Sharon Allen, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Deloitte LLP: What you can control now

With the long recession, spiraling unemployment and increasing workload for those who still have a job, it might seem that everything is out of your control. Not so, says Sharon Allen, chairman of the board of directors, Deloitte LLP.  Speaking recently as part of Goizueta's Dean's Leadership Speaker Series, Allen described to an audience of alumni and students three issues they can control regardless of the economic environment: 

Decision-making.  The challenge is to carefully weigh options, consider the impact, and stand firm, Allen said.  For instance, Deloitte's New York practice office was located in the World Trade Center during the 1993 bombing.  Bill Parrett, then Deloitte's New York managing partner and later its Global CEO, thought the building would always be a target. "Although we were in a recession - and in spite of the considerable expense that breaking the lease would incur - we moved across the street to another location.  It was a very costly decision.  But not as costly as it could have been," said Allen, after the vacated space was destroyed during the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Ethical Behavior.  Too often people think of business ethics as separate from personal ethics. Allen stressed that this way of thinking is "like keeping two sets of books" and  cited a scene from the movie Sunshine Cleaning.  One of the characters played by Alan Arkin has just started a business and painted, ‘Since 1963' on his van because he says, ‘People like stability...It's a business lie.  It's different from a life lie.'" According to Allen, there can be no such distinction: "Acting ethically at all times is absolutely fundamental to making your personal brand a perpetually appreciating asset."

Career-life balance.  "In many organizations, the opportunity to grow means a decision to move so that you can show your talents on a larger stage," Allen noted.  Yet she chose to remain at Deloitte's Boise office for more than 20 years to meet personal and professional priorities.  "I remained true to myself," Allen said, "at every stage of my journey."  Clearly, "staying put" did not slow her career. After her husband sold his business, she moved on to positions of greater responsibility.  At each stop, people wanted to know how I knew so much.  "Spending more than 20 years in Boise allowed me to learn every facet of our business inside and out."  Allen later became the first woman to chair a Big Four U.S. professional services firm.

Robert Ruprecht 79MBA alum and partner at Deloitte, introduced Allen at the Goizueta event and noted that more than 100 alumni had been Deloitte employees.

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