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!
This quarter, we’re thrilled and honored to feature KBR president and CEO Stuart Bradie, who serves as an executive member of the board. In this position, Stuart communicates directly to the board on KBR’s operational status and in turn receives guidance and direction.
Under Stuart’s transformational leadership, KBR has evolved into a globally sought-after provider of differentiated, high-end technologies and solutions. But in his words, we’re a company that does work that matters. And that work — delivered by our amazing people — is creating tremendous value for our stakeholders, helping customers accomplish both their business and ESG goals, and addressing the great challenges of our time.
Stuart Bradie
Joined KBR Board of Directors: July 2, 2014
Birthplace: Irvine, Scotland
Lives in: An airplane!
Favorite Hobby or Leisure Activity: Skiing, hiking, golfing, being a foodie
Favorite Place You’ve Visited: No place specific as nowhere is perfect. But every place has something unique/special, so I have so many favorite places.
Favorite Book or Movie: “Shrek” (Well, he is Scottish.)
We asked:
A lot has happened over your nine years at KBR — a true business transformation, a pandemic, now war in Europe, just to name a few. What’s a leadership principle or behavior that’s served you well throughout your time at KBR?
I would say a couple of things here. You are quite right, we have been and are living through some pretty significant unforeseen events. I believe as a leader your team expects that at such times you do not overreact or underreact/freeze. But you do take timely input and thoughtful action, and you overcommunicate as best you can with your team and an even wider group to ensure the best ideas get aired and people can contribute and get aligned on the way forward.
Once decisions are made it is then really important that we communicate clearly and consistently, and explain not only the “what” but also the “why” to our people. So in short: stay calm, listen to input, take considered and timely action, and overly communicate.
What’s the most important leadership lesson you’ve learned?
That it is okay to be wrong and admit it. When you accept this — which is a fact for most people — then it drives you to build great and diverse teams and listen to their input. In doing this you can make more “right” decisions. More than this, you start to truly value people and what they can bring to an organization like KBR, and it teaches humility. It also allows you to have a culture and values that naturally encourage and give people permission to try new things, to innovate and to be different.
“We do things that matter.” It’s true across KBR. What does it mean to you personally to be a part of a company that’s delivering the kinds of solutions we do?
I love working for KBR and hugely appreciate what our people do every day, and our people DO things that really matter. They tackle or support some of biggest challenges and opportunities the world faces today — and will face tomorrow. It is incredibly exciting, and it is easy to get out of bed every morning when KBR is helping tackle climate change, helping protect our way of life, deploying technology that helps feed the world, advancing humankind beyond this planet, and so much more.
KBR has made tremendous cultural strides during your tenure. But as you often say, there’s always work to be done to be the best company we can be. What’s one area of KBR’s culture that you’re committed to strengthening?
I think that “culture” is a very difficult and likely misused term across many companies. Cultural differences across countries, regions, etc., are clear and should be celebrated. For KBR, we have placed far greater emphasis on alignment of our ONE KBR Values and the associated behaviors. Surely we can all value our people, we can all empower and work ethically, and so on. All of our values are important, and we will continue to make decisions based on them.
That said, if I had to choose one of the values that would make the most difference, it is “We Are a Team of Teams.” We have so much untapped knowledge, innovation and potential within KBR. I also think the level of synergy we are realizing across our various business areas is the tip of the iceberg. We can break down artificial barriers, and focus on the common good and do so by creating safe environments for people across the company to bring their whole selves to work, share ideas, and have a voice. If we can do that then KBR would be unstoppable.
