April 24, 2023 • 19 mins
Kathleen P. Federico is senior vice president, chief people, brand, and communications officer at MITRE. In this role, she leads, shapes, and delivers intentionally designed, scalable, enterprise-wide programs and strategies to advance MITRE's people and leaders through the lens of diversity, inclusivity, and equity. In alignment with the organization's mission and vision, Federico uses her robust business expertise, strategic vision, and values-based leadership to influence, cultivate, and evolve the culture of the organization with a focus on people, innovation, opportunity, and impact.
Since joining MITRE in 2018, Federico has applied her personal principle that people drive organizational success. Harnessing new technologies with human-centric designs, she delivers effective, purposedriven people programs and brand, marketing, and communications capabilities aimed at achieving future growth, creating a competitive advantage, and expanding, engaging, and growing MITRE's exceptional talent. Federico is recognized for her business acumen and has led human resources in several industries, shaping talent management, compensation, learning and development, and operations. Before joining MITRE, she was president and chief executive officer of The KDF Group, a boutique advisory firm providing management and leadership consulting.
Previously, Federico was chief human resources officer for Civitas Solutions, a home-based health and human services provider. She oversaw a transformation of the organization's HR enterprise, which included 150 professionals supporting a distributed workforce of more than 30,000 employees. She also held a dual role of senior vice president of sales and HR at World Travel Holdings, the world's largest cruise agency. Federico serves on the board of directors of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the executive committee of the Massachusetts Business Round Table, and the Edinburg Center Board of Directors. She is a member of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and the inaugural cohort of the Civic Action Project, which promotes collaboration and understanding between public and private sector leadership.
In 2023, Federico was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Consulting by the Consulting Report based on her performance and reputation among her peers in the tech and consulting industry. The organization recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women leaders in business, government, non-profits, entertainment, sports, and other fields.
Since joining MITRE in 2018, Federico has applied her personal principle that people drive organizational success. Harnessing new technologies with human-centric designs, she delivers effective, purposedriven people programs and brand, marketing, and communications capabilities aimed at achieving future growth, creating a competitive advantage, and expanding, engaging, and growing MITRE's exceptional talent. Federico is recognized for her business acumen and has led human resources in several industries, shaping talent management, compensation, learning and development, and operations. Before joining MITRE, she was president and chief executive officer of The KDF Group, a boutique advisory firm providing management and leadership consulting.
Previously, Federico was chief human resources officer for Civitas Solutions, a home-based health and human services provider. She oversaw a transformation of the organization's HR enterprise, which included 150 professionals supporting a distributed workforce of more than 30,000 employees. She also held a dual role of senior vice president of sales and HR at World Travel Holdings, the world's largest cruise agency. Federico serves on the board of directors of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the executive committee of the Massachusetts Business Round Table, and the Edinburg Center Board of Directors. She is a member of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and the inaugural cohort of the Civic Action Project, which promotes collaboration and understanding between public and private sector leadership.
In 2023, Federico was named one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Consulting by the Consulting Report based on her performance and reputation among her peers in the tech and consulting industry. The organization recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of women leaders in business, government, non-profits, entertainment, sports, and other fields.
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(00:00):
M and T Bank President CEOs youshould know powered by iHeart Asia. Let's
meet Kathleen Federico. She is thesenior vice president Chief People Brand, a
communications officer for Miter, a companythat was established who advanced national security in
new ways and serve the public interestas an independent adviser. Before we talked
about Kathleen's company, I first askedher to talk a little bit about herself,
(00:23):
where she's from and her origin story. I'm from Massachusetts. I grew
up in a small town called Mathuen, Massachusetts, one of six children.
My father was a police officer thenACAM police detective, and my mother was
a stay at home mom all ofus until I went to college, and
then she had to go to workto help support me going to school.
