#INTERVIEW: David Ribott Shares the Framework Behind Informed Leadership

Leading board and leadership advisor, David Ribott has released his new book Informed Leadership, offering GCC executives a roadmap for modern leadership. Drawing on over two decades of experience, Ribott introduces his Informed Leadership model built on RIDE (Respect, Integrity, Dignity, Empathy), the ABCs of leadership (Anti-fragile, Bold, Clear, Deliberate) and the outcomes of Purpose, Performance and Prosperity - a framework designed for the workings of today’s high-velocity, multicultural business environment.

Delna Mistry Anand: Congratulations on your new book Informed Leadership. To begin, what would you say is at the very core of its message?

David Ribott: Thank you! Informed Leadership is an operating system, with RIDE: Respect, Integrity, Dignity, Empathy as the ethical base. The ABCs: Anti-fragile, Bold, Clear, Deliberate, are the behaviours, and the 3Ps: Purpose, Performance, Prosperity are the outcomes. Leaders who choose to operate this way make cleaner decisions, execute faster and create cultures people feel on the ground. In the GCC’s multicultural, high-velocity context, this keeps ambition anchored to standards that don’t bend.

Many forget that human values such as respect and empathy are timeless, and they matter even more in today’s boardrooms. How do you address this?

Respect and empathy aren’t “soft”, they’re how boards surface truth early, challenge cleanly and protect decision quality when the stakes are public and political. Where state priorities, family enterprise dynamics, and global capital meet, values [in action, not just in words] become the shared language that lowers noise and raises accountability. By treating people with dignity, making standards explicit, the result is trust compounds. Strategy and execution travel farther, but none of this is possible without respect and empathy anchored as core to a board’s operating system vis-à-vis Informed Leadership.

What is your approach to guiding leaders through IPOs, M&As and several significant transformations?

These experiences make the framework of my unapologetically practical. A GCC utility IPO taught me that challenge and complexity tempt people to hide behind process and procedures i.e. not stick their heads up for fear of being “shot.” Therefore, the book begins with RIDE as the non-negotiable base because when pressure is high, mindset and character matter most. A GCC cross-market bank merger showed how value leaks when “who decides?” isn’t explicit causing avoidance, so the ABCs: Anti-fragile, Bold, Clear, Deliberate were designed to highlight behaviour congruent to success in high-stakes situations. All of it leads to the 3Ps: Purpose, Performance, Prosperity, so leadership ends up being judged by outcomes people can feel and observe, not noise that distracts attention from what’s important to the business.

What advice would you give leaders facing decision fatigue and constant global change?

When everything is loud, narrow the field, then decide what matters and take the smallest concrete action that proves you’re moving toward it, so you cut noise and create momentum. Use the ABCD check: Anti-fragile (what bends, what never breaks), Bold (what choice unlocks momentum), Clear (what non-negotiables and constraints everyone can name), Deliberate (what few right reps you’ll repeat this week). Tactically: write a one-page intent (goal, guardrails, success signals), publish a “kill list” to stop low-value work, run 45-minute meetings with decision windows, protect thinking blocks, and decide in the room. This lowers noise, raises accountability, and gives leaders back their energy and edge.

While several leadership books lean on theory, yours uses real case studies. Are there any stories which impacted you most?

There are many case studies that helped shape Informed Leadership, but I use the fictional Company XYZ to bring them to life. One was a new CEO, guided by integrity, succeeding an outgoing CEO who was more aligned with the performative theatre of enterprise leadership vs. the qualities congruent with successful enterprise management. From the onset, the incoming CEO clarified intent, made decision rights visible, and doubled down on accountability, which helped transform the organization. It impacted me because I was witness to a leader truly “walking their talk.” Another story was of the outgoing CEO mentioned previously but was still in-role at the time. This individual impacted me because I observed a complete lack of discipline to take key decisions in critical moments, hold bad behaviour or underperformance accountable, and ultimately, modelled a workplace culture built on favouritism and lack of transparency and integrity.

As the GCC cements its role as a global hub, what unique challenges or opportunities do leaders here face, and how does your work “Informed Leadership” address this?

The opportunity is to continue converting momentum into durable institutions “that punch above their weight class” as H.H. Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan shared with US President Donald Trump during his trip to Abu Dhabi in May of this year. A commitment to governance maturity, cultivation of talent systems that produce “compounding interest,” and capital investments managed and monitored with discipline and fiduciary duty will surely cement the GCC’s role as a global hub. A unique challenge is the GCC is a rare mix of surplus capital, nation-scale projects, and pro-business hubs, an arena where bold leaders can turn diversification agendas into real value through world-class execution. A strong leadership [development] pipeline will be essential to continue to enable momentum, so momentum doesn’t outrun maturity. Informed Leadership is both an operating system, but also a blueprint for institutional programming to solidify senior leader capacity and grow next-generation leader capacity to meet the needs of the challenge - and beyond.

Informed Leadership is now available throughout the UAE and GCC via major bookstores and online platforms including Amazon and Barnes and Noble Available now for pre-orders:

Follow David’s work: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidribott