Dare to Accelerate—Dinner with Robert Hah, Managing Director at Accenture Strategy

Sometimes the most meaningful and inspiring conversations happen over casual meals. The Time Auction Blog is a snippet of our meetings with people who have found passion in their life and career.

In professional relationships, open-mindedness and teamwork are necessary to actualize an effective, results-oriented goal. To achieve this, corporates hire consultants to pitch strategies that accelerate company growth and help them perform at the top of their game.

Consultants like Robert Hah need to apply a flexible mindset to step into the shoes of different stakeholders and unravel complex puzzles —essentially becoming a jack of all trades. To put it simply, consultants are the hidden heroes behind successful businesses.

Who is Robert Hah?

Robert Hah is Managing Director with Accenture Strategy, the strategy consulting division of Accenture. As the Products Group Strategy Lead for Greater China, he and his team work with high-profile clients from various industries to improve their business strategy.

In addition to his client-facing roles, Robert is also involved in internal operations with leadership responsibilities related to human capital and sustainable growth across Accenture’s entire portfolio of businesses. Prior to Accenture, Robert became one of the youngest individuals to be appointed Managing Partner at Deloitte Consulting across the Asia Pacific region.

Robert also has a passion for nurturing talent and supporting the start-up scene in Hong Kong. He provides pro-bono coaching to many Hong Kong-based entrepreneurs to help them set up and operationalize their business. He also provides mentoring to underprivileged individuals such as new immigrants and people with disabilities.

Utilizing your Dream Team

It takes an army of capable people to create an effective consultancy. During the brainstorming and strategy-building stages, each member contributes their own unique skill set, experience, and individual perspective. But ultimately, Robert reminds us that there is no ‘I’ in a team.

“Understand your stakeholders. Know what makes them tick and what their priorities are.”

In consultancy, a shared vision is important, especially when considering the interests of all parties. The team can then exercise a top-down approach to develop an exhaustive strategy. In doing so, the client is better poised to achieve favorable business outcomes.

Establish meaningful connections

Robert advises that quality matters over quantity in curating meaningful relationships. In the world of business, the best kind of relationships isn’t superficial. They are personal and it makes him willing to troubleshoot and be a sounding board outside of office hours.

When asked about how introverts can socialize in a world favoring extroversion, Robert maintains that everyone should find their own way to communicate with others. His example is based on years of navigating social situations and different networking environments.

“I try to find commonalities, the things that bring that person to life.”

Stay hungry, Stay humble

“When the day you think you know everything comes, that should be very scary. Because your world becomes really small.”

Robert is an avid reader , and one may find a number of books on his bedside. He recommends the book Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike. The memoir talks about the brand’s journey to success. However, Robert is more appreciative towards the author’s self-reflection on the challenges and failures he faced while building the shoe empire.

The second point Robert highlighted was the importance of family as depicted in Knight’s book. Our family keeps us grounded and is a refuge against the harsh realities in society.

His final advice?

“For a lot of entrepreneurs, often you’re so focused on your company — it’s a part of your life but don’t forget about your family.”

Thank you so much to Robert for raising 218 volunteer hours and all the volunteers who dedicated their hours for charities such as Habitat for Humanity Hong Kong, VolTra and more! We would also like to thank photographer Steve from Kachick!

To see our upcoming experiences, head over to the Time Auction website!