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The Essential George Kozmetsky
by John Sibley Butler with Dan Schmisseur
"When I graduated from the University of Texas Business School in 1992, I didn't know anything about George Kozmetsky," a young entrepreneur told me recently as we settled down for a meeting at the IC2 Institute. "All I knew was that the main building was named for him. It wasn't until I began working in the Austin business community that I started to learn how much I'd missed."
Scarcely a day goes by when I'm not telling someone a story about the former dean of the Texas business school. With both an extraordinary intellect and an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time in history, George Kozmetsky is quite simply a legendary figure in our University and our State. He's the one person most responsible for achieving national prominence for the McCombs School and for the development of the high tech business community widely known as the Austin Technopolis.
I'm very fortunate to have known George as a colleague, mentor and friend for more than 20 years. So for all of you who are like that young entrepreneur, I'm going to attempt to distill the significant elements that comprise the "Essential George Kozmetsky."
Catalyst for Excellence at the Business School
Over his 16-year tenure as dean of the UT College and Graduate School of Business, George brought significant improvements to practically every facet of the school. He helped recruit star-quality faculty, encouraged a cross-disciplinary approach to research and curriculum development, and upgraded facilities through the construction of the Graduate School of Business in 1976. Most important, perhaps, he improved communications between the business school and the Texas business community, often traveling around the state to speak with groups about his key initiatives and to solicit input.
"Kozmetsky really shook the place up," says Bob May, dean of the McCombs School from 1996 to 2002. "He was visionary about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship and their role in business school education." In high tech business parlance, George's tenure was an inflection point in our history. He "led the effort to transform the College and Graduate School of Business from 'a good regional school' into a 'nationally-recognized business school,'" Emeritus Professor Glenn Welsch has said.
Co-Founder of a Fortune 500 Company
In business, there are few greater accomplishments than growing a startup entrepreneurial venture from an idea to a listing in Fortune magazine as one of the 500 largest U.S. companies. In the early 1960s, that's exactly what George Kozmetsky did as a co-founder of Teledyne.
With Henry Singleton, a former colleague at Litton Industries, George developed a 10-year strategic plan for a business that would
compete for high-tech military contracts. Seed capital came from the founders' personal resources, and they began in October 1960 with a self-imposed 90-day window to launch the business by winning a lucrative military contract for a next generation helicopter avionics system. Although the competition lasted longer than expected and stretched Teledyne's meager resources until it was nearly broke, Teledyne bested several Fortune 500 companies to win the multi-year, billion-dollar contract.
From that moment forward, Teledyne had arrived. By delivering on its commitments, completing a public offering of its stock and successfully integrating several acquired companies, Teledyne grew from a struggling startup to No. 293 in the Fortune 500 in just six years.
Accomplished Academic
Though he may be best known for his accomplishments in industry and business school administration, George first earned distinction for his work in academia, where he learned, researched and taught with some of the leading
business scholars of his era. In fact, it was his academic approach to studying problems and building theoretically sound solutions that underscored his success in later endeavors.
George did his graduate work at Harvard University, earning an MBA in 1947 and a Doctorate of Commercial Science in 1957. While working toward his doctoral degree, George was hired in 1950 as an assistant professor of corporate finance by Carnegie Tech (later Carnegie Mellon), where he joined a group of elite researchers that was
revolutionizing management education with its visionary work. George co-authored two publications with renowned Professor Herbert Simon, including the highly influential Centralization vs. Decentralization in Organizing the Controller's Department. Professor Simon went on to earn recognition as the "father of artificial intelligence" and received the 1978 Nobel Prize in economics.
Immigrant Entrepreneur
Recently, George and I collaborated on writing a book entitled Immigrant and Minority Entrepreneurship: Building American Communities and Economies. As we sat down very early one morning to discuss the concept of our research project, I said, "You realize, George, that as we have defined our population to include both immigrants and their children, you are an immigrant entrepreneur."
Having never thought of himself in this light, at first he was surprised, but then he was filled with delight at the realization.
George was born on October 5, 1917, to George and Nadya Kozmetsky, who were immigrants from Grodna, Belarus. His father died when George was five, so his mother was principally responsible for instilling in him a tremendous work ethic and a passion for education. George excelled in school and graduated from the University of Washington at age 20. After passing the CPA exam, George took a teaching job at a college in Olympia and opened the city's first CPA practice, bootstrapping to profitability and laying the foundation for his future educational and entrepreneurial activities.
Decorated WWII Veteran
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, George enlisted in the Army in an act of patriotic service and was assigned to training in the Army Medical Corps. Initially, he served in administrative posts on U.S. bases and received advanced medical training, but shortly after D-Day in June 1944, he was sent to the front lines in France and stayed there as the Army advanced through Belgium and into Germany.
For more than 200 consecutive days, George braved enemy fire while accompanying combat troops on the front lines. His role was to ensure that the soldiers, many of them barely 18 years of age, knew where to find the nearest aid station and why it was crucially important to receive medical attention within four hours of being wounded.
George earned a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Silver Star and a Purple Heart during those 200 days of service. The one thing he has shared with me from his time in the service is the most valuable lesson he learned: If you care about people and want to help them, caring for others ultimately does more good for you than for them.
