Voices from the top: Dr Dalya Al Muthanna, president – GE, UAE and global chief of strategy and operations, GE International Markets

Overall, [2021 was] a positive year, a year of demonstrating what it means to be resilient, to transform the way we operate and the way we approach culture change, particularly as we are navigating ourselves out of the pandemic.

At GE, we doubled down on ‘Lean’ as an operating philosophy, one that is rooted in continuous improvement with accountability and ownership; we executed our commitments and honoured our partnerships.

This year has seen great momentum on the sustainability and climate change agenda; we witnessed so many countries taking bold ownership in this regard. The UAE’s announcement of Net Zero by 2050 and its recent win to host COP28, is a clear testimony to the level of commitment the UAE leadership is giving to the energy transition dialogue. A dialogue that GE is actively supporting and dedicating its engineers to advance its suite of complementary technology and create innovate solutions needed for energy transformation.

This year has also brought accelerated actions around inclusion and diversity. At GE, we adopted the global mindset approach to build a more diverse workforce and a more inclusive workplace. We created chief diversity officer roles within each business, we expanded our diversity strategy to include mitigating bias in our talent processes and we transparently report our diversity data globally.

The biggest challenge I would say has been myself, always striving to improve what’s around me, to do better, whether on a work or personal level. Having a desire to learn and to be humble around it is key to grow and develop as a leader – the more you learn the more you realise how little you know. Whatever goal you put upon yourself, whatever you want to be, be sincere, be kind and give it your 100 per cent.

Hence, it may take time to find your passion, understand that it is a journey, that your everyday experiences chisel your character and skills, so make it worthwhile. I am excited about 2022 and I look forward to the global economy as it reboots and returns to a new normal. Our outlook for the region is robust, we continue to focus on three strategic themes – energy transition, precision healthcare and future of flight.

Integrating the power of digitisation and led by a resolve to cut emissions, several path-breaking innovations are being developed and are aimed at solving problems from across diverse sectors, whether aerospace, healthcare, or power.

We have learned in the past two years the importance of working together, across boundaries and across geographies, for the sake of global goals. We know we can only succeed if we work together, through private and public sector partnerships, through supportive government policies and through diverse and cross functional talents.

[The year] 2022 I hope will strengthen and foster partnerships, will build more inclusive communities and workplaces and accelerate technology for a sustainable, healthier, and more beautiful environment.