Fortune - 04.2020

questioning that technology can

transform us. But we need to get

return on our investment.”

CEOs and business journalists talk

endlessly about “digital disruption.”

How do you define the term?

I’ll first talk about what “digital”

means because a lot of people equate

“digital” with “technology.” Digital is

really two things. It refers to a set

of technologies, everything from

artificial intelligence to the use of

e-commerce. But digital is really

about a different way of working, of

making decisions, of partnering and

reaching your clients, and so it’s also

about how you do things. And the

most successful companies really

understand that going digital means

changing how they work, how they

engage, and how they make decisions.

But it’s the other half of the term—

”disruption”—that frightens many: It

may well mean they’ll be out of a job

in five years. What do you say

to clients to help them have that

THE DIGITAL DECADE

Prior to being named CEO of Accen-

ture in September, you were CEO of

the firm’s North American business.

(^2) How have your daily conversa-
tions changed?
SWEET I’ve spent the last six months
traveling the globe, meeting with
over 70 CEOs and 100 other C-suite
leaders and our clients in Europe,
Asia, and North America. It’s been an
incredibly intense time but exciting
because when you do that in such a
compressed time period, you hear
consistent themes around the globe
and across industry. One theme is
that we are at an inflection point. For
large companies, they are looking
at 2020 as the decade of delivery on
the promise of digital and technol-
ogy. We spent the last five to six years
experimenting, doing business cases,
and now it’s about going quickly from
vision to execution to material value.
It’s a very different mindset. CEOs
are saying, “We’re not questioning
more digital business. We’re not
The
Conversation
JULIE SWEET
At age 42, Julie Sweet jumped from being a partner at an elite New York City
law firm to becoming general counsel at Accenture. Now, a decade later, she’s
running the place. We sat down with the new CEO of the $43-billion-in-revenue
professional services firm 1 to learn what she’s seeing—and hearing—about
the global economy today. INTERVIEW BY CLIFTON LEAF
“Large
com panies
are looking
at this as
the decade
of delivery
on the
promise of
technology. ”
THIS EDITED Q&A HAS BEEN CONDENSED FOR SPACE AND CLARITY.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK
CNV.W.04.20.XMIT.indd 6 FINAL 3/10/2020 8:04:27 PM