A Day in the Life - Nehad Al Ghadri

Nehad Al Ghadri

L&D Consultant, dss⁺

What does a typical day look like as a Learning and Development Consultant in the Learning and Development team?

I work from Dubai, and most of my clients are in Europe and North America, several hours behind me, so my day has two halves. The morning is what I call the building time: designing a new document, building new AI systems and agents, writing scenarios and job aids, or brainstorming new ideas. The afternoon is for the team, with review calls, team calls, and the drafts we start submitting. Most of my work revolves around integrating artificial intelligence into learning and development and into our client work. I work with our approved AI tools every day, and I help our team and our clients bring AI into their work, with efficient results and deliverables of very high quality. That helps in creating a real synergy between us and the AI tools.

Why did you choose a career in consulting?

I started my career as a mechanical engineer and was instantly asked to try for a learning and development position. That experience gave me a newfound passion for helping people grow, supporting people with different problems, and solving new problems creatively. From there I moved through several industries, from insurance and financial services to retail and sales, and landed back in engineering, with an MBA this time, as a learning and development consultant with dss⁺. That path led me to what I really love about consulting, finding creative ways to solve problems and providing real value for clients. It takes the routine out of the job, because every day brings something new, and that makes everything we do exciting.

Why did you join dss⁺?

It was a clear choice. What dss⁺ does revolves around saving lives, and I wanted my work to carry that kind of weight. Joining this wonderful company gave me a place to do two things at once. The first is to practice my passion for learning, development, and growth at a personal level, a team level and a global level. The second is to put my skills as an engineer and as a learning and development expert to work on the goal this firm exists for, which is keeping people safe and getting them home unharmed to the people they love. That, without a doubt, is what gives me my sense of purpose here, and it is why I love being part of dss⁺.

What are you most proud of?

What I'm most proud of is integrating artificial intelligence into the way we design and build. Over this year I've built agents, skills, systems, and assessment tools that sit inside our own process, making it faster and more efficient. A design document that used to take a week now takes a day, and a curriculum review that took hours now requires less than two minutes. That has already helped us with clients around the globe, not only through speed, but most importantly through the credibility and accuracy of what we deliver. The part I'm proudest of is how we use it, bringing in the human and the AI element to co-author every deliverable together, and the result is better than either would produce alone.

What do our values mean to you?

The values I care about most are safety and health, and respect for people. Whenever I design a new course or evaluate a curriculum for a client, I know that someone out there will take it. It will give them a better mindset and better actions that make them safer, which means going back home safely to their loved ones. Supporting people's safety and health gives me a lot of reward. The other part is respect for people. For me, the most important currency in communication between people is respect. Respect is one of the strongest pillars here at dss⁺ and with the clients we work with, and that is something to be very proud of. It is a trait I always carry, and here we are all free to practice it.

In 3 words or less, how would you describe dss⁺?

Trusted with lives.