Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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WalaHaja #2: The Affectionate
“And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.” – Matthew 6:12-14 #WalaHaja…
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WalaHaja #1: The Merciful
I survived a certain death in 2022, and for that, I feel grateful. It taught me that sometimes all that it takes for you to win is just not to die. Four times it feels as if someone is pulling you down from unknown sides of you, four times with escalating intensity and a new…
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What is #WalaHaja?
tl;dr: Ending with “We are not in war with nature, we are nature!” after restlessly waking up at 2 AM for no obvious reason (except sleeping at 7 PM, hehe), Abdo decides to grab a coffee and reflects on a YouTube video arriving at an articulation of #WalaHaja as part of the new book (and another personal…
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Chakras, a holistic 7-steps approach to balance and wellbeing
I had been fascinated with the topic of healing and becoming the best version of ourselves… I found Charkra’s approach to be the most holistic and probably the simplest approach to pursue healing… You connect what you thought as intellectual into your own body to certain “centers of energy” called Chakras… This is possibly the…
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Surviving Workplace Mobbing
“You should be grateful that I didn’t bring you the police to arrest you, right here, right now” This was the CEO’s opening statement to my semi-requested termination meeting during an innovation program in Berlin. Less than 48 hours before, the most senior executive, who also won Europe’s top CMO of the year award a…
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Ferdinand teaches us 3 Steps to befriending the monster and healing after trauma
As I reflect on my almost 4 years of intriguing and challenging research into balanced human behavior, my seemingly random choice of flight movies seemed to trigger more thoughts, but not this time, this time, I will go all the way to an animated feature, something more light and less philosophical.
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10 mental images to practice growing a thick skin as CEO!
I decided that in the next 10 years, I’m going into Global Trade and Investment on behalf of Generation-Y in Egypt well, he mumbled, you were just complaining about corruption and power struggles in your local Cairo community, now you are about to kick ass with the most powerful people in the world? You think…
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Power vs. Vulnerability. Which is the behavioral framework to live by?
In my previous posts In Egypt, Are we hypocrites? and From Good to Great, what makes outstanding performances I have highlighted how I have seen vulnerability as a source of inspiration, progress and beauty.
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My top 27 things to do before I die.
As a part of an exercise at Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence class on @Coursera. Prof Richard Boyatzis Asked to write down the top 27 things to do before we die. On a second thought, I decided not to share my 27 list, though, the general theme in my 27 list had been about “sacrifice” and…
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Your soul is in your keeping alone…
Come. Sit. Do you play? The whole world is in chess. Any move can be the death of you. Do anything except remain where you started and you can’t be sure of your end. When I was sixteen I won a great victory. I felt in that moment that I should live to be one…
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From Good to Great, what really makes outstanding performances?
Alright, A bit over a year ago, as I went through From Good to Great for Jim Collins, I was inspired by the topic to research more of what makes outstanding performances, the book talks to CEOs about building resilient companies, finding the hedgehog concept of their companies and flow in greatness…
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Tales of Corruption from USAID-funded Bamyan Media, with #ElMashrou3 Part I
After the striking wave of criticism the launch of ElMashrou3 was received with from entrepreneurs and despite all possible PR and Advertising tricks the money can buy; the opinion of professionals and obvious impact assessment have shown a great failure to a potentially massive project to Unleash Entrepreneurship in Egypt, for which the United Sates…
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On the promise of TV Stardom, USAID-funded Bamyan Media abuses El Mashrou3 Contestants!
I had my blood boiling when I was told the story.. Publicly some of them seemed not to appreciate the experience for some reasons, but I thought it’s just the bitterness of losing a competition. Then, I was told.. Grabbing by the hand and threatening with a contract, the least can be labelled a “slavery…
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How do people react upon resentment?
Multiple times I’m being advised on taking care of my “personal brand” and tackle only generic generally accepted topic, I see everyone around me do it, but as I get to explore myself, I see I don’t need to lie about my personal brand on the internet(s), I’m searching for what’s true, for what’s real…
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Highlights from the World Bank Annual Meeting
I was invited to attend The World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting in Washington DC during October last year and participate in The Civil Society Policy Forum, you know me, I wouldn’t pass such an opportunity without leaving my mark so Egypreneur organized a panel discussion there entitled: Engaging Local Entrepreneurs on Solving Development Challenges, featuring, in…
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مين اللي فعلاً ورا برنامج المشروع؟
طويب, من ساعة ما كتبت أول مقالة عن ردود فعل رواد الأعمال عن برنامج المشروع, ناس كانت قريبة من البرنامج تواصلت معايا وشاركت معلومات مهمة هتفيدنا وإحنا بندور علي فعلاً هل البرنامج كان ليه تأثير ولا لأ, وبما إن فيه أكتر من أربع حلقات من البرنامج اتذاعت خلاص, أكيد ده بيدي مادة كفاية تفيد في…
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Professionalism, losing the essence for a high conviction rate?
Law Abiding Citizen is becoming one of my favorite movies, as someone with interest in sociology, I try to comprehend how communities form and societies function. One of the deepest conversations in the movie is when Sarah discusses with her boss how she sees her career path at the age of 35, sharing that she…
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Why am I proud of my father today?
Today, my father came to update me with the result of a legal case that seemed to have a story. While attending a business networking dinner in London last September, I was sitting on the table with with a freelance writer who writes for the guardian, a lawyer who used to work in Egypt and…
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So, who is really behind #ElMashrou3?
Since my first post Among criticism from entrepreneurs, USAID-funded Bamyan Media Launches Egypts first reality TV Show for entrepreneurs I was contacted by a few people who worked closely with Bamyan Media and shared some insider stories about their experience which will be valuable in analyzing behind the scenes. Also, as four episodes aired, thats 1/3…
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My 2014 Chief Aim is…
Derek says that telling someone your goal make you less likely to achieve it. Either it’ll get done and you’ll know it in good time, or it won’t and I will save myself the embarrassment. So, enough talking. Just do it!
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In Egypt, are we hypocrites?
Well, here we go with another sensitive topic, but what #Getting_Real I promised myself to stick with in 2014 might be less than exploring what matters the most and rarely explored and trying to define the principles upon which we want to live and build our society, if you are in your 20s I think…
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So, how would #ImpactLab do Impact Assessment to #ElMashrou3?
Well, after my last journal on: Among criticism from entrepreneurs, USAID-funded Bamyan Media launches Egypt’s first Reality TV Show. Some of my colleges at Egypreneur, thought it’s close to how it would look like as an Impact Lab report, especially as I confessed a background they feared the report might be criticized based on, and…
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Among criticism from entrepreneurs, USAID-funded Bamyan Media launches Egypt’s first entrepreneurship Reality TV Show
Whether you are among the hundreds who had been involved in the preparations for the show in the last 2 years, since September 2011 ,or the few millions watching it on TV or hundreds of thousands watching it online, oh really? Everyone agrees that… Egypt just witnessed the launch of the highly anticipated #1 Reality…
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Talent Discovery TV Shows – Social Media Presence
In the last 3 years with DSL connections going mainstream and increasing consumption of online video content and with YouTube is the hub for video content in the region, I interestingly tracked down some of the popular YouTube channels for number of subscribers and views, here I provide a quick comparison in numbers between some…
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Entrepreneurship Ecosystem – Article on Business Today
I’ve recently wrote an opinion piece at Business Today Egypt, magazine which dedicated its June issue to entrepreneurship, you can read my article below and order the issue digitally online from http://businesstodayegypt.com
Got any book recommendations?