Work Hard, Be Confident – An Interview with Jo Decker

By Laura Harcourt

Jo A. Decker serves as Vice President of Business Development, Sales and Operations for the Global Solutions Division of General Dynamics Information Technology. In this role, she is responsible for the strategic development of solutions and services for U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, federal and commercial customers.  Ms. Decker served as Vice President of Business Development for the Defense Solutions Division until December of 2015.

Ms. Decker came to General Dynamics IT after a 30-year career as a senior executive with the U.S. Navy. She served in many of the most senior positions in the Department, her most recent as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Fleet Readiness and Logistics.  She has been recognized for her many accomplishments including the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Award, the highest award that a defense civilian can receive, several Department of Navy distinguished civilian awards, the Department of Defense Senior Women’s Leadership Award and the Naval Intelligence Distinguished Civilian Award.

If your job could grant you any wish with regards to working there, what would it be?

To do more to expose youth to a wider range of aspects of our business. People coming in often don’t see a career path except becoming more specialized in whatever they started as, and they find themselves bucketed by narrow positions. Confidence is key. Don’t be intimidated. Try things you think you’re not qualified for. If you’re competent and hard-working, there are plenty of opportunities for you.

In the theme of trying new things, can you tell us a little about your early career?

I started off in the first generation of professional women, beginning in naval intelligence, then moving to building fighter jets, neither of which I had studied for, but you get there and learn enough about the technical aspects to become conversational in the subject.

Describe some of the specialized skills you use regularly. How did you come by them?

I often reverse engineer my thinking. In chess, you don’t think chess move by chess move, you think in terms of checkmate – the strategic, big picture. Envision an outcome and the steps to get there. Patience is a skill, and it takes patience to get through all your steps until you arrive at your goal.

What music are you grooving on?

I love music and dancing. Blues, jazz…niche stuff like flamenco and EDM. I love listening to my loud music and driving down the road. Can’t beat it.