Thought leadership | How Qatari talent is redefining leadership and inclusion

Q. As you work closely with emerging Qatari talent, what shifts do you see in how the new generation defines leadership, career growth, and impact and how should organisations adapt?

What stands out most is that emerging Qatari talent is redefining leadership less as positional authority and more as impact, earned trust, and purpose. There is a strong desire to add value early, to understand the rationale behind decisions, and to see a clear connection between individual effort and national progress. This reflects not impatience, but a heightened sense of responsibility aligned with Qatar’s broader development ambitions.

At the same time, this generation places high value on guidance and perspective. They actively seek opportunities to learn from experienced leaders in visible and purposeful ways, valuing access to context, feedback, and decision-making processes. When experienced leaders share not only what decisions are made, but why, it strengthens understanding, trust, and long-term capability.

Organisations that adapt well are those that create structured opportunities for dialogue, mentoring, and shared accountability. These environments allow experience to anchor judgement and stability, while fresh perspectives contribute energy and new ways of working. This balance enables organisations to evolve while preserving coherence and cultural continuity.

In this sense, continuity comes not from resisting change, but from intentionally transferring organisational insight while modernising ways of working. When experience and emerging capability are connected deliberately, leadership development becomes both sustainable and deeply grounded in national values.

Q. How is EDI evolving within Qatari organisations in a way that strengthens national talent development and aligns with Qatar’s cultural values and long-term vision?

In the Qatari context, EDI is increasingly understood as a practical approach to access, opportunity, and role clarity, rather than as an external or ideological framework. It focuses on ensuring that Qatari nationals, across generations and career stages, have a clear understanding of expectations, development pathways, and how progression is shaped over time.

What distinguishes this evolution is its grounding in Qatari values such as respect for experience, responsibility, and collective progress. Rather than focusing on labels or standalone initiatives, organisations are applying EDI principles to how roles are structured, how potential is recognised, and how opportunities for growth are made visible and attainable.

In practice, this means creating transparent pathways, consistent expectations, and inclusive leadership behaviours that support development based on capability, readiness, and organisational needs. When people understand how decisions are made and how development is supported, trust is strengthened and confidence grows. Approached in this way, EDI becomes a strategic enabler of national capability. It reinforces organisational cohesion, supports leadership continuity, and ensures that talent development remains aligned with Qatar’s long-term vision.

Q. What organisational practices have you seen that successfully create shared understanding and collaboration between emerging talent and experienced Qatari leaders?

Creating strong intergenerational collaboration relies on a blend of informal and structured practices, with informal guidance, everyday interactions, and learning through proximity playing a valuable role in sharing experience and context.

Alongside this, what we are seeing more and more is the impact of intentional approaches. These include structured mentoring and coaching, cross-generational project teams, and leadership shadowing. They align closely with the new generation’s expectations of transparency, clarity, and long-term vision.

Equally important are safe spaces for dialogue, where emerging talent can ask questions and experienced leaders can share context and judgement developed over time. This reciprocal exchange builds trust on both sides and reinforces the idea that leadership in Qatar is collective and continuous. It is shaped through guidance, accountability, and shared responsibility rather than generational segmentation.

Q. Where do you see the greatest opportunity for HR to redesign approaches from recruitment and development to leadership pathways to better support the growth of Qatari nationals at different career stages?

The greatest opportunity lies in achieving end-to-end coherence across the talent lifecycle. While many organisations have strong individual initiatives, the real impact comes when recruitment, development, performance management, and succession planning are deliberately connected and shaped in close partnership with the business.

When HR works alongside leaders to understand organisational strategy, future capability needs, and evolving roles, development pathways become relevant and sustainable rather than theoretical. Using data and people insight to understand capability development and readiness over time enables HR to support leaders with informed, forward-looking decisions and continuous improvement.

For Qatari talent, this coherence provides transparency and direction. It offers clarity on how roles build capability and how growth aligns with the ambitions of Qatar National Vision 2030. For experienced professionals, it reinforces recognition of their role as mentors, decision-makers, and stewards of organisational knowledge, actively shaping future leadership. In this context, HR becomes a strategic partner to leadership. It aligns people insight, development pathways, and organisational priorities to strengthen long-term resilience.

Q. What capabilities and mindsets will be most critical for the next generation of Qatari leaders as the economy becomes more digital, global, and innovation-driven?

Future Qatari leaders will need the ability to learn continuously and think in systems, alongside the confidence to operate across cultures and technologies. As leadership roles become more complex, strong judgement and the discipline to translate strategy into sustained outcomes will be essential.

Just as important is empathy, which is the ability to understand different perspectives, listen carefully, and respond thoughtfully to the needs of people across generations and backgrounds. In a rapidly changing environment, empathetic leadership helps build trust, strengthen engagement, and guide teams through uncertainty with steadiness and clarity.

Experienced leaders play a vital role as anchors of judgement and perspective. Through their understanding of organisational context and long-term implications, they provide continuity as organisations adapt. When experience, empathy, and emerging capability are deliberately connected, leadership development becomes both future-ready and grounded. This enables organisations to move forward with confidence while maintaining coherence and strategic focus.

Q. Looking ahead, what gives you confidence about the trajectory of Qatari talent, and where do you see the strongest potential for continued progress in building inclusive, future-ready workplaces?

What gives me the greatest confidence is the level of intentionality across organisations, leaders, and Qatari talent themselves. There is a growing focus on long-term capability building, thoughtful leadership development, and creating environments where people can progress with clarity and confidence over time. I also see increasing maturity in how organisations approach inclusion, not as a standalone initiative, but as part of how work is structured, how people are supported, and how leadership decisions are made. This creates workplaces where individuals understand expectations, feel guided in their development, and are able to build confidence through experience.

The strongest potential for continued progress lies in sustaining this emphasis on clarity, continuity, and leadership alignment. When experienced leaders remain actively involved in developing others, and organisations continue to invest in transparent pathways and people-centred leadership practices, workplaces become genuinely future-ready. They are grounded in national values while equipped to adapt to change.