George Williams Senior Vice President, Operations George A. Williams is senior vice president, operations, for ComEd, an Exelon Company. He is responsible for overall coordination of operations including electric distribution, transmission maintenance, construction, new business and work management. Mr. Williams joined the company in 2006 with more than 22 years of experience in the electric utility industry. Before joining ComEd, he served as vice president of operations at Entergy s Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson, Miss. Mr. Williams began his tenure at Entergy in 2002 as vice president of operations support. Before joining Entergy, he served as general manager of nuclear assurance at PPL Susquehanna. Prior to PPL, he served as general manager, plant operations at Carolina Power & Light. Before joining CP&L, Mr. Williams spent 15 years at PECO, where he held a number of positions after starting at the company s Limerick Generating Station in 1984. Mr. Williams was an active board member in numerous civic and professional organizations in Mississippi, including: United Way, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Boy Scouts of America, Andrew Jackson Council Board of Directors, and American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). He earned a BS degree in electrical engineering from Widener University in 1984 and his MBA from St. Joseph s University in 1994. He is married with three children and resides in Naperville, IL. Q&A with George Williams What are some steps that you took to get to the position that you are in now? You must make sure you have the proper education. I have an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and an MBA. I have also attended a series of executive development courses to stay current on the industry and what senior executives are focused on. Having a broad experience base has been very helpful as well. I ve worked in just about every part of the utility industry, from line organizations to start-up organizations and in the corporate office. I also work hard to keep my knowledge current on the industry, its challenges and what other companies do best. It has also helped my career to be flexible and willing to move around. A lot of executives derail themselves because they re very limited in where they ll go or locate their family. Where are some of the places that Exelon has taken you? I just came back to Exelon. I spent the first 15 years of my career at Philadelphia-based PECO Energy, which later merged with Unicom to form Exelon. I then joined Carolina Power & Light, which is now Progress Energy Company based in Raleigh, N.C. I next worked at PPL Susquehanna, headquartered in Allentown, Pa. From there I went to work for New Orleans-based Entergy, where I worked for the nuclear group based in Jackson, Miss. I was there for four and a half years before coming to Chicago to work for ComEd in 2006. 124 2007 Vault, Inc.
What are some things that you learned on the job and not in a classroom? Political savvy for one. You need to learn how to maneuver in your job, how to navigate the corporate landscape, how to avoid pitfalls, and how to connect with people and gain sponsorship. There s also a lot of business acumen that you must learn that you won t pick up in the classroom. In my career that has included how to deal with regulators, learning about competitors, managing budgets, and coaching and mentoring people. You can learn a lot in school about how to work with people, but when it comes to how to lead people, that s definitely something I learned on the job. How did you develop your leadership skills? I ve acquired it through training and real-world experience. One of my first training courses was an eight-week supervisory development academy, which introduced me to the various skills needed to be a successful supervisor. I was also lucky to have a few good coaches and mentors who provided useful feedback on what I was and wasn t doing well. A lot of it, though, is common sense and comes from watching others. You reflect on how you want to be treated and respected, and you apply that approach as a way of motivating others. You can also apply traits you see in others who are effective leaders, even if they are not in your industry, like Jack Welch and other successful corporate leaders. Do you think there is a glass ceiling in your industry? If so, how can minorities avoid hitting that glass ceiling? I won t say the glass ceiling exists everywhere, but I have seen places where it clearly did. To avoid this reality from affecting your career, I firmly believe you must first have the appropriate level of education and experience. Another thing I ve seen is that people who are successful - whether they are minorities or not - often have sponsorship from someone who monitors their progress within the company and helps nurture their career along. A good sponsor will be at the table when decisions are made for selecting managers or senior executives. They re there to put a word in about your ability and contributions to the company. When you don t have someone that has a seat at the table to speak on your behalf, it can be very difficult to overcome the glass ceiling. Individuals can also look to work for companies that have been very supportive of diversity. That s one of the things that attracted me to Exelon Corporation. Not only has Fortune magazine named Exelon one of the most admired companies in the U.S. and number one on the gas and electric utilities list, but Exelon also has a very strong reputation for supporting and promoting diversity in its workforce. This includes maintaining active recruitment, retention, training and mentoring programs. Exelon also actively partners with national organizations, such as the Society