Navigating the complexities of billion-dollar deals and massive construction projects requires more than technical knowledge – it demands operational excellence at every level. Few understand this balance better than Akin Oni, Senior Project Executive in Oil, Gas, Refining & Mining, who has built his career helping organizations worldwide streamline operations in high-stakes environments. His practical approach offers valuable insights for executives facing the make-or-break moments that determine whether complex projects succeed or spiral into costly disasters.
Delivering Results Beyond Buzzwords
Remember when everyone had an “innovation lab” but nobody could tell you what it actually did? That’s how Akin once viewed operational excellence. “There was a time in my career when the term operational excellence was just a department name or a buzzword,” he admits. “Something companies aspired to but few truly understood and implemented.” That’s changed dramatically. Now he sees it as make-or-break territory for major projects. “In mega transactions, engineering, procurement, and construction projects, operational excellence is no longer optional,” he says. “It’s the difference between success and failure, between profit and loss.” It even affects who sticks around – determining “where employees come and stay or come and go with rapidity.”
So, what does it actually mean when you strip away the corporate speak? Akin boils it down: “At its core, it’s about consistently delivering outstanding results through effectiveness, efficiency, nimbleness, and continuous improvement.” But it goes deeper than processes. “It’s about instilling a culture where excellence isn’t just an initiative but a mindset,” he explains. It touches everything – “every process, every decision, and every stakeholder interaction.”
Ensuring Successful Mergers
We’ve all seen the headlines about mergers that looked great on paper but crashed in reality. Akin points out why: “Mergers and acquisitions are often seen as financial transactions, but their true success lies in execution excellence.” He breaks down what often gets missed. First, companies need “due diligence with a focus on integration – identifying not just financial risks but operational gaps in leadership, culture, technology, and workflows.” They also need solid game plans – what he calls “integration playbooks” that create “structured frameworks to accelerate value realization.”
Technology plays a huge role too. Akin advocates “technology-driven integration, leveraging AI, automation, and data analytics to optimize asset consolidation and workforce harmonization.” Without this, even the best-planned mergers can fall apart during implementation.
Preventing Mega-Project Failures
For construction and engineering mega-projects, Akin has seen it all – the disasters and the triumphs. He’s identified four non-negotiables for success. First, you need smart “risk allocation and contracting strategies.” This means “shifting from adversarial contracting to collaborative models that balance risk-reward and ensure alignment of interest.” Second comes tech: “digitalization and predictive analytics, using artificial intelligence, BIM and real-time project controls” to spot problems before they explode. The third piece is about cutting waste – “lean project delivery and agile construction, eliminating waste, improving productivity, and embedding continuous improvement.” Finally, there’s the supply chain piece – “leveraging digital sourcing, advanced logistics, and skilled labor strategies to prevent execution bottlenecks.”
Akin doesn’t sugarcoat today’s business environment. “We live in an era where complexity, uncertainty, and disruption are constants,” he states. But that’s exactly why operational excellence matters more than ever. His challenge to leaders cuts to the heart of the matter: “Are you leading with execution discipline or just managing for survival? Are you integrating people, processes, and technology for long-term value creation?” The companies that come out on top tomorrow, Akin believes, won’t be the ones with the flashiest strategies – they’ll be “those that commit to excellence today.” His final call to action is straightforward: “Let’s make it happen. It’s on us—all of us.”
Connect with Akin Oni on LinkedIn to dive deeper into his approach to operational excellence.
