Dubai a perfect exle of visionary leadership

4/20/2016 11:50:23 PM

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Former Prime Minister of MalaysiaDr Mahathir Mohamad shared his insights on leadership as a key driver of the global economy citing Dubai as the "perfect example of what leadership means and what leadership can do."

Dr Mahathir was delivering the keynote speech during the opening of the International Conference on Leadership Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ICLIE'16) a two-day forum organised by Canadian University Dubai or CUD.

During the opening day of the conference Dr Mahathir shared a discussion with Shaikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan UAE Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development on the parallels between the rapid economic advancement of Malaysia and that of Dubai and the UAE. In his keynote address Dr Mahathir said leaders need to be broad-minded and have the ability to recognise their own strengths and weaknesses as well as their country's assets in order to succeed in nation building.

He hailed Dubai's transformation from a small village into a great city and a hub of almost the whole world. When you have leaders with vision changes can be amazing and mind-boggling he added.

Speaking about his own experience of leading the transformation of Malaysia during his 22 years as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir said that the foundation of good leadership is to unite a population and to know what your followers expect from you.

In another keynote address during the opening session David Wang CEO of leading technology solutions providers and chief sponsor of ICLIE'16 Huawei UAE spoke on the theme of innovation Wang addressed the topic 'Building a Better Connected Tomorrow'. He said that we are only at the 'beginning of the beginning' of the information society and future decades will see Dubai as a world centre on the technology stage.

The speech preceded the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between But Saeed Al Ghandi Chancellor of CUD and Wang in the presence of Chang Hua Chinese Ambassador to the UAE. The new agreement will see CUD and Huawei UAE cooperate on a range of initiatives that promote R&D and the professional development of students.

Day one of the conference saw researchers practitioners and policy makers come together to debate the emerging challenges and long-term solutions to some of the key business challenges arising in the globalised economy.

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