Janet Foutty

Janet Foutty is the Chair of the Board at Deloitte
 
Biography:
Janet Foutty is chair of the board, Deloitte. She is also a member of Deloitte’s Global Board of Directors, and chair of Deloitte Foundation. Janet previously served as chair and chief executive officer for Deloitte Consulting LLP. Janet has held numerous other leadership roles at Deloitte during her 28-year career including leader of its federal practice; leader of Deloitte Consulting LLP’s technology practice, and lead on various client programs that spanned retail, technology, government, energy, and financial services industries. 
 
Janet is a frequent author and popular public speaker and she regularly communicates with executive-level audiences about the changing business landscape, the C-suite of tomorrow, the workforce of the future, tech disruption, and leadership. She is a passionate advocate for inclusion in the workplace; women in technology; and the need for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Janet has founded Women in Technology groups in India and the United States.
 
Janet holds a Bachelor of Science from Indiana University, and a Masters of Business Administration in finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She currently serves on the boards for Bright Pink, a nonprofit dedicated to women’s health, Catalyst, a global nonprofit working to build more inclusive workplaces, and NYU Stern’s Tech MBA program. She is an inductee of the Kelley School of Business Academy of Alumni Fellows, Indiana University.
 
What brought you to Davos 2019? 
The opportunity to engage with leaders across the global spectrum of business, government, academia, and civil society and work together to tackle pressing issues critical for the future of business and society – the future of work, diversity and inclusion, and developing authentic leaders. By participating, it also helps to connect with and learn from like-minded organizations, as well as our clients who share a passion for purpose.
In particular I was privileged to serve on a WEF panel focused on women in the new world of work. In Industry 4.0, as technology disruption changes how we work, a panel of peers from a diverse mix of technology, talent, and women’s issues organizations discussed how technology can help, not hinder, gender equity in the workplace, and where there is new opportunity developing for women as it relates to mitigating ethical dilemmas and bias in our technology systems, which I believe to be a critical issue for top leaders across public and private sectors to solve for. 
 
Defining leadership moment at Davos:
We as women are making progress, as 2019 marked the highest rate of women attendees to-date. I experienced that first-hand, as we had the most women to-date as part of our firm’s delegation. These Deloitte female leaders contributed their strong voices to important conversations. 
 
We had a very strong presence of female leaders on the ground participating in key conversations and debates. However, I also felt a sense of purpose and duty to represent all of my many brilliant, female colleagues that weren’t physically present, and help speak the truths that represent their experiences and perspectives through the public forums I was afforded the opportunity to participate in. 
 
I think especially as women, we need to do more than empower each other and find ways to get more women a seat at the table – we need more women to be heard. So if you have the chance to speak up, make sure those other voices are being represented too – it’s about amplifying multiple voices. Not just your own. 
 
Personal motivation to advocate for women and girls:
Number one, advocating for girls and women is the right thing to do as a human being. Even if you put aside the fundamental issue of equality, the data tells us that inclusive cultures drive stronger performance. There is only good that can come from having diversity of thought and experiences.
 
Secondly, we are facing a skills gap, especially as it relates to technology skills in our age of massive disruption. Women represent over half the US population, yet women currently only represent 28% of STEM jobs in the U.S. At the same time, there is a need for 3.5 million STEM jobs by 2025, with more than 2 million going unfilled due to the lack of highly-skilled candidates to meet current demand. There is a clear opportunity here and we have to do more to create avenues for more women to pursue tech careers, and stay in tech careers. 
 
 
Where can people learn more about you and your key projects?
This is a great resource to learn about Deloitte’s delegation and relevant insights and perspectives from Davos 2019: https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/davos-insights.html
Additional personal and professional information can be found here: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/profiles/jfoutty.html and https://www.linkedin.com/in/janet-foutty-a1780a2/
 
Inspirational quote: “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” - Henry David Thoreau
 
Our only real job as leaders is to make everyone around us successful.