“Relief or regret?” That is the question Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown uses to test consequential decisions.
In a candid conversation with Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Brown explains how nearly two decades of reinvention, activist pressure and private-equity involvement changed the way he leads. Working with activists made him more accountable and pushed him, he says, from thinking “like a manager” to thinking “like an owner.”
He is equally open about the moments when that judgment was tested. When Motorola Solutions’ board considered selling the company, Brown told directors: “This is bullshit. And if you want to fire me, go ahead and fire me.” He later apologized for the delivery, but not the substance, then ran the process the board had asked for. No buyer emerged, but the process ultimately led to Silver Lake investing in Motorola.
Brown also explains how he decides what Motorola should build, buy or partner on, and how he keeps the company moving through successive reinventions without losing sight of what should remain core.