{"id":49438,"date":"2023-08-08T12:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T12:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/08\/08\/leidos-refining-focus-crafting-north-star-vision-ceo-tom-bell-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:42:17","slug":"leidos-refining-focus-crafting-north-star-vision-ceo-tom-bell-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/home\/2023\/08\/08\/leidos-refining-focus-crafting-north-star-vision-ceo-tom-bell-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Leidos refining focus, crafting \u2018North Star\u2019 vision, CEO Tom Bell says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RESTON, Va. \u2014 As Leidos approaches its 10th year as an independent company, the defense technology firm\u2019s chief executive is using the occasion to sharpen the organization\u2019s \u201cNorth Star\u201d vision and identify duplication and inefficiency within its portfolio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Virginia-based company occupies the No. 16 spot in the <a href=\"https:\/\/people.defensenews.com\/top-100\/\" target=\"_blank\">2023 edition of the Defense News Top 100 list<\/a>, which ranks firms based on annual defense revenue. In the last eight years, the company has grown to 47,000 from 23,000 employees and increased its annual revenue to nearly $15 billion from $5 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CEO Tom Bell, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2023\/02\/27\/leidos-taps-rolls-royce-executive-bell-as-next-ceo\/\" target=\"_blank\">who joined Leidos in May<\/a>, told investors during a quarterly earnings call that while the company is healthy, there\u2019s room for \u201cstrategic sharpening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs we crystallize this new North Star, we will use it to guide all our strategic decisions,\u201d he said Aug. 1. \u201cWe will take steps to simplify our organizational structure to promote operational excellence, allow for faster decision making and more tightly align our business across our key technology differentiators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an Aug. 2 interview with C4ISRNET, Bell discussed his plan to help refine the company\u2019s vision, hone in on technology focus areas and work with the Pentagon to field capabilities on faster timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Can you describe the process of casting a new vision for Leidos?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I inherited a company that is inherently in good shape. There\u2019s no crisis here. The company has been well run and is in a good place in really important markets for our customers. So, we have the luxury to be able to look at it and talk about how we tune it, not how we fundamentally address a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The North Star conversation is simply a time for us, as we reflect on the beginning of our second decade as an independent company, to say, \u201cOK, who do we want to be in the next 5 to 10 years? What is the guiding principle for where we\u2019re taking this company?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have mission statements and vision statements and those things have served us well. But it strikes me as we are on the cusp of our 10th anniversary and looking at our second decade, it\u2019s the perfect time to say, what\u2019s the North Star for 2023 and beyond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The North Star isn\u2019t going to be that suddenly we\u2019re going to go 90 degrees left or 90 degrees right. The North Star is going to be more of a direction of travel on the trajectory we\u2019re already on, but crisping it up, making it clear for our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>As you enter into this process, what areas of the company do you think might need some refining?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have grown tremendously in the last seven, eight years. But with all that growth, you end up \u2014 especially with COVID \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2019\/12\/18\/leidos-acquisition-of-dynetics-has-a-future-technology-focus\/\" target=\"_blank\">doing acquisitions<\/a> and bolting on capabilities. You make them work, but nobody suggested that they were perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What I have found is the organization has capabilities replicated in different places, which doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you\u2019re as efficient and as effective as possible \u2014 efficient in making sure you\u2019re pulling through technology for all customers and effective at making sure you\u2019re giving all the customers best-in-class capabilities for whatever problem they\u2019re trying to solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I\u2019ve done my diagnostics of the business, there\u2019s pockets of the same thing replicated in different value streams. And this refining and this tuning that I talked about is just aligning that, like a jigsaw puzzle or a Rubik\u2019s Cube. Let\u2019s put all the red pieces together and the blue pieces together and the green pieces together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>What\u2019s an example of an area where there\u2019s duplication?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s just start at the core of what we do \u2014 digital modernization. That\u2019s a core capability that Leidos has, yet we\u2019re doing digital modernization in all the current value streams. Is there a better way to organize around that technology? Maybe the answer is no. Maybe we don\u2019t want to core that up. But if you don\u2019t core it up, then how are you going to make sure you\u2019re pulling through the technologies so that all those various customers have the benefit of the best-in-class Leidos capabilities?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We do that through a mechanism we call technology accelerators. That\u2019s kind of our horizontal cut-through of technologies. And maybe that works. Maybe we keep that. But also, maybe we relook at that and think about how do we do it better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>You\u2019ve talked before about Leidos\u2019 \u201cgolden bolts,\u201d or technology specialties that distinguish you from other companies. What are examples of some of those?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cyber is a big golden bolt for us. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/battlefield-tech\/it-networks\/2022\/09\/19\/us-air-force-picks-5-companies-to-take-on-battle-management-challenges\/\" target=\"_blank\">Software engineering<\/a> is a big golden bolt for us. Materials technology that allows for hypersonics is a big golden bolt for us. AI is all over the news these days, but we\u2019ve been pioneering AI for the better part of 20 years in Leidos. So we think AI is a golden bolt for us. EW is one, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/industry\/2023\/07\/26\/l3harris-leidos-collaborate-on-us-armys-athena-reconnaissance-jet\/\" target=\"_blank\">signals processing is one<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are the kinds of things that we need to ensure we stay world class in because these are the things that are going to enable us to continue to serve our customers in a different way. I don\u2019t have a full catalog of them yet, but they are the precious things that link the company together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The golden bolts are also part of a conversation about what are we good at today? What do we want to continue to invest in to accelerate away from our competition in? What are the technologies that are going to differentiate us in 2028? What are the technologies that are going to differentiate us in 2033?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>When do you expect Leidos will have this refined vision and focus in place?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m challenging the team that we want to be up and running with the tuned organization, with a clearer articulation of the North Star, and a very good idea of our golden bolts by the beginning of next year. So, we start 2024 fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, notice what I didn\u2019t say. I didn\u2019t say we\u2019re going to have the roadmap to 2028 done by then. That\u2019s harder work. That\u2019s longer-term work. These are interim steps to get us match fit to prosecute 2024. And then we\u2019ll be working on the next iteration of our strategic plan for Leidos and where we\u2019re taking this company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Hypersonics has been a growth area for Leidos in recent years. How do you think about growth in that portfolio in the future?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re on both sides of the hypersonic conversation. How do we ensure that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2023\/06\/20\/rocket-lab-launch-supports-pentagons-hypersonic-testing-push\/\" target=\"_blank\">our country has hypersonic capabilities<\/a>, and how do we ensure our country can defend against hypersonic capabilities? That means we believe hypersonic technology is a very important aspect of our customer\u2019s vexing problems that we think we have a differentiated way of helping solve. We\u2019re very thrilled to be there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is that a growth engine? Yes, but it\u2019s not going to pay the bills for the next 10 years. It\u2019s just an important vexing problem that we think we can solve with differentiated technology and differentiated thinking at pace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The company&#8217;s CEO told investors during a quarterly earnings call that while Leidos is healthy, there\u2019s room for \u201cstrategic 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