Meet Mo Reynolds

“People always remember how you treat them…while I always challenge myself to take the next hill, I’m not leaving anyone behind. Because at my most vulnerable points, my friends at Deloitte have never left me.”

Think of someone who mentored or coached you along the way. What do they believe you could still achieve?

This insistent belief—that we are made for more, and always have more to give—was instilled in me from a young age. I was not allowed to say, “I can’t.” My entrepreneurial father’s mantra was, “Losers quit when they are tired, winners quit when they are done—and we are winners.” You would think as a grown woman he would have let up a bit. But the day I became a principal, my dad sent me flowers and the card read: “Mo, congrats. Huge accomplishment. Now focus on making CEO.”

How? My comfort zone is discomfort. My mantra is “what doesn’t challenge us, doesn’t change us.” I want to fly into uncertain weather, into challenges where the outcome is not guaranteed. Because it’s only when we push into what we’ve never done that we discover what we’re made of. So, I get excited by motivating others toward their best and leading teams who are willing to take chances because I know that will help define who they are.

People might look at me and not see my vulnerabilities—but my colleagues have. Years ago, when I’d just become a principal, I was given a huge task, something that had never been done before in our profession. When the senior partners seemed unsure about the completion of the task by the proposed deadline, I assured them that it would be done. I said “yes” because I knew the client needed it.

But there’s something precious that project gave me—perspective on building friendships for life. One week before the deadline, I was sitting in my living room crying because I didn’t think we were going to get there. Trina Huelsman, one of our veteran leaders, called me and said, “Mo, no matter what happens, I have your back.”

When you’re shoulder to shoulder with other motivated leaders, and you run into something that feels impossible, you know they’ll just keep forging ahead. Not that they’d stop whatever they’re doing. But when my father got very sick that’s what happened.

And maybe for the first time in my life, I couldn’t achieve my way past it. I regularly had to drive from Connecticut to Pennsylvania to be with him during his treatment and a coworker who lived there asked, “Do you need company?” He opened his home. He came and just sat with me at the hospital. And then continued to show support for me in tangible ways when Dad passed.

But what am I most proud of? Well, nothing compares to raising two kind and respectful sons alongside my best friend and husband, Eli. I like to share with other moms wanting a career that it can be done and that you can have fun while building your career and raising your kids simultaneously.

But at the end of the day, more than kind words and compassionate actions, people always remember how you treat them. How you made them feel. And while I always challenge myself to take the next hill, I’m not leaving anyone behind. Because at my most vulnerable points, my friends at Deloitte have never left me.