Nov. 8, 2007

Deloitte CEO Takes MPA Students

Down  the Yellow Brick Road to Success

By Jennifer Lloyd

“The Wizard of Oz” helped Barry Salzberg, CEO of Deloitte & Touche USA, define the characteristics of great leadership when he spoke at the Lyceum Speaker Series Nov. 7.

While in Austin, Salzberg also took the opportunity to give the final payment for the Deloitte & Touche Chair in Accounting, which was established in 2002 in recognition of the superior achievement in accounting education and research at The University of Texas at Austin.

Deloitte Leads the Way

“There are a number of qualities that every CEO needs to have,” Salzberg said. “And I realized that five of those qualities are very neatly embodied in one of the classics of American cinema. I’m going to enroll you all in the Wizard of Oz School of Management.”

(Continued below.)

Dorothy remained dedicated to finding her way home despite the amazing splendors of Oz. Salzberg said this was an example of the first leadership quality—the ability to pursue a goal to its fruition. Then he moved on to Dorothy’s entourage. According to Salzberg, every true leader needed the qualities sought by the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.
 
“There we have three more leadership qualities: brains, heart—which in the business world we might call ‘empathy’—and courage,” Salzberg said. “We find the fifth leadership quality in one of the most overlooked characters of the movie, the character who consistently displays the leadership quality of, you might say, ‘dogged determination.’ I’m talking about Toto.”

Customizing Career Paths

Salzberg also related the Wizard of Oz metaphor to the world of business and the company he helps steer to success. He said Deloitte, a professional services firm, uses both brains and empathy to attract a contemporary workforce in the midst of a talent shortage.
 
“You are the talent,” said Salzberg to the students. “And there are not nearly enough of you out there right now for my comfort.”
 
Salzberg said that as baby boomers begin to retire, the professional workforce will shrink. In addition, the younger generations see themselves as more family-centric than work-centric. In response to this demand, Deloitte has embraced a “brains” and “empathy” approach to recruiting and retaining young employees, dubbed Mass Career Customization. The company accomplishes this by allowing employees to customize aspects of their careers such as pace, workload, schedule and role. The flexibility allows employees to feel empowered and to use their best moral judgment, said Salzberg.
 
“Businesses are living organisms, not exhibits in a museum,” he said. “Successful businesses need to evolve and must change. That is the essence of the leadership challenge that we face: to drive change and create an environment that is inclusive and responsive to all generations.”
 
And before handing over Deloitte’s final donation toward the chair endowment and accepting a black cowboy hat from the Department of Accounting, Salzberg told the audience to “always remember that the business world is not just about business, it’s about the world.” He urged students to broaden their horizons by watching movies and plays, joining in sports and contributing to charities.

“Every activity you do informs who you are and can help you improve,” said Salzberg. “Lessons about business can be found everywhere, even in a 70-year-old children’s movie.”

 

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