Leadership Lesson from Raytheon Chairman and CEO

It’s that time of the week – we are meeting with another executive who comes to UIC all the way from Waltham, Massachusetts, to share with us unique stories and insights on leadership. The man I am talking about is Mr. William (Bill) Swanson, Chairman, and CEO of Raytheon Company, the technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security, and civil markets throughout the world.

Having spent 42 years with Raytheon, Mr. Swanson shows a deep understanding of Raytheon’s business and an utmost commitment to the company through various stories which he managed to tell in great detail within the short time spent at UIC. The highlight was his unique story of transforming from a C+ student in highschool to a magna cum laude graduate, an honorary Doctor of Laws and Science, and eventually the CEO of Raytheon. Besides talking about his role and responsibilities as a CEO, Mr. Swanson discussed the hurdles within the aerospace and defense industry and the sales process of Raytheon:

1. Hurdle within the industry: Due to external regulation that is largely out of the company’s control, Mr. Swanson tries to ingrain in Raytheon the idea of having control of what the company can do and constantly monitoring the external environment. As a result, Raytheon would make sure that its strategies account for the external forces that are happening.
2. Sale process: According to Mr. Swanson, Raytheon puts a high emphasis on Customer Focus Management, which aims to exceed customers’ expectations. That means not settling for just the standards specified in the contract. One of Raytheon’s competitive advantages, its brand image, which Mr. Swanson jokingly referred to as the one that fixes other people’s “screw-ups”, has helped Raytheon become the margin leader in the industry. Mr. Swanson emphasized the importance of patience and the willingness to commit fully to customers as its customer relationship management.

Talking about leadership, Mr. Swanson highlighted four key attributes: confidence, dedication, integrity, and love. He humbly mentioned his biggest weakness which was overcommitting to everything he did. When addressing a student’s question about professional development, Mr. Swanson stressed the importance of a personal brand which needs to be built and consistently fostered.

Thanks to Mr. Swanson for sharing his insight.