Globalization as a Collaboration of Skills, People, News and Technology: A Conversation with Lloyd Howell
Executive Vice President Lloyd W. Howell Jr. has served as Chief Financial Officer of Booz Allen Hamilton since July 1, 2016. He previously served for three years as the Civil and Commercial Group Leader in charge of delivering the firm’s strategic, technology, and analytics capabilities and service offerings to both federal and commercial clients.
Globalization, the new era buzzword, is easy to see in our world, but the extent of its elusive effects is not so easy to ascertain. Nevertheless, it is increasingly difficult to operate with a pigeon-holed view of the world, and we must start to combine different skill sets and knowledge in order to ride this wave. Mr. Lloyd Howell speaks to a progressively collaborative and geo-politically and technologically sensitive method of approach, with his own pathway a reflection of what globalization values.
Howell is the CFO and treasurer of Booz Allen Hamilton, a management and information technology consulting firm headquartered in Virginia. Since the beginning of his career, he has filled many shoes. With an electrical engineering degree from the University of Pennsylvania, Howell joined Booz Allen as a consultant, left to pursue an MBA at Harvard, found time for a short stint at Wall Street, and eventually returned to Booz Allen to undertake a more financial role. While his career trajectory is remarkably non-linear, Howell highlights the importance of transferable skills. He notes that his training as an engineer allowed him to effectively break down problems and allocate resources - skills he now applies in financial contexts.
With the development of technology, globalization has become a pertinent topic with serious implications for different industries. Howell describes how Booz Allen has been amenable to adaptations in its long history, starting out as an international company that has served both commercial and federal clients. To stay on top of trends, Booz Allen has kept a constant watch on the geopolitical and economic shifts that affected the world, reconfiguring its counsel to better support clients. More concretely, Booz Allen split off from its then commercial business in 2008, went public in 2010, and according to Howell, “went back in time to just being a federal oriented government services contractor.” Since then, the firm has also added a global commercial business spanning North America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. However, attentiveness to current events is critical in determining the viability of certain localized projects. For example, regions like Southeast Asia should be considered with the political backdrop of the US-China Trade War in mind.
Alongside these geopolitical considerations, technical advances also prompt businesses to reevaluate their position in cybersecurity as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence. Howell predicts that the future landscape of technology in business is collaborative, as there is “more and more integration of multiple capabilities and skills.” He explains that “there is certainly the engineering, technical part of it, but it’s also human capital and strategy, program management, data analytics.” In other words, technology is not a unilateral force of its own and we need to develop the necessary non-technical skills to accommodate and support its growth.
Pioneering the adoption of new technologies, Booz Allen recently announced the launch of its new AI platform and marketplace, called Modzy. While still in its early stages, the company is excited about the prospect of transferring insights from one sector to another, opening new markets, and shaking up their way of work. Although concerns remain given certain sensitivities surrounding appropriate usage of technology, Howell speaks candidly about how the dynamic with technology is that “once it’s out there, everyone has access to it and everyone is able to use it.” He remains optimistic about the future.
Over his successful career, Howell has been an advocate for asking for help and not having the fake-it-till-you make-it approach. When asked to impart some advice to students on how to develop meaningful mentoring relationships, Howell shares that it begins with attitude. He emphasized that one should understand what is asked of you and execute that to the best of your abilities. Raised in an environment where “there are no stupid questions,” Howell recounted how he may have “annoyed some folks with his questions” very early in his career, but that this approach was ultimately critical to his success. He recalls that he was the fortunate beneficiary of people in the industry who were open to providing help and guidance. The takeaway seems then, that building each other up should be well within the purview of a good corporate citizen in our globalized world.
“There are no stupid questions”