|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
When Sammy Bousaba says he needed a challenge, he meant it. The president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Dubai came to the States after graduating high school in Taipei, Taiwan. In fact, his entire family settled in Memphis, Tennessee, where both he and his father would earn long tenures with FedEx.
But after Bousaba graduated college and settled down in Chicago, the global citizen felt the itch to get back out in the world.
“I had met and married a woman from Lebanon, where my father was from,” Bousaba explains. “We had a three-month-old daughter at the time, and I got an opportunity to come to Dubai. We figured we’d go for two years and just figure it out. That was sixteen years ago.”
In that time, Bousaba, now a father of three, still works with FedEx as its managing director of sales for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, and Africa, in addition to becoming AmCham Dubai’s leading voice since 2018. The move to Dubai was the best thing that could have happened for his family, his career, and for the advancement of American business interests in one of the world’s most economically charged regions.
“Something like the pandemic changes your perspective fundamentally, and in many ways, I think that helped us rethink our approach to providing value to our members coming out of COVID.”
Sammy Bousaba
Bousaba’s initial interest in connecting with AmCham was more personal.
“There were things I really missed about America,” the leader explains. “AmCham events were a chance to be around like-minded people who were working to build a community. It was a chance to feel connected.”
Prior to taking the helm of the organization, Bousaba served on the AmCham board of directors and several junior committees. The timing of Bousaba’s election meant he had just enough time to get the hang of the leadership role before being plunged into the most confusing time anyone has ever collectively experienced: the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Bousaba says the universality of the pandemic conditions was more unifying than anything else.
“We were all in it together,” Bousaba explains. “There was no one that wasn’t going through it. I think that might be the first time in our remembered history that we could say that. If something couldn’t get done, we were hearing it from multiple people both inside the organization and out.”
The AmCham organization did its best to seize the pandemic as a time to reframe its strategy and redirect some of its efforts. Bousaba says that the immediacy of supporting its membership truly allowed him and the rest of the organization to let go of issues that didn’t fundamentally matter.
“I had an epiphany during this time about where we were focusing some of our time,” the president says. “Something like the pandemic changes your perspective fundamentally, and in many ways, I think that helped us rethink our approach to providing value to our members coming out of COVID. Don’t focus on distractions or detractors. Focus on what matters.”
The slowdown out of the pandemic, though, is really where things got interesting. As every business and organization began to, once again, chart their own path and the shared trauma of the pandemic began to fade, Bousaba admits that the challenges were almost harder on the backend than the front.
“We support so many small- and medium-sized enterprises, and many organizations were undergoing some significant growing pains coming out of the pandemic,” the president says. “We needed to make sure that those feeling the impact the most were getting as much as they could from us.”
“You have to learn to leave your work at the door and focus on what gives you that spirit to keep going. For me, that’s my family.”
Sammy Bousaba
This was easier during the pandemic because the experience was more universal. AmCham created numerous webinars, programming, and connection opportunities for members who were suddenly stuck in their homes. The webinars became outlets for members to speak with government officials and discuss their pain points.
And while post-pandemic challenges may have become more diverse and individual, Bousaba’s organization just experienced its best year yet—literally. AmCham’s Dubai organization has its highest membership to date, and Bousaba says it’s in the best financial position he can remember.
The president refuses any credit but says that when it comes to leading an organization, he has one goal.
“A leader should leave a team better than when they took over,” Bousaba says. “That sounds pretty basic, but I’m not sure that happens a lot. I think a lot of leaders can come in and sort of lay waste to a team. They walk away, and everyone wonders why things are so bad.”
That’s why Bousaba is so determined to not let his ego get involved in his leadership. He says the price is just too high for an organization to pay. The leader stresses the power of humility, and having the courage to lean into it when others might mistakenly and superficially read it as weakness.
Bousaba has also learned a great deal about the energy he spends and the energy he takes. It was initially a lesson he learned at a seminar, but his family was responsible for teaching him the master class.
“My kids and wife taught me that no matter how tired I might be when I get home, I actually get energy from spending time with them,” he says. “When I walk in the door, the first thing I do is get down on my knees and play with my six-year-old. That gives me life, it relaxes me, and it’s that way with my whole family. You have to learn to leave your work at the door and focus on what gives you that spirit to keep going. For me, that’s my family.”
