DELOITTE
An Early Start It ’ s 6 a . m . Pacific Time when Deloitte Consulting Enterprise Performance ( EP ) leader Abdi Goodarzi steps into his Costa Mesa , California office to start the day .
Immediately , in conversation , one can feel the optimism – and there ’ s no shortage of reasons why .
Within Deloitte Consulting , Abdi leads an integrated portfolio of offerings with a robust set of digital transformation capabilities that enable enterprises to solve strategic and tactical business challenges and evolve into industry-leading competitors . The EP portfolio , which includes ERP platforms , supply chain and finance solutions , and IT optimisation services – provides an enterprise-wide lens , addressing the rapid , cross-business function change occurring at the heart of the modern enterprise . With COVID-19 response and recovery at the forefront of enterprise planning , the necessity of business resiliency and adaptability is more resonant than ever .
The impact his teams have on clients is represented in an expanding list of annual accolades . EP ’ s SAP practice recently won four SAP Pinnacle Awards , including Partner of the Year . The Oracle practice was named the Global Cloud Transformation Partner of the Year ; the Emerging ERP practice was named the Infor Global Integrator of the Year ; the Workday practice won two Partner Innovation Industry Awards ; and the Government and Public Sector practice won the SAP Innovation Award for Business Transformation . And that ’ s just looking back over the past year .
Before delving further into the world of EP , we ask Abdi how his background shaped his path to the leader he is today . Born in the Middle East , Abdi shares his experiences living in Turkey , Canada , and Boston , before settling in southern California .
“ Early on , I was surrounded by very strong women who were instrumental in making me who I am ,” he says . “ I learned a lot about being strong , being able to face challenges in life , being straight ahead , resilient , passionate and authentic .”
Abdi continues , “ I consider myself a global citizen . Exposure to many cultures has helped me shape my views about life , my clients , the work that I do .”
“ You recognise that each language and every culture has its own sophistications and benefits . Similarly , when you bring a collection of individuals from diverse backgrounds with the right set of capabilities and knowledge together to solve complex problems , you quickly realise that you have to think globally in order to bring minds together , leveraging the uniqueness of each point of view .”
As the conversation continues , the significance of this statement permeates across Abdi ’ s leadership principles and EP initiatives , during a time when organisations and their people had to come together to navigate a way through one of the most significant disruptions ever experienced .
With introductions completed , Abdi ’ s boundless sense of energy continues with a tour of six unique themes across the landscape of EP – why EP matters and agility lessons from the COVID-19 crisis , the rise of the Kinetic Enterprise™ , co-innovation across ecosystems , the changing roles of CXOs , embracing the power of diversity and inclusion , and the power of teams .
“ I consider myself a global citizen . Exposure to many cultures has helped me shape my views about life , my clients , the work that I do ”
ABDI GOODARZI DELOITTE CONSULTING ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE LEADER technologymagazine . com 31