Khalfan Belhoul: How Dubai Is Becoming a Global Hub for Longevity and Human Performance | TUH #244

In my position, I'm entrusted, empowered, and it's okay if there are errors and mistakes, if they're done in the right way. And when you have that feeling coming top down from your leaders, there's no better feeling because it helps you become more creative, pushing the boundaries, talking about longevity, AI genome sequencing. And this is mainly our bread and butter. And that's what we do at the Dubai Future Foundation.

This country feels like a business. Not in the sense that it's very corporate, but it's very organized. The execution, execution of everything from transportation to construction to safety. Since I've been here, it's been flawless.

As you know, the nation consists of more than 200 nationalities, which is the secret sauce of how inclusive, how collaborative the community is.

A lot of people in your sphere use this term, future readiness. What does this future readiness mean?

So future readiness for us is to ensure that we really.

Ultimate human. Hey, guys, welcome back to the Ultimate Human podcast. I'm your host, human biologist, Gary Breca, where we go down the road of everything, anti aging, biohacking, longevity, and everything in between. And today, I'm in a very, very special place in the world with an extraordinarily special guest. I cannot wait to run this podcast. I got a chance to sit down with the CEO of the Dubai Future foundation and the Vice Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council, amongst many other ha that he wears. Welcome to the podcast, your excellency, Calphond Belhol.

Thank you, sir. Great to be with you, great to be on your podcast, and great to see you again. You look nice and young and I feel healthier than ever, my friend.

Thank you, man. I'm 55, going strong, you know, keep going. You mind if I start with a little personal story? Because this is a little surreal to me. I mean, first of all, to be here in downtown Dubai, the futures, the museum of the future, right behind you. I've been coming to Dubai for about five years with my family. And what I've seen in terms of growth, infrastructure, the caliber of the hotels, the food, the decorum of the people over the last five years has been like a magnet for me and my family. And I've noticed that when you layer in things like infrastructure, you know, transportation and safety, being one of the safest regions in the world, you know, sadly, my. There are cities in America. My wife can't walk down the street, you know, after nine o' clock by herself. But when we come here, you feel the decorum of the people, you feel the acceleration of the people and the technology and the infrastructure and the buildings. And after I searched the world looking for the best location to put a wellness and longevity clinic, we, we settled on Dubai. We chose Dubai. And I think it's a really unique opportunity to sit down with you because you're at the epicenter of this acceleration in growth. So I'd love to know from you what it means to you to truly build a city that's 10 years ahead.

Of the world again. I mean, first of all, Gary, great to be with you here and it's.

Great to be with you.

It's so refreshing to hear this, especially from you. And I gotta tell you, I mean, I'm as old as the country. I'm 48 years old and the country is 50 odd years. And so I've basically seen the evolution of the country. And that's why I'm saying it's so refreshing to hear this. And I have to tell you, I mean, this is a journey that has led to this for many reasons that we will be alluding to, but we're so blessed to be in this nation. And as you know, the nation consists of more than 200 nationalities, which is, which is the secret sauce of how inclusive, how collaborative, how diversified the community is. But going back to your point, I mean, I went to study in Boston, Gary, and I love Boston, don't get me wrong. And I've spent around seven years there.

Okay.

Back in the days when I went to Boston, and this was in the early mid-90s, people would ask me, where you from? And I'd say, Dubai. They'd look around wondering, where is Dubai? And the unfortunate part at that time, for me to link to the region, I had to refer to unfortunate circumstances within the region which were dominant in the news, like the Gulf War, for example. So my answer would be, do you know? I mean, we're next to Iraq and Kuwait, we're a small city. And then people start to relate. But fast forward now and you ask people, and people would ask me, where are you from? I'd say Dubai. It's either of those two answers, either wow, I've been there, or wow, I've heard so much, I can't wait to go there.

So true.

So this is the sense of pride that we get from what has happened throughout this journey with Dubai rising through this.

