As I was walking just before dusk today I walked by an old man with a wooden cane and his driver walking slowly looking at the sun setting in the horizon. To the naked eye an normal sight, to me a slow film that took place in the blink of an eye.

You see this old man was a young boy once, born on the western coast of Jeddah, an ancient city, a port, a business center for all the pilgrims who come in millions to this country every year for pilgrimage.

He was just another son to his family, he was loved, he was brought up right, he went to school like all the others, he decided at his early age he wanted to seek the treasures of the sea for a living, he became one of the fishermen in a blink of an eye.

He worked his way from the filthy fish smelling docks to the fresh aired little fishing boats that set out at the break of dawn daily to see what they can catch and feed their families back on land.

He loved it so much, he gambled with his life many times, but with each risk he took, the rewards were merrier. He soon owned his fishing boat, hired a helper, and set sail daily, when he came back, he had whatever the sea gave him for sale for a few riyals.

He soon owned another boat, and another and then some more. His secret was honesty, honesty amongst traders was key, I wish it was still the case today. He had his little fish shop that sold his daily catch, he also added some flair to his business and started cooking fish dishes for people on shore and shoppers alike, a hit amongst the crowd, his secret recipe: His wife was the cook, Jeddah woman are great at preparing fish dishes.

The years flew by, the changes happened so fast, the children grew older, diversified his wealth into better investments, they bought land and more land, they grew rich as time went by, the father who was once a young boy, admired his children for their support, and loved his wife for her never ending belief and sleepless nights when he was gone.

“ We did good my love, we did good” he once told his wife at the marriage of their last bachelor son. He misses his wife, its been 10 years now she’s been gone, he wonders when his time will come? he prays its in his sleep, so he won’t see his children suffer for his suffering on his dying bed.

The years seem to have flown by like those passing clouds on this breezy day at the beach he thinks to himself. Last thing I remember was starting my job at the docks, now here I am 60 years later, all grown and old, barely moving with a driver on my side to help me around.

The days are numbered, the time will never reactivate and start from zero, your hours are counting to do something, don’t let the silly things bog you down from exploring your body and world while young and able, what you can do is everything and anything, the sky actually is not your limit if you wanted to!

As I walk on by this man, that story actually took place in my mind, my pace was faster, my dreams expanded, the full force of energy levels rose to new heights, the possibilities are endless, the days are numbered, and I want to make the best of them, and I hope you too take a new look every day at what’s important and just GO FOR IT!

mamdooh.alradadi @ home wondering what’s next? in Jeddah, the city by the sea on the 27th of August 2010

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

As I checked the mirror one more time to look my best (which somehow seemed to have changed over the years from that teenager look) and checked my mobile, cards, you know the old peoples stuff, I walked the walk to the ballroom.

As I approached the ballroom the guards were everywhere, it was a special evening you see. The governor of our city was coming to give a speech and shed some wisdom on our group of grads who seem to still stick together somehow or the other, he said” we are the people that run the city now” how uplifting is that? the sad thing is, we are the grown ups now!

They say when you focus on something you get to see or feel it more, like the new car you want suddenly its everywhere, or the family vacation that is all over the news, as if its the only thing people are talking about, or the nagging boss that seems to haunt your dreams, just a few examples to refresh your memory of the strange things we take for granted and don’t know what to make of them.

A fine use of the word “INSTEAD”;

• Instead of wondering why you hit that car and ruined your new toy, think how lucky you are to be alive, and while steel remains steel, blood is thicker than water, water is life and you my friend are alive to breath and walk another day.

1. How many times did I rehearse and define my sales presentation before giving it?
2. How many books did I read ( and re-read ) about my industry/career/service/skills?
3. How much time do I spend each day in the gym, and how many days each week, to keep myself physically fit?
4. How many thank you notes and follow up emails do I send to important customers, clients, volunteers, or friends?
5. How much of my income do I invest in myself to further my vocation and my passion?

