In a collarless black jacket, dark jeans and trainers, perhaps the only giveaway of Deepak Chopra's celebrity status are his diamond-studded glasses. The international health-and-wellness icon, motivational speaker and author of more than 80 books is addressing a packed audience at Dubai's Park Hyatt hotel. The subject of the Soul of Leadership seminar is whether we have what it takes to be great leaders.
"To dream and build a better and bigger future for the people and the country, we first need to understand the future of well-being and establish a strong and healthy today," says Chopra, once voted one of Time magazine's Top 100 heroes and icons of the 20th century. "Once you have attained this, anyone can be the torchbearer of a happy, satisfied and successful community, business or nation."
Whether you harbour a desire to become the next president of the United States or want to build more confidence as a business chief, Chopra’s philosophy on leadership is simple. Great leadership can be learnt, and when it comes to getting ahead, our soul or core consciousness and the ability to “be present” far outstrips how much wealth and power you hold: “A leader can never afford to be distracted. You won’t see them checking their iPhone or multitasking while they talk to you. They are totally present and focused on the moment,” says Chopra. “They understand fully that the most important people in their lives are the ones in front of them right now.”
Giving his personal examples of great leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Chopra believes people like this have a distinct presence and do not come across as easily distracted. “These type of leaders give you the sense of always being consciously present in your company. No matter how busy their lives become, they make time for reflection every day and ask themselves questions such as: ‘Who am I? What do I want?’ Their task is also to help realise these very aspirations and longings in the groups that they lead.”
Hazel Jackson, the founder and chief executive of Biz-group, agrees: “Great leaders realise that success is about growing others – it is about looking beyond their own capability and amplifying the intelligence of the people they manage.” Biz-group is a UAE-based training and teambuilding-solutions company that has been helping leaders and their employees since 1993. It topped the UAE’s SME Great Place to Work list this year, for the second year running, making it well-placed to comment on the subject. “Successful leaders never stop learning, possess strong people-management skills and focus on building a winning corporate culture. They are able to explore ideas, improvise, seek input, provide feedback and be available for discussion and support, taking decisive action when necessary.”
The Great Place to Work Institute has been highlighting the work of companies big and small around the world for about 30 years, with the belief that there are common factors that separate good companies from great. One of these factors comes down to the leader in charge, says Ron Thomas, the chief executive of Great Place to Work Gulf. “They empower their teams to make decisions and take risks. They respect and value the contribution of their staff, in terms of their ideas and time. They also take a genuine interest in the well-being of their staff. Perhaps most importantly, they are visible and accessible within the organisation.”
This approachability, according to Chopra, goes hand-in-hand with charisma, one of the key traits of a great leader. As well as a sense of presence, charismatic people have a real understanding of their true self-esteem and are immune to both criticism and flattery – in other words, they’re not driven by their ego. “A charismatic leader is never melodramatic or high maintenance. They exude warmth and are easy to talk to, with no chip on their shoulder,” says Chopra.
Indeed, a great boss can create the difference between hitting the snooze button in the morning and bouncing out of bed. “A good sense of humour is required – because pressure is high and the ability to find joy in the mundane is essential. Humility is also the essential ingredient that differentiates the mediocre from the great,” says the Biz-group training consultant Barbara Kerr. “The great leaders I meet are those who connect with people, who have a passion for seeing and using the capability of the team to drive the business, and who genuinely care about the welfare and well-being of their colleagues.”
Finally, the ability to move beyond our “reptilian brain”, says Chopra, is key to our success as a leader. This 400-million-year-old mentality that resides in the back of our minds is reckoned to control our fight-or-flight instincts, releasing cortisone and adrenaline into our system at times of stress. A great leader knows how to keep this in check, and according to Chopra, using the acronym STOP can help: Stop and press pause; Take three deep breaths; Observe yourself; Proceed with compassion.
weekend@thenational.ae
The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK
Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Bah
Born: 1972
Husband: Emirati lawyer Salem Bin Sahoo, since 1992
Children: Soud, born 1993, lawyer; Obaid, born 1994, deceased; four other boys and one girl, three months old
Education: BA in Elementary Education, worked for five years in a Dubai school
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Greatest Royal Rumble match listing
50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias
Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura
Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal
SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos
Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt
Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev
Singles match John Cena v Triple H
Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto
The%20Boy%20and%20the%20Heron
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%C2%A0%3C%2Fstrong%3EHayao%20Miyazaki%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%C2%A0Soma%20Santoki%2C%20Masaki%20Suda%2C%20Ko%20Shibasaki%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
THE SPECS
GMC Sierra Denali 1500
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Price: Dh232,500
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
GROUPS AND FIXTURES
Group A
UAE, Italy, Japan, Spain
Group B
Egypt, Iran, Mexico, Russia
Tuesday
4.15pm: Italy v Japan
5.30pm: Spain v UAE
6.45pm: Egypt v Russia
8pm: Iran v Mexico
The biog
Name: Atheja Ali Busaibah
Date of birth: 15 November, 1951
Favourite books: Ihsan Abdel Quddous books, such as “The Sun will Never Set”
Hobbies: Reading and writing poetry
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
Schedule for Asia Cup
Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)
Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)
Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)
Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four
Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)
Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)
Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)
Sept 28: Final (Dubai)
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
