Global professional services company Accenture’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Julie Sweet, in a recent interview, shared her journey of becoming an executive and highlighted what people should never do if they get offered a ‘big’ job opportunity in life. 

In an interview with Fortune Magazine, Julie Sweet recalled how one day, her then-boss, Pierre Nanterme, the CEO of Accenture, called her and asked whether or not she was interested in running the company. 

Sweet highlighted how one never knows when their big break will knock at their doorstep, and she did not let that question trigger her self-doubt. 

“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,’ said Sweet, citing Nanterme, emphasing how this was a pivotal moment in her life. 

CEO role offer

Julie Sweet explained how this question marked a surreal moment in her life, as she served as a general counsel at Accenture with a legal background. Even though she did not fit the mould of a typical CEO, she had a history of leading men, and unlike her predecessors, she had not spent her entire career in the same company. 

In the interview with Fortune Magazine, Sweet said that even Nanterme understood that a promotion from general counsel to CEO is not feasible. He suggested that she should run something else before running the company. 

Things you should never do

Julie Sweet revealed that at that moment, while interacting with the CEO of Accenture, she recalled what the former JPMorgan Chase CFO, Dina Dublon. 

“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 cited Dublon, according to the Fortune report. 

So, channelling Dublon’s advice, Sweet looked at Nanterme. Instead of cracking with self-doubt, she was confident and said that she would be interested in listening to the offer of a greater opportunity. 

“I looked at him and I said—with Dina in my head—why, yes, I’d be interested. What did you have in mind?” said Sweet. 

This confidence reportedly set her career in motion toward the top of the corporate ladder, and later in 2019, Julie Sweet was named the CEO of Accenture. 

Power of Confidence 

Sweet suggested that people should be confident, as confidence in the workplace extends beyond just being offered a big job opportunity, according to the news portal’s report. 

“We are constantly challenging each other and our assumptions,” Sweet explained. “When you build a team that thinks that the status quo is challenging assumptions, embracing change, it means you’re constantly questioning. You don’t need to stop and have a big strategy… because you’re always working on the strategy.”

And with this state of challenging each other and the assumptions, having the confidence to ask questions doesn’t stop for Sweet. 

“I figured out pretty quickly that if I wanted to be the business leader with legal experience, I had to deeply understand the business,” she said.