Top 5 (and least loved) blog posts after two years and 100 posts

Wow, two years after I started this blog and I am still at it... 100 posts in all, over 25,500 viewers (not all my Mom and Dad surely), many adventures and countless memories. As people like lists I decided to write another list... the top five blog posts of "all time" and a mention for the least loved....

The list includes both research results and "action learning adventures" - although the action took place in the classroom, on a camel farm and in Japan!

Number 5 with 770 views: Advice to Emirati entrepreneurs at each stage of the entrepreneurship process

The advice given is broken up into the four "basic" stages of the entrepreneurship process as illustrated by this fabulous graphic.

Entrepreneurship process in stages

The advice was developed after several years of research (which resulted in the UAE 2011 GEM Report and the first book on Emirati entrepreneurship) and seems to get a reader or two every week, even over year after it was first posted.

Number 4 with 859 views: Camel racing farm visit - another adventure in learning strategy from traditional industries

Given my overarching theme of learning about what strategy is "now" in the UAE by looking to the past and Emirati heritage, we visted two different camel farms in Sharjah, UAE to learn about camel racing and also to think about the strategy of camel racing...
There is a video here about the robot jockey (an Emirati invention) here:

Camel racing is a fascinating sport, with different strategies and tactics used to train, feed and heal camels - all depending on the age of the camel, sex and length of the race. They are also beautiful animals :)

We are interrupting a 5* dinner with imported fresh grass!

Number 3 with 1598 views: ZU Men's Business Association trip to Japan - Emirati planning in action (Part 1)

During the 2012 Spring break the Men's Business Association at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi went on a study abroad trip to Japan. Ten of the founding members of the Association, myself (the supervisor of the Club) and David (awesome instructor in College of Social Sciences and only Westerner I know who speaks local Arabic!) went on a ten day adventure to Tokyo - this is what we did, but more important how it all came together through the amazing support of so many people at ADNOC Distribution (forever grateful), Mr. Hasan (the most Emirati, Japanese person I have ever met), the UAE Embassy in Japan (will never be able to thank you enough) and ZU (many individuals put a rush on things that are not normally rushed).

This is just part 1 of 3 outlining our adventures, but needless to say we had a great time, visited many interesting sites, met wonderful people and learned to get around a country whose infrastructure is very different than our own - and are still in contact with our student translators who volunteered their time to be our guides. We have even had a visit here from one of them :) 

The group with the UAE Ambassador to Japan

Number 2 with 1755 views: Entrepreneurship as Process

I can only assume that describing entrepreneurship as a process is a term paper question... because this post is viewed in "clusters". It is a simple description of the four phases of the process... but I guess simple is a good thing when it comes to usability!

There are four basic phases of the process :

1.      Recognizing opportunities

2.      Assembling resources

3.      Launch of venture

4.      Harvesting and succeeding

Number 1 with 1908 views: Let them eat cake: Learning strategy through celebration

Manchester City won the Barclays Premier League football (soccer for the North American readers) for the first time in 44 years two years ago. Now, you might not know, but Man City is Abu Dhabi's team - Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment owned and run by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan bought the Club in 2009 - and just three short years later we won (yes - I am a fan too).

I learned to use all things football to teach different elements of strategic management early when I began teaching the boys... My plans to watch a video turned into a celebration with cake and pop and a video of the winning goal. And I still use this to teach... and yes, light bulb moments happen each time!

Totally yummy cake!

Now, for the least loved - in fact it was my first post welcoming people to my new blog... lets just say visits are barely into the double digits... but that's OK :)

I will continue with my blog... it will change and adapt as next semester I will not be teaching Strategy, but will be teaching Innovation Management to the girls... our action learning adventures will surely be held mainly on campus, but that just requires a bit of creativity and planning - something Emirati women excel at!

Desert clean up project: a lesson in strategic implementation

One week to go until the end of the semester and graduation! Yesterday we took our class field trip to the Al Ain desert - to clean a small patch of well used public desert, that also happens to be strewn with garbage of all descriptions!

I know more traditional professors and people education in the rote learning tradition will not understand how these projects have anything to do with learning... well, you do not teach critical thinking, problem solving and strategic implementation memorizing definitions.

Action learning is a movement gaining steam in academia - it involves not only hands on learning but applying theoretical concepts in real situations... Our desert cleaning project in Al Ain involved discussing the AD 2030 and UAE 2021 plans, but also the nitty gritty of strategic implementation. The vision of the UAE and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is based on sustainability of the economy, environment, the society, and culture. The desert has everything to do with all four... But there is a serious litter problem. Of course not everywhere is this "bad" and the students looked hard to find a "bad" spot that was also easy to get to. The desert in the UAE is breathtakingly beautiful, just certain well-used spots need some TLC!

