Terry Corby

…… who pioneered at Accenture in response to growth slowing and a sense that potential was wasted as Partners each working in specialist practice areas sold the work they knew to clients unaware of what else the firm could help them with. The breakthrough came in two parts. A change in the way the firm was organised, and thought, by creating a new cadre of client-facing Partners, interested in their clients and all that mattered to them across their organisations. Based on where the issues were, they could bring in specialists from particular practices who could then advise with depth on the problem at hand. Motivation and reward was set up to suit, but the client-facing folk also needed something to talk about. So the second big change was in marketing, creating a single Accenture-wide positioning based on a subject clients all cared about and wanted to excel in – the idea of high performance. Accenture added ‘delivered’ to their tag line as a way to reflect what they were known for, at their best. High performance became the subject of study, and research could be done in sectors, geographies and across the whole piece to see who was strong, who lagged behind and, in individual client conversations, what the clues were that could lead to improvement. Client-led growth followed strongly. Terry is now working on a different, UK-wide issue, getting small business to be paid by big ones, promptly. By making the cost to the nation apparent and campaigning to show the effects and to be clear on respective big company performance on this agenda, he is again creating momentum for senior leaders to push for action.