With a two-decade long career at Accenture, and leading Accenture India since August 2015, Rekha Menon is no stranger to the Most Powerful Women list. A company with more than $61 billion in revenues, Menon led the largest talent base for Accenture with over 3 lakh employees, out of the total 7.3 lakh, based in India. Under her leadership, India has been a high growth area for Accenture. In the past year, the company expanded its geographical footprint in India by opening locations in Indore, Jaipur and Coimbatore. In the six months from August 22 to February 23, Accenture’s India team contributed to 113 patents filed by the company globally in emerging technology areas such as Gen AI, quantum computing, machine learning and analytics. Skilling being critical in the IT industry, 300,000+ employees in India spent 33 million hours in training in FY22. Adhering to the core principles of the firm and a compassionate approach defines her leadership style, says Menon. “Action-oriented, leading from the front, willing to take risks, comfortable with ambiguity and making quick decisions” being her core strengths, she adds. Menon, who retired on June 30, 2023, plans to spend a third of her time now on not-for-profit work in the areas of skilling and sustainability, and the rest pursuing her passion for hiking and learning new things. — Rukmini Rao