Summer Myatt
For executives in the government contracting market, achieving success requires a broad range of skills, characteristics and knowledge. Executive Mosaic spoke with five GovCon leaders to understand how to succeed in such a unique and competitive market, and importantly, what separates the good executives from the great ones.
Rob Carey, president of Cloudera Government Solutions and previous Wash100 Award winner, talked about the importance of understanding the mission and prioritizing leadership over management ability.
Carey said the federal government is “not interested in your quarterly attainment metrics, they’re not interested in your sales numbers, they’re interested in things that solve their problems for a fair price.”
“So leading is much more important than managing,” continued Carey.
For John Zangardi, CEO of Redhorse Corp. and 2022 Wash100 Award winner, the key to winning in GovCon is persistence. “One of the things that separates the wheat from the chaff is persistence,” he shared, “really never giving up.”
“I didn’t really understand that when I was younger, but I now understand when I’m older — that sense of stick-to-itness really makes a difference,” Zangardi added.
Other executives who shared their advice include Greg Wenzel, executive vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, Michael Conlin, chief technology officer at Definitive Logic, and Stuart Wagner, chief digital transformation officer for the Department of the Air Force. Hear their invaluable insights in Executive Mosaic’s latest video.
Visit ExecutiveMosaic.com to watch full-length video interviews from our other distinguished guests.
