City of Irving

Chad Powell has spent his career helping modernize local government technology through infrastructure, cybersecurity and operational improvements. He focuses on building strong teams and reliable operations to support meaningful innovation.

Learning to Lead through Others

Starting as an intern, I have spent 25 years building my career with the City of Irving, including fifteen years in management. The hardest leadership lessons had little to do with technology. Every role was earned on merit, but the biggest lesson came after stepping into management.

When I took over the infrastructure team, I was already the de facto administrator for most of what mattered, including the virtualization environment, Active Directory and access control. I knew those systems inside and out, which turned out to be the problem. Stepping into leadership often brings the temptation to keep doing the work that earned the promotion while managing, an approach that does not scale and ultimately limits the team's growth.

The turning point came when I developed my team into the day-to-day owners of those responsibilities instead of continuing to own them myself. Once they owned those areas, I could focus on leading instead of doing. The shift from doing the work to developing the people who do it shaped how I lead more than anything else. Learning to step aside and let others grow was harder than the technology itself.

Creating Capacity for Innovation

Innovation is nearly impossible when day-to-day operations consume all available capacity. For years, the priority was keeping the organization running, leaving little room to move initiatives forward. Adding two authorized positions made the difference: an IT Business Analyst, who meets quarterly with departments to identify operational needs, and an IT Project Manager, who takes project work off my managers, allowing them to focus on operations and strategic initiatives.

The balance between innovation and reliability comes down to capacity. Reliable operations come first, followed by the roles that keep strategic work from being consumed by daily demands.

That same approach shapes my perspective on agentic AI. In government technology, AI offers real opportunities to reduce repetitive work, improve support and help a fixed workforce meet growing demand.

Public-sector organizations also have obligations around data handling, records retention and public records laws that technology vendors do not always emphasize. I welcome the productivity AI can deliver, but I will not deploy technology that cannot be governed responsibly. Success will belong to organizations that adopt AI deliberately while remaining accountable for its use.

Building High-Trust Teams

High-performing teams are built on trust. I often think about a framework Simon Sinek shares based on how the Navy SEALs evaluate operators by looking at trust and performance. People who score highly in both are rare, but someone who is trusted and performs consistently will always be more valuable than someone with exceptional technical skills but questionable reliability.

A highly skilled person who cannot be trusted becomes a liability because managing that risk outweighs the value of the work. Skills can be developed, but trust cannot. That principle shapes who I hire, promote and support, and it creates a culture where people are focused on solving problems instead of watching their backs.

Growing into Executive Leadership

Executive leadership starts with a willingness to go above and beyond. Taking on additional projects and learning how colleagues contribute builds credibility with peers and the people being served. Excellent customer service should always take priority over process and bureaucracy because policies exist to support people, not the other way around.

New roles should be viewed as opportunities rather than avoided because the discomfort of stepping into unfamiliar responsibilities often signals growth.

As leadership responsibilities expand, relationships with executives across other departments become just as important as technical expertise. Much of what gets accomplished depends on the rapport and goodwill built before either is needed.