2022 Global Leaders in Consulting: Rob Fisher

Rob serves as the Global Trusted solution leader and is also responsible for the global ESG transformation and reporting pillars within KPMG's overall IMPACT team. Rob is the IMPACT and ESG services leader for the US member firm of KPMG. In his role as the Global Trusted solution leader, Rob leads the Firm's solutions focused on helping organizations to build increasing levels of trust with their stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, regulators, business partners, and the communities they operate in. This includes the Firm's services across areas such as risk and regulatory, Cyber, and ESG. Rob brings more than 25 years of experience serving clients across these various domains with a particular personal background in risk and regulatory within the Financial Services industry, including work with some of the world's largest institutions around regulatory remediation and risk and compliance functional transformation. As KPMG's US IMPACT leader and global lead for ESG Transformation and reporting, he coordinates the Firm's cross-functional efforts to provide deep ESG insight and capabilities to assist our clients across a wide range of challenges, including ESG strategy, climate / decarbonization, social and economic development, sustainable finance, and measurement, reporting and assurance.

What do you consider your greatest personal or professional achievement

I was tremendously proud to be chosen to lead the environmental, social and governance (ESG) services and capability build-out for KPMG in the US. Not only did it provide me with an opportunity to work on something that is a personal passion, it also enabled me to have an outsized impact by helping the firm's clients make lasting changes that can lead to better outcomes for people, the planet and future prosperity. My work has also allowed me to connect more deeply with my family, especially my daughter who is a freshman at University of Colorado-Boulder majoring in Environmental Science and the person who really sparked my own education, passion and interest around climate change and ESG more broadly.

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

A career is a long journey and I don't think anyone truly knows what the final destination is. But when you look back, it won't be measured by how many promotions you received or how much money you made. It will be measured by what you learned and by the relationships you built — most importantly, it will be measured by the impact you made on the world and the impact that the world made on you. So, take every interaction as an opportunity to learn and to grow.

What have you loved most about your consulting career?

My work has provided me with a unique opportunity to meet a diverse range of people from all around the world. And that has allowed me to learn so much about other cultures and perspectives. Those who know me know I love to hear people's stories and to learn about people's lives. I always try to remember that if I'm not listening, I'm not learning. And I feel that mantra has been the key to my success and my enjoyment of my work with clients and colleagues around the world.

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

Early in my career, I worked in Prague, Czech Republic. Back then, I would get very worked up about problems I was seeing on client engagements. That's when a senior partner told me "don't create pressure, respond to it". I've always kept that advice close to my heart. My work can be quite stressful. But clients and engagement teams don't need a leader who adds to their stress. If a team sees that their leader is stressed out or panicking, they feed off of that. But when they see a leader who is calm under pressure, they also remain calm and work together to find the best path forward. That is why I always try to play a calming role, helping the team articulate the problem statement, lay out options, make a decision and then act upon it.

What does being honored as a Global Leader mean to you? It tells me how fortunate I have been. It reminds me that I have worked with and learned from incredible leaders and mentors. It reflects the skills and capabilities of those incredible team members and clients I have had the opportunity to collaborate with. And it reinforces how fortunate I am to have a life partner who supports me, balances me out and works with me to create a great family environment and an incredible life.