You know, I think this is intentional because I read a book called the Sheikh CEO by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and I found it really fascinating. And by the way, this is a must read book if you are an entrepreneur, if you're running a company or if you're running a country. Because the lessons that I took from that book were very practical. And one of them I'll never Forget was in 2015, he started these initiatives and. And he created these different departments, and every quarter the departments were supposed to report. He was frustrated because some of the departments weren't turning in these reports. Some of them wouldn't do them at all, some of them wouldn't take them very seriously. And he had a very simple red light, yellow light, green light approach. And so he said, on the next report, I want the name and I want the personal phone number of all of my department heads. And when the reports came in, he called each one of them, and if they were doing a good job, he praised them. And if the report wasn't complete, he asked some questions, he held them accountable. And by the next quarter, the response was overwhelming. And I think the leadership and the shift that you have, the acceleration that's happened in this country, it must be coming from the top. Yes. Because you feel it in the culture. Right. But the tone is set by the top.

Yes.

And I want to read a quote, because I really thought that this says a lot about your leadership, and it says a lot about not just the Sheikh, but the culture. For people that are not familiar with the UAE and with Dubai. He said, change or you will be changed. Leaders who neglect the good of their people will be forsaken. Leadership is a service, not a gateway to privilege. I thought that was such a humble way for someone who is the ruler of a country to express the responsibility he had to his people.

Absolutely. I think, Gary, I mean, you've summed it up. I mean, amazingly. I mean, and I've read that book, of course, and the other book that he.

It's over here on the shelf, by the way, if someone could bring it, I'm going to put it up on the podcast because it's a must read.

It's a must. The author is a good friend. And then also the story of my life. His Highness's book is also an unbelievable read. It actually takes you through his journey as well, and his perspective, which is unbelievable. But honestly, I mean, working under Hisan Sheikh Mohammed really, really makes you feel that he is a CEO of a company or even a venture capitalist for his thinking. Why do I say specifically venture capital? Because he really loves to take risks, measured risks, for the betterment of not only Dubai or the uae, for. For the betterment of humanity. And we always get the message. Yes, we are a small country by size. But our ambitions are supersede our, our, our size and we always punch above our weights. And that's a statement that's always been said. So for him, the beauty of being under this kind of leadership is you get the trust from your leaders. It's okay to make mistakes as long as there's good intent. Especially for someone like me that oversees an entity that's very future oriented.

Right.

When you look at the future and you know it more than anyone, Gary, the future, the further you go into the future, the bigger the unknowns are true. Which means that for you to be, to continue to become a leading city of the future, you really need to take big bets. And when you take a bet, it means that there's a chance that you're going to fail.

Yes.

So if you don't have that environment that enables this risk taking, then you won't be a leading city of the future. So imagine in my position, I'm entrusted, empowered, and it's okay if there are errors and mistakes, if they're done in the right way. And when you have that feeling coming top down from your leaders, there's no better feeling because there is trust and there's support and it helps you become more creative in your ideas, pushing the boundaries, thinking outside the box, talking about longevity, talking about AI, talking about machine learning, genome sequencing, the fintech world, you name it. And this is mainly our bread and butter. And that's what we do at the Dubai Future Foundation.

Yeah, you know, I really feel it in the culture. I had another really interesting experience. I spoke at an event called the Cayenne Wellness Festival. This was last year. I landed two days after the big flood, remember what, 25 years of rain in 24 hours. And as I would get, getting on the plane, you know, all these images I'm looking at on my phone, cars floating down the road, there's someone on a jet ski going by the Burj Khalifa. I thought I was going to land in the middle of a natural disaster and I landed and I got off the plane and I was going to the hotel and I felt like somebody forgot to tell you guys that there had just been a disaster. This city was perfectly clean, no trash on the, on the sidewalks. The, the rapid response that you had to this, you know, unforeseen, I would say, you know, weather event that you had. There's no way you could have pre planned for this because it never happened. It just shows the resilience and the way that your culture and your ministry and the Infrastructure could just respond.

Yes.

Because it was almost unnoticeable 48 hours after.

Yeah. I mean, Gary, remind me of this, this actually reminds me of a few incidents and I'll start with the one you mentioned. I mean, of course, that day, I mean, and, and as you know, with the power of media, sometimes things can even multiply.

Yeah. Bad news travel faster than good, you know.

