The long game: How Thierry Sabbagh built a career, and a brand, to last

Thierry Sabbagh didn't set out to spend a quarter of a century in the UAE. He arrived, worked hard, and somewhere along the way, he still finds it difficult to pinpoint exactly when, the country stopped being a place he was working in and started being a place he belonged to.

"There is not a single dramatic moment when this happened", he says. "But there was definitely a day when I started to realize that in this country I'm no longer an observer, I'm actually part of the rhythm."

That sense of belonging runs deeper than the years themselves. For Sabbagh, who today oversees Nissan's operations across the Middle East, KSA, India and CIS as the DVP and President, it has shaped the way he thinks about leadership, about brand-building, and about what it means to earn the trust of a market rather than simply sell into it.

Sabbagh sat down with Reda Raad, Group CEO of TBWA\RAAD, on “Built to Last”, TBWA\RAAD’s new leadership podcast, filmed at the AWR Automotive showroom, the brand’s exclusive distributor in Dubai and the Northern Emirates. What emerged over 31 minutes was less an interview and more a genuine conversation between two people who have spent decades thinking seriously about what it takes to build something in this part of the world that actually endures.

One of the principles that has guided Sabbagh's leadership over the years is borrowed from a Japanese management philosophy. The concept is called “gamba”. In practice, this means regular visits to dealerships across the region, conversations with sales teams, and an ongoing attentiveness to what customers are actually experiencing.

"The best market insights, the best feedback you get, is really when you do these visits, when you speak to customers, when you speak to the frontliners. It gives you a true analysis of what is happening."

In an era of dashboards, data reports, and remote decision-making, Sabbagh still believes that the most important intelligence and greatest insights come from a face-to-face conversation in a showroom.