Baljit Dail
CEO
Aon Consulting
Excellence in LeadershipSince joining Aon at the end of 2005, Baljit Dail has had a dizzying number of roles within the organization, including: COO, Aon Consulting; CIO, Aon Corporation; Head of Global Offshoring, Aon Corporation; Co-leader of the Simplification Initiative, Aon Corporation; and finally, CEO of Aon Consulting, with his focus on the international business and the global practice.
What makes him such an in-demand leader? Very simply, Dail gets results. “When I came in as COO in 2005, consulting was the product of acquisitions. We were really fragmented with no broad strategy across all the consulting acquisitions,” Dail says. “We focused on three key strategic themes—attracting and retaining the best talent in the industry, information and thought leadership, and operational excellence.”
Those three pillars served as a solid foundation for his platform of serving clients with distinction, creating the next generation of leaders and improving the finances of the consulting business.
“From an economic perspective, we went from the lowest margins and the worst growth to the highest margins in the industry and growth in line with our competitors,” Dail says. “Through these tough economic times, you have to be thoughtful of the investments you make, but it also a time to not back down on what you believe and to continue to invest in the firm.”
Case in point: A four-day training course called The Client Service Model. “It’s the best thing we do, but it’s a big investment.” The firm brings in 35 trainees and— along with senior executives—goes through video-taped exercises and role-playing scenarios. “We had a discussion about what to do with it,” Dail says. “The easier decision would have been to cancel it, but we decided we just couldn’t that, no matter the expense.”
Dail also was key in making sure the billion dollar-plus acquisition with Benfield Group, which closed in April 2009, was successful. “We spent a lot of time building and developing
the team. When you bring two professional services firms together, the biggest piece is getting the people to work together,” Dail says. “In consulting, talent is your raw material, and that’s always the most important thing.”
—Joseph Kornik
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