OUR MINDS SHOULD SEE THE POSITIVE SIDE –Author Mahmoud Mansi

Interview with Egyptian Author & Consultant Mahmoud Mansi
Journalist: Abigail George

Biography: Born in Alexandria, Egypt in December 1986, Mahmoud Mansi is a global citizen who has travelled to various countries for his quest of passion towards people, innovation, community work, learning and teaching. Mahmoud is an influencer in so many different ways including writing, public speaking, consulting, mentoring, teaching, youth and women empowerment programs, volunteering, and social media blogging. Mahmoud has spoken eight times at TEDx conferences in Sudan, India and Egypt, and he is an author of nine books in management, sustainability, development, literature and social topics.

The readers of The Migrant Online would love to know what inspires you

Some would agree that inspiration comes from hard times, and others would argue that happiness brings innovation. I would say that we should learn to be happy and leverage such a mind state to bring new ideas to the world, and we should also learn to program our minds to see the positive side behind any challenge or hardships and leverage the best out of it. I try to become this person every day, I try to be the person who is inspired by whatever God has for me.

Also, contemplating gardens, traveling, visiting art galleries, walking in the streets, are all activities that inspire me so much as a writer.

As the VP for Sustainability Affairs at the Afro-Asian Union, what do you think of the African Renaissance and what does it mean to you?

I believe that we as Africans can leverage our diversity in natural resources, human capital, demographics, industries, and arts and culture and we will be able to solve challenges facing Africa.

Here are examples of initiatives that can accelerate our unity and engagement towards identity, heritage and development:-

Developing a platform for leaders working for African NGOs to encourage further collaboration, volunteerism and innovation in the region.

Enhancing subsidized internal tourism between African countries so Africans can have a full understanding of African sub-cultures and heritage.

Designing African student exchange programs and internships to foster knowledge management in the region.

Developing awareness campaigns about ethics in sports.

Creating common projects targeting SDGs in different African countries with a diversity in volunteers.

What are your favorite books and authors, and why?

I have a deep interest in philosophy as I believe it is the mother/father of all sciences, however I prefer reading philosophy from novels and short stories. Here is an example of some of the books I find interesting:
“Foe” is a Nobel prize winner novel by J. M. Coetzee, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” by Milan Kundera, “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, and “Warrior of the Light” by Paolo Coelho, it helps me restore my energy and renew my purpose in life, and in general I admire Coelho’s philosophy that is intertwined with fiction and metaphors.

For the love of philosophy, some of my favorite authors are Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein, Mustafa Mahmoud, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Gibran Khalil Gibran.

Why the interest in the “business” of empowering and uplifting individuals and what motivates you to do what you do on a daily basis?

Individuals impact the world through their ideas and their actions. The modern and futuristic science of human resources focuses on these two aspects where employees on all different levels are empowered to generate innovative ideas and are working in a healthy environment where ethics, behavior and values are well valued and implemented.

What attracted you to the education sector besides the uplifting and empowering of others?

Education is one of the most important SDGs as it impacts all the other goals, and it is the ultimate solution for all world problems.

Formal education like in schools and universities is vital for serving long-term career plans, however informal education is going the extra mile to become competitive and unique.
Education can be best utilized to become a two way learning process, where knowledge flows from the lecturer to the students and from the students to the lecturer.

The students learn about best practices and new trends in the industry, and the lecturer learns about the future workforce and can also get inspired and learn from their innovation in projects and assignments.

In the end we as young and senior leaders should always be keen to become “students”.

Being a student is not a phase in our life-cycle, but it is ongoing, and we should be learning from everyone around us. One of the challenges we will face throughout our lives is the process of “unlearning” redundant ways to do things. The cleverest “student” is the one who considers everyone around him/her as a mentor.

As a consultant, what do you think about the fact that Artificial Intelligence is not regulated?

Artificial Intelligence is slow-paced due to several reasons…
Tech organizations will make profit from each phase of technological advancement, so it is more profitable for them to be slow-paced in revealing their technology, and we can see this clearly in the smartphones industry.

The workforce, organizational structures and employees are not completely ready for a complete digital transformation, therefore there will be economic consequences.

