YouSaid · the spoken record

Phebe Novakovic

lines on the record: 32
first: 2021-08-26
most recent: 2021-08-26
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“But I think these jobs are such great privilege. I don't think I see a particular downside. The pleasures, the people and the team. We have a highly functional, very transparent, very cohesive team. And frankly, it was an interesting outcome from COVID. Crises bring out the worst and the best in people. And while we entered the COVID crisis as a very coherent, powerful team, we emerged even stronger, forged. And that brings me a lot of satisfaction.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I think it probably is a bit unusual, but I think when you're in leadership positions, it's important to look at all of your decisions through a moral prism, irrespective of the industry that you're in, and to make sure that you're doing the right thing and to constantly question, am I doing the right thing? Is this the right thing? And if you don't ask yourself those questions routinely, then I think you can, you run the risk of failing to see potential error.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's joyful, but I wouldn't call it restful or relaxing. Three toddlers and one newborn is hardly relaxing. But my husband and I walk a lot, hike a lot, and we talk a lot. He's finishing his doctorate at Princeton Theological Seminary in Ethics. And so I find those kinds of conversations really stimulating and interesting. They're a respite for me, but there are also a lot of mental gymnastics to kind of keep up.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think a good leader needs fundamentally good character, good character is required. I think a smattering and a wholesome capability set, and whether it's intellect or finance or ability to think strategically or solve complex problems, all those things are really important. And frankly, perseverance. Sometimes it just never, never stop, never quit, never give up.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think there are more opportunities for women that there certainly were in the late 70s when I entered the workplace, and that is throughout the food chain. I tell whether it's young women or young men, if you want to do well in this world, be a part of a team, serve your team well, and do the job in front of you as best as you possibly can. And in functional organizations, the rest takes care of itself. And it is functional organization, all bets are off. Get out of it.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, that would be the height of you burst. And I've never suffered from that. I think I was beneficiary of a lot of learning. So I was blessed with that.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was in strategic planning, but think about that more as special projects for the CEO. And I ultimately kept a series of jobs as I moved up the chain at General Dynamics, but I was also the chief of staff to the then CEO. And I learned a lot about how a very, very effective, powerful CEO manages the company. I learned a lot watching a superb CEO operate.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had to stop over for four years at the Pentagon and then to General Dynamics. And I went there because I remember thinking very distinctly in these seminal times in your life when you have perhaps a bit of epiphanies, I sat at my desk one afternoon thinking, I can't afford to put my children through college. And I happen to know a number of CEOs, including the CEO of General Dynamics, and I called him and I said, I'm going to be leaving here soon if you ever would be interested and called a couple of the other CEOs and I was fortunate enough to go with General Dynamics.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I started out as a budget examiner and was fortunate enough to work my way up and ended up running the National Security Division, which was responsible for all defense and intelligence spending submissions to the Congress.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had a number of interviews. I remember one in particular I wanted to work for a steel company because I like making things, the tangible value of seeing the fruits of your labor. And I walked in and now here they are a hiring fair at Orton. I walk in and they say we're not hiring. And I said, I understand you're not hiring me as I waddle out of there.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was extremely difficult. I had a rather iconoclastic background and I was seven months pregnant. So it was very hard to get a job.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I had a sense of service to my nation, and it seemed a good place for me, so much in life, as you and I've talked about before, as finding place. And it was the agency was opening its doors to women. And so it was a good opportunity for me. And I really enjoyed the service that I was able to provide.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I was a government major and a philosophy minor And I got a superb liberal arts background and education. So I learned to write and I learned to think in college. Those are two critical values.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes. So, my father's family suffered from totalitarian regimes, both on the fascist side and the communist side. And they were fortunate enough to escape with their lives during World War II. And it was their dream to come to the United States because when you have suffered from both types of totalitarianism, you treasure democracies and particularly market-based democracy. And he is an avid patriot, as is my mother. And they imbued me with that same sense of patriotism.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I grew up pretty much all over my dad was in the Air Force, and we spent a lot of time in Europe during the Cold War. And I got a real sense of being an American. Germany was still relatively poor in the 60s coming out of World War II, and not the major industrial power that it is today. And we had a real sense of what the United States had done to save Europe.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we have some components, some lines of business that serve largely as a merchant supplier, some of the space companies, and that's a good place for us. We've made our large capital bets elsewhere.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So cyber is embedded in almost every single one of our programs, including the main battle tank. The upgrades that we make and the continual improvements that we make to upgrade the technology in, for example, that platform all includes cyber protection of multiple layers. So cyber is a growth area and has been for quite some time in the defense industrial base. We are very active and have been for 20 years in the cyberspace and will continue to see growth, but I don't see it as the exclusive growth. In our business, what's driving real growth on the defense side is submarines.