I have always enjoyed talking to people who are thinking of starting a business or are looking to develop or expand their business.
I’ve always believed that it is my responsibility to share my experiences with people around me and hopefully add a perspective that they may not have thought about. It doesn’t matter if the business is completely one or if they are a direct competitor—the advice will always stay the same.
I’m not sure why I enjoy it so much—it rarely has a financial benefit to me— but I enjoy talking to exciting minds, which influence me in and allows me to see myself from a different perspective.
Experiences need, and should, be shared—particularly in a city like Dubai, where I started my career. Most of us moved to the region with a vision of creating something bigger than ourselves and it has proved to be the perfect place for that.
As business owners, we have in our own ways added to the branding and global appeal of the city and, in turn, have helped it attract people to come here and eat at our restaurants, shop from our stores and wear our clothes.
The impact of the pandemic was a sobering reality-check when it comes to how working collectively can save people’s lives and businesses. A particular favourite example was when Burger King released an advertising campaign encouraging customers to buy from McDonalds. Over the past two decades we have obsessing over competition and competitors.
“A great example was when Burger King released a campaign encouraging customers to buy McDonald’s”
We have forced ourselves to be the best at the expense of others, always pushing to monopolise the market and ‘win’. Television culture was centred around competitions, judging others, and beating competitors: from X-Factor to The Apprentice, and Masterchef to Love Island we have been fed the obsession of winning.
Don’t get me wrong, competition is not a bad thing, but it can be counterproductive when it becomes a relentless obsession at any cost. For instance, how does competition and ‘winning’ matter in our COVID-19 reality? At this point ‘winning’ is simply us all surviving the pandemic together. The reality is that right now, we all need help. Help to reaffirm what it is we do, and why we do it.
Lockdowns and the closure of the borders and businesses has affected everyone. But how much help did we give before COVID, and how do we justify the help that we now seek from others? If our attitudes were towards helping, supporting and building each other up, we likely would have had a better grounding on how to deal with the current retail and business climate of today. We cannot live in a selfish and self-centred bubble anymore.
It is evident that a vaccine discovered by a German scientist and shared with the world, can save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. Can we apply this to businesses? I think we can. I think we will. I have seen a distinct difference between the advice people used to give before and the way it is given now. The shift from mutual gain, to mutual support.
Over the past year I made a decision to listen and talk to whoever asks for a push in the right direction, and I can genuinely say it has led to personal fulfilment and mutual benefit. It has taught me that talking, providing advice and encouraging each other is the only way to help our community to grow together and achieve something greater than the sum of what we have individually spent our lives creating.
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