Many consumers are not yet ready for a complete transformation, and others cannot afford purchasing expensive technology.

Governments and security entities need to be more advanced than the market in order to be ready for any unexpected outcomes that can result from artificial intelligence.

We need to be prepared for the complete digital transformation through building morale, developing new policies and code of ethics, preparing the mindset of people, and developing futuristic skills.

Innovator, consultant, teacher, visionary, thought leader, iconoclast and influencer. What words would you use to describe yourself to the readership of The Migrant Online?

A human being. As human beings we are created to innovate, influence, lead, follow, advise, feel, learn, teach, share and most importantly to learn to keep smiling.

Where were you educated and what subjects interested you in high school? What career did you want to pursue after graduating from university?

When I was a child, and still till this very moment, I have been passionate about “science”. I wanted to become a scientist, an inventor.
When I grew up further I developed another interest towards English Literature, finding beauty in deciphering words into different philosophies and interpretations.
When I actually joined university I majored in Financial Management! And I found interest in deciphering numbers into analysis, reports and strategic decisions.

When I graduated in 2008 – the time of the global economic crisis – I was able to land a job in HR in the university I had graduated from. Now after working more than 12 years in human resources as a practitioner, lecturer, consultant, auditor, and writer, I would happily say that I was able to merge between inventing, writing, data analysis, people management, community work and bring it all into the HR field, and that is the reinvention of modern and futuristic human resources.

To transform. To impact. To do good and change the world around you. To strive for innovation. Where does your relentless drive come from?

As human beings we are gifted the art of innovation. I feel that with every new achievement and sometimes with every failure I excel further with mind, heart and soul.
Sometimes I am calm and I don’t speak much. I like to visualize ideas and turn them into projects, and visualizing the impact. This is one of my favorite types of meditation. Throughout this mediation process I set the entire plan, prepare for the talents that I need to further develop, and visualize the team formulation and customer engagement. At other times I am required to be the absolute opposite, I find myself enthusiastic to continuously meet people, brainstorm and have deep philosophical conversations. And that is the normal balance and cycle to continuously innovate and build.

What do you consider your greatest achievements?

Not quitting my dreams, moving on, being innovative, and teaching.

Talk to us about your working day.

If I am not working on a certain project, I usually spend my day doing research and writing, preparing for future community development and consulting projects, developing curriculums, writing proposals, conducting journalism interviews, conducting training sessions and lectures, with a background of good music, delicious coffee and doing some workouts in between.

What was the happiest day of your life?

I don’t remember a certain day, but I can talk about creating happy moments. My happy moments are simply when I feel I am making a difference and having an impact on others, when I challenge myself and achieve, when I have a team and we work together to launch a new project, when I stop a bad habit, when I make someone smile, when I volunteer, when I face failure with gratitude and find a way to re energize myself, and when I make the ones around me proud, especially my mother, my late father, my wife, my brothers and family.

If you wrote a book about your life what would you call it?

I would say that writing became an essential tool to document one’s knowledge and experiences, and it is a way to share knowledge with the community.

My first book, which was actually a novel “A Journey from Darkness to Light” published in 2010, was inspired by my own life back then after my father’s death. It was about all the dreams, passion and ambition a young person can have, and his/her journey from ignorance to knowledge, and from knowledge to wisdom, through learning spiritual and philosophical ways to accept circumstances, to work with love, to revive one’s energy towards a bright life.

I believe we are all writers, and as writers we need to venture out to create new experiences, and go through new adventures and challenges in order to make new stories. I spent several years focusing on this concept and in 2019/2020 I will publish several books about my experiences in human resources, consulting, entrepreneurship, gender and social sciences.
Now in 2022 I am still not ready to write a book about “my life” once again, but maybe in the future I can do that and the title would be “Leaving an Impact behind”.

How can our Readers follow your work on social media, read your books or watch your TEDx Talks?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mahmoud.mansi.12

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahmoud.mansi.hr/?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://ae.linkedin.com/in/mahmoud-mansi-hr-philosopher-014b0a121
TEDx Talks: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mahmoud+mansi+tedx+talks
Books: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3AMahmoud+Mansi&s=relevancerank&text=Mahmoud+Mansi&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1

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