In life & marketing I consider myself a leader of the pack, a tester of new ideas, a person that will check consequences as I go along, the thrill of being first excites me. If I can afford it, I use it, if I can’t I await the next big thing coming my way, if its free and wicked like Facebook, I attack with full force. That’s me, a sucker for new & innovative, its my way of saying thank you to the genius behind the idea.

I think that the thrill fades away after a while and in its place sinks reasoning and new perspectives, outlooks, understandings, change and a whole bunch of other stuff, but I still love Facebook for all its worth.

What do you when you face service and product inconveniences? like the stewardess on my flight today who did not have my newspaper, had only one choice of breakfast, non of the bread I like, insisted on giving me reasons that we can’t satisfy every passenger you know! management doesn’t listen, blah, blah, blah..I just laughed at this one, cause I gave up on our local airlines 30 years ago.. many new airlines jumped to the occasion ages ago, my dollars go to much better airlines, that is not my case today..

I basically watch anything that comes flying my way, I give everything a chance once or twice, so later I found I am more into comedy in any form or subject. Never was a horror movie guy, I love thriller to an extent, Espionage big time, action, romantic comedy and a long list, which makes me feel I am one of two things: 1) tasteless 2) wide scoped , let me say I’m a bit of both.

Ever since we were kids, the Bond brand was there, with all the action, cars, technology and babes, destinations, story, the works. I remember begging my mom to buy me the James Bond white Lotus that spits rockets from the trunk, awesome..Thank you mom!.

It seems like the writer checked out what people like in life & movies and said to himself with a bit of luck, some special effects I can bring it all together, I think it was Ian Flemmings stories, who wrote some of his best work in Jamaica.

Suddenly the movie becomes a hit amongst viewers worldwide, and when you see someone attempting the impossible we tell him to cool down Mr. Bond, for his fantasia land adventures and survival techniques, “actually never die ones” to be precise, taking down the  enemies of the USA & Great Britain in stealth mode.

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

Looks can be deceiving, right? oh so very true! especially in a judge a book by the cover world, even if they know its wrong. The very people that have the blessing of a different look or background or even nationality have got it right. To name a few examples before I jump into my subject at hand so we can see how far deep we have dug ourself into prejudice and racist brewing while we know it is not right in every religion. Please note that when i put examples or incidents of such nature I am not immune to these social plagues we have to wash off.

Imagine with me the following and how you treat them first hand:

• The Asian( filipino) looking Saudi?
• The Black Saudi CEO of a top 500 company wearing torn down jeans at the mall?
• The Baby faced qualified engineer hired to save a company?
• The  European looking original Saudi that takes your ethnic jokes while you socialize at the local coffee-shop without showing you he understood?
• The worn down old humble lady who happens to be the business tycoon just trying to be herself at the airport economy check in?
• The young techie who happens to own a company of his own at the age of 21?
• The really stinky looking bedouin who enters a Bank and you can’t wait till he leaves, only to find out after your treatment he is sitting on a balance of 600,000,000 Riyals?

That and many examples always get me thinking and worried about how I treat people and how people treat other people. If you are mistaken once or twice then OK, it happens. But if you see yourself drifting with the herd, stop and imagine the opposite and what these poor individuals went through, for nothing but being themselves??

Now my two story heroes are both considered by far Baby faces, both are not older than 34 years, actually one is 29 & the other going 35. Both of them are really clever engineers, both considered street smart, great conversationalists and thinkers, extremely goal oriented and deliver! They are both considered close brothers of mine, one actually is.

As one was growing up in his later college years he was taken for a kid, a high school kid, at one time one of my friends met him and asked him how school was, I think he added  you cute little darling” my brother smacked him a quick one” finished engineering school this year”. He has always been in situations where he is considered a young boy, with his no mustache droopy eyes face I can see why, add some freckles and a dozen little beauty marks and your never gonna guess!

He would make me crack up when he is talking to any service provider or sales man who take him lightly and try to give him the usual BS answers only to be challenged in the very business they operate, he comes armed with powerful knowledge and admirable intelligent questioning.We have had our laughs when people come to him in the office and find he is my right hand.

After many years of proving he was and older version of that 80 model, he woke up one day and found he had a gift! That gift was a Baby face, he has by far taken down many people on a trip to la la land with his cute acute looks. Being intelligent has got nothing to do with looks.

