Accenture recently announced a major organizational restructure, and its CEO Julie Sweet, chose a rather unconventional method to communicate this move to employees. Instead of sending a company-wide memo, Sweet chose to send the message out through a video.
“Reading it on a piece of paper would not have conveyed the why in the same way as hearing it—hearing the excitement in my voice, understanding the passion we have for why we’re changing,” Sweet said in a recent interview with Alyson Shontell, Fortune‘s editor-in-chief, for the first-ever episode of the Fortune 500 Titans and Disrupters of Industry podcast.
Sweet believes the restructure represents reversing “five decades of how we’re working.” The move brings together previously siloed business units to better serve clients seeking comprehensive digital transformation, aligning Accenture’s organizational structure with its strategy to be “the reinvention partner of choice” for businesses navigating rapid technological change.
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According to Fortune, there was a recognition that the transformation had to be both decisive, and deeply human. The restructure wasn’t intended to be a cost-cutting effort, though Sweet recognizes it ended up uncovering efficiencies and duplications. Rather, the move was driven by client needs, as well as Accenture’s goal of delivering integrated solutions combining industry knowledge, technical expertise, data, AI, and functional capabilities as a single offering.
“In order to capture the opportunity with AI, you really have to be willing to rewire your company,” Sweet said. “Many times, when clients are saying, we’re not getting a lot out of AI, it’s because they’re trying to apply it to how they operate today.”
Sweet also solicited feedback and critiques from her leadership team, refining her message through multiple iterations. “I try to have no ego on communication, because it’s so important that we’re really clear,” she said, noting all her direct reports work with speech coaches to hone their communication skills.
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Sweet, who has been CEO at Accenture since 2019, had an unconventional career path. She used to be a high-powered corporate lawyer — she spent 17 years at the prestigious firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, making partner within eight years. She is the first woman to lead Accenture, and the first CEO in the company’s history who didn’t start there straight out of college. Under her leadership, the company’s revenue has grown more than 50%, and she’s been recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful People in Business.
Accenture has generated $64.9 billion in fiscal 2024 and serves more than 9,000 clients, providing services spanning strategy consulting, cloud migration, data analytics, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and more. The company has hundreds of thousands of employees spread across more than 120 countries, and it helps organizations reinvent themselves in the digital age.
Sweet recently talked about AI, saying that the technology is no longer about experiments, but about showing measurable performance outcomes. “One word, reinvention. This isn’t about using AI on top of what you do today. If you’re not significantly changing the way you operate, then you’re not reinventing, and you’re not going to capture the value,” she said, adding that companies that fail to reinvent their operations around AI risk losing their place.