(00:47):
I went to a small Augustiniam Collegeup here in Massachusetts, and then after
graduation, I started what aday Incollege, I started learning how to be
a leader by being a customer servicesupervisor at a company called Friendly Ice Cream
Corporation, and then continued my careerwith them, and here I am sixty
(01:10):
four years later, almost sixty fouryears later. Well, we're here to
talk about miner and everything that isexclusive to it mission statement, what you
do, how you help your customers, and all sorts of cool things and
maybe our listeners don't know about,but I saw your resume and it's really
cool and extensive. So I amcurious about what you saw in this company
because I see what they saw onyou. But why were you ach back
(01:32):
into this role as SVP. Well, I will tell you you know,
as you can see by your resume. I've never been in the sciences,
engineering, high tech area before.I've certainly been tangental to government in the
sense of my last company, theMentor Network. We were health in human
services that worked really within the communitiesacross the country and with at risk youth
(01:57):
as well as with adults with visual, intellectual and disabilities, as well as
veterans, etc. And individuals withacquired brain injuries. I had retired at
that time. I was about fiftyseven, and my father, as I
spoke about, had passed away atfifty four, and I thought, you
know what I'm going to I've workedmy whole life, even when in college,
(02:19):
and I'm going to enjoy that.I retired for about a year and
a half, realized I was waytoo young. There's still a whole lot
more I wanted to do, andMiter came calling on an executive search firm
each Other to me and tell meabout this company called Miter. I did
a research on it and said,are you sure they want me? I'm
from a sales background, a retailbackground, restaurant, health and human services.
(02:42):
I'm not from you know, whatyou would call a traditional candidate.
And they said, no, theyabsolutely want to meet you, which was
my first indication that this was goingto be the right company for me because
they were willing to expand their definitionwho about who right talent is and wanted
someone that could be and need thewhole people you responsibility that comes from a
(03:05):
very different background. Was why Isaid yes to the interview and ultimately why
I said yes to the Miter Andthe reason why was the timing was perfect
as well that Miter was starting onour transformation really on multiple fronts. We
realize, if we're going to achieveour mention of solving problems for a safer
world, we have to do thatwith a really whole composite and element of
(03:30):
every type of talent out there.You know, it could be people that
actually have an economics background, notnecessarily a cyber background. People that have
healthcare. Our healthcare expanded significantly andgrown significantly over the number of years,
predominantly especially with COVID. So whatI realized and what they wanted to do
is look at how people and howwe look at talent in a way that
(03:53):
was very different in transformational as wellas looking at our systems we are looking
at we're calling it our business information, really looking at all of our systems
creating more sad solutions interconnected that becomeenablers and opportunities for people to do the
things that we do best, somachines can do the things that they do
(04:13):
best. And then they really wantedto look at how we take MITER as
an entity and from a brand perspectiveand help it come out from being really,
you know, behind the scenes tosomething that is more open and more
people become aware of who we are. Because if you're going to expand and
(04:34):
become a connector with talent, withgovernment entities, in private relationships and partnerships,
you need to have people know whoMiter is so they actually will pick
up the phone or answer the call, or I say yes to the email
or the requests for relationships no matterwhether you are aware trying to get a
(04:55):
talent to join a MITER, aperson a joint miter where we're trying to
create a partnership private industry, whilewe need to work across government entities with
people who may not even know mightand we have to bring them all together.
Then they better understand who we areand what we do. And so
it's because of these three things happeningsimultaneously, of the desire to have them
(05:15):
happen, I'd like sign me up. This organization not only is doing it
so that we can make a differencethan an impact in the world, but
really fulfill that mission of only whatMITER can do well speaking to mission,
and by the way, thank youfor that. And I also want to
mention to do our listeners that regularlylisten to CEOs, you should know there
is a common thread that there isa lot of leaders out there who necessarily
(05:40):
didn't come from the background of thecompany that they're going to, but the
company wanted a fresh set of eyesas somebody who thought differently. And it
sounds exactly you fit the bill inthat room, and I'd love to hear
things like that. So you mentionedmission, let's talk about the overall mission
statement. Well, our mission statementis solving problems for a safer world,
which sounds really right and aspiratial.And who has a mission statement of solving
(06:03):
problems for a safer world? Wedo because we actually have that ability.
