Dr. Phil doppelgänger and incoming Deloitte Global CEO Barry Salzberg spoke at Wharton recently about leadership and how it has changed quite a bit since he started at Haskin & Sells in 1977. He riffed about the old days in his speech including how jackets were all but mandatory (especially if you were from Brooklyn) and the aforementioned boss from Hell:
“In those days, [Deloitte] was a fancy, formal place,” Salzberg recalled, “so formal that you would get bawled out — and I did — if you were caught in the hallway without your jacket, especially if you arrived speaking a foreign language like Brooklynese.” His first leadership lesson came on his third day. “Bosszilla,” as he calls his first boss, asked him for a photocopy of a tax ruling. Eager to please and show off his legal savvy, Salzberg included his own two-page interpretation. “Mr. Salzberg,” Bosszilla hissed, “I asked you for a copy of the ruling, not your interpretation. One copy, stapled.”
Of course, the Big Salz knew that this wasn’t how he wanted to lead so you can bet your signed copy of As One that he spends plenty of time at the Xerox machine. Another leadership trait that has gone the way of the Dodo is that CEOs don’t mingle with the commoners. Bar is out there mixing it up on the regular:
“What I do is get out and talk to people to give them the opportunity to share. And then what you have to do is act on it, so people understand that you can change your mind.” As head of Deloitte’s U.S. operations, Salzberg visits as many as 25 to 35 offices every year, sitting down with partners to hear their concerns. When he becomes global CEO, he plans to travel more, he said. “There’s nothing that can replace face-to-face interaction. Getting the rubber on the shoes worn out is how to do it.”
And of course, in this day in and age, you simply can’t ignore animal metaphors:
“No burying your head in the sand if there’s a problem, and no ignoring the elephant in the room. Much better to name and tame an issue, no matter how difficult it is,” than to ignore it or pretend it isn’t there, he said. “Making sure the truth is told and discussed with all is the foundation of leadership. Without that, you can’t build trust.”
Got it? Ignoring problems – even the really tough ones – is a thing of the past:
Deloitte CEO Barry Salzberg on Leadership as ‘the Norm, Not the Exception [K@W]
They’re just making sure they start off the year with the “right” team.
On a serious note why would you let go of tax people in January? I get April, May, or June…but January? Did Deloitte lose a ton of business or did they just go on a hiring spree in India?
this is not tax or audit – the months that you state are not central to consulting services. Government mandates are shrinking in size and profitability metrics.
The tax layoffs aren’t tax?
DEI Promotion. Glass Ceiling is shattering on everyone beneath.
It’s cheaper to hire new accountants in India than in the United States, and the quality difference is negligible. People complain about affordability but when faced with the reality of purging domestic jobs, people get so incensed. Until we see more quality within the US, this trend will continue.
This was obviously a response from an East Indian!
Don’t let your privilege expose your xenophobia. Instead, just sip your Bud and watch some professional wrasslin’.
Truth hurts huh?
Stating the obvious about low quality Indian work is not, ahem, “xenophobia”.
It’s fact.
Obviously never dealt with indian accounts… generally substandard
Obviously you have never dealt with the American Gan Zers who have never found a deadline that they could meet.
Bruh. Is your Chinese made iPhone substandard? What about your Mexican made Toyota? Vietnamese made TV? It’s a global economy. You are really going to say that any accountant who is Indian is substandard? India has 350 billionaires, 3rd largest in the world. Go to any country in the world and you will find princes and paupers. The problem with the Big 4 and many US accounting firms is they get what they pay for and they don’t give two craps about their employees. Top Indian talent is no cheaper than US talent and these firms are hiring the absolute cheapest labor they can find or working people as hard as they can. Anyways, bruh. None of this matters. AI (Another Indian) will simply get replaced with AI or if AI is bullcrap then another country with lower labor costs. If you are a true manager you can work with anyone from any country. Is the problem the teacher or the student? Anyways, accountants gonna be accountants (cheap AF).
> and the quality difference is negligible.
Said nobody onshore ever who has had to eat hours fixing the offshore deliverable.
Gen Zers offer little to no quality at all. For those of us with brains, it’s economically prudent to hire from India than hire the domestic/entitled talent.
No NGO money coming in.
I think they are hiring from India at very low CTC from top colleges IIT’s.
They will give rigorous training, then work with low increment and few promotion, after few years reasons and last “Layoffs”.
Repeat hiring and so on…..
They are laying off people who is not on the PPMD track. No point of keeping heavy career SM if new talent is making to SM level.
Wow just wow
Welp this makes sense now, Deloitte just announced plans to hire 50K employees in India…when is India gonna wake up because their working conditions are the stuff of nightmares.
That’s offshoring … People in india work for 20% of the cost, don’t b*tch around for wanting to bring their pets to the office or needing a real purpose in their job and do the work 90% as good.