Exactly. But we embraced it. And, and to your point, the reaction, even though the amount of rain, as you know, was, was record breaking. Right. Even compared to the, the rate and in the short intense period of time. Those challenges happen everywhere. It's all about the reaction. But this also reminds me of the COVID days, Gary. I mean, and I've always said that, I mean we always say that if Covid was actually, and I'm not even saying this now, but I'm saying if it has been done by design, whoever has, had designed Covid was there to actually disrupt Dubai's economy because of our economic drivers and how dependent they are on logistics, supply, travel, tourism and trade and how that phase really has shaken the economy. And we have to be very frank, we've taken a strong economical punch back in Covid days. But going back to the resilience and the reaction, it's the same thing. It was the agility, the fast response and the priority of humanity more than anything else. I mean we could not.

A single life was lost.

Absolutely. Which is amazing. And at the same time the focus was health and safety. No matter how much economical punch we get, but we focus on health and safety and that's why there was a severe lockdown to start with. But once the trust was there, everyone was out and everyone was wearing masks. And there was then the biggest vaccination rollout globally which, which complemented the, the trust of people to really come to Dubai again. And to your point, safety and prosperity and suddenly, I mean we're. Our numbers in economy perspective were even better than 2019 in no time. So to your point is the agility, the swift decision making.

Yeah.

And the focus and the priority on the human more than anything else.

Yeah. And I know that you have such a strong focus on technology.

Yes.

I've gotten to know your minister.

Yes.

He's a great human. I've gone to some of his events out.

Yes, you've been to the desert.

He's quite the comedian too. He's really got a funny sense of humor.

He loves ping pong as well. I don't know if you.

I'll tease him about that when I See him. But so how, how do you embrace technology to move a city like this forward and use technology to enhance rather than replace human potential?

Yeah, I think, I think it's creating a safe environment for technology to be tested. And this reminds me of the early days, early days of blockchain. You mentioned The Minister of AI who was appointed back in 2017, when, when, you know, I mean, people were asking, why do we need an AI minister at that time? And clearly the results are showing now and, and we were first joiners to that journey, if you will. So I think creating an environment to, to, to, to jump on opportunities and jump on them quickly is one of the, let's say, value adds here in Dubai, where you actually listen to the world, see how things are going, where are the opportunities and really jump on them and jump on them fast. I remember the blockchain story as well. When it was back in 2015, 2016, we really had no clue what blockchain is. And I still think we still don't know what blockchain.

Please feel free to explain it to me because my kids try to tell me all the time. I'm like, I mean, I've got a few of bitcoin.

That's what I know about crypto. And many of them here in Dubai do as well because of the setup of the ecosystem. But my point is, we know there's potential in this crypto world and we know that there's potential in virtual assets, clearly, by setting up an authority for that, but jumping on it first, understanding it, and then creating a safe environment, safe, inclusive environment to involve investors, the regulators, the entrepreneurs, the students, the researchers, to really sit in a space where they can discuss ideas and then deploy them in a safe way. And that's key. How do you recreate that sandbox mentality for them to really try out those new ideas? And once you get it right, then you deploy it before anyone else, you.

Know, And I think that you're deploying it in a really fascinating way because Emirates make up a very small percentage of the population.

Yes.

So I would imagine that a large part of your implementation teams. Yes. Are not natural born citizens.

Yes.

And so how do you. Because if you haven't been to Dubai, and I'm not just saying this because I'm sitting in front of you, I've said this many times on my social media channel. There's a cultural feel here that is different in my opinion, than anywhere else in the world. There's a layer of safety that I haven't felt anywhere else in the world. My, my family is here, my daughters, my wife feels very safe outside at night by themselves. And I can't emphasize that enough because there's always this air of, you know, concern when, when, when you're in certain other cities. But having such a small natural born population and having such an enormous vision, how do you keep your culture together the way that you have? Because I, I feel that there's, there's a decorum here.

Yeah.

That's different than anywhere else. And I want to be sure that I emphasize it's not stuffy, it feels very respectful. And I noticed that everyone seems to adopt this. And with such a small portion of the population and leadership having such a massive vision, how do you bring these two things together?

