2023 Top Consultants: Adam Gersting

With decades of consulting experience, Adam leads West Monroe's fast-growing Dallas office. Adam helps clients improve customer engagement, increase sales, and streamline processes and operations – and has the experience to get it done. Adam also enables organizations to gain insights from their data through analytics and AI. With a proven record of creating value, he brings drive, leadership and quality to every partnership. Recently, he teamed with a global organization to reach 40% efficiency improvements across the enterprise through enabling technology and customer experience solutions.

Prior to his time at West Monroe, Adam was a Partner with IBM Global Business Services. Before that, he spent nearly 17 years with Accenture as Partner and leader in the Information Management Services Practice. He has a B.S. from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and executive education in management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Adam's professional accomplishments haven't gone unnoticed. He was selected by Dallas CEO Magazine as a member of the D500: The Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2020. He also is on the Corporate Committee of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

What has motivated you to excel over the course of your career?

My parents spent their careers in computer science, technology and consulting. I remember sitting at the kitchen table, listening to conversations with them and leaders of top consulting firms about serving clients and solving problems. I was 14. That sparked my passion—not only to work in this profession, but to excel in it. When people ask me if I ever imagined this as what I would be doing for a living, and for this long, the answer is, "Yes, since I was a teenager!"

The other thing that motivates me is a deep sense of accountability to those around me—our people, our clients and our community. Upon graduating from the leading engineering university in the country, I joined the Order of the Engineer. As a reminder of the pledge we took upon joining—to uphold the integrity, standards, dignity, and obligations of the profession in our daily work—we wear a steel ring on the little finger of our working hand. Every morning when I get up and put that ring on, I think about this accountability as a leader.

What has been the biggest factor in your success so far?

I attribute my success to my desire to become what I call a "total leader." This term relates to the 1974 Dutch national soccer team's approach to "total football." In international football (soccer), players are typically skilled in playing one position. The Dutch team employed a fundamentally unique style of play: all players were versatile and could skillfully play any position on the field—and, thus, help the team excel from any position they found themselves in as the game flowed.

Over my career – decades with leading consulting firms, I have strived to build excellence in all the disciplines relevant to professional services—market and growth strategy, business vision, people inspiration and development, delivery excellence and community impact. I have served and learned in roles as a project leader, account leader, industry team leader, practice leader, office & region leader, and in firmwide roles. I pride myself on being a different type of leader, who can and has excelled in these disciplines, played all these roles, and can bring this "total leadership" to help accelerate West Monroe's growth.

What do you enjoy most about your career in the consulting industry?

I enjoy everything about this profession: solving tough challenges with clients, seeing the tangible impact of our work, and being able to build something new and better. But more than anything, I love being able to have a positive impact on people—helping them develop, seeing them progress throughout their careers, and celebrating their successes. Our mission is to build the next generation of leaders, and it is moving for me to be able to do that every day.

When I became a Partner at Accenture 14 years ago, many partners sent me congratulatory notes—some of them handwritten. I still have them. I make it a point to do the same, as a personal recognition of people's progression. I see the impact this has on others, just as it had on me. Having given a handwritten congratulatory note to one of my people promoted to Senior Manager in 2022, the next day I got an email from him with a picture attached to it. The email read, "Hey Adam, Thanks for being a great leader for the office and always inspiring me to do more." The picture was of the 2022 congratulatory note I had just given him next to the one I gave him 3 years earlier when he was promoted to Manager. He knew right where that first note was. Today, I am writing a note to congratulate a new Partner promote here in the Region; they are so excited and so am I.

What's the best advice you've ever been given?

Relationships are key and you need to put the same effort and care into building them that you do in your deliverables. Early in my career, I was highly focused on producing quality deliverables for my clients. My mentor, Tommy, asked me to go out one evening to socialize with our client, but I worried about getting my work done. He advised me that, "This is work, too; just a different type of work, and just as important." As my career continued and I transitioned into progressively more relationship-oriented roles—projects, then programs, then accounts, then geo roles, I realized the terrific value in this wisdom and continue to pass it along to the next generations.

One of the ways I pass along this wisdom is by reinforcing that, "We're not all in sales, but we are all in business development" which is based on relationships. It is rewarding to see people in all roles embrace this. My Executive Assistant has really taken this to heart. She is a natural relationship builder, and she is very eager to introduce people in her network to West Monroe. In fact, she's introduced two executives to West Monroe who have become valued clients!

What does this recognition mean to you?

I would be honored to be recognized among great leaders. I have had the privilege of working with and being mentored by exceptional leaders throughout my career—people who have inspired me to be a strong leader. So, to receive this award for leadership would be very meaningful. Secondly, our profession is a team sport, not an individual sport. To achieve what I have personally as a leader results from having great people all around me. I see this as recognition not just of my own accomplishments but of those of our entire team. I hope to be able to bring the team this recognition.