Lebanese Perspective on Gulf Leadership

I was taking a Lebanese friend to the airport last week with some friends. He's been here in Dubai for the last 10 months but must return to Beirut now. There seems to always be uncertainty in Lebanon. Talk of war is unfortunately a fixture in daily conversation. Leaders continue to battle over control of this relatively small but important piece of land. His heart was heavy as we drove.

Not really aware of his heavy heart, someone in the car began to wonder out loud about two awards given out here in the UAE. Shaikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum was recently been awarded two prestigious awards here in his own country. One was the Personality of the Year at the Prophet Mohammad Love Festival. And earlier in the month he was named the Personality of the Year in the education field. Here's a Gulf News quote from that article...

In line with the instructions of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Deputy Ruler and Minister of Finance, and patron of the Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinctive Academic Performance, Shaikh Mohammad has been selected for his initiatives to enhance education all over the world.

(Shaikh Hamdan, who gave him this award, is Shaikh Mohammad's older brother. (I originally stated that Hamdan was his son but some helpful commenters corrected me.))

The person speaking began suggesting that maybe Shaikh Mohammad should consider telling these groups to give these awards to lesser known and less powerful people in the Emirates to encourage a sense of achievement among his people. He stated there was no doubt that Sheikh Mohammad is a visionary leader and has been the main reason that Dubai has put itself on the map of internationally known cities. But he was just wondering aloud about the wisdom of how these awards are being distributed.

At this my Lebanese friend turned to me and said, "I think he's a tremendous leader and he deserves all the awards. I am going back to Lebanon, a country in chaos. Every single leader in Lebanon has blood on his hands. Shaikh Mohammad deserves every award he gets here."

I guess he's right in many ways. The whole region could use more leaders like Shaikh Mohammad; particularly Lebanon these days.