(From Cooper’s appearance at Aflac’s “Women of Integrity” Luncheon, April 24, 2014, Marietta Country Club. Digital images by Ilea Johnson)At first glance, Shan Cooper, 45, appears wiser than her years, possibly because of the heavy weight of her responsibilities as VP of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company and GM of the company’s 6,300 employees in Marietta, Ga.
Cooper is not a conservative celebrity
but assumes that onlookers are watching where she eats, whether she’s on the
company’s corporate jet headed to Capitol Hill, or if she curses when
challenged. She's very conscious of image and purpose.
First and foremost, Cooper is a mom, a wife,
a mentor, and a well trained businesswoman. She can get down and dirty, crawling
through aircraft in the factory, or hold her own in a board meeting. These are perceptions
of one virtuous Black woman working in today’s corporate “old boys” club.
“My natural leadership
style comes from my dad,” Cooper said of her Pentecostal minister father. In
the Anniston, Ala. household where she
grew up, lying was forbidden and respect for people from diverse backgrounds was
laudable.
Lessons learned from
her parents: Be whatever you want to be while affirming the goodness in other people
where ever you go.
Formerly Lockheed’s VP
of Human Resources, Cooper said she looks for certain qualities when deciding
to invest in human talent. Future employees must measure up to her standards of
integrity, good judgment, ambition, drive, and creativity.
She says she needs
people on her team that will tell her when "the baby is ugly."
Two of her mentors were Connie Fisher and David Logan. Her strong arm is her administrative
assistant.
Cooper often wrestles with decisions requiring employee layoffs and how cutting back can affect families. One of her worst days
was July 8, 2003 when a worker at the Meridian, Miss. plant
shot 14 of his co-workers with a shotgun, killing six of them before
committing suicide. Her assignment: help with funeral arrangements; comfort the
injured at the hospital; hold the team together.
Cooper is a woman of
faith who starts each morning with prayer and ends each night with her husband
in prayer when they are under the same roof. She continuously asks God for a spirit
of discernment while making multimillion dollar decisions, for purity of
thought, and the ability to listen.
Flag Barbie is in her office. Prayer is on her lips. Psalm 118:24 is in her heart. Along with company loyalty and patriotism, Cooper reminds listeners she serves at the pleasure of the Lockheed Martin organization and is all about keeping it real. "I tell my employees to pray, and then get back to work."
Rosalie says: What a WONDERFUL article. I enjoyed that very much, especially as she is a sister in Christ. This is how some of these businesses are going to be turned for good. Someone has to stand and bring the Lord back into our businesses and schools. That’s Who does the work through His people. Thank you very much for sharing this article, which, I will in turn share will some others I know will appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteHelga says: Very well written, thank you xx
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