Pete Costa (MBA ’99) joined the Darden Alumni Career Services coaching staff in the summer of 2023. After 30 years of global leadership and general management experience, including military service in the U.S. Navy, Pete founded Capman LLC, a leadership coaching firm, in 2019.
Much of your work has been international. What advice do you have for any Darden alumni interested in working abroad?
My main advice is that if you get the chance to work internationally, take it, especially if it means moving there as opposed to just doing extended business trips. Our time in the UK and Dubai was life-changing for every member of my family.
Interestingly, it’s not always the best career advancement move. In my experience, the senior roles in larger companies often go to the people who spend most of their time around the corporate HQ. If you do go abroad, make the effort to schedule plenty of in-person and virtual facetime with the home office. This sometimes means sitting on a conference call at 2 a.m. your time wondering why people take 20 minutes to come back from a 10-minute break.
How has your military experience impacted your non-military roles?
My military service was as important to my later success as my time at Darden. First, it gave me perspective. While I was fortunate enough to have never been in combat, I did occasionally have to make decisions that put myself or others in danger. As much pressure as businesses put on “making the number,” it was never going to rise to that level. I learned early to do things the right way and not take short-cuts that would just push problems down the road.
Also, I had to quickly get comfortable leading people who knew far more about their jobs than I did. On both my ships, everyone who reported to me was an expert in areas where I only had a general understanding. Some of the people I was responsible for had been in the Navy longer than I’d been alive! I wasn’t going to tell them how to do their jobs. Instead, I had to maintain the bigger picture and set priorities and standards to ensure that my people had the resources, understanding and desire to be successful. This experience enabled me to take on broader and more challenging leadership roles earlier in my civilian career.
You started your post-Darden career as a management consultant and then spent over 15 years in leadership roles in public and privately held companies. A few years ago, you went out on your own and founded Capman LLC. What led to those choices?
My long-term goal was always to run a business, preferably my own, but a summer internship with McKinsey turned into a full-time role. I am much more of an implementer than a strategist, so I began picking roles that moved me closer to becoming a GM. After landing GM roles at Honeywell, I moved to a PE-backed firm, helping them to clean up a series of past acquisitions and build out a more robust management culture and processes. We made good progress, but a planned sale fell through, and I and other senior leaders parted ways with them.
That was a difficult but critical turning point for me. For the first time in decades, I stepped back and took the time to reflect on what was really important to me. I realized that what I loved was developing people and organizations. After a lot of research and reflection, I felt that leadership coaching would be a good path for me to follow. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was following the process of the amazing Designing Your Life seminar that my colleague, Marty Speight, offers to alumni. I’ve been coaching for over 4 years now as well as consulting on post-merger integration efforts and couldn’t be happier with what I’m doing.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I gravitate towards activities that challenge both my body and mind, things that provide a tangible sense of accomplishment. I’m a lieutenant with our volunteer fire department, grow a good portion of our food and practice a range of woodworking skills. I’m also active in several veteran support groups, including one that helps members of the Special Forces communities transition to the civilian world.
What are the top three tips you give alumni who are looking for new roles?
Be purposeful. Randomly sending off applications to job postings may feel like you’re getting something done but rarely leads to success. Take the time upfront to think through what it is you really want to do and target your efforts on that.
Network. The job you want probably hasn’t been posted yet. Your immediate network probably doesn’t know about it, but their network probably does. Get comfortable asking people for help—most people want to support you if they can. Once you land the job, keep in touch with those people.
Perfect your pitch. Have a very clear alignment between who you are, what you are looking for, and what your future employer wants. Take out anything in your story that detracts or distracts from this message. Ensure your responses to interview questions are all part of this coherent image, i.e., your personal brand. Practice with a coach, friends and family. Record yourself practicing and then actually watch it.
If you would like to schedule a career coaching session with Pete, please send a request to alumnicareerservices@darden.virginia.edu.
