From Cop Car to the Classroom
Fall 2017
Kevin Watson believes in breaking out and exploring many roles in life.
“Don't get stuck in your bubble,” Kevin Watson
says. It's a theme he jotted down for his keynote
speech at the annual Division of Continuing Education
Certificate Awards Ceremony in June, and it pretty
much defines his approach to life.
Always eager to explore new roles, Watson — a DCE
Business Analysis instructor and former student — has
worked extensively abroad, discovering different cultures,
seeking new skills and even wildly divergent careers.
He's been a sailor and a cop, served as IT consultant
and business analyst, lived in Singapore and traveled
through India, Saudi Arabia and Southeast Asia.
“One thing I stress is the need to break out of your
current role, strive to learn more about your organization,
explore everything you can and see all the moving
parts,” he said. “It's the only way to completely understand
how the whole system works. For instance, if
you're working in IT at a hospital, you have no idea
what a patient actually goes through.”
Watson made a point of finding out. While leading a
hospital-wide drill at Hoag Hospital in Irvine, he posed
as a patient actor. The idea was to train the staff for
opening day at the new hospital, and Watson, Senior
Manager of Quality and Performance, oversaw drills to
determine what worked efficiently and what needed
fine-tuning.
True to form, he wasn't content to simply direct the
massive operation. Watson wanted to pose as a stricken
hospital visitor, to see exactly how the emergency
situation would be handled in real life.
“I acted as a visitor who collapsed outside the elevators,
so the staff could practice what to do in such an
emergency,” he said. “It was a fantastic experience.
Our staff of about 300 people had to act out a typical
day for the first time. We worked on scripts, used stopwatches
and brought in actors as patients. We needed
to know if the elevators were too small, if the equipment
was in the right place during surgeries.”
Striving to understand all the moving parts comes
naturally to Watson. It's a key to his success as Global
Integration Manager at a major software provider, and
it's a philosophy that informs his online Business Analysis
certificate courses.
Kevin Watson has played many roles, trekked to far-off
lands, all within his brief 49 years on Earth. Most of us
would find the adventure breathtaking, but he takes
it entirely in stride, whether haggling for deals on the
streets of Singapore with his wife Yvonne or navigating
meetings with translators in Japan.
Along the way he learned much about various customs
and cultures. “It's important to follow proper business etiquette,” Watson said. “For instance, in Japan you
hand your business card to someone with both hands.
One hand is considered rude. And when someone
hands you a card, you need to look at it for several
seconds, never put it away immediately.”
While living in Singapore, he discovered what he
jokingly calls the “Remora Effect” — the way salespeople
attach themselves to customers the moment
they walk into a store, following closely and barely
leaving a foot of space while they're shopping.
“Have you ever seen Shark Week on the Discovery
Channel and noticed those small fish attached to the
shark? Those suckerfish are called Remora,” he said.
“You can say that you're browsing, but the salesperson
will follow you, often within striking distance for a good
shot to the face. In the U.S., it's almost the opposite.”
To think his journey began in a most inauspicious way:
His grades at Burroughs High in Burbank were terrible,
so he had to figure out a backup plan that, at the time,
didn't include university.
“I wasn't motivated to do homework,” he said. “I would
have been heading to Glendale Community College
as a next step. Instead, I joined the Navy Reserves and
trained as an avionics technician, then served on a P3
sub-hunter and F-18 fighter. I even spent two weeks
on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. Very exciting
experience.”
When he returned home, Watson earned an associate
degree and joined the Santa Monica Police Department.
After a stint as dispatcher, he became a Community
Service Officer, driving a cop car and visiting crime
scenes to fill out paperwork for crimes and situations
that didn't require a gun-toting officer.
“I specialized in traffic accidents but also handled
burglaries, vandalism, robberies and much more,” he
said. “My last two years there, I switched to an IT role
and started down my now 20-year path in roles most
often related to information technology.”
That led to a job working on IT systems at UCLA, later as
a computer consultant traveling the U.S. serving mostly
healthcare and public sector clients. Just like that, the
unmotivated high school student found his calling.
Watson got his bachelor's in IT from University of Phoenix
and, two years later, an MBA. That's when he decided
to attend UCI Extension (now Division of Continuing
Education), taking the Business Analysis and Project
Management certificate courses concurrently.
He was encouraged to join the International Institute
of Business Analysis, so he did. It was a turning point that
led to his position as Senior Business Analyst at Hoag
Newport Beach.
“I found the job through a woman at a local IIBA
chapter dinner!” Watson said. “She mentioned she
was about to have open BA positions at Hoag. I was
carrying a resume and told her I was interested. I got
the job, and that was a direct result of me taking the
BA certificate program at UCI.”
That new role — and his subsequent experience in
hospital administration there — led to his third degree,
a Master's in Healthcare Administration from Cal State
Long Beach.
Now Watson is a part-time DCE instructor and serves
on the Advisory Committee for the Business Analysis
program. Becoming a teacher seemed like a logical
step, since he's been teaching for much of his career
anyway.
“Teaching is challenging and keeps me up-to-date
with the latest techniques,” Watson said. “I get as much
from the classes as my students do. I realized that it's
something I've done my entire career, all the roles I've
played in healthcare and with the police department,
teaching four-hour classes for nurses and senior
managers. I definitely enjoy sharing my knowledge.”
As an Advisory Committee member, he's sharing ideas
on shaping the future of the Business Analysis program,
seeking new ways to “focus on the next step, continue
to develop the curriculum and keep it relevant.”
Most recently, Watson's thoughts were focused on his
DCE Certificate Awards Ceremony keynote speech,
delivered on June 19th to hundreds of new program
graduates and the family and friends in attendance
to help celebrate their achievement. As he prepared
to address the certificate awardees, one theme kept
coming to mind: “Now that you've got your certificate,
what are you going to do with it?”
One of the things Watson emphasized is how beneficial
it is to join a professional association like the IIBA. “It's a
great way to network and meet people in the industry.
After all, that's how I got my position at Hoag.”