WashingtonExec Series: Want To Be GovCon Executive Of The Year?
The finalists for this year’s Greater Washington Government Contractor Awards were announced in September and WashingtonExec is bringing you its annual series with the nominees.
The winners will be unveiled on November 7th at The Ritz Carlton in Tysons Corner by the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce (FCCC), the Professional Services Council (PSC) and Washington Technology magazine. With over 900 business and public sector leaders attending the event, our series will keep you up-to-date about all the finalists for this year–who they are, what they do, and why they are worthy of winning.
Today’s interview is with Chuck Prow, managing partner, IBM. Prow is nominated for “Executive of the Year” in the greater than $300 million category.
WashingtonExec: What would you say was a turning point or inflection point in your career?
Chuck Prow: The merger of PwC and IBM brought together two great companies and created tremendous growth opportunities by gaving our clients access to premier consulting services and deep technology capabilities. The merger demonstrated to me the power of leveraging professional services, technology and IP – together – to truly transform organizations and improve mission effectiveness. I have seen it time and time again where the scale and scope of innovation that IBM can bring to solving the problems faced by our public and private sector clients is truly transformative for our clients and the world.
WashingtonExec: What book did you read this summer?
Chuck Prow: In his book, The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities Driven Strategy, Mainardi and Leinwand lay out an approach that recommends that organizations move to a more cohesive model that aligns strategy with differentiated capabilities. In professional services organizations this equates to executing client engagements through new capability driven models that leverage, IP, Technology and Services to drive transformative change. In commercial organizations, this translates to the “right to win” – or achieving financial objectives. In the public sector, this translates to enhancing mission effectiveness.
“Good leaders have an ability to balance setting a clear vision and direction with the active engagement of their customers, employees and stakeholders.”
WashingtonExec: What makes a good leader? How would you describe your leadership style?
Chuck Prow: I have been fortunate in my career to work with some extraordinary leaders. I have learned and modeled my own style of leadership upon what I have seen that works. Good leaders have an ability to balance setting a clear vision and direction with the active engagement of their customers, employees and stakeholders. Active engagement is key in our highly competitive, quick paced and complex environment. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be true to your values and have passion for the people you lead and the missions you serve. When those that you lead sense this genuine passion and conviction they can achieve new levels of performance.
“Stay intellectually curious, never stop learning. You will have multiple careers in your lifetime, the world is changing so fast that you always have to be learning something new.”
WashingtonExec: What three pieces of advice would you give your kids?
Chuck Prow: I’m fortunate to have two grown children, and now two young grandchildren, so this is a question I have given a good bit of thought to.
First, stay intellectually curious, never stop learning. You will have multiple careers in your lifetime, the world is changing so fast that you always have to be learning something new.
Second, focus on developing and sharing new insights. Celebrate diversity; seek out new perspectives and new puzzle pieces to incorporate into what you’re thinking. Find connectivity and cohesion where you can.
Finally, give back to society and world. We are blessed and fortunate to live in a country with great means. Don’t take it for granted, look for every possible opportunity to share your time and talent to help those less fortunate and to make the world a better place.
