I’ve read Good to Great for Jim Collins about two years ago, but now, I was looking into my notes to surprisingly stumbling upon the below points from the book that I find quite interesting back in the time. So I decided now to share these points that could be especially inspiring to people embarking on new challenges in this rainy and freezing day at the Lebanese mountains.

Jim Collins thinks of transformation as a process of build up followed by breakthrough broken into 3 broad stages:

I. Disciplined people

1. Level 5 leadership
2. First who then what

II. Disciplined thoughts

1. Confront the brutal facts yet never loose faith in the ability to prevail – the Stock tail paradox
2. The hatch-hockey concept: gained by deep understanding of 3 intersecting circles:

• What can you be the best in the world at?
• What economic denominator best drives your economic engine?
• What you are deeply passionate about?

III. Disciplined actions

1. Culture of discipline: create a stop doing list
2. Stay focused on the intersection of your 3 circles

Remember

• the technology accelerators
• the fly wheel: accumulating momentum turn after turn
• to preserve your core ideology while stimulating change and progress
• to set BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) that falls in the middle of the 3 circles

But of course, “there is no free lunch in America”, in 2011, I’ve also had little struggles:

• Although I lived in fabulous Dubai, I wasn’t lucky with the neighbors , especially the ones right underneath (25th floor), who complain on every little tiny noise and called the police in our great house parties.
• Although my trip to Europe was amazing last summer, I still had to cancel/change some plans in the last minute.
• Despite meeting amazing people, I’ve also had painful break-ups. And now that I have moved back to Lebanon, its even worse to be separated from the dearest people back in Dubai.
• Although I worked on great digital marketing projects for fascinating clients like DEPE, Qualpro, Tamimi, Majid Al Futtaim Malls, Viva Kuwait, Rostamani Group, RAKFTZ and others, I’ve witnessed arrogant yet ignorant bosses and learned what bad leadership means and how the “carrot and stick” concept in management is a damn failure in today’s information age business environment.
• Although I’ve became a regular guest to Dubai’s most glamorous venues at night, and although I’ve attended the “interesting” Aimy Winhouse and the awesome Snoop Dog concerts, I’ve also gained a bit of a beer belly, few centimeters of fat on my thighs and suffered crazy hangovers due to over indulgence .
• Although I’ve done the most insane adventure ever (Sky Diving), which by the way, its “high” is still in my system, I didn’t keep on practicing the activities I started early on in the year (Professional Swimming, Skiing (yes in Ski Dubai, MOE), Kite Surfing, Salsa Dancing and Tennis). I even haven’t persevere enough on basketball, which correlates to the beer belly and the unhealthy lifestyle I’ve been living lately.

Today however is a day to decide on what should we STOP doing, START doing and CONTINUE doing.

Stop doing: problem with new year’s resolutions is that it usually hard to maintain, but despite that fact, this year I’m determined to stop smoking both Cigarettes and Shisha.

Start doing: 2012 is definitely a challenging year for me. I’ve taken on an extreme changes in my professional career and my live in general. I’ve moved back to Lebanon to handle our family business and this by itself require an entire set of “start doings”. The most important is discipline. In 2012, I need to have an extreme discipline to wake up everyday knowing that I am my own boss yet still focus on the targets and mission at hand. Its also a year of perseverance and patience. Our school is small and needs a lot of work. It has been running for 25 years in the same traditional mindset and I need patience to know that change doesn’t come instantly and perseverance to coop with the problem I’ll be facing.

2012 will also be the year where I will go back to school to embark on a masters degree, which I’m still undecided between Business Administration or Education Management.

Continue doing: There are certain things that I found extremely important throughout the years and I should keep on doing. Most important is the genuine interest and care about other people and being warm, friendly and helpful to friends, family and general fellow citizens. Its important that I continue smiling, continue being the happy person I am and spread positive energy in people I meet. Little alcohol is always good and I’m not planning to stop drinking and having good time, keeping the balance of work and play: work hard, play hard.

Its now 9:00pm on January 1st 2012, this is the beginning of a new year that we hope it brings delight to all of us. At least I have to say that I welcomed 2012 last night a bit better than its predecessor. Last year, we’ve celebrated the new year in the jammed metro station in Dubai. It wasn’t great, but we made the best out of it. This year however, I was between my beloved family, with whom I haven’t celebrated in ages. So, although it was a humble family and relatives gathering, it was a pleasant warm party, with lots of quiz games, poetry and fun activities.

2012 is definitely an adventurous year for me and I wish it’ll be a lucky one for all of us. Warm greetings to all of you.

I chose to be tattooed for a magical reason to symbolize my passion to the Phoenicians.

The Phoenicians were the great sea-traders of the ancient Mediterranean Sea, famous for being the creators of the alphabet – the foundations of modern communication on this planet. They are also famous in leading the innovation in ship building for trade and also for war / protection of the trade, especially important are the ones built using the wood of the legendary Cedar tree of Lebanon, the tree that sits in the middle of the Lebanese flag and famous for its evergreen coniferous, growing up to 40 m tall, with a trunk up to 2.5 m in diameter. Many Cedar trees in Lebanon are thriving over 1,000 years old. The Phoenicians were also known for being the first to discover and extract the purple color from the Murex Shell and using it in producing clothes and selling them around the world. Whenever you hear of Carthage, Hannibal and major cities of Lebanon (Byblos, Tyre, Beirut..etc), you are recalling the richness of the Phoenician heritage.