I think that's a great question, Gary. And I think there's immense effort in immense effort to ensure that those two efforts are running in parallel. What are the two efforts? One effort is to invite everyone that's doing good in the world to come to Dubai. And clearly we see the numbers to your point, whether they're scientists, doctors, athletes, celebrities, you name it. I mean, we have an amazing problem to have at the moment. I mean, wearing my other hat and being involved in sports, seeing all those athletes even choose Dubai as their home, seeing the entrepreneurs move, the high net worth individuals, this is music to our ears. And so this is of course growing the economy in a much more prosperous way. So we've been used to this since the formation of the nation. But then to your point, there needs to be an immense effort to ensure that the culture and the, the Emirati touch still stays infused within this. And that's, that's a very, that's an excellent point because even with this, it's a top down approach from the leaders, ensuring that we continue that there's, there's, there's a, an authority focusing culture here, ensuring that this is run in the most seamless way. It's welcomed by our fellow expats that are living in the country, they embrace it, they love it, which, which, which makes us all feel as one. So to your point, yes, we became a minority in comparison to the population, but our cultural message and our principles are always up high and they're always welcomed by, by, by our fellow expat communities. And this is what creates a harmonious ecosystem for everyone to live and prosper in. But, but yeah, you're spot on. There has to be, because if this hasn't been done because of the smaller population percentage, this can get diluted with time. Right. And you can lose the Emirati culture and touch.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

Yes. But there's strong emphasis here from the leaders and the people of the UAE to ensure that this continues. And it's such a joy to see the expat community really embrace it, whether they. They join the. The. The cultural gatherings or they. They celebrate the Ramadans or the Eids and the. All the cultural kind of, And. And even religious celebrations. And you see them within the. The community as a whole, and not.

Only Emiratis, because I think, you know, this is very. And I like the. The way that the Sheikh wrote his book. The CEO Sheikh.

Yes.

You know, running the country like, you know, this country feels like a business. Not in the sense that it's very corporate, but it's very organized. The execution of everything from transportation to construction to food service to safety, to me is. Since I've been here, it's been flawless. You know, the other morning, we. We were part of the 30:30 bike ride.

Yes.

And it was such a surreal moment to be on a bike, you know, going through the center of downtown Dubai. Five or eight lanes of traffic, wide closed, tens of thousands of people there. The sun was coming up over the city. The museum of the future, this beautiful museum that's in your background, was still lit. You could still see it. And I. And I turned to my podcast manager and I was like, you know, we should be really present right now and just take this all in. It was such a unique, surreal moment, and I think it's a metaphor for good leadership in business too, because, you know, I've been to the Dubai frame, and you get a. A vision there. You know, this is a tourist attraction, but it's a frame that, you know, separates old Dubai from new Dubai. And by the way, whoever developed that floor that's in there is. That was a. That was a sick joke, because it's. It's. It's completely non. See through. And then you step on it and it goes clear.

Yes. Yes.

And you're 400ft in the air.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That. That scared me a little bit, I'll be honest. But you see, you know, in one direction, where the city was less than half a century ago.

Yeah.

And then you see this immense, beautiful city. And I think a lot of companies could learn from this, because culture is so important to the foundation of success in a company. If an entire country can handle this type of acceleration and still keep its culture, then startup companies should be able to do the same thing. And that's why I really think that Dubai is a metaphor for. For so much more than just leadership in building.

I mean, to your cycling event. It's just unbelievable to see. And I saw you there. I'm glad you made it, and I'm glad you made it. And I hope you're going to make the run as well.

I'm going to run with this highest 23rd.

It is, yeah. So I'll see you there as well. This is an unbelievable experience. And again, to see the diversity, the excitement, the numbers are just out of this world. People just looking forward to this event. A sentiment to the team that has organized it, but also to the leaders. And I'd want you to even pay attention if you're running with his Highness, I want you to pay attention to the appreciation that people give him as he does the run. So you hear those cheers for him, you see, and all you hear is, your Highness, Sheikh Hamdan, thank you for Dubai. Thank you for Dubai. And you'll hear it yourself. And I bet you that you'll hear that in this run, because I've heard it so many times, and this gives me goosebumps. This is really. I mean, he's running casually with his friends, and you hear those appreciations from people from all over the world. And this is a sign that Dubai is on the right direction and it's for everyone.

