Pictured: Brian Stafford, CEO of Diligent
Business & Finance was founded in 1964 and this year marks our 60th anniversary. To celebrate this extraordinary milestone, we are running a series of Leadership interviews with business leaders who are creating lasting legacies across the corporate landscape of Ireland.
Brian Stafford is CEO of Diligent, the world’s largest governance risk and compliance software-as-a-service company, with central headquarters based in New York. There are approximately 300 people based in its Galway office.
By David Monaghan
Brian Stafford is the epitome of business resilience. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Chicago.
He then started a company that grew very quickly. Called CarOrder, it was an online vehicle sales subsidiary of Trilogy Software, and it experienced exponential success. Then, the dot-com bubble burst.
His ability to bounce back was astounding and was top of mind when I spoke to him, via Zoom, on a crisp spring morning. That, as well as the importance of leadership and giving back to the community.
Diligent
Stafford is CEO of Diligent, the world’s largest governance risk and compliance software-as-a-service company, with central headquarters based in New York.
“I’ve been with Diligent for nine years,” says Stafford. “We have a little over 2000 people now, when I joined we had a little over 300 people.”
The company works with approximately 25,000 companies around the world, used by 70% of the FTSE 100, 70% of the Fortune 1000, two-thirds of the DAX 30, and 65% of the ASX 200. Its largest set of users is board members.
The company has a large international presence, with half its revenue coming from outside the United States. There are approximately 300 people based in its Galway office.
Resilience
His career before Diligent included a position as partner at McKinsey & Company and, most notably, his own start-up, CarOrder.
On CarOrder’s subsequent folding, he said: “We had to shut down most of the company and sell part of it. When [it] didn’t work out, you sort of had to go and reinvent yourself and figure out what lessons you could learn from it and how to apply them to whatever was next.”
Reflecting on the experience, Stafford says: “Having to go through ups and downs or difficult circumstances, it builds colour, builds perspective, builds context and experience
“There’s many lessons that most leaders have learned that they would tell you, they would rather have learned those lessons the easy way versus the hard way.
“But sometimes, you know, learning lessons in a more challenging environment does make you stronger.”
As a leader, does he value resilience? He pauses. “It’s not if you get knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up, and I think that’s really, really important.”
Stafford notes that there have been different points in his career where “you had to get back up and dust your feet off and try something new.
“As long as you keep the customer and the impact you have with the customer, at the forefront, I think, ultimately you’re successful over the long term.”
After CarOrder folded, Stafford went to work for McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting firm, to “learn how bigger and more successful companies operated.” He was with the group from 2004 to 2015.
While at McKinsey, Stafford received the offer to become Diligent CEO.
“I thought it was a fantastic company, with a fantastic core of customer service and customer experience, and I thought that created an opportunity to build and scale that into a bigger company that could have a broader impact on our clients.”
Entrepreneurship
Stafford thinks entrepreneurship is incredibly important.
“I think the desire or the ability to go do something new or different or on your own, I think is such a valuable characteristic and trait.
“And I really, really admire people who go out there and want to leave their job and build something new. I think that’s a tough thing to do.”
Stafford believes that embracing entrepreneurship at any company is vital, and says individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit should be given “the freedom… encouragement and support.”
“I think you can build great things within companies,” he says.
Navigating difficult situations
How does Stafford navigate difficult circumstances? “I think, stick true to your values,” he says.
“And know what your internal compass is. I think that’s the best way to navigate through those situations.”
What if a conflict arises at work? “I like to tell people sometimes when you might encounter a difficult person, you have no idea what else is going on in that person’s life. The frustration may not be about you. Maybe something else is going on with them.
“So again, stick true to your values and your internal compass. I think empathy is incredibly important in being a leader.”
How does this empathy manifest? “I think being empathetic to your team, obviously. I also think it’s really important to be empathetic for your customers too, and kind, and feel for them at every touch point in which you operate your business and try to make their experience better, easier, simpler, faster.”
Stafford lists his internal values as “hard work, determination, integrity.”
“I’d say another one is intellectual curiosity,” he adds.
Giving back
“I think it’s incredibly important to give back to communities in which you operate,” says Stafford
Diligent offers initiatives focused on ensuring communities are offered various development programs. Stafford also looks to hire people who come from underserved backgrounds.
“We have a Global Day of Service where everyone in all of our offices takes a day off and goes and works in their community, places where you can help local organisations who are doing good.
For his part, Stafford sits on a nonprofit board. “I’ve been committed to the same nonprofit organisation for more than a dozen years,” he says
“It’s in the arts and arts development space, an organisation called Brooklyn Academy of Music.”
Stafford was drawn to Brooklyn Academy of Music not just for its mission of being a home for adventurous artists and audiences, but also its commitment to the community that it operates in.
Diligent’s future
The last number of years have posed significant challenges for the governance and risk management sphere.
“But we just see from Diligent in our business perspective such an interesting evolution in the world around organisations being faced with an increasing number of risks that impact ultimately how they perform, whether you’re a nonprofit or for profit.
“The pandemic entered in a new risk that organisations and leaders had to deal with, the great resignation entered in a new risk that organisations had to deal with, geopolitical risk is probably higher than it’s been in many of our lifetimes.
“That is now a new issue that has to be managed along with other things like cyber enterprise risk supply chains.
“There are so many things going on even from a regulation perspective in Europe and the EU around making sure companies are more aware of their footprint and their risk, whether it’s climate and sustainability or one of those areas like due diligence around your supply chain.
“These are all areas that are incredibly important, introducing a new set of risks that businesses manage and we have the opportunity through software to help companies better understand and categorise those risks, assign owners to it, mitigate the risk and help to better manage through it.
“And then ultimately for the countries they operate in to disclose how well they’re doing on mitigating those risks.”
Diligent One
“We’ve taken all those risks and managed everything we do and we put it in an integrated platform for our clients called the Diligent One Platform.
“We’re actually going to be releasing a new management system to help you better understand and manage risks in general to help largely in response to clients’ questions and feedback around the ever-increasing number of risks.”
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