Accenture CEO Julie Candy says when an enormous job lands in your lap and you do not really feel prepared, do not let self-doubt reply first and it is the one factor she believes you must by no means do when alternative knocks.
Julie Candy’s Pivotal Second Arrived At An Surprising Time
Candy stated that in her case, the second arrived in late 2014 throughout a routine one-on-one with then-CEO Pierre Nanterme. “On the finish of the assembly, he closes his pocket book and he pushes it apart, and he says to me, utterly out of the blue… ‘I believe you could possibly run this place sometime,'” she recalled on Fortune’s Titans and Disruptors of Business podcast. The dialog got here a month earlier than medical doctors identified her with breast most cancers.
She did not blink, she stated, as a result of she stored the counsel of Dina Dublon, the previous JPMorgan Chase CFO and an Accenture board member, entrance of thoughts.
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Dina Dublon’s Recommendation That Calmed Instinctive Self-Doubt
“When somebody offers you a stretch function… chances are high that the individual providing you a stretch function is as nervous or extra nervous than you’re. So, do not say something, like: Are you positive?” Candy replied, “Why, sure, I might have an interest. What did you take into account?”
The change set in movement Candy’s transfer from common counsel, which isn’t the standard launchpad for a consulting chief to run Accenture’s North American enterprise in 2015 and, in 2019, to turn out to be world CEO. She instructed Fortune that confidence, together with humility and excellence, stays core to how she leads and builds groups.
Accenture CEO’s Recommendation On Confidence And Curiosity
The message aligns with Candy’s current feedback that Fortune 500 leaders should pair boldness with measurable outcomes within the artificial-intelligence period, relatively than conducting experiments for the sake of it.
Different executives echo variations of the identical theme of projecting confidence, even when you continue learning. Nvidia Corp.’s Jensen Huang has stated leaders want conviction with out pretending to make sure and he is been candid about battling stage fright regardless of working a $4 trillion firm.
Former Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer, for his half, has warned that overconfidence can backfire, citing Microsoft’s cell miss. For Candy, the sensible rule is do not discuss your self out of a stretch function. She mentions asking for assist as considered one of her “superpowers,” reminding those that confidence and curiosity can coexist when the prospect of a lifetime seems.
Photograph Courtesy: insta_photos on Shutterstock.com
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