Youssef Abouseif, general manager, Uber Egypt: Each week, My Morning Routine looks at how a successful member of the community starts their day — and then throws in a couple of random business questions just for fun. Speaking to us this week is Youssef Abouseif (LinkedIn), general manager at Uber Egypt.

My name is Youssef Abouseif, a husband, a proud father of two kids, a boy and a girl, and the general manager (GM) of Uber Egypt. Over my career I have worked with Samsung's global strategy group in South Korea, where I advised CEOs on some of Samsung’s most complex issues and strategic topics. Afterwards, I relocated to Luxembourg and joined Amazon. Now, I am finally back in Egypt as Uber’s country GM.

My role necessitates that I move at very high speed and rally my team about key strategic areas. I have to consider the tactical operational and mid-to-long term strategy on a daily basis, and given my broad scope of responsibilities, I have to always prioritize and work in a structured manner.

The concept of Uber originated when the founders found themselves stuck in Paris on a very rainy evening, unable to find a taxi or vehicle to take them back. So they asked themselves: How much easier would it be to order a ride through our phones? The idea struck many as revolutionary at the time. It meant that people no longer had to wait to find a ride, and the value proposition pleased a lot of people. Uber first started in San Francisco and Paris, and rapidly expanded to other countries.

Right now, the industry is mostly focused on sustainability. It is also one of the key priorities for Uber at the moment. We aim to reach zero emissions by 2040 in the MENA region, and in the UAE we target 25% emission-free trips by 2030. We’ve also launched Uber Green in the UAE and Jordan, which grants riders the right to select a fully electric vehicle with a dedicated, sustainable vehicle view on the app. We are also expanding our Uber shuttle buses, which were first launched in Egypt — emphasizing the car pooling concept, which lowers emissions and traffic congestion.

I moved to Egypt from Luxembourg three months ago, so I am still trying to figure out a morning routine. So far, I have been waking up at 7am in time for my son’s school. I make sure to spend time with my children ahead of the work day. After that, I usually surf the internet for 15 to 20 minutes, and that’s when I usually read Enterprise. I also look at some global news outlets and catch up on football news. After that, I check my email for anything urgent that I need to prioritize. I try to squeeze in a workout 3-4 times a week, and I usually have one cup of black coffee and a light breakfast before I head to the office. My commute time is the time I call my parents and then listen to a podcast, audio book, or some music.

My regular work day is usually filled with back-to-back meetings. I like to prepare for all my meetings ahead of time by deciding what needs to be discussed. Apart from that, Sunday of every week is my day of planning. I dedicate 30 minutes at the beginning of each week to fully focus and lay out my priorities for the coming days. This helps me to stay organized and label my tasks depending on their level of importance — P0 being the most urgent, followed by P1 and P2. My team’s effort is also absolutely critical to running the business successfully.

My family is the one constant in my life. I always do my best to finish work around 6-7pm, and head home in time for dinner. It’s very important for me to spend that last hour of the day with my kids. My wife and I enjoy reading them books, helping them color and teaching them new skills. It’s the most precious time of my day.

I believe having a work-life balance is a key enabler to success. As a leader, I’m very vocal about the importance of a work-life balance, and I personally make it a point to try not to leave too late unless there’s a crisis that requires us to work longer hours. Moreover, at Uber, we work two days a week from the office, which helps facilitate the work-life balance. I also almost never work on weekends, but it’s never easy, given that I just started a new role — but my family remains my constant, and therefore I make sure to dedicate weekend time to them as much as I can.

I believe that it’s very important to try and diversify the material we expose ourselves to. One podcast I really enjoy listening to is Radiolab. It does investigative journalism on a variety of topics. I find it very enriching as it exposes you to several different concepts, and keeps you informed.

The best piece of advice I received was actually from a book my father gave me when I was a teenager. It’s called Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew S. Grove, a former CEO of Intel. The quote that resonated with me the most was: “Success breeds complacency and complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive.” I believe this is great advice because it means that you need to continuously evolve and learn new things — even if you are very successful at what you do — because otherwise you will become less relevant the moment you stop learning.