Newsletter #3

Professor Phillip’s Revelations about the need for Tough Resiliency, Smart Agility!

—Dubai, United Arab Emirates

“Mr. Richardson, Mr. Assad?” the limo driver asked when he recognized us from our photos in the crowded reception area of the Dubai airport.

I didn’t know it then, but I was about to receive my first lesson in the value of using global best practices just after I landed in Dubai for the first time. Lancy, our driver, had been recommended by a friend and we couldn’t have chosen any better. He is an Indian entrepreneur from Goa, India, and has worked in Dubai for 15 years. 

We later became good friends.        

We quickly discovered his extensive experience in guiding visiting executives around the UAE. He mentioned that they consistently requested him, and we soon understood why. He not only educated them but also enlightened us all about internationalization.

“In Dubai, there is no ‘Sorry!” he said as he enthusiastically delivered his first of many lessons to my friend and me only a few minutes after leaving the airport. And Lancy was so right. Millions of  expats have been hired over the years, just in the UAE, of which Dubai is a part, to work very hard, and smartly, to help develop the country.

This was the beginning of my learning experience that took me to Europe, The Middle East, India, and China, where I became fully internationalized. What a journey it has been… and so worthwhile. Not only did I learn how to manoeuvre and succeed in these different cultures, but the same global best practices that promoted my success there are now proving invaluable to my business progress at home. They differentiate me and make me much more valuable to my colleagues and clients. But they were not gained without considerable pain. To the contrary, I endured harsh lesson after lesson during my international business growth. 

I remember the agony of being made redundant only one week before I was to have received my performance bonus of $250,000, earned through my hard work over two years in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This was certified by the exemplary performance rating I had received only two months earlier when the Crown Prince of the UAE personally shook my hand in congratulations for my leadership contribution to his success. His company's executives however, thought nothing of cancelling his intentions in the interests of "streamlining" their organization and made the decision to terminate me to avoid paying my bonus.. And the country’s justice system was established to always favor the National’s outcomes over those of Expats—always—so it was useless to sue. 

And there was my redundancy declared by the Chinese owners of an aspirational project which I was leading in Shenzhen, China when I refused to promise them, after they demanded it when I was in place, that I would sign leases with the tenants they craved such as LV, Gucci and Prada—in just 90 days!

In our personal and business lives, we must prepare ourselves to survive such shocks and to use them to propel us forward.