By Mohamed Alabbar
Nobody builds anything important alone. I understand that much better today than I did when I was young. When I look back, I can see people at almost every stage who changed the direction of my life, sometimes through an opportunity they gave me, sometimes simply through the example they set, and probably without either of us realising at the time how much it would matter.
My mother was the first. She raised thirteen children in circumstances that would be difficult for many people to imagine today. She worked incredibly hard, made cheese, looked after the family and somehow kept everything together. She is 84 now and still reminds me every day not to forget my prayers. I have built a few things since I was seven years old, but apparently none of that has changed my position in the family. To her, I am still the little boy who needs reminding.
There were other people along the way. A government scholarship took me to Seattle, where America opened my eyes to a confidence and optimism I had never experienced before. When I came home, I joined the Central Bank in Abu Dhabi, and the people there trained me exceptionally well and supported my career in ways I have never forgotten. Then came Singapore, where I spent around seven years running an investment company. Three of my children were born there, but eventually I realised they were growing up without speaking Arabic, and that bothered me enough to bring the family home. Sometimes I think about how differently life might have turned out if I had stayed. As it happened, I returned at exactly the right moment, just as Dubai was embarking on an extraordinary journey.
And then there was His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. He changed my life. He opened doors for me that I could never have opened for myself, but what mattered more was what I learned by being around him. I saw his discipline, his honesty and the scale of his ambition. Most of all, I saw his fearlessness. He trusted me with enormous responsibility, allowed me to make mistakes and expected me to learn from them. He taught me not to accept limitations simply because other people believed they existed. I love him dearly. After God, he gave me a life I could never have imagined.
Perhaps that is why I am slightly obsessed with finding exceptional people today. Buildings can be designed and capital can be found, but a truly remarkable person is rare. When I find somebody with talent, courage and hunger, I want to keep them close, reward them properly and give them the freedom to grow. I have said before that when somebody is so good that after six months you want to tell them to write their own contract and tell you what they want, you know you have found somebody special. I need people like that around me.
I am demanding, certainly, but I also know that much of what carries my name is built by people whose names the public may never know. Belgrade is a beautiful example, where our local team has created something extraordinary, but the same is true in Riga, Egypt, Tbilisi, Bahrain, Morocco, Albania and Italy. I am not there every day. I am simply lucky enough to have incredible people who are hungry, caring and dedicated to what they do. Sometimes I wonder whether I reward them enough. I feel genuinely blessed to have them in my life because, without them, how could I possibly do all of this?
Leadership, eventually, becomes a circle. Somebody sees something in you and opens a door. If you are fortunate, you walk through it and make something of the opportunity. Then one day you realise that you are standing on the other side of the door.
Your job is to hold it open for somebody else.
This is part five of twelve. Beyond Profit is a twelve-part series published exclusively on The Buzz in which Mohamed Alabbar, founder of Emaar and Noon, family man, and one of the Arab world’s most influential business leaders, shares personal reflections on leadership, legacy and what it really means to build something worthwhile. The series moves beyond towers and financial results to explore the values, experiences and hard-won lessons of a man who grew up with nothing, has spent a lifetime building cities, businesses and opportunities across more than twenty countries, and is now thinking harder than most about the kind of future we are all building together: human, technological and everything in between. A new instalment publishes each month.
