Nancy Richardson manages with an engineering mindset

FORT BELVOIR, Va. -- Nancy Richardson, product lead for the Army Enterprise Systems Integration Program Hub, has more than 25 years of defense acquisition experience. She started her civil-service career as a biomedical engineer at the Defense Logistics Agency supporting the acquisition, implementation and sustainment of high-tech capital investment medical equipment.

A native of New Jersey, she has three wonderful daughters who enjoy rowing, soccer and field hockey. Richardson answered eight questions about her career and life.

Describe your leadership style.
I lead from within and am very engaged with my team. I enjoy getting to know my team members’ strengths and what motivates them. I like figuring out how to best align people with tasks to get the best out of them. The basic principles of managing acquisition projects appeals to the engineering side of me. It’s a very logical, repeatable process. The fun part is determining how to get the puzzle pieces—the team, the stakeholders and processes—to come together.

What advice do you have for people new to management?
When managing people, you need to get to know them and understand what makes them tick. You have to try to meet people where they are. Hear them out. In the beginning, you should listen more than talk. As a manager, I trust people to do the right thing and verify that they do. In my experience, that’s the best way to empower teams.

Why have you been so successful in your career?
I have been fortunate to work for leaders who offered me challenging opportunities that helped me grow. They also empowered me to lead and were always available to mentor and steer me in the right direction as I learned. These opportunities gave me a chance to experience several different aspects of acquisition, including supply-chain logistics, finance, contracting and IT.

I also strive to maintain a work-home life balance. Being a wife and mom has absolutely made me better at work. My career has made be better at home. Each side keeps the other in perspective.

What is the best advice you received?
A mentor told me, “Don’t let people mistake your kindness for weakness.” I am a people person and want everybody to come together. But being a people person does not mean that I am weak or won’t hold people to high standards. You can be kind and a strong leader. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

How do you relax?
I have played the piano since I was five-years-old. In high school and college, I spent a lot of time accompanying musical and choir groups. Sitting down at the piano is very therapeutic.

If you could thank two people for the role they played in your life, who would they be and why?
My parents raised me to believe I could do and be absolutely anything I could envision. Their sense of humor, humility and unwavering devotion to each other for over 60 years is the best example they could have set for me and everyone who knows them.

Who inspires you?
My daughters. As my parents made me think I could do anything I wanted, the world my girls are going into is really their oyster. 

How would you like to be remembered at work?
I would like to be remembered as someone who brought people together to achieve a common goal they all believed in.