A chat with our new CEO, Said Jahani

Rebecca Archer

Welcome back to Beyond the Numbers with Grant Thornton, a podcast unpacking marketplace shifts in today's dynamic business landscape. Today we have a very special episode for our listeners. We're chatting to Said Jahani, Chief Executive of Grant Thornton Australia. It's been a busy time since he was appointed as CEO, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to welcome him onto the show for a fireside chat about leadership, future plans for the firm, and what advice he might give to his younger self. Welcome to the podcast, Said.

Said Jahani

Hi, Rebecca. Great to be here with you.

Rebecca Archer

Firstly, congratulations on the appointment as Chief Executive Officer. Can you maybe chat to us about your career journey? Did perhaps ‘Graduate Said’ dream of being a CEO one day?

Said Jahani

Well, look, if I think back to high school and what we were thinking about doing as we left high school and going to uni, I don't actually think CEO ever crossed my mind. In fact, when I was in high school, I'm the younger of five kids, youngest of five kids, I should say. I had three older brothers, all of whom were engineers. And so when I was quite young, I thought I was going to be an engineer just because my older brothers were engineers. But a number of people, including some of my older brothers, convinced me that wasn't the path. And I was always pretty good with numbers and fell into accounting and then fell a little bit into restructuring, which is where I started my career after university; structuring, turnaround. 

I really had a passion for that. I grew up involved in the family business, and so, you know, Dad was an entrepreneur. And restructuring, you're running businesses and trying to turn around businesses. So, you know, I think I always had a passion for it, and that sort of grew as, you know, as I sort of spent more and more time in that discipline and the impact you can have. 

Over the last six or seven years, more recently, I took a leadership role on the firm's executive leading our advisory business. And that constitutes restructuring, corporate finance and forensics and litigation support. And the insights I had from doing that, and the impact I had from being able to lead a bigger group of partners, a ‘leader of leaders’ if you would, gave me a real sense of fulfillment. And as I thought about taking that up another notch, you know, the CEO role really appealed to me in terms of being able to have an even greater impact for a firm that I really love. We've got a fantastic organisation with an amazing culture, and if I can help just take that to the next level, that'll be something that will be really rewarding.

Rebecca Archer

So what would you consider your leadership style to be?

Said Jahani

Well, a number of the partners have started to hear these words since I've become the CEO, but very, very succinctly: I like to move at pace, with purpose. I feel sustainable success is rarely born from a ‘business as usual’ approach, but really from bold decisions; ones that are made well before they become popular, and always, always with people in mind. I pride myself on really driving transformation that sticks not through pressure, but through shared momentum. And as a leader, I really feel it's important that you can clearly articulate your vision. And my vision is future-facing. To activate potential, to drive growth and to shape better futures for our clients, for our talent and for our communities. And so as a leader, I think it's important to always have a ‘North Star’ that underpins and helps you with your decision making.

And for me, as a leader of Grant Thornton, that North Star is really the fact that I feel that I am simply a custodian of this business. And then when I retire and hand the keys to the next generation of leaders, that I've left the business in better shape than I found it when I was handed the keys by our former CEO. So a firm strengthened for future generations, a culture that's built on trust and speed and talent that rises earlier and further than before. As I said, at the end of the day, I'm simply a custodian of the business. And that's really how I want to define my leadership. And finally, I'll just say, I think I firmly believe that remarkable outcomes begin with the courage to change. Change yourself first and then the system around you.

Rebecca Archer

Is there anyone, perhaps inside the business world or even outside of that sphere that might inspire you in terms of leadership or leadership style?

Said Jahani

Yeah, look, I, I probably, you know, reflecting on that, I probably have to say my Dad, he passed probably 10 years ago, but he was an entrepreneur and, you know, had to run businesses and start businesses and he had to do that a couple of times over from scratch. And you know, what I saw growing up through the family business is just a tenacity, a never give up attitude, but, you know, an approach to really make bold and courageous decisions. And a lot of those characteristics have definitely stuck with me through life as well.

Rebecca Archer

You are, of course, passionate about fostering cultural and racial diversity at Grant Thornton. Can you maybe talk to us a bit about the importance of driving this D&I pillar and why it is something that you personally feel connected to?

Said Jahani

Look, I am really passionate about D&I, not just because it makes good business sense. You know, the research tells us having a diversity of thought in the boardroom always leads to better quality decisions. And in the war for talent, if you cannot articulate a clear strategy around your organisation's approach to D&I, you will simply fail to attract the best talent. But the real simple reason that it's so important to me, simply it's just the right thing to do. And in a world where, as we've seen, you know, especially in the U.S. you know, some of those corporates are coming under pressure to pull back on their D&I strategies. We've discussed it in the Grant Thornton boardroom, and we strongly disagree with that approach. And we'll be continuing to drive the importance of D&I within our organisation.