I agree with that. You know, I've heard you and a lot of people in your sphere use this term future readiness. Yes. And again, when you're, when you're trying to, when you're accelerating at this rate and you have a vision for the future that you're trying to execute, and you don't want to drag the old ideas and things from the past, you know, forward. What is, what does this future readiness mean?

Well, I mean, so future readiness for us is to ensure that we really, first of all, understand where the future is heading. So, and this goes back to. This goes back to the role of the Dubai Future Foundation. So. Or maybe let me step back before the future readiness and tell you about the Dubai Future Foundation.

I was going to ask you about that, too.

Yeah. Because, I mean, people keep on asking me about the role of Dubai Future foundation, which will be a segue to the future readiness. And honestly, I mean, I've gave it so many attempts, and then I think I might sound like a broken record to my team, but, like, I used one recently, and I think it was the easiest way to say it. So someone had asked me, what does the Dubai Future foundation do. And I said, I mean, and I'll be talking to you, Gary. I'll say, imagine that you are running a lab and the visioneer behind the lab tells you you're allowed to test anything you want, you're allowed to make mistakes, you'll be empowered, you'll be funded, you'll be supported, regulations will be broken for you, and you'll be supported and be as creative as you want. This is the visioneer of the lab. And you've been given all the empowerment that you have for us. I mean, we are that lab. And the visioneer is His Highness Sheikh Muhammad, and the person owning the lab is His Highness Sheikh Hamdan. So for us, there's so much support, there's so much delegation, but there's also trust for us to make mistakes and try and then double down on the winning bets. So going back to your point of future readiness, we spend a lot of time trying to understand, first of all, where the future is heading. We can't claim to be future ready or to embrace the megatrends of the future without understanding where the future is heading. So we have a, we focus on ensuring that we have a team that does this on a daily basis, horizon scanning, research and try to understand what.

Is scanning, looking at what trends are.

Out there, what are the AI exactly, from AI to the future of humanity as a whole. So we have a team that does this on a daily basis. And we don't do it alone. We do it through different global convenings, like the Dubai Future Forum, which happens in this museum you just mentioned, the Museum of the Future. So that convening is also a tool for us to really understand where the future is heading. Then we take all that data, if you will, and the thinking and the conversation that say, an inclusive global conversation, and we put it into execution by launching different projects. I mean, you see the, like the top five topics, we all know them. I mean climate, AI, your favorite topic, Longevity. Longevity is always there, of course. I mean, autonomous solutions is always, always there. So then we come up with different projects to ensure that we are really adapting to the future. And we've created a criteria of what needs to be done. And then we assess entities and how ready they are for those changes in the future. And based on them, we set the metrics and then we understand how each and every entity is future ready or not.

So give me an example of something that is underway that you expect to come to fruition over the next three to five years. What would be an example of a Product project where your, you know, your teams scanned the horizon and said we need to be prepared for the AI revolution and we need to embrace AI and we're going to put this team together and we have benchmarks and some way to measure that we're executing.

Well, I'm going to mention the, I mean for us it's the elephant in the room in Dubai, which is traffic. And I mean with.

That's the one thing that made me feel at home, my friend from Miami.

But I got to tell you one thing, I mean the only time we really felt traffic was amazing is post Covid because we really missed everyone and everyone was, I mean post lockdown when, when traffic came back, it was such an amazing feeling. But again, I can't, I mean, can't deny traffic can be challenging sometimes. So, so, but it's again, it's a, it's a, it's a big sign that the economy is growing, which is the great side of that. And I mean credit to the different authorities. I mean as much as there's traffic, I mean, and you've mentioned it, look at the beautiful roads, it's unbelievable. The infrastructure is unbelievable.

But we pressure washing them at night, I mean it's mind numbing how clean it is.

And Gary, we still have the traffic issue, which means that Dubai is growing at a very significant pace and we need to do something about it. So going back to your question, air taxis are going to be deployed very soon. Last mile drone deliveries, you're going to see them kick in. And I've attended testing phases for both and I think they're gonna play a key role in ensuring that traffic reduction kicks in significantly. If you reduce delivery on the road, if you reduce, I mean taxi transportation on the road with other solutions like the air taxi, I think this will, and this is not far off. I mean I can comfortably say that this is something that's gonna happen in the next three years because we've actually, because you've actually seen it. I mean you've seen it, we've tested it and it's going to happen very, very soon. So that's one thing.

