During a 28-year stint in the Army, Jim Unterseher developed leadership skills that served him well when the Pentagon cancelled a major contract with global defense contractor BAE Systems’ Fridley facility.
“In December 1990, I was a battalion commander of a group of 675 that I took to Iraq for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. I made a commitment to them and their families that I would bring them all back alive, and I was able to do that. It was the proudest accomplishment of that phase of my career. Senior leaders have got to be cheerleaders, [have got] to be very positive, but you have to deliver the goods.
“I left the Army in 1998 and came to Minneapolis to work with BAE Systems, where I found an almost dysfunctional work force that wasn’t working as a team. But I pride myself in pulling together disparate pieces. In 1993, BAE had been awarded a contract from the Department of Defense to design and develop the Crusader, a 40-ton automated howitzer that would fire 100-pound bullets a distance of about 25 miles. The Crusader contract was terminated in 2002 because the Pentagon wanted a lighter howitzer that could be more rapidly deployed to combat zones.
“We found out five months before that the contract could be cancelled. But we had honest communication with employees and continued to perform for the contract. I think they knew that when I—as the senior leader—panicked, it would be time for them to panic, too. The same day the Crusader contract was terminated, the U.S. Army awarded us a contract for another artillery system that would leverage some of the design work of the Crusader.
“I’ve learned that you have to adapt as conditions change. And I’ve learned that leadership is a privilege, not a right.”