of Hispanic and Professional Engineers, the Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers. Exelon administers a robust diversity education program ranging from workshops to online training, and it supports employee network groups for Asian- Americans, African- Americans, Hispanics, and the gay and lesbian community as well. I haven t seen this degree of commitment to diversity at any other company I ve been at. But regardless of whether a company has a long track record of supporting diversity goals or not, it is important that you make known your interests in advancing to people who can make a difference. Ask these people what it takes to advance in the company or the industry that you re in. Then perform and attain results because no one is going to just give you career opportunities if you have not demonstrated your ability to perform. Have you ever been mentored, or mentored others? How can someone find a mentor within their company/industry? Yes, I have been both, and I still mentor people inside and outside the industry who stay in touch with me on a monthly, quarterly, bi-monthly basis. Visit the Vault Diversity Channel for diversity program profiles of 100s of top employers, insider advice from executives about workplace diversity and more. Go to www.vault.com/diversity 125
I personally have two mentors that I ve talked to a lot in my life. The first was my junior high math teacher. He knew I had academic talent in math and science and got me to attend a summer engineering preparation program at Drexel University. I remember not wanting to go to school over the summer, but he convinced me how beneficial it was going to be. He never led me wrong, and it was probably one of the best moves I ve ever made. I started attending the program in eighth grade, and it was then that I decided I was going to be an electrical engineer. The other person was someone I met on one of my first job assignments. He eventually served as my boss when I worked in the nuclear side of the business and again on the fossil side of the business. He was an exceptional mentor and always talked about the importance of valuing operational excellence, having good interpersonal skills, and valuing people. He said the number one thing is to always value people and treat them with the utmost respect; when you treat your people well, they ll work wonders for you. I also appreciated his coaching abilities. If he saw opportunities to improve your ability, he was very open to letting you know. For instance, I might have been in a meeting or a presentation that didn t go so well. Many people may have seen it but would not say anything to me, but he would tell you specifically what went well and what didn t, and what he would do differently. And if someone had an issue they felt they couldn t express directly to me, he was really open in letting you know about it. It was a rarity in my career to have someone take that level of interest in me, and I really appreciate it. To this day, I still maintain a relationship with this individual. How can someone find someone like that within their career or their industry? It is very difficult, but one way is through your network, which is why I always tell people to establish networks. Don t ever think you have to have all the answers or you have to go everything alone. Make known that you re looking for a mentor, and if you have a management development organization within your company, let them know you re interested in obtaining a mentor and ask who would they recommend. Also take advantage of industry groups, such as the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) and National Society of Black Engineers. Usually they ll have mentoring networks or can recommend a mentor. Get involved in whatever organization you may be a part of so you can broaden your network, and you ll find members who can recommend mentors to you. It does not always need to be someone in your chain of command. In fact, that usually doesn t work too well. It can help to get a mentor who has nothing to do with evaluating your performance. What is the most rewarding aspect of your career? What would you most like to change? I love working with people who are dedicated to achieving success as a team. When I was a site vice president of a nuclear power plant, a key responsibility was managing outages. At one point, we had a real situation where we needed to do an outage in less than 10 days, which was an unusual situation for that industry, but we were able to pull together as a team, plan around it, and work on it. It required hundreds of people, and we not only beat the 10 days, but we accomplished it in seven days and 21 hours. This ended up being the third best in the industry, which was a big achievement for us as a team. I have done that on many different occasions, but as the leader, it s important to not think you need to have all the answers. It s very important to leverage your people and get focus groups together when necessary, because in working through other people you usually come up with much better plans. People love to show off their talents, but too often they feel that the executives don t care to get them involved. What would you most like to change about your career? The biggest thing I would like to change is the work/life balance. For all of the rewards of the positions I ve held, working within line organizations can require excessively long hours. I have three children, and even though one of my children is grown, I still have two teenagers at home. It really does bother me that I ve put in so much time at work and don t have the appropriate work/life balance. I ve changed a lot from where I used to be earlier in my career, but it s still an area that I need to focus on. 126 2007 Vault, Inc.
