I’m interested in how
organisations work.

I’m David Abolarin, an operations leader, engineering practitioner, and founder of Foothills Consulting. My professional experience spans manufacturing, automotive, and technology environments, with work across operational improvement, enterprise systems, material flow, and project delivery.

I am based in Midland, Texas, and work in operations at AST SpaceMobile. My graduate studies at Penn State have deepened my interest in enterprise architecture leadership, strategy, and business architecture.

Strategy defines the organisation we build

I explore how choices about customers, value, and competitive advantage shape capabilities, structure, decision rights, people, and rewards. Those relationships help explain why organisations perform as they do and what leaders need to change.

My writing extends that perspective into Industry 4.0, AI, supply chains, and emerging technology. I am interested in the conditions that make a new idea useful: clear purpose, sound judgment, dependable information, and people equipped to act.

Leadership as stewardship

Leading through operational difficulty has reinforced a conviction that people deserve both dignity and clarity. Expectations matter, and so do the priorities, resources, and authority that allow people to meet them.

I view leadership as stewardship: using responsibility well, developing people, and leaving an organisation stronger than I found it.

A personal home for my ideas

This site brings together my articles, visual guides, and invitations to conversation. My earlier writing appears on The Loop, my Penn State blog. My connection to Foothills Consulting is part of my professional story; the perspectives here are my own.