When you look at all the differentthings that we do as an organization,
what we touch, whether it isreally in partnership with our government sponsors as
a FFI DC, a federally fundedresearch center, and the work that we
do on behalf of our government,whether you look at really again the types
(06:28):
of individuals that we have, theprivate partnerships we're creating, we really bring
everybody together. We pride ourselves onbeing a connector to bring everybody together inside
of Minor cross functionally as well asoutside of Minor, to look at those
big problems that we're confronted with asa world, and how do we collectively
(06:50):
come together to create solutions that havenever been thought of before and that can
only happen with a non for profitcompany like Lighter. You know, we're
not in it to make money.We're in it to really serve that mission
and to do it in a way. Our vision statement is pioneers for a
better future. It is to doit in a way that's really innovative,
(07:15):
that creates and thinks things in theway that not only that we've never thought
of them before, but as Isaid, to bring those people together and
those disparent parties together who may neverhave worked on a project together before,
to come together and think and utilizethat diversity of thought, that diversity of
experiences to create a solution that's neverbeen done. And that's when you take
(07:38):
that really aspirational mission statement and yousee how it comes alive. I love
that because I've heard a lot ofmission statements like you have over the years,
and some of it is a littlebit of a fluff that was really
well thought out of. Here whatyour mission statement is, which I think
is wonderful and really says what thecompany is. And speaking of which,
let's do a thirty thousand foot ofview. If a listener of listening to
(07:59):
our interview to day and they hearabout Minor, but they don't know what
it is from soup to nuts,what exactly is it that you do?
Thank you to find what Mighter does. Specifically, we operate in the areas
of health cybersecurity, artificial intelligence,transportation, national security, and many many
more. So, as we've discussed, we cover a plethora of different areas
(08:24):
on behalf of our government and ourpartners as sponsors. Okay, I'm going
to make a constructive guess that Kathleenonly told me about five percent or what
the company does, because we dodo a lot and it really is incredible.
But what I did want to askyou a few things about what you
had just talked about. Because everybodyhas competition in life, whether it's sports
or it's with your family or businesses. So I imagine when you're pitching somebody,
(08:46):
how do you differentiate yourself from thecompetition when you're pitching yourself to a
client. Yeah, it's a coregood question, right, because we don't
see ourselves as really having competitors inthe sense that we're a connector. If
your lot, Keith Martin, andyou're valuable to an ultimate solution on behalf
of our government, entities and sponsors, we will partner with you. Having
(09:07):
said that, what I would sayis what is unique about Miter and what
I think is a differentiator for us, and is the fact that we are
a not for profit that we arethat connector that we are here to actually
literally serve that mission of solving problemsfor a safe a world. So we
are like laser focused on that andwe will work and align and bring together
(09:35):
anybody and everybody that we need toto be able to solve those problems.
So it's a really unique capability ofours and muscle that we've built over the
years, and we have a longheritage. Who are sixty two years old.
People know us, that are awareof us, and we have an
amazing reputation. Our number one elementof our reputation we do research on us
(09:56):
is people see us as trusted objectiveissers who are also innovative, creative,
dynamic, multidiscipline. That that againis that ultimate connector. It almost sounds
like a think tank with social skills. I like that a lot. Yes,
it is in a way. That'sa very great way to play.
Yeah, it's really cool. I'malso curious about your leadership as SVP.
(10:18):
It sounds like with so many differentprojects going on and so many different elements
to all these different things when itcomes to leadership and all the people,
and we should be very clear.You know you want a happy employee,
but you also want to make surethat employees are executing the way you see
them fit but all the elements thatgo with that. And you know,
we're living in a world where youknow, where everybody's working hybrid now or
(10:41):
maybe they're full time out of theoffice. With all that said, talk
a little bit about leadership and whatit's like today for you. So I
will tell you leadership is a numberone priority of mine. We're actually and
of a board and of our CEOand our leadership team. We actually are
em blocking on a project to strategicinitiative, which is something that is funded
(11:03):
across the entire organization, and we'relaunching today. I leave here and I
go up to MIT Sloan to reallylaunch our first academy for our director distinguished
level. We have about twenty sevenpeople in pilot and it's called the Leadership
of the Future. And let mebe very specific about why we called it
that what we realize for all thethings that you just said, Dennis,
(11:24):
right, that leading today is verydifferent than how you had to lead in
the past. As you said,there are different types of skill sets that
people have that we need. Thereare people some people are in the office,
some people at home, some peopleare elsewhere. There is this whole
hybrid work. The expectations of peoplethat work within your organizations are much greater
(11:50):
than they've ever been, and theyneed to be right. You want a
diverse workforce. The needs of thatworkforce are very different. So being able
to lead requires communication, it requirescapability that requires holding people accountable, explanation.
It's not a command of control hierarchylike we all grew up in.
