244. Khalfan Belhoul: How Dubai Is Becoming a Global Hub for Longevity and Human Performance

15:00Gary Brecka:You know, and I think that you're deploying it in a really fascinating way because Emiratis make up a very small percentage of the population. Yes. So I would imagine that a large part of your implementation teams are not natural-worn citizens. Yes, absolutely. And so how do you, because if you haven't been to Dubai, and I'm not just saying this because I'm sitting in front of you. I've said this many times on my social media channel. There is a cultural feel here that is different, in my opinion, than anywhere else in the world. There's a layer of safety that I haven't felt anywhere else in the world.

15:35Gary Brecka:My family is here. My daughters, my wife feel very safe outside at night by themselves. and I can't emphasize that enough because there's always this air of concern when you're in certain other cities. But having such a small natural born population and having such an enormous vision, how do you keep your culture together the way that you have? Because I feel that there's a decorum here that's different than anywhere else. And I wanna be sure that I emphasize it's not stuffy. It feels very respectful. And I noticed that everyone seems to adopt this. And with such a small portion of the population and leadership having such a massive vision,

16:25Khalfan Belhoul:how do you bring these two things together? I think that's a great question, Gary. And I think there's immense effort, immense effort to ensure that those two efforts are running in parallel. What are the two efforts? It's one effort is to invite everyone that's doing good in the world to come to Dubai. And clearly we see the numbers, to your point, whether they're scientists, doctors, athletes, celebrities, you name it. I mean, we have an amazing problem to have at the moment. I mean, wearing my other hat and being involved in sports, seeing all those athletes even choose Dubai as their home, seeing the entrepreneurs move, the high net worth individuals.

17:05Khalfan Belhoul:This is music to our ears. And so this is, of course, growing the economy in a much more prosperous way. So we've been used to this since the formation of the nation. But then to your point, there needs to be an immense effort to ensure that the culture and the Emirati touch still stays infused within this. And that's an excellent point because even with this, it's a top-down approach from the leaders, ensuring that we continue that. There's an authority focusing culture here, ensuring that this is run in the most seamless way. It's welcomed by our fellow expats that are living in the country.

17:50Khalfan Belhoul:They embrace it. They love it, which makes us all feel as one. So to your point, yes, we became a minority in comparison to the population. But our cultural message and our principles are always up high. And they're always welcomed by our fellow expat communities. And this is what creates a harmonious ecosystem for everyone to live and prosper in. But yeah, you're spot on. There has to be, because if this hasn't been done because of the smaller population percentage, this can get diluted with time, right? And you can lose the Emirati culture and touch. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yes, but there's strong emphasis here from the leaders and the people of the UAE to ensure that this continues.

18:39Khalfan Belhoul:And it's such a joy to see the expat community really embrace it, whether they join the cultural gatherings or they celebrate the Ramadans or the Eids and all the cultural kind of and even religious celebrations. And you see them within the community as a whole and not only Emiratis.

19:00Gary Brecka:Because I think, you know, this is very, and I like the way that the Sheikh wrote his book, The CEO Sheikh. Yes. You know, running the country like a business. And, you know, this country feels like a business, not in the sense that it's very corporate, but it's very organized. The execution of everything from transportation to construction to food service to safety, to me, since I've been here, it's been flawless. You know, the other morning we were part of the 30-30 bike ride. Yes. And it was such a surreal moment to be on a bike, you know, going through the center of downtown Dubai. You know, five or eight lanes of traffic wide closed.

19:40Gary Brecka:Tens of thousands of people there. The sun was coming up over the city. The Museum of the Future, this beautiful museum that's in your background was still lit. You could still see it. And I turned to my podcast manager and I was like, you know, we should be really present right now and just take this all in. It was such a unique, surreal moment. And I think it's a metaphor for good leadership in business too, because I've been to the Dubai frame and you get a vision there. This is a tourist attraction, but it's a frame that separates old Dubai from new Dubai. And by the way, whoever developed that floor that's in there, that was a sick joke because it's completely non-see-through and then you step on it and it goes clear.

