V | Rashed Anwar, Shamsa Saif, Faiza Marzooqi & Hanan Al Jefri | TEDxKhalifa Bin Zayed Al Awal Youth
## Speaker Context
- Role: Moderator/Facilitator (at the start of the session).
- Audience: Attendees of a session on "impact," specifically focusing on volunteering.
- Framing: The session is about volunteering, described as "giving your time, giving your skills, giving your energy to something greater than yourself," and building "stronger communities and more compassionate futures."
## People
- Makoud Cruz: Chairperson of the National Human Rights Institution + Visionary in human rights and social responsibility.
- Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan (His Highness Shehikh Muhammad bin Zed Alin Hayan): President of the United Arab Emirates + Declared the year 2025 to be the year of community.
- Rashid Anoi: Speaker + Making history as the youngest TEDx speaker (at age 12).
- Ahmed: 13-year-old + Tutored kids for free.
- John C. Maxwell: Author/Source cited + Said, "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
- Shamsal Mansuri: Speaker + Showed transformation starts with a single step and a giving heart.
- Miss Fisa: Dedicated social worker and leader in community service + Here to share real stories from the field.
## Organizations
- National Human Rights Institution: Organization represented by Makoud Cruz.
- United Arab Emirates: Country; context for Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan's declaration.
## Places
- UAE: Location where Makoud Cruz has been promoting dignity, inclusion, and empathy.
- Dubai: Location where a girl started a campaign collecting clothes for workers during winter.
- Beach: Location used in an example of volunteering.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- WhatsApp group: Platform used for a book fair organization.
## Concepts & Definitions
- Volunteering: Giving time, skills, or energy to something greater than oneself + Builds stronger communities and more compassionate futures.
- Leadership: About decision, choice in a certain moment, in a certain context + You decide that you lead or you don't.
- Team spirit: The ongoing dynamic of working in a group + Essential for true volunteering.
- Luck: When preparation meets opportunity + Definition endorsed by Makoud Cruz.
- Self-determination theory: Theory in psychology + Suggests three basic psychological needs: Autonomy, competence, and connection.
## Numbers & Data
- 2025: Year declared by Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan to be the year of community.
- 12: Age of Rashid Anoi when he was speaking.
- 5: Minutes elapsed during the beach cleanup example.
- 13: Age of Ahmed.
- 1995: Year of a book to be found at a school library bonus point.
- Three: Number of things Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan tasked the population with (unite, grow, contribute).
- Three: Basic psychological needs according to self-determination theory (Autonomy, competence, and connection).
## Claims & Theses
- Volunteering is what builds stronger communities and more compassionate futures.
- Each and every one of you is part of this greater good.
- The greatest mountain of all mountains, no matter how big or magnificent that mountain is, is nothing but a total sum of different small rocks that build that mountain.
- Leadership is about decision, is about choice in a certain moment, in a certain context.
- No single leader can operate on themselves.
- Volunteering is not a matter of luck; it's a deliberate process of you wanting to make a difference.
- Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
- If opportunity does not present itself at any given moment, because you are prepared, you can create the opportunity.
- Volunteering is a process that starts with the idea that I want to make a difference.
- Action is the most important element because sometimes if you don't act, if you don't decide, decisions will be made for you and action will be taken out of the context and therefore it will be a missed opportunity.
- Volunteering is when you give your time, energy, and skills to help others without expecting anything in return.
- Small actions create big impact.
- Helping others is woven into our values: Compassion, unity, responsibility, respect, generosity.
- Volunteering doesn't have to take hours or be super serious.
- Every great leader has a heart for service.
- Volunteering deals a brain called dopamine.
- Volunteering is a core of our society, reflecting deep rooted traditions of giving and solidarity.
## Mechanisms & Processes
- Forming a mountain: A total sum of different small rocks building up.
- Leadership development (as perceived): Either inherent attributes ("born") or going through specific training/mentoring ("made").
- Team functioning: Requires operating within a group, building the team, communicating, and resolving conflict to move forward.
- Creating opportunity (when unprepared): Preparation allows one to create an opportunity if one does not present itself.
