Talent Development Lessons From Dubai: the Most Diverse Place on Earth

We tend to think of the United States as being rather culturally diverse. But American culture (especially its business culture) is very old and complex. Despite the unique melting pot of the American cultural landscape, American pluralism cannot begin to compete on the diversity scale with what’s arising in a few centers of international business outside the Western world, in places like Dubai. These four lessons I learned doing business there will help any CEO build effective teams.

We tend to think of the United States as being rather culturally diverse. The prevailing view that the U.S. has developed an advanced, complex and unique culture from the misshapen cultural building blocks brought over centuries by diverse immigrants is mostly true. But American culture (especially its business culture) is very old and complex. Despite the unique melting pot of the American cultural landscape, American pluralism cannot begin to compete on the diversity scale with what’s arising in a few centers of international business outside the Western world.

One of the most fascinating and diverse places in the world today is Dubai. Workers and businesses have come from all over the world to this city-state (that is politically reminiscent of ancient Greece or Medieval Italy), culturally both highly conservative and strikingly cutting edge, and at the pinnacle of civil engineering and city building.

“Dubai is the perfect laboratory for testing what we think we know about human resources and how people interact in business.”

Dubai is an unusual city, and in many ways, it’s the perfect laboratory for testing what we think we know about human resources and how people interact in business. Building a collaborative foundation for an American working with Indian and British colleagues at an Emirati company dealing with a supplier in Singapore, for example, is no easy task.

It’s exciting to think about all the cultural bridging and negotiation necessary to make something like that work. I had the opportunity to visit Dubai recently and observe some of the ways, including using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® instrument, that businesses are dealing with bold pluralism. It turns out many of the challenges those businesses face are the same ones that face U.S. companies, and I believe also every corporate culture.

It’s about getting personal
The way to break down collaborative barriers of “macro diversity”—differences in national origin, culture, religion, language, and so on—is by highlighting individual diversity. HR practices in the West have long embraced tools like the Myers-Briggs® instrument to achieve this, although it’s easy to miss what seems to be going on.

The cohesion between people that is formed by understanding individual diversity stems from bypassing the need to rely on assumptions made on the basis of macro diversity. In other words, the key is not relying on assumptions and stereotypes. Of course, it’s important to respect elements of macro diversity, but the more people work intensively together, the more they will naturally begin relating to each other as individuals and less by the broad categories they fall into. However, waiting for that closeness to develop on its own can take a long time.

What I saw and experienced in Dubai is that tools that provide accurate insight into how we communicate, think and work can quickly humanize a professional relationship that might otherwise be founded on less reliable, broader and less personal foundations. While we can sometimes be a little suspicious of the idea of personal closeness in business, it is absolutely essential to effective teams that individuals have an intimate understanding of how each member of the group prefers to work and interact.


MORE LIKE THIS

  • Get the CEO Briefing

    Sign up today to get weekly access to the latest issues affecting CEOs in every industry
  • upcoming events

    Roundtable

    Strategic Planning Workshop

    1:00 - 5:00 pm

    Over 70% of Executives Surveyed Agree: Many Strategic Planning Efforts Lack Systematic Approach Tips for Enhancing Your Strategic Planning Process

    Executives expressed frustration with their current strategic planning process. Issues include:

    1. Lack of systematic approach (70%)
    2. Laundry lists without prioritization (68%)
    3. Decisions based on personalities rather than facts and information (65%)

     

    Steve Rutan and Denise Harrison have put together an afternoon workshop that will provide the tools you need to address these concerns.  They have worked with hundreds of executives to develop a systematic approach that will enable your team to make better decisions during strategic planning.  Steve and Denise will walk you through exercises for prioritizing your lists and steps that will reset and reinvigorate your process.  This will be a hands-on workshop that will enable you to think about your business as you use the tools that are being presented.  If you are ready for a Strategic Planning tune-up, select this workshop in your registration form.  The additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $695 will be added to your total.

    New York, NY: ​​​Chief Executive's Corporate Citizenship Awards 2017

    Women in Leadership Seminar and Peer Discussion

    2:00 - 5:00 pm

    Female leaders face the same issues all leaders do, but they often face additional challenges too. In this peer session, we will facilitate a discussion of best practices and how to overcome common barriers to help women leaders be more effective within and outside their organizations. 

    Limited space available.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $495 will be added to your total.

    Golf Outing

    10:30 - 5:00 pm
    General’s Retreat at Hermitage Golf Course
    Sponsored by UBS

    General’s Retreat, built in 1986 with architect Gary Roger Baird, has been voted the “Best Golf Course in Nashville” and is a “must play” when visiting the Nashville, Tennessee area. With the beautiful setting along the Cumberland River, golfers of all capabilities will thoroughly enjoy the golf, scenery and hospitality.

    The golf outing fee includes transportation to and from the hotel, greens/cart fees, use of practice facilities, and boxed lunch. The bus will leave the hotel at 10:30 am for a noon shotgun start and return to the hotel after the cocktail reception following the completion of the round.

    To sign up, select this option in your registration form. Additional fee of $295 will be added to your total.