After the resounding success of his book, "Du Bonheur et des Idees", Mr. Farid Chehab, Honorary Chairman of Leo Burnett MENA, launched the book in English under the name, "Of Happiness and Ideas." In honor of this occasion, a roundtable discussion under the theme "An Idea for Lebanon"", was held at the Maamari Auditorium in the Suliman S. Olayan School of Business (OSB) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) on Wednesday, July 13 at 4 PM.
AUB President Dr. Fadlo R. Khuri chaired the discussion and talked about AUB's vision to prepare Lebanon young generation to face the 21st century. "This is a period where we can see a change, how young people are thinking about their own futures, thus we have to create economical and educational opportunities" .
The event was moderated by former Minister Tarek Mitri, and it took place with the participation of the industrialist and public figure Mr.Fouad Makhzoumi, who presented the idea of "Dialogue of Alphabets" with the objective of improving and enhancing Lebanon's image in the world, through a unique global art contest using Alphabets of the world ; Raja Trad, CEO of Publicis Groupe MEA, who , among other ideas, proposed the one of creating a new ministry, Ministry of Creativity whose prime objective would be to turn the Lebanese creativity into an effective increased national wealth contributing to retain Lebanese creative talents; Green Party leader Nada Zaarour, who developed the Lebanese Climate Act idea and its consequences for Lebanon's environment especially for forestation and water and here she raised the example of the Blue Gold 5 year plan, a constructive idea for Lebanon's water wealth optimization, developed in the 2nd half of Chehab's book; and also with the participation of Marianne Hoayek, Executive Director of the Executive Office, BDL who presented the accelerated initiative for helping startups in Lebanon.
The event was also attended by the participation of choreographer and artist Alissar Caracalla, who spoke about the idea of having an Opera House in Beirut.
And to close this very interesting panel; the young successful entrepreneur Ayad Nasser who came out with a brilliant idea of promoting Lebanese participative collaboration around Traffic Security; his idea also included using an app where every citizen can post unethical drivers behavior putting citizens in danger.
Mr. Chehab shed light on the close link between the interaction of creative ideas and productivity, believing that creative and productive ideas are the true path to happiness. He highlighted many real world examples related to creative work, such as those produced by the Leo Burnett agency. He also commented about other ideas that have been created outside the world of advertising and marketing, such as the Lebanese water project "Blue Gold".
The group conversation was very interesting and it allowed all the participants to discuss which ideas could help the country and Mr. Chehab invited the audience to pitch for ideas that can help putting Lebanon on the path to happiness.
With many AUB graduated and media personalities in attendance, the room was enveloped in an atmosphere of creativity and inspiration.
After the discussion had finished, a book signing took place.
