Norman R. Augustine seems like a regular guy. While going to college, he recalls, he worked on roofs. Applying
tar. He attended Princeton, receiving a bachelor's degree in engineering in '57 (aeronautical; magna cum laude) and
a master's in '59.
His first post-college job was working as an engineer. Next, lead engineer. Then middle management. Then..."I worked up through the system," Augustine remarks. Presently, he's chairman of Lockheed Martin Corp., the huge aerospace firm/defense contractor that was created in '95 when Lockheed and Martin Marietta merged. Prior to the merger he was chairman and CEO of the latter; when the merger was complete he was president of the combination.
Augustine has written a book titled Augustine's Travels: A World-Class Leader Looks at Life, Business, and What It Takes to Succeed at Both (AMACOM; 262 pp.; $24.95). I'm talking to Augustine because he's evidently, based both on his resume and on the stories and advice he relays in the book, a man who knows how to prosper in a turbulent industry.
He points out in Augustine's Travels, for example, "Estimates suggest that only about one-quarter of the
120,000 firms that once supplied the Department of Defense still serve in that capacity." He adds, "The U.S.
defense industry has sustained a far greater rate of market loss than any other industry in recent times, and a
huge conglomeration of human tragedy as well—ironically, all brought about by the welcome news of the end of the
Cold War." U.S. auto makers often consider their market share losses (actual or potential) due to increased
competition from abroad. Defense companies have taken a hit as a result of a decrease in competition.
"I've often thought," Augustine tells me, "that what Japan incentivized the U.S. auto industry to do, the lack of the Soviet Union incentivized the U.S. aerospace industry to do." Those companies that got better at doing the right things have made it; those that didn't haven't. And it is an on-going challenge, not something that
permits coasting by anyone.
"In the aerospace industry," Augustine remarks, "we don't have recalls. You push the button for the rocket, and it has to work." It isn't a matter of bring-ing the rocket back to the dealer and giving the customer a cup of coffee while he waits for a repair. There is no question about quality. None. Period.
In his book he talks about "mission success." He writes, "As far as Lockheed Martin is concerned, it means
the daily commitment to providing customers with quality products and services. It means underpromising and overproducing." Is this, I ask, something germane to the people at the top, or to all people in an organization? Both, he answers. But it must start at the top. "The person at the top has to set the example," Augustine explains. "If he indicates that profits are more important than quality, then that will be known throughout the company.
If he makes it clear that they'll take a hit in profits in order to build quality products, then everyone will follow
suit." As he points out, although there are thousands of people within a given aerospace company, a single individual can make the difference between mission success and failure. Someone who doesn't, say, make the proper fit-up in an assembly can spell disaster. And the same is true in the auto industry. Mission success is the responsibility of every person, whether he or she wears a suit or a smock.
So what does it take to be successful?
"Do your job and don't worry about getting ahead. That will take care of itself." He says that he knows people who have made grand career plans that didn't turn out as expected: They were so busy looking way ahead that they didn't pay attention to what they were doing. "The best chance of success for each person is the realization that whatever they are working on now is the most important thing in the world," Augustine says.
But what if you happen to be working at a company that is likely to become numbered among those that are counted out? That is a problem, he admits. His recommendation: "Be sure that you are working for a company that has far-seeing management, management with integrity who recognize the need for change, who won't be satisfied with the status quo." He suggests that management needs to take the long view and to avoid being seduced by the comparative ease of the status quo. "Managers are no different than anyone else," he observes. They, too, are often resistant to change.
So how does he do it, how does he keep advancing? "Self-discipline and the belief that if you don't change, it will be wrong for the long run."
He puts it quite simply: "You can get a cavity in your tooth filled today or a root canal next year."
A regular guy.
