Ep029 - Dr. Corrie Block, CEO of Paragon Consulting

Streams of Progress

In this episode, we sat down with Dr. Corrie Block, CEO of Paragon Consulting, where he shared some great stories about his experiences in Estonia & Yemen prior to making Dubai his home.

Dr Corrie Block is a leading business strategist and CEO of Paragon Consulting, Professor of Strategic Management at Monarch Business School, and certified NLP Executive Coach, with over 20 years’ experience working on more than 100 companies.

Dr Corrie has provided strategic consulting for the Council of Europe and World Bank, tech start-ups, multinationals and governments, across more than 30 continents. He’s founded 5 successful businesses in Europe and MENA and received awards for his product innovations.

As both an academic and practitioner, he completed all of his post-grad studies (including master’s in business administration & Global Leadership, a Doctorate in Business Administration and a PhD in Arab and Islamic Studies), all while working full time. He has been published in Gulf Business, Forbes, CEO Magazine, Entrepreneur, Business Islamica, Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies and Routledge Academic Books.

As an international speaker, Dr Corrie is often asked to speak on stages around the world. He delivers workshops and deep insights on employee engagement, meaningful management, A.I, culture, tech, innovation and the organization of the future. Dr Corrie believes that “business is personal” and runs a leading, regional podcast featuring panels of experts.

As a strategic consultant to multinationals, governments and startups alike, he shared his insights into many thought provoking concepts such as the ‘work life blend’ and how business is personal.

Show Notes:

* 1:30 - From Canada to Estonia

* 2:45 - 2 Masters and 2 Doctorates

* 3:00 - Arab Islamic Studies & moving to Yemen

* 6:30 - War seems like a good reason to leave a country

* 10:00 - Explaining “line of fire” to a 7 year old

* 12:00 - Coming to Dubai as the war in Yemen intensified

* 15:00 - The chemical formula for happiness

* 17:30 - “People want to be the best they can be”

* 18:45 - Business is personal

* 21:15 - Engagements with the Al Masood Family

* 26:00 - The Chicki Chunk story

* 28:15 - Emirates Macaroni Factory

* 31:45 - Resentment for the other half of a father’s life

* 35:45 - Work life blend

* 39:45 - His daily routines and the discipline to write 2 books concurrently

* 41:00 - Who Dr. Corrie looks to for inspiration or as role models

* 42:30 - His top 3 books to recommend to people

* 45:30 - His addiction to Spartan Races

* 52:15 - Dr. Corrie’s outlook on the potential of Dubai as a R&D hub for future health technologies

* 55:30 - “Do something meaningful or find meaning in something you are doing”

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