Alwaleed — A Prince of a Guy

I just read a really awesome article in an email newsletter I get from the consulting firm McKinsey. The article, written by Kito de Boar of McKinsey’s Dubai office, is a Q&A with His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud—or Alwaleed, as he’s known in the Middle East, the article says.

What completely grabbed my attention and pushed me to read the article was the fact that he owns shares in some very major corporations in the U.S., including Apple, Disney, Citigroup and News Corp.
At first that scared me. But as I read through, I realized this is a guy that the United States really needs in its court. Here are some highlights that I feel are important:

1) He believes women in Saudi Arabia should be able to drive and do much more. He employs a female pilot, jockey and flight attendant — positions apparently unavailable for the average woman in SA.

In the article, he says:
“I am Islamically conservative—I will do anything to help people, especially in the Islamic community—but I believe in the women’s cause, not just for their sake, but for the sake of the economy and for Saudi Arabia. You cannot have a population that is 50 percent female and have it account for only 4 or 5 percent of productivity. In my company I am trying to set an example. And what I do gets monitored because I have a relatively high profile. I have, for example, hired the first lady pilot, the first lady flight attendant, and the first lady jockey. And I use my media outlets to promote that. The jockey went to the Emirates, and all they talked about was her, even though she didn’t win. On television the pilot pointed out that she was not permitted to drive on the roads, but she could fly a plane and look down on everyone from the air.”

2) He says we all believe in one God, something I have been saying for years:
“There is very little difference between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism—they all believe in one God, one day of judgment, and a scripture that teaches about heaven. OK, one says the Bible is the word of God, the other that the Koran is the word of God. There are differences, but we are so close.”

It’s comforting to find a Muslim who feels we are all on the same team. I don’t think we get exposed to a lot of that in our media today. All we ever see is the hatred.

You will need to register at the McKinsey site to read the full article, but it is worth your time:http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/article_page.aspx?ar=1881&L2=10&L3=51&srid=27&gp=0

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