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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