Does Evan Even Have a Job?!?!

This is a question I have been asked multiple times, especially since moving here. And I guess the answer to that question would be Yes. And No. Yes in the sense that I do have a full-time job and actually make a salary. No in the sense that I don’t view it as work and would likely do the same thing if I wasn’t paid for it, something I would encourage anyone to strive for. With that being said, since moving to Doha I have been given an incredible amount of paid leave (evidently the US standard of 2 weeks isn’t shared globally), a salary that allows me funds to travel with, and a location that is globally central. All of those things contribute to the image of me not having a job.

The last two weeks for me have been by far the hardest working two weeks I have had since moving to
Doha. There have been late night events and training, taking students on a variety of trips, and coaching the basketball team to name a few. I have been working 70-80 hour weeks and have worked straight through the last two weekends. Now this may sound like the place where a complaining rant comes in about how I am underappreciate, working too hard, and want someone to tell me it’s all going to be ok!!! But quite the opposite. It has been hard work but incredibly rewarding as well. I want to share just a few thoughts on the latest leadership program I planned, the Maersk and HBKU Leadership Challenge.

Over the summer a representative from a group called Red Rock International approached the Student Center and asked if we wanted to offer an overnight desert camping experience for 50 students to do a challenge course focusing on leadership development. Easy answer…DUH!!!! This sounded amazing and the more I learned about it the more I liked it. We were going to offer 3 training sessions leading up to the program and teams of 6 would compete in a business simulation challenge. We did tons of preparation for the program and then the first session arrived! 50 students had registered from HBKU and 10 from Qatar University, another local institution. On the night of the first training only 40 showed up. Robert (from Red Rock International) and myself were very disappointed but hopeful this would not be a trend. Unfortunately the next two trainings were the same and we never had a consistent student body show up. Even leading up to the morning of the actual challenge we had students canceling for a variety of reasons. Truth be told this process of getting students to participate in the program was frustrating and stressful. We had received full funding from Maersk Oil for the program and the least we could do was have a full program. In the end only 40 students attended but then it became our responsibility to offer them the best program possible!

 

The goal of the challenge was to make the most money by selling “oil”. It was a simulation so we had 8 teams of 5 compete against each other. The challenge was broken down into 4 phases. Phase 1 was a physical challenge where they had to run through the desert and complete challenges to get tokens to buy parts and information in stage 2. Stage 2 they bought information about where the best oil was and bought parts for an oil pump. Stage 3 they extracted oil from their sites. And finally in Stage 4 they sold the oil to make profits. It was incredible seeing the students dedication to the challenge and teamwork throughout. We had students with scrapped knees, physically exhausted, and having conflicts in their teams. But when I asked how they were doing…”this is one of the greatest things I have ever done!”. It was that spirit that motivated me and in the end this program was one of the best I have been involved with.

As I arrived home at 10:30pm on Saturday night (keep in mind I work Sunday) I couldn’t help but be thankful to have a job that I love so much and that makes such an impact. So next time someone asks me if I have a job, I will tell them no. I don’t remember the last day that I actually worked. There are so many aspects I love about being here in Doha, and the job is definitely one of them.

Next things coming up? Brennan and I are taking a trip to the Golden Triangle in India at the end of November. Working on another leadership program called LeaderShape for January. CANNOT WAIT for my parents to visit after LeaderShape. And Kristal and I are counting down the days until we see each other in Bali for Christmas. Doesn’t get much better than all of that! Will keep everyone posted!