As the new president of Ottawa, Ont.-based Raytheon Canada Ltd., he has set goals of almost doubling the business to 2,500 employees and $600 million in sales in three years from its current 1,400 employees and $350 million in sales. He has the track record to back it up, having grown Raytheon Australia from start-up to 1,000 employees in six years — all this after a 22-year career in the Royal Australian Navy.
“In the navy I learned to sleep anywhere, to take power naps,” he said. He uses that skill on his frequent travels. He tends to work month-to-month between Canada and Australia — where he is still CEO — but keeps in touch between the two by working the phone lines during the early morning hours or well into the night.
He has already joined the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which he finds a great tool to interface with other CEOs and learn. The organization, headed by Tom D’Aquino, aims to drive excellence, project Canada to the world and contribute to Canada’s economic health.
A legacy of leadership Fisher learned much about leadership from his father, another navy careerist. Early in his career, he was speaking down to a repairman and was reprimanded by his father. “Treat everyone with dignity, treat them as equals. Learn humility, nurture, coax, guide” was Dad’s advice. Fisher tries to pass that lesson along, not taking the glory for accomplishments, working with people. “You can only keep good people if you treat them properly,” he explains. “You build people around you by treating them as equals and helping them along. As you get older, you have some scars, you’ve learned a bit, you want to pass that back down the line so they don’t make the same mistakes you did.” That style is reflected in Raytheon’s approach to projects: mission support (the client decides what they need, the company delivers it) and mission assurance (if CF is sending a soldier into harm’s way, the last thing they want to be thinking about is “will this equipment perform up to specifications?”). It’s also reflected in the company practice of “reach back”, where Raytheon Canada can draw on its international expertise and experience.
Extending market reach Sixty-five percent of Raytheon’s Canadian production is exported. Fisher wants to increase the company’s penetration of the Canadian defence market.
One non-military application is the electronic traffic monitoring system on the 407 Highway in Toronto. “The system was ahead of its time and we continue to reap the benefits.” The Ontario Government has been criticized for not benefitting from the further application of that product. But Fisher notes that Canada still benefits from the jobs, income and taxes of selling the traffic technology to Texas, Chile, Australia and Israel. They are now working on technology for high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. Promoting partnerships Fisher is a believer in P3s — public-private partnerships. For example, in Australia, Raytheon purchased and then rented to the Navy flight trainers. It saved the government a large ($35 million) capital outlay.
“It transferred the risk of downtime due to damage or maintenance,” he says. “If the airplane is rolling down the runway and a wheel falls off, they don’t make their sortie, we don’t get paid. It is a good way to get infrastructure set up quickly within budget constraints. Governments now have greater social responsibility costs, such as health care, so have less capital available.”
Fisher adds that successful P3s are a true partnership, relying on a spirit of cooperation. “My customer in Canada is DND. The last thing I would do is short-change them. You have to work hard and ensure there are results for both partners or it will destroy trust.” Procurement He also has a strong opinion on the current discussions surrounding procurement.
“From a contractor’s point of view, speaking from international experience, it takes a long time from capability selection to delivery of the product/service,” he says. “Those delays affect industry costs, so industry builds in a margin for government clients. If government streamlines the process, the costs are reduced.”
Fisher endorses a commitment to continuous improvement of the procurement/contracting process, referring to a recent Australian review of that country’s process by a private sector CEO
“As a result, it was decided to bring people from industry into the procurement function — ex- CEOs and project managers,” he observes. “We gained industry knowledge and a cadre of people that could tell industry what they wanted. There was a commitment to a business-like process. The acquisition group was then taken out of defence and became a prescribed agency. The Australian Defence Force has a scorecard that contributes to improved performance. It formally evaluates all contracts, and procurement agents must review all a company’s evaluations before deciding on future work.” Relying on reserves Fisher joined the Navy at 17 and retired as a commander at 40, but then took a position in the reserves.
“I didn’t have to go cold-turkey,” he says. “I mingled with people who had a passion for their country.”
As he sees most western nations struggling to recruit full-time personnel, he regards one solution being the increased use of reservists, as was announced by Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff Hillier. Most of Raytheon’s senior staff are ex-military and Fisher encourages them to join the reserves.
“It is great refresher training, it is good for our company, and it allows us to keep giving back to our country.” He is backing up his commitment with a soon-to-be announced policy for Raytheon staff on reserve duty.