Understanding The Middle East: Business, Culture, and Leadership
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Jun 22, 2025
Delve into the booming business landscape of the Middle East, from vibrant cities like Riyadh and Dubai to the essential role of leadership in navigating diverse cultural dynamics. Discover the debate around AI's impact on jobs, emphasizing that human intelligence remains irreplaceable. The podcast also highlights the evolution of learning and development, driven by AI innovations, and the transformative role technology plays in HR, shifting its focus from admin tasks to strategic collaboration. It's a fascinating exploration of growth and resilience in a fast-changing region.
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insights INSIGHT
Middle East's Purposeful Hyper-Growth
The Middle East economies, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, are on hyper-growth paths with large infrastructure and transportation projects.
These companies grow with meaningful purpose and strong government support, reflecting significant economic expansion.
insights INSIGHT
Tribal Culture Shapes Business Loyalty
Business culture in the Middle East is tribal, valuing lifelong relationships and trust over transactional ties.
Loyalty in the Middle East flows to peers and managers, not just companies, unlike the U.S. where job changes often end relationships.
insights INSIGHT
Human Intelligence Surpasses AI
AI will not replace humans or cause mass unemployment because human genetic intelligence surpasses AI's capabilities.
Human creativity and complex problem solving remain far beyond AI's reach despite AI's strengths in tasks like coding and writing.
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The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
Adam Alter
In 'Irresistible,' Adam Alter delves into the world of behavioral addiction, tracing the historical understanding of addiction and its expansion beyond substance abuse to include behaviors such as gaming, social media, and smartphone use. Alter explains how technology companies deliberately design products to be irresistible, using techniques like 'Ludic Loops' and 'gamification' to keep users engaged. The book also discusses the potential for these addictive technologies to have both positive and negative effects on our well-being and provides insights into how we can mitigate their damaging impacts[2][4][5].
This week we finished a series of events in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai and met with more than 100 company HR leaders. In today’s podcast I discuss the business and HR issues these companies face and more significantly give perspectives on the management culture in these fast-growing companies.
We discuss AI transformation in detail and I also explain why the “mass layoffs” idea around AI is misleading and incorrect, and give you my perspective on why Human Intelligence is and will always be far more sophisticated and advanced than AI. This was a continuous point of discussion and you’ll hear my explanation.
I think it’s important to understand the richness and purposeful nature of business and economic growth in these countries, so listen this to get a perspective on the exciting positive things going on in the region.
Note: the US attack on Iran actually took place just as I was flying home, so these perspectives focus on the peaceful economic activities of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, not the political issues between US, Israel, and Iran.
Chapters:
00:00 Exploring the Middle East’s Economic Growth
06:28 Cultural Insights and Relationship Dynamics
09:16 AI’s Role in Workforce Transformation
12:47 The Future of Learning and Development
15:40 AI’s Impact on HR and Organizational Structure
21:23 The Evolution of Technology in HR
22:44 The Resilience of the Human Spirit
The Josh Bersin Company 