Talking Points: R. Bradley Lawrence

Brad Lawrence had been chief operating officer at Esterline
Technologies for just nine months when he was appointed CEO of the leading
aerospace and defense supplier in June 2009, replacing longtime CEO Robert
Cremin. Before joining the company in 2002, Lawrence held various executive
positions at Rockwell International, Paccar and Flow International.

Youth: I was raised in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh,
where most of my schoolmates were factory workers’ kids. My dad worked long
days as a service manager at Buick. When I became a caddy at the country club
at age 12, I had to enter through the back door. I wanted to walk in the front
door. That was a great motivation for me. I wanted to be like the guys on the
golf course, not like my neighbors going to the factory with their lunchboxes,
although there is nothing wrong with that.

Values: I worked as a car jockey at the car lot, pumped
gasoline, mowed lawns and shoveled snow. Once, my mother sent my father to the
store to buy a suit he could wear to the Lions Club. When I saw something I
liked, my father [instead] bought it for me. He came home without a suit. There
wasn’t enough money for both of us. I never asked for anything again, because I
knew if I got something, someone else was doing without. It’s hard to teach the
value of work and the value of a buck to kids. My kids walked in the front door
of the country club all their lives. They would say, “We’re not allowed to wear
jeans. I don’t want to go there.” It broke my heart. A significant motivation
for me was to be part of that class and they were rejecting it.

Education: In college, I had a lot of friends who didn’t do
well because they lacked discipline. I had this drive to succeed. I was the
first in my family to go to college. With the sacrifices my parents made
throughout my childhood to send me to college, frankly, I didn’t want to
disappoint them. Not succeeding wasn’t an option.

Career: It never occurred to me to be a CEO. But I observed
the business leaders around me, and began to see a common set of
characteristics for success. Subconsciously, I emulated those key
characteristics of success. After a while, I always felt I could do my boss’s
job.

Secrets to Success: I worked at two divisions at Rockwell.
My boss at one was a studied engineering type. He

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