As you may have read in our recent press release, Peter Costello has been named President & CEO of BCS, effective December 1, succeeding retiring CEO Scott Beacham.
This special edition Meet the Team serves as a more intimate introduction to Peter, where he shares what he’s learned over his two decades of experience in healthcare and technology, what he’s most excited about at BCS, and more.
Q: What have you learned that will help you guide the company throughout next year?
A: In my 25 years in business, I’ve learned:
- Stay close to the market and your customers – understand their problems and needs and that will point you in the right direction. Cultivating current customers is always cheaper than conquering new markets.
- You have to know your strengths – that along with knowing your customers’ needs will give you your next vector.
- All successful business cultures have both a sense of urgency and a sense of scarcity. Urgency is understanding that all opportunities have a window of availability, and that window is getting smaller all the time. Scarcity means you can’t do everything; our time and treasure is limited. If you build on your strengths, you’ll have a better chance of winning.
- People are the most important resource we have – we have to hire, develop, and retain good people who want to do the right thing, want to learn, want to lead, want to tackle tough challenges, and want to win.
- Diversity makes us stronger – different ideas, different backgrounds, different beliefs are important to making a difference.
- Showing up every day and doing your best leads to long term success. Some days you’ll get kicked in the face, some days you’ll have big wins. Plan on, expect and accept the first, and you’ll have plenty of the second.
- Communicating openly, honestly and frequently is important to building trust and building teamwork. Good communication liberates and empowers people.
- We have to expect and demand excellence – in our thinking, and in our execution. Demand it in myself first, then in others.
Q: What was the path you took to get to where you are today?
A: My parents taught me the importance of having faith, being generous, having a sense of humor, unconditional love, a strong moral compass, education and family – that’s a solid foundation to start on.
My service in the Navy taught me the importance of following a dream, of a clear mission as a unifying objective, the sense of a shared sacrifice, and the importance in working in teams and delegating responsibility and trusting others to do their job. It also taught me that you have to be accountable and hold others accountable.
My work in the not-for-profit Blue world taught me about how the health care industry works and the value of social responsibility.
My wife and my children have taught me humility – it keeps us all grounded and human.
My work as an entrepreneur taught me the value of taking calculated risks, the importance of being optimistic, persistent and resilient. Entrepreneurs are all those things. We all should be.
Endurance sports taught me the value of persistency – getting out every day, good weather and bad, and getting the miles in. It also taught me the value in using goals as a motivation. No one likes the first few miles or the pain in the late miles but getting to the finish line is made all the better by overcoming the difficulties in getting there. Setting goals and showing up every day to work towards those goals is important.
Q: What excites you about being the CEO of BCS?
A: I’m excited about working with our team at BCS to bring solutions to the problems that face our customers. There are a lot of problems to solve and I believe we’re in a unique position to solve them. I’m super excited about that. I’m excited about working together to build a culture of joy and fun and doing great things as we do it.
Q: What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A: Being away from family during my years in the Navy was difficult. Being away from my family while working at BCS has been difficult as well. But the bright side is that I appreciate them all the more now.
Q: Who or what has shaped who you are?
A: My parents, my brothers and sisters, the people I have worked with and worked for, my family. More recently, Scott [Beacham, retiring BCS CEO] has been a great mentor and a great example of the value of being principled, being consistent, caring for each other and finding comfort in your own skin. I’ll miss him.
Q: What is your favorite marathon that you’ve ran, and why?
A: The Chicago Marathon – all the people come out to cheer you on, the music and the energy is glorious. I love the Boston Marathon too, although it’s been a long time since I ran it, as you have to train during the winter. Running for three hours to train when there are only a few hours of daylight is tough but crossing the finish line in the Spring makes it all worth it.