But is that why I see so many of the helipads on a lot of these buildings?

I mean now the infrastructure is, whenever you speak to any developer or any master planner, you see that they always take into consideration drone deliveries and heli, autonomous taxis, air taxis as well, they take into consideration. So I mean this is I think the near future in my opinion. But there's of course there are many other Things that will happen as AI. As you know, AI is. We haven't even scratched the surface on what AI has done to us. I mean, me and you, of course, are using ChatGPT on a day on a daily basis, but let alone involving robotics and connection with robotics, I mean, and where would that take us? I mean, this will be a quantum leap into something that's extremely futuristic.

So if you were to say, you know, the, the Dubai Future foundation, fully executed on its vision and its plan, what would that look like five years from today? Even ten years from today?

So, so the people always ask me this, and the funny thing is we need to constantly evolve ourselves. So when. So five years from now, we need to think about what's next. So, and that's if you talk to any other entity or any other government or even a private business, there's always more clarity on what is the plan for us. We're always playing with the gray area. We're always playing with the unknown. So how we continue and how we model ourselves will always be jumping on things the earliest possible and embracing new ideas in the fastest way possible. So our model will never change. Gary, today we're thinking about what's going to happen the next five and 10 years. Once those years pass, we're going to be thinking about the next five and 10 years, which will always have unknowns, will always have bets that don't succeed. But this, our model will never change. It'll continue to be this way.

You know, I love about it was Hippocrates, I think it said, all men desire to know. And what he meant by that was, if you lose that intellectual curiosity, that childlike fascination and curiosity, innovation just stalls. And, you know, there are examples of this all, all over the world. It's like to stay hungry and to stay curious. Even though right now, for the size of the city and what you've done in the last half decade, I mean, half century, it would be very easy to say, look at all that we've done. Let's just put it in neutral for a little while. But it doesn't sound like that's happening.

Well, I gotta tell you, Gary, working with His Highness is never neutral.

Ye phone numbers at the top of.

The report now, there's never neutral with our leaders. I mean, it just keeps on pushing the limit. The vision pushes the limit because the moment you're on neutral, you're no longer a leading city of the future. So that's the environment we have. We always need to push the limits and the boundaries and that's the model of Dubai Future Foundation.

Tell me a little bit about the Dubai Sports Council and how do you feel like these are completely separate roles for you running the, you know, Futures and the Futures foundation and the Sports Council? Or is there areas that they overlap? I mean, is there a future for sports? Are there new sports? Are there new ways of, you know, having sports or observing sports or the new arenas? Like what is, what does the Dubai Sports Council vision for the.

So, so, so of course, of course. I mean, as you know as well more than anyone, Gary, there would be an interlink between the future and tech and sports for sure. Whether it's from an audience perspective, entertainment or from the actual sport perspective. I mean, with all the new esports, I'm more of an active person, but I know that there's a big market for esports and gaming and beyond, but also as an experience for the audience, like I said, the wearables, this insane experience now with the headsets, I mean, literally feeling that you're sitting courtside in a basketball game and this is only the beginning. So from an audience perspective that's, that's happening. I see you wearing your whoop band. I mean tech, same thing. I mean tech technology as well, for, for assessment, for, for a healthier athletic lifestyle is always going to be there. So, so the connection between, I mean both, I mean, entities is always there and there's a major overlap. But there's also on the Sports Council side, we're very much focused as well on four pillars over there, one which is ensuring that Dubai attracts the best global events to activate kind of the event pipeline, but also take our local events to the world. I mean, you've mentioned the 30 by 30 when this goes global, we have.

A major participant in that this year.

I mean, and we would love to push this also on a global scene. I mean we have an amazing. I've shown you the. Unfortunately when I got injured, I've shown you the video. But the Dubai Games is an amazing obstacle challenge tournament that I strongly believe will go global. Hopefully we can get you to be part of the celebrities team next year. So that's one.

I would love that.

