like?

Third day of the Summit- Katara

Third day of the summit covered the perspectives and understanding of self aware leader. Binna Kandola and Stuart Duff massively explained the fundamental characteristics of self awareness, awareness of people around us and the awareness of what is going around. Then we had a practical exercise on coaching.
My coach was Niken from Indonesia. It was our first time to interact with each other. The exercise was so helpful and fruitful. We had to talk about our goals, the reality and how confident we feel about it, the various options that could be done and what will we do about it. Though I have been thinking about my goal months back, writing, researching, planning and modifying the plan every time, looking for financial resources, coaching was an enormous experience that gave me more ideas and options. In fact Niken and I found out that we have some similar passions and we could somehow work together in the future.

I was happy to be a coach. I think I was able to ask Niken some magic questions in addition to the broad and specific ones. I guess that helped on provoking more positive thinking and relieved the flow of ideas and made them more achievable.

I feel glad to know Niken and to know about her goals as they were more than one. We promised to keep the first goal secret between us provided that I keep on following up her progress. It is realistic and feasible Niken, you just need to raise your confidence about it.

Another exciting part about the third day was related to positive thinking “resilience”. We had the lecture in Katara, The Cultural Village. Resilience is “The ability of bouncing back from a set back”. What a wonderful accomplishment when being resilient. “Do not be your biggest obstacle to your progress” as Binna Kandola said. That is a fact. In most of the cases, we are the main reasons of our failures regardless of the surrounding resources. We should admit the fact that we all have bias.

The day went on smoothly and we had two more lectures in Katara. Ayesha Al Mudehki, Executive Director of INJAZ Qatar and a lecturer from the British Council (unfortunately I can not recall his name). They both spoke about bringing communities together and the importance to cultural exchange.

Finally we had the chance to visit the first traditional DHOW exhibition in Katara. It was an interesting exhibition in a pleasant weather and wonderful beach. The reflection of the boats’ lights, the waving flags and the shadows of the sky on the sea face gave incredible and unforgettable scene.

Be a change maker

In the second day of the summit we had Farah Williamson, Middle East Director, The Social Investment Consultancy giving us a lecture in Poverty. Though I have already spoken about this day in my previous post, I feel like adding more at least to the part related to me.

Farah and her mother are doing fabulous and extraordinary work to help poor people in less fortunate places in the world, mainly in water supply and sanitation. It is very sad and frustrating to see how some people do not get access to the very basic needs every human being requires. On the other hand, people in some other areas of the world start fighting for no reasons except wealth and power.

Farah discussed The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and how their implementation is different from a country to another depending on their priorities. Well, let me say it frankly that Farah’s presentation was not shocking to me as I keep on watching such statistics on TV. I always feel the pain and sometimes contribute on collecting donations from family and friends. However, it was a big slap and a wake up call to be effective and a change maker. Can’t I be like Farah but with my own way? Can’t I use the positive energy within myself and bring it out into reality to serve those who are really in need? In fact we are all in need, nevertheless, our needs are different in a way or another. Despite of our differences, we are created to complete each other and walk along in the life long path.
Just use the good things within you for the best of the world. In the end, we all share the same world and our advantages should no longer conflict with another.

Three days of the Mosaic Summit

Three days have passed just like a jiffy. Different people, various nationalities with unique personalities and wonderful capabilities have joined all together to create the Mosaic summit. The summit is organized properly, the food is delicious and most importantly, the speakers are tremendously excellent.

First day, we had nice introductory speeches from the Mosaic management, Alison and Jonathan. Then we heard from Dr.Saif Al Hajari the Vice Chairperson in Qatar Foundation and His Excellency the Ambassador of UK, John Hawkins .

After that Stephen Howard, the CEO of Business in the Community gave a wonderful speech about his personal leadership journey.

With Stephen Howard

Finally it was the amazing Robert Swan who also amazingly spoke about his personal leadership journey. We were also introduced to Professor Binna Kandola, the Senior Partner in Pearn Kandola.

