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atellites,
jet fighters, and rockets. They provide some of the toughest engineering
work imaginable. Anything short of perfectly synchronized information flow
and mechanical execution in these complex systems usually spells mission
failure. Tight engineering specifications and high stakes are not new to Vance Coffman, Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense, Department of Energy, and NASA contractor. Coffman spent much of his first three decades with Lockheed working on edge-pushing projects such as using starlight to orient spy satellites in space. His technical and managerial work during these years contributed to the Hubble Space Telescope, the MILSTAR satellite communications network, the Space-Based Infrared System, and the Iridium cellular phone system.
But Coffman is an engineer who recognizes the difference between strategies
for hitting an enemy plane with a missile and strategies for hitting a different
kind of moving target — say, a Department of Defense request for proposals,
a speech to shareholders, or a planned merger. "In this business, you absorb and evaluate large amounts of data," he says. "And then, even though you're not comfortable that you have all the data, you have to pull the trigger on a decision. Being comfortable with 80% of the information and making the decision on time is better than having 100% of the information and making the decision late. It's a tough lesson to get into your consciousness."
He says Stanford helped teach him the 80% lesson. With Daniel DeBra as his advisor, Coffman divided his time between classes and work at Lockheed Missiles and Space in Sunnyvale. "Many engineering classes had projects that were the equivalent of small proposals in industry. You learned to say 'Look, I've only got from now until Thursday to get this done. What's the best I can do?'"
On the way from Stanford to Bethesda, Coffman has learned other lessons about shifting targets and imperfect information. He is now shepherding Lockheed Martin beyond its current reliance on sales to the U.S. government (representing two-thirds of revenues) into a more diversified and commercial portfolio of telecommunications and remote sensing systems. "We're sticking to our knitting," Coffman insists. "We are not going after business unrelated to our core, but our strategy requires expansion."
Coffman says the corporation is also finding new synergies across its more than 50 business units. He cites a new, stealthy cruise missile as an example of innovative intra-company partnering, in this case between the Florida tactical missile unit and the famed Skunk Works in Palmdale, California. Inter-company global partnerships will also play a role in the future of Lockheed Martin, as exemplified by the corporation's partnership with British Aerospace on the X-35 Joint Strike Force Fighter, a short-take-off/vertical-landing fighter.
Having presided over the Lockheed Martin version of worldwide consolidation that has seen two dozen defense and aerospace companies shrink into four or five, Coffman now predicts a leveling of defense spending, a slowing of consolidation, and a huge net savings for the government.
"The optimism among employees is good," he maintains. "This is the most capable aerospace and technology enterprise on the face of the earth. We now have the opportunity to leverage our skills in nondefense markets."
For this engineer who was born on an Iowa farm and who worked his way through Stanford, the first year as CEO has been full of challenges. "I have always been a high-energy individual," Coffman says, in a rare and carefully phrased reference to himself. "And this is taking all the energy I've got."
But his energy seems abundant as Coffman quickly shifts topics to describe the technical genius of the newest Lockheed Martin aerospace products — the wedge-shaped X-33 single-stage-to-orbit space launcher; the F-22 Raptor with stealth, supercruise, and integrated avionics; and the delicate experimental apparatus at the heart of Stanford's Gravity Probe B.
For the shareholders, customers, and 170,000 employees of the only company that Vance Coffman has ever worked for, this full-tilt display of enthusiasm should be reassuring. Because Vance Coffman has a history of being on target.
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