It's a very different world. Andso we created a program along with mit
(12:15):
Soon and McKinsey previously, to reallyidentify what are the requirements or compecies that
are needed to lead now and inthe future because we are in a disruptive
environment, ever changing environment. Whateven for myself, I have learned so
much more about being a leader thanI've ever thought i could because of the
(12:35):
world that we live in, andyou need to adapt, you need to
grow, you need to learn asa leader. And what we wanted to
do is to be able to giveour leaders a like up to understand what
it takes to be able to bringthe maximum potential of each and every employee
and they have best capabilities to theteam and not just look at having the
(12:56):
team be the same that it's alwaysbeen in the past. Well, thank
you for that. And that's alsoa common thing that we talked to a
lot of our leaders is extracommunication andbeing creative and then making sure that your
employees are happy. Because they haveso many choices these days, we have
to make sure that they're happy aswell as you being happy. I did
want to talk one more thing aboutleadership and specifically for women. So I've
(13:18):
got two women in my family,my wife and my daughter. There the
loves of my life, and I'mso happy that they have so many more
opportunities in today's world. We stillhave a long ways to go, but
you, in a prominent position asSVP, I would like you to give
some advice for the young women outthere who are moving up in the workplace
and attained to be an SVP asCEO of what advice, not necessarily your
(13:39):
path, but in general, maybesome of the pitfalls, some of the
hurdles, some of the doors openedand closed into some overall advice for them.
What I would say is first andforemost is too don't just take no
and move on from that. RightIf you, as you talked about my
career, right. I looked atevery thing as an opportunity. And so
(14:03):
you know, if we set outand said for a linear career, that's
just not the world we live intoday. It was not the world.
And as a woman or you know, a personal color, you have to
find. And I would say thisto anybody. You need to find the
opportunity and go for it. Andsomeone tells you know, don't just stop,
find a way right, or moveon to somewhere else and find your
(14:24):
opportunity elsewhere. You are free todo what you need to do to understand
you should be the biggest advocate ofyourself in your career. The other thing
is that people are told sometimes tobe quiet, right, and women are
told sometimes to be quiet or deferto other people. And you know,
(14:46):
we need to be able to standup for ourselves. And you know,
I'm not saying to be I don'tthink that. I think we all need
to treat each other with grace andrespect. I don't care. However,
you can be strong in your ownadvocate and still practice with great and its
grace and respect. This is whatI tell I have two daughters. I
(15:07):
tell them the same thing. Thisis what I've had to experience. I
am so proud of where we are. As I said, I'm sixty three,
I hopefully help bring some of theworld where we've been. I was
always either the only woman or theyoungest woman on the team. And you
know, if you don't learn howto stand up and advocate for yourself,
it is easy to get dismask Sothat's what I would say. And find
(15:31):
people to talk to, find yourmentors, feel free to ask questions,
go out there and seek information.And I always feel come prepared, know
your stuff, so that when youare asked that question or you raise that
gain, you're able to say something. But don't sit quietly have your voice
heard. I think that is wonderfuladvice. And just for the record,
(15:52):
with my wife and my daughter,I'm told to be quiet in my house,
just so you know it goes bothways. Okay, everybody, all
right? I do want to Ido want to do this. I want
to put a bow on our conversationand this wonderful talk that we're having about
Miterer. Maybe something that we haven'ttalked about yet, Kathleen, that you
want to make sure our listeners knowabout this this fantastic company that you're working
for is SVP. What I wouldsay is that you know, if you
(16:15):
want to work for a company thathas the ability to make a difference in
As I've talked about, we onlymake a difference in the world, but
also in our own individual lives becausewhat we do as miter does actually have
implication and impact, for example,GPS and encryption, different things that we
do. That is because of Mida'sexistence and the work that we've done previously.
(16:41):
Now we're the right company. Butalso if you want to have a
career and opportunities because we're growing,because we're in transformation. If you want
to learn, we support education systems, we support on site learning. As
I said, we have this leadershipacademy. We are the company to come
to the minor is. I amso proud and actually I feel privileged and
(17:06):
humble to work for an organization likethis, And it's a great way to
be a pot of something that isbigger than I am, or bigger than
we are, and to have beeneven a small pot out of our success.
Really, as I said, isjust a wonderful experience and I would
love to have everybody else that isn'tthat same place of wanting to learn and
(17:30):
grow, an experiment and innovate andcreate. And you don't have to know
all the answers, but you're willingto go there, and we are absolutely
the right company for you, andwe make a difference in the world every
day. Well, I love allthat, Kathleen, And I think this
once again my takeaway humble, You'recreative, You're having a lot of fun.
