Q: Abdullah, you are now one of the most influential and supportive youth, and also one of the Arab youth leaders. My question to you is how can youth be leaders? Is leadership innate or learned? What is the most important skill for a leader?
Are you an innate leader or did you acquire it?
If we talk about how a young man can be a leader, the truth is that most young people have an aspiration in acquiring leadership, and even their practices are those whose families belong to the military, politicians, or even senior businessmen, because contact with those families and that environment and their relationship will teach them a lot about leadership
But how can a young man be a leader if he does not have a family from which he acquires leadership methods
The young man must be well aware of why he wants to be a leader. And then he trains and reads about leadership, so more than 95% of the young leaders around us acquired and trained in leadership. They weren’t innate leaders
A simple definition of a skill is mastering a skill and working at it better than everyone else at that age!
Of course, there is a difference between traits and skills. There are 225 traits mentioned in scientific books, 57 different skills, and about 10 main skills from my personal opinion. The most important skill among them is the ability to analyze, and analysis has more than one type, but the most important skill in the ability to analyze is people analysis, Attitude analysis, and organizational analysis.
I am a natural leader, and I have also trained in leadership so far, in order to build up any shortcomings I have. The science of leadership is advanced. Even if I am a leader during the period, I need to acquire science and modern methods of leadership and planning.
I have studied a group of leadership programs and planning programs, the minimum academic program is 3 months, some of which are online and others are offline, some are scholarships and some are paid from institutions such as
Bibliotheca Alexandrina: Basics of Leadership Preparation Program, 2008
Leadership Development Academy in Kuwait: He taught a number of separate programs from the year 2099 to 2020
Oxford University: He studied planning basics programs
Mohammed bin Rashid Foundation: He studied leadership and planning science programs in the year two thousand sixteen and two thousand and eighteen
Nasser Military Academy: a group of courses in leadership and national security. I also read a lot of books about leadership
Q: Can you tell me one quality that is not good in the qualities of an instinctive leader?
Many leaders avoid answering this question or to tell the truth, but when we become leaders and have authority and power if we are in high positions and we could not overcome the lust for power and power, we become at that time that we do not want anyone above us, that is, in a more accurate sense, who thinks of removing the position from me will be my enemy and I will fight them.
This is the direction of dictators.
Q: What are your hobbies?
There are hobbies that I practice constantly to improve the mind’s speed of thinking, visualization, the ability to analyze, the ability to predict, and exercises of mind games and meditation.
I love archery, shooting, repairing weapons, swimming, diving, reading, and driving boats.
Q: Abdullah, you are an Arab and an Egyptian African. From your experience in analyzing personalities and following up the activities of military figures, do you think that there is an Arab girl who will be one of the best and strongest female leaders in the military field? What distinguishes that girl?
Yes, of course, there is a girl who does not exceed 23 years and she will be one of the best female leaders in the military field; Her Royal Highness Princess / Salma Al Abdullah II, Princess of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. she graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in Britain and was the first Jordanian woman to fly a warplane and be in the ranks of the forces Armed with the Jordanian Air Force. What distinguishes her is her keen interest and focus on training a lot in the field of aviation, and she is interested in military affairs. I think that these things keep her away from the media scene and not accompanying Her Majesty Queen Rania on occasions, and she has many capabilities and advantages that give her preference over the rest of the girls, namely support From His Majesty King Abdullah and her brother, His Highness Prince Al-Hussein, who are also pilots. She has personal advantages and capabilities that she has not discovered yet. What she needs is strong support and guidance to enter into various programs of specialized military aviation training, increase the number of flight hours in a short period, and participate in maneuvers in the International military, with training on various pressure factors in the Air Force and those matters that highlight her leadership skills. Although she is a princess and a beautiful girl, she always appears smiling and simple, and she enjoys a great deal of kindness and intelligence, but she also has fighting qualities and a high ability to challenge and confront in difficult situations, and this is what distinguishes leaders, may God protect her.
Q: Abdullah, you are interested in entrepreneurship and the technological economy. Do you see competition between Riyadh and Dubai to attract large companies?
Yes, there will be competition between the Saudi administration and the UAE. Dubai has won the title of the financial center in the Middle East for decades and until now, before the emergence of another competitor in the region, and because the new Saudi dragon appeared, with a plan two years ago to attract large companies with higher privileges than those offered by Dubai.
Saudi Arabia has used two methods to attract large companies:
The first method is the coarse method: the issuance of a law from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to cancel any contract between the government and the companies that deal with it if they do not have a headquarters in Riyadh, starting from January 1, 2024. After the announcement of this law, Riyadh attracted about 44 international companies whose revenue exceeds one billion dollars annually.
Then the soft method: tax exemption; zero taxes for a period of 50 years for companies whose revenues exceed one billion dollars annually, facilitating visa procedures for families of employees in companies, facilitating work contracts for families of employees, and facilitating government contract procedures.
This coincides with the fact that Riyadh will soon complete the infrastructure of the modern network of connections, and 59 skyscrapers built on an area of 1.6 million square meters have been prepared, and a free zone of 3 million square meters has been set up.
Saudi Arabia is the largest commercial market in the Gulf, and the development of seaports has been completed. Saudi Arabia continued to negotiate with 7,000 major companies to transfer the regional headquarters to Riyadh.