Sadly today, people who decent from the Phoenician genes on the coast of the Mediterranean, are growing up in the reality of corrupt countries infected by greed politics and extreme religious views. Countries that doesn’t contribute barely anything to our modern world.

I am one of those people who is rebelling on this reality. Frankly, I can’t find anything in my history to be proud of, however, reading about the Phoenicians inspired me more than anything. It awaken something inside me. What these people did back in their time was revolutionary. They were inventors and traders. They were peaceful and liberal. They did huge contributions to the world. No wonder, Europe was named after a Phoenician princess Europa who ran away from her family to discover whats out there behind the sea.

My recent tattoo is an illustration of a Phoenician sailing ship. This is not any ship however, this is the War Galley Quinquereme with a head of a horse and a tail of a fish. It was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread across the Mediterranean from 1550 BC to 300 BC. The Phoenicians used the galley, a man-powered sailing vessel, as their flagships of fleets. It was considered the heaviest type of warships in its time, which was first ever built in Sidon (a major city in Phoenicia – Lebanon today) to conquer the ocean. The ship’s fame caught the attention of the Roman emperor who asked the Phoenician to build the Roman Empire an entire fleet of these ships.

Why a Ship?

My Phoenician ship tattoo symbolizes a deep engraved sense of belonging to the Phoenicians and that my genes could have a connection to this amazing ancient civilization. The Ship as a symbol has a lot of meanings and representations. Ship represents lucky journeys in life and receiving good news from abroad. It also represents cross-culture open mindedness, companionship, discoveries, travel, protection from danger and safe refuge – the latter is especially connected to my name “Naja” which means “Escape” in Arabic language.

A head of a Horse stands in the front of the Ship

I have passion for horses since childhood, and although I chose to practice the show jumping part of horseback riding, I’m generally interested in and follower of all other equestrian sports. I chose to have a horse as part of the tattoo not only because Phoenicians used to have a head of a horse in the front of their ships, but also because I’m fascinated by its symbolism and how much its existence has impacted human life. Serving man in war, giving mobility to people, increasing productivity, helping in agriculture and treating people with disabilities… the Horse is by far one of the largest contributors to the enhancement of civilization.

The tail of the ship, is a fish head!

The part of the ship that is in contact with water is a head of fish. But before dwelling into the symbolic meanings of fish, we must first consider their watery domain.

Water holds ancient symbolic meanings dealing with the subconscious and depth of knowledge. Water contains all the mysteriousness of the unknown. Water holds endless mystery to us – it represents that which is certainly there, but cannot be seen. Water has also been known to be a womb symbol and as such, an emblem of birth, fertility and woman-ness. This association comes from many ancient flood myths, and the “from water springs life” concept.

Given the wonder that its domain holds, the fish too has similar symbolic meaning. There are numerous species of fish, but the creature in general holds some prime symbolic meanings of fertility, eternity, creativity, femininity, good luck, happiness, knowledge and transformation.

…and what is this bird placed on the sail?

Its the Phoenix of course… Phoenix is a mythical sacred fire-bird originated during Phoenician times. It is a mythical bird that has a 500 to 1000 year life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix arises, reborn anew to live again. The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self. It is said that the bird’s cry is that of a beautiful song.

The phoenix has long been presented as a symbol of rebirth, immortality, and renewal. It represents the sun dying in flames at the end of the day and rising every morning. It is the victory of life over death.

What I really love about the meaning of the Phoenix is that it’s as if picking yourself up when you are down, a new beginning, that no matter how bad (hot) things may get you will get back up on your feet (rise out of the ashes).

Phoenician DNA Code written in Phoenician Alphabet

National Geographic conducted a study to show light on the Phoenicians. Who were they, and where is their trace today. The study reveals this unique genetic code for the Phoenicians.

For every passport, there is a passport number. This DNA Molecular Code is a scientific passport number of the Phoenician people and that what is in my skin as part of the tattoo. If you look closer at the ship above the oars, there are symbols, this is the Phoenician’s unique DNA code written using the Phoenician alphabet.

What the study also reveals is that Phoenicians has spread around the world, as they were known by traders of the Mediterranean, who set sail regularly from their famous cities on the coast of Lebanon. In fact, you may have nothing to do Phoenicia geographically today, but your genes could be of the Phoenicians as they’ve traveled the world and left their trace everywhere they set  sail to.

Putting it all together

My tattoo may not be a common style of tattoo artist, but its my first tattoo, and i chose to put a lot of thought and relevance into it, it gives me a great sense of inspiration to achieve and make a difference in this world… and I hope this blog has inspire you, dear reader, to do something good to the world.

