After almost 30 years of corporate life, usually heading the HR function in the organization I worked in and dealing with the same challenges over and over again, I desperately wanted to change direction and go as far away from my comfort zone as was possible.  

The challenge was for me to find something that would be cerebral, fun, and could potentially add value (all of those 3, 4, or 5 filters that defined strategy planning during my corporate life have been seared into my mind).  At the bright young age of 54, I applied for, and was accepted at SOAS, University of London, for a full time PhD exploring the intersectionality between gender rights and Sharia Law, and as soon as that was completed 4 years later, I wanted to do something completely different.  

Like most people I have interacted with, I have voluntarily lived in an echo chamber where my friends and colleagues have been mostly mirror images of myself.  They have shared my educational and social background, my political beliefs, my social outlook, and my primary values.  I have previously chosen to walk away from people who are very different and that has been my loss.  It had allowed me (and everybody else I know) to develop an intolerance to others and an illogical belief that I am right.

I have also always been fascinated by people, the way they think, they way they see my country, and the way they interact with complete strangers.  I have been aware that most people will talk to me only through the filter of who I am, whether it is as a man, an older man, an Arab, a Muslim, or as a person in authority, and I wanted to see if they would be different if I wasn’t any of those things to them.  The perfect setting for me was to anonymously drive a taxi and have random conversations with strangers whom I could prompt to discuss everything and anything during the course of our journey.

I cannot begin to describe how amazingly fulfilling, enjoyable, educational, and eye opening the experience has been.  Amongst the most interesting aspects of the experience was the realization that absolutely everybody has an interesting story to tell, and that given the opportunity, they would be willing to share it with a totally random stranger.  Also, everybody is carrying some sort of cross all the time, and that some people are desperate to share that burden if they believe that they are in a safe space, free from judgement or retribution. One particular insight I gained was based on an experience where another taxi driver would not believe that I was a citizen of the UAE, and when he insisted on me showing him my ID card, refused to acknowledge me as the same person in the picture.  He was willing to believe his bias rather than what his eyes could see.

More than anything else, the experience allowed me to see the kaleidoscope that is Dubai and interact with every element of society in any given day and better appreciate our similarities.  I have learnt something from every person I met during the adventure, and have become a better person for it, and I’m itching to try a new adventure soon…. Any suggestions?

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