With the international success of creating one of the largest, sought-after consulting companies in the world, Joe Forehand began his professional life at Auburn University.
Forehand served as the former chairman and CEO of Accenture, a leading global professional services company, from November 1999 through August 2004 when he retired from the company. Forehand also served as the chairman of the board from February 2001 until his August retirement.
During his term as CEO, Accenture grew from $9.6 billion in revenue and 66,000 employees to $13.7 billion in revenue and 103,000 employees.
Before his professional accomplishments, however, Forehand was an industrial engineering student at Auburn University and a Pi Kappa Phi brother from Alexander City, Alabama, with a long love for Auburn football.
Forehand graduated from Auburn in 1971 with a bachelor of science in industrial engineering. He said it was his foundation in Auburn, specifically in the Auburn Creed, that gave him the ability to pursue his path with diligence and courage.
“I owe so much to Auburn for my development," Forehand said. "I was from a small town and was the first generation of my family to ever attend college, so I felt a keen desire to not let my family down."
Forehand said it was his experience at Auburn that gave him the confidence to be a leader and encourages students to return to the Creed and live by its words.
“The Auburn Creed says so much about Auburn values that I still go back and read it today,” Forehand said.
Besides living by the Auburn Creed, Forehand offers students three principal pieces of advice to navigate their college experiences and distinguish themselves as Auburn graduates in their future careers.
First, Forehand urges students to stretch themselves outside of their comfort zones. This, he said, demands hard work, perseverance and prioritizing.
“You have to get yourself outside your comfort zone to grow and gain confidence in who you are, what you are and what you’re passionate about," Forehand said. "I used this experience later in my career to take on public speaking and assignments where failure was an option. I learned an immense amount about having the grit to handle diversity and overcome it.”
Forehand maintained sufficient grades, served as Pi Kappa Alpha Theta president and worked numerous part-time jobs throughout his time at Auburn, including working at the Ampex/Quantegy Tape Plant his junior year in which he helped orchestrate many of their industrial engineering techniques.
Forehand said stretching oneself demands a level of nervousness as well, especially when graduating from Auburn and entering the real world. As prepared as graduates might feel when receiving their diploma, nerves and “sweaty palms” should be welcomed. Forehand said he felt the “sweaty palms” during his first career assignment and when meeting with CEOs of companies he was consulting for as a 25-year-old.
“I began to realize that unless you experience those ‘sweaty palms’ nervous moments, you are not furthering your own development," Forehand said. "If you don’t have those 'sweaty palms,' you’re probably not pushing yourself, you’re probably not in a job that is pushing you hard enough.”
He advised students to look at every nervous moment as a learning experience to grow from. He said a large part of growing is learning how to be prepared.
Forehand shared a time he was chosen to be a keynote speaker for 2,000 business school deans across the country. He had his speech placed on the podium on stage, but upon walking up to give his speech, he discovered the person who’d introduced him had taken his speech with him.
“I didn’t panic," he said. "I gathered myself in front of 2,000 people, I very calmly stepped out from the podium and I probably gave the best speech I’ve ever given in my life because I knew exactly the message I was going to say and the importance of it because I had prepared for it — being prepared is part of life’s journey.”
Forehand’s second piece of advice is to be a "multiplier.”
While at Auburn, Forehand learned the importance of leading a team at his fraternity and in the engineering curriculum. Later in life, he said he found that to create a truly high-performance team. He discovered leaders also had to be great teachers.
“Being a multiplier means getting individuals to do extraordinary things and getting them to the point where they can do it without you," Forehand said. "Later in one’s life, being a multiplier means giving forward.”
Forehand and his wife, Gayle Forehand, aid numerous Auburn students with endowed scholarships as well as three professors with endowed professorships. He said he tries to get down to Auburn at least once a year to visit with those students.
“It’s such a cool experience every year to spend a little time listening to the stories the students tell and what it means to get some financial support to help them get a good education,” he said.
Over the past 12 years, Forehand has served on the Auburn Foundations Board of Directors as chairman of the Foundation’s Investment Committee and as the chairman of the Industrial and Systems Engineering Advisory Council. Most recently, he and his wife served as co-chairs of the Because it's Auburn campaign in which they raised one billion dollars for the University in 2017.
“I believe it is all our responsibility to be good stewards and multipliers for Auburn," Forehand said. "Auburn gave me a lot. I feel like it’s part of giving back but also giving forward to the future generations of Auburn students.”
Forehand’s final piece of advice is to be likable and trustworthy.
“It sounds simple, but people enjoy working with others who are likable," Forehand said. "I always try to treat people as I would want to be treated. It shows an enormous respect for another individual. It means listening to diverse views and learning from others. It means being approachable and authentic.”
He said when he comes to campus, he is delighted to find that most Auburn people show that respect for others and are very likable.
“The ‘Auburn Family’ is hard to describe, but you understand it when you are an Auburn person," he said. "If you are that type of person, you build trust with others, you are dependable, punctual and gain the confidence of others.”
Forehand said while an Auburn degree provides a strong platform, it is not the ticket to success.
“What you have when you finish is a great experience about how to learn and how to adapt," Forehand said. "If you’re going to use that to continue life’s journey, you have to work every bit as hard at it as you did in getting that diploma."
Forehand said working hard is only the beginning and encouraged students to be adaptable and have the courage to challenge themselves and not be nervous for the future.
He said it was through hard work and living by the Creed that he worked his way to where he is now.
“There’s a little bit of paying your dues early in your career that’s important," Forehand said. "When I started my career, even after I got a graduate degree [and] a master’s degree, I spent the first year of my consulting career writing computer programs."
Forehand said you have to get your hands dirty in order to learn your skill. In developing a strong work ethic, Forehand turns back to the Auburn Creed.
“There’s so much power in the words of the Auburn Creed," he said. "You have to earn what you get, especially in today’s competitive world, being adaptable, working diligently and doing what it takes to make the deadline are all important things as you begin your career."
Forehand said those who graduate from Auburn have the chance to build their platform and skills for success if they apply themselves 100 percent.
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