Teresa Carleton wasn't expecting to leave her Seattle-based job at Boeing (Chicago, IL) when she agreed to an interview at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp (Stratford, CT). But a former colleague asked her to do it and, as she tells her own people, it's always a good idea to go if an interview is offered, whether you think you want the job or not.
"You'll probably learn something, and it keeps your interview skills current," she says. "I thought I should practice what I preach, even though I had no intention of leaving my job with Boeing."
The interview was an eye-opener, indeed. In February 2003 Carleton took the leap and became Sikorsky's director of avionic systems integration.
The time was right
Carleton had been with Boeing for twenty-two years and had risen to chief engineer for 737 airplane systems. She was perfectly happy in the job. But her husband, who also worked for Boeing, was willing to leave and start another career, and her twins were about to graduate from college. Perhaps staying in Seattle, her lifelong home, and going on with the only company she had ever worked for, was too safe?
She expected that a new job with a different company on the opposite side of the country would teach her a lot. For one thing, it would give her the perspective of new employees. "You do learn a lot about yourself," she says.
Learning about Sikorsky
Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp, is a world leader in design and manufacture of advanced commercial, industrial and military helicopters. They are used by all five branches of the U.S. armed forces along with military services and commercial operations in forty nations.
At Sikorsky, Carleton is a functional manager of the 400-member avionics electronics engineering department, also called avionics systems integration. Her department is responsible for all the displays, flight management and communication systems the pilot uses in the cockpit, which include electrical power and distribution, mechanical and electronic flight controls, hydraulics, diagnostics, embedded software, flight simulators and the crew station.
Avionics systems integration at Sikorsky is the second-largest group after airframe. "Airframe is the bus and we are the brains," Carleton says with a smile.
In the next few years Sikorsky is on track to double its revenues by introducing several new products and services for the U.S. and international military and civilian marketplaces. Sikorsky is also developing the X2 Technology Demonstrator, an aircraft designed to cruise at 250 knots, significantly faster than current helicopters. "It's really an exciting time to be here," Carleton says.
Growing and leading
Eighteen team leaders and managers report directly to Carleton. The group will soon increase to 450 employees, plus another fifty industry support personnel and contractors.
Carleton's leadership focuses on programs, processes and people rather than hands-on design work. "Not being a technical expert in these areas forces me to depend on my people, which allows them to grow," she says. "I'm the one who asks pertinent questions and explores solution paths other people may not have thought of."
Carleton attended Sikorsky's executive program at the University of Virginia in 2004 and many leadership and executive training courses during her Boeing years. She mentors colleagues formally and informally and requires all her direct reports to do the same as part of their performance goals.
"It's part of our jobs as leaders in this company to grow the next generation of leaders," she says. "That's how you sustain a viable company. There are lots of things that happen along the way."
Going with Boeing
Carleton's father was a ChE in the Seattle area, and she and her two brothers excelled in math and science. She entered the University of Puget Sound (Tacoma, WA) as a pre-med major but later transferred to Seattle Pacific University to pursue a BSCS.
Between her junior and senior years she interned with Boeing in a group testing missile systems, and her career path was set.
A year later, in 1980, she returned to Boeing to take a full-time job with the same group. Her software skills were needed to automate functions for the team, and, "I immediately felt that I was contributing," she says.
She went on to marry another Boeing employee and, when the twins came, was eager to accept additional responsibilities and create a reliable career to help the family flourish.
Promoted to lead
Carleton learned Boeing's systems as a team member for various aircraft. In 1989 she was promoted to engineering lead. The team she was offered, however, had not been doing well.
"I didn't really want the position because I could see how much trouble it was. But being told to 'go do it' gave me confidence to do that job, and to take on bigger things in the future."
In 1991 she became engineering lead on the ARINC 629 Data Bus, moving from the military to the commercial side.
Carleton became supervisor of avionics network systems in 1995 and senior manager for avionics displays, maintenance and recording in 1997. In 1998 she moved to the post of senior manager for 737 avionics systems, leading a team of 200 engineers. Promotion to chief engineer for 737 airplane systems followed in 2000, and she was prepared for the challenge of Sikorsky's offer when it came.
Special status
She began her work at Sikorsky with a series of meetings with her new staff. She was surprised when several women came up to express their solidarity with her as a successful woman.
"I had always thought of myself as an engineer with a job to do. I focused on delighting the customer and performing, and I had been sort of blind to the fact that as a woman I was different," she says. "Now I saw it was part of my responsibility to be visible for folks who need the affirmation of seeing women in leadership roles."
Carleton is executive officer for the engineering diversity council at Sikorsky and participates in the women's forum. She has attended local NSBE conferences and, as an executive, confers with the HR diversity manager.
While the children were growing up, Carleton found it easier to justify balancing life and work. She and her husband attended games and performances and made time for family vacations. Now that the kids are grown and graduated from college, it's tempting to let work dominate her time, but she fights the impulse.
Exploring New England has helped. She and her husband bought a convertible and enjoy driving back roads in the country. "We go tooling around on the weekends with the top down," she says.
A pleasant break from the 250-knot helicopters.
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