MELA 4, DAY EIGHT: 14 MARCH 2013
Shangri-La is heavenly. There are many myths and stories, however, in which one must first pass through regions of pain and darkness in order to gain access to paradise – for example, Dante's Divine Comedy.
With MELA Reunion members joining in today's program, extra excitements are in store. Behind the doors of Ballroom C, something thrillingly ominous is brewing. No trespassers, capisci? – Capiamo!
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate
(Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!)
– Dante, Inferno, Canto III
Anand Sharma (Chairman and CEO, TBM Consulting Group) leads the sessions on operational excellence. Operational excellence is a foundational element for value creation, competitive advantage and growth.
Participants will now be thrust into a simulation involving a poorly organized factory with the attendant frustrations and inefficiencies. This is a ghastly, Mephistophelean plan. But we shall not abandon all hope, we who enter Ballroom C...
Participants receive their work assignments.
The factory produces widgets. Widgets are a devilish invention. Making them consumes time and energy, yet nobody knows what they for.
Basma Essa and the Egyptian duo try to make head or tail of their work instructions. They are doing their best to cope with a management system that is seriously flawed.
Hamoud Al-Tobi and Lana Dajani pretend to understand what is going on by looking busy.
Ali Fadhlani and Monther Almamari are not impressed by what they see.
Nader Al Fardan and Amer Al Jabri are in the house! They don't care about widgets. They are just pleased to be attending the Reunion.
Saif is the customer in the factory simulation. He does care about widgets. He is extremely dissatisfied. Zainab makes a vain attempt at damage control.
To get out of widget hell, we must supersede the shortcomings of outdated, 20th-century management systems and implement a superior, 21st-century model...
Do not abandon hope! "Lean" tools and kaizen methodology can hugely improve a manufacturing or service organization.
Eman has a plan.
Yasser Al Fadhil is in the house!
As neutral observers, Asha and Anu are spared the pains and tensions of widget hell.
Meanwhile, matters on the factory floor are improving. Let's check to see if our customer is any happier yet.
Meanwhile, matters on the factory floor are improving. Let's check to see if our customer is any happier yet.
Our customer is still grumpy. Nonetheless, the factory's transformation is taking place and it is on its way to becoming a world class organization.
In real life, though, MELA friends are the only customers who count. A photograph of satisfied MELA customers Vicky and Randi.
Andrew Summers catches up with Saif Al Hamhami.
There certainly is nothing lean about these lunches.
Khalid Al-Harthy is not in the house. Very intelligently he has decided to enjoy the sunshine and beauty of Oman outdoors.
Falah Al Sukaiti is another welcome face at the MELA Reunion.
Lama Jabasini reveals herself as the secret puppeteer of the MELA program.
Even Adel El Dayasty is mere putty in the hands of this power-mad, manipulative mastermind (known and feared in Sicily as "La Jabasini"). Soughit Abdelnour cheers her on.
Salim Al Aufi (CEO, Public Authority for Civil Aviation, Oman) leads one of the evening's small group discussions on the subject "Getting Your Organization to Move Where You Want It."
Wissam Darwiche (Executive Director for Principal Investments, Waha Capital) examines the best options for securing financing in the region.
Obay Ghazal is in the house!
No business can succeed in today's widespread global markets without harnessing the power of social media. Rabea Ataya (Founder, Chairman and CEO, Bayt.com) discusses how.
We emerge from a long yet fulfilling day from the confines of the meeting rooms to admire the Omani night sky... and to smoke shisha...
...tanto ch'i' vidi de le cose belle
che porta 'l ciel, per un pertugio tondo.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
(... until I saw some of the beautiful things
That heaven bears, through a round opening.
And from there we came out again to see the stars.)
– Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIV
We emerge from a long yet fulfilling day from the confines of the meeting rooms to admire the Omani night sky... and to smoke shisha...
Ali Mortagui and Carolanne not smoking shisha
...tanto ch'i' vidi de le cose belle
che porta 'l ciel, per un pertugio tondo.
E quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle.
(... until I saw some of the beautiful things
That heaven bears, through a round opening.
And from there we came out again to see the stars.)
– Dante, Inferno, Canto XXXIV
