“(…) My father didn’t transform me directly. He did it  indirectly, through intangible things. When I was a child I saw him train thousands of falcons. Of course, he had people to support him and make this training very professional. He participated in competitions against many groups of falconers.

One day when I was about six years old, I went with him on a hunting trip. I told my father: “Now that I am with you, I want you to train me to be a falconer like you. Give me one of your falcons”. He looked at me and laughed. He said: “Listen my son Abdul Aziz, your time will be so different than our time. I want you to focus on your studies. I want you to focus on something that you are really passionate about: helping people, science, something based on your interests. So I will not give you a falcon. I will not give you any one of them. And you know why?… Because YOU are the falcon.”

I inherited this metaphor of my father. What he meant was don’t be a falconer, be a falcon so you can fly with the hawks. In other words, don’t waste your time with small things, go for something big and have an impact.” (…)

Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Ajman, 25 September 2018

To listen to the full episode, click on “play”  in the title