But you know this, this opportunityyou have sounds just like a wonderful
(17:52):
fit. And I'm just so happyfor you. And you know, the
other thing I can take away fromme is that you're very passionate about this
job. And the one thing thatI always love about people is their passion
for a job. You can betalented all you want, but if you
have passion, that takes it toa new level. And I'm very excited
for you. Exactly right. Andwhat's happening at miner so before we go,
if anybody is interested in a possiblecareer or they want to find out
(18:15):
more about miner or partner up inanything, what's the website that they can
do that minor dot org, som I tri dot org. Go there.
It has a tremendous amount. Wejust launched a new website this year,
has a tremendous amount of information aboutMinor, about the work that we
do, the people who do it, as well as all the career opportunities
that we have, and certainly feelfree to follow me on LinkedIn, outstanding
(18:38):
in. I've seen a lot ofwebsites and my time, folks, this
one's easy to navigate and it's beautiful, so whoever worked on it, Kathleen,
it's a beautiful, easy to begate website. So thank you and
thank you so much for joining uson CEOs you should know. Continuing success
and we really appreciate your time today, my pleasure. Thank you so much.
Our community partner, M ANDT Banksupports CEOs you should know, as
(19:00):
part of their ongoing commitment to buildingstrong communities, and that starts by backing
the businesses within them. As abank for communities, M and T believes
in dedicating time, talent, andresources to help local businesses thrive because when
businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
M and T Bank President CEOs youshould know powered by iHeart Asia. Let's
meet Kathleen Federico. She is thesenior vice president Chief People Brand, a
communications officer for Miter, a companythat was established who advanced national security in
new ways and serve the public interestas an independent adviser. Before we talked
about Kathleen's company, I first askedher to talk a little bit about herself,
(00:23):
where she's from and her origin story. I'm from Massachusetts. I grew
up in a small town called Mathuen, Massachusetts, one of six children.
My father was a police officer thenACAM police detective, and my mother was
a stay at home mom all ofus until I went to college, and
then she had to go to workto help support me going to school.
(00:47):
I went to a small Augustiniam Collegeup here in Massachusetts, and then after
graduation, I started what aday Incollege, I started learning how to be
a leader by being a customer servicesupervisor at a company called Friendly Ice Cream
Corporation, and then continued my careerwith them, and here I am sixty
(01:10):
four years later, almost sixty fouryears later. Well, we're here to
talk about miner and everything that isexclusive to it mission statement, what you
do, how you help your customers, and all sorts of cool things and
maybe our listeners don't know about,but I saw your resume and it's really
cool and extensive. So I amcurious about what you saw in this company
because I see what they saw onyou. But why were you ach back
(01:32):
into this role as SVP. Well, I will tell you you know,
as you can see by your resume. I've never been in the sciences,
engineering, high tech area before.I've certainly been tangental to government in the
sense of my last company, theMentor Network. We were health in human
services that worked really within the communitiesacross the country and with at risk youth
(01:57):
as well as with adults with visual, intellectual and disabilities, as well as
veterans, etc. And individuals withacquired brain injuries. I had retired at
that time. I was about fiftyseven, and my father, as I
spoke about, had passed away atfifty four, and I thought, you
know what I'm going to I've workedmy whole life, even when in college,
(02:19):
and I'm going to enjoy that.I retired for about a year and
a half, realized I was waytoo young. There's still a whole lot
more I wanted to do, andMiter came calling on an executive search firm
each Other to me and tell meabout this company called Miter. I did
a research on it and said,are you sure they want me? I'm
from a sales background, a retailbackground, restaurant, health and human services.
(02:42):
I'm not from you know, whatyou would call a traditional candidate.
