Mashal, naturally I support you and your words ! And I believe you raised one particular aspect that usually does not seem to get enough attention: what kind of people in the entrepreneur space are often praised - and what behaviors are they actually praised for? Many of them are narrow-mindedly focused on their outcomes (and as you said: how much money they can raise) - not on what benefit they create for communities, not on how humane they act towards their families, the people they work with - and their customers.
I know you will continue to create your own path, and you will be among the voices we will hear when another person expresses their ignorance towards how rich and diverse life is, i.e. how diverse humans are and how many ways there are to do the "right thing". Spending long hours on work related issues is not an indication of 'doing the right thing' ! Working shorter hours with more attention, with meaningful intention and with positive energy usually creates much better results than somebody working beyond the point of exhaustion, feeling under increasing pressure. And imagine, there would actually be a diverse group of people truly working together in mutually inspiring and supporting ways, rather than a group of like minded individuals competing for better pay and / or status.
Well done you for addressing the issue of misperception of the value of women in the tech industry and the Middle East .. specifically, but also the value of diversity in teams in general. I guess the panel did not happen in the UAE, with so many examples of diversity, female founders committed and driven professionals across all sectors. Bulk Whizz is just one example.
Your point of the lack of diversity is very valid. Current research indicates that, the more diverse a team is the better creativity and decision making within the group. This looks like short term profitability and greater increases in long term shareholder value. An increasing number of investment funds are stipulating diverse leadership, board membership and workforce as conditions for funding.
Last year the American Business Council mandated a focus on BCorp principles in recognition of the need for more diverse thinking and long term sustainable business strategies moving away from short term profit dividends for shareholders. Humanity over Profit. My guess is this dinosaur will ultimately join the ranks of spectacular fails with the displayed gap in leadership temperament. We have many examples from the last decade where the biases and arrogance of founders, unchecked by shareholders have led to demise.
It is shocking when we are faced with this type of archaic sentiment - we must speak up, and you did. We all need to speak up, everyone one of us.
Mashal, naturally I support you and your words ! And I believe you raised one particular aspect that usually does not seem to get enough attention: what kind of people in the entrepreneur space are often praised - and what behaviors are they actually praised for? Many of them are narrow-mindedly focused on their outcomes (and as you said: how much money they can raise) - not on what benefit they create for communities, not on how humane they act towards their families, the people they work with - and their customers.
I know you will continue to create your own path, and you will be among the voices we will hear when another person expresses their ignorance towards how rich and diverse life is, i.e. how diverse humans are and how many ways there are to do the "right thing". Spending long hours on work related issues is not an indication of 'doing the right thing' ! Working shorter hours with more attention, with meaningful intention and with positive energy usually creates much better results than somebody working beyond the point of exhaustion, feeling under increasing pressure. And imagine, there would actually be a diverse group of people truly working together in mutually inspiring and supporting ways, rather than a group of like minded individuals competing for better pay and / or status.
Well done you for addressing the issue of misperception of the value of women in the tech industry and the Middle East .. specifically, but also the value of diversity in teams in general. I guess the panel did not happen in the UAE, with so many examples of diversity, female founders committed and driven professionals across all sectors. Bulk Whizz is just one example.
Your point of the lack of diversity is very valid. Current research indicates that, the more diverse a team is the better creativity and decision making within the group. This looks like short term profitability and greater increases in long term shareholder value. An increasing number of investment funds are stipulating diverse leadership, board membership and workforce as conditions for funding.
Last year the American Business Council mandated a focus on BCorp principles in recognition of the need for more diverse thinking and long term sustainable business strategies moving away from short term profit dividends for shareholders. Humanity over Profit. My guess is this dinosaur will ultimately join the ranks of spectacular fails with the displayed gap in leadership temperament. We have many examples from the last decade where the biases and arrogance of founders, unchecked by shareholders have led to demise.
It is shocking when we are faced with this type of archaic sentiment - we must speak up, and you did. We all need to speak up, everyone one of us.