20:25Khalfan Belhoul:and you're 400 feet in the air. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

20:28Gary Brecka:That scared me a little bit, I'll be honest. But you see, you know, in one direction where the city was less than half a century ago. And then you see this immense, beautiful city. And I think a lot of companies could learn from this because culture is so important to the foundation of success in a company. If an entire country can handle this type of acceleration and still keep its culture, then startup companies should be able to do the same thing.

21:01Khalfan Belhoul:And that's why I really think that Dubai is a metaphor

21:05Gary Brecka:for so much more than just leadership in building a culture.

21:08Khalfan Belhoul:I mean, to your cycling event, it's just unbelievable to see. And I saw you there. I'm glad you made it. And I'm glad you made it. And I hope you're going to make the run as well. I am. I'm going to run with the Zionist on the 23rd. It is, yeah. So I'll see you there as well. This is an unbelievable experience. And again, to see the diversity, the excitement, the numbers are just out of this world. People just looking forward to this event, a sentiment to the team that has organized it, but also to the leaders. And I'd want you to even pay attention. If you're running with His Highness, I want you to pay attention to the appreciation that people give him as he does the run.

21:47Khalfan Belhoul:So you hear those cheers for him. You see, and all you hear is, Your Highness Sheikh Hamdan, thank you for Dubai. Thank you for Dubai. And you'll hear it yourself. And I bet you that you'll hear that in this run because I've heard it so many times. And this gives me goosebumps. This is really, I mean, he's running casually with his friends and you hear those appreciations from people from all over the world. And this is a sign that Dubai is on the right direction and it's for everyone. I agree with that.

22:15Gary Brecka:You know, I've heard you and a lot of people in your sphere use this term future readiness. and again when you're trying to, when you're accelerating at this rate and you have a vision for the future that you're trying to execute and you don't want to drag the old ideas and things from the past forward, what is

22:35Khalfan Belhoul:what does this future readiness mean? Well I mean so future readiness for us is to ensure that we really first of all understand where the future is heading and this goes back to the role of the Dubai Future Foundation. Or maybe let me step back before the future readiness and tell you about the Dubai Future Foundation. I was going to ask you about that too. Yeah, because people keep on asking me about the role of Dubai Future Foundation, which will be a segue to the future readiness. And honestly, I gave it so many attempts and then I think I might sound like a broken record to my team, but I used one recently and I think it was the easiest way to say it.

23:21Khalfan Belhoul:So someone had asked me, what does the Dubai Future Foundation do? And I said, and I'll be talking to you, Gary, I'll say, imagine that you are running a lab and the visioneer behind the lab tells you you're allowed to test anything you want. You're allowed to make mistakes. you'll be empowered, you'll be funded, you'll be supported, regulations will be broken for you and you'll be supported and be as creative as you want. This is the visioneer of the lab. And you've been given all the empowerment that you have. For us, I mean, we are that lab and the visioneer is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the person owning the lab is His Highness Sheikh Hamdan.

24:12Khalfan Belhoul:So for us, there's so much support, there's so much delegation, but there's also trust for us to make mistakes and try and then double down on the winning bets. So going back to your point of future readiness, we spend a lot of time trying to understand, first of all, where the future is heading. We can't claim to be future ready or to embrace the megatrends of the future without understanding where the future is heading. So we have a, we focus on ensuring that we have a team that does this on a daily basis. Horizon scanning, research, and try to understand where the future is. Horizon scanning.

24:53Khalfan Belhoul:Absolutely, yes.

24:53Gary Brecka:Looking at what trends are out

24:54Khalfan Belhoul:there, AI technology. Exactly. From AI to the future of humanity as a whole. So we have a team that does this on a daily basis. And we don't do it alone. We do it through different global convenings like the Dubai Future Forum, which happens in this museum you just mentioned, the Museum of the Future. So that convening is also a tool for us to really understand where the future is heading. Then we take all that data, if you will, and the thinking and the conversation, that's an inclusive global conversation, and we put it into execution by launching different projects. I mean, you see the top five topics.

