Wrapping “More” around the “or” at Booz Allen

I have had a colorful career journey, from academia (PhD in Astrophysics), to working 10 years at a national research lab, to managing a contract at a government facility for two stints spanning 10 years, then back to academia as tenured Professor teaching data science for 10 years (at a major university), and now at Booz Allen Hamilton as the firm’s first and only Principal Data Scientist since 2015. In all those first years, there were so many things to do, choices to make, and work assignments to complete — I was often confronted with the “either/or” question of what to do: should I do this or should I do that? Most of the time, the answer was “your job is either one or the other, you cannot do both!” But, at Booz Allen, when I ask “should I do this or should I do that?”, the answer is usually “Yes!”

“Yes!” … Yes, what? The “what” is for me to decide. I can do one or the other, or both! I decide! I am not directed to do either one or the other exclusively. In geek-speak, the XOR (“exclusive OR”) isn’t there. “More” is there! — more opportunity for growth, for learning, for expanding my horizons, for experimenting, for failing fast so that I can learn fast — that’s the Booz Allen way for recruiting and managing senior professionals. The truth of it is this: if you want to hire passionate people, then you have to hire their passion too. If the person is truly passionate about the work they are doing, then get out of the way and let them do it. As Amelia Earhart is credited with saying, “Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done.”

Thinking back how I got here, it was around 2014 when I was increasingly seeking more freedom to do a wider variety of things in data science than I was finding in the academic environment. That was a great situation, definitely, but I could envision myself having greater impact in more places and in more ways than I was experiencing at that time, but I wasn’t sure how to turn that vision into a reality. Lightning struck in late in 2014 when an incredibly enthusiastic member of the Booz Allen data science recruiting team reached out to me and asked would I be interested in discussing the possibility of coming to work for them.

Then, in early 2015, after having completed a few wonderful and inspiring interviews with Booz Allen senior leadership, I was getting close to that all-important precipice of jumping out of my tenured professorship at the university and into a private corporation, or else play it safe and back off. So, I had one more major interview with two of the Vice Presidents at Booz Allen to discuss what my duties would be at the firm. In preparation for the meeting, they asked me to think about what I wanted to do. So, I put to paper my wish list, my dream list, my bucket list of the top 10 things that I wanted to do if I were ever to have a data science leadership position in a large organization.

So, I went to that interview with the top 10 list in my pocket. After nice pleasantries and fun discussions about the joys of data science with the two VPs, I finally asked them: “so, what would you want me to do?” They responded with their own question, “what do you want to do, Kirk?” With that prompt, I pulled out my list and handed it to them, explaining what it was. After a couple of minutes of silent reading, the two VPs glanced at each other and then at me, then pointed to my list and said, “This!”

I replied, “Which ones? These, or those?”, while pointing to different topical clusters, as any data scientist would. They responded again, pointing to the full sheet of paper, “this is what we want you to do!” It was not “either / or”, and it was definitely not their own prescribed list of duties that they had conceived for a senior professional with 30+ years of experience in the field. It was not less than I wished for. It was “more”! You might say that Booz Allen took the “X” out of XOR, and wrapped “ME” around it, to get “MORE”! After several years now, I can say that I experience that truth every single day.

In just the past month, I went for my annual performance conversation with my manager. I asked him about 3 new and significant initiatives that I have been contemplating, that would bring value to the firm and to me professionally. When I asked him about the 3 options. He didn’t give me a “do this one or that one” response, he gave me a “Yes! Go do it!” affirmation — meaning that I am free to do more of those things that help me to grow professionally. That’s the best place to be in any colorful career journey, and so is Booz Allen the best place to be in your career journey.

Interested in joining our team of passionate data scientists and AI professionals? Comment below, or reach out to Lisa Hamm at [email protected]. 

This article reflects my thoughts only and not the views of Booz Allen.

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