30 at 30: Chuck Davison
Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership Class of 2013
CEO and Board Member: EnerMech, Board Member: White Fleet Drilling
Chuck Davison, CEO and board member at EnerMech, says his career objective has always been building a strong foundation from which to grow.
“I never viewed my career as trying to move up vertically fast,” Davison said. “Instead, I always focused on building a strong base. I recognized that if I had a strong foundation, I was going to be a successful leader.”
As Davison’s career began to move toward executive leadership, this perspective drove him to pursue additional education with an executive MBA. At the time, Davison was a vice president at Oceaneering International and being groomed for a senior executive role.
“I decided to get my MBA at the midpoint of my career,” Davison said. “There are the three Es in terms of our career journey – education, experience and exposure. I’d had a successful journey, but I felt like something was missing and wanted to expand my education.”
While researching MBA programs, he met Distinguished Lecturer Kate Atchley, who encouraged him to consider an Executive MBA from UT’s Haslam College of Business (which became known as the Executive MBA – Strategic Leadership [EMBA-SL] program in 2015).
“I was looking at several high-profile MBA programs,” Davison said. “And after speaking with Dr. Kate Atchley, I selected the University of Tennessee. I will be forever grateful for her guidance.”
Guided by Expertise: Faculty Influence
One of the program’s most valuable elements for Davison was the faculty’s approach to learning from a real-world perspective. To illustrate this, Davison described his conversations with Professor Emeritus James Wansley, who taught many of the program’s finance courses.
“Dr. Wansley had experience in the industry, and he was just so practical and approachable,” Davison recalled. “One of my favorite things that he taught the class is that ‘the answer depends.’ I’ve always held that true because no situations are alike, and your approach to a problem may depend upon many different trade-offs and variables.”
Evolving Leadership Style
In addition to learning from faculty, Davison found the program’s leadership curriculum impactful. Prior to the program, Davison’s leadership style was “command and control,” but his EMBA assignments, which encouraged self-reflection, changed his perspective. One assignment, which required him to write a “leadership obituary” on how he wanted to be remembered, offered opportunities for growth.
“How I wanted to be remembered wasn’t how I was behaving,” Davison recalled. “Every situation is different, people are different and you have to meet people where they are. That was a big turning point in my leadership.”
Today, Davison is a versatile leader, employing many different leadership styles depending on what the situation requires. The common thread is helping his team members grow and thrive.
“I truly believe that our job as leaders is to grow people, build capacity, capability and confidence and help them achieve more than they ever imagined,” Davison said. “Your legacy is going to be what you left behind in the people you developed.”
A Graduation Day Promotion
On the same day he graduated with his EMBA, Davison was promoted to senior vice president at Oceaneering, leading the global Subsea Products business. He had spent the last year preparing for a leadership transition, but the timing came as a surprise. Davison was thrilled about the promotion, but he felt mixed emotions about wrapping up his EMBA journey.
“I remember the joy of getting promoted, the joy of graduating,” Davison recalled. “I was extremely happy with that accomplishment, but I was also sad that the MBA experience had come to an end. I had grown so fond of Tennessee and fallen in love with the university. I still love the program and the people. It has a special place in my heart.”
Upon graduation, Davison accepted his new role with confidence, and in leveraging his EMBA knowledge, realized greater success than he could have foreseen.
Reaching New Heights
Within a year and a half of graduating, Davison earned a role as CEO of the private company Fairfield Geotechnologies, a significant step in his career. In the months ahead, he led the company through a massive transformation, forming a public company in Norway through a merger and acquisition.
“All of a sudden, I was the chairman of the board in a public company in Norway,” Davison said. “Within three years of my MBA, it was an amazing acceleration. My education at Tennessee helped me navigate scaling up to those levels.”
EMBA Words of Wisdom
One bit of wisdom Davison gained from the program was how to manage his multifaceted responsibilities of being a husband, father, executive and student. To do so, he traded the concept of “balance” for “integration.”
“There were times I had to work through the weekends to finish the assignments,” Davison said. “And other times that I said, ‘My family needs my attention because I’ve been traveling.’ I learned when to make the tradeoffs and integration of work, school and family.
Sharing how glad he was that he chose to earn his EMBA, Davison encouraged others considering Haslam’s program to pursue their goals.
“Go into the program, embrace it, work hard and push through it,” he said. “It’s going to be a grind, but you’re going to come out on the other side with confidence. Make the investment in yourself, because no one can ever take your education or experiences away from you. Invest in those experiences and take the leap of faith.”