CEO Dan Helfrich To Team: ‘In Choosing Between Our Firm And You, Choose You’

When Dan Helfrich was hired by Deloitte Consulting early in his career, he had to square something very important with his employer right off the bat. Helfrich had played soccer at Georgetown and loved the experience so much he wanted to continue to serve as the program’s play-by-play announcer. 

“At Georgetown, I said to the athletic director, “Let’s be one of the first athletic departments that streams games, and how about me as the voice of the Hoyas?” Helfrich recounts. “When I got to Deloitte, I told them, ‘This is something that’s important to me,’ and fast forward 20 years, I’ve only missed one game broadcasting.”

He’s also climbed the corporate ladder, advancing from mid-level manager to CEO, so he’s now in a position to use this experience of being true to his passions as a model for leading his growing team of 85,000 professionals at one of the largest professional services organization in the country.

“I’m always saying to my team, ‘I need you to believe that we want you to focus on your own well being and your own passions, even more than Deloitte’s,’” says Helfrich. “If you are choosing between you and the firm, choose you. I did it, and it wasn’t career limiting.” 

Helfrich is deliberate in his frequent debunking of the phrase “career limiting” to describe behaviors commonly thought to undermine our advancement potential, such as asking the wrong question in a meeting or admitting you have commitments outside the workplace. 

“We believe that people who are making the choice of our firm over themselves, either they or their family members end up resenting the place, and it’s not a recipe for productivity or longevity,” observes Helfrich. “As our captain, I want productive people who have longevity and who bring joy and balance to the teams that they lead on a daily basis.”

Leaders looking to improve productive work-life balances with their teams will enjoy Helfrich’s bold vision, including: 

• Why people with strong interests outside your company make your company better.
• How to tap into the unheard voices in your firm to get game-changing feedback.
• The one question Helfrich asks job candidates to assess self-awareness and humility.

Yet another advantage of encouraging employees to show up as their authentic selves is that it allows Deloitte to recruit a rich tapestry of people. “And I think that’s a beautiful thing,” says Helfrich. “We have an incredibly diverse workforce in every way, the skills and talents people have. If we didn’t view culture as living and breathing, we wouldn’t be a place that feels like home for as wide a range of people as we do.”