 I started trying to weave the thinking and the mindset that comes with thinking from sustainability. And I feel like that's where the impact came in, just building that awareness around what does it mean? It's not this vague concept. It's tangible and you can put it to action. My name is Samra Ibrahim. I'm based in Dubai and I'm working with EY Parthenon, which is the strategy arm of EY. The impact story is the fact that somebody tried to do something. For example, there's a lot of women that we work with and they always look at the roles that they carry within a firm and they look at the role models that are around them. So there's this aspiration of we can't reach the top because we're not enough or we can't do enough. So for me, the impact story was more along the lines that something is possible if you work really hard towards it. So being able to work with Prime Minister's office and being able to be Nani Amorati in that space was something that made it kind of like a stepping stone that you know what it is possible if you try. I was curious to see what CSR was in our firm, corporate social responsibility. And the more I was involved, the more I wanted to learn and that's what paved the way for one of the partners to say, if you're this interested, you could do a master's in it. And then I found the CISL program at Cambridge. And then in the program, this eye-opening moment came in of, you know what, there's a lot out there that we haven't even tapped into. And I wanted to take that back into what I did and where I worked and the clients that we dealt with. And it kind of paved my career more into the sustainability consulting space. And I was having conversations with clients around, you know what, sustainability is not just the green aspect, it's not just the environmental aspect. There's the social component as well. Just building that awareness really made a difference in the conversations that we were having. Even when I moved across to the Prime Minister's office, a lot of the projects that we worked on, I recall in the beginning they're like, no, no, sustainability, that's too much, it's way too much for us to take on. So let's just stick to what we know. But the more I worked on these projects, I started trying to weave the thinking and the mindset that comes with thinking from sustainability. And I feel like that's where the impact came in, just building that awareness around what does it mean? It's not this vague concept, it's tangible and you can put it to action. I imagine a future where I'm able to make that impact, make that change. So the new team that I'm working with now, it is to try and embed sustainability as part of a strategy. It's not something you plug in and you plug out, it's not something that you only do when you feel like, oh, the revenue for this year was good, we've profited, we can stretch a little bit. No, it's actually a core of what your business is for. You look at the people that are in your business, you look at the impact you have on the communities, the environment that you're in, it's part of who you are. And that's what I think is a future that I would love to be a part of where I've helped to pave that mind shift of it's possible to look at not just profit and profitability and the economics angle, but look at the environmental and social components as well. When you start looking at anything, being at your strategy, your operating model, your business, your citizens, your country, the minute you start looking at it as a multifaceted entity or a multifaceted impact, you see things in a different light. And for me, when I did the program at CISL, the concept of systems thinking, of understanding that things are interconnected, there is a feedback mechanism that needs to trigger something else. When you're looking at net zero, you need to look at if I change one thing, what's that ripple effect look like? And for me, that's why sustainability is important. It allows you to see things in a very systemic way, in a very connected way, understanding that one system relies on another system and that the impact you do here has an implication here. A leader doesn't believe they have the authority. A leader actually believes that they need the right people next to them and guiding them, sometimes even more alert and more aware and more knowledgeable than they are, to elevate the entire ecosystem that they're working in. So for me, a leader is somebody that listens. You don't really understand the power of listening until you're put in a situation where you start realizing biases are feeding into your mind as you're thinking, as somebody speaking. You know what? Listening really is turning your own mind off and truly listening to what the other person is saying. One of the most important ones has got to be transparency, because transparency underpins the way that you interact with others. It underpins the way that you deliver on what you need to do. When you are transparent, you are transparent in what your capabilities are. Therefore, nobody feels like you're trying to be superior in any way, shape or form. Being transparent, being clear as to what you're able to accomplish and where you need help along the way. Because the more transparent you are, the more people are willing to help. It allows that person in front of you to realize, okay, you know what? This is where my weaknesses are. This is where my strengths are. Let's collaborate. I'm not pretending to know more than what I know. This is it, and that authenticity goes a long way, especially when you're trying to really change mindsets. I was given a project while I was working with the World Government Summit on developing and delivering a failed publication. We had two months left to the summit. This project was either make or break. And I don't believe I slept. I don't believe I even ate. I got really sick during that time because the pressure of learning something completely new, understanding concepts I've never had to even consider looking at before. Looking at megatrends at such a large scale and the implications that they have on our world. So I needed to work with a team to envision what the world would look like in the year 2071, how governments would interact, how citizens would interact with governments. And just that sheer pressure was interesting. I worked with people I've never met before. And in the span of two months, I think you learn to work on your toes, absorb new things, completely disconnect from what you've always done on a regular basis and think completely outside the box. And I think I realized anything is possible if you allow yourself the window to believe that you can learn something new every day. I was learning something new, not even every day. I think it was every hour. So I feel like allies are those that you inspire around you. It can be your family. It can be colleagues. It can literally be somebody that you just met at a conference and they're looking at like, you know what, I like the way that you're thinking. So you know what, let's connect the dots. And it's amazing how many interactions have come that way. My advice is find not one mentor, but find many. And they come in all shapes and sizes. I've had mentors that have been my bosses. I've had mentors that don't even work with me. I've had mentors that I've just connected with as friends. But I feel like a mentor is somebody that you define as being a reflection of who you are, but in a positive light. Somebody that can sit there and be like, okay, you know what, yes, you're struggling. Let's figure out why. It's not because you're incapable. You need to find that voice of reason. You need different mentors at different points in your life to really help you bounce where you want to go and where you are. I think the expectations become harder. You've come in from the outside. Therefore, all this light is on you to really transform something and it becomes a pressure. It's a superpower because you push yourself further than if you were within your own comfort zone. So the fact that you were brought in on an exception makes it feel like you need to deliver on something more. The fact that you can see things a little bit differently just because of cultural differences just encourages you to really drive that diversity conversation that you need to have. So it's a superpower because it drives you internally to want to do more, to feel that privilege of, you know what, I'm in a space where very few are. So you know what, I'm going to make the best of it. I'm going to share what I have and maybe we can build something stronger together.