Turning young professionals into leaders through our Next Generation Council
Giving a voice to early career colleagues to share their insights with our Executive
"Millennial and Gen Z employees bring an early adoption mindset, while more senior leadership can contribute risk assessment experience, and the synergy between the two is very powerful. I think that the Council highlights how Deloitte isn’t just listening to the next generation, but incorporating their views into company strategy," explains Arushi Doshi, 2022 Deloitte One Young World ambassador.
The first ever Next Gen Council within Deloitte Ireland convened at the start of this year, marking one of the few times within the Deloitte North-South Europe region that such a body has existed.
"Companies that engage internally show improved staff retention rates, and participants in the Next Gen Council report that they’ve enjoyed improved career visibility through interactions with senior leaders."
Arushi Doshi, 2022 Deloitte One Young World ambassador
The Council is made up of Gen Z and Millennial colleagues and acts as a conduit between the firm’s executive and colleagues. The Council has already advised on Deloitte’s new office and on our three leadership pillars: curiosity, challenge and edge. The Council also allows the Executive to give context to the Next Gen Council about what decisions it is evaluating and why certain options are chosen.
The Council was started after two of Deloitte’s young leaders, Arushi Doshi and David Curtis, attended the One Young World Summit in 2022 and 2023 respectively. One Young World is a worldwide community that brings young leaders together every year to address pivotal global challenges.
Arushi and David came back with aclear intention to translate their newfound learnings for our Executive.
They also looked to the global organisation for inspiration and found successful models in South Africa and the Netherlands that were already driving tailored strategies for employee engagement. Following these examples, they set up a Next Gen Council in Ireland which is composed of young leaders from across the firm, representing each business unit in a diverse and inclusive manner but without getting overly concerned about grade, experience level or job title, according to Arushi.
As to how the Council now operates, David explains that the council meet on a quarterly basis and are tasked with forming an opinion and developing recommendations around a specific business challenge of strategic importance to the organisation. “Three of these mandates have already been completed: two in FY25 mentioned previously, and one in FY26, which focused on overall AI strategy for the business.
“The mandates have a one-day format and include business challenge presentations and collaborative work. Cross-business representation usually involves about 10 people from different areas.”
Arushi believes that companies that engage internally can encourage improved retention, and participants in forums like the Next Gen Council can enjoy more career visibility through interactions with senior leaders. “It’s also a major aide to succession planning, ensuring continuity and making sure that we represent younger voices within the organisation.”
