Dubai's crossroads status delivers business advantage, says global trend spotter

Addressing a packed audience of some 1,500, Dan Pink, the best-selling trend-spotting author, said global economies will now be driven by right-brain attitudes where designers, creators and empathisers will be leaders because their talents cannot be recreated offshore or made redundant by technology.

'Big picture thinking is difficult to outsource offshore and difficult to automate,' Pink said. 'This is where Dubai has a strong advantage because it is a crossroads kind of a place - a multi-lingual, multi-cultural place that creates empathies and that's where great ideas come from. When we empathise towards everyone the world's a better place, period. But empathy also has a business advantage because it cannot be outsourced or automated.'

Pink said the new conceptual age means living in an era of strong creativity.

'This is an age of novelty and nuance where design has become a fundamental business literacy. 'An age when everyone is in the arts and entertainment business. Dubai is in the arts and entertainment business with just 8% of its GDP coming from oil and now 17% coming from tourism - and that's the arts and entertainment business.'

And Pink stressed that the new conceptual age means driving a full brain economy 'with the right side being first among equals' where youth would be better advised studying fine arts than striving for traditional MBAs.

'Kids should now be encouraged not to follow the traditional MBA programmes of the left brain era - which are now being outsourced offshore - but to follow master of fine arts (MFA) degrees. The MFA has now become the new MBA because the abilities required to obtain it cannot be outsourced and are harder to automate.'

Pink was among a powerful speaker line-up for 'Leaders In Dubai 2005' which runs at the Madinat Jumeirah conference centre in Dubai until Tuesday night (November 29).

Tuesday's session will see four key speakers take the platform, including Spencer Johnson, author of the best-selling 'Who Moved My Cheese?'; former Malaysian Premier Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohammed; branding guru Scott Bedbury and former South African President, F. W. De Klerk, who is widely credited with sowing the seeds for the break-up for the republic's former apartheid regime.

'Leaders In Dubai' is organized by LEADING MINDS, a division of the Institute for International Research, the world's leading business information company.

'Dan Pink has assisted delegates to challenge conventional thinking - which is a key aim of the 'Leaders In Dubai' series,' said Christina Thostrup, International Event Director, 'Leaders In Dubai.' 'In a world where technology and globalization have impacted our lives and change the way we live and work, he has pinpointed the new 'right brain' directions for individual and organizations to thrive.'

Citigroup Private Bank, Emaar Properties, Etisalat, Nokia, MasterCard International and Saudi Oger are headline sponsors of 'Leaders In Dubai.'

Official patners are Dubai Municipality, ETA Star, Global Investment House, Kuwait Financial Centre Markaz, Octara, Prime Limousine and TCS Express Worldwide. Audi is the official car partner and HP the official IT partners. Media partners include CNN, Al Arabiya News, Al Hayat, AME Info, Gulf Business, Gulf News and Oman Economic Review.