My name is Mohammed Ballout. I am a Senior Director for Real Estate Development at King Abdullah Economic City, the master developer of the economic city. When I decided to do an advanced management program, I looked to many different programs from all over the world, and the reason that I really was attracted to the program in Columbia was the experiential learning that the program has. Tapping into our unconscious mind through experiential learning tends to last with you longer than any theoretical learning I think. The rowing experience that we had, where it's so important to be aligned with other team members. No matter how much force you put into your rowing, if the whole team is not aligned, the ship does not move forward. I think putting that into perspective has taught me a lot more to listen to people and make sure that they're aligned.

The fire department experience, or the fire department training academy that we visited, communication was a key learning for me, not only to communicate with people, but to make sure that people have understood what you have told them. Because a lot of the time, 80% of the time when you're communicating to others, they tend to tell you that they got the message, but in reality, they did not get the message. That exercise has taught me that you need to make sure and ask that person that they've really got what you want to say, because it doesn't mean that what you have in mind, other people have understood it.

Mohamad Ballout