CE O OF T H E YE A R
Passionate, poised and relentlessly methodical, Lockheed Martin’s Marillyn Hewson has proved to be the right leader for risky times. And now she’s Chief Executive’s 2018 CEO of the Year. BY DA N B I G M A N
The Right Stuff
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hen former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was summing up his thoughts on leadership a few years ago, he laid out a list of what he called “pragmatic visionaries,” a handful of rare individuals who “envision a new way forward” but were also “practical, with the skill to build broad support for and implement their vision.” It’s a pretty good list. Ronald Reagan’s on it. So are Margaret Thatcher, Deng Xiaoping and Nelson Mandela, along with Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Howard Schultz. And so is Marillyn Hewson, the chairman, president and chief executive of Lockheed Martin—and Chief Executive’s 2018 CEO of the Year. Robert Gates was pretty perceptive. Passionate, poised and relentlessly methodical (as you would expect from her industrial
20 / CHIEFEXECUTIVE.NET / JULY/AUGUST 2018