It started with a small group in charge of the project (Hamad, Khalaf and Surour - awesome job guys!). They were tasked in finding the best place, leading class discussions on what would be needed, how we would organize, getting permission from the municipality, transportation, etc. I was in charge of sending countless email :) The municipality was very supportive and actually offered to send workers to help us out... Hamad knew what I would say to that and respectfully declined the offer!

Enthusiasm grew for the project over the past 8 weeks or so... being able to motivate is a helpful skill among professors of Generation Y students!

On to the photo essay :)

We arrive at the chosen - pre-scoped out site in the Al Ain desert. 

Garbage was everywhere, and actually was worse than I thought it would be... the students said it was because it was so close to the road and some great sand dunes...

Each group needed gloves, heavy duty garbage bags and a "stick" - Ace Hardware knew by the third group to visit that they were Zayed university students :)

There were skills to be learned, bags to be opened and lots of garbage! And every time you dug a little in the sand there was more :) Seriously some of it was super gross, luckily by the time we hit really gross stuff we had been at it awhile and had built up our immunity!

There were some weird "treasures" found... and I just love this photo showing enthusiasm, and even joy in our desert clean up project :)

Skills became talents :) Yes, not all students were feeling 100%, but they came out anyways!

Close up of the camels grazing - thanks Salem for the pic :)

Camels!!!!!!

OK, it is not that strange to see camels in the desert - but we all took photos and were excited all the same... and of course it was a stark reminder of the real dangers of trash in the desert... the camels graze in the open desert and eat the plastic... but the plastic isn't digested and the lump can grow so big the camel will die a quite painful death.

The January 2014 men's graduating class in the College of Business at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi with the "fruits" of our labor... some of it had already been hauled down to the big green garbage container just a few feet away (yes those containers are every km or so... the municipality provides them, people just don't use them!)

Part of the beautiful clean "patch" of desert!

Relaxing after the clean-up :) We had a lovely early dinner around the fire...

This is part of the great beauty of the desert - relaxing and sharing stories around a fire... watching the sun set, having the professor give suggestions on how best to manage the fire, ignoring those suggestions... etc!

The Maghreb prayer - I asked permission to take a photo and then to post it - they said of course Miss, this is who we are and why we are.

The Maghreb or sunset prayer is one of the five prayers that Muslims pray daily. I have had the honor of seeing my students pray on many occasions, but I wanted to share this special moment with you. The owner of the camels had noticed us cleaning and then joined the students in their prayers. He then talked with them and said he would send over camel milk from the evening milking to thank and welcome us. A photo of the still warm and frothy camel milk is below.

After dinner he came himself and sat around the fire - and asked about our project and then spoke of the importance of teaching each generation - parents to children - about cleanliness, the ways of the desert, their heritage and Islam. He asked each student to introduce himself, and from their names he would sometimes tell a story about the father or grandfather and guess where they were from. He also spoke of how proud he was of them and how proud the university and their parents must be.

He then asked if the professor (me) wanted to hold a falcon. So we walked the few feet to his truck and there was one of the most beautiful falcons I had ever seen! It was a Shaheen and had a royal lineage... let me tell you there were some excited students to see his falcons and hear about his hunting adventures around the world.

Camel milk is destined to become a super food in the next decade... and it is delicious :)

Me in a very warm jacket made for cold desert nights and a majestic Shaheen falcon

Action learning will always have "unintended" teachable moments... this project had too many teachable moments for all of us to count! Bravo gentlemen, I am proud of you... when you start your jobs in organisation in Abu Dhabi, just remember this was a valuable team building exercise :)

Smile and courage, Dr. Connie

Top ten blog posts in 2013 (1-5)

As I continue my top 10 list with the top 5 most popular blog posts I am reminded of the many wonderful memories I have from our field trips and action learning activities. I am also reminded of the amazing students I have had the pleasure to teach here in the UAE for the past four and a half years. I have learned as much from them as they have from me.

Number 5:

The blog post about one of my favorite areas of the UAE came in at number 6 with 216 views. Eco-tourism development in Dibba combines the results of two graduation projects about the possibilities of developing sustainable tourism hand in hand with small-scale locally developed (and locally run) activities that concentrate on the cultural, historical and natural beauty of the area. I was proud of the efforts they made to interview people living in the area to see what they would like to see developed as well as interviews with potential tourists - wanting to see the "real" UAE and experience its beauty first hand.

