About
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
I’m Mohtab Arabiat. I lead external communications at Diriyah Company and write about the systems, decisions and people behind ambitious work.
My career has moved between client teams, agencies and classrooms. I worked on Expo City Dubai and Expo 2020 Dubai, spent earlier years at FP7 McCann and Starcom, and built professional training programmes with AstroLabs and New Media Academy.
Across all of it, I became most interested in the gap between ambition and delivery: how decisions get made, teams stay aligned and good work actually gets finished.
This site is a thinking archive, not a portfolio. It is where the thinking that doesn’t fit into a deck goes. I write mostly to think clearly. If it is occasionally useful to someone else, even better.
Trajectory
A short, factual record of the work behind the writing.
Present
Senior Director of External Communications at Diriyah Company.
Previously
Expo City Dubai and Expo 2020 Dubai. Client-side communications.
Earlier
FP7 McCann and Starcom. Agency-side communications across telecom, FMCG, QSR and banking.
Along the way
Developed professional training programmes at AstroLabs and helped launch New Media Academy.
How I work
Start with the outcome
Output is easy to count. The better question is what changed because the work existed.
Fix the process first
When work breaks, the tool is rarely the root cause. Look at ownership, decisions and handoffs before adding another platform.
Emotion earns attention
People feel before they rationalise. Good communication respects both.
Ideas need operators
An idea becomes valuable only when someone can turn it into decisions, systems and finished work.
Build for consistency
Willpower is unreliable. Clear rhythms, useful constraints and regular review make good work repeatable.