Name: Julie Sweet shares insights gleaned from consulting with top CEOs
Uploaded: 2020-10-22
Duration: 9 min 19 s
Description: The Accenture CEO says workforce location and digital transformation are top of mind.

 SUSIE GHARIB: Julie, thank you so much for joining us. In your role as CEO of Accenture, you spend a lot of time talking to and advising CEOs who run Fortune 500 and Global 500 companies. And we want to just get a little bit of a window into what's top of mind with this group. So let me just begin with the topic of the pandemic and the tricky question of, do you continue remote working or do you begin to bring your workers back into the office? What are they asking, and what are you telling them is the best strategy right now? JULIE SWEET: Really, the topic is not so much about if they should bring workers back or even, in fact, how to bring workers back-- because I think most companies have really been focusing on health and how to manage it. It's really about the pace, and also the uncertainty about what remote working should look like in the future. And what I would say is that most CEOs are taking more of a, we know it's going to be different, but we're not sure yet what the right answer is approach. And so there's a lot more dialogue that's less what was really happening early on, which was, the world's going to change, and it's all going to go remote working. And there's much more, I think, a thoughtful approach, that there's going to be a lot of experimentation. SUSIE GHARIB: Let's talk a little bit about digital transformation. We've seen many companies that have stepped up their purchases of new technologies because of the pandemic. What questions are you getting now about the need and the pace for digital technology adoption, and what kind of technologies that they should be acquiring? JULIE SWEET: There are two kinds of companies right now. There's the leaders who pre-COVID had been investing a lot. And even pre-COVID, our research showed that they were doing twice as well as those who were well behind, in the bottom 25%. The leaders are asking us, how do we widen the gap even further? Those who were behind are asking us, how do we make up-- not just catch up, but actually leapfrog? SUSIE GHARIB: And what are you telling them? JULIE SWEET: Well, we're telling them, first of all, that there is a real opportunity in sometimes being slow means that you can leapfrog by looking at what the leaders have done and taking advantage of the experience of really the last five or six years. If you take a step back, what's really happened right now is that there's been a massive acceleration of what, in January, we thought would take 10 years. And we believe now it will really take five years to re-platform global business in the cloud and have digital transform every part of the enterprise. SUSIE GHARIB: Where does China fit in, given all of the tensions and uncertainties between the US and China? What are the questions or the concerns that the CEOs who you speak with have about the future of their China business, their China operations? And as a China expert yourself, Julie, what kind of moves are you telling them that they should make? What kind of advice are you giving them? JULIE SWEET: China remains an absolutely critical market. What we're seeing, though, is beyond China, there's a broader conversation about what is the crisis doing geopolitically and competitively in different parts of the world, because of the resilience of different countries-- starting with China, but not limited to China. And we are still seeing many companies looking at investments in China and really thinking through, how can we work with governments and other companies to find a path forward? But really, what's important is that there's a much broader conversation going on right now about Europe, about LATAM, and other parts of APAC as well. SUSIE GHARIB: I'd like turn to racial diversity. This has been a very important subject all across corporate America. As you know, many CEOs have made promises and pledges to their workforce to say that they want to do more and do better in terms of having a diverse workplace. When they talk to you about this issue, do you believe that they are taking the right steps to meet their goals? And what are you advising them of other ways that they can meet their goals? JULIE SWEET: First of all, I'm very optimistic, because I believe the commitment that you are hearing from CEOs across the country is real. And you see that in the work, for example, at the Business Roundtable. I've been participating in that work, as have most CEOs. And it's real. I think that's important, because it's really the first question. And the reason we know it's real is because companies are taking actions. At Accenture, for example, we set external goals about how we want to improve representation overall and at the leadership level. But the conversation that CEOs are having is very much about, how do we achieve these goals through data, measurement, and action, and having a clear plan. And that's why I'm so much more optimistic than ever before that we are going to move the needle. SUSIE GHARIB: What about what you're doing at Accenture? You've been very upfront with your 500,000 employees about your goals to make the company racially diverse. What are you doing? JULIE SWEET: So we're doing three things. First is we set the goals. And those goals are about both improving the number of managing directors, our leaders, as well as overall representation. The second thing we're doing is to create an action plan around how we're going to achieve those goals. And our entire leadership team has stepped up to be accountable for doing so. The third thing that we're doing is that we've introduced mandatory training about how to identify and speak up about racism. And this builds on what was already mandatory training about unconscious bias. But I think as a country and a company, we saw that there are differences between unconscious bias and actual racism. And we felt it was important to call out those differences and to help make people aware and ensure that they will speak up. SUSIE GHARIB: Some experts who I've talked to on this topic says it has to be intentional on the part of senior leadership, the CEO to hit these goals, and there should be incentives to meet those targets. What are your thoughts on that? JULIE SWEET: I think these goals are like every other business goal. Right? You hold leaders accountable. You set the goals. You have an action plan. You measure progress. And you hold them accountable. So let me share what we're doing at Accenture more broadly around inclusion and diversity. We're introducing a scorecard for our top 500 leaders globally. It's called the Shared Success Scorecard. And it has what we call the Fundamental Five. We will be measuring our leaders on sales, revenue, and profitability, as well as the retention of key talent, our best people, and inclusion and diversity goals being met. This is how you help move the needle, because you demonstrate that inclusion and diversity and investment in people are as important as our first three goals, which are all financial in nature. SUSIE GHARIB: Julie, you know, 2020 has been a pivotal year for just about every business all around the world. It's also been your first year as CEO of Accenture. From everything that you've observed and learned this year, what do you believe is the single most crucial action that every CEO should make now so they come out as leaders? JULIE SWEET: It's a great question. And I have to say, it's been quite a first year as CEO. But if you just take a step back, there's so much, of course, that you can say about what's necessary. But if there was only one action, I would say it's invest in your people. We are at a time of unprecedented change. And we were saying that pre-COVID. Our organizations and our people, and our communities, will only thrive if we are learners, if there is a deliberate strategy to bring people along the journey to embrace the change. And so whatever your business, every business today is a people business. And so the one thing I would say is you have to invest in your people, because then the organization will take you where you need to go. 

The Accenture CEO says workforce location and digital transformation are top of mind.

Julie Sweet shares insights gleaned from consulting with top CEOs

Leadership

The Accenture CEO sites workforce, digital transformation.