And they said, no, theyabsolutely want to meet you, which was
my first indication that this was goingto be the right company for me because
they were willing to expand their definitionwho about who right talent is and wanted
someone that could be and need thewhole people you responsibility that comes from a
(03:05):
very different background. Was why Isaid yes to the interview and ultimately why
I said yes to the Miter Andthe reason why was the timing was perfect
as well that Miter was starting onour transformation really on multiple fronts. We
realize, if we're going to achieveour mention of solving problems for a safer
world, we have to do thatwith a really whole composite and element of
(03:30):
every type of talent out there.You know, it could be people that
actually have an economics background, notnecessarily a cyber background. People that have
healthcare. Our healthcare expanded significantly andgrown significantly over the number of years,
predominantly especially with COVID. So whatI realized and what they wanted to do
is look at how people and howwe look at talent in a way that
(03:53):
was very different in transformational as wellas looking at our systems we are looking
at we're calling it our business information, really looking at all of our systems
creating more sad solutions interconnected that becomeenablers and opportunities for people to do the
things that we do best, somachines can do the things that they do
(04:13):
best. And then they really wantedto look at how we take MITER as
an entity and from a brand perspectiveand help it come out from being really,
you know, behind the scenes tosomething that is more open and more
people become aware of who we are. Because if you're going to expand and
(04:34):
become a connector with talent, withgovernment entities, in private relationships and partnerships,
you need to have people know whoMiter is so they actually will pick
up the phone or answer the call, or I say yes to the email
or the requests for relationships no matterwhether you are aware trying to get a
(04:55):
talent to join a MITER, aperson a joint miter where we're trying to
create a partnership private industry, whilewe need to work across government entities with
people who may not even know mightand we have to bring them all together.
Then they better understand who we areand what we do. And so
it's because of these three things happeningsimultaneously, of the desire to have them
(05:15):
happen, I'd like sign me up. This organization not only is doing it
so that we can make a differencethan an impact in the world, but
really fulfill that mission of only whatMITER can do well speaking to mission,
and by the way, thank youfor that. And I also want to
mention to do our listeners that regularlylisten to CEOs, you should know there
is a common thread that there isa lot of leaders out there who necessarily
(05:40):
didn't come from the background of thecompany that they're going to, but the
company wanted a fresh set of eyesas somebody who thought differently. And it
sounds exactly you fit the bill inthat room, and I'd love to hear
things like that. So you mentionedmission, let's talk about the overall mission
statement. Well, our mission statementis solving problems for a safer world,
which sounds really right and aspiratial.And who has a mission statement of solving
(06:03):
problems for a safer world? Wedo because we actually have that ability.
When you look at all the differentthings that we do as an organization,
what we touch, whether it isreally in partnership with our government sponsors as
a FFI DC, a federally fundedresearch center, and the work that we
do on behalf of our government,whether you look at really again the types
(06:28):
of individuals that we have, theprivate partnerships we're creating, we really bring
everybody together. We pride ourselves onbeing a connector to bring everybody together inside
of Minor cross functionally as well asoutside of Minor, to look at those
big problems that we're confronted with asa world, and how do we collectively
(06:50):
come together to create solutions that havenever been thought of before and that can
only happen with a non for profitcompany like Lighter. You know, we're
not in it to make money.We're in it to really serve that mission
and to do it in a way. Our vision statement is pioneers for a
better future. It is to doit in a way that's really innovative,
(07:15):
that creates and thinks things in theway that not only that we've never thought
of them before, but as Isaid, to bring those people together and
those disparent parties together who may neverhave worked on a project together before,
to come together and think and utilizethat diversity of thought, that diversity of
experiences to create a solution that's neverbeen done. And that's when you take
(07:38):
that really aspirational mission statement and yousee how it comes alive. I love
that because I've heard a lot ofmission statements like you have over the years,
and some of it is a littlebit of a fluff that was really
well thought out of. Here whatyour mission statement is, which I think
is wonderful and really says what thecompany is. And speaking of which,
let's do a thirty thousand foot ofview. If a listener of listening to
(07:59):
our interview to day and they hearabout Minor, but they don't know what
it is from soup to nuts,what exactly is it that you do?
Thank you to find what Mighter does. Specifically, we operate in the areas
of health cybersecurity, artificial intelligence,transportation, national security, and many many
more. So, as we've discussed, we cover a plethora of different areas
(08:24):
on behalf of our government and ourpartners as sponsors. Okay, I'm going
to make a constructive guess that Kathleenonly told me about five percent or what
the company does, because we dodo a lot and it really is incredible.
