Ambition is treated differently in different parts of the world. In the US, publically proclaiming your ambitions (and success) is celebrated. In some Asian cultures, ambition is internally valued, but externally considered to be vulgar. I don't yet understand how ambition fits into Qatari culture, but I do understand this country is very ambitious.
The Qatar foundation is a non government foundation; setup by the current Emir; has the aim to "support Qatar on its journey from a carbon economy to a knowledge economy by unlocking human potential". It does this via a much heralded "3 pillars" - education, science & research and community development. It's pouring a lot of money into many different things, including becoming Barcelona FC's first ever shirt sponsor for €150 million. I'm not sure which pillar this sponsorship fits under.
This countries ambitions also translate into the local companies culture. Not just does an organisation want to be good at what it's doing, many have stated goals to be the best in their field, or in the top 20 globally in their industry. I'm sure we all noticed the successful 2022 world cup bid, while I've been past the 2020 Olympic bid building - just a lazy 25 stories full of people eagerly working away to help Qatar host the 2020 Olympics.
With all this in mind, I wasn't at all surprised when it was revealed on the weekend that Qatar had just paid the world record price for a piece of art of $250 million for a Cézanne painting "The Card Players". Apparently it will sit in one of the three new / near new world class galleries which are (being) built in Doha.
The two fascinating things about this is that firstly the painting shows some gentlemen playing cards while drinking and smoking. Maybe I was misinformed, but I was explicitly told to not bring playing cards into Qatar, while alcohol obviously doesn't fit in with the local custom. Clearly paintings of such are not! The second fascinating thing was according to many media reports, the painting was purchased by the Emirs 28 year old daughter.
I'm not convinced that I'd let my 28 year old nephew out to buy art worth $250, let alone $250 million, but clearly I'm not as ambitious as some.
The Qatar foundation is a non government foundation; setup by the current Emir; has the aim to "support Qatar on its journey from a carbon economy to a knowledge economy by unlocking human potential". It does this via a much heralded "3 pillars" - education, science & research and community development. It's pouring a lot of money into many different things, including becoming Barcelona FC's first ever shirt sponsor for €150 million. I'm not sure which pillar this sponsorship fits under.
This countries ambitions also translate into the local companies culture. Not just does an organisation want to be good at what it's doing, many have stated goals to be the best in their field, or in the top 20 globally in their industry. I'm sure we all noticed the successful 2022 world cup bid, while I've been past the 2020 Olympic bid building - just a lazy 25 stories full of people eagerly working away to help Qatar host the 2020 Olympics.
With all this in mind, I wasn't at all surprised when it was revealed on the weekend that Qatar had just paid the world record price for a piece of art of $250 million for a Cézanne painting "The Card Players". Apparently it will sit in one of the three new / near new world class galleries which are (being) built in Doha.
The two fascinating things about this is that firstly the painting shows some gentlemen playing cards while drinking and smoking. Maybe I was misinformed, but I was explicitly told to not bring playing cards into Qatar, while alcohol obviously doesn't fit in with the local custom. Clearly paintings of such are not! The second fascinating thing was according to many media reports, the painting was purchased by the Emirs 28 year old daughter.
I'm not convinced that I'd let my 28 year old nephew out to buy art worth $250, let alone $250 million, but clearly I'm not as ambitious as some.
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