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[Music]
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I'm the chairman and CEO of Dine Cororp
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International. Uh we're a services
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company that uh fundamentally supports
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national security and foreign policy
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objectives around the world. Uh
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primarily with the US, our allies and
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other friendly nations. If you think
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about we have about 25,000 employees or
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teammates uh distributed around 35
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countries and 150 locations.
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Uh the legacy of our company is around
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aviation but it's evolved to include
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construction
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uh training and mentoring international
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development uh in intelligent training
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solutions. And if you think about what
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we try to do, uh you have a conflict, a
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postconlict, and then a reconstruction
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or stabilization phase. Uh the services
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that we offer kind of support each of
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those three phases uh in the life cycle.
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And so we have a a defense uh practice,
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we have a diplomacy practice, and an
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international development practice.
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strategic agility uh it's a it's very
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apppropo uh topic right now if you if
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you think about the macros that we have
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going on in our world with you know the
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tail end of uh uh two wars um you have
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such pressures fiscal pressures uh uh on
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our budgets as a country uh if you think
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about the last 8 n years in the
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particular
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uh markets that we serve, aerospace and
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defense, and that's what we're here
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talking about today. Uh you had huge
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growth in those budgets. Well, we're now
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faced, you know, probably a decline uh
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over the next few years. So, being
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agile, being flexible, being able to
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respond and act accordingly and and uh
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move the needle on your company is is
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going to be a real challenge. So the the
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topic was uh was is really uh perfect
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timing. So the way I uh view strategic
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agility, it really comes down to the
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people. It comes down to leadership and
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it comes down to the culture uh that you
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really have inside of your company. Um,
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and I'm a I'm a true believer uh that in
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any company I've I've uh I've worked for
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companies like Allied Signal and ITT and
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Littton and I've been in this business a
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long time and and there's pluses and
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minuses with all of those u command and
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control structures of those companies.
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But in in my mind uh probably the most
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important thing uh in in a company is
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the value systems that they have and
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then the leadership uh attributes that
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are in their uh folks that actually
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bring those values to life.
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Those two things coupled together are
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what really define the intentional
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culture uh of a company. And it's that
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culture that the employees really become
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satisfied with and loyal to. And that's
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really the only time you get profitable
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growth, right? When when you get
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productivity gains. And it was clearly
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articulated in a a Harvard Business
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School uh report, but it's something
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I've embraced uh for many years. So, so
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value systems, making sure that all
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25,000 Dorp employees have the same
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values, you know, that we that we really
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um believe and respect one another and
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that we want to treat each other fairly.
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uh that the leadership that's in our
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structure, being able to create the
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future, you know, being able to be
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strategic and and and global uh uh
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strategic thinking uh is important. Uh
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being able to lead with character is one
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of those leadership uh components that's
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so important. Having the courage and
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will to make a difference, being humble.
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Well, we are a services company. So, our
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products are our people. Uh so,
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therefore, the same the type of
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leadership attributes that you would
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look for in the top uh quartortile of a
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hardware development company uh is what
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a services company needs throughout its
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entire structure and that's why the
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emphasis has to be you know so blatant
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top down. So when we look at right so
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when we sell a product we actually go
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and deploy you know uh hundreds if not
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thousands of people to go
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shoulder-to-shoulder with our customers
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providing the mission. Good example, one
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of our programs, we have over 15,000
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employees over in Afghanistan supporting
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the um buildout and maintenance of all
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the forward operating bases in the
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southern district as well as training
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all of the national police and army. So
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it's our trainers and our mentors and
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our HVAC technicians and our grounds
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people that are actually
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uh the the product that we're we're
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trying to sell. So it's important that
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they have this these leadership
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attributes that allows them then to
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build uh strong teams and and inspire
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commitment and at the same time then
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deliver results.