25:33Khalfan Belhoul:We all know them. I mean, climate, AI, your favorite topic, longevity is always there. Of course, I mean, autonomous solutions is always there.

25:48Gary Brecka:So then we come up with different projects to ensure that we are really adapting to the future.

25:54Khalfan Belhoul:And we've created the criteria of what needs to be done. And then we assess entities and how ready they are for those changes in the future. And based on that, we set the metrics and then we understand how each and every entity is future ready or not.

26:11Gary Brecka:So give me an example of something that is underway that you expect to come to fruition over the next three to five years. What would be an example of a project where your teams scanned the horizon and said, we need to be prepared for the AI revolution and we need to embrace AI and we're going to put this team together. and we have benchmarks and some way to measure that we're executing.

26:39Khalfan Belhoul:Well, I'm going to mention the, I mean, for us, it's the elephant in the room in Dubai, which is traffic.

26:45Gary Brecka:That's the one thing that made me feel at home, my friend, from Miami.

26:48Khalfan Belhoul:But I got to tell you one thing. I mean, the only time we really felt traffic was amazing is post-COVID because we really missed everyone and everyone was, I mean, post-lockdown when traffic came back, it was such an amazing feeling. But again, I can't deny traffic can be challenging sometimes. But again, it's a big sign that the economy is growing, which is the great side of that. And I mean, credit to the different authorities. I mean, as much as there's traffic, I mean, and you've mentioned it, look at the beautiful roads. It's unbelievable. The infrastructure is unbelievable.

27:23Gary Brecka:The pressure washing them at night. I mean, it's mind numbing how clean it is.

27:26Khalfan Belhoul:And Gary, we still have the traffic issue, which means that Dubai is growing at a very significant pace. And we need to do something about it. So going back to your question, air taxis are going to be deployed very soon. Last mile drone deliveries, you're going to see them kick in. And I've attended, I mean, testing phases for both. And I think they're going to play a key role in ensuring that traffic reduction kicks in significantly. if you reduce delivery on the road, if you reduce, I mean, taxi transportation on the road with other solutions like the air taxi, I think this will, and this is not far off.

28:06Khalfan Belhoul:I mean, I can comfortably say that this is something that's going to happen in the next three years because we've actually, because you've actually seen it. I mean, you've seen it, we've tested it and it's going to happen very, very soon. So that's one thing, but.

28:20Gary Brecka:Is that why I see so many of the helipads on a lot of these buildings? Yes.

28:24Khalfan Belhoul:Now the infrastructure is, whenever you speak to any developer or any master planner, you see that they always take into consideration drone deliveries and heli, autonomous taxis, air taxis as well. They take into consideration. So, I mean, this is, I think, the near future, in my opinion. But there's, of course, there are many other things that will happen. And as AI, as you know, AI, we haven't even scratched the surface on what AI has done to us. I mean, me and you, of course, are using ChatGPT on a daily basis, but let alone involving robotics and connection with robotics. I mean, and where would that take us?

29:05Khalfan Belhoul:I mean, this will be a quantum leap into something that's extremely futuristic.

29:10Gary Brecka:So if you were to say, you know, the Dubai Future Foundation fully executed on its vision and its plan, what would that look like five years from today, even 10 years from today?

29:24Khalfan Belhoul:So the people always ask me this. And the funny thing is we need to constantly evolve ourselves. So five years from now, we need to think about what's next. So, and that's, if you talk to any other entity or any other government or even a private business, there's always more clarity on what is the plan. For us, we're always playing with the gray area. We're always playing with the unknown. So how we continue and how we model ourselves will always be jumping on things the earliest possible and embracing new ideas in the fastest way possible. So our model will never change, Gary. Today, we're thinking about what's going to happen the next five and ten years.

30:08Khalfan Belhoul:Once those years pass, we're going to be thinking about the next five and ten years, which will always have unknowns, will always have bets that don't succeed. But our model will never change. It will continue to be this way.

