Page 99 - MY STORY
P. 99
The big lessons I learned from Charlie were
1. Always speak the truth to management,
2. Never be afraid of direct confrontation.
3. Know your subject matter well enough to have
neophytes understand it.
4. Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know” instead of trying
to bluff your way through a discussion — and
5. Demand competence from your staff, while
recognizing that mistakes and failures were OK and part
of our R&D life.
I never expected that I would have to make use of
Charlie’s lessons on knowing and briefing complex
subject matter to “congressmen” so soon. Read the next
vignette, 10-minute dissertation.
10 MINUTE DISSERTATION
We were required to brief the DoD on our Independent
Research and Development (IRAD) activities every year
back in the 60’s. Our scores emanating from these
reviews were important because they determined the
allowable overhead funds returned by the US
Government to Douglas’ coffers. This particular year the
