Leadership, Trust, and Building What Matters
A Conversation with Brad Velotta
After a 20-year career as an Army Officer and experience advising global enterprises in the energy sector, Brad Velotta brings a disciplined, leadership-first perspective to OneVizion. His background spans military leadership, consulting, and infrastructure-focused industries—shaping how he approaches growth, operational complexity, and team development.
At a time when telecom and utilities are under increasing pressure to deliver at scale, his perspective is grounded in both execution and long-term impact. We asked Brad a few questions about leadership, decision-making, and the role OneVizion plays in critical industries.
Q&A
Q: You didn’t start out building software companies. What’s the through-line in your career that led you to OneVizion?
A: Following a 20-year career as an Army Officer, including time at Goizueta Business School, I spent 4.5 years with a top-tier consulting firm focused on energy. I had the opportunity to support large global enterprises and North American energy companies, which naturally led me toward infrastructure and operational challenges like those we solve at OneVizion.
Q: What’s a decision you made early in your career that you’d make differently today?
A: Early in my career, I prioritized deliverables over professional development. Today, I focus on developing teams, individuals, and myself. Organizations perform better when people are encouraged—and expected—to adopt a growth mindset.
Q: What made you believe this was the problem worth solving?
A: Reliable and affordable communication and energy are critical to national defense and economic growth. Access to telecom and energy also improves health outcomes in underserved communities. These industries are foundational—not just to infrastructure, but to enabling technologies like AI.
Q: What’s something people get wrong about operational complexity?
A: Tools versus leadership. Even the best AI-enabled tools can’t eliminate complexity without strong leadership. Leaders need to align on purpose, assign responsibility to people—not AI—and commit to communication and continuous development.
Q: You’ve talked about trust as a non-negotiable. Where did that come from?
A: Trust is the common factor in high-performing teams. After experiencing failure due to a lack of trust, I made it a priority to build trust within teams and earn it as a leader.
Q: What does a hard week look like for you?
A: A hard week is realizing too late that we missed opportunities to move objectives forward. That usually means working the weekend to catch up. I reset through exercise, time with family and friends, and a few personal outlets like improv comedy, shooting sports, and movies.
Q: Who has influenced how you think about building a company?
A: I’ve been influenced by a few key people, including OneVizion board members like Rusty Gordon and Brad Kitchens. Their experience building and scaling companies—and their focus on leadership and culture—has shaped how we approach growth and execution.
Q: What’s a bet you made on OneVizion that looked wrong before it looked right?
A: Rather than making a single bet, we chose to invest more deeply in the platform and organization than initially expected. That decision positioned us to support large telecom customers and expand into the North American electric utility market.
Q: What do you want customers to say about OneVizion in two years?
A: “We wouldn’t have achieved these outcomes without OneVizion.”
Q: What’s something people would be surprised to know about you?
A: I enjoy improv comedy and plan to perform as a hobby. I’m also interested in eventually becoming a teacher and coach.
For more perspectives on leadership, infrastructure, and building high-performing teams, connect with Brad Velotta on LinkedIn.