"Being talented and dedicated, one of you could be standing here in 2039 as the chairman or CEO of a major American company and looking back at the good old days in 2006," said Sharon L. Allen, the first woman chairman of Deloitte & Touche USA, speaking on campus Feb. 28.

Presenting the 19th Lewis H. Durland Memorial Lecture in Ives Hall, Allen spoke about her role as a woman heading the giant accounting firm: "Proper balance between work and life makes it easier for me to make the right choices because my core values keep me going every day and help me maintain the strength of my convictions."

With more than 30,000 clients, Deloitte & Touche USA is the U.S. member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, one of the world's leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services.

Reflecting on her career -- from working with red pencils and spreadsheets as the only woman in her office in 1973 to being named one of the "50 Women to Watch" by The Wall Street Journal -- Allen assured female students in the audience of their power and strength in today's society.

A firm believer of good governance and professional ethics, Allen said that she views the "people" side of business as the most important element in a successful company, because that is where the life of an organization lies. Citing recent studies, Allen said that the number of workers between the ages of 35 and 45 will decline by 31 percent in the next decade, and with the baby boomers retiring, 60 percent of the skills needed in upcoming years are possessed now by only 20 percent of the workforce. Because of that, the new generation is indeed facing a great opportunity, she stressed.

Allen said that from her vantage of working for more than 30 years for the same company, she also recognizes the necessity to respond to the new generation of talented employees in an organization. She emphasized the continuing relevance of keeping people motivated and engaged -- a recent Gallup survey, she said, found that only 29 percent of people in the U.S. workforce are sufficiently engaged in what they do. The success of Deloitte & Touche, according to Allen, is largely due to allowing flexibility and re-entry, encouraging thoughtful and strategic career planning, maintaining lifelong connections with employees and helping them mold their careers to fit various stages in their lives. These kinds of initiatives have enabled the organization to reduce turnover to almost zero, she claimed.

Based on her personal lessons growing up on a farm in Idaho and switching her major to accounting from education in college, she offered this advice: "Find something you love to do, and do it with passion; take responsibility for your own career because other people might not know all the good things you are doing. You have to watch out for your own promotion."

The annual talk, named for Cornell's first treasurer, is considered the most prestigious one on business sponsored by the Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Graduate student Zheng Yang is a writer intern with the Cornell News Service.