swati kapoor

I attribute my success to having a supportive family. My husband's very supportive - he's also in consulting - so having that support at home has been key, because we travel a lot for work. I've also gotten really good mentors throughout my career who helped me navigate this journey, especially when I went through having two kids. My kid was born just before COVID, and doing a traveling job with two kids is hard. But when you have people that you can rely on, both outside and within work, it just makes the whole journey easier. So I would say these two things - supportive family and good mentors.

One, I would say is don't give up. There are times when it gets hard, but don't give up. If you really want something, if you're really invested into it, there are always things that work out. It has happened so many times in my life when I thought everything was closed, but I really wanted to keep going, and new doors opened up without me realizing it. So trust yourself, trust what you bring to the table, and don't give up. Second is find good mentors, find people that you trust, that you can have a conversation with whenever you face a challenge, because there's always a way to figure things out. Somebody will have a solution - it's just a matter of having that network, having that trusted family, work family that you build over a period of time which helps you get through situations. Sometimes it's just a matter of sharing with somebody and they say, oh, I know that person who can help. There's always a way out. You just have to build it, especially as women, right? We don't start from zero, we always start from the negative. You have to build that credibility. You may always come with some kind of baggage - you have responsibilities at home that need to be taken care of. So build that trust, communicate, have that network that you can rely on, that you can trust with.

I think the biggest challenges are the current economic environment - the uncertainty in terms of trade and the constantly changing external environment is always a big factor in consulting. The second one is AI. It's a big disruptor, it's an opportunity, but a big disruptor as well. With disruption, there is always initial fear, there's always uncertainty, which generates opportunities for organizations like Deloitte and other consulting firms. But then there's the churn that happens, and staying through that, helping your clients navigate that, is one of the bigger challenges. There's always news about organizations laying off their people because of AI, and we're trying to increase the adoption, but you have to understand the human side of it. People are so worried they're losing their jobs, their careers are on the line, their families - it's just interesting times that we are living in. On the flip side, these are the times when you're holding their hand to get through this time, you become their trusted advisor. Guiding them through the right way and gaining that trust - that's the biggest opportunity we have as an organization.

I think I would say integrity - making sure you own up to whatever you do. Sometimes the outcomes are beyond our control, but I think owning that up, having that integrity, is really important to me, and that helps build trust. Second would be trust. If I don't trust the person, there's so much that we deal with on a day-to-day basis. If you trust your team, it helps you grow as a person, it helps them grow as a person. We work in a very stressful environment, so it just makes things easier. So I would say integrity and trust.