Shortly after her induction into the Army Acquisition Hall of Fame, we sat down with Ms. Cathy Dickens, Executive Vice President of Business Management, to get a better understanding of her career. Her humility and servant leadership shone through as she talked about her 37 years of service and how that has influenced her work at COLSA.
Her career mostly kept her at Redstone Arsenal, rising to the Deputy to the Commanding General (DCG) of the US Army Aviation and Missile Command before retiring in July 2015. Working with the same people and in the same space for so long gave her an in-depth knowledge of the mission and helped her feel more confident in herself. This was important as she was the first woman to rise to her position and was often the only woman in the room.
Finding Work-Life Balance While Supporting Our Warfighters
One of the hardest things about her career was achieving a healthy work-life balance. It was hard to make good choices as she was often choosing between time with her family and activities that would advance her career. Cathy says she was very lucky to have married her late husband, as he went to their children’s sporting and school events when she was trying to ensure that supplies were reaching soldiers deployed to foreign lands.
“My late husband was very supportive … he did everything he could to make sure I could be where I needed to be … in my career to support the Army.”
The key question that helped her decide where to spend her time was, “Am I sacrificing something that’s important to my family?” If she found the answer was “yes,” she would work to make the time to be with her family. She would pass on an opportunity, trusting in her skills and reputation that another opportunity would come around.
Fortunately for her, there was no “battle of the sexes” in the office. There were a lot of male mentor figures throughout her career, with one of the most important being her friend and successor as the DCG, Mr. Ronnie Chronister. He called her and pushed her to apply for the deputy director position when she hadn’t even considered it, and cited her years of experience to her as the reason she should try. Naturally, she was selected as the new deputy director and became the first woman to rise to that rank at the Command.
Staying True to Herself
Cathy Dickens is well known at COLSA for her love of fashion and her collection of colorful business wear. This wasn’t always the case. Initially she felt like she had to dress like the men, in a blue skirt or black slacks with a jacket, to present professionally enough to be listened to. However, as she became more confident in herself, she began to recognize she needed to be herself in both her dress and her leadership style! She did offer the caveat that her wardrobe could be and sometimes was viewed as a signal that she was less competent, not as strong, or not as professional, and that people seeing her this way only drove her to work harder to prove them wrong. Her career certainly proved this outlook!
“I can be a professional, competent leader without trying to be something I’m not.”
Real Leadership Listens but Decides
Cathy then offered her views on leadership. For her, the biggest priority is making sure she can hear what all her subordinates have to say. Hearing all voices makes everyone better informed. She did make sure to draw a distinction: not everything can be a democracy, nor should it be, as someone has to make a decision in the end. However, more inputs lead to a better decision.
“There are times when you have to make an immediate decision … but I find that I make better decisions when I go out and survey the team and ask them to help me understand the pros and cons and share their opinions with me.”
The 3 Biggest Honors
Cathy’s devotion to serving the warfighter didn’t just lead to her being recommended for various promotions. She was also recognized over the scope of her career with numerous awards and honors. Three awards in particular mean the most to her.
Cathy Dickens was recently inducted into the Army Acquisition Hall of Fame. She sees this as the recognition of the sacrifices her family made and the team of subordinates she assembled over the years. She was also recognized as one of the Women to Shape the State for Alabama in 2020, which she said was very meaningful. It felt like recognition of the work she’d done to create a path for other women to follow her.
The most significant, however, is the Apache helicopter blade sitting on top of her office’s awards bookshelf. It comes from a helicopter that was downed in Iraq. Maj. Gen. Jim Richardson, the commanding general of U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command at the time, presented this blade to her when she retired. Embedded into it is a plaque thanking her for her service.
Deciding on COLSA
Instead of enjoying her retirement, Cathy still felt called to support the military. Cathy knew several people who worked at COLSA and the reputation of focusing on their customers’ mission, never sacrificing integrity, and taking care of people was exactly what she wanted.
“I love the Army, and I worked 35 years supporting them. I was not going to work for a contractor where profit was first.”
The transition to COLSA from the Army wasn’t easy. Cathy Dickens described the feeling of starting her new job in Business Management back in 2015 as “being the new kid on the block when you’ve been the old kid on the block for a long time.”
She spent the first few months just listening and learning, trying to build up the same level of background knowledge and depth of understanding she’d had from her military career. She also had to build up trust from her new coworkers and prove her skills were transferable to contracting.
Fortunately, she found COLSA to live up to the tagline of “A Family of Professionals.”
“The people at COLSA are so good at sharing knowledge and including you.”
This made the transition easier and has kept her at COLSA for almost 10 years!