What are some ways that you ve found that really have helped you improve the balance? One thing that really helps is having a very understanding spouse. I ve been married 20 years to the same person. She also once worked in my industry, so she really understands the challenges and I can talk to her, which helps immensely. To minimize the impact of my job on the family, I do not allow anyone to schedule activities on the weekend unless it s a crisis. So once I leave work on Friday, then from that evening through Sunday is time I can totally dedicate to the family. When I go on vacations, unless it s an emergency, I try to stay away from the phone, cell phone, pager. Just make sure when you re on vacation that it is vacation and you leave someone else in charge to be able to handle issues that arise. Also let your boss know how important this is to you. If your boss agrees that having a work/life balance is important, that really helps achieve this balance. Who is/was the most inspiring person to you in your career path? I will again point to my two lifelong mentors. My junior high school was predominately an African-American/Hispanic school, and it was imperative to have a teacher that showed a personal interest in the students. This guy showed an interest in me as a result of the talent he felt that I had, and that really helped me focus on my math and science talents. The area that I grew up in - North Philadelphia - had a lot of problems with drugs and gang warfare. I just wonder if he hadn t been there to help me focus on my education, whether I would have got caught up in that and never had the opportunity to be successful. My other mentor is a very good coach, and I admire his success. Sometimes you see executives who are so glad to be where they are, they don t reach out to help anyone else. Well, this guy was just fully giving of himself and wanted to make sure that he was affecting the lives of others. So he has always been a big inspiration because he was an executive with high standards, cared about others, and always had a bubbly personality. Even when things were going south for him, he never let it change who he was. The person you saw on the outside was the same person on the inside, and that meant a lot to me, because that was not always the case in my career. How do you keep focused when things aren t going well on the job? First, it helps to not personalize it. Next, realize that many people have had the same challenge or issue that you are having. It s how you handle the setbacks that determine success or failure. So while you have to own the issues that occur, don t always feel you must instantly have every answer on your own. Seek out other people who can help you, who either experienced something similar or can advise you. That helps ease the pressure. The key is just reaching out and moving on. Remember that your career is a journey and that you are not going to win every battle along the way. What other advice do you have for a young person considering a career in your company/industry? Focus on your education. You have to have the right education for the career you re interested in. Also, whatever business you re in, think about what your core business is and make sure you re directly contributing to that core business because that will help you advance. Another big thing is don t be afraid to be a pioneer. I especially see many minorities looking for someone else to be the trailblazer before they re willing to venture into a field. Don t be afraid to be the trailblazer and focus on being the best. That s the price of admission. Last, don t sacrifice your sanity for your career. Make sure you have a good work/life balance. That s one of the things that derails a lot of people. They think, This isn t like school, and some don t recover. Others eventually recover, but they just don t teach you those things in school. However those who do co-op programs while in college, they tend to be better prepared for what it s going to be like in the working world. Visit the Vault Diversity Channel for diversity program profiles of 100s of top employers, insider advice from executives about workplace diversity and more. Go to www.vault.com/diversity 127
If you were not in your current position, what would your dream career be? It would actually be being a chief executive officer in a large competitive company where you get to fully leverage all of your skill sets. Are there different skills you would need for that job? I have a predominantly technical background, but one of the skills you need as CEO is the ability to be a broad strategic thinker. That is really critical because at the CEO level, you re not really involved in the day-to-day technical operation of a company. You re more involved in the finances, how you re making money, how you relate to Wall Street, how you relate to the regulators, and how you call on your company s resources to achieve the goals you have laid out. At that point, you re not responsible for certain organizations; you re responsible for everything. So how you relate within a company is just as important as how you relate externally. It really pools your political savvy, your business acumen and your strategic thinking. How do you acquire these skills? Some you can get through academics, but it helps to participate in executive programs where you get to be in classes with other executives. I ve been to executive development programs at the Wharton School and Harvard University with executives from all over the world. When you have exposure to those experiences, you learn how top executives do things, about some of your own shortcomings, and where you can further develop. You re also learning from professors who teach the greatest business minds in specialized areas such as leadership development and strategic thinking. To attend such courses, you must have sponsorship from your company, but you can learn quite a bit from reading books. You can also get it from having relationships with chief executive officers and meeting with them quarterly or twice a year to talk about strategy and how they got to be where they are. I ve always found it very beneficial to be able to talk live time to CEOs. Is there anything else that you would like to add? Always strive to be the best and make sure to maintain a strong knowledge of your industry. But also be willing to take risks. If you re conservative and want to be comfortable all the time, you re probably not going to go very far in corporate America. Also when looking for the right corporate match for your career, consider what caliber of corporate citizen the company is. For example, I m proud to work for Exelon, which in the last five years has given more than $87 million to nonprofit organizations that work to improve the quality of life in the communities in which we operate. The company s program is specific and strategic, focusing on four key areas of involvement: neighborhood economic development, education, the environment, and arts and culture. If you look at a lot of local organizations, you ll see many of our executives are on boards all across the Chicago and Illinois area, which is very important. It makes you feel good about your contributions to the greater community, and it also adds richly to one s network of connections. 128 2007 Vault, Inc.
Don t be afraid to be a pioneer. I especially see many minorities looking for someone else to be the trailblazer before they re willing to venture into a field. Don t be afraid to be the trailblazer and focus on being the best. That s the price of admission. George Williams Visit the Vault Diversity Channel for diversity program profiles of 100s of top employers, insider advice from executives about workplace diversity and more. Go to www.vault.com/diversity 129