Five agreements govern every serious business relationship in the Gulf, and not one of them is written down. I teach all five on 27 August. Reserve your place.

The Story
In Sharjah, a board member marked the start of the season by sending each of her closest counterparts a single line, a brief and specific good wish for the season ahead, sent before any business resumed between them. Several replied warmly. One kept the message and referred to it in a meeting weeks later. The whole exercise had taken her under an hour.

Cultural Principle
In Gulf professional culture, the beginning of a working season is a recognized threshold. A small, unprompted gesture offered at that moment is received as an acknowledgment that the relationship precedes the work.

Takeaway
As the season opens, send a short line to the people who matter in your working life. Specific, warm, and asking nothing. It marks the moment, and it arrives before anyone else has thought to write.

Warmly,
Taqua