- Volunteering process (Emotional/Behavioral): Idea $\rightarrow$ Emotional Response $\rightarrow$ Behavior (Action).
- Growth (Resilience): Being put into challenging, anxiety-inducing situations inspires growth (e.g., the book fair dilemma).
## Timeline & Events
- Year 2025: Designated by the UAE President as the year of community.
- Last year during Ramadan: Miss Fisa's friend invited her to the NMA initiative.
## Examples & Cases
- Rock vs. Mountain: A small rock (insignificant) is nothing but a total sum of different small rocks (great mountain).
- Beach cleanup: Speaker was covered in seaweed chasing a plastic bag, but the team saw, "Whoa, we did that."
- Ahmed's action: 13-year-old who started tutoring kids for free because "I wish someone had helped me when I was younger."
- Girl in Dubai: Started a campaign collecting clothes for workers during winter.
- Boy's art: Created art pieces and sold them to raise money for charities.
- Friend's impact: Miss Fisa only went to NMA because of her friend, and kept going because of the wonderful people she met.
- Book fair experience: Signing up for the book fair and feeling lost, eventually relying on therapy advice to "Just go," leading to a positive experience.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- Leadership belief: Born vs. Made vs. Both/Indifferent.
- Volunteering action: Opting to give time/commitments to a greater goal vs. Doing nothing ("if you don't act, if you don't decide, decisions will be made for you").
- Giving effort: Accepting the "stressful and gross" task of being the tomato packer for the mission's sake.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- Regarding leadership: Questioning "are leaders born or made" is misleading; the real question is, "do you want to lead?"
- Regarding passion/leadership: Having passion or being a leader is not enough; one must acknowledge support groups.
- Regarding volunteerism: It is not a coincidence or accident; it is a deliberate process.
- Regarding participation: One can help by helping siblings with homework or teaching grandma how to use emojis; it doesn't have to be hours long or super serious.
- Regarding ability to act: Failure or people bailing out should not discourage one from moving forward.
## Methodology
- Psychological research (in motivation): Identified three basic psychological needs (Autonomy, competence, connection).
- Anecdotal evidence/Storytelling: Used personal stories (beach, book fair) to illustrate points.
## References Cited
- Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan: Cited for declaring 2025 the year of community.
- John C. Maxwell: Cited with the quote: "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
- Self-determination theory: A cited framework in psychology.
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- To be a leader: Must make the choice to lead or not.
- For volunteering: Focus on group effort, team spirit, and supporting others.
- On Luck: Preparation is the key word in every volunteering work.
- Emotional progression: Clarity at the emotional level leads to action (planning, scheduling, donating time/effort).
- Action: Taking the decision to donate or volunteer time/commitment is paramount.
- General Advice (Rashid Anoi): Start small, dream big; volunteer by helping siblings, organizing libraries, etc.
- General Advice (Miss Fisa): Put yourself in challenging situations and "just go."
## Implications & Consequences
- If one does not act/decide: Decisions will be made for them, and action taken out of context, leading to a missed opportunity.
- If one embraces volunteering: Becomes part of something bigger than oneself, leading to shaping the future.
## Open Questions
- What specific attributes define a leader, if the question is not "do you want to lead"?
## Verbatim Moments
- "No matter how this rock thinks it's small, insignificant, meaningless, or have no purpose in life, the greatest mountain of all mountains, no matter how big or magnificent that mountain is, it is nothing but a total sum of different small rocks that build that mountain."
- "Leadership is about decision, is about choice in a certain moment, in a certain context."
- "No single leader can operate on themselves."
- "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity."
- "Because at the end of the day, you are trying to make a difference in people's lives, in people's thinking, but also making sure that we have a better world."
- "Superheroes... today I'll be talking about the superpower that each and every one of you already has... It's called volunteering."
- "Whoa, we did that."
- "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way."
- "You need to put yourself in situations. These challenging moments inspire us to grow as people should you choose to accept them."
- "If I had not put myself in that situation that made me anxious, I wouldn't have grown to be this person."
- "If you leave here today and start helping others, remember you may not have a cape, but someone somewhere will always call you their their hero."