In the celebrated words of Shania Twain here is a Lady who is "More Than Just A Pretty FACE" Ha Ha! Couldn't resist this one when I saw the article from Forbes... But enjoy the read all... This Lady has truly made a difference out there amongst our troops and pilots... Her name is Missile Systems President Louise L. Francesconi of Raytheon Missle Systems Division. Here is a lady who truly deserves that distinction... I would also have to agree with her assesment that she is definately blended differently...
http://www.forbes.com/2006/10/10/le...tml?partner=msn
Managing
She's The Bomb
By Della de Lafuente with Betsy Rothstein | Pink 10.10.06, 5:00 PM ET
When U.S. and Iraqi forces zeroed in this past summer on al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, it was a defining moment in the war on terror. As one of the world's most-wanted terrorists, al-Zarqawi had been responsible for many of the war's most brutal attacks, including suicide bombings, kidnappings and beheadings. Suddenly, after weeks of intelligence-gathering and surveillance, the man whom Osama bin Laden had named the "Prince of al-Qaida" was dead--taken out by American F-16 fighters wielding two 500-pound bombs. The first was a laser-guided precision bomb made by Raytheon Missile Systems, a Tucson, Ariz.-based division of Raytheon (nyse: RTN - news - people ).
"These are our best moments," says Missile Systems President Louise L. Francesconi, 53, sounding equally proud and humbled as she recalls learning about the al-Zarqawi air strike. "Our war-fighters are like rock stars to us. It's with great emotion and tremendous pride that we're such huge, silent contributors when it comes to bringing people home from war safely."
As the top executive of Raytheon's Missile Systems business, a post she's held since 1996, Francesconi runs the most powerful and successful missile company on the planet. It develops and manufactures a menu of weapon systems that supports every aspect of a mission by U.S. troops: air-to-air, land combat, naval and strike weapons, missile defense, guided projectiles and directed energy systems. Missile Systems and its 11,000 employees in five states posted 2005 sales of $4.1 billion, up from $2.9 billion in 2001.
Overseeing it all, Francesconi, who's also a VP at parent company Raytheon and a member of its board of directors, leads her business in the high-stakes game to win new multimillion-dollar defense contracts with the leaders of the free world. "It would be wonderful if they [missiles] were never put to use," Francesconi concedes. "But there would still be a need for it."
"She has a presence and command of the business and the missile technology that people in the military and in the defense industry respect," says Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., one of several congressional and military leaders with whom Francesconi talks about new technologies, as well as strategies for updating existing missile systems.
But as public opinion sours on the war in Iraq and the market for new weapons grows less certain, Francesconi and her company face a difficult battle to drive up profits. One bright spot, analysts predict, could be markets for missile defense technologies as countries such as Iran and North Korea threaten to arm missiles with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads.
Moreover, industry watchers such as government contracts expert Jim McAleese of McLean, Va., say that unlike Raytheon's major competitors, including Lockheed Martin (nyse: LMT - news - people ), Boeing (nyse: BA - news - people ) and Northrop Grumman (nyse: NOC - news - people ), the company doesn't seem to have any significant weaknesses, either from a technical performance, schedule or cost perspective. Says McAleese: "That's a very rare compliment in our business at this time."
Taking Aim
As the only woman leading a major defense company today, Francesconi is known for operating stealthily and strategically, both on and under the radar--much like her company's high-tech weaponry. "What's unique about her is that you rarely see her presence, but you know it's there," McAleese says. "She's one of the few women in the business and one of a handful of contractors with a reputation for performing on time and at cost."
She's also a role model for any professional woman who's ever felt stuck in an uninspiring career track. "She's an example of why you shouldn't ever feel limited by your studied expertise and how you move beyond it," says Dave McPherson, a retired defense company executive. As Francesconi's mentor and former boss, he identified her leadership potential and promoted her in 1993, at age 40, to chief financial officer of Hughes Missile Systems. "She's intelligent, exercises excellent judgment and has a keen insight into things--something that a lot of men don't possess," McPherson says.
Francesconi recognized early in her career that it was important to avoid pigeonholing herself as a money whiz who didn't know the technical side of the business. Instead, this wife, mother and grandmother tapped her financial expertise--which she credits with giving her an edge in business, gainfully carving out a 31-year career in the field.
"I think the best compliment paid to me is that many people who don't know my business background believe I'm an engineer," Francesconi says. "I'm just blended differently. I came up through the business side and pulled out the technical and strategic sides."
Francesconi helped orchestrate the major consolidation between Hughes Missile Systems and the missile business acquired from General Dynamics (nyse: GD - news - people ) in 1992, in the process relocating 2,500 families to Tucson and hiring another 2,000 employees. "I touched every facet of the business as part of that transition--from production to engineering to IT systems to our human resource practices," she recalls. "It really positioned me, when the president of the business was leaving, to be viable for this role as president." Not a bad career trajectory for Francesconi, whose first job after college was at Hughes Aircraft, where her dad worked as an engineer for 40 years.
At her office in Tucson, she devotes much of her long day to meetings focusing on personnel, new business and challenging customer programs. "But no matter how busy I am, I always find time for individuals at varied levels within the organization," Francesconi says. She also has a tough side.
Among her biggest pet peeves: dishonesty. "I cannot tolerate not being truthful," she says. Technologically, Francesconi has also been at the forefront of some innovative maneuvers of her own. "My biggest excitement has always been in seeing a solution in complex problems and getting large groups of people to move in common directions," she says. "Both have helped generate my upward movement in the company." She recognized the need to invest people and cash in restructuring the missile defense business, and she has worked to find new markets for technologies such as Raytheon's Tomahawk Block IV missile. Raytheon redeveloped the Tomahawk, which relies on a revolutionary two-way data link that allows it to be retargeted in flight, at almost half the original cost. That kind of strategic thinking has also made an impression on Wall Street.
"Francesconi and her team have invigorated the division's growth with new approaches to old problems," says Heidi Wood, a Morgan Stanley equity analyst.
Targeting The Future
As she considers her company's outlook, Francesconi says the biggest challenge for defense firms is keeping ahead of inevitable change. "You have to be ready for it. You have to embrace it," she says. "And it must be done with speed and affordability." One way she's changing company culture is by empowering her team to "think big and act small."
For instance, to illustrate the significance of speed and discipline on the job, she brought in a NASCAR pit crew.
"NASCAR racing is very disciplined; it's very technical. Lives are on the line--but it's also about speed," Francesconi says. She excitedly explains how the NASCAR analogy resonates with the whole organization. "They get it," she says. The company's goal from now on is to "do it faster, with 100% quality every time."
Big thinking also has helped Francesconi personally as she's developed her leadership skills, becoming more confident with her decisions and her willingness to take chances. "I think you only take risks if you have confidence in yourself, which is then confirmed with success," she says. It helps to be willing to learn--often in very public settings--and to accept help willingly, she adds.
At the end of the day, she makes no apologies for her deadly products. "No one likes going to war. The choices for going to war are complex," Francesconi says. "That's the beauty of our democratic process. When someone does decide to go to war, I stand behind a product that brings young men and women home alive, and that is a rallying point for the 11,000 people who work here."
A version of this story originally appeared in Pink Magazine.
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