The Fourth Industrial Revolution demands that CEOs take responsibility for the massive transformation of their businesses and for the extraordinary impact that this transformation will have on wider society.
Accenture has long been a champion of inclusion and diversity and, specifically, gender balance at every level of our organization, including our board of directors.
We know from our business with clients around the world that when companies bring together people of different genders, races, cultures, and perspectives, we are smarter, more creative, more innovative, and more relevant.
Frankly, it can be lonely at the top when it comes to driving diversity.
People want to know on an ongoing basis, 'Am I doing right? Am I moving in the right direction? Do you think I'm progressing?' Nobody's going to wait for an annual cycle to get that feedback.
We know how to make flexibility when needed.
Do you want an interesting job? Yes. Do you want a balanced life? Yes. And to make a contribution as well? Of course.
Being surrounded by diverse points of view pushes us beyond our comfort zones. And when people and teams bring multiple perspectives and experiences to the table, the discussions are deeper, the decision-making process is better, and the solutions are stronger.
The world has always been uncertain. This is the nature of the world.
What I'm trying to do is to use my hologram at the same time in multiple locations, so I can be in front of thousands of people without leaving my office.
The Accenture culture is the same worldwide.
Business is doing better than governments.
More and more, our clients expect not only relevant advice, not only setting a road map or helping them plan, but being committed to business results.
My background is around economics and finance; yet, of course, in professional services, talent is key. And for many of our clients, whatever the industry, they all are coming to me saying their No. 1 challenge is getting the right talent.
We are one of the largest enterprise app developers in the world as well as very active in the Internet of Things through our connected platform. So we could connect people to people, device to device, machine to machine, almost everything with everything.
I had good coaches and mentors. They helped me a lot, and I trusted them when they tapped on my shoulder to move to the next level. And maybe I've been smart enough to always say yes more than no when I've been proposed a new and challenging jobs.
Increasingly, we are embedding artificial intelligence into the core of our clients' businesses across every function and process.
We continue to operate in a fast-changing environment driven by so much disruption, and in this context, we see significant opportunity and demand for Accenture's highly relevant and differentiated services.
The rigor and discipline we use in running our business is key to consistently executing our growth strategy. And we systematically applied the same discipline to our investments, including acquisitions.
As a professional services company, our people ultimately make the difference in delivering high-quality services to clients. This is why we are so focused on attracting the best people and investing to further develop their skills.