This, this product is, is a local product that goes global and then we focus on, on, on communities. How do we activate sports community, ensure that the city is always active? I've seen that you've been in many community runs as well across the beach, so you've done so much in that regard. But community sport is very important for us. And then talent development. How can we ensure that there's a, an elite talent pathway for the young generation that see hope in becoming professional athletes. So at the Sports Council, we ensure that this, this also happens and how we can help clubs and academies really grow and centers of excellence that can really develop talent in Dubai. So, yes, I mean, there are, there's major overlap, but there's also core focus in the Sports Council through the verticals that I just mentioned.

You know, I have to tell you, you know, having been a part of the Dubai 3030 challenge, yeah, I, I didn't really know what it was and someone started, you know, explained it to me. My partner, Shahram Hardalon explained it to me and I started to go down the rabbit hole and I saw the other night an original vision board that I think it was His Highness Sheikh Hamdan did. And it looked like the old, you know, circles with a. This going here in another circle and another circle. And from this original vision of saying, what if we just took 30 days and everybody did 30 minutes of exercise every day for 30, 30. So this 30, 30 challenge under this Dubai 33 initiative, and the whole city just got active and started moving for 30 days. In theory, that sounds amazing. In practicality, it's something completely different. But I've been at these activations every day and the entire city is participating. You know, the Kite beach activation is 35,000 people a day coming through kids and families. And that's again, what I find so fascinating about Dubai. You have the dreamers and you have the curiosity and you have this vision at the top, but somehow it gets executed by the ministries and it permeates down into the culture. And I just find this a really great metaphor for, for business, for entrepreneurship, not even just if you're running a country. So can we talk about education for, for a minute? So the educational system here, how are you getting children that are being educated in Dubai to want to, to stay here in this region and make a contribution rather than to, you know, seek employment and education elsewhere? Because, you know, what I find is, is the vast majority of people I've met and, and speak to that are in prominent positions in Dubai were educated outside of Dubai, at least collegiately, including yourself. And then they, but they came back and they came back and wanted to make a contribution. So how is it that you create that culture in the, in the younger generation so that while they may go elsewhere, they have this desire to come back? Because again, I think that cultural training is something that companies and startups and entrepreneurs could learn, you know, building the culture of their own organization.

Yeah, well, I mean, everybody comes back. It's a great question. And the simple answer, Gary, is, is the focus on the human being. And I'll tell you how, what that means. I mean, whenever there's a challenging moment, whether it's Covid or whether it's geopolitics or you name it, and we huddle up with leadership, the message is always to focus on the human being. And what do I mean by this? I'll give you an example. Many of the athletes that have moved to the region, and I have many friends that have moved, that played at a professional level, globally, and they decided to move to Dubai. Their kids at a young age, start playing soccer within the soccer schools within Dubai. And I remember asking the question when I see them, I say, hey, where do. Where do you want to play when you grow up? And when they're young kids, they'd say they'd pick the best league in the world. And then they say, I want to play. I want to play, I don't know, for Manchester United. For Manchester United and play for the national team of France. If they were. If they were French originally, and now fast forward, they spent five or six years here, and they want to play for the uae, really. So my point is, I think. I think this is a natural, organic connection between Dubai and. And its people through the components that you have mentioned initially in the talk where you said creating a safe environment, creating a proper health system, education, the comfort that the parents have within the region, within Dubai, those naturally create this attachment, even for the children, and it creates this loyalty and connection with the city which makes them really want to either play for the national team or work for a private business or work for the government. So that's the simple answer, Gary. Just focus on the human being, focus on creating the best ecosystem for them and the affiliation, and the connection will happen naturally.

Yeah, you know, I've felt that as a. You call me an outsider, expat, what have you. I felt that myself because when we, when we chose Dubai to. To launch our. Our Global Longevity Clinic for the ultimate human, we have a local financial partner, non. Non Emirati financial partner. And. But the reception that I've gotten from the ministry, from the health authorities, from people like yourself, you know, it's been. It's really been overwhelming. Just a strong embrace to say, we want this vision here. How can we. How can we widen the lanes to make. Make this happen? You know, what. What do you need from us? How can we help you? And then I have communication directly with decision makers. You know, I feel like the. The layers and layers of red tape that I've encountered in other regions of the world are absent here because there's a true desire to. To embrace these. These new initiatives like longevity and wellness.