You can breath. You are OK. You can see. You can hear. You can feel. You can imagine things. You can walk. You can run.You can swim. You can survive. You made it through life to another day. You can read. You can write. You can talk. You can understand. You can move. You can decide. You can think. You can remember. You can learn. You can educate yourself. You can be anyone you want to be. You can pack up and leave. You are free. You can drive, fly, dive. You can laugh. You can cry. You can sing. You can love. You can be loved. You can play in the sand.You can taste. You can sense.

How about that for milking opportunities, even before people know its coming, they kind of anticipate your need in the not so far future and place the bait a few feet away from you, then they wait… I just love visionaries!

A few of my intellect friends on Facebook were asking a question I hear every time someone comes back from Dubai ,and they are quite a few, especially with all the goodies the city carries and due to its geographical neighborhood. “ What does Dubai have that we Saudi’s don’t?” and the answers came showering in.

If I am correct the answers contain words like; Organization, services, regulations, systems, planning, strategy, optimism, respect for others, hospitality, entertainment, foresight, potential, and pride and a bunch of other stuff.

On the 12th of may 2010 Abu Dhabi entered history books by becoming the first to implement this new gold dispenser, think of it as one of those many faced PEZ candy dispensers, only a bit more expensive due to content.Gold ATM in Abu Dhabi

The recent Gold rush in markets fleeing distressed wallets to safety investments, something that actually has a real value”It’s not like a piece of paper driven by shaky politicians and unstable governments,” said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist with futures broker Lind-Waldock. “I feel a lot more comfortable having gold than the euro currency right now.” These people know what they are doing alright, gold broke its all time high today hitting $1250 we were checking and studying it for a while now, we all know its going further up( personal opinion $2000 an ounce soon), they took the matter to the bank.

The machines are said to handle cash only, soon credit and debit cards, but what an idea coming from Germany! saved some money, need to stash some glitter go for it 24 hours with prices changing every 10 seconds. The location is set at the Emirates palace hotel.

This is a country that has serious debt issues and investors watching them with hawks eyes, this is a place that embraced change and knew there would be rough waters, that’s what you get when you plan and act fast.

I can remember back in the early 90’s I was drawn to see Dubai for its duty free marketing madness. I was expecting disney world proportions, I got mom & pop store size, it was a joke! the magical idea was bigger than that, it was promoting a city as the hub of everything passing over, or near its skies. Stop, chill, relax, press continue.

Then they changed the way the world looks at the desert oil countries forever with their architectural dream come true oasis. The skylines suddenly changed, country like Islands emerged from the gulf waters, skiing in the desert was no longer a joke, as my friend Sami puts it” everything ending with (est) biggest, newest, tallest was there. ARMANI has a hotel there, TRUMP is there, investments include famous english football teams, air carriers brands all over the world, DUBAI is now an official brand all on its own.

Suddenly many Saudi cities started imitating the DUBAI styles and we started seeing nice looking buildings and malls, were moving, slow, but that’s a start. The Titanic can’t be compared to a jet boat, size matters. The mindset has been ignited, now we sit and watch, but everyone should be focused and determined in his own domain to change.

We should always cherish creativity and embrace change in everything we do, but we need to know where we’re heading? the mega projects initiated by the King have set the pace of things to follow, now its everyones chance to make it happen.

Yes we are suffering and we continue to complain on how things are done and the speed they are done in, but I know one thing for sure, we got nowhere, now lets all pitch in and make the change. Being burnt many times I know what it feels like to fail due to surroundings and bureaucratic government agencies, but I was not made to fail, I still move on. Thinking about our children’s future is a great motive, thinking of making history for our country is a main objective too, one step at a time, but faster please.

What do you think it is that we should do that can be done? its not the money, or the minds, nor is it the location, and its not the weather… so what is it? where should we look? how shall we tackle it? who is to blame? should we blame or move forward?

One area where we can hike the productivity levels and speed the rollout of services, products and technology implementation is higher service benchmarks, its the only way to go! we are not a service community, far from it. The other day someone posted a status asking what company or service in Saudi arabia should be mentioned? one company came back as an answer!

