Corporations: An Appetite for the Future

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To keep the exchange of ideas from bogging down in bureaucracy, Thornton and Litton President Roy Ash, 44, who helped to found the company, have held the staff in their modest Beverly Hills headquarters down to a manageable (and somewhat overworked) group of 114—despite the fact that the firm's total work force has swelled to 43,000. This way, no one has time to write lengthy memos, which Thornton does not like to read. In fact, if Litton's experience is any guide, one of the happiest aspects of the technological revolution may be the death of the kind of organization man who tries to burrow into a safe, obscure niche, far from the dangers of difficult decisions. There are no such niches at Litton.

Cokes & Smokes. Thornton and Ash have come to work together as smoothly as if they were held on course by one of Litton's inertial-guidance systems. Thornton is the man with the intuition and the flair for the right deal at the right time; Ash is the lively and witty coordinator who keeps a day-to-day watch on Litton's ever-expanding activities. Chain smoking (at least two packs a day) and sipping Cokes, Thornton spends at least four hours a day on the telephone talking with managers, investigating mergers, gathering facts and keeping up with the work of Litton's five main divisions. He talks in cellolike tones, never raising his voice.

Vice presidents and executives from out of town are urged to pop in on Thornton and Ash at any time, and headquarters has a freewheeling quality. Thornton and Ash feel that keeping their men well-informed and making their responsibilities clear is the best way to get the most effort from them. "Our system works," says Roy Ash, "only because the individuals and the system work together. If we had a highly institutionalized system, our people would be frustrated; if we had institutional-type people, we as a company would be frustrated." Litton is not noted for paying its executives high salaries but gives them a powerful incentive in a stock-option plan whose value can best be seen in the rise of Litton stock from 81 to 851 in the past five years (allowing for a 2-for-l stock split).

No Useless Leisure. Tex Thornton himself has few broad interests outside of work. "I can't stand useless leisure," he says. Thornton and Ash take vacations only in alternate years, but after a few days Thornton usually finds himself hankering to get back to work. Thornton lives in a Spanish-style ranch house in the fashionable Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles, among such Hollywood names as Walt Disney, Bing Crosby and Claudette Colbert (he bought the house for $250,000 from Frank Sinatra's first wife Nancy). He and his tall, graceful wife Flora live there during the week but usually move on weekends to Thornton's 200-acre ranch 40 minutes away, where he raises a string of prize horses. They have two sons: Charles B. Jr., 21, a Stanford senior, and William Laney, 18, a Harvard freshman.