In a way, the UAE’s bid to host the Expo in 2020 was a David vs Goliath story. If they were successful, they would be the smallest country to host it since Belgium more than 50 years earlier. As the minister in charge of the Expo, Reem Al-Hashimy was all set to go to Paris to make the final presentation in June 2013 before the ballot in November. There was only one problem: she was fully pregnant with her first child. Her colleagues tried to persuade her not to go. What if she went into labour on the plane or what if her water broke while she was onstage? But nothing could dissuade Reem. As she was three weeks beyond the permissible date for intercontinental flights, she had to fly privately, with a doctor onboard for the seven-hour flight.
Thankfully, she managed to deliver the speech without incident. Eleven days later, she went into labour. In the end, the UAE won the bid by a resounding margin. The incident, in a way, did not just record how they managed to win, but also displayed the incredible determination of the woman who, behind her abayah and shaylah, concealed a spine of steel. But no leader can build something as monumental as the Expo by sheer determination. Reem’s leadership style was characterised by a willingness to take risks, trusting the team she had carefully put together and paying attention to the smallest detail. “In my office now hangs a framed print of the words ‘Hope is not a method’, given to me by my team, partly to tease me for how often I repeated this mantra to them, but also, in all seriousness, as a principle that kept us on track. You have to be sure as a leader that the information you are being given is credible, and not simply wishful thinking in the middle of a crisis,” she writes in her book, When Ground Shifts, which tells the story of the Dubai Expo.
The book details the challenges Reem and her team faced in turning the desert into a vibrant city-space teeming with people, national and thematic pavilions, restaurants and cafes, parks and playgrounds. The biggest challenge was the Covid pandemic, which almost put the project on life support. But she overcomes each challenge with fortitude and faith, not just being on the defensive but going on the offensive with initiatives like Expo Live, a $100 million initiative to support innovative social projects connected to the Expo 2020 themes. Or ensuring the welfare of the 2,50,000 Expo workers by establishing a hotline through which any worker could report problems or ask for help; it received over 800 calls.
The danger with such a book is that it can, at times, seem promotional or self-congratulatory. But Reem largely manages to avoid this through the genuineness in her writing. She tells a story because she has a story to tell, and an inspirational one at that. The book also describes the life of a woman in the Middle East, the prejudices she faced and the opportunities she got, the role of the enlightened leaders who turned the UAE into the future-oriented, modern country it is today, and her vision of the Expo’s model of inclusion being a blueprint for the world. While writing about the Expo, Reem has revealed much of herself in the book―the sense of loss she felt at its conclusion, her consideration and care for her team, her love for her family and her drive to succeed.... Her story is as compelling as that of her show.
WHEN GROUND SHIFTS―THE STORY OF DUBAI EXPO: CREATING HOPE IN TIMES OF UPHEAVAL
By Reem Al-Hashimy
Published by Profile Editions
Price ￡25; pages 196