A search for talent should be conducted in various sectors, cross selling their expertise and bringing them up to one standard across the board. Really reward the good, so good they will never leave you. Remove the rotten and make them examples of what not to be, seek the weeds and pluck them one by one, reward the finders for their efforts. Reward the great and brave, give them more empowerment and trust, fuel their efforts.

Listen to the customer, do not rely on agencies, do it yourself, its easy, just go down to street level and ask them in the face on different times and occasions, and reward them for their time, respect!

Its a long story this DUBAI thing, I am sure they will push me to write something in the very near future, let me know what you think…

mamdooh.alradadi envying DUBAI for their success and wishing them more of it!

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

In the Arab world, just like the western world and actually around the globe we notice certain nationalities thriving while others diminish or erode over time.

Survival techniques have been with us since creation & inception of mankind, the further back we go in history the more visible and apparent the subject. From cavemen to Vikings & Pharos, Prophets and World wars, it all boils down to survival of the fittest. Monarchies have vanished, new ones have evolved, species wiped out, new ones introduced or discovered in some distant land, nothing stops.

A man sweet talks a young lady at the corner while taking a smoking break, he appears to be a master of his own game, she smiles and listens with some flirtatious moves every once and a while, he continues with his manipulation, getting closer to his goal. She first blows him off guard by stating she is married, he enjoys the game, continues by asking her where her loving husband is while she smokes alone? suddenly she finishes her ciggy and looks him in the eye and asks” what do you do, your words are that of an actor or some famous intellect?” ” I’m kind of a writer” he boasts. ” Kind of…?” she replies, ” what do you do?” replies the master of deception, ” I’m a hooker” she smiles ” People pay for my services, call me” and walks away laughing. Two masters of their own game collide, each moves on as survival has made them what they are today.

Comfort zones are those areas where we stop to relax and get comfy and forget to move on. Eventually we lose track of our original clever well detailed map in life, we stop and stall till we get rusty and attract like people into our lives. These new additions become the extra baggage you keep adding. They are known to relax, chillax or whatever you may call it until it becomes their destiny. Then there are the others.

When you love something you never feel the pains that others feel while doing the same thing, to you its passion, play if you may, to them it has another word, I think they call it ” work”.

What’s the big picture on survival of the fittest? on a macro level can we see countries that demonstrate hard ambitious survival lifestyles? the answer is yes! only if you simplify the answers without the statistics and economists of the world fiddling with a bunch of national GDP( Gross domestic product) and other economic indicators. Let me elaborate and simplify things here, lets take some man made products and trail them back to their makers.

Cars: Mercedes Benz, BMW, Toyota; Germany & Japan, Top notch engineering and the relentless pursuit of  perfection. When the stakes are high, when the determination and goals are continuous improvement, anticipating consumers next requirements, meeting them and modifying the flaws fast and without the blah blah, you get high survival measures and cultures that lead the world.

Technology: ipod, Google, Facebook; USA… I thought that technology lately came from the east? well it did for a while, then the marketing Gurus of the world today took the reigns of power and leadership, read into peoples natural habits and lazy needs and made it happen. Build it and they will come. Entrepreneurship is at its best in the last two decades, it is much easier and faster to get an idea to market and market to the masses today than the preceding decades, what do you think the creativity levels are in those areas?

A Man. A plan. A Dam- that was the business plan for the Suez canal by the way, that’s it, with 99% determination and dedication.

When I look at the roller coast ride we have in the Middle East on a survival and cultural viewpoint, I can tell you today who the pioneers of Survival fitness are, the number one nationality that has managed to succeed in every corner of the world is the Lebanese people. Why? a bunch of hard facts and internal lifestyle standards makes them my number one choice. They managed to outlive several wars, a scaring diverse populations with a bundle of ethnic backgrounds, a small country neighboring a war zone for the last 50 years or so, toughness in daily lives but they chose LIFE.

Mastering something takes 7 years of doing the same thing based on Brian Tracy, I truly agree with him on that note. What is it we do different than the world that makes us stand out? do we have what it takes or do we need a push for each step of the 1000 mile race?