But what I did want to askyou a few things about what you
had just talked about. Because everybodyhas competition in life, whether it's sports
or it's with your family or businesses. So I imagine when you're pitching somebody,
(08:46):
how do you differentiate yourself from thecompetition when you're pitching yourself to a
client. Yeah, it's a coregood question, right, because we don't
see ourselves as really having competitors inthe sense that we're a connector. If
your lot, Keith Martin, andyou're valuable to an ultimate solution on behalf
of our government, entities and sponsors, we will partner with you. Having
(09:07):
said that, what I would sayis what is unique about Miter and what
I think is a differentiator for us, and is the fact that we are
a not for profit that we arethat connector that we are here to actually
literally serve that mission of solving problemsfor a safe a world. So we
are like laser focused on that andwe will work and align and bring together
(09:35):
anybody and everybody that we need toto be able to solve those problems.
So it's a really unique capability ofours and muscle that we've built over the
years, and we have a longheritage. Who are sixty two years old.
People know us, that are awareof us, and we have an
amazing reputation. Our number one elementof our reputation we do research on us
(09:56):
is people see us as trusted objectiveissers who are also innovative, creative,
dynamic, multidiscipline. That that againis that ultimate connector. It almost sounds
like a think tank with social skills. I like that a lot. Yes,
it is in a way. That'sa very great way to play.
Yeah, it's really cool. I'malso curious about your leadership as SVP.
(10:18):
It sounds like with so many differentprojects going on and so many different elements
to all these different things when itcomes to leadership and all the people,
and we should be very clear.You know you want a happy employee,
but you also want to make surethat employees are executing the way you see
them fit but all the elements thatgo with that. And you know,
we're living in a world where youknow, where everybody's working hybrid now or
(10:41):
maybe they're full time out of theoffice. With all that said, talk
a little bit about leadership and whatit's like today for you. So I
will tell you leadership is a numberone priority of mine. We're actually and
of a board and of our CEOand our leadership team. We actually are
em blocking on a project to strategicinitiative, which is something that is funded
(11:03):
across the entire organization, and we'relaunching today. I leave here and I
go up to MIT Sloan to reallylaunch our first academy for our director distinguished
level. We have about twenty sevenpeople in pilot and it's called the Leadership
of the Future. And let mebe very specific about why we called it
that what we realize for all thethings that you just said, Dennis,
(11:24):
right, that leading today is verydifferent than how you had to lead in
the past. As you said,there are different types of skill sets that
people have that we need. Thereare people some people are in the office,
some people at home, some peopleare elsewhere. There is this whole
hybrid work. The expectations of peoplethat work within your organizations are much greater
(11:50):
than they've ever been, and theyneed to be right. You want a
diverse workforce. The needs of thatworkforce are very different. So being able
to lead requires communication, it requirescapability that requires holding people accountable, explanation.
It's not a command of control hierarchylike we all grew up in.
It's a very different world. Andso we created a program along with mit
(12:15):
Soon and McKinsey previously, to reallyidentify what are the requirements or compecies that
are needed to lead now and inthe future because we are in a disruptive
environment, ever changing environment. Whateven for myself, I have learned so
much more about being a leader thanI've ever thought i could because of the
(12:35):
world that we live in, andyou need to adapt, you need to
grow, you need to learn asa leader. And what we wanted to
do is to be able to giveour leaders a like up to understand what
it takes to be able to bringthe maximum potential of each and every employee
and they have best capabilities to theteam and not just look at having the
(12:56):
team be the same that it's alwaysbeen in the past. Well, thank
you for that. And that's alsoa common thing that we talked to a
lot of our leaders is extracommunication andbeing creative and then making sure that your
employees are happy. Because they haveso many choices these days, we have
to make sure that they're happy aswell as you being happy. I did
want to talk one more thing aboutleadership and specifically for women. So I've
(13:18):
got two women in my family,my wife and my daughter. There the
loves of my life, and I'mso happy that they have so many more
opportunities in today's world. We stillhave a long ways to go, but
you, in a prominent position asSVP, I would like you to give
some advice for the young women outthere who are moving up in the workplace
and attained to be an SVP asCEO of what advice, not necessarily your
(13:39):
path, but in general, maybesome of the pitfalls, some of the
hurdles, some of the doors openedand closed into some overall advice for them.
What I would say is first andforemost is too don't just take no
and move on from that. RightIf you, as you talked about my
career, right. I looked atevery thing as an opportunity. And so
(14:03):
you know, if we set outand said for a linear career, that's
just not the world we live intoday. It was not the world.
