Celebrating diversity and embracing our differences

Paul Livingston, Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin UK

 IWD 2021

At Lockheed Martin, inclusion drives success. Diverse backgrounds, experiences and points of view help the corporation create and deliver innovative solutions for our customers, and we recognise that our success as an enterprise depends on the talent, skills and expertise of our people and our ability to function as a tightly integrated team.

We appreciate our diversity and believe that respect – for our colleagues, customers, partners and all those with whom we interact – is an essential element of all positive and productive business relationships.

To accelerate achievement of gender parity, purposeful action is required by both men and women to recruit, retain and advance women in equal proportion to their numbers and commensurate with the limitless potential they offer the workplace. We believe that we can redefine opportunities for future generations of women, forging a lasting legacy of growth, increased prosperity and in turn stronger communities.

At Lockheed Martin, women have always been part of our story. When Glenn Martin was building his very first aircraft more than a century ago, it was his mother, Minta Martin, who stood by him in the workshop as he worked into the night. In the decades that followed, thousands of women served on factory floors and assembly lines to bring his aircraft to life.

Yet even with this legacy, it's still the case that women have been under-represented in our industry - especially in leadership positions and technical fields.  But we are changing that, it’s difficult, but it is possible.

Change is happening and we have made a deliberate commitment to accelerate our progress on diversity and inclusion. We strive to change the culture of business from the inside out, investing in women and empowering them to cultivate leadership skills, business, practices, personal contacts and career opportunities. We introduced our first International Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in 2020 which has already driven a restructure of our UK Inclusion Council, growth of our Employee Networks and the development of core diversity and inclusion learning for our employees which we’ll be rolling out later this year.

Data is at the heart of the decisions we make at Lockheed Martin. Earlier this year we produced our first UK Gender Report which took a holistic look at the experiences women were having in career progression. We used this data to engage in robust dialogues with our UK Executives on how we can continue to accelerate our journey.

I’m proud that Lockheed Martin UK supports International Women’s Day. Celebrating diversity and embracing our differences, together we #ChooseToChallenge.