Ask yourself these questions, or ask it to someone dear in your life;

• What if you woke up in the morning and found everything gone, can you start again?
• What if you were suddenly deported like some illegal immigrant to some undisclosed new location on this planet? can you start living? can you adapt?
• When was the last time you learnt something new?
• Who is your father figure?
• What’s your invisible carrot? do you have one?
• If asked what does your country stand for? do you have an answer? what is it that makes people want to visit your part of the world? when they leave what memories will they take back home?
• Is your culture driving you faster to your goals or taking you to the end of the line?

I am pissed at the levels we have reached in terms of evolving and changing, we are imitating and never innovating, we love the back comfortable back seat and never learned to drive, and if we drive we wouldn’t know what to do when we break down, let’s continue to import the pros, while the pros are defining our future down the road.

In the 80′s the young men and woman who finished college wanted desks for their first job, irrelevant of experience, to be the boss was all that mattered, that’s why you have an idiot for a boss today, the fundamentals of business were upside down, only to find out 20 years later that we need to start from ground zero and build the foundations then move on up.

Maybe I’m being harsh, but the truth of the matter hurts. When I say I can start from zero I better mean it, we can lose track and get back on track if we new our destination, are you not sick with clueless captains guiding organizations into Titanic waters?

Enough said. Just one thing before I leave, I salute the brave foreign bodies residing in some foreign country making a living, producing wonderful products and services, paving the way for future generations to come, making a better life for their families and indulging in their momentary comfort STOPS, the Zones take too long and make them weak and disillusioned.

p.s. find your survival degree and earn it.

mamdooh.alradadi late for Friday prayers!

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

In a forever changing life and interlinked world we move from side to side, drifting like a log in the sea or ocean, with all that we still move by our choice. If you say left and are pushed to the right it was a choice you made, if you stay put and do nothing, its a choice, if you start to run in any direction its also counted as a choice.

Dreams, goals, wants and needs all push and pull you in directions. We tend to bend or mend what we do not want, but in the end its a choice you made. So if every step you make moves you in some direction, which is the right one? over and over people come up with ideas of how to reach a certain point in your life, a qualitative or quantitative requirement. Books and volumes have been written on these subjects.

So what do all these books have in common? two things from my point of view; A real need & a constant movement. Keep moving, don’t stop, know what you want, when you fall, get up and move, when you move and hit a wall, keep looking for a way to walk around it, jump over it, or climb it, even the great wall of china has an end you know, and the Berlin wall has long been taken to pieces.

In my search of what I want I seem to wander around more the older I get, I seem to question the why in the why’s and look at the answers from different perspectives, never knowing where my next big idea or answer will come from. How do I do this? here are a few things I seem to do more of every waking day;

• Ask children and listen in to what they talk about without them knowing I even exist.
• Smile to people who in turn might or might not smile back, so maybe, just maybe I get to share their wisdom on a random subject that might pull me closer to another idea that has been bugging me for so long.
• Listen to elder and younger generations with equal importance.
• Read anything that I come across, depending on its nature or my interest level on the subject.
• Drink coffee in various places across the world, choose what people say sucks, insist on my own intelligence, watch various movies with different topics that might seem silly to many, but in my world they rock.
• Remove the extra baggage I carry with me from time to time, people included.
• Follow my instincts. Believe in my self. Go back to basics every time I get lost in this fast changing world we live in by the second. Slow down.
• Enjoy the beauty of the world we live in. Examine and enjoy the various entertainment venues available worldwide. Join in tribal rituals, respect cultures and peoples ideas, share a crumb of bread with anyone.

In the end you end up thinking what and where some more, but the what’s and where’s you have after following what I do tend to be different and move you closer to what you love and what you seek, in the end its all about you, cause one day, your chapter will be buried and you won’t have a second chance to prove your ideas or thinking, make every thing you do count.

Every day is a chance. Do you take advantage or just say tomorrow will do? I tend to fall into that trap from time to time, many times. The secret is to not dwell on your spilt milk and leave it alone and move on. Do not listen to the negative vibes that surround you, people sometimes act like wet blankets on your back while you swim, how does that feel? what you would do is remove it and swim swifter and faster, let them clean that spilt milk and figure it out.

