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Greetings!
To get through six more weeks of winter, we grind through the dilemma of productivity vs. innovation. We also take a look at some new developments for women in the aerospace and defense sector. |
| PRODUCTIVITY VS. INNOVATION | |
Can you run a completely efficient company and still get creative new ideas from your team? If your focus is on maximizing productivity - getting the highest output at lowest cost - does it reduce the level of innovation you can achieve? Experts are talking about this subject, and we're listening.
UC Berkeley scholar Bronwyn Hall found in a recent study that innovation correlated highly with revenue increases, while productivity improvements had more ambiguous results. Business Consultant Peter Bregman (no relation to our Mark Bregman) has written recently that goals can have negative side effects, and that having an area of focus is better than having goals. He says that by focusing on doing the right behaviors and actions, the goals will end up being achieved. But, by just aiming at the goal, the right behaviors and actions might not happen, and there are dangers of bad things happening too.
A famous business school case study describes a major retailer that once gave a sales quota of $147 per hour to its auto repair staff. Faced with this target, the staff overcharged for work and performed unnecessary repairs, alienating customers. The company's chairman publicly acknowledged that the stretch goal gave employees a powerful incentive to deceive rather than perform!
In order to stay competitive in the prolonged recessionary economy, many companies have had to work very hard to reduce cost. The smartest companies, the ones that have been able to increase market share and actually increase their revenue, have then had to work even harder to get more output from fewer people, increasing efficiency to keep prices competitive.
When a company has to give considerable time and attention to just staying alive or eking out small increases, it is understandably harder to stay focused on innovation. Some companies will list innovation as a core value, but not give employees time to invest in creative pursuits. R&D investment is down at most companies (and in the US generally, compared to other countries). And New Product Introduction is costly. It is challenging to integrate new products into an already overtaxed facility.
But, from what we've heard and read, innovation is often what the customer values. Build the better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. Customers always want stronger, lighter, faster, cheaper products. How do you make those and still run an efficient operation?
From a big picture standpoint, innovation benefits companies long-term, and according to the experts, actually leads to increased productivity. By increasing demand for its products, a company will be able to acquire additional resources to invest in greater efficiency. By establishing greater market share, a company can often raise prices, hire better talent, etc. Morale is better at growing companies. Companies that encourage innovation and provide time to get it done, will find their employees working harder and smarter. An innovative company will typically beat an efficient company. The real key is to take a systemic approach. CEOs (with their teams) have to look at all aspects all the time. Do you have the right products, the right processes, the right people? Of course it is a challenge. Companies that can achieve this multifaceted approach to management excellence certainly stand a better chance to come out on top. |
| WOMEN IN AEROSPACE & DEFENSE LEADERSHIP | | |
This January, two major aerospace and defense firms saw women take on CEO roles. Marillyn Hewson has become CEO at Lockheed Martin, and Phebe Novakovic has taken the lead at General Dynamics. Although there are women in key leadership roles throughout the industry, these two hires are significant, because of the size of the companies. The A&D sector, which largely grew out of the cold war, has remained a traditional male bastion. Although the demographics are improving slightly, women still make up only 27% of the almost 5 million people in science and engineering. Although we've seen companies sincerely try to improve in diversity hiring, the inherent prejudices have often prevailed. One of the reasons there aren't more women leaders in A&D, is that there aren't more women in A&D.
Why is this so, in 2013? Did you know that worldwide, girls (at age 15) routinely score higher than boys on science aptitude tests, except not in the US!? Cultural forces still stifle the technical interest of girls in the US, and, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education still has to catch up with the egalitarian approach taken in other areas like Russia and many Asian countries.
Fortunately, there are organizations in the US that are seeking change in this area. NASA is encouraging women and girls on a special web site. There are grant-funded programs at major universities like USC and MIT. And there are industry organizations like Women in Defense (WID), A National Security Organization. WID is affiliated with NDIA (National Defense Industry Association).
 BOB is very proud to have been a part of the formation of a new and already successful chapter of WID. Amanda Smith of our company attended a WID event in San Diego over a year ago, and wondered why there wasn't a chapter in Los Angeles and Orange County. Then, she worked to make it happen. BOB sponsored an inaugural event in OC which drew over 50 people, and led to the recruitment and election of a stellar board of directors (which includes two men). That board has now adopted by-laws and created programming for the year ahead. Programs will include professional development, networking events, and fundraisers for the group's primary charitable goal of contributing to the Women In Defense HORIZONS Scholarship Program, which has made 116 awards of more than $180,000 to deserving recipients pursuing education toward a career in national security since 1990. The mission of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter (GLAC) of WID is to cultivate and support the advancement and recognition of women in all aspects of national security in the Los Angeles, Orange County, and surrounding areas. WID GLAC held an event in January that drew 80 people, to Salient Federal's site in El Segundo.
 | | 2013 WID-GLAC Board of Directors |
We encourage all of our friends in A&D, men and women alike, to become acquainted with WID. If you are in the Los Angeles / Orange County area, visit the WID-GLAC web site, and plan on attending an upcoming event, like the Oakley Military Division site visit. If you are outside the LA metro area, please visit the national WID site, and find the chapter near you.
Improving the position of women in the A&D sector will benefit our families, our companies and our country. Do it for your wives, sisters, daughters and granddaughters, and for yourself.
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| Who is BOB Search? | |
Watch our video to find out!
 | | Boyle Ogata Bregman Executive Search |
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