Meet Alex Saghatelian | Technology Executive, Innovation Growth Strategies

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alex Saghatelian and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alex, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I choose to think about risk from the lens of opportunities and decisions. Risk is defined as a situation involving exposure to danger, whereas an opportunity is the possibility of something happening, a chance. As you make decisions throughout your life, it’s important to be calculated and thoughtful to ensure you are living the life you desire. When we recognize this, we are able to make decisions with more clarity because we are considering the purpose and impact behind the decision. How do you want to live your life, what impact will your decisions have, what kind of habits do you want to form? To support this, sometimes we make decisions that are perceived as “risky” but are actually very rewarding because they align with your north star.
When I graduated USC’s MBA program in 2006, I made the decision to move to the Bay Area. I have always loved all aspects of technology and wanted to be in the epicenter of disruptive innovation. Technology is constantly changing all aspects of how we live, and I had to be a meaningful part of helping Technology companies build durable growth business around their market innovations. I turned this passion into my profession. As a result, it is my utmost honor to lead how companies build, transform, and execute business growth strategies, particularly in our dynamic, rapidly changing world. This includes multiple aspects and layers of strategic business planning and implementation.
To date, I have had the privilege of helping some of the world’s most admired brands accelerate their growth, including Accenture, Cisco, Workday, Hitachi, ServiceNow and currently Okta. Additionally, I have the opportunity to advise many Executives, startups, VC and PE firms, think through their business growth strategies.
We make decisions daily, some are small, others are big with high impact, such inflection points have many factors to evaluate. Risk taking, to me, is a multi-faceted, principle-based approach that ensures decisions are in line with my personal compass, desired outcomes, my level of preparedness accounting for potential benefits and drawbacks to support goals. Throughout my life I have made decisions that force me out of my comfort zone for new learnings that enable me to thrive and succeed over time in both a personal and professional capacity in ways that are fulfilling and impactful.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Set and action your goals. Have the courage to make those goals big, bold, and exciting. If your dreams/goals don’t scare you, then dream bigger. That said, dreams with no action are meaningless and action without clear intention can leave you stagnant, confused, and unfulfilled. The one constant in all our lives is time. No one ever gets it back; we only spend it. Spend the time you are given wisely. Embrace every phase of your life and make it count. I’ve learned to not be wasteful with my time, to honor it, and remember that life is precious. With that in mind, money and success matter, but what matters more is who we spend our time with and what we do with our time. This is particularly true in our professional lives where as a society we are often trained to make professional decisions sometimes exclusively on expected financial rewards. I read somewhere recently that we spend most of our time with our co-workers, it’s important that we fully enjoy what we are doing and who we are doing it with!
I’ve also learned that regret gets heavier with time. Whatever you are interested in, curious about and/or have passion for, make sure to give it some focus and investment. One of my biggest regrets is not taking my basketball talent and athleticism to its fullest potential and hanging up my competitive jersey in college to focus academic excellence. While I’m very proud of all my accomplishments, I often wonder what my basketball career could have been. We started this discussion focused on risk, in this instance I choose to take the “less-risky” path for professional and future success. As a result of this experience and lesson, I have reframed how I think about “risk” and now recognize that I probably could have done both: excelled professionally and athletically. Basketball, sports, and exercise continue to be a big part of who I am.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are many people whom I am grateful to who continue to encourage, guide and support me, including my wife, our two daughter, family, friends, and mentors.

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-saghatelian-a538b1/

Image Credits
Executive photos by Hilma Shahinian @hilmaphotography