Grant Thornton CEO Said Jahani on leadership and shifting to a nine-day fortnight

When Said Jahani fled Iran as a child, he could never have imagined that one day he would lead one of Australia’s largest professional finance firms. As an elected CEO of Grant Thornton Australia, appointed in July this year, Mr Jahani has not only risen to the top of an extremely competitive industry; he is also redefining what it means to be a leader in an industry that is still adapting to seismic change and new ways of working. 

Speaking to a cohort of MBA students as part of the Meet the Director series hosted by AGSM @ UNSW Business School, Mr Jahani reflected on his career journey and some of the key lessons he has learned along the way. Grant Thornton’s most talked-about initiative was of particular interest to attendees: the company’s recent shift to a nine-day fortnight with full pay.  

“We brought it in shortly after COVID because people were getting really burnt out and we – like many companies – were experiencing massive turnover,” Mr Jahani (EMBA 2003, AGSM @ UNSW Business School) said. “It was controversial at the time. Some companies were trying four-day weeks, none in professional services, but we felt there was a strong business case. We call it ‘recharge time’ – giving back time so our people can actually recharge and have the energy to go again next week.” 

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Following a 12-month trial, the nine-day fortnight became permanent across Grant Thornton’s Australian offices. Staff work four-and-a-half days each week while maintaining full productivity and pay – a move that, according to Mr Jahani, has transformed morale, performance, and staff retention, all while ensuring a seamless client experience. 

“After a 12-month trial, turnover went down, sick leave went down, and productivity – which everyone thought would drop by 10% – actually went up,” he said. “Our financials and people engagement scores went up as well. Every statistic you could point to was positive, so we’ve made it permanent.”

Building resilience from the ground up 

Mr Jahani’s story began far away from boardrooms and balance sheets. “I was born in Iran, which at the time was known as Persia. In 1979, a revolution occurred, and an Islamic regime came to power. My parents were not Muslim, so we had to flee the country,” he said. 

His family sought asylum in England, settling in the seaside town of Bournemouth before migrating to Australia. “I was still quite a young child at the time, so my memory is pretty limited, but we settled in England as refugees,” he recalled. “It was probably hard for me, but it was probably a lot harder for my parents, because they left everything behind, and all their assets and businesses got confiscated. And then, in their 50s, they had to start afresh in a country where they didn’t know the language, they didn’t know the culture, and they had to support five kids.”

That experience, he said, shaped his resilience, particularly his understanding of what it takes to rebuild from nothing. “I never forget that background and that experience; it keeps me grounded. Resilience is a characteristic that I think is so important in leadership,” he added. 

From restructuring to reinvention 

After graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce and Accounting at the University of Sydney, Mr Jahani began his career as an accountant at PwC. He then became a senior manager at Ferrier Hodgson, where he deepened his expertise in corporate turnaround and supply chain recovery. That experience proved invaluable when he joined Grant Thornton nearly 20 years ago.

Rising through the ranks, he became Head of Financial Advisory for Sydney in 2012, leading teams across restructuring, corporate finance, forensic accounting, and debt advisory services. In 2019, he was appointed by then-CEO Greg Keith to lead the firm’s national advisory practice as National Managing Partner. In this role, he has overseen business advisory, corporate finance, and management consulting services across a diverse range of industries, including real estate, consumer products, and small business. 

“Our CEO at the time tapped me on the shoulder and said, I’d like you to lead our advisory business. So advisory business is about a quarter of the firm, and, you know, the challenge I had at that point in time is, I love the client work that I was doing. Leadership can get sucked into a bit of a vortex, and one of the things I said was, 'Look, I’m happy to do it, but I don’t want to give up my client-facing work.'"

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That insistence on staying close to clients, he said, is what maintains credibility. “When you are leading a bunch of partners in professional services, it’s actually one of quite the few areas where leadership and client delivery are inextricably linked.” 

Since stepping into the CEO role, Mr Jahani has led Grant Thornton through growth in both top-line performance and people engagement. As the firm looks ahead to the new financial year, he is focused on deepening its culture of trust, wellbeing, and innovation. “As a firm, we’ve been a trailblazer on people and culture initiatives," he said. "We were the first professional services firm to bring in 26 weeks of paid parental leave about eight or nine years ago; the rest of the industry has now caught up.” 

Advice for the next generation 

As graduates prepare to enter a new era of work, Mr Jahani said leadership is no longer about hierarchy but about curiosity – a mindset every aspiring professional should develop. “You never stop learning. You know, just because you hit a certain point in your career, even as CEO, I still have a very open mind that you always continue to learn,” he said. 

“What I’ve worked out now is that you actually learn more by listening and asking the right questions. And in fact, you can have more impact in a room by asking some really insightful questions, rather than just going in there and doing all the talking.”

He suggested entering the workforce to focus on values, relationships, and self-awareness. “What we’ve found in our organisation is that the people who are really successful are the ones whose personal value system, whose belief systems align with our organisation’s culture. What we want to understand is, you know, what gets you out of bed in the morning? What is your purpose? What are your values, and how do they align with our values?” 

Mentorship, he said, comes from a deep and genuine connection. “As I sort of built my brand, I started to narrow my network, and instead of trying to be everyone’s friend and collect 50 business cards in a room, I would just focus on going deep with a fewer, smaller group where it could have a meaningful impact.” 

“When you want to build deep relationships, you’ve got to think of those relationships like a bank account. So it’s two ways. You’ve got to help those individuals and support them in the same way you’re asking them to help you. So if you keep making withdrawals from the bank account, you need to make deposits in there just as much as you make withdrawals.” 

And when starting out in a new role, he said it’s important to set realistic expectations. “Don’t bite off more than you can chew. The temptation is you want to impress everyone, and you want to do everything right, and unfortunately, you know, that’s not physically or humanly possible. So just keep it simple. Just pick three things and just deliver on those three things… and really nail those three things.” 

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Leading with purpose

Looking ahead, Mr Jahani said that one of the three key things he wants to focus on is building a more agile, people-led organisation that can adapt quickly to the shifting realities of professional services, from digital disruption to global supply chain shocks. 

“We want to invest more in our leadership capability. We’ve been discussing the concept of a leadership shadow – that the behaviours and values of senior leaders, including myself and my direct reports, influence the entire firm. Historically, we haven’t really invested in developing that group, so we’re changing that by taking the whole leadership team to the AGSM for a one-week residential leadership program.” 

Future success, said Mr Jahani, depends on purpose and people as much as profit.