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Thunderbird School of Global Management
Mideast Connections
A Thunderbird Alum in the UAE
Hello Thunderbird, I'm Nivien Saleh
Have you ever wondered what your life would be like after graduating from Thunderbird?
I have. And given that I am a scholar of the Middle East, my interest was in that region of the world.
I contacted members of our wonderful alumni network who now reside in the area
and asked them what their life was like.
I spoke to alums in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and to one person whom I would like to introduce to you today.
Her name is Kelly Eide. She graduated in 1997.
After graduation she moved to the United Arab Emirates,
a small nation on the Persian Gulf.
Together with her business partner Koelle Simpson
she created the company TRUE Leadership.
she created the company TRUE Leadership.
As the name suggests, it engages in leadership training for managers.
The unique thing about TRUE Leadership is that it works with horses.
If you know anything about the countries of the Persian Gulf
you will know that they love horses, and there are quite a few stables there.
Of those Kelly and Koelle took advantage.
They bring their clients there, let them work with the horses,
and teach them how to project confidence and authority.
The idea is that if you can project these things to a horse and get it to trust you,
you will be able to do the same thing with individuals from starkly different intercultural backgrounds.
The reason is that horses do not come from a country.
They do not speak.
All communication happens through body language.
What is Kelly's life in the United Arab Emirates like?
What is Kelly's life in the United Arab Emirates like?
What is Kelly's life in the United Arab Emirates like?
What is Kelly's life in the United Arab Emirates like?
I had a Skype session with her.
Let's take a look at what she said.
My name is Kelly. I graduated from Thunderbird in 1997.
And I have been living in Dubai for the last ten years.
I actually lived in the United Arab Emirates before I went to Thunderbird
My father came to the Middle East in the late eighties
and he created part of the education system here in the United Arab Emirates.
What's fascinating is that now Thunderbird
partners with one of the institutions
that my father created years and years ago.
So I was an interesting student when I went to Thunderbird,
and I had a chance to study in Europe and Switzerland,
and I had a chance to live and work in the United States
while I was at Thunderbird.
But I came back here in the end.
There was something …
There was something …
My friend who came with me when we were studying …
She called this "seddictive": A cross between "seductive" and "addictive."
because you have this really modern type of city.
The whole country has huge beautiful buildings and architecture.
In fact, I will turn this around and show you the Burj Khalifa,
That's the world's tallest tower seen from my garden.
All these amenities of life are great to have.
I'm an entrepreneur now. I have my own company.
I work with companies and individuals
to develop leadership and communication skills,
and I do that by working with horses.
This is a part of the world where they love their horses.
And that's a great opportunity for me to work with a variety of horses
and different breeders and stables.
But additionally, with the airline being what it is,
I can get virtually anywhere in the world in one flight.
I can get virtually anywhere in the world in one flight.
There is a direct flight to Los Angeles, there is a direct flight to Sao Paulo.
There is a direct flight to South Africa.
There is a direct flight to Australia.
There is a direct flight to Australia.
So that's a really nice advantage for me,
because my work frequently takes me to South Africa, Australia, and England.
That makes work life quite easy.
Let me talk a little about the Middle East itself,
because while everything here is new:
the flashy buildings, the oil money et cetera,
there is also the sense of being in the cradle of many civilizations.
It's funny, because people think it is impressive
that Dubai created the tallest tower and things like that.
But what I think is impressive is that it was done
by people from virtually every country in the world.
In my work, working with horses is a great way
to help people develop cross-cultural communication
to help people develop cross-cultural communication
because it is entirely non-verbal.
But during my life I can't go to the supermarket
without having a crosscultural exchange.
There are people here from Southeast Asia. There are people here from Africa.
There are Americans at MacDonald's and Europeans.
Every single exchange you have in your work place is cross-cultural, bar none.
For example, with my last workshop that I did with a company here
there were people from seven different languages,
fifteen different countries and three religions represented.
People at Thunderbird often go to Thunderbird to have those types of experiences.
Having that in your day-to-day life is a huge accelerator
for an international school.
And I've enjoyed it all the years that I've been here,
and it's a wonderful thing that keeps me here and encourages me to come back.
It looks like Kelly enjoys living in the United Arab Emirates, doesn't it?
If her story has whetted your appetite for life in the Middle East,
www.KellyEide.com to learn more about what she does.
And of course check back at www.NivienSaleh.info for additional videos.