Reinvent yourself faster than the rest, change, move, rock and roll, jump out of the box, take different roads, seek more, look around you, look in places you never looked before, travel more, explore, identify your love and passions, you only have one life, if you don’t like it, diss it, if you love it get more of it.

Do you ever feel like you owe people an explanation or even a life? well you don’t, get over that feeling, when you raise to the top of whatever you want, you can serve them better, what is your use when your at the bottom of the pile? People make mistakes daily, actually sometimes by the hour, who cares, you make a mistake you learn, you don’t you stagnate! go ahead and make more mistakes, spoil yourself, imagine the possibilities without regrets?

Now excuse me while I go finish my coffee and have a cigarette break, yes I know they are bad for you! I promise I’ll quit soon, in the mean time let me figure it out with my slow brain, and you can go do something crazy like take that sky dive you always wanted, or propose, or dump him, or even make up with a long lost friend, just do it!

Your life, your choice!

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

I used to laugh at my dad when he was working, pointing out the fact that I would never end up a book worm like him, he simply laughed. He never forced, argued, stuffed into my mind the importance of reading, he had a plan.

He noticed how fascinated I was with two things; airplanes & cartoons. So he gave me more of the good stuff, more cartoons and more information on airplanes. On the first side, cartoons, he noticed I loved comics, so he made sure I get every copy of a certain weekly comic and on the other hand subscribed to a long forgotten magazine called airplane, I had every single issue for 7 years, and I should have been a pilot with all the aeronautical information I knew.

Living as a kid in the west in the late 70’s was OK for TV & other forms of communication, but in Saudi Arabia technology and communications were years behind. My early command of the english language was a wonderful head start in the right direction. I had hundreds of english publications in front of me, and suddenly non! all programs and tv shows were in english, and suddenly a few every week.

My father was wise enough to know that the seed was planted, long before the land( me in this case) even felt it. He knew that once you ride the literature world in any form or way, you are a prisoner forever. He only needed to maintain and irrigate the farm from time to time to make sure it was a good harvest.

That fine seed that came in the form of a comic called Battle( a world war 2 comic) was all it took to grow a whole forest, and that forest is connected to another forest, and somehow the forests connect with jungles and landscapes of never ending fountains of information and knowledge pouring on me till this day.

What I know now, is not what I knew then, or even yesterday, you have to make sure you grow daily, intake, keep the flows of information coming, do not block them, make way for ideas, creativity, different views, side views, birds eye view, macro, micro, opposite sex ideology, even different life form communication skills if ever there was a need.

Like a domino effect, things fall in perspective. My father told me many years ago,that sometimes a book will pay you back 100 times its cost in future earnings when he saw my book addiction, the way I shock book stores with my enormous pile of different subjects ranging from business to child psychology and the many communication and networking books. I managed to ease the crazy book shopping on my travels after a guy called Jeff bezos opened a little shop called Amazon, I know I’m big there cause I have a little title that spells Prime .

I still don’t know what I want? what I like? its all good in my view, all really good, to know, to understand, to listen, to examine, to be amazed by the planet that we live in and all the things it holds in it. Everything that man ever thought of and brought to life has a trail, I love to follow trails, sometimes its great to follow a trail that brings you back to where you already are, makes you wonder, is there a shorter path? keep looking, keep digging, keep reading.

My message is to all the young people out there, and this time all the older people out there too, plant the seeds, and take care of your harvest, you would only know the power of the internet today if you lived in the back then era!

I am proud and amazed at the young people of today. They bring light to this life with the level of understanding and broad spectrum they posses. The technology has brought to us today a whole new life form of intellects and we the elder should act accordingly and with responsibility.