Some of his victims include major Banks, major companies, major hospital staff, major businessmen and women, older generation know-it-alls, service providers gone crazy, hotels, some of my friends,me.

Today he manages his own business and is frequently head hunted for other jobs, god bless that baby face!

The other is a more street smart engineer, with a face of a young teenager closing in to his first digit after twenty.He also has a warm and gentle smile, very welcoming face, not the aggressive ugly kind, he was an A student with all his play and brat like attitude, he comes from a fine family and is well brought up to the highest standards. He has pursued his way to the top of the corporate ladder and has managed people by the hundreds at a major top 50 company in Saudi Arabia.

He makes me look old, very old, yet he makes people fall prey to his looks, not knowing what  kind of person he is until I spill the beans on his age and professional background, he is also a great listener.

Beware of the silent ones I say, for they know more than you in many cases. He is up against a world that judges his professionalism by the number of years he carries and not by his performance, he proved them wrong and continues to fly, up that is!

Me & him enjoy the faces we get when his age is revealed, and then they suddenly all change the treatment he was getting, as if to make up for that bad first impression, funny.

In his early years he must have faced the faceless judges of society and had his fair share of fun on their behalf. The way people respect him is a force he threw upon him based on his capabilities, knowledge and great treatment to people, he deserves every bit of success he will endure, for he is good, I respect you both.

So what he looks young? so what he does not look the part? what is the part? did you figure it out in your little mind and made prejudgement’s on how people should act and look, should their disadvantages be blamed or favored? what is right Mr.right? the way you will be when you make it? sorry, they figured success out before you did and have taken that slot, find another idea and another victim to pick on.

Make no mistake, baby faces mean Grown up business.Here is my final say on people with baby faces: I think they are very lovable people, with humongous hearts and feelings, they know what the others don’t, they listen well, they forgive fast, they love life, they live love, they understand to be understood, they are well educated people, they seek solutions to everyday problems without the fuss, they thrive on education and have very few friends, it s only because they want to be themselves. They can be friends forever, they always are there when you really need them, they did not mean to take advantage of their disadvantage.

I guess I never had that option, or did long ago, and lost it… if only I could, I would, I would go out on a mission to find every person looking down on me and make his day. I also guess that’s why I don’t have that Baby face charisma, its only for the people who have baby hearts too

Watch out for those Baby faces, one out of ten is considered lethal, otherwise go ahead you might have made a brother from another mother, guaranteed!

To all the Baby face people in the house, Massive respect!

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

Back in the days when we liked a song and never knew the name of the artist or song had serious problems, especially when your a teen and want to impress your peers! We used to go to the music shop and try and make the seller who never spoke a word of english in his life try and know what the hell we are talking about.

We would make stupid sounds to try and get the guy to familiarize himself with the song, it worked at a rate of 30% ( do not ask me how I came up with that percentage), he would then start to figure it out and we would walk away looking like retards.

Today, my friends we have something so fascinating that i thought i would love to share with you, for those who know excuse my late response and finding, for those who don’t… you will love me! SHAZAM is a software that actually listens to the song on that radio station, TV or ipod and hook up to the net, search for the song and tell you everything about it, where to buy it and how to download it! all on your phone.

Excuse me but if that ain’t cool what is?

In the old days it was hard, today it is getting cooler and cooler, imagine having to smell those perfumes online? get that cash on your pc? never leave home unless you really want to?

WOW!

Abracadabra I wanna reach out & grab ya!

Excuse me while I make my fast exit today, a great game on TV and its a WEEKEND here!

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

They used to gather every weekend, we used to accompany them by force, they used to have fun as sisters and brothers with their whole family, they were my aunts and uncles. We were young children then, only observers as they say, we only digested and filtered what we wanted to remember and threw the rest to the cats.

