Abraham Ogoudou

Abraham Ogoudou spent 15 years at Ernst & Young helping U.S. and European companies improve their financial reporting, ending up as managing director of the firm’s Chicago office. But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, he found himself and his high-flying career suddenly grounded.

“I had time to reflect, and as part of that reflection, I concluded that what I was doing wasn’t what I wanted to do for the next ten years,” says Ogoudou, a native of Benin, West Africa, and the father of two. “The best way to pivot was to go back to school and try to learn new things and build a network here in the U.S.”

His acceptance into Stanford’s MSx program for mid-career executives brought him to Palo Alto, where for the past year he has focused on the long-term impacts of climate change on finance, and how artificial intelligence might help solve some of those problems.

Was there something specific about Stanford’s MSx program that appealed to you?

I was looking for a full-time executive MBA, and most of them are part-time. That set the MSx program apart. I also wanted to move with my family and have them all go through the experience of a year on campus, and Silicon Valley is very attractive.

Tell us more about your family.

My daughter is 12 and my son is 10. My wife Marie-Ange has been very influential in my life. I met her when I was 14 in Benin, and we’ve lived on three continents now. When I was 13 I was shy, I used to stutter, and I had a lot of insecurity about my body. She was the first to tell me I was cute, which helped me build confidence.

How has your family adapted to life at Stanford?

Better than expected. The program is very intentional with families, and we were assigned a residence in a place with many other families. Most of my neighbors are my classmates, and our kids go to school together. They have events for children and events for parents. By the time we moved in we had a community here. Now my kids want to stay, but we kept our house in the Chicago area and went back for Christmas, so everyone understands what will happen.

Why do you think climate change will have a significant impact on the future of finance?

Climate is very personal to me, something that’s beyond just numbers or metrics. One-third of the neighborhood where I grew up in Benin will disappear because of rising sea levels. My kids won’t be able to see where I grew up in 20 years. It’s happening gradually, but some of the neighborhood is already destroyed. The current president of my country used to live in the same neighborhood, and he had to relocate. He was able to afford that because he’s wealthy, but not everyone can afford it. I was looking for an opportunity to reconcile the financial aspects of climate change with the social impacts now that the science has evolved enough to have metrics and more information to make financial decisions.

So what’s your goal?

To prove that, for the long term, it may be more beneficial to go for a climate transition solution versus current fossil fuel solutions. I’m a true believer in the fair market. The problem right now is that the price we’re paying for products does not include the cost of the carbon that producing the product involves. I believe we can use the market more efficiently and come up with a fair price that will represent the entire cost.

You’ve said artificial intelligence could have a similar impact on finance. How so?

I spent the past 15 years both in France and the U.S. working with global corporations. As an auditor in France, I was looking back at historical data. But as a consultant in the U.S. I focus on historical data to make better decisions for the future. I realized two things. Technology will disrupt how we make decisions, so in order to make better decisions I decided to explore AI in addition to climate finance. They’re related because climate finance is a new area where you can use AI to measure the carbon economy and track the life cycle of a product in terms of emissions. I believe that AI, with machine learning, can help us deliver more value in the finance function.

In your professional life, you emphasize “partnership, listening, and collaboration” as critical to helping individuals and organizations reach their potential. Talk a bit more about that.

Listening is critical for decision-making in general. A great leader needs to spend time collecting data. This is something I learned early on with my grandma. She was the head of my family, and because both of my parents were working, she would babysit me after school and bring me into all these family meetings. In those meetings, the leaders always talk at the end. I learned early on that you need to collect enough data to clearly understand the problem you’re trying to solve. That’s why listening is the key. It’s not easy in a fast-paced environment where people expect you to make decisions quickly. I’ve had to learn to balance information versus action.

What about partnership?

It’s important to create value for the people you work with and for them to understand that value. We often overlook the importance of understanding the value of every single task and working as an equal partner. In my experience, both with my clients and my teams, I try to make sure we’re aligned and understand the value we bring to each other.

And collaboration?

That’s more about execution. For collaboration, I believe in diversity. It’s a strength to organizations. Collaboration only matters when it’s with diverse people. Otherwise, it’s not collaboration, it’s more like a club of people who think the same way.

Explain why you believe diversity is the key to “candid conversations, innovation, and successful execution.”

It’s hard to challenge status quo when you lack diversity. You can’t innovate when you lack diversity. It’s natural for leaders to be conservative. You always have tension between looking back and protecting what you have, and looking forward to get ready for what’s ahead. You need diversity of talent and age and experiences to challenge what you’re doing and continue to get better. Unfortunately, a lot of people talk about diversity and inclusion like it’s something to sprinkle once you’ve done everything else. It should be the foundation because it will help you bring in talent and new ideas and keep the tension at a certain level to be creative.

Can you give a specific example of how diversity led to great results?

When I was an auditor in France, I worked with a global aerospace company. Our team was facing significant issues regarding how to design an audit strategy because the company was growing and investing in new telecommunications products. We quickly realized that, in addition to finance people, we may need engineers and someone who understands law to review financial things. One of my teammates was an aerospace engineer, and another had a law degree. We were able to outperform all of the other teams in Europe because we were different and complementary. When we got together, we came up with different perspectives and questions. That showed me that diversity matters and creates value.

You participate in the Big Shoulders Fund mentoring program. Why do you feel that’s important?

For the past eight years I’ve spent time mentoring between three and five high school and middle school students each year. I spend a lot of time on the South Side of Chicago, where there are a lot of African Americans, mentoring students so they can see people like me and experience what working downtown might be like. That’s where corporate America can spend more time, instead of just recruiting. Mentoring helps you to dream and achieve things and guide you through that process to become a better version of yourself.

Have you had any particularly influential mentors along the way?

Throughout my career, teachers and friends and neighbors invested significant time in me because they saw something that I hadn’t seen in myself. My grandma gave me the capital to create my first business when I was 12 years old. I don’t know why she did that, but her confidence, more than the money, meant everything. I used to say I’m not a self-made man, I’m a community-made man. I’m a product of small acts of kindness by those who took time to guide me. That’s why it’s important for me to give back. I see the value. I believe in the power of one, and the compounding effect that can have on other people.

What about your mentors would you most like to emulate?

Boldness, kindness, and great integrity.

Photos by Elena Zhukova