Here are my 10 requests from anyone reading this:

1. Plant the seeds in your youngsters as early as possible and with love and care and a whole lot of understanding of their like and dislikes.
2. Look deeper into your surroundings, does it spell information or history, update your systems faster than you did 3 years ago. What you know today is totally obsolete in 2.5 years, keep learning in your area and outside it constantly.
3. Never force information in, let it take its natural form, by desire to learn.
4. Follow your heart and read what you want, when you want, as long as you want, set your own parameters and make sure that trespassers will be shot.
5. Take a broad view of things and how they relate, look outside your box, ask more questions, more and more people love it when you ask them, don’t take it from bullies, take it from the people who love to give.
6. Ask more questions, debate anything, do your homework and investigate before you ask, it will give you better answers and faster responses.
7. Do not waste time with the blabber mouths, the know it alls, the one way communicators, the “hear my story” every time people, the ones that just want to talk, you know the ones that start to answer before you finish the question kind,
8. Find your reading style, find your book preferences( do you like them small, big, spaced out and white?) find your best digestion time, carry books and magazines with you.
9. Manage your reading, cut newspaper & magazine articles and carry them with you, find out if you like it soft copy( on the computer) or hard copy?read opposite sex magazines, read outside your field, check out comics for instant stress relief, read fitness magazines, read beyond headlines in newspapers.
10. Take your reading seriously. In the end you will be judged by what comes out of your mouth when asked a question, you will be categorized wether you like it or not, you will be able to  express yourself clearer and win more communication battles with knowledge, you can relate things better, you can be more creative, you can manage change faster and easier, knowledge is power for the seekers.

Imagine all the peoples brains we walk in and out of daily? hope you enjoyed walking in my mind today, I did say no running around didn’t I? have a great day

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

The weather was fine and the sun was shining, I took a walk. The walk was in a very familiar area close to my home by the sea, only slower. The things we take for granted are more visible when you start to see things in real speed, walking speed that is.

The happy children crowd the sea shore, the social status is put on hold. The happy people still do what we did when we were younger, we have drifted far from those old family days and gatherings we used to enjoy, wether we liked it or not, thank your parents for it. They gather over some tea or soda, they share some nuts and lay relaxed watching their children get dirty playing in the sand.The children pick up garbage and bring it to their families in total fascination, the older few smile or frown and the children return to find more treasures.

The couples passing by at various speeds have different faces, you can tell who is happy and who wishes he was with someone else or somewhere else in another life. The laughs, the looks they give you as they drive by, accompanied with my chill-out music only add to the effects of the experience. The little ponies with children on them, the quad bike rental suspicious group are in a dilemma of selling time and watching their backs in case the police come to confiscate the illegal bikes and put an end to their illegal presence in the country.

The fancy hotels showing off their new landscapes, the old ones trying to catch up, the old cars, the new fast cars, the dying malls that remind us of older times, the carts that sell anything from chick peas, corn, pop corn and candy fill the streets. The old ice cream cars that look like they were hiding from the 80’s still roam the sea shore. Inflated beach balls, fake pink panthers & Mickey Mouses, china & taiwan plastic toys and kites all on display.

The flattened but apparent cat remains on the main road attract some crows, the live cats running after a female, food wrappers and empty cans are all that’s left from a family outing.

One turn and I am on a once fancy upscale area, left in the dust by modern day social preferences moving westward to more promising lands. The old icons of yesteryear remain  but with a less than impressive customer profile. The food places are swarming with hungry families and bachelors, the smell of food gets me unarmed and sends my stomach signals of hunger. The fast paced changes that took over in the last 20 years are tremendous, the speed is what drives us now, cash is on demand, food is faster, fun is on the run, a hundred STARBUCKS wanna be’s popping up every where we look.

As a father complains about over spending at the supermarket, the other is smiling because his wife is cooking today. A bunch of children are making up their mind what to buy with the little money they have managed to pull from their parents. The ice cream shop always makes people smile, in cold or hot weather, the smiles on little girls and boys faces worry their parents as if they already know they will spoil their clean clothes and drip on the new car seats.

Its so good to slow down, and look at the beauty that we drive by on a fast note, its the normal and simple things that I miss, I need to do it more often, thinking becomes more focused and seeing looks better.

Should I take an ice cream cone? or should I pass? I think I will pass, but I can still remember the good old days when I was a kid, and I used to sell the idea of me in desperate need for an ice cream cone, a pepsi, some candy and maybe a toy store visit, it all adds up eventually to a very nice memory.

Dare to slow down?

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com