2022 Global Leaders in Consulting: Gary Anderson

Gary Anderson is a Senior Managing Director with global consulting firm Protiviti and leader of its Asia-Pacific region, including offices across Japan, China mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

He is a past President of The Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) in Australia and previously a director of the International Institute of Internal Auditors, Deakin and Melbourne University advisory boards and Very Special Kids hospice board. He was also a key member of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) working group on risk management and many research projects.

Before joining Protiviti in 2004, Gary was a senior partner at Andersen/Ernst & Young, specializing in technology and consulting. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and multiple professional certifications.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement?

I was able to convince work colleagues from my previous consulting role to join me in launching Protiviti in Australia. This helped tremendously in establishing the firm in multiple locations across Australia in a short period of time.

What advice would you give a professional just beginning a career in consulting?

I would offer two pieces of advice. The first is to take every opportunity to explore a broad range of projects and clients and don't be afraid to change your specialist area of interest as you grow and learn. The second is to spend as much personal time as possible with your stakeholders and others to understand their real business situation and objectives as well as their personal perspectives.

What have you loved most about your consulting career?

I've always appreciated the enormous variety afforded by my career. I've worked with so many people, learned about different cultures, traveled around the world, and been presented with so many interesting client challenges across a wide range of businesses. I've also learned that identifying a solution is generally a small part of any project. I enjoy the bigger challenge, which is determining the best way to explain the solution and influence stakeholders to want to implement it.

What's the best advice—personal or professional—you've ever received?

Be bold in your thinking! Especially when you're scoping client projects and endeavoring to understand the real problem. It's also important to critically review your solution or advice to others from the perspective that some key stakeholders may want it to fail.

What does being honored as a Global Leader mean to you?

It's very satisfying to know that the core skills we learn as consultants to help solve client challenges and implement solutions are applied globally and consistently throughout the profession. The consulting industry is very broad with many specialist areas, but these award categories capture our key tenets of client service, execution, influence and innovation – tenets to which everyone in the industry can aspire. My hope is that in pursuing these goals, my fellow consultants everywhere will enjoy their choice of career as much as I do.