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How Sheikh Zayed led UAE at age of 29: Emirati businessman pays tribute in new book
'If it wasn't him, I don't think we would be having this life of what we are enjoying right now,' said Saleh Abdulla Lootah
- PUBLISHED: Tue 17 Feb 2026, 3:40 PM UPDATED: Wed 18 Feb 2026, 10:30 AM
If not for the founding father Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan’s leadership, the UAE would not be where it is today, an Emirati businessman wrote in his new book.
Taking from the late Sheikh Zayed’s influential leadership style that still reverberates through Emirati society, businessman Saleh Abdulla Lootah paid tribute and highlighted lessons for other business leaders to take inspiration from.
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“If it wasn't him, I don't think we would be having this life of what we are enjoying right now,” he said.
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Great leaders come and go, though it’s not always that their legacy lives on for decades to come. This is what the Emirati entrepreneur explores in his recently launched book, entitled ‘Authentic Leadership – Invaluable Lessons from the Life and Natural Leadership Style of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan’.
Essentially, it dives deep into the UAE founder’s style of leadership, which Lootah spent over two years researching.
“It's a very difficult task to write about Sheikh Zayed because it's very difficult to cover all (that) he's done for us,” Lootah told Khaleej Times during his book launch event on Monday. “If it wasn't him, I don't think we would be having this life of what we are enjoying right now.”
The book looks into Sheikh Zayed’s team-building capabilities, succession planning, his dedication, negotiation with other analysts, etc.
Lootah comes from a prominent business family, in which his uncle Saeed bin Ahmed Lootah established the world’s first Islamic bank — Dubai Islamic Bank. Lootah himself is chairman of Lootah Holding, a conglomerate with footprints in real estate, logistics, construction, digital solutions, and home interiors.
Sheikh Zayed’s legacy
Sheikh Zayed was only 29 when he became Ruler Representative of the Emirates’ eastern region, namely Al Ain. Two decades later, he became Abu Dhabi's leader, quickly developing the emirate into a global centre of business and tourism.
He is widely respected for being able to unite quarrelling tribes and is attributed as bringing wealth and prosperity to the country’s citizens.
Learning from history
The late Sheikh Zayed once said, “The new generation should be aware of the suffering of their ancestors. This awareness will provide them with drive, firmness and solidarity in order to complete the epic of construction and development.”
Before the wealth that oil brought, the UAE had very poor infrastructure and insufficient funds to build. When the first barrel rolled out, Sheikh Zayed had to work twice as hard to enact consequential policies that benefitted the emirate and the country as a whole.
“My worry is that the coming generation doesn’t understand this,” Lootah said.
He added that whatever challenges the UAE faces today does not compare with the past, since they had less resources. “Now we are more educated, we have (more) resources, we have some means,” the businessman said. “At that time, it was very fragile. But this is what I tried to cover from Sheikh Zayed's life. How he used to make decisions. How he used to dedicate some of his responsibilities. How he used to negotiate.”
Hind Aldah is a business reporter based in Sharjah. In her spare time, you will find her playing classical guitar, painting amateur oil paintings, or crocheting the same old scarf that leads nowhere.