A week to remember: My experience at Deloitte University

My journey to DU in Paris started with a train from Zurich to a city that was full of excitement that weekend. Paris Fashion Week and a half marathon were both in full swing when I arrived observing the early spring sunshine, stylish crowds, and the Notre Dame gleaming after its restoration. Not a bad way to kick off one of the more memorable weeks of my career.

Sunday: The shuttle and the start of something special

The programme didn’t really start on Monday. It started already on the shuttle that the campus provides from central Paris. I spent an hour with a group of strangers who, it quickly turned out, had all just spent the weekend in the same city. We swapped notes on Fashion Week, where we’d eaten, and what we’d seen. By the time we arrived at DU they didn’t feel like strangers anymore.

The campus is bright and lofty, with warm cosy colour schemes and wildlife, including European beavers, geese, ducks, which give it an unexpectedly relaxed feel. The rooms are impressively well thought out too; it felt as though a consultant had analysed every hotel room setup and designed the perfect layout. The rooms are functional, comfortable, and with everything where it should be – designed to properly rest and recharge between sessions.

Sunday evening, we had a celebratory welcome followed by a networking dinner. (Side note: the food was excellent, and the cheese room is not to be missed.) What a great start!

Day 1: Amplify your mindset

In the morning before sessions began, I made the most of The Well, the campus fitness centre (protein shakes were provided onsite, which was a nice touch). Our group was in the Orange Room with facilitators Petra and Bob, who were warm, funny, and genuinely skilled at making even the harder conversations feel approachable.

Day one was all about mindset: how you think about yourself and your leadership as you step into a more senior role. More introspective than I expected, and more useful for it. Some activities moved outside into the early spring sunshine, which kept the energy levels high.

Day 2: Amplify your cross-border team

Day two focused on leading across borders, cultures, and business lines. My team in Zurich is already international, so this wasn’t new territory - but being newly promoted into a role that is global every day, there was real value in going deeper. Hearing how colleagues from across EMEA navigate the same challenges helped me to develop new tools. The conversations kept going well after the sessions ended and into the coffee breaks – where fresh juice, brew and an assortment of pastries awaited us.

The evening brought karaoke. I watched from the sidelines, genuinely amazed by the talent in the room. Less team-building exercise, more mini-Eurovision. The kind of evening that turns colleagues into actual friends.

Day 3: Amplify your network

The final morning brought everything together with a focus on the network you’ve built and how to use it. After two days of working and eating alongside people from across EMEA, this landed with real weight. Then it was back on the train to Zurich; tired in the best possible way, with a full notebook and new contacts saved.

What I’m taking back

The Milestone creates space to reflect which is genuinely hard to do when you’re in the middle of a busy role. Being away from the day-to-day, surrounded by peers going through the same transition, gave me the headspace to think clearly about how I want to lead and where to focus my energy.

The collaboration - in sessions, over meals, on the shuttle, at karaoke - reminded me how much you learn from people outside your immediate circle. And that’s the thing about a program like this: the learning doesn’t stay in the room. I came back to Zurich with new perspectives, new energy, and plenty to share with my team. The programme was not just what you take away personally, but what you bring back.