This year´s YPO Global Leadership in Dubai event has amazed, excited and inspired over 2.500 entrepreneurs and leaders from all across the globe, and I am as proud as I am humbled to be amongst this amazing group of people.
I would like to extend my gratitude to his excellency, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the YPO organization committee and the outstanding line up of nearly 60 speakers for making this event both highly memorable and impactful.
For me, one of the most inspiring appearances was given by YPO member Bobby Sager, founder and president of Sager Family Traveling Foundation and Roadshow, when he took to the stage and spoke briefly about gratitude, cautioning his peers to embrace the intangibles of life – like family and friendship.
Sager then introduced his good friend 17-time Grammy Award-winning musician Stingwho spoke about the importance of telling stories and listening to different viewpoints. “Empathy is the basis of diplomacy,” he said. “The most important aspect of a musician is the ear. Without listening, you can have no music.”
Amongst the exceptional thinkers and leaders were:
- Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, author and futurist
- André Borschberg, CEO, co-founder and pilot, Solar Impulse
- Mina Guli, founder and CEO, Thirst
- Eric Anderson, co-founder and co-chairman, Planetary Resources
- David Rubenstein, co-founder and co-CEO, The Carlyle Group
- Shereen El Feki, author, “Sex and the Citadel: Intimate Life in a Changing Arab World”
- Naif A. Al-Mutawa, professor, psychologist, creator of “The 99”
- Steve Vai, musician and three-time Grammy Award winner
- Mike Walsh, CEO of Tomorrow, author of “Futuretainment”
- Kito de Boer, head of mission, Office of the Quartet
- Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan from the Parents Circle – Families Forum
- Kofi Annan, Chairman, Kofi Annan Foundation
The three panel discussions featured incredible experts, invited from around the world to share their insights and knowledge.
- “Oil, Business and Geopolitics,” was moderated by talk show host Montel Williams and featured Dr. Patrick Ho, deputy chairman and secretary general of the China Energy Fund Committee, and Dr. Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.
- Williams also moderated “How Do We Cooperate on Counterterrorism?” and featured a conversation between Woolsey and Sheik Jalal Al-Gaood, president of Rawafid El-Iraq, a political party whose members have been prominent in their fight against ISIS.
- “The Business Implications of Human Trafficking and the Syrian Refugee Crisis” was a powerful dialogue moderated by investigative journalist Christine Dolan and featuring YPO member Nancy Aossey, president and CEO of the International Medical Corps (IMC); Jim Gamble former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP); and Dr. Helga Konrad, executive director of anti-trafficking at the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe.
During the final plenary, the audience heard from two stellar speakers, Salil Shetty, secretary general of Amnesty International, and global strategist Parag Khanna.
For the sixth year, CNBC has been a Global Partner for YPO EDGE, reporting onsite from the conference and interviewing speakers and YPO members:
- Asteroid mining will be ‘trillion dollar business’
- How is Blue Bird coping with ride-hailing apps?
- Solar Impulse 2 ready to fly
- Feeling the brand love around the world
- Fukushima clean-up takes 40 years
What YPO Edge is to the YPO global community, Singularity University is to the innovative entrepreneur, business and political leader.
Singularity University with its SingularityU Germany Summit will propel us to the next level of visionary insights with speakers and thinkers that will shape the way we think and act for the years to come.
I would like to congratulate my friends Stephan Balzer, Arwed-Ralph Grenzbach and Nikolaus Weil on their outstanding achievement to bring this amazing event to my home city of Berlin on April 20 to 21st 2016: http://www.singularityugermanysummit.org
This will for sure be the other one of my not-to-be-missed highlights this year.
Stefan Beiten