With Robert Swan

As delegates, we started building the pieces of the Mosaic from the first day of our journey to Qatar and before we even reach its airport. Our differences melted with each other to create a harmonic and unique summit.
The second day we had Proff. Kandola and Stuart Duff taking about the leadership and involving us in very exciting exercises. There was also Farah Williamson, Middle East Director at the Social Investment Consultancy. Farah inspired us by her patience and great work to help people who are suffering from poverty.

In the third day of the summit is special. Most of the delegates dressed nicely representing their national dresses. Variety of styles and colors were all merged and united in the summit and created a fantastic mosaic shape. Prof. Kandola and Stuart gave kept us active intellectually and physically by the speeches and exercises of leadership.

The most exciting part of the day was when we had a visit to Katara, the spectacular cultural village in Qatar. In the begging, we had a speech from Prof. Kandola. Then we had a speech by Ayesha Al Mudehki, Executive Director of INJAZ Qatar. There was another speech by a lecturer from the British Council (unfortunately I can't recall his name).

With Tayseer and Ayesha Al Mudehki
Finally it was the time for us to explore Katara. It is an amazing place facing the sea that is carrying some traditional boats from the gulf countries. We listened to some traditional gulf bands and music, watched the light show and had a visit to the boats exhibition. Then we had a wonderful Egyptian food and enjoyed being away for fun.

Inspiring

I was impressed with Helen Keller and the way she fought her disability. I think I was still in the elementary school when I read her story for the first time. The story stayed in my mind, inspiring, encouraging and provoking to do something great. Months ago I read her story again though I’m that kind of a person who finds it difficult to read the same story twice no matter how interesting it was.

Days come and days pass, we learn about people who remain in our memories because of their great achievements, especially those who appear to be with fewer abilities than others, odd and abnormal. However the fact is that they are special, talented and super natural to us. Beethoven, Thomas Edison, Vincent Van Gogh, Roosevelt and many others have become very famous and role models because the proved to be extraordinary.

In Oman, there are some people with special needs but entrepreneurs, leaders and experts in their fields. They do not aim to help themselves only; but they demand to spread their usefulness and special abilities to their pairs and other people in the world.

Ali Al Amri is a completely blind Omani youth. He is currently studying at Sultan Qaboos University in the College of Arts and Social Science. Ali is a technology fan who was never satisfied with Braille system only. He couldn’t stand with the a few numbers of books available for people like him. Rather he was satisfied about being away from networking with people through the social networking tools in this very dynamic and speedy world. Being eager to learn more and walk through the path of technology, Ali was able to put himself in the right place. He believes that technology has become everything for blind people. The online accessibility to newspapers, books and the World Wide Web using modern technologies such as “Screen Reader” allowed Ali to explore the adventures of today’s technologies.

Ali created a special website for the visually impaired to find all their technology requirements, software and advices. This website is specially equipped with modern technologies that help visually impaired to easily navigate and get the required assistance. In fact it allows them to use the computers as easy as normal people do. According to Ali, many visually impaired access his website and got benefited out of it from countries other than Oman.

Remember: "There isn't a person anywhere who isn't capable of doing more than he thinks he can." Henry Ford

Welcome to ZNA-Mosaic

My name is Zeena Al Towayya. I am from Oman. I won't say much about me at the moment preferring to meet with you all in person.

November 15th, 2011 is the first day of the Mosaic International Summit in Qatar. Everyone seems to be excited, some are nervous and definitely are eager to fill the hunger to knowledge and get melted in various cultures, experiences, opinions, backgrounds, thoughts and learning activities, so do I.

I was little hesitant about having my own blog. Let us say it is the fear of not having much to share, the worry of not being able to impress people and give them something new in the time when so many blogs are there, so why mine is there as well? I guess being in the Mosaic Summit would provide me with many new experiences to share.

This blog is dedicated to the Mosaic International Summit, its inputs, outputs, tools, and of course people. I called it ZNA-Mosaic: ZNA is a short form of my name and it rhymes with DNA. I guess I have chosen DNA to represent some of the Mosaic (genes) and belongings.

Welcome again and I hope you find it up to your expectations.

Zeena