Why the world's top talent are moving to Dubai

Recently, I visited Dubai. I was there to give a talk. What I wasn't expecting is that I would fall so much in love with the city that I would end up buying an apartment in Dubai and consider making Dubai my second home. The question is, what was it about this city that mesmerized me? And this is a story I want to share. Increasingly, so many of my smartest friends in Europe and the United States are, are relocating to Dubai. And as more and more people move there, they become a magnet to attract even more people. On my last night in Dubai, I invited 80 people together for a rooftop event, just to mingle, connect. I tried to introduce everyone to each other. Because I met such an incredible density of brilliant minds in Dubai, I felt more at home than in pretty much any other place in the world. For most of my life, I've lived in cultures and cities where there is a tendency to pull you down if you try to climb up. And I don't know about you, but maybe you've experienced this as well. I grew up in Malaysia, and one of the sayings in Malaysia that I remember hearing is this, no matter how high a squirrel jumps, it will always still fall to the ground. I literally learned that saying in public school in Malaysia. Think about what that saying means. It's saying that no matter how successful you get, you're going to be dragged back down. And so building a company in Malaysia felt sometimes like an uphill march because it seemed that people wanted you to fail. Success was an abnormality, and if you were successful, you probably didn't deserve it. That was the feeling I had in my home country. Now, when I moved to Dubai, I noticed the precise opposite of that feeling. And at first I thought I was just imagining it. Everybody seemed to celebrate big thinking, entrepreneurial ideas, creativity, invention. But the more I met people in Dubai, the more I heard them say the same thing. And I started realizing something. No city I've encountered in my life seems to be such a magnet for talent and for brilliant minds. And all the brilliant minds I meet in Dubai say the same thing. When in Dubai, people support your success. They want you to succeed. Check out some of these crazy stories. Maybe you've heard of the huge social media brand Nas Daily? Nusser is an Israeli who has been traveling around the world creating videos to uplift and inspire. He opened up an office in Singapore and then opened up a second office in Dubai. And when I asked him why this is what he had to say.

The question is not why Dubai, it's why not Dubai? I Think people need to recognize that the center of gravity on the planet is moving slowly from Los Angeles to New York to London to Dubai. And then maybe in the future it'll move to China. But for now, I think it's coming to Dubai. So I think the next 10 years, the next 20 years are incredible. I think people underestimate security. Security is really almost zero crime. Everybody feels safe. That feeling of safety is priceless. People underestimate how easy it is to do business. Your suppliers don't get stuck in traffic. The taxation system is very straightforward and easy. Government permits are very easy to get. Things just move fast. And everybody here is to build a business. People are not here to be distracted by different things. So if you're into building a career or a business, I think the UAE in general is the next America now.

I love what Nusser said. Efficiency. I have never seen a government move as fast as Dubai. Within days of being in Dubai, I was meeting with ministers to discuss big ideas, such as how could mindvalley support the training and development of tens of thousands of Emirati government employees. I'd never experienced that before. Dubai dreams big and the government is so progressive, it blew me away. The next person I spoke to was Saba Youssef, a Pakistani British inventor. What she told me was really touching. As a woman inventor in her home city of London, she would sometimes feel that people wanted to pull her down. They couldn't possibly believe that she could invent the products that she invented. But in Dubai, she says she felt people actually believed in her, uplifted her, wanted to see her win. Here's Saba.

I recently moved to Dubai because I feel that nobody in London really got me, understood me. I felt not accepted in London either. When I talk about how I want to help the world, how I want to invent this and put this there and do this and change this, and then save the world from climate change. People would just laugh at me or they would look at me weirdly. And every time I do that in Dubai, the response I get is, how can I help? You don't sound crazy at all. This is totally doable. Tell me what you need and how can I help? And that is why I live in Dubai. That's why I moved here. The energy is different, the vibration is different. If you think outside the box, there's no other place for you to be, for you to live, for you to work and spend time.

But despite all of this, there seems to be a couple of really interesting, untrue myths about Dubai. The first of which is because it's a Muslim country, it's restrictive. You can't have fun. You have to dress in a conservative way. All of this is nonsense. This is my friend Diana Kubasova, a famous Latvian actress and entrepreneur who left her country to move to Dubai.

I really love being in Dubai because it's so open. The government is supporting every field of business, and the environment here is amazing. So international people are supporting each other. And also, also, of course, the tax. The tax and ease of life here and the fun of life. Everything here is really amazing. I love it here.

And as Diana said, Dubai is incredible, incredible fun. The low taxes also definitely help entrepreneurs who want to move there. This is my friend, Sarah Al Madani. She's an Emirati woman. Sarah is a single mom. She has nine businesses. She wears whatever the heck she wants, and her body is covered in 68 tattoos. And Sarah absolutely, absolutely loves Dubai.

Why Dubai? I'm an Emirati, and I'm so proud to come from a country that knows nothing but tolerance, beauty and understanding. And it's a melting pot for so many cultures and religions all coexisting together in peace. Why Dubai? Because Dubai is safe. Because Dubai is different. Because Dubai is the land of opportunity. Because here is where you meet everyone without any discrimination, and you feel like you belong right away. Passports don't separate us here because we're all a family. And this is what Dubai teaches you.

I love what Sarah said about passports. This is one of the most exciting things about Dubai. As the Emirates has opened up itself to people of so many different nationalities, Dubai has become the world's melting pot. And the people that you see there are just some of the most brilliant people in the world. So many cities and cultures around the world are protective in a sense, where they try to limit the number of outsiders who come in. We see this with Brexit. We see this with countries trying to limit immigration. The Emiratis are not about that. The Emiratis have created one of the world's most beautiful, open and welcoming cultures. They are minority in their own country, but what they have done by opening their doors is given so many other people from all across the world hope and a place to come build their future and call home. So I invite you to come and explore Dubai. Check out this city. It's an incredible place to visit. And don't believe the myths. It's not always hot, it's not restrictive. It does have its own unique culture. But more importantly, Dubai gives you a glimpse of the future of humanity. So check out Dubai.