One of the
great truisms of a fight came from Voltaire, who remarked that “God is on the
side of big battalions.” It doesn’t take a genius to realise that when it comes
to a fighting, whether its on the battlefield or in a street fight – the bigger
guy usually wins.
There is,
as they say, a correlation between size and raw physical power, which is in
many cases the determining factor in a fight. In military tactics, the bigger
force only attacks a smaller one (as Eisenhower once said “Never send a
battalion to take a hill if a regiment is available.”). In nature, it’s the large
animals that don’t have natural predators – they would squash any potential predator
and would therefore not be worth the risk for any potential predator.
Like it or
not, size matters. In any direct confrontation, the biggest guy will prevail.
There is, as they say, a good reason why boxing matches are separated into
weight classes. If you look at the geopolitical scene in the last fifty years,
you’ll notice that the super powers are inevitably huge (USSR, USA and China were
and are huge both geographically and demographically). Nobody takes on the biggest
guy on the block and the big guys don’t get into fights directly because any
conflict will be expensive in terms of blood and money.
So, given
that the big beast will inevitably crush the opposition in any direct
confrontation, what are the smaller creatures to do. The answer, as always,
lies in nature where the smallest of creatures have found a way to survive
against larger foes. On land, one only needs to see how bees have mastered the
art of cooperation and collaboration to create honey and keep out predators. A
swarm of bees have the ability to make a bear flee. In the insect kingdom, a
beehive can be destroyed by a single hornet. However, when the bees of the hive
cooperate and flap their wings in unison, they can actually heat up and burn
the hornet.
In the
waters, the most fearsome predator is not the huge killer whale or shark. It’s
a group of piranhas, which are tiny. A single piranha takes just one bite out
of the prey. However, a group of piranhas can strip any given prey to the bone
in a matter of seconds.
Size
matters in a confrontation. The big guy will inevitably have power at his
disposal. However, as nature has shown, the small creatures can even the odds and
send their opponents packing when they work together. Small nations that form consortiums
can make quite an impact on the global stage. In my years in the insolvency
business, the people that I come across that have the “most money” don’t
actually work in large structures but in consortiums like bees.
On the national
level, one of the small countries that comes to mind is the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), which is made up of seven different emirates. Sure, the most
dominant is Abu Dhabi, which is where the bulk of the oil wealth lies and the
most well known is Dubai, which is where most of the commerce is. However, each
emirate has found security and by extension prosperity working together within
the federation structure than they would have on their own.
The driving
force behind the formation of the federation was the then Emir of Abu Dhabi,
Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who would go onto become the first President
of the UAE. If you look at the history of
the UAE, you could argue that while oil did provide a steroid shot of
prosperity, the real blessing for the UAE was the fact that it was created by a
leader who understood that small units can achieve great things when they
cooperate and collaborate.
Furthermore,
if you look at the geopolitical situation that Sheikh Zayed found himself in
back in the 1960s and 70s, the creation of the UAE was a master stroke. The
British, who were the proverbial big fish and the protector of what was then
known as the Trucial States, suddenly withdrew. What we know as the UAE sits
between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two much larger neighbours, whom have not always
been friendly (Iran or Persia as it was known had seized three islands from the
Emirate of Sharjah, which remain in Iranian hands). Sure, oil made the Emirate
of Abu Dhabi wealthy overnight but in a sense more vulnerable (one does not
want to be a rich minnow next to a hungry lion).
So, the creation
of a federation was a way of unifying people and working together in what is
essentially a tough neighbourhood. As Sheikh Zayed’s Wikipedia page notes, he was
exceedingly generous with Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum who was then ruler
of Dubai. The point being that he understood whatever he gave to the ruler of
Dubai would be more than repaid if they could work together. Sheikh Zayed’s Wikipedia
page is as follows:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayed_bin_Sultan_Al_Nahyan
One can
argue that Sheikh Zayed was also lucky in that he had a partner in Sheikh
Rashid, the then ruler of Dubai, who also saw great value in working with Sheikh
Zayed in a Federation. As Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the current
ruler of Dubai recalls – Sheikh Zayed offered the presidency to his father (who
was the elder of the two), who refused it and insisted that Sheikh Zayed be the
president. The current Dubai ruler notes that this is something that has never
happened in the Arab World. The Dubai ruler’s recollection of that event can be
found at:
The UAE,
which celebrated its 50th anniversary recently has been a success. Whilst
oil wealth has undoubtedly played a part in that success, a good part of it is due
to leaders who understood the value of working together and being open. Sheikh
Zayed, as its founding president was generous in using the oil wealth of Abu
Dhabi in helping build up the human resources of the other emirates. Whilst he
was at the time of the formation of the UAE, one of the wealthiest men on the
planet, he kept himself close to the people and was happy eating with Bedouin
tribes in the traditional manner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2zsf4Kg_9I
The UAE is
not perfect by any means. Its record on treatment of foreign labour,
particularly those from the Indian Subcontinent is not great and it has not
exactly won international praise for its participation in the War in Yemen.
However, you cannot argue with the fact that the country has come along way in
50-years, particularly when you consider that at its formation, it was described
as being like a collection of desert tribes. The National, Abu Dhabi’s main
English daily describes the initial meetings between Sheikh’s Zayed and Rashied
as being “like tribal chieftains.”
Then, you
have to look at the fact that the UAE is not the only “amalgamation” in the region.
There was the union of Egypt and Syria under the United Arab Republic between
1958 and 1971, which failed. Both Arab republics had a long history of
statehood than the Emirates. So, how did they fail whilst the Emirates
succeeded?
Simple
argument, the individual Emirates found a way of working together. Sheikh Zayed
allowed the other emirs a degree of independence, thereby giving them power
within their sphere. By contrast, then President Naser of Egypt had no intention
of giving his Syrian partners any real power. In the United Arab Republic,
there was never a need to cooperate and collaborate like there is in the United
Arab Emirates.
When small
units are given the chance to get together when they need work together and are
also allowed to be themselves when there’s no need to be in a large group, they
achieve great things. By contrast, if you get a situation where units come
together but only one personality insist on perpetual power, the union is bound
to fail. The Emirates succeed because they are together when they need to be
but they have autonomy to be themselves. The United Arab Republic failed
because one man wanted to control everything.
Its even
true at the commercial level. In seven years of being insolvency, the best
business structure come from my asset buyers. These are consortiums of individuals,
who contribute their talents for that particular project then go their own way
when they want to act on their own. These guys have always been easy to deal
with and when they pay, they pay in large sums. At the other end, the organizations
that end up as boxes in the office, are usually run by ego maniacs who insist
on controlling the brand of boxes used by the business and insist in not
allowing their clients to speak in meetings. These are the guys who somehow talk
big but shrink as they make half hearted attempts to put dreams into reality.
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