30:20Gary Brecka:You know, I love about, it was Hippocrates, I think it said, all men desire to know. And what he meant by that was, if you lose that intellectual curiosity, that childlike fascination and curiosity, innovation just stalls. And, you know, there are examples of this all over the world. It's like to stay hungry and to stay curious, even though right now for the size of the city and what you've done in the last half decade, I mean, half century, it would be very easy to say, look at all that we've done. Let's just put it in neutral for a little while. But it doesn't sound like that's happening.

30:58Khalfan Belhoul:Well, I got to tell you, Gary, working with his highness, Yoham Hamad, is never neutral.

31:02Gary Brecka:Yeah, your phone number is at the top of the report now.

31:05Khalfan Belhoul:There's never neutral with our leaders. I mean, it just keeps on pushing the limit. The vision pushes the limit because the moment you're on neutral, you're no longer a leading city of the future. So that's the environment we have. We always need to push the limits and the boundaries. And that's the model of Dubai Future Foundation.

31:26Gary Brecka:Tell me a little bit about the Dubai Sports Council and how do you feel like these are completely separate roles for you running the Futures and the Futures Foundation and the Sports Council? Or is there areas that they overlap? I mean, is there a future for sports? Are there new sports? Are there new ways of having sports or observing sports? Are there new arenas? What is the Dubai Sports Council vision for the future?

31:53Khalfan Belhoul:So, of course, I mean, as you know as well, more than anyone, Gary, there would be an interlink between the future and tech and sports for sure whether it's from an audience perspective entertainment or from the actual sport perspective i mean with with all the new esports i'm more of an active person but i know that there's a big market for the esports and and gaming and and beyond but also as an experience for the audience like I said the wearables this insane experience now with the headsets I mean literally feeling that you're sitting courtside in a basketball game this is only the beginning so from an audience perspective that's that's happening I see you wearing your whoop band I mean tech same thing I mean tech technology as well for for assessment for for a healthier athletic lifestyle is always going to be there.

32:47Khalfan Belhoul:So the connection between, I mean, both entities is always there and there's a major overlap. But there's also on the sports council side, we're very much focused as well on four pillars over there. One, which is ensuring that Dubai attracts the best global events to activate kind of the event pipeline, but also take our local events to the world. I mean, you've mentioned the 30 by 30. What if this goes global?

33:21Gary Brecka:We have a major participant in that this year.

33:23Khalfan Belhoul:Yes, I mean, and we would love to push this also on a global scene. I mean, we have an amazing, I've shown you the, unfortunately, when I got injured, I've shown you the video, But the Dubai Games is an amazing obstacle challenge tournament that I strongly believe will go global. Hopefully it can get you to be part of the celebrities team next year. So that's one. I would love that. This product is a local product that goes global. And then we focus on communities. How do we activate a sports community, ensure that the city is always active? I've seen that you've been in many community runs as well across the beach.

34:04Khalfan Belhoul:So you've done so much in that regard, but community support is very important for us. And then talent development. How can we ensure that there's an elite talent pathway for the young generation that see hope in becoming professional athletes? So at the sports council, we ensure that this also happens and how we can help clubs and academies really grow and centers of excellence that can really develop talent in Dubai. So, yes, I mean, there's major overlap, but there's also core focus in the sports council through the verticals that I just mentioned.

34:41Gary Brecka:You know, I have to tell you, you know, having been a part of the Dubai 30-30 challenge, I didn't really know what it was. And someone started, you know, explained it to me. My partner, Shekharam Hardalan, explained it to me. And I started to go down the rabbit hole. And I saw it the other night, an original vision board that I think it was His Highness Sheikh Hamdan did. And it looked like the old, you know, circles with this going here and another circle and another circle. And from this original vision of saying, what if we just took 30 days and everybody did 30 minutes of exercise every day for 30-30?

