With its English version expected soon, My Vision, by General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, sums up the story that turned Dubai into a world metropolitan where all cultures and races rub shoulders with only one common goal in mind -- to make profit.

The writer shows how the Emirate of Dubai has achieved its miraculous development through the pioneering vision of his father who poured billions of dollars into the desert to build giant projects like Jebel Ali Port and the Dubai airport that turned Dubai into the commercial hub of the region.

Recalling his father's words of wisdom when he conveyed to him the concerns of Dubai traders who thought the late Sheikh Rashid was wasting money in building Jebel Ali Port, Sheikh Mohammed writes:
"My father told me, 'listen son...I am building this port because a day may come when you will not be able to build it.'"

The book starts with African anecdote on which the whole theme of the piece revolves. It says:

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. The moral of the anecdote is that it doesn't matter if you are a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running."

The writer alarms the Arab nation that they have to run faster and adopt change if they wanted to survive in a world experiencing unprecedented change.

In an apparent reference to Arabs living on past glories, the writer gives the Arabs an ultimatum to choose between overcoming challenges and achieving excellence or accepting defeat and staying behind:

"We have lived enough in the past. The past had its circumstances, but we now need to make our future. Hence, we have to live by our thinking and planning for the future."

Pinpointing the features of successful leadership, the writer stresses that one of the most successful characteristics of the leader is to be forward looking, reading future directions better than people around him. He relates another anecdote saying:

"A story says that some people heard a voice calling them to: 'move forward!' They said, 'We fear that we may fall into the abyss before us and die.' The voice told them: 'move forward!' They again replied, 'We fear that someone may push us from behind and we die.' The voice shouted: 'move forward!' Then they moved forward and when they reached the abyss the leaders came fast and pushed them and the people found themselves flying and landing in safety instead of falling into the abyss. What is the moral of the story? It is that the leader sees in the future things that others cannot see?

Urging leaders to accept their failures, a step that many observers may think is quite revolutionary for an Arab leader, Sheikh Mohammed says that a good leader is he who admits his mistakes whatever the consequences may be and says: "I am the leader and all mistakes are mine and all success belongs to the team."

Despite his scorn of the current status of the Arab world, the writer leaves no doubt about the great pride he has in his religion, Arab identity, his people and its leadership.

As a man known to be the brain behind the business success of Dubai where world's richest horse races and most glamorous golf matches are held, Sheikh Mohammed concludes his book with the question that could jump to anybody's mind: What would happen to Dubai after him?

"Nothing," he writes, "my vision for Dubai has become the vision of Dubai for itself; therefore, it will continue to work because Dubai shall continue to exist."

This book will show the readers a different face of the Middle East where the desires and ambitions of its people are not in anyway different from those of their fellow human beings in other regions of the Western hemisphere. It shows that Dubai means business and it doesn't matter whether Dubai Ports World operates Jebal Ali Port in Dubai or one in New York or New Jersey. UAE's top priority lies in maintaining its reputation and making a profit for all parties.