DTE Energy
Before retiring, Gerry Anderson was the CEO of DTE Energy.
Gerry Anderson started at DTE Energy in 1993, became its COO in 2005, and its CEO in 2010. After retiring this year from that post, he talked with the PUF team about how he got started, the evolution of his professional mindset, the steps that led him through his career and where he is today.
Leadership Mindset and Methods
After studying engineering and physics as an undergraduate, Anderson went back to grad school to pursue what he thought would be a doctorate in economics. For a while, he did pursue that degree, but later bailed on that endeavor to go on and earn a Master's in Public Policy and an MBA.
Anderson then went on to McKinsey, which worked his skills in problem solving, strategy, and financial analytics. As he entered the energy industry, he was largely seen as a strategic financial problem solver.
It was the paradigm he built his early success around, how he defined himself professionally at the time.
But by the time he evolved into a CEO at DTE Energy, a very different mindset and skillset became necessary. At a certain point, he realized that it was the organization with the highest degree of energy and focus that ultimately won in the end. If he wanted to be a good leader, he knew he had to become good at drawing that energy from people.