35:21Gary Brecka:So this 30-30 challenge under this Dubai 33 initiative. and the whole city just got active and started moving for 30 days. In theory, that sounds amazing. In practicality, it's something completely different, but I've been at these activations every day and the entire city is participating. The Kite Beach activation is 35 ,000 people a day coming through, kids and families. And that's, again, what I find so fascinating about Dubai. You have the dreamers and you have the curiosity and you have this vision at the top, but somehow it gets executed by the ministries and it permeates down into the culture.

36:10Gary Brecka:And I just find this a really great metaphor for business, for entrepreneurship, not even just if you're running a country. um so can we talk about education for for a minute um so the educational system here um how are you getting children that are being educated in Dubai to want to to stay here in this region and make a contribution rather than to you know seek employment and education elsewhere because you know what I find is is the vast majority of people I've met and and speak to that are in prominent positions in Dubai, were educated outside of Dubai, at least collegiately, including yourself.

36:56Gary Brecka:And then they, but they came back and they came back and wanted to make a contribution. So how is it that you create that culture in the younger generation so that while they may go elsewhere, they have this desire to come back? Because again, I think that cultural training is something that companies and startups and entrepreneurs could learn about building the culture of their own organization? Everybody comes back.

37:25Khalfan Belhoul:It's a great question. And the simple answer, Gary, is the focus on the human being. And I'll tell you what that means. I mean, whenever there's a challenging moment, whether it's COVID or whether it's geopolitics or you name it, and we huddle up with leadership, the message is always to focus on the human being and what do i mean by this i'll give an example many of the athletes that have moved to the region and i have many friends that have moved that played at a professional level globally and they decided to move to dubai their kids at a young age start playing soccer within the soccer schools within dubai and i remember asking the question when I see them I say hey where do where do you want to play when you grow up and when they're young kids they'd say they'd pick the best league in the world and then they say I

38:19Gary Brecka:want to play I want to play I don't know for Manchester United and play for the national

38:25Khalfan Belhoul:team of France if they were if they were French originally and now fast forward they spent five or six years here and they want to play for the UAE. Really? So my point is, I think this is a natural, organic connection between Dubai and its people through the components that you have mentioned initially in the talk where you said creating a safe environment, creating a proper health system, education, the comfort that the parents have within the region, within Dubai. Those naturally create this attachment, even for the children. And it creates this loyalty and connection with the city, which makes them really want to either play for the national team or work for a private business or work for the government.

39:16Khalfan Belhoul:So that's the simple answer, Gary. Just focus on the human being, focus on creating the best ecosystem for them and the affiliation and the connection will happen naturally.

39:28Gary Brecka:Yeah, you know, I felt that as a, you call me an outsider, expat, what have you. I felt that myself because when we chose Dubai to launch our global longevity clinic for the ultimate human, we have a local financial partner, non-Emirati financial partner. And, but the reception that I've gotten from the ministry, from the health authorities, from people like yourself, you know it's been it's really been overwhelming just a strong embrace to say we want this vision here how can we how can we widen the lanes to make make this happen you know what what do you need from us how can we help you and and then i have communication directly with decision makers you know i feel like the the layers and layers of red tape that i've encountered in other regions of the world are absent here because there's a true desire to embrace these new initiatives like longevity and wellness.

40:30Khalfan Belhoul:Yeah. I got to tell you a story about this, Gary. And maybe again, a broken record for my team. But for me, it's a story that I keep on mentioning about this and how close we are to leadership. So in one of the gatherings with His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, who you'd be running with towards the end of the month.

40:49Gary Brecka:I'm worried about that, by the way, because he's quite the athlete.

40:52Khalfan Belhoul:He is, he is. I'm sure you're as healthy and you can catch up, but we'll see. You'll be at a big test when you run with him. But one of the moments that really, I mean, resonates to me to the point that you mentioned is once we've created this cycling event with His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, with entrepreneurs that have done a lot in this. So the message was, Your Highness, we have a lot of entrepreneurs here that have done a lot for the ecosystem. And how about they go cycling with you? And he said, yeah, why not? Let's do that. And we go there. We're around 40 or 50 people. Went on a ride, met His Highness, and we went on a cycling ride.

