Future Leader Award
Michelle Gauchat
Manager, Strategy and Operation Practice
Deloitte Consulting
Michelle Gauchat began her career at a regional bank in Omaha where she was accepted into a management development program and thereafter joined an internal consulting group. She found the work interesting and when she learned more about her husband's employer—Deloitte—she realized a career in consulting was for her. Gauchat joined the firm in 2007.
Gauchat is now a manager in the Strategy & Operations practice of Deloitte Consulting. Her eight years of consulting experience is focused in the banking industry—with a specialty in treasury services—and includes operational excellence improvements, post-merger acquisitions, and global transformational programs.
"I enjoy helping to 'transform' both employees and clients. It's deeply satisfying to watch those you have mentored and counseled develop professionally and advance their technical and management skills," she says. "When it comes to clients, what I enjoy most is taking a set of problems and then helping clients identify solutions that drive change within their organizations."
But Gauchat is also about driving change within her own organization. She is a recruiting champion for Deloitte's Business Analyst Program, leverages diversity and inclusion programs to help build its Financial Services industry community, and is an active member of its Manager Advisory Council.
"As a manager at Deloitte, I've been able to shape my leadership style," she says. "This has allowed me to cultivate a style that is true to me and bring out the best in my clients and my team."
Gauchat also says she greatly appreciates the leadership development opportunities within Deloitte, including the Women's Initiative (WIN), Deloitte University, and formal mentorship programs.
"All provide a general sense of community that encourages and recognizes personal growth and success," she says. "It's very gratifying to have the leadership skills I've worked so hard to develop, in both my academic and professional career, be recognized with this Women Leader in Consulting award.
It's also a tribute to the mentors that have influenced my growth and leadership style as well as a special thank you to my Deloitte Consulting colleagues for their dedication to cultivating each other as team members and challenging my status quo."
What's the best advice (consulting or otherwise) you've ever received?
"My mother raised me to be bold! That means following my passions, executing with purpose, and charting my own path by taking risks where I see unique opportunities. Growing up in Buffalo, NY, I never imagined myself in Omaha teaching undergraduate courses when I was just 21. After having studied rhetorical communications in undergraduate and graduate school, working for a bank was the last thing I expected to do—let alone a top consulting firm where I was focused on the financial services industry. I apply the same 'be bold' advice to my personal life. Because of that, I've been able to compete in nationally recognized horse shows again, several years after I had stopped riding. If you're not afraid to be bold, all things are achievable. Start the thinking, the conversations, and then put them into action."
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