Build a Strong Foundation for Enduring Success

Rod Ward, President and CEO of CSC

Along with Gov. John Carney, Rod also serves as co-chair of the Delaware Prosperity Partnership, a public-private partnership for economic development. He is currently the board chair of Rodel, a nonprofit advancing public education in the state. He is immediate past chair of the Delaware Business Roundtable, a nonpartisan, volunteer consortium of Delaware CEOs. Ward also serves on the advisory boards of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, and Leadership Delaware, an organization that recruits and mentors young professionals.

With time, we’ve learned that the key to our success is a strong foundation, what we call Our Core, which guides us, especially during challenging times like we face today. Our Core consists of Our Purpose, Our Values, and Our Customer Promise. These are guiding principles that direct how employees make decisions and take actions that impact our success.

Put People First

Our Purpose states that we help our customers succeed while building an environment where our people will be better off tomorrow than they were today. We firmly believe that CSC is about people, not things. Putting our people first becomes a natural extension of who we are and how we act.

Communicate More

In times of uncertainty, people need to hear from their leaders more often to comfort them and understand where they need to head next. This meant a shift in my own communications from every six weeks or so to weekly.

Be Genuine

This is a core value for us. In my efforts to communicate more, I’ve needed to be more open about my own challenges, and show more appreciation for what all people are going through. And in 2020 as the world shone a spotlight on social injustice, I met with Black employees to increase understanding so we can make changes that address specific issues head-on, like creating a Diversity and Belonging position.

Give People A Voice

For people to be genuine, they need a way to have a voice. This includes our centralized intranet, where people share stories of struggle, service, and success. We’ve also created Employee Resource Groups — voluntary, employee-led cultural networking groups developed to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with Our Purpose.

Empower Teams

Empowered teams begin with hiring great people who share our values of service and teamwork. We also expect teams to own and execute their processes without a lot of approvals up and down a chain of command. This powerful combination allows people to work together in extraordinary ways to meet rapidly changing needs.

Expect Decisive Leadership

Business leaders need to know they have the autonomy to make decisions and take action. This provides the agility they need for quick, decisive steps to live up to Our Customer Promise to meet customer needs where and when they need it.

Leverage Opportunities

Being agile pushes us to build on our core processes to meet changing customer needs. In 2020, many of CSC’s business areas quickly pivoted and developed new or improved solutions using existing tools and processes to meet customers’ changing needs.

Remain Tenacious

We have many new but rapidly expanding businesses globally. As circumstances quickly shifted during the year, we stayed focused and determined to move these businesses forward. We used this time to add offices and employees to ensure that we’re well-positioned for success as business rebounds.

Maintain A Long-Term View

We’ve been in business for more than 120 years. In addition to tenaciously dealing with challenges right in front of us, we’ve remained focused on the future. We took time to create a new five-year mission and celebrate our successes of the last five years.

Keep People First

I mention this again because the needs of our people evolve. We can’t just implement some program and think we’re finished. We have to learn, understand, and meet employee needs, including giving extra support to our people who were facing particular hardships during this past holiday season.