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So, so one of the things we're doing is
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making sure that we're just not talking
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about leadership, but we're actually
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reviewing and assessing folks not on
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just a results type of basis, but on a
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results and behaviors basis. And uh and
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again, it is uh very soft in terms of a
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soft skill, very hard to do. Uh but in a
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services model, it's just uh it's so
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important. So, so we've actually been
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bold and we've defined
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uh what leadership attributes we uh
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believe are important and uh we have 25
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of them and and and we give examples to
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our supervisors and firstline managers
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of what to look for. But before we do
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that, we actually have adopted uh our
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own social contract which says, you
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know, most people, most leaders talk
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about culture, right? You want a good
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culture. Um Mark Ronald talked about it
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today in one of the hish keynotes. Well,
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we've taken it to the next step and
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said, well, what is the culture that
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we're looking for? And we defined the 10
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things that we were going to hold
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ourselves to. Things that you'd
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recognize, you know, respecting opinions
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of others and and uh engaging in open
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honest communications often and and uh
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valuing the contributions of others. You
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know, sounds very simple, but now that
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we've documented it and deployed it and
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we actually use it now as a litmus test
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uh for our leaders, you know, are they
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really living the social contract? If
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they're not uh then we'll correct them,
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right? uh if they still have a hard time
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uh with it, then they behave their way
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off the team because again as an
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artifact of a services company, right,
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we don't have products that are going to
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be left behind us, right? We don't have
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systems that are going to be deployed in
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the field. So the artifacts of a
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services company are this really the
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stories that you hear about the people
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that were actually delivering the
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mission. So the stories that we want to
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be told about Dine Cororp International
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employees are ones where they get it.
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They're committed to the mission.
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They're transparent. They lean forward.
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Uh they confront reality. They treat
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people with respect. uh and again
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because it's those behaviors which will
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cause people to feel good about being
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part of that team and then that team
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will then outperform
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uh our competitor's team uh who's not
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worrying uh as much about those soft
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skills. So that's part of our strategy.
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Yeah, it's it's a great question and one
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that we spend a lot of time thinking
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about. Uh and so I go back to the
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premise that we have we have a handful
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of service offerings. You know, we've
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been maintaining aircraft uh for 50
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years uh for every department within the
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service as well as other government
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agencies. Uh we've been in the
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construction and stabilization business
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for 40 years. We've been in the
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contingency operations or emergency
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disaster relief business for a long
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time. We've been in the training and
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mentoring business a long time. So what
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we're seeing uh is as the defense or the
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combat mission for instance in Iraq
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declines, the diplomatic mission
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increases. And so the same services
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offering that we would give the DoD one
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day, we're now seeing an an increase in
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demand uh through state. as this the
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diplomacy you know continues uh then you
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start to see more development and
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infrastructure uh build and that brings
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our our other uh service offerings uh
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up. So, you know, you always try to have
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a a business portfolio that is, you
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know, counter cyclical, right? And and
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uh in our strategy, you know, we think
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that, you know, having a nice balance
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between combat, non-combat, uh and
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reconstruction uh is the uh is the
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correct mix and and that's what we're
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going to be focused on.
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Well, six months ago, we were acquired
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uh by Cberus Capital. Uh and that's uh
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and I would became the chair and CEO
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when that acquisition uh uh was
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finalized. Um we have other uh service
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properties inside the portfolio which
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I'm uh responsible for. So, we're going
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to have two prongs to our strategy.
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We're going to have an organic uh
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strategy where we have a robust uh
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business development pipeline, we're
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going to use the appropriate skills that
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we have in order to to increase the
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probability of winning organically. And
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at the same time, as companies start to
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fall off uh in their revenues and or or
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the capital markets are no longer as
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supportive of their balance sheet as
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they might have been, uh we'll take
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advantage uh of those things uh uh as
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well. Um but right now, we believe
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there's still enough uh new business in
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the organic pipeline uh where we'll be
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uh we'll be okay for a few years.
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Yeah, again we're a services company. So
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what we're looking for are those small
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companies that offer an innovative
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solution maybe either on the transaction
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side or on the service offering side. Um
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I mentioned earlier that we have about
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15,000 employees and teammates in
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Afghanistan. about a third uh are either
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Afghan uh companies uh or other small
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businesses uh helping us um you know
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serve the mission. So when you have so
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many different projects globally and
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your real core competency is being a
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contingency operator meaning we'll go
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anywhere anytime get the job done. uh
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you have to have modular and scalable
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business practices and you really have
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to rely on your integrated supply chain
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you know to fill uh the needs. So we
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have uh I think a very good uh leader uh
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in that particular area of our business.
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We have great relationships with our
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small business community. uh and we have
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a mentality of we don't need to
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organically perform all the work you
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know let's form the best team uh and
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because the best team generally wins uh
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at the end of the day that's how we look
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at
