A seasoned alliances and sales leader with over thirty years experience, Donna Meshaka heads up the ‘Big Four’ tax and accounting firm’s alliances division, collaborating closely with more than 80 technology, data and service partners to drive client outcomes.
Meshaka started her career at a Florida Law firm where she switched the office from typewriters to word processors to increase efficiency. She later started and sold her own accountancy firm, eventually becoming a partner at BDO USA. She also worked at The Hackett Group and CSC before joining KPMG ten years ago.
TechInformed met Meshaka at this year’s Appian World conference, where she was one of five female business leaders sharing their experiences of leading digital transformation projects.
What is the biggest challenge in your current role?
The market is moving very fast with technology, faster than I’ve ever seen in my 30 plus years of being in tech. The challenge is taking all this information that we have and distilling it in what can drive client outcomes. From an industry or sector perspective, it’s finding the right alliances that are going to have the greatest impact for our clients and get the other noise out of the system.
What are the secrets to managing large, complex projects?
There’s no secret but I’m a big believer in making a plan and working the plan. And over communicating. Making sure everyone understands what’s working well, what isn’t working well, what’s going to be on time, what the budget looks like and sharing that with all parties involved. Managing expectations so there are no surprises. That’s just good solid programme management.
When you’re working with multiple stakeholders what’s the key to getting things moving?
I like to create a group of influencers among the stakeholders so that they can help to advocate and to amplify the messages and drive that collaboration. And sometimes that means that we must shift course, but that’s not difficult. We tend to underestimate the power of influence in organisations and that it takes work to figure out who your influencers are.
What mistakes do tech firms make when they develop and execute business strategies?
They don’t come into it with focus and a plan. There’s a lot of high fivin’ and chants of “We’re going to do $2bn!” but they haven’t worked out how they are going to get there yet or how it is going to be beneficial to all parties who are involved. Because until you understand what is going to motivate each person in that partnership you are not going to be successful.
My advice is to pick an industry, pick a solution that is going to drive a good outcome, get good at that and then figure out how you can lift that and translate that into another sector. A lot of solutions that we deliver are translatable into other sectors and they are proven.
What has been a career low point for you?
This was a long time ago now, but I was having an executive meeting with a client and sometimes we have to deliver tough messages: the going live time isn’t going to be when they think it is, for instance. There was another partner with me when I was delivering one of these messages when the client got irate. They did not advocate for me and threw me under the bus. And that hurt. I took it very personally. We were in the same firm. We were partners. That was a hard pill to swallow. I felt betrayed.
The partner wanted to agree with the client, but I’ve always found that one of the strengths in a leader is that it’s ok to deliver tough messages, and having courage to do that is a sign of a good leader.
How would you characterise your leadership style?
I would say that I have a direct style. I bring empathy into the equation, but I am direct and transparent to a fault. But I find that people react very well to that if they know that you are coming from a place of honesty.
I find it heartwarming that we are in a time now where it’s easier for female leaders to be authentic and we should find courage and strength in that. I have one daughter and four boys, but I love working with women and helping them achieve what they want to achieve and helping them find their voice.
What personal tech could you not live without
My two vices are jewelry and tech. I can’t live without any of my Gen AI apps. My youngest son, who’s 18 now, introduced me to VR games – and I’m never taking that headset off! I’m passionate about tech because I can see how much productivity it can generate and how it can enhance quality of life.
What do you to do switch off from work – and tech – completely?
I cook. My signature dish is Lebanese – Kibbeh Nayeh – which my grandmother taught me how to cook. It’s specially prepared raw lamb ground with bulgar wheat and onions and cinnamon and seven different spices. You have to grind it three times to make it nice and really doughy and then you put it in Lebanese bread with warm oil and onions.
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