And as a woman or you know, a personal color, you have to
find. And I would say thisto anybody. You need to find the
opportunity and go for it. Andsomeone tells you know, don't just stop,
find a way right, or moveon to somewhere else and find your
(14:24):
opportunity elsewhere. You are free todo what you need to do to understand
you should be the biggest advocate ofyourself in your career. The other thing
is that people are told sometimes tobe quiet, right, and women are
told sometimes to be quiet or deferto other people. And you know,
(14:46):
we need to be able to standup for ourselves. And you know,
I'm not saying to be I don'tthink that. I think we all need
to treat each other with grace andrespect. I don't care. However,
you can be strong in your ownadvocate and still practice with great and its
grace and respect. This is whatI tell I have two daughters. I
(15:07):
tell them the same thing. Thisis what I've had to experience. I
am so proud of where we are. As I said, I'm sixty three,
I hopefully help bring some of theworld where we've been. I was
always either the only woman or theyoungest woman on the team. And you
know, if you don't learn howto stand up and advocate for yourself,
it is easy to get dismask Sothat's what I would say. And find
(15:31):
people to talk to, find yourmentors, feel free to ask questions,
go out there and seek information.And I always feel come prepared, know
your stuff, so that when youare asked that question or you raise that
gain, you're able to say something. But don't sit quietly have your voice
heard. I think that is wonderfuladvice. And just for the record,
(15:52):
with my wife and my daughter,I'm told to be quiet in my house,
just so you know it goes bothways. Okay, everybody, all
right? I do want to Ido want to do this. I want
to put a bow on our conversationand this wonderful talk that we're having about
Miterer. Maybe something that we haven'ttalked about yet, Kathleen, that you
want to make sure our listeners knowabout this this fantastic company that you're working
for is SVP. What I wouldsay is that you know, if you
(16:15):
want to work for a company thathas the ability to make a difference in
As I've talked about, we onlymake a difference in the world, but
also in our own individual lives becausewhat we do as miter does actually have
implication and impact, for example,GPS and encryption, different things that we
do. That is because of Mida'sexistence and the work that we've done previously.
(16:41):
Now we're the right company. Butalso if you want to have a
career and opportunities because we're growing,because we're in transformation. If you want
to learn, we support education systems, we support on site learning. As
I said, we have this leadershipacademy. We are the company to come
to the minor is. I amso proud and actually I feel privileged and
(17:06):
humble to work for an organization likethis, And it's a great way to
be a pot of something that isbigger than I am, or bigger than
we are, and to have beeneven a small pot out of our success.
Really, as I said, isjust a wonderful experience and I would
love to have everybody else that isn'tthat same place of wanting to learn and
(17:30):
grow, an experiment and innovate andcreate. And you don't have to know
all the answers, but you're willingto go there, and we are absolutely
the right company for you, andwe make a difference in the world every
day. Well, I love allthat, Kathleen, And I think this
once again my takeaway humble, You'recreative, You're having a lot of fun.
But you know this, this opportunityyou have sounds just like a wonderful
(17:52):
fit. And I'm just so happyfor you. And you know, the
other thing I can take away fromme is that you're very passionate about this
job. And the one thing thatI always love about people is their passion
for a job. You can betalented all you want, but if you
have passion, that takes it toa new level. And I'm very excited
for you. Exactly right. Andwhat's happening at miner so before we go,
if anybody is interested in a possiblecareer or they want to find out
(18:15):
more about miner or partner up inanything, what's the website that they can
do that minor dot org, som I tri dot org. Go there.
It has a tremendous amount. Wejust launched a new website this year,
has a tremendous amount of information aboutMinor, about the work that we
do, the people who do it, as well as all the career opportunities
that we have, and certainly feelfree to follow me on LinkedIn, outstanding
(18:38):
in. I've seen a lot ofwebsites and my time, folks, this
one's easy to navigate and it's beautiful, so whoever worked on it, Kathleen,
it's a beautiful, easy to begate website. So thank you and
thank you so much for joining uson CEOs you should know. Continuing success
and we really appreciate your time today, my pleasure. Thank you so much.
Our community partner, M ANDT Banksupports CEOs you should know, as
(19:00):
part of their ongoing commitment to buildingstrong communities, and that starts by backing
the businesses within them. As abank for communities, M and T believes
in dedicating time, talent, andresources to help local businesses thrive because when
businesses succeed, our communities succeed.
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