In the middle of what seemed a typical coaching session, a chief executive thanked me for my parenting advice. A bit puzzled, I asked: “What parenting advice did I give you?” (Frankly, I didn’t know that I was in the business of handing out tips on how to raise children, nor sure if I should be.)
He proceeded to tell me the advice was so good he shared it with some of his friends and they were also thankful for it. Still confused about what “advice” he was referring to, I asked again: “Parenting advice? When did I give you this? And if it was so good, what was it?”
In our previous session, we’d discussed the need for him as a chief executive to focus on expecting the standard to be achieved because it is the expectation rather than using the fear of punishment as the stimulus. In the midst of that discussion, I shared an example that had recently caught my attention from my home life.
It was a story I’d also featured in a previous column titled “Leadership by fear means you do not trust your employees”. In short, I had told one of our teenage daughters to be home by, let’s say, 11pm. I had said: “And if you are not, you’ll get grounded”, which is probably common for a parent to say – at least I hoped it was. And it is even common for leaders to tell their employees: “Do ‘this’ and if you don’t then ‘X’ will happen to you.”
As I walked down the hall after making this comment to my daughter, I wondered: “Why did I just threaten her? Why didn’t I just say my expectation?” The conversation in my mind continued analysing what just happened.
Did I not expect her to be home on time? And even if that was the case, is this the right approach? I realised I should have been focused on building her behaviour not just in this instance; the behaviour I want to instil in my kids is to do the right thing because it is expected.
That is the essence of the parenting advice this CEO was referring to, and it is the core of today’s leadership advice – focus on building behaviour.
Following this and completely unrelated, a couple of people suggested I write a book on parenting. This intrigued me so I started pondering the idea. While I am not going to set out and write a book on parenting – the best I could do is to write about raising your child as a leader – a thought jumped into my mind.
As leaders we should do the same as parents – that is to focus our efforts on building patterns of behaviour and the attitude that we want to see in the future. It is too easy to spend too much time on today, and address the immediacy of performance. Just as parents want to see their kids act in the right way every day, they realise it is their role to build the future behaviour.
When you fail to do this you are actually failing your employees and holding them back from realising their fullest potential.
Here is a simple tip on how to make this happen. Create a list noting a specific area that will help your managers be even better. Every leader recognises areas of behaviour and/or skill that if improved would have a direct effect on performance.
But creating a list is not enough, you need to do the hard part and talk with your employees about it. Too often, leaders identify what would make someone better. Then do very little about it.
Once you have the areas of behaviour or skill improvement identified, talk to your employees about them.
I believe in a practice called “feedforward”. Instead of looking backwards as you do in feedback, when employing feedforward, you are looking into the future. You would say something like: “If you do (fill this in with the improvement area) in the future, it will have (be specific) effect on your performance. Now, let’s talk about how you can grow in this area.”
This little lesson from parenting highlights the essence of great leadership – helping people get even better.
Tommy Weir is a leadership adviser, author of 10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East and other leadership writings and the founder of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center
Karwaan
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Director: Akarsh Khurana
Starring: Irrfan Khan, Dulquer Salmaan, Mithila Palkar
Rating: 4/5
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
MADAME WEB
Director: S.J. Clarkson
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tahar Rahim, Sydney Sweeney
Rating: 3.5/5
DUNE: PART TWO
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothee Chamalet, Zendaya, Austin Butler
Rating: 5/5
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
ANATOMY OF A FALL
Director: Justine Triet
Starring: Sandra Huller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner
Rating: 5/5
TECH SPECS: APPLE WATCH SERIES 9
Display: 41mm – 352 x 430; 45mm – 396 x 484; always-on Retina LTPO OLED, 2000 nits max; Ion-X glass (aluminium cases), sapphire crystal (stainless steel cases)
Processor: Apple S9 64-bit, W3 wireless, 2nd-gen Ultra Wideband
Capacity: 64GB
Memory: 1GB
Platform: watchOS 10
Health metrics: Blood oxygen sensor, electrical heart sensor and ECG, 3rd-gen optical heart sensor, high and low heart rate notifications, irregular rhythm notifications, sleep stages, temperature sensing
Emergency services: Emergency SOS, international emergency calling, crash detection, fall detection
Connectivity: GPS/GPS + cellular; Wi-Fi, LTE, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Apple Pay)
Durability: IP6X, water resistant up to 50m, dust resistant
Battery: 308mAh Li-ion, up to 18h regular/36h low power; wireless charging
Cards: eSIM
Finishes: Aluminium – midnight, pink, Product Red, silver, starlight; stainless steel – gold, graphite, silver
In the box: Watch Series 9, woven magnetic-to-USB-C charging cable, band/loop
Price: Starts at Dh1,599 (41mm) / Dh1,719 (45mm)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Eco Way
Started: December 2023
Founder: Ivan Kroshnyi
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Electric vehicles
Investors: Bootstrapped with undisclosed funding. Looking to raise funds from outside
Dengue fever symptoms
High fever (40°C/104°F)
Severe headache
Pain behind the eyes
Muscle and joint pains
Nausea
Vomiting
Swollen glands
Rash
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
Director: William Friedkin
Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Jason Clarke, Jake Lacy
Rating: 3/5
The years Ramadan fell in May
COMPANY PROFILE
Company: Mascotte Health
Started: 2023
Based: Miami, US
Founder: Bora Hamamcioglu
Sector: Online veterinary service provider
Investment stage: $1.2 million raised in seed funding
The biog
Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier
UAE fixtures
25 April – Ireland v UAE*
27 April – UAE v Zimbabwe**
29 April – Netherlands v UAE*
3 May – UAE v Vanuatu*
5 May – Semi-finals
7 May – Final
UAE squad: Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Avanee Patel, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Kavisha Kumari, Khushi Sharma, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish, Vaishnave Mahesh.
*Zayed Cricket Stadium
**Tolerance Oval
ILT20 UAE stars
LEADING RUN SCORERS
1 Nicholas Pooran, 261
2 Muhammad Waseem (UAE), 248
3 Chris Lynn, 244
4 Johnson Charles, 232
5 Kusal Perera, 230
BEST BOWLING AVERAGE
(minimum 10 overs bowled)
1 Zuhaib Zubair (UAE), 9 wickets at 12.44
2 Mohammed Rohid (UAE), 7 at 13.00
3 Fazalhaq Farooqi, 17 at 13.05
4 Waqar Salamkheil, 10 at 14.08
5 Aayan Khan (UAE), 4 at 15.50
6 Wanindu Hasaranga, 12 at 16.25
7 Mohammed Jawadullah (UAE), 10 at 17.00
RESULT
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai 0 Al Ain 6
Al Ain: Caio (5', 73'), El Shahat (10'), Berg (65'), Khalil (83'), Al Ahbabi (90'+2)
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: AI
Number of employees: 41
Funding: About $1.7 million
Investors: Self, family and friends
Teams
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
WITHIN SAND
Director: Moe Alatawi
Starring: Ra’ed Alshammari, Adwa Fahd, Muhand Alsaleh
Rating: 3/5
Small Things Like These
Director: Tim Mielants
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Eileen Walsh
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kinetic 7
Started: 2018
Founder: Rick Parish
Based: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Industry: Clean cooking
Funding: $10 million
Investors: Self-funded