MIT Sloan Management Review - Middle East

Once you have deep rules preventing most conversations about an organization’s purpose, power structure, pay and perks, and leadership mistakes, employees know that these kinds of comments lie outside acceptable bounds: They self-censor and keep their mouths shut. In fact, neither employees nor managers tend to think about this form of power operating until a “breach” happens. Then, sadly, management’s instinct often is to snuff it out rather than explore or accept the need for deep change.

Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, a seasoned telecom executive with over two decades of experience, is the CEO of e& UAE. Masood’s leadership journey spans across technology and telecommunications, strongly emphasizing operational efficiency, value creation, and customer-centric growth. MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East’s Editor, Liji Varghese, spoke with Mahmood about the transformation of e& UAE into a fast-growing tech brand, its brand strength, and how AI and data analytics are reshaping customer experience (CX). This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/gBC6krZW

For the human resources profession, this has been the best of times and the worst of times. Early in 2020, as the realities of the pandemic set in, all the big issues were HR issues and the function was challenged and valued as never before. Four years later, HR is asked to return to its traditional role of bridging between what business leaders insist on and what will keep the workforce at least partly happy. Some employees have been forced back to the office, against their wishes, and the only reason we’re no longer talking about quiet quitting is that we’re too busy grappling with the latest rounds of layoffs. So as we embark on the next era of work, the time is ripe for a rethink of HR.

Modern Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance players are using customer intent to drive new product offerings. An agile tech infrastructure helps maintain lean teams, quick development cycles, and an evidence-based mindset to test and grow at speed and scale. According to Amro A. Abbas, Executive Advisor to Chief Executive Officer & CMO at Vision Bank, “The banking consumers’ behavior has been constrained with the limits of the banking industry." “While this approach isn’t wrong, it overlooks the broader potential,” says Mohamed Auf, Director of Digital Experience Excellence at Tawuniya, a Saudi Joint Stock Company established in Riyadh by royal decree in 1986. Hassan El-Tahan, Vice President of Growth, Gathern | جاذر إن, a vacation rental platform licensed by the Ministry of Tourism, says, “We place a premium on transactional data to track past booking behaviors, customer feedback to gauge happiness levels, and predictive analytics to forecast future actions based on previous behavior. 

Join us in Dubai at the Tech Leaders Lab, hosted by MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East in collaboration with Uniphore, on November 7, 2024. Learn how AI can revolutionize decision-making, streamline operations, and transform customer experiences. Engage with thought leaders through keynotes, panels, and hands-on discussions, gain invaluable insights to help you navigate the complexities of AI and craft a forward-thinking strategy for your organization. Don't miss this opportunity to lead your business into the future. Our speakers: Mamoun Alamouri 🇵🇸, Regional Vice President, MEA, Uniphore Starling David Hunter III, Former Professor, MIT Sloan School of Management To register, click here: https://lnkd.in/gTZjBy3U

Learning agility is a process-oriented methodology rather than a content-focused learning skill like mind mapping or other memorization techniques. As we operate in increasingly uncertain times with no precedents, reliable formulas, or standard operating procedures, the ability to steer how we learn becomes critical in guiding us to find answers in novel situations. Four elements that matter most in developing learning agility: linking purpose to learning, creating a learning-rich work environment, asking meta-learning questions, and nurturing a learning team.

Since ChatGPT’s debut in late 2022, employees have continued to find new ways to tap into the power of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). For many individuals, GenAI tools have sped up the capability to create content ranging from text to video. For example, the tools can help people summarize meeting documents, generate ideas, and construct emails. Freely available Gen AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude AI, and GenAI-enabled functionality now embedded in software from the likes of Microsoft and Adobe have fueled the growing use of GenAI tools inside and outside the workplace. Yet with this rise of GenAI comes a new challenge for organizational leaders: the phenomenon of Bring Your Own AI (BYOAI), which occurs when employees use unvetted, publicly available GenAI tools for work.

Just how much do employees resent it when leaders cross work-life boundaries? Our research found that employees consider being contacted during off-hours an unwelcome intrusion into their personal lives 76% of the time. Additionally, 83% of people reported experiencing interruptions at least twice a week, and 41% reported an increase in interruptions compared with pre-COVID times. Work-life boundaries are blurrier than ever, creating significant challenges for both employees and leaders. Today’s managers need to learn how to manage these boundaries — for themselves and for their teams.

Cybersecurity is integral to the success and sustainability of any business. A company’s ability to maintain and build customer trust and its brand reputation is contingent upon its ability to protect its data. A study by IDC found that 80% of consumers in developed nations will defect from a business if their information is compromised in a security breach. While robust cybersecurity frameworks are vital for sustainable operations, misaligned strategies can stifle innovation, collaboration, and productivity. In this article, experts discuss how to navigate this challenge: https://lnkd.in/ga35jjNv Chris Bates, CISO, SandboxAQ Morey Haber, Chief Security Advisor, BeyondTrust Khalil Yazbeck, Business Development Manager, Kingston Technology - UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman

AI is revolutionizing business transformation—are you ready to harness its full potential? Join us on November 7, 2024, in Dubai for the Tech Leaders Lab by MIT Sloan Management Review Middle East, in collaboration with Uniphore. The exclusive roundtable aims to provide C-level executives and industry leaders with an enriching platform to explore the “what,” “why,” and “how” of AI in business. #TechLeadersLab #AIinBusiness #DigitalTransformation