Change is up to you.

Today can be the last day of the way it used to be.

You decide that.

"God is at work here."

Amidst the most painful time of my life, my friend Kim Gattuso sent me a message.  It said “God is at work here”.  I’ll never forget it.

I teach this stuff, you know.  But when you are going through it, it’s tough to see any light.

But often something in your life has to be cleared away to make room for something better.

We will all be there – more than once. 

But remember, in the struggle there are many gifts.

Stay open to them.

So I watched this movie….

I don’t get a chance to watch movies too much – but I loves me a good inspiring movie!  (I miss typos but that was not on of them).  (That was.)

I was on a 13 hours flight to Dubai and watched one in between reading and writing. 

It was about Tony Hawk, the skateboard champion.  It was inspiring.  

Determination.  Passion.  Getting unstuck.  Persistence.  Failure.  Moving from an unbalanced obsessive life to being fulfilled in more facets of it.  Aging.  It’s all there in his story.

It’s called “Until the wheels come off”.  Check it out.  

What I learned in Dubai, Part 6 – Humbled

I am a red-blooded American and a big patriot.  I believe in America – the idea of America and the founding principles and what they represent.  I have always viewed America as a leader in the world. 

I’ve traveled – Mexico, Canada, Columbia, China, UK, Italy, Norway, South Africa, Panama, Carribean…

Each time I learned things, and most times I was glad to be back on US soil.  You love your home where you understand it all, even if it’s imperfect.  

I must say though, that Dubai was humbling.  They have a harsh environment (each day it was 110 degrees as it is summer there), and still what they have built and continue to build is amazing.  They took 10 years or so to build the new world trade center in New York and argued a lot about the building deciding…meanwhile they built a building twice as tall in Dubai with everyone on board.

I think we have too much bureaucracy and polarization to move quickly and get behind a big common goal.  Democracy has become a popularity contest and the public doesn’t think about who is best qualified to get things done within the framework that America is supposed to be.  (Congress has abdicated power to the executive branch.)

We need to talk about personal responsibility more and entitlement less.  We need to let people be free, but accept the consequences of their actions rather than bailing them out and pasting over failures – because failure is an important part of learning and growing and getting better.

We need to enforce our laws.  We need leaders who unite us rather than polarize us.  We need a media that doesn’t destroy anyone who is qualified and runs for office just because they are on the other side.  The polarized media and subsequently polarized public is a big problem here.

We need to focus on the bigger issues that we aren’t getting right and call them out, and let the little issues be the little issues.  We need to have families that stay together and take care of each other.

We need to focus on quality education.  Many here get it, but in poor cities, they don’t, and the entities providing it do not want change.

America as a world leader forever?  It’s not a given automatic thing.  We must work on it as we always have had to do.  Our problems may change, but each generation has to get it right.

Individual action matters because we are made up of individuals.  The rights of the individual must be held up above any collection of people.  But as individuals, we must be quality people with quality beliefs, thoughts and actions.  

Then there is leadership and policy.  We have to have leaders that make tough decisions and a public that can understand and get behind them, rather than acting like grown children who don’t get their way (benefits).  We have to keep what is most important in front and not let what is least important get in the way.

Freedom and responsibility are at the top of the list.

Mark Twain famously said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice.”  

I agree.

What I learned in Dubai, Part 5 – Discipline

We’ve talked about leadership.  One thing I didn’t mention is that Emirates LOVE their leaders.  You know how a guy like Saddam Hussein would have pictures of himself put up all over the country?  Well, I always thought that it was like brainwashing the public and forcing yourself on them or something.  And in his case, it probaby was, although I am sure he had many fans. 

But in Dubai, there are pictures of the Sheikhs on billboards all over the place.  But these people truly love their leaders.  Like – really love them.  And for good reason.  

One of them needed a kidney transplant.  100,000 citizens offered to donate their kidneys to him!  When he emerged from a US hospital and was doing good, people celebrated in the streets like crazy!

Dubai has made an incredible amount of progress in a short period of time.  How is this possible?

Well here are some key reasons –

Crime – there is none.  It’s incredibly safe.  You can leave your cell phone on the table at the food court and come back two hours later and it will still be there.  This is because they have strict laws and enforce them.  If you are a foreigner working there and you commit a crime you do your time and then you are deported.  (Compare this to what is going on here today – even among leaders themselves.)

You must work.  If you are a foreigner and lose your job, you must get a new job in 30 days or you are deported.