But perhaps just to take a step back and to come back to your question around why am I so passionate about it? Because as you can probably work out, there aren't too many CEOs of major accounting firms that look like me or have a name like mine. And I am a firm believer of, you know, you cannot be what you cannot see. So my heritage is Iranian or Persian as it once was known, which is obviously in the headlines right now for the wrong reasons, unfortunately. I was born there. But in 1979, a revolution occurred where Islamic regime overthrew the Shah, who was the ruling monarch. So my family and I, we had to flee the country. And that was because we are Baháʼís, which was a religious minority that were being persecuted by the new regime.

And we settled in England as refugees. And you know, growing up in the 1980s in a small town on the south coast of England, I was a brown face in the sea of white ones. And it was pretty tough. But the reason I share that story with you, going from a refugee to now the CEO, it goes to the heart of who I am as a person and as a leader. And we talked a little bit about leadership just a bit earlier. I will never forget where I have come from. It keeps me grounded and it keeps me humble. But more than that, it has equipped me with a resilience and a capacity to be able to learn, to adapt to an ever-evolving environment.

And I know when to adjust course now. And no matter the divergent views of those around me, I'll always listen. Because without that skill, you cannot expect to win the trust and followership of those around you. I'm very proud of our firm and what we've achieved on D&I over the last 10 years, especially when it comes to gender and the rainbow community. In fact, over those many years, we've won so many awards, being recognised by external associations around some of the great work that we've done on both of those fronts, and yet there is still more work to do. But for me, diversity doesn't just exist on one dimension. Diversity comes in multiple forms. And for me, it's all about the intersectionality of diversity.

And so when an opportunity arose about 12 months ago inside our firm to take on the executive sponsorship role of cultural and racial diversity, I absolutely jumped on it. Because this is an area, quite frankly, where we do need to do a lot of work. But it's always with these sorts of initiatives, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint. And to create lasting change, it does take time. So as we've commenced that program inside Grant Thornton, we've really started by trying to build awareness through a comms strategy that is designed to lead into creating respectful curiosity, building greater cultural and emotional intelligence, and just fostering a safe and inclusive workplace.

Rebecca Archer

It is, of course, the beginning of your tenure. I'm curious to hear what sorts of global trends or news you might be watching closely right now.

Said Jahani

Yeah, look. And there's a lot there, right? There is definitely a lot there. I think probably if I just pick two that we are talking about and thinking about a lot at the moment. I suspect a lot of businesses are probably in the same bucket. One is technology and the impact of AI. That's going to impact our personal lives, it's going to impact our business lives. Whether you're a small business or you're a large corporate. The thing that strikes me with AI at the moment is just the rate of development. Where it was 12 months ago, where it was six months ago, and where it is today, it's almost exponential. And so if you then take that trajectory, where's it going to be in a year, two years, five years? It can really blow your mind. 

Now you know, sometimes with change like that, you know, it's quite normal to fear it, to resist it. You know, we are all creatures of habit, of course, but the way I'm thinking about it and the way I'm talking to our partners and our people about it is I really think it's an enabler of human capital. The way we can engage with our clients, the quality and the value that we can offer our clients by having AI sit alongside us and help us, is phenomenal. So, you know, that's something that we are working on at Grant Thornton. It's something our clients are demanding, quite frankly, as well. So I see it as an exciting opportunity. It's also going to require us to take a step back and think more broadly about how we engage with our clients, how we engage with our people. But I think it's an amazing opportunity.

Probably the second one is really just around what we're seeing in the geopolitical environment. Obviously, we've had the increasing global tensions with the US trade policy, which has changed a few times in the last few months, but also growing wars across different regions of our planet. And if I summarise all of that into one word, it creates uncertainty. And businesses really like certainty and predictability for them to make investment decisions, for them to make hiring decisions. So undoubtedly, what we're seeing in the broader geopolitical environment is going to have an impact on our economy. It will create winners and losers. But I feel that Australia is such an innovative and resilient country and economy. We will always be okay.

And there's a great example. I was reading recently about what was happening with the US tariffs on our beef exporters. The US market for beef is quite significant, and obviously that was going to hurt a lot of our beef exporters. But guess what? They've managed to pivot and they're now exporting a lot of their beef to China. Who no longer want American beef. That sort of innovation is going to be what keeps us going. And because it wasn't that long ago, through COVID, you know, you might recall that a lot of our exporters to China were on the nose. But again, they pivoted and they found new markets. 