I love how much they love the UAE flag - they manage to place it everywhere in the mountains... look high up next time you visit and you will be rewarded with a tangible example of pride, ingenuity and no fear of heights!

Number 4:

The fourth most visited blog post brings back very bitter sweet memories. We were invited to a student's family mountain retreat to learn about the strategies of survival from the past (the ruins of old family dwellings are still there) and the strategy of maintaining traditions and heritage going into the future.  Hassan Shemali, his father and family welcomed us into their home and beloved mountains. Hassan passed away this past November when his truck was swept away in a powerful wadi (flash flood) - we were blessed to have known him and to have known his mountains. Strategy trip to the mountains of RAK provides photos of a largely undiscovered part of the UAE for expats and tourists and proves that young people do hold on and maintain their traditions... and enjoy passing them on to their friends and professors.

Hassan is on the far left - his father, cousins and friends join in the Nekbah - how the Shehhi and Shemali tribes communicated in the past in the mountains

Number 3:

I am Canadian - so when I saw on facebook that one of my former female students was playing ice hockey at a National and international level I had to learn more. Hockey Night in Abu Dhabi: Spotlight on an Emirati Hockey Queen was viewed 243 times and tells a story through photos of ice hockey in Abu Dhabi and how Fatima Al Ali became so enamored with the game she now plays on the National Team :) She is also the first Emirati sport's photographer and has had a documentary made about her accomplishments! (Click to view documentary)

Fatima in her uniform after the game!

Number 2:

Keeping with a female theme - the second most popular blog post in 2013 at 368 views was Characteristics of Female Entrepreneurs in the UAE in 2011. It contained information from the 2011 UAE GEM Report we published at the end of 2012 in a condensed form. The data and our analysis shows some challenges and also some hopeful signs for the future.

	Female	Male
Knows someone who started a business in the past 2 years	28.1%	32.3%
Expected Job Growth of Established Business	44.0%	18.2%
Employed by others in Full-time work	39.3%	80.9%
Full-time Homemaker	27.4%	0.3%
Stage of Activity as Nascent Entrepreneurs	80.10%	54.0%
Stage of Activity as Baby Entrepreneurs	19.9%	46.0%
Informal Investors in the Last 3 Years	3.8%	5.2%

Number 1:

The most popular blog post of the year was about a wonderful trip to learn about the strategies and tactics used by ranchers of racing camels. At 808 views Camel racing farm visit - another adventure in learning strategy from traditional industries really was a clear "winner". The video we took of the robot jockey was also popular on youtube.

Eating really expensive hay!

Training as the day get cooler... 

It was a wonderful year of adventures in research and learning - I look forward to see what the next few months hold in store!

Smile and courage and best wishes for an adventurous 2014 to you all, Dr. Connie

Camel racing farm visit - another adventure in learning strategy from traditional industries

This past Wednesday we went to two different camel farms in Sharjah, UAE to learn about camel racing and also to think about the strategy of camel racing...

It was another amazing trip - no rain this time, but plenty of heat and a misadventure when we went for "just 5 minutes" in the dunes! This time again I will let the photos tell the story!

First though, I invite you to watch this video of our demonstration of a camel robot  (click here). These robots replaced the young boys who were used in the past as jockeys, and the robots are placed on the back of the camel in the race and controlled by the remote control fob (like a car fob) by a person who drive a 4*4 on a track next to the track...

Now to the story!

The azba in Sharjah is about 2ish hours from Abu Dhabi - any road trip starts at a "shisha" or gas station 

Waiting for lunch!

Lunch arrives and it was delicious!!!!

Fruit, gawa, tea and dates after the lunch is cleared...

Oud and perfume to smell nice for the camels...

Camels drink this, mixed with water (a little like protein powder), for extra energy before a race (btw it stinks!)

Close up of a robot (like in the video)

They eat a lot of fresh (super expensive) grass... 

Injuries are treated in the traditional way, through branding (yes, some people even use it on humans, but only the super  traditional ones)

"Fair and lovely" camel - super white and pretty

This plant is like Gatorade for camels, it restores nutrients and minerals after a race 

Camel training in 40+ degree heat!

These camels are "retired" and used to train other camels

Stinky (and sticky) part of a camel, used to attract a "wife"

Camel farm(s) visit over - it's desert time - oops, wait a minute!

Too much air in the tire!

Teamwork!

Professor work (taking photos of trees and collecting sand for Mom!)

More teamwork required!

Unintentional cool photo of more camels training

On the long way back to Abu Dhabi we passed a group of a special type of gazelle called Maha