(Remember, 2 million citizens, 9 million foreign workers.)

Savings – If you turn 65 years old, if you do not have $500,000 in net worth (including equity in a house, etc.), you are deported.  This sound cruel.  But think of it.  You are a guest in their country.  It gives you a strong incentive to save for your retirement.  They are not going to take care of you.

The city is spotlessly and clean.  No trash.  There is no yelling or rude behavior.  People are civil.

The government pays for college education.  They can go abroad and study, but colleges from all over the world have opened branches in the UAE.  (I’d guess their colleges are not obsessed with the same social agendas they have here in US colleges. Just a guess.) 

So the country has no criminals, no homeless, no unemployed, no poor seniors – basically no social drag on the economy.  It has a culture where you are expected to get an education and work and not do evil things.  

Everyone is rowing the boat.

Of course, we can’t deport criminals and poor seniors and I am not saying we should.  (We don’t have a guest workforce.) I am just reporting here folks.  Still, I think we can learn a lot.

If we had more people rowing our boat and less along for the ride others pay for, then we’d be better off.  That’s impossible to argue.

To be continued….

What I learned in Dubai, Part 4 – Borrow Brains

There are two million citizens in Dubai.  Two million people would never be able to build what they have by themselves in such a short time.  So they outsource the work.  They get engineers, and workers and talent from all over the world to work on their projects.

Right now as I understand, there are nine million foreign workers in Dubai.  Think of that.  Two million citizens with a total of 11 million people building their country.

Foreigners can never become citizens.  Your father has to be an Emirati for you to be.  Citizens enjoy benefits non-citizens do not.

It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t try to do it all yourself and you find the right people to help you.

To be continued….

What I learned in Dubai, Part 3 – Going big

The leaders in Dubai wanted to build a destination that would attract tourists so when they ran out of oil, they’d have a future.  It’s clear to me when seeing what they have done and continue to do, that they had a clear goal.

In only 20 years they built some of the biggest and best ad most amazing things mankind could dream up – and most of it built in the last ten years.

First, they built the Burg Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.  To give you an idea, the new World Trade Center in New York is 1368 feet tall.  The Burg Khalifa is twice as tall at 2717 feet!  It is a beautiful building too. 

I understand in a year or two they are breaking ground on an even taller building – over 4000 feet tall!  That’s a world trade center taller than the Burg Khalifa!   

At the bottom, it’s connected to the world’s largest mall.  1500 stores – packed with people.  The mall features a giant aquarium so you can walk by sharks swimming around while you go buy your designer shoes or anything else you want.

They built the world’s largest Ferris wheel.  At 620 feet tall, with air-conditioned capsules that can hold 65 people.  You can rent one of the capsules for a party!

They have what they claim is the most beautiful building in the world.  It’s the museum of the future and the design is incredible.  It’s hard to describe so you’ll have to look it up.

There’s a Marina – a winding harbor with coves and docks that stretches for miles in the city.  Along it are luxury high rises and a walkway around with shops and dining that attracts people from all over the world.  It’s beautiful.

Dubai had 25 miles of coastline.  Waterfront property is very valuable anywhere.  So – they built a lot more of it.  They designed an island that when viewed from above is the shape of a palm tree.  Each branch has a street down the middle and waterfront property on the left and right.  

To build it, they pumped sand off the sea floor and sprayed it, like from a fireboat, to build-up the sand.  If you ask me it would never work because the sand would settle and erode.  But they didn’t ask me, they just did it anyway and figured it out – and it worked.  It sold out so fast that they built two more Palm islands with even more branches on the tree.  They sold out in days.  

Then they built a cluster of many islands which form the shape of the continents.  One guy bought the island of Great Britain and is building a replica of London on it.  They increased the waterfront property in Dubai by 500%!

The leaders dream big and do not take no for an answer.  Now they have a space program and want to go to Mars!

Because of this, money flows in from all over the world, and so do foreign workers to help build it all and work there.

Honestly, as an American, I was humbled.  

To be continued….

What I learned in Dubai, part 2 – Leadership

When you look around and see success, you have to know it was no accident and it wasn’t easy.  It comes from the mind of man coupled with his sheer will and determination, with countless problems solved along the way.

There were three leaders, called Sheiks, that have ruled since 1958.  The first was Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.

In America, lost all I have learned about the Middle East was about terrorism and war.  What do you think of when you hear a name like Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum?

