Said Elias Dawlabani

Said Elias Dawlabani is a developmental theorist and a leading authority on the application of value systems to large scale change. He’s a writer and public speaker specializing in the Gravesian approach to psychosocial development and the evolution of societal systems. Named one of the world’s boldest thought leaders in 2019. He is the author of MEMEnomics, The Next-Generation Economic System which brought recognition of the value systems framework as a specialty in the field of cultural economics. His writings are being compared to those of Warren Buffet and Ray Dalio. His work has been translated to Korean, Mandarin, German and Russian. He has given keynote speeches on sustainable and regenerative economics in many parts of the world. Since 2018 he has turned his attention to the application of the Gravesian model to climate change and the economics of the Anthropocene, which is the focus of his upcoming book. His latest book, The Light of Ishtar (2021), is a personal memoir that chronicles his journey in life with his wife and soulmate Elza Maalouf through myth and psycho-spirituality.

For two decades he worked closely with the late Don E. Beck, a renowned geopolitical adviser, who was Graves’ successor and one of the architects behind South Africa’s transition from Apartheid. He was also the co-author of Spiral Dynamics, the most authoritative theory on value systems and change.

Dawlabani cofounded The Center for Human Emergence Middle East with Beck and Maalouf. The center is a think tank that frames sociopolitical and economic issues facing the region through the prism of value systems. He’s a past lecturer on the topic of transformational leadership at the Adizes Graduate School in Santa Barbara, and the University of Virginia.