Skydiving is an extreme sport that not too many people have even heard of. It was something on my list-to-do, and finally took the decision. I went ahead and posted on Facebook my intentions to skydive with a link to an article written about skydive Dubai. This article was written by a  journalist, colleague and dear friend of mine (Pauline Forte) on the matter. My tweets and status updates are not usually super-dooper interesting but this status update was extremely appealing in attracting many likes and comments. The threads around my skydiving experience were the most popular of all my activities on the social media sphere so far, and on the big day, people were encouraging me and anticipating my big jump from 13,000 feet over the palm jumeirah.

The jump was the most thrilling life experiences i had so far. The anticipation, excitement and extreme fear have substantially changed my life. I always believed that fear is a universal hurdle for people on achieving their highest potential, and when you simply take this leap from the sky, decisions seem to be easier to be made and fear seem to be just a sound in the background. I’ve simply have done one of the most scary and frightening activities in the world and I never regret it. We’ve boarded the little jet and quickly flew over the sea of JBR. From where i was seated, i could easily see the pilot and the cockpit, full of buttons and meters. We’ve looked in the windows just to see the amazing palm and beaches of Dubai. Then the moment of truth came and the door opened. Suddenly a cold breeze filled out the cabin and as my turn start approaching, adrenaline started pumping high. On the door, looking down to a more than 4000 meters of clear space, air, of a sunny day, throwing myself along my tandem, was an extreme moment that takes my breath away. Coming down on more than 800km/h speed of free falling, i don’t remember catching a breath in these moments. Then he pulled the button and from going down so fast, an opposite force pulled me up so fast too, that was the parachute i realized. Later on, it was a cruise in the sky, less threatening in comparison to the fall but still the fear of heights could easily take the heart of a young man.

My life has been relatively easy, i haven’t encountered extreme experiences before. I’ve grown up in a decent family of educators. Earned my Bachelors degree from a top American school in Lebanon then worked in one of the most reputable advertising agency in the world. I enjoy a good social life and lucky to have some really good friends. I have now around 900 friends on Facebook and 600 followers on twitter, and I’m definitely not the only person out there who has more than thousand people on their social networks. However, i barely notice the number of people on my lists since the interactivity is summarized to a small group of closed friends.

The moment my skydive started to get popular, i was overwhelmed and wasn’t able to respond to every like, comment, reply or direct message i received around the topic. I can now feel what does it mean to have a thousand-plus contact on social media. Reflecting back on that incident, I realized that i just had my first hands-on experience on contagious stories. Skydive Dubai has made sure to equip me (the customer) with the tools needed to become their full time brand ambassador before, during and after that experience.

Skydiving is by nature an activity the people would look in amazement to. Some people would love to do it, others would never do it, but both would love to hear about a friend doing it, see pictures and ultimately see video. The brand Skydive Dubai has made sure to deliver the thrill of the experience in the best fashion. I had nothing to complain about. The staff were friendly, things were organized and everything appeared safe and fun. A camera man followed me from the moment of wearing the vet to the moment of landing, capturing my emotions from start to end. Finally, i went home with a CD full of amazing shots and a well-edited DVD video of the experience. What they gave me was content worth spreading and my facebook, youtube and twitter accounts were the perfect channels.

Today, I work for the biggest and most reputable digital agency in the middle east – Flip Media (www.flip.me), and what we do lies at the heart of what i experience with my Skydive jump. Isn’t all about delivering over your customers’ expectations on every touch point with the brand? isn’t about giving an emotional memorable experience? Isn’t about empowering people with sociable content ready for spreading? Isn’t about the basics of word-of-mouth the brings the best of business?

I truly think Dubai – the brand, is one of the most successful experience-driven brands in the world and that skydive Dubai is just one of its manifestations.

Click here for a full album of pictures on my skydive and below is the video:

I understand that it is important to join the conversation, engage with your audience and listen to what they have to say, but you as a brand or company are still in the eyes of the people a business that wants something. People aren’t foolish and with time they grow nervous, cautious and angry with companies following them everywhere to sell them something.

People finally found social networks, a place interruption-free for their entertainment and social interaction needs and what happened? companies start following them there pushing spam messages like usual. Funny thing is many marketeers go ahead and make judgements that social media marketing is not working for them and is not worth their investment.

You know, I can understand why some marketeers make such judgements. It is because social media game is different. They seem not to be able to step out of their comfort zone to embrace a new way of thinking and new way of doing marketing. On social media, you’ve got to be less obsessed about sales and more obsessed about having fun and giving fun to people. The essence of being entertaining is being relevant. So you need to first listen, learn and discover about your audience on these networks. Next step is that you’ve got to have an idea.

When we talk ideas, I think it all has to start from the brand’s roots. If you’ve got an inspiring purpose for your business, that is great, it means that you’d need to represent this in a cool way on your social networks. Make your social network an outlet for a cause or a mission that has nothing to do with your business. If you don’t have an inspiring purpose for your business, so its time to have one.

So to summarize, your social networks presence has to have an idea, gesture, cause, concept anything the makes you a welcome guest to the people’s private life, not an unwelcome intrusion.