Surprisingly branding is best done by children. They still have playfulness left in them. They have not learned to worry about the boss, they are just playing. Abed Baidas claimed it so and he is likely right.

I didn’t know what to expect but it turned out that Abed is a proto-Radical. We didn’t talk much about co-ownership, but he definitely gets Meaning and Belonging, the floor of the Radical Foundation.

Imagine a box. The floor is labeled MEANING & BELONGING, things that are fundamental to people. The ceiling is labeled DECENTRALIZATION & TRANSPARENCY, things fundamental to companies and other groups of people. The ceiling is held up by four columns labeled EXPERIMENTATION, fundamental to all practices.

Abed turned out to be a delightful person, very open to new ideas and very optimistic. He is Executive Chairman at Talents of Endearment and Founder of the Identity Branding Forum, very successful businesses, very Influential. But that is not important. What is important came out when I told him that he didn’t fit my image of somebody from Dubai.^∇ So what happened to you?, I had to ask. I had to ask three times. He then said that he had the opportunity travel the world early in his life. And then he told me his Brazil story.

Dunkin Donuts

His Brazilian partner and Abed decided to go to a brand new establishment in Brazil: Dunkin Donuts. As they were about to enter, he noticed that a kid was sleeping right outside the place, on the side-walk. They went about their business inside, but on the way out he bought two dozen donuts. Abed placed the boxes next to the kid, not wanting to disturb his pease. Then he walked across the street and insisted on waiting to see what would happen.

A few people passed by and looked at the kid and the odd bags next to him. Then an older man stopped, looked at the kid and the bags next to him, and then proceeded to wake him up. The kid woke up, looked at the older fellow, then looked inside the bags. He looked up to the older man a bit confused, then reached out into the bag and took out a doughnut and gave to the man. Then he took off with newfound riches.

The kid’s first reaction was to share his newfound wealth with the man that had woke up to them.

This had an impact on him.

We also didn’t talk about the system that we live in. Remarkably, Abed recognized how it hurts us with poverty and challenged mental health. But a kid’s humanity came through and he shared a doughnut with the older man.