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, Gulf Stream is a pretty cyclical business where economy facing, and as is the world economies that tends to drive our demand. And this was the third economic perturbation that I have seen since I've been at General Dynamics. So what we have learned is to be a good cyclical, and that's drive out costs faster than your revenue declines. So last year we were the only successful aerospace OEM to make a profit, a significant profit at a billion dollars. And we did that by reacting very, very quickly to the change in the marketplace. So demand was down as a result of the economic perturbations caused by COVID, but demand has nicely begun to recover. And we are in a very strong position in that recovery.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“General dynamics before the big sell off, you recall general dynamics in the height of the Reagan buildup as the largest defense industry. The CEO at the time believed, and I think appropriately so to some extent, that it was important to sort of liquidate at the end of the Cold War. And so he systematically went through and sold off units of defense, including what was at the time General Dynamics fighter jet business. So we're out of that business.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, since the dawn of human time, wars are ultimately one. If they can't be avoided, they're won with boots on the ground by taking territory. I don't see that paradigm changing anytime soon. If we get into a really hot war, you need your tanks. You need your army to take land.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So the Virginia class is about $2 billion a submarine, but they are highly survivable weapon systems And by the way, as we've come down our learning curves, we have driven costs out of those subearnings. So again, that's part of the value proposition with our customer.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So they attack boats when we're on about our 20 something attack boat, which is the Virginia-class submarine, takes about 17 months to build. We are building the ballistic missile submarine replacement in the Columbia class, which is replacing the Ohio class as part of the nuclear deterrent. That'll take us 84 months. So these are long, complicated build cycles.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I personally believe that the more submarines, the better. And while people may be jaundiced and skeptical of my view, given where I sit, I think from a national security perspective, US underwater supremacy is critical to our national security. And the more submarines that we can put in the water, the better off we are to protect our shores as well as to protect our assets overseas.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think that we are all responsible and we have an obligation to find the latest and best technologies that we can for our customers and deliver them in the most cost-effective manner we can. And I think that that's a challenge and an opportunity for all of the big defense companies.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think in any business, the challenges are solving complex problems that come to you. The problems that come to me and my senior leadership team for resolving tend to be highly complex and nettlesome. So your ability to solve those complex problems are an important element, I think, of the value that we add to the company. And then I think opportunities, you always want to make sure that you've got a creative enough mind and open enough mind to be able to see around square corners, what am I missing? You know, the why questions are really powerful. Why are we not doing this or why are we doing this? I ask those questions a lot. And in the answers, you can sometimes tease out some real opportunities, some hidden things. But thinking creatively about opportunities and problems is really important.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, if you think about the complexity of modern weapons systems, it is not unusual for some of them to have early on in the production or the development some cost overruns, but it's incumbent upon us as a defense industry is that once we understand the technology and then how to build it and how to build it effectively, it's continued to take costs out as we go down our learning curves. And that's an important part of the value equation we have with our customer. It's taking driving costs out of systems.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, competition is driven in the defense industry by two things. One, the number of new weapon systems coming out, and they're relatively constrained, say, compared to the 80s when you had a lot more defense companies. And two, the complexity of each of the weapon systems. So the capitalization requirements for defense companies, the large defense, and we're one of them, are significant. So given those capitalization requirements, and given that the intimacy that we need to have with our customer, I think we're pretty well balanced at the moment. And by the way, when you think about competition, we have a monopoly buyer with enormous purchasing power. So while we may be in duopolies or some people in monopolies, we are up against a very powerful customer. There is a lot of shaping that happens in our contractual discussions with our customer.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I don't know that they're particularly not beloved, but this is the way I think about it. If the US cannot avoid war through diplomacy or deterrence, it goes to war and it goes to war with the U.S. defense industrial base. We cannot go to war as a nation without us. We make all the products and services that provide our service people with the weapon systems and protective devices they need to survive and win.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think it's important that we know our customer, both on the uniform military side, and we tend to try to know them as well. And then with each change of administration, we try to get to know the primary decision maker so we can get inside their decision space, help them think about, again, what we can provide. So I spent some time with all of them in our major customers. So that would be primarily the Army and the Navy.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think defense spending historically has been driven by the threat or the perception of threat. And it is not a particularly safe world at the moment. That's number one. Number two, President Biden has been a lifelong supporter of national security. So this budget that he's submitted to Capitol Hill was a nominal increase. Importantly, all of our programs were fully supported because of their criticality to the warfighting.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think some. I think you and I have talked about this before. I approach this job primarily as a person, largely one form by being a woman, but not exclusively. So I think about myself as a person and in this position, not so much a woman.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I never thought I'd be the CEO. I think that would be highly aspirational. And I've always been a big believer in do well in life by doing the job in front of you. Very, very well being part of a team and serving that team. But I never could have believed that this would happen.”
2021-08-26 · The David Rubenstein Show · Phebe Novakovic · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source