Skunk Works and Lockheed Martin’s Culture
Skunk Works - The Role of the Founder
Strong Influence of Kelly Johnson for 42 years Hand-picked personnel Infamous Kelly’s 14 rules Skunk Works’ independence
Skunk Works’ Employee Pride
The Best of the Best Highly patriotic Their work impacted Nation’s security Advance research = innovation
Lockheed and Martin Marietta premerger cultural background
Both companies subject to hostile takeover attempts “One company, One team” – merger of equals Both under financial pressures Martin Marietta’s more formal structure
Skunk Works Re-defined
LM
restructured in 2000 Works no longer autonomous
Skunk “Save
the Skunk!” – logo and Kelly’s rules dumped
Skunk Works and LM five years later – the perspective
LM use its experiences from the merger in 1995 when it restructured in 2000? Was the Skunk Works transition managed correctly or did the company underestimate impact? What were the consequences of losing independence for Skunk Works employees?
Did
Financially Inspired Changes
The Hard Truth
Cold War had ended All eggs in one basket Keep your enemies close syndrome The government was less concerned with innovation
The
The Solution
Mergers
and acquisitions = larger market
share Global Markets Cross Selling Laying off workers Consolidating and building one name brand Cutting common costs
How did this affect Skunkworks???
Profit versus Research Skunkworks who??? Savings based incentives