Emirates Airline Festival of Literature: Expert insights on navigating the new normal

The last 12 months have seen our lives turned upside down, with particularly dramatic changes in the world of business.

Our livelihoods have been influenced by so many factors beyond our control, from the advance of the Covid-19 pandemic, to the unpredictable vagaries of geopolitics. We’ve all had to learn how to pivot – changing direction and re-evaluating our goals in ways that would have been unimaginable a few months ago. At the same time, we have had to keep our teams safe and build morale while often managing them at a distance.

Trying to make sense of it all has sometimes felt impossible, but some of the answers in navigating the new business landscape might be found in the incisive sessions at this year’s Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, which will be held from January 29 – February 13.

Behavioural specialist, leadership coach and author Thomas Erikson, author of the runaway bestseller Surrounded by Idiots, will be giving insights into how we can communicate more effectively with our colleagues, even when, as he says in his latest book, we are Surrounded by Psychopaths. He will be joined by self-development author, editorial cartoonist and public speaker Sherif Arafa to addresses the challenges of cross-cultural communication and the challenging art of getting along with people.

Do you ever think you're the only one making any sense? Do rambling answers drive you crazy? Or does your colleague's abrasive manner rub you the wrong way? Thomas Erikson dedicated himself to understanding how people function and wrote a book about it: Surrounded by Idiots. pic.twitter.com/jTK61li7uK

— EmiratesLitFest (@EmiratesLitFest) January 10, 2021

Bringing her knowledge of how to make companies smarter and faster is Victoria Montgomery Brown, co-founder and CEO of one of the world’s leading digital media knowledge companies, Big Think. She’ll be expanding on some of the strategies she shares in her book, Digital Goddess: The Unfiltered Lessons of a Female Entrepreneur.

Amin Maalouf is one of the top names announced for the festival. The internationally acclaimed author and journalist will be speaking about his timely work Adrift: How Our World Lost Its Way, examining recent history, the reasons why civilisations have drifted apart, and how this impacts global threats.

Dubai-based Andy Fieldhouse, author of Amazon bestseller Getting Teamwork Right, and Mimi Nicklin, empathy advocate and the internationally bestselling author of Softening the Edge, will take to the stage to explain how to adapt to the new working environment and build more empathetic and cooperative workplaces. Fieldhouse will also be running a workshop to help participants develop skills they can share with their colleagues to boost morale and productivity and build a happy, successful and resilient team.

This year there are even more chances to get involved as the festival is spread over three weekends with family-friendly literature and art themed events and activities at Jameel Arts Centre and Alserkal Avenue, in addition to the festival’s home, the InterContinental Dubai Festival City.

All three weekends will have the same engaging LitFest appeal, with a mix of live appearances and virtual talks embracing literature, science, art, film, food, and performances by inspiring Arabic, locally based and international authors and speakers.

Tickets will be required for each session, including the many free events, with prices starting at Dhs60 for adults.

The festival will be fully compliant with all Covid-19 prevention regulations and guidelines.

For the full list of authors, visit emirateslitfest.com/authors