Ronya's Partner in Life
The old saying goes: "Behind every good man is a great woman." Drawing from his own experience, George would amend that statement to say: "Beside every good man is a great woman."
Ronya Kozmetsky married George on November 5, 1943, after a three-year courtship, and just seven months before the Army would send him to Europe. When he left, Ronya moved in with her parents to save money and, with a degree in sociology from the University of Washington, gained employment as a social worker. By the time George returned home in 1945, Ronya had saved enough to enable their move to Boston and George's enrollment at Harvard business school.
Later, when George was working for Litton Industries in the 1950s, Ronya earned a second degree-this time in Education-from UCLA. During the tenuous launch of Teledyne, it was Ronya's teaching salary that supported the Kozmetsky family. Once the company had achieved its success and George moved the family to Texas, Ronya managed the family's investments, launched the philanthropic RGK Foundation, and joined George in defining the life of the business school.
Among her many honors, Ronya was inducted into the McCombs School's Hall of Fame in 1995. She has written two books, including Women in Business: Succeeding as a Manager, Professional or Entrepreneur. And she continues to be involved in the McCombs School, sponsoring the annual Women in Business Leadership Conference through the RGK Foundation.
Prolific Mentor
From my perspective, the true mark of a leader is reflected in the success of those he or she has influenced. By this measure, George is in a unique class of exceptional leaders. "I will never forget Dr. Kozmetsky emphasizing, when he first started helping me, how people took him under their wings early in his career," says Ingrid Vanderveldt, CEO and Founder of iVEA.
If George received guidance and support as a young entrepreneur, he has surely returned it a hundred-fold. Those whom George mentored, both formally and informally, are too numerous to name, but there are two with extreme relevance to the McCombs School and the Austin business community. Bill Cunningham rose from a young marketing professor to dean under George's tutelage, and proceeded from there to become president of the University and chancellor of the UT System. And shortly after launching a built-to-order computer company from his dorm room, UT's most famous dropout sought George's counsel, leading to 10 years of service as a Dell Computer board member and a special friendship with Michael Dell.
"It was a stroke of great fortune to have Dr. Kozmetsky on our team," said Dell. "There's no question that his guidance was instrumental in our early success and his affiliation gave us a measure of credibility that a new and unproven company could otherwise never have achieved."
Architect of the Austin Technopolis
During his deanship in 1977, George founded the IC2 Institute, a think tank charged with researching the intersection of business, government and education.
"You can't have a government that doesn't trust business, you can't have business that doesn't trust government, and academia can't proceed on a tangent that has no reference to business or government," George had observed. Thus, he decided to find out how those three segments of society could work together in a market system called capitalism.
The fellows and research staff at the IC2 Institute began a series of projects and studies revolving around George's vision of a technopolis, which he defined as "an innovative approach to economic development that involves linking the commercialization of technology with effective public and private initiatives to create new, user-friendly, ecologically compatible infrastructures for economic growth, diversification, and global competitiveness."
In 1983, George and IC2 were enlisted in the collaborative effort to convince Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) that Austin should be its home. Nearly 60 cities had assembled competitive proposals to woo the research consortium, but Austin had an unfair competitive advantage.
"It was Kozmetsky who figured out what most others couldn't yet see: that Texas had the right mix of intellectual resources, leadership, will, and most of all flexibility to offer MCC what none of the more established tech capitals could match," wrote Tony Proscio, a researcher commissioned by Philadelphia to study Austin's high-tech success. "To wit: a whole community - economic, intellectual, and political-that would shape itself to support MCC and its industry. Admiral Inman (Chairman and CEO of MCC), it turns out, had just that sort of malleability in mind."
The city, at George's instigation, sold itself as not just what it was, but what it would become. A similar approach was used to attract 3M in 1984 and Sematech in 1988. Later, AMD, Motorola, Samsung, and many others followed suit, fullfilling George's vision of the technopolis.
George's acceptance speech when he received the National Medal of Technology Award at the White House in 1993 provides useful insight into the character of this extraordinary man. "Whatever I have accomplished is the result of being an American plus great good fortune," George said. "Mrs. Kozmetsky and I feel very strongly that individuals who have been so privileged ought to contribute to society. To be honored for simply being a responsible citizen is overwhelming, and I am deeply grateful."
George has shown us what it means to be a citizen-of the McCombs School and the University, of Austin and Texas, of the United States, and even of the world. And that, my friends, is the Essential George Kozmetsky. H
An unpublished biography of Dr. Kozmetsky, written by Nancy Richey, was a
valuable resource for this article.
It is with regret that we inform you as this issue of the McCombs alumni magazine was on press, former Dean George Kozmetsky passed away.
In celebration of Dr. Kozmetsky's extraordinary life, the Kozmetsky family indicates that those who wish may contribute to the IC2 Institute, to the George M Kozmetsky Endowed Presidential Scholarship at the University of Texas at Austin, or to the charity of their choice.
IC2 Institue
2815 San Gabriel
Austin, Texas 78705-3596
Attention: Steve Molloy
The University of Texas at Austin
McCombs School of Business
Dean's Office, GSB 2.104
1 University Station, B6000
Austin, Texas 78712-0201
Ref: George M. Kozmetsky
Endowed Presidential Scholarship
Attention: Beverly Schlegel
For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.