So it just forces us to think outside the box. It forces us to try to come up with solutions to new problems. And that's what really builds resilience for us. But they're just a couple of things that obviously a more macro level businesses should be thinking about. We are thinking about. And to see where the opportunities lie with all of that.

Rebecca Archer

But just keeping with that theme, I wonder if you could maybe identify some of the biggest opportunities or challenges that exist right now for the business. 

Said Jahani

At Grant Thornton, one of the things I'm really, really proud of is we've built an amazing culture, and it's based on a set of values that really resonates throughout our entire firm. And, you know, that's all around how we care for our clients, our people, and our community, and we support them to thrive. That's not just a statement that sits in a picture frame on the wall. It's really our lived experience of our people. You see it in our own corporate structure through our governance framework. So when I think about that as our foundation and where the opportunities sit off the top of that, I think we have a really, really massive opportunity where we have a bit of a ‘secret sauce’. And that secret sauce is really our focus on private markets and private clients. We have some exceptional people in our business who can really make a real difference, a real positive difference for privately owned clients, especially those larger ones who have really complex needs.

And I want to lean into that strength, into that secret sauce. And we help these clients build generational wealth. We help them create legacies for their owners and for their families and the communities that they operate in. I think that is what really stands us apart at Grant Thornton from the rest of the market. And I see that as a massive opportunity for us.

Rebecca Archer

What are you most excited about as CEO in your new role? What are the things that sort of get you really hyped up when you think about the future and what you're going to do there?

Said Jahani

I got some counsel not long after I got the appointment of CEO, and it was all about, you know, why CEOs fail in their first few years. I thought, okay, this is a bit of a message. And it all centered around trying to do too much too quickly. And so, you know, I am conscious there's probably some good counsel in the end, and I am conscious that I don't bite off more than I can chew. But if there's one thing. If there's one thing that I really want to. I am really excited about is, you know, just creating what I call an ‘infinite mindset’ within our people, for our talent and for our clients. And I don't know if you're familiar with the work of a chap called Simon Sinek, who sort of describes himself as a bit of a visionary.

He talks about this infinite mindset, and he's written a book called The Infinite Game. And the best illustration I can give as an example is, you know the old story about the janitor who's sweeping the hangar at NASA and, you know, JFK is walking through the building and he goes up to him and goes, “oh, what do you do here”? And he goes, “I help put man on the moon”. So there was an individual who understood his role in the organisation, doesn't matter how low or high, but he connected with the higher purpose of that organisation. And for us at Grant Thornton, what I am really excited about is just creating that infinite mindset around how we can shape those better futures for our clients, particularly those larger private clients.

Rebecca Archer

And just to finish off, if you could give your younger self any piece of advice, what might that be?

Said Jahani

Interesting question. Probably two things: I'd say speak up, and secondly, don't wait to be asked. And so they're obviously interrelated. So maybe if I just touch on the first one. If you have an idea or an observation you want to contribute to a discussion, or you have a question because you don't understand something. The worst thing, the worst thing you can do is to keep that to yourself, to hold yourself back. I think, and I reflect on this with some of our talent from an Asian background, where you're taught from a cultural perspective, you’ve got to respect your elders. Don't speak until you've spoken to, which is not really our culture in Australia. And I think we've got some absolutely brilliant minds, brilliant minds coming through.

And there is a way that they can continue to contribute in a respectful way that doesn't make them feel that's not incongruent with their own values and belief systems. And as a consequence, it helps them build their confidence. It helps them actually be able to become better leaders in the future. So I would definitely encourage a younger Said to definitely speak up more. And then the second one is really don't wait to be asked. I mean, I try to pass this on to my two boys. It's all about really, for me, demonstrating your initiative by anticipating the needs of those around you, whether it's your parents, your siblings, your friends, or in the business sense, your clients, your colleagues, your coaches, your leaders. If you can try to stay one step ahead and just anticipate their needs, then that will lead you to undoubted success.

Rebecca Archer

Wise words, Said. Thank you so much for making the time to come on the show. It's very exciting to think about all the things that you'll achieve in this role. For those who are listening who would love to get in touch, maybe connect with you, what's the best way for them to reach out?

Said Jahani

Obviously, feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn, but you can find some links at the end of this broadcast, so click on that. And I encourage you to subscribe to our podcasts and our newsletters and you can see what I'm up to and what the firm's up to through those channels.

Rebecca Archer

Have you subscribed to our newsletter? Keep up to date with the latest developments in accounting, tax and consulting delivered directly to your inbox every fortnight. The link to subscribe is in the Show Notes. If you liked this podcast and would like to hear more. You can find and subscribe to Grant Thornton Australia on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Leave us a review or ideas on who you'd like to hear from next. Thank you for listening.