My trip to Qatar

I just got back from what I call a peak life experience in Doha, Qatar working with the Qatar Science and Technology Park Research to Startup program.  We brought an incredible group of entrepreneurs to work with equally incredible researchers of the Qatar Computer Research Institute. I was so blessed to be asked to be a part of it by my very close friend Chris Yeh.

Qatari leadership is visionary in that they realize they need to look beyond the oil and gas economy.  It’s a fascinating study in the intersection of business and humanity.  There is a lot culturally to break through to really shift to an entrepreneurial mindset for the investors and entrepreneurs to thrive but the vision and energy is there.

It was really invigorating to be a present part of a 20-30 year vision.  So much of what I’m surrounded with in business has a less than 5 year horizon.  That longer term vision gives importance and space for achieving lasting and meaningful impact.

It was so rewarding to see the researchers light up as they saw the possibilities roll out of how their years of work, their babies essentially, could be taken to market successfully by entrepreneurs who care.  I was totally blessed to bring my piece of the puzzle in helping them with their presentations.

The long term vision is to help shift the researchers into a commercialization oriented entrepreneurial mindset ala Silicon Valley.

It will be fascinating to see what comes of it.  More to come.

And, here are a few quite random reflections from my trip to Doha, Qatar:

There is construction EVERYWHERE.  So much so that they are actually running out of SAND!  So they are fighting against illegal importation of sand….in the desert.  They are building world class facilities and have a TON of capacity to fill.

I met the ONLY couple in the world that is a marriage between a Qatari and Norwegian and they were delightful.  In certain cases, there is an approval process for Qatari citizens to marry different nationalities.

I had a heartwarming experience when a totally likeable and brilliant engineer/researcher pulled me aside at an event and told me that I had given him the incredible gift of teaching him “how to laugh”.  My rather big and full laughter is unusual and he loved to laugh along with me and others as we joked around.

I LOVED the times when there was singing over the loudspeaker to remind those who observe it to pray.  I honestly wish that we could somehow do something like that here that would be free of denomination or even belief in God (plenty of my atheist friends meditate).  A reminder a few times a day for all of us to pause and reflect in some way would have a substantial beneficial impact. 

There is a GIANT yellow bear at the airport.  I found out it cost almost $7 Million.  That’s one expensive relative of Winnie the Pooh.  I only pray that they don’t open a honey store in the airport.

Their salt shakers are much better than ours because yield per shake is much higher (or put less business-y their salt comes out of the shakers faster with more of it each time I shook it).

They use Kleenex as napkins.  It took some getting used to but ultimately it’s good because it’s more eco-friendly as I didn’t find myself using more of them.  Oddly, for whatever reason I became more careful about how I ate so as to minimize my use of them.

Not surprisingly, without a shared pop cultural reference point my blue ribbon comedic material at times is met with confusing looks and crickets rather than laughter.

It’s hot.  Like REALLY hot.  I would go for a walk at 5:30 am and it felt perfect, by 6:30 am my walk ended luckily because it was already steaming hot.  One upside is the AC in all the buildings I went to was phenomenal!

I’m not particularly surprised by this but was comfortably reassured.  Parents there love their young daughters as much as I did/do, that made me really happy.

I played hoops with an international key and three point line on a wider court.  And oh my GAWD it was a lot harder to do.  Shots that normally drop were falling well, well short.  (Oh and as a bonus the court was blue so I kinda felt like I was playing football at Boise State.)

Finally, I was reminded again how to be awake and aware to visitors to the USA as I walk around throughout my day.  San Francisco in particular brings a confluence of all types of different cultures and perspectives.  I was treated wonderfully while I was there.

It reminded me to be a little more patient, tolerant and kind and that my friend is, indeed, what is all about.

Comments

[Chris Yeh]

Thanks for signing up for this adventure! Wouldn't have been the same without you.

[Tim Taylor]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for thinking of and including me.