41:35Khalfan Belhoul:But before we went on this ride, we huddled up and wanted to introduce the guests to His Highness. And we said, those are people that have done a lot here in Dubai and they're simply here to have a bike ride with you. And his answer was he just welcomed them. He said, great to see everyone. And we're not here to talk work today. We're here to enjoy a ride. But I have to leave you with one note. And they were all waiting for that note. And he said, in Dubai anything can be changed. And now let's go have a ride. And then they took the ride. And I'm telling you, Gary, I got around 50 calls after the ride saying that just feeling the closeness of leadership and giving us the comfort that we're willing to change things, we're willing to amend regulations, we're here listening, is better than him offering to invest in their funds or support their businesses.

42:33Khalfan Belhoul:Because they just felt the comfort, if you know what I mean. I do. He's just saying, I'm here, just listening and willing to change anything to ensure that this is for the betterment of Dubai and the UAE. So it was so assuring and they were extremely, extremely happy that day.

42:51Gary Brecka:What do you think are some lessons that the world or other regions could learn from the Dubai experiment? You know, the acceleration and the success of Dubai. If you were to say, you know, I don't want to sound so arrogant as to offer advice, but just offer a summary of what might be impactful for other regions of the world. What could they learn from this incredible Dubai experiment?

43:19Khalfan Belhoul:I think one thing is to stay humble. This is key. I mean, as much as maybe, Gary, I mean, you see the flashy buildings, you see the man-made islands and you see all those things that yes we are super proud of but you should always the message is always to stay humble and to understand that yes those are your sex success stories but we always constantly tell the world that we have done mistakes the message that we've always been uh right and everything we've done is completely wrong Very human, yeah. And you need to be realistic. I mean, we've done projects that haven't seen light, that have been mistakes.

44:01Khalfan Belhoul:I've personally been involved in many of those projects. But those projects were, for me, they were never failures. And for our leaders, they were never failures. They were pivoting moments, learning moments, which led to us being involved in projects that saw light, like the museum behind us here. That thing is unbelievable. I mean, and I remember every piece. It truly is. It's, I mean, imagine, by the way, the opening, Gary, was during COVID. And we had to push it because of the social distancing. So imagine the pressure we were at. So excited to open it and then COVID hit and we had to delay, given that this is a human experience.

44:39Khalfan Belhoul:But my point is, you should always, the message is always to stay humble, be ambitious, but always keep the feet on the ground and stay humble because things can be taken out of context. And for us, we just stay disciplined and we double down on our winning bets while staying humble. And this is how we move here.

45:00Gary Brecka:And fail fast. Absolutely. Don't be afraid to fail, but fail fast.

45:04Khalfan Belhoul:Yeah.

45:06Gary Brecka:You know, I wind down all my podcasts by asking my guests the same question. And there's no right or wrong answer to this question. But what does it mean to you to be an ultimate human?

45:20Khalfan Belhoul:Ultimate human.

45:26Khalfan Belhoul:I mean, humbleness for me is an ultimate human. For me, to stay humble is really, and to be respectful is an ultimate human for me. Because I think regardless of how old you are, if you are referring to ultimate as being lived longer or lived a healthy, lifespan, if you will, or a health span, if you will, as they say. Yes, that could be a component of ultimate. But for me, an ultimate human is a human that's respected by the world, that respects the world and is being respected by the world. So for me, being humble is a a big component of being an ultimate human.

46:14Gary Brecka:Man, what a great answer. Your Excellency, thank you so much for taking the time today and giving us so much of your time. You're the busiest man in Dubai. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

46:25Khalfan Belhoul:All my time for you and thank you so much. You've been doing amazing stuff. Thank you very much.

46:29Gary Brecka:Thank you very much, my friend. Thank you, sir.

46:31Khalfan Belhoul:You're welcome. Thank you. And until next time, that's just science.