From Clay Jones

Success is not a birthright

At Rockwell Collins, we have an enormous talent pool and intellectual property that is stretched around the world. We also have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent years, but believing that it can continue forever is one of our greatest dangers. After all, success is not a birthright.

Even American entrepreneur Bill Gates — the founder of Microsoft — has been quoted as saying that any company is "just two years away from failure." I couldn't agree more.

If we want to further enhance our growth in the years ahead, we must continue adopting new ways of doing things that will allow us to be ready for and agile enough to operate in a world that is undergoing incredible — and in some cases frightening — change. We must continue producing the innovative solutions that our customers are asking for — solutions that are smarter, faster and more cost-effective.

But, not only must we be innovative — which is one of the pillars upon which our company exists — we also must be willing to tap into the brains of people outside of Rockwell Collins; people who are situated around the world and have perhaps already developed the technologies we might need to help advance our products and our business.

In this issue of Horizons, you will learn about Open Innovation — an initiative we launched in November 2005. This initiative continues to gain momentum as we work to determine how to accelerate growth and remain successful in this highly competitive marketplace.

Open Innovation is about realizing that we don't have to do everything from scratch. It's about understanding that it's all right to rely on global technology, innovative sourcing, and intelligence networks to provide our customers with top-notch products and solutions.

I encourage each of you to learn more about this initiative, and to think about how much more we could realize as a company if each of us were open to new ideas … open to innovations capable of helping us invent the products and solutions of tomorrow.

Clay Jones
Chairman, President and CEO

From left: Joaquin Ancona, Kelly Zhang, Raul Sandoval and Barbara Thrasher

Volume 12 Issue 2 > From Clay Jones
Volume 12 Issue 2 Open to innovative ideas Inventor of the Year Scott Zogg Engineers of the Year Mike Espenes Steve Robbins Rob Frank The power of a simple choice From Clay Jones Executive profile - Kent Statler Letters to the editor Contributors in this issue Across our company Service anniversaries Retirees In memoriam Facility spotlight		From Clay Jones Success is not a birthright At Rockwell Collins, we have an enormous talent pool and intellectual property that is stretched around the world. We also have enjoyed a great deal of success in recent years, but believing that it can continue forever is one of our greatest dangers. After all, success is not a birthright. Even American entrepreneur Bill Gates — the founder of Microsoft — has been quoted as saying that any company is "just two years away from failure." I couldn't agree more. If we want to further enhance our growth in the years ahead, we must continue adopting new ways of doing things that will allow us to be ready for and agile enough to operate in a world that is undergoing incredible — and in some cases frightening — change. We must continue producing the innovative solutions that our customers are asking for — solutions that are smarter, faster and more cost-effective. But, not only must we be innovative — which is one of the pillars upon which our company exists — we also must be willing to tap into the brains of people outside of Rockwell Collins; people who are situated around the world and have perhaps already developed the technologies we might need to help advance our products and our business. In this issue of Horizons, you will learn about Open Innovation — an initiative we launched in November 2005. This initiative continues to gain momentum as we work to determine how to accelerate growth and remain successful in this highly competitive marketplace. Open Innovation is about realizing that we don't have to do everything from scratch. It's about understanding that it's all right to rely on global technology, innovative sourcing, and intelligence networks to provide our customers with top-notch products and solutions. I encourage each of you to learn more about this initiative, and to think about how much more we could realize as a company if each of us were open to new ideas … open to innovations capable of helping us invent the products and solutions of tomorrow. Clay Jones Chairman, President and CEO From left: Joaquin Ancona, Kelly Zhang, Raul Sandoval and Barbara Thrasher