This smiling lady has more firepower at her disposal than many quite defensive states. “I would not want gender to be the determining factor in assessing my achievements,” says Marilyn Hewson. - In our time for a career, it is not so important whether you are a woman or a man, it is much more important to get the same experience. If a company is willing to invest in talent, the rest depends on your dedication and willingness to take responsibility."
However, Marilyn herself had to make her way to the helm in a less favorable environment. Even 30 years of work at Lockheed Martin and a brilliant track record would not have helped her take a place at the head of the board of directors, if not for the typically male mistake made by her predecessor.
Trial by loss
Marilyn owes her unusually deep interest in military matters to her parents. Warren Adams met his future wife Mary in Kansas during World War II. Both wanted to get into the active army. Warren was not missed by the commission due to an old injury - he fell under the hooves of a horse when he was a teenager. Instead of going home, he got a job as a civilian specialist in the garrison. Mary was a member of the Women's Army Corps, worked as a nurse and trained as a pharmacist.
The couple remained with the army after the war. The family traveled across the country for his father, who received work in various garrisons. 1963 found the Adams in Alaska, where Warren died suddenly of a heart attack. Thanks to her husband's insurance, Mary returned to Kansas with five children aged 15 to 5 and bought a house with a few extra rooms to rent. This is where the money ran out.
The widow faced a popular dilemma even today: she had to work hard to support her children, but at the same time she wanted to see them at least sometimes. She resolved the issue by hiring part-time in the canteen of the school where they studied. “Mom tried to prepare us for life as best she could, so she gradually taught us to fulfill adult duties,” Marilyn would write much later in her essay “The Power of a Mother”. “The older ones looked after the younger ones. We went to pay the bills, cleaned the house, painted the walls ourselves, and did minor repairs to ourselves and the residents. From the age of 9 I was responsible for the purchase of products. Mom gave me $ 5, a list of about $ 7, and a parting word: "I'm sure you will figure out what is the best way to save money." The habit of responsibility has made us stronger, wiser, more independent in matters and judgments. Mom acted like a great leader: nurtured the next generation of leaders."
Among the qualities that Marilyn adopted from her mother, she highlights the need to be involved in social life, to be useful. Working two jobs and raising five children, Mary found time to collect donations for charity, take schoolchildren on scout trips, and attend church. “Whatever happened, she remained optimistic,” writes Merrilin. - Difficulties often turn people into cynics or whiners, but my mother did not get hung up on how big the problem seemed, did not cook in her own sorrows. She believed that if you do not look ahead all the time, holding your head high, you will not see the solution. And this is also an excellent leadership quality."
The first serious problem in Marilyn's young life was the refusal of a scholarship to study at the University of Alabama. The girl decided that she would pay for her studies herself. Mom's upbringing made itself felt: she did not see anything impossible in working from 23.00 pm to 07.00, studying from 09.00 to 14.00, and then snatching a few hours of sleep before sitting down to books. "I only managed to sleep if I had no appointment," says Marilyn. Dating was made by a young man named James Hewson, whose wife she became during graduate school.
First of all - planes
In addition to her husband, Marilyn received two diplomas from the university - technical and economic. However, at the beginning of family life, they were of little use. The main income came from James, who opened his own company in Washington, and his young wife sat dejectedly in her skirt in the government statistics office, compiling an economic analysis of data on employment.
Four years later, Marilyn got tired of reading, what other people are doing so interesting. She slammed her heel on the table and went to interviews. One thing brought her to Lockheed, which was based in Georgia. “On the exhibition floor, I saw C-130 military transport aircraft,” Hewson recalled. - I liked them incredibly. I thought, what an interesting situation here, I want to work like this!"
James was somewhat taken aback when his wife returned from a trip with a dire case of military aviation obsession. But by that time his business was on its last legs, so he had no objections to moving to Georgia. Marilyn got a job as a senior engineer at a defense plant and got down to business with such enthusiasm that within a year and a half she was promoted to supervisor.
Soon, an awkward moment was brewing in the Hewson family. “James was looking for a job,” said Marilyn. - Our child was only five months old, I could not go out full time and really wanted my husband to find a job somewhere. He ended up secretly submitting his resume … to Lockheed! I was not delighted with the prospect of working together, I was even a little angry that, of all the companies, James for some reason went to work in mine. Fortunately, we hardly crossed paths. I went to the shops, and he was in the accounting department."