• They used to have fights every week, and meet the very next. We have the same fights, we meet after months.
• The wife has daily battles with her husband, makes up the next day as if nothing ever happened, and does it again & again, we choose the easy way out and divorce one another.
• People took peoples words to the Bank, today we take them to court.
• Simple was king back then, complicated is the way to be today.
• Schools forced us to learn back then, garbage in garbage out, schools are starting to listen in on humans real needs for progress.
• Controlled directed information was then, today its up for grabs, its what you do with it that counts.
• Cars were Bigger, gas thirsty, now they are mean and lean, tiny and cute, trying to free themselves from gas and ready for a Sun tan instead.
• Managers were Bosses then, today they are part of the team.
• Pepsi and Seven up were icons back then, now its back to basics and natural, how ironic?
• Sell, Sell, Sell was the way of yesteryear, service, service, service is what it is now.
• Expensive travel and phone calls are replaced with train fare air travel and hours of free air time to chat on the phone.
• Post cards are replaced with email messages and sms mumbo jumbo.
• Music was really made by real people then, today its electronic most of the time, love was the theme back then, its hard core house and brain draining techno today.
• Business was done by long traveling days and exploration, today its B2B without leaving your office.
• Movies were about wars and horror, now they are about funny and run away from reality more than ever.
• Marriage is taken lightly and faster today, it was a life sentence back then, one you wanted to serve the years.
• World domination and cold wars were replaced with strategic political takeovers today.
• Reading was written in finely binded books, you can have the same today in PDF ebooks.
• Food was wholesome, today its the latest version of fresh fast food.
• Mom and pop stores filed the world, today they are replaced with things they call Mega Malls, and Hyper Markets with cheaper items.
• What was handsome and pretty back then is not so these days, the measures have changed so fast no one knows what to expect.
• Women were the backbone and never reached the highest ranks in the past, today men are aware of them eventually taking over their male dominant world for the last 20 centuries,
• Children were fragile in the early years, now they are forming into a stronger kind of children driven by the new fast lifestyles they live today.
• Money was cash and coins, today its electronic.
• Travel agencies were a big deal and actually the only deal, today they are replaced with expedia.com & hotels.com.
• Learning was on campus, today in your pajamas at your mac.
• American muscle cars ruled the planet for more than 70 years, today the far east and Europe are bringing the American car companies to a melt down, They are now starting to listen to their customers like the Japanese did in the 70’s on American soil.
• People had no choice on what to watch except for their countries broadcasting arms, today you can watch a program airing in the US within 24 hours in the Middle East.
• Music was made on LP’s and Cartridge tapes, today its Mp3 electronic music. Movies were on big rolls of film today on DVD and computer files.
• Computers had 128 mb memory, today phones have 4 GB’s of internal memory expandable to 8GB and more.
• Photos were taken and developed in 24 hours, now you can take the same one 100 times and edit it, upload it to the net in less than 2 minutes.
• In the old days the ugly people or so they say, were labeled that for as long as they lived. Today you walk into a clinic and change your look as many times as you wish and have that pointed nose you always wanted or those hairs you longed for after you lost yours.

Back then for me to write to you all everyday would be a killer task, today I write to you in my towel ready for my midnight shower before I sleep and just press publish and its yours!

If back then is now in a few days or years, have a great then & now

mamdooh.alradadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com

Imagine what spam would look like when they have to release the real story behind their fake email headings, here’s what it could look like:

Subject

• Amazing new undetectable computer virus, norton buster!
• Your Bank account is so secure we never bothered to think about it.
• Hey Mamdooh, I only know your name, that’s it, don’t trust me.
• Bad credit, high debt,car loans pending, you did it, we can’t help you.
• If you delete this message you will not miss a thing.
• You did not win the $10,000,000- Jackpot, delete this message.
• Our vacation package is the highest worldwide.
• Losing hair, Bald, Male pattern baldness, get used to it!
• Girlfriend dumped you? Boyfriend cheating on you? get another, and do not read this crap.
• Faster internet, much faster, not suitable for your country, we only want to waste your time.
• Get rich quick,today, we cannot do it, we are just seeing if you read this.
• Deadly brain virus testing email, please open quick!
• Free airline tickets! costing 20% more than market price.
• Stop smoking in 2 days…Please help us find an ending to spam ad.
• Hot sexy girls, all over the world, not waiting for you, ever! you loser.
• Earn $200,000- a year by working 6 jobs in a 36 hour day after 20 years.
• We do not know how to stop spam.
• Waste a good 10 minutes by opening this email TODAY!

P.S. I got the idea from a readers digest issue.

Mamdooh Al-Radadi

me@mamdoohalradadi.com