A Word from The Board
KBR is fortunate to have an outstanding lineup of experts with extensive experience in numerous industries serving on our board of directors. These individuals not only work together to help guide our business strategies, monitor performance, evaluate risk, conduct oversight and much more — they’re also fascinating people!
In Q1, we’re pleased to feature one of our newest directors, Sir John A. Manzoni KCB, who brings to the board deep expertise from a multifaceted career spanning government and civil service, energy, defense, and commercial business.
Sir John A. Manzoni KCB
Joined KBR Board of Directors: May 2022
KBR Board Committees: Audit Committee and Cybersecurity Committee
Birthplace: Rugby, UK
Lives in: London, UK
Area(s) of Expertise: I have experience at the highest levels of both public and private sectors and have served as CEO, chair and board member across multiple industries. I am also qualified in engineering.
Favorite Hobby or Leisure Activity: Sailing
Favorite Place You’ve Visited: Positano (the Amalfi coast), from the sea. In fact, I most enjoy visiting places from the sea.
Favorite Book or Movie: “The Glass Bead Game.” Perhaps not my favorite but the most impactful.
We asked:
Building and maintaining connections — to our culture, our values and to each other — is a central focus at KBR. What’s an example of how nurturing a connection has made a difference in your life or career?
I have been incredibly lucky through my career because more senior people have been prepared to take a chance on me. Looking back, I cringe at the way I did some of the roles I was put in, because now I’d do them so differently. But individuals (one in particular over many years) took a chance on me, continuously stretching me into roles I had very little experience in. An example is when I was made head of investor relations for BP — with no financial or investor experience (I was an engineer). I was terrified moving from engineering to a commercial focus, but I was sent to Wall Street for several months beforehand to learn how investors and analysts worked. Another example was being asked to be head of merger integration for the BP-Amoco merger, at that time the largest industrial merger ever. No one (including me) knew what to do or how to do it, and it was before any consultants had “merger integration” practices. It happened over and over, and my learning in those different roles was unbelievable. I am forever grateful. I continuously challenge myself and others to take risks on people, and I spend considerable time (trying to) mentor others, because those who mentored me made such a difference to me.
What is an aspect of KBR’s culture that you most identify with?
KBR manages to blend some very high-end engineering and technical capabilities with an enduring focus on people. I think that is a differentiating feature we must nurture and grow.
Tell us about your experience in 2020 of being conferred by Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).
I feel hugely honored and grateful for being knighted of course, and it’s as a result of my time in the UK civil service, helping to improve the effectiveness and delivery capability of that organization. It is also lovely for my wife, who also can use a title, because she tolerated a stressed and mostly absent husband over many years. It’s a curiously “English” thing, so it’s pretty important to remember it doesn’t mean much to anybody else! It was a lovely day in St. James Palace, and I am now the (very) proud owner of a very fancy medal in a lovely box which sits in the safe and is unlikely to come out much!
Increasingly, business and policy objectives must go hand in hand with the need to address challenges like climate change, energy security, national security and others. How do you see KBR setting itself apart to help customers do both?
We have an advantage at KBR in that much of our strategy is directly aligned with some of the objectives you mention. The key is that we must continue to find ways of aligning our core business strategy with the objectives society wants businesses to deliver. It is broader than profit alone. I happen to believe business must be central to the delivery of a better, greener, more just society, and so I am delighted we can find those areas of alignment already, and I am keen we continue to find more.
What is one piece of indispensable career advice that’s made a lasting impact in your life?
There are many. Always consider how it looks at the table above where you are sitting. Do a great job in what you are doing now, and don’t keep looking to the next one. And perhaps the most important is that you must build deep experience in everything you do, or at every step you take in your career, because once you move on, it’s very rare to be able to go back to get it.
In a 2019 interview, you said one of the most important things that people leaders at any level can do is think about ways, even small ones, by which they can invite teams to take control of their own destinies. What’s one way employees, regardless of where they work within the business, can take more control of their professional destiny?
This is really important and speaks to the need for each of us to feel empowered and able to make our own decisions — whether that’s about our professional career or our day-to-day work. It is also exhausting if someone else is always in control of your destiny. I call it inner confidence. It’s different to confidence which comes from the outside. This comes from the inside, and being in control of your destiny helps you build it. It can be small things which are within your gift day to day. Do them well and think about whether you can expand those things. There will always be things we cannot control, and we have to learn to not sweat those because it just frustrates us. If you are building a career, be clear about your own goals (and that isn’t straightforward sometimes!), your own strengths, and build on those. Don’t chase what someone else thinks important. Be clear for yourself and define your own path —because then you will be happy with it.