Five years later, James had to quit, because his wife, who had already reached the general management ladder, was transferred to Texas. Finding herself in a new place with her sons six and three years old, Marilyn asked her husband for a serious favor. “I suggested that he stay at home for at least a year until the children get used to their surroundings,” she recalls. - And then somehow the hands did not reach to change the scheme. As my job responsibilities included more and more traveling, James had to become a professional dad: he coached the school football team, led a squad of scouts, took classes on field trips. Many looked at our family askance, considered such a distribution of roles too eccentric, unnatural. But it suited us."
Be ready! Always ready
Over 35 years of work at the company, Marilyn has changed 22 positions in four of five departments. Like any good captain, she knows her ship to the last splinter in the rail and, if necessary, can replace most of the crew members at the post. “I've never given up on new or additional responsibilities,” she says. - But in my head a disgusting voice sounded for a long time, repeating that I was trying to jump over my head. Each appointment was accompanied by panic, thoughts that I was not ready. Self-doubt pulled me back, even when I realized that I had found my way. I would have moved faster if I had silenced that voice earlier."
By the age of 60, Marilyn had risen to the rank of executive director and sincerely believed that this position would be the pinnacle of her career. In January 2013, 51-year-old Chris Kubasik was to take over as CEO, and he intended to sit in that chair long enough to take Ms. Hewson to a well-deserved rest. However, two months before the transfer of powers, it was revealed that married Kubasik went to work for a long time not so much for the sake of concluding contracts for the supply of weapons, as for the opportunity to spend more time alone with one of his subordinates. The scandalous Kubasik was offered $ 3.5 million for the last signature on a document with the Lockheed Martin logo - a request to be relieved of his post. And they asked, leaving, not to forget their passion in the premises of the company.
Marilyn Hewson was next in seniority. The board was hesitant and nervous because in the many years of all the companies that make up Lockheed Martin, a woman had never come so close to being CEO. On the other hand, the scandal tarnished the company's reputation at a critical juncture when its main client, the US government, slashed its defense budget and reduced purchases. There was not enough money for development and the necessary equipment upgrade. Lockheed Martin held its breath as it waited for staff cuts. There was no denying that appointing a popular boss among employees would reduce the heat. In addition, Marilyn did not look like a person, eager to have sex with subordinates. Replacing a cheating husband with a midlife crisis with a good wife and mother definitely seemed like the right message to clients.shareholders and taxpayers.
Marilyn walked into the boardroom, listened to the official proposal to lead the company, thought for a few seconds and said: “I'm ready” (also read: “A leader with a capital letter: who are superbosses (and how they become)”).
The power of weapons, secrets of the universe
It took her very little time to extinguish the discontent of the dismissed employees. “One woman told how hard it was for her to come to our building, realizing that in two weeks she would no longer work here,” said Marilyn. - The idea was born to arrange something like a flying headquarters in a separate building. Psychologists talked with people whom we were forced to fire, they were helped to write resumes, to look for vacancies. I believe that on any trip you can always find an hour or two to walk through the shops, talk to employees, and listen to their opinions. Sometimes this opens our eyes to problems that cannot be discerned from the office. A true leader should not forget that he has living people under his command. They value personal attention and deserve thanks for their work."
With the same ease, Hewson reached an agreement with President Trump. Even before his inauguration, he tweeted that the price of Lockheed Martin's super-product - the F-35 fighter jet - seems too high to him (read also: "Donald Trump's 10 Most Scandalous Tweets"). Marilyn achieved a personal meeting, during which with one stroke of the pen she approved a gradual price reduction until 2020, and with the other she signed the largest defense contract in US history. The president christened the new friend “the best businesswoman in the country” and suggested thinking about a political career. “I love what I do,” Hewson replied, probably thinking about her favorite planes and helicopters, the range of which was recently replenished with the legendary Sikorsky. “I intend to stay in this position as long as I can.”
With the U. S. defense budget hitting all-time highs under Trump, Marilyn Hewson makes little money - roughly $ 20 million a year. Her mansion with a gym, elevator and wine cellar in McLean, Virginia is worth $ 5.5 million. At 65, she could have retired, but curiosity does not allow. Marilyn needs the company's resources not only to produce increasingly sophisticated weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence. She has not yet figured out everything possible about alternative energy sources, the possibility of colonizing Mars and other equally fascinating things. The world can only take a deep breath and wait for what will happen when she finds out all this.
In any case, over six and a half years, Marilyn and her rival friend Phoebe Novakovik of General Dynamics have so clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of women in leading defense enterprises that now in the United States only one of the top five companies in the industry remains under male control. The press has already dubbed him "the last warrior in the field." And this field, given the specifics of the business, is most likely a mine field….
Photo: Getty Images, Instagram
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