Well, let me break it down for you.  In America, you have a first, middle, and last name, right?  Your last name is your father’s last name.  Well in Dubai, your first name is yours, your father’s last name is your middle name, and your last name is your family name.  And Sheikh means leader.

So my Dad’s name was Roger.  So my name translated would be Sheikh Lawrence bin Roger Al Janesky.  See?  Easy right?

So anyway, Sheikh Rashid became the leader of Dubai in 1958.  Oil was discovered in 1969, but it would not last forever.  He famously said, “My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, and his son will ride a camel.”

He had foresight and knew the oil money would run out.  It was all they had.  He could have just lived the high life while it lasted and left the problem to the future generations (Seems like what we are doing now in America, giving the future 30 Trillion in debt).

Instead, he made a plan and started executing it.  He transformed Dubai from a cluster of villages to a modern port city and commercial hub.

Dubai leaders are not elected.  They are the leader because they are the first son of their father, and their father died.  I am not advocating for that system because if the son is a thug, an idiot, an egomaniac, or has any number of other faults, the people are in trouble.  But there is one advantage I can see.  They think long-term.

In our country today, that seems to be missing among many of our leaders who buy the people’s votes with their childrens money just to win the next election.  I digress…

In Dubai’s case, Sheikh Rashid had a vision that set all this in motion and worked on it from 1958 to 1990 when he died.  Then his son Sheikh Maktoum took over.  He was a chip off the old block.  He learned from his Dad and continued for 16 years until he died.  In 2006 his son, the current ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took over.  Sheikh Mohammed not only continued where his grandfather and father left off but ratcheted their vision into overdrive, building the world’s premier tourist destination – in short order.

Leadership is where it starts.  And Dubai has had great leaders.  And while building it all out, they kept the UAE together and worked out problems.  Remember, Dubai is one of seven UAE states and it is not the capital. While serving as leaders of Dubai, these leaders also served as co-leaders of the UAE.

So do YOU have a vision?  How big is it?  Do you have the will to act?

To be continued….

Who dressed you this morning?

People take you at your word for who you are.  

They are not going to argue with who you say you are.

You say to the world who you are by how you dress (and groom).

What I learned in Dubai

Marie and I went to a couple of different places for our honeymoon.  Dubai was one of them.

I didn’t know much about Dubai.  I couldn’t point to it on a map, didn’t know if women needed to cover their faces, or if it was really safe.  I had heard some good things like it was rich and growing and had the tallest building in the world.

After my visit I felt like it was the flowering of humanity.  5000 years of human progress suddenly mushrooming out of the earth.  Complete wonder.

I’m in awe.  Even after seeing it and asking a lot of questions, I still don’t quite get it.  I’ll talk about the parts I think I do understand.

There’s more than I can say in one post, so I’ll split it up into parts.  How many parts?  We’ll see!

In this part I’ll give you the rough basics.  (I’m not a precise historian, and don;t have time to be, so don’t get caught up in my approximations)

 In the early part of the last century, Dubai was a city-state along the northwest corner of the Indian Ocean between the Middle East and Asia and the main industry was pearl diving.  (Mikimoto developed cultured pearls in Japan and wiped out the pearl diving industry in Dubai in 1929.)  It was poor and dusty and struggling.  It was a British colony so along with so many other languages from nearby, people spoke English. (I met one guy who speaks 12 languages).

The Sheik who ruled asked Britain for permission to build an airport and they told him no, they didn’t need one. (Heathrow airport in London was the busiest airport in the world at the time.)  He persisted and eventually they gave him permission, with the first runway opening in 1965.

Britain eventually gave up Dubai and left.  

Here’s where things get interesting.  There were other city states bordering Dubai, such as Abu Dhabi, 85 miles southwest along the gulf of the Persian Gulf.  They had their own leaders.  Instead of competing or fighting with these other territories, they decided to join together and formed the United Arab Emirates, now comprised of 7 states.  

Usually when this is considered they fight over who will be the leader and where will be the capital and it doesn;t work.  But the leaders put their egos aside and realized there were far more benefits for the people to be gained. To me, this was big. Abu Dhabi became the capital.

They had little resources but began working to make a plan.  

I thought Dubai was all oil money – and yes, there was oil in Dubai for 10-12 years, but they ran out.  Abu Dhabi has lots of oil and gas, but it’s the only state to have it.

Dubai decided to make itself a tourist destination so they had a future as the old ran out.  And they went big.

Real big.  

The biggest ever.

To be continued…