Digital technologies are changing the way we work and live. We talked with Neerja Aurora about what this means for companies and how to deal with it personally.
Q: Neerja, you have many years of experience in the IT field and you have certainly experienced many changes. This is also felt by companies. What was the biggest professional challenge for you?
Neerja: The largest challenge – and also opportunity – is to qualify all the changes that are worth adopting. The requirement is to stay up to date and understand those ‘trends’ which really create value.
Q: What makes a successful company and/or what distinguishes Accenture?
Neerja: In this context: Focus first on people and secondly on continuous learning. That is how we can develop and retain the best expertise and at the same time continuously remain relevant.
Q: How do you handle professional pressure in these agile times?
Neerja: Never alone. I am inspired and feel taken care off by the people around me, in my professional as well as in my private life.
Q: You are a member of ‘FidAR – The initiative for more women on supervisory boards’. What needs to be done to further equalize the relationship between men and women in decision-making positions? Are you in favor of a quota and why (not)?
Neerja: One step is for women to strengthen their networking capabilities, a trait which many men seem to master more naturally.
I am in favor of a quota, but in a disciplined way. The quota does create the momentum and it also opens doors. But: The women in question need to have the maturity and capability to survive in these positions.