I got to tell you a story about this, Gary, and maybe again, a broken record for my team, but for me, it's a story that I keep on mentioning about this and how close we are to leadership. So in one of the gatherings with His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, who you would be running with then towards the end.

Of the month, I'm worried about that, by the way, because he's quite the athlete.

He is, he is. But I'm sure you're as healthy and you can catch up, but we'll see. You'll be at a big test when you. When you run with them. But one of the. One of the moments that really, I mean, resonates to me to the point that you mentioned, is once we've created this cycling event with designer Hamdan, with entrepreneurs that have done a lot in this. So the message was, your Highness, we have a lot of entrepreneurs here that have done a lot for the ecosystem, and how about they go cycling with you? And he said, yeah, why not? Let's do that. And we go there. We're around 40 or 50 people, went on a ride, met His Highness, and we went on a cycling ride. But before we went on this ride, we huddled up and wanted to introduce the guests to His Highness. And we said, highness, those are people that have done a lot here in Dubai, and they're simply here to have a bike ride with you. And his answer was he just welcomed them. He said, great to see everyone. And we're not here to talk work today. We're here to enjoy a ride. But I have to leave you with one note. And they were all waiting for that note. And he said, in Dubai, anything can be changed. And now let's go have a ride. And then they took the ride. And I'm telling you, Gary, I got around 50 calls after the ride saying that just feeling the closeness of leadership and giving us the comfort that we're willing to change things, we're willing to amend regulations, we're here listening is better than him offering to invest in their funds or support their businesses because they just felt the comfort, if you know what I mean. I do. He's just saying, I'm here just listening and willing to change anything to ensure that this is for the betterment of Dubai and the uae. So it was so assuring and, and they were extremely, extremely happy that day.

What do you think are some lessons that the world or other regions could learn from the Dubai experiment? You know, the, the acceleration and the success of Dubai. If you were to say, you know, I don't want to sound so arrogant, offer advice, but just offer a summary of what might be impactful for other regions of the world. What could they learn from this incredible Dubai experiment?

I think one thing is to stay humble. This is key. I mean, as much as maybe Gary. I mean, you see the flashy buildings, you see the man made islands, and you see all those things that, yes, we are super proud of, but you should always. The message is always to stay humble and to understand that, yes, those are your success stories, but we always constantly tell the world that we have done mistakes. The message that we've always been right in everything we've done is completely wrong.

Very human. Yeah.

And you need to be realistic. I mean, we've done projects that haven't seen light, that have been mistakes. I've been personally been involved in many of those projects. What those projects were, for me, they were never failures. And for our leaders, they were never failures. They were pivoting moments, learning moments, which led to us being involved in projects that saw light. Like the museum behind us here.

That thing is unbelievable.

I mean, and I remember every piece.

It truly is.

I mean, imagine, by the way, the opening Covid was. The opening, Gary was during COVID and we had to push it because of the social distancing. So imagine the pressure we were at, so excited to open it and then Covid hit and we had to delay, given that this is a human experience. But my point is the message is always to stay humble, be ambitious, but always keep the feet on the ground and stay humble. Because things can be taken out of context. And for us, we just stay disciplined and we double down on our winning bets while staying humble. And this is how we move here.

And fail fast.

Absolutely.

Don't be afraid to fail, but fail fast.

Absolutely.

Yeah. You know, I wind down all my podcasts by asking my guests the same question and there's no right or wrong answer to this question. But what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

Ultimate human. I mean, humbleness for me is an ultimate human. For me, to stay humble is really. And to be respectful is. Is an ultimate human for me. Because I think regardless of how old you are, if you are referring to ultimate as being lived longer or lived a healthy lifespan, if you will, or a health span, if you will, as they say. Yes, that could be a component of ultimate. But for me, an ultimate human is a human that's respected by the world, that respects the world, and. And is being respected by the world. So for me, being humble is. Is. Is a big component of being an ultimate human man.

What a great answer. Your excellency, thank you so much for taking the time today and. And giving us so much of your time. You're the. You're the busiest man in Dubai.

Thank you, sir. Thank you. All my time for you. And thank you so much. You've been doing amazing stuff. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much, my friend.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

And until next time, that's just science.