Roberta Gosling
, PrincipalWhy have you chosen to stay at Booz Allen?
The phenomenal people, the challenging work, and the ability to tackle new things keep me motivated and excited about Booz Allen. Over the past 20 years, I’ve done everything from integrating targeting systems for the U.S. Navy to helping the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis calculate GDP. There’s tremendous variety in what we do, but it is always work that matters for our country and that makes a difference in people’s lives.
What type of work do you do at Booz Allen?
As a Principal, I manage a portfolio of work, and my focus is on Citizen Services at multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Commerce. Simply put, I develop new business in our market, ensure that we deliver as promised, and lead a home team of systems developers and other IT experts administratively. A representative project is www.govbenefits.gov, a government benefits portal that helps citizens easily identify federal, state, and local benefits that they may be eligible for.
What excites you about your work?
What excites me is working with high-caliber people to make the lives of American citizens in some way easier or better. At Booz Allen, we have a lot of entrepreneurial go-getters. Whether it’s a business developer, systems analyst, or subject matter expert in grants management, there’s a desire to learn new things, get better, and accomplish more. People here are passionate about what they do and are driven to deliver the highest quality of work, and they’re interesting individuals, with so many different talents and experiences—they’re never one dimensional.
Do you have a mentor at Booz Allen?
I like to say, “The world is my mentor,” because, over time, I’ve developed strong relationships with a whole collection of mentors here. Some have taught me the ropes of our business, others help me think through project challenges, and still others provide career guidance. I also turn to peers and subordinates as mentors. I offer mentoring to others, too. What I’m trying to do—what everyone at Booz Allen strives to do—is become better at executing with the client and as a leader.
What differentiates Booz Allen from other companies that you could work for? What makes Booz Allen special?
What always impresses me is that we value people—we’re a company with a lot of heart. If you go to a manager with a work challenge or even with a personal problem, and you ask for help, you’re going to get it. At other companies, it’s often about the bottom line only, but here we’re more people oriented. Over the years, our team has taken a leadership role in partnering with the Northern Virginia Family Service Training Futures Program to help under- and unemployed Northern Virginians learn computer and office skills and move into the workforce. That’s the kind of thing you get to do at Booz Allen.
How has Booz Allen helped you be ready for what’s next in your career?
At Booz Allen, you get a rich set of experiences, and you get difficult problems to solve. Those opportunities prepare each and every person here to take on the next level of responsibility, whether it’s technical or managerial. We also work at identifying the intellectual capital, such as new service offerings, that will prepare us to help clients solve the problems our country is facing. We focus on delivering impact to our customers and the taxpayers, because…
we’re taxpayers, too.
How does the work you do help your clients be ready for what’s next? How has your work and your team’s work made an impact for your client?
What makes Booz Allen different is that we don’t prepare clients for what’s next from a single dimension—we bring a multidimensional view to address their challenges. When a chief information officer (CIO) comes to us, we don’t just throw some sort of technology at the problem; we have a multifunctional team design a blended solution. That makes us much different from our competitors. Today, we’re looking at what the future might hold for our clients, and we’re putting a foundation in place to ensure that the agencies we serve have what they need during this time of economic reform.
Can you talk about a time when you saw one or more of our Core Values displayed?
Our Core Values are well embedded across our team and across our firm, from the community service we deliver to the way we pull together when we have a critical client issue and do whatever it takes to get the job done. As a firm, we’re very serious about that: We don’t just sit around and talk about our Core Values—we try to do the right thing, for our clients and for our people, and I see that commitment every day.
