The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success

by William N. Thorndike Jr.

The largest of these divestitures, the sale of the company’s dominant military aircraft business, presented an unexpected challenge to Anders’s strategic framework and is worth looking at in more detail. This transaction actually began as an attempt by Anders to acquire Lockheed’s smaller fighter plane division. When Lockheed’s CEO refused to sell and made an extravagant counteroffer for General Dynamics’ F-16 business, Anders faced a pivotal decision. It’s worth pausing here to make a more general point. Most of the CEOs in this book avoided detailed strategic plans, preferring to stay flexible and opportunistic. In contrast, Anders had a very clear and specific strategic vision that called not only for selling weaker divisions but for building up larger ones. After making early progress on the sales front, he turned his attention to acquisition, and the military aircraft unit, the company’s largest business, was a logical place to start. On top of the economic logic of growing this sizable business unit, Anders, a former fighter pilot and an aviation buff, loved it. So when Lockheed’s CEO surprised him by offering $1.5 billion, a mind-bogglingly high price for the division, Anders was faced with a moment of truth. What he did is very revealing—he agreed to sell the business on the spot without hesitation (although not without some regret). Anders made the rational business decision, the one that was consistent with growing per share value, even though it shrank his compa...