As a youth, he was sure he wanted to join the Navy when he graduated from high school, but he wasn’t at all certain what it would take to succeed. Becoming a Navy pilot assured him that he could, and Steven Loranger carried that confidence through a civilian career that has propelled him to chairman, president, and chief executive officer of ITT Corporation.
I joined the Navy because I wanted to serve my country, get started in the workforce, fly jet fighters, and see the world. I achieved all those dreams—and then some. Everything I learned has stayed with me—in my personal life and through a long career as a corporate executive.
Deciding on the Navy was the easy part. My grandfather and my mother were naval officers, and my father and both of my uncles had been naval aviators. When I was about to enter college, the Vietnam War was under way, and I was eager to volunteer. I loved airplanes, and I loved water. So I signed up for NROTC, and after five years of college, where I earned my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in science, I became an aviator.
I went through the usual flight training—four months at Pensacola flying T-34s and then T-2 Buckeyes—and later advanced to TA-4J Skyhawks. When I got my wings in November 1976, the war was behind us. I wanted to get a lot of flying hours, so I volunteered for logistics missions at VR-30 on Douglas DC-9s, Grumman C-1 CODs, and T-39 Rockwell Sabreliners.
My active-duty stint lasted six and a half years. I spent three years (flying all three airplanes) at naval air stations Alameda and North Island, and another year and a half at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, flying the Grumman Gulfstream I (TC-4C). When my tour ended, I concluded that staying in the Navy would mean too much time at sea. So I opted for a civilian career.
I didn’t realize it then, but the Navy had given me a grounding and a rich experience that I wouldn’t have received anywhere else. First, it taught me to have respect for authority. It gave me a sense of purpose and discipline and of personal accountability. And it gave me the self-confidence I needed to be a leader.
The Navy was all about leadership skills—and training, training, training. I attended leadership management school, naval justice school, quality management courses, and human resources school. And like everyone in uniform, I was given tremendous responsibilities at a far earlier age than would have been the case in civilian life.
I’ll never forget how stark that difference was. Right after I landed my first solo flight in a jet fighter, I walked across the airfield to a car-rental agency, which refused to rent me a low-priced sedan because I was under 25 and therefore, according to the actuaries, too high a risk to handle that costly a piece of machinery.
“Let me get this straight,” I said to the agent. “The U.S. Navy has just given me this multi-million-dollar airplane to fly, I’ve had months of flight training, and I just completed a solo landing. And you won’t let me rent a car?” Needless to say, it didn’t get me very far—on the ground!
Eventually, I logged 3,500 flight hours, and it was easy to make the transition to a career in aviation. Over the years, I rose through the ranks at Allied Signal Engines, Honeywell Aerospace, Textron, Inc., and, now, ITT Corporation, where I’ve been chairman, president, and chief executive officer since 2004.
While none of those companies has a fleet of ships or a military structure, I’ve used principles I learned in the Navy at each. Similar to the service’s “Plan of the Day,” my teams and I build strategic plans that focus the organization on what we’re going to do and how we’re going to get it done. I am a stickler for clear communication of business goals along with the accountability I learned from the Navy.
At ITT, we use a very rigid process for meeting our strategic objectives that looks very much like what you see in the Navy. When we want to enter a new market, we develop a plan and disseminate it throughout the company so everyone knows what the mission is and what’s expected of him or her.
Just as the Navy does, we make clear that we expect our leaders to reach the goals we set, no matter what day-to-day difficulties they may encounter. Sure, I listen to explanations about business challenges, but ultimately accomplishing the mission is what matters. And we take account of everyone’s responsibilities and their performance in setting their salaries.
Like the Navy, we maintain a clear chain of command for decision making and delegate authority to get the job done. Yes, we often do need to be more innovative in the civilian world than we did in the military, but we still maintain our lines of authority. And we operate more effectively as a result.
For me personally, the biggest benefit I received from the Navy was the gift of self-confidence. You need that to be a good leader, whether you’re in the military or the civilian world. The Navy instilled it in me, and it’s lasted all these years.
When I went into flight training, I questioned my abilities and it was hard to imagine that I’d ever really be able to fly a jet fighter. But the Navy gave me an opportunity to prove to myself that I could. That in turn gave me a much better perspective of who I was and what I was capable of doing.
The Navy has influenced my lifestyle, too. I shine my own shoes, and I ensure my belt-buckle and shirt-front placket are lined up and there are no stray threads showing. I keep my desk orderly. You never forget.
When I think about what I’ve accomplished over the years, becoming a naval aviator was one of the highlights of my life. I’ve never stopped being a pilot. I still fly airplanes, though nowadays they’re limited to single-engine Cessnas or small business jets. I wouldn’t trade my wings of gold for anything. And I wear them frequently—with pride.
It’s no accident that we have thousands of ex-military people at ITT, and we think it’s a great business strategy to hire folks who have spent time in uniform, whether it has been for only a few years or for a full career. Serving in the military gave me so much that I wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere. It has done that for countless others as well.