Accenture CEO Julie Sweet says when a big job lands in your lap and you don't feel ready, don't let self-doubt answer first and it's the one thing she believes you should never do when opportunity knocks.
Julie Sweet’s Pivotal Moment Arrived At An Unexpected Time
Sweet said that in her case, the moment arrived in late 2014 during a routine one-on-one with then-CEO Pierre Nanterme. "At the end of the meeting, he closes his notebook and he pushes it aside, and he says to me, completely out of the blue… ';I think you could run this place someday,'" she recalled on Fortune's Titans and Disruptors of Industry podcast. The conversation came a month before doctors diagnosed her with breast cancer.
She didn't blink, she said, because she kept the counsel of Dina Dublon, the former JPMorgan Chase CFO and an Accenture board member, front of mind.
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Dina Dublon's Advice That Calmed Instinctive Self-Doubt
"When someone gives you a stretch role… chances are that the person offering you a stretch role is as nervous or more nervous than you are. So, don't say anything, like: Are you sure?" Sweet replied, "Why, yes, I'd be interested. What did you have in mind?"
The exchange set in motion Sweet's move from general counsel, which is not the typical launchpad for a consulting chief to run Accenture's North American business in 2015 and, in 2019, to become global CEO. She told Fortune that confidence, along with humility and excellence, remains core to how she leads and builds teams.
Accenture CEO’s Advice On Confidence And Curiosity
The message aligns with Sweet's recent comments that Fortune 500 leaders must pair boldness with measurable outcomes in the artificial-intelligence era, rather than conducting experiments for the sake of it.
Other executives echo versions of the same theme of projecting confidence, even while you keep learning. Nvidia Corp.'s Jensen Huang has said leaders need conviction without pretending to be certain and he's been candid about battling stage fright despite running a $4 trillion company.
Former Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer, for his part, has warned that overconfidence can backfire, citing Microsoft's mobile miss. For Sweet, the practical rule is don't talk yourself out of a stretch role. She mentions asking for help as one of her “superpowers,” reminding people that confidence and curiosity can coexist when the chance of a lifetime appears.
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