Business leaders often work hard to develop new strategies for the business and its future development. “We are here, but we are going there. It may take five or ten years, but we are going there.” The problem is that despite high ambitions and much time spent on strategy work, strategies are rarely put into action in everyday work. Empirical studies indicate that only 7–10 per cent of all companies’ strategies are implemented.
A wise man once said: Be stubborn on the long-term vision but flexible on the details. The legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi understood the Agile Mindset 350 years ago. Here is an excerpt from his Book of Five Rings: “Perception is strong, and sight is weak. In strategy, it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things.”
Many people in Dubai have the will to be part of the journey towards Vision 2071. At the same time, they understand that more pandemics, wars, and other problems may require the world’s attention. Still, the strategy, the will, and the growing expertise create the conditions for the road to 2071 not to feel long.
When I came to Dubai for the first time in 1997, I felt that here we see the beginning of a new world where leaders can lift their eyes from quarterly reports (the short-term profit perspective of the West) to not only think about the next three years but also create scenarios for not only our children or grandchildren but entirely new conditions for a better life for many more. When the UAE was formed in 1971, the foundations for a centennial perspective were already in place. What kind of world do we want to be possible in a hundred years? Where did that perspective go in the West? Is the political system making it impossible to think beyond the next election in the West because you need to know whether you will be reelected?
At a time when we are discussing sustainability, legacy and ecosystems as essential factors for the world’s development, and where we often hear about sportwashing and a lot of other washing effects that are said to hide what it is really about, Dubai appears to be a place where most things can withstand the attention as if it is possible to get into the depths. At least, we have written about the depths in this report. We got to see the Emirates Bustanica, an idea the UN should quickly get all member states to realise in many places worldwide. We visited the Solar Cell Park in Dubai, which shows how to make the future’s energy supply better and cleaner. Here, the world can make study visits and check out the innovation work and, not least, the obvious right of women to not only be half of the population but also to do half of the work required to create a better world. Dubai is Mastering the Art of a Long-Time Perspective.
