Leadership Q&A…

This section of The Journey provides a glimpse into the lives of our company’s leadership—what they think about the business, where they’d like to see us go in the future, what occupies their time while at work and at home, their interests, hobbies, and ideas. In a nutshell—who they are and what makes them tick.

In this edition, we asked them to speak about the best leadership advice they’ve ever received during their career.

Here’s what some of our leadership said:

Stefania Dobre

Executive Director, Medical Group

The best leadership advice received throughout my career was:

“Remember to thank people for a job well done.”

This was the first time I have seen upper management really go above and beyond to thank every employee individually for a job well done. At the time, I was a Program Manager overseeing a large group of employees and this advice shaped my understanding of how important it is to always offer recognition to both my direct reports and others across the organization. After receiving this advice from the Director of Operations and seeing how he always provided KUDOS to all areas within the organization for a job well done, I realized how much influence this action had towards fostering a positive organizational culture and building trust.

Today, I always remember how receiving recognition for completing a project successfully or going the extra mile makes me feel—grateful, motivated, eager to learn more, comfortable, and passionate. This allows me to strive to recreate the same feeling and motivation in another team member, whether it is a direct report, a supervisor, a member of another group within the organization, or a business partner that serves in a support role.

Always remember to be kind and truly recognize accomplishments as that will cascade into a positive work culture and a closer relationship to the team.

Mark McIntosh

Executive Director, Business Development

The best quote of advisement I ever heard was when I attended a book signing for Colin Powell. At the signing, he was asked to comment on some of his leadership quotes in his memoir. This one, in particular, still stands out to me:

“If a leader doesn’t convey passion and intensity then there will be no passion and intensity within the organization, and they’ll start to fall down and get depressed.”

Every time I have a tag up on the individual calls with our Capture team, I try to express my passion for this work. As I told Matt in my interview, I live for the fight in what I do.

Paul Marston

Executive Director, C5ISR Group

A few years ago, I was fortunate to attend the Harvard Business School Program for Leadership Development. During the course, I remember one session very distinctly because it was a personal “aha” moment for me. The session was focused on Authentic Leadership and was led by Das Narayandas, a long-time professor at HBS. Professor Narayandas is a very dynamic, kind of larger-than-life character, but very adept at engaging with students on a personal level. If you’ve seen the HBS teaching method in action, it’s very interactive with individual students being peppered with constant questions—frankly, being put under the spotlight for a few minutes. It ensures you come prepared, pay attention, and stay on your toes. That session was my turn when asked something like, “what’s your biggest weakness as a leader.” With all eyes on me it didn’t end there, he followed with a series of additional questions digging deeper and deeper. But slowly he turned my weakness into a leadership strength.

Because the essence of Authentic Leadership is to be yourself, embrace and be open about your weaknesses, and understand that they make you relatable.

When the people you lead can relate to you as a human being, they can trust you. And trust is the foundation of leadership.

Kevin Connolly

Chief Financial Officer

One of the best pieces of leadership advice I’ve ever received, heard, or read is:

“Judge intentions, not just actions.”

Now, it may seem counter intuitive as we’ve all been taught that actions speak louder than words, which isn’t necessarily untrue; however, individuals can often mean to do what is right but fall short on the execution or delivery of what their real intent was. Working to understand one’s intention can then help deal with the actions exhibited and any consequences that result therefrom.