Dave Bowerman
Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind. I was reminded of those words from the Boy Scouts of America Scout Law recently when I caught up with old friend David Bowerman.
Dave and I met years ago as parent volunteers for Cub Scout Pack 325 in Shoreline, part of the Chief Seattle Council, Boy Scouts of America. Our boys were Tiger Cubs at the time and Dave, a lifetime outdoorsman, was a natural Scout leader. As for me, I offered my limited emcee skills, which were sorely tested at monthly pack meetings by our rowdy gaggle of five to ten-year olds.
Dave has the easy vibe of a fly fisherman with the impressive smarts of a sales strategist. He’s currently Assistant VP, Director of Marketing at WSP USA - helping the global firm scope and win massive transportation and construction projects.
When Dave and I reconnected at Red Twig Bakery Cafe in Edmonds, I walked away with some good coffee and a few takeaways:
1) Government procurement is unique: After leading account and sales teams at Deloitte and K&L Gates, Dave’s found the procurement process for government clients to be quite different. The lead times are longer, transparency requirements are higher, and there is more rigor to flesh out project plans, team members, and even bill rates in advance.
2) Invest in yourself: Dave took the initiative to get professional certifications from Cornell University and the University of Washington based on his desire to improve as a servant leader. At times the course material was outside of his current role, but he wanted to become better at empowering the people and teams he worked with. So, if your company is not directly investing in your training and growth, consider investing in yourself.
3) Young people can benefit by having an early experience working with their hands out in the community. As more careers become tech focused and involve thinking as much as doing, there’s something grounding and valuable in having early-life experience doing something physical, such as working as a barista, in a retail store, in construction, or in landscaping. Our kids were lucky enough to do that kind of work, and the experience has helped them build self confidence and given them a lifetime's worth of perspective.
Dave is one of those guys I truly admire. He’s got a great family, a successful career, outdoor pursuits, and a genuine kindness about him. Plus, he's a Coug. Years after our Scouting adventures, Dave would occasionally see me waiting in the rain for the bus and would pull over to offer me a ride downtown. Dave said it was so he could drive in the faster HOV lane, but I think he was just being kind and helpful. Living the Scout Law.
That’s who he is.
Thank you Dave for catching up and for being part of my reconnect roadshow.
#salesstrategy #marketing #scouting #leadership #coffee #thankyou