William Lear A self-taught American engineer who founded the first airline to produce small, low-cost business jets for private customers. Date of Birth: 26.06.1902 Country: USA

1. Biography of William Lear
2. Early Life
3. Business and Personal Survival
4. Creativity and Financial Security
5. Personal History
6. Business and Personal Survival
7. Creativity and Financial Security

Biography of William Lear

William Lear was an American self-taught engineer who founded the first airline company to manufacture small and affordable business-class aircraft for private individuals. Lear was always working in the realm of the unknown, which made him lonely and vulnerable. The media gave him the title of "King Lear" after he earned a reputation as a man who fully controlled his destiny in the midst of the turmoil surrounding him. He was a true Renaissance man and a modernist inventor. Lear gained fame for his Learjet, a jet aircraft he created in the 1960s. Overall, he had more than 150 patents, most of which were in the field of high-tech electronics or aviation technology. He achieved this with only an eighth-grade education, innate inventiveness, and a tremendous appetite for risk. One of his favorite expressions to motivate less passionate employees was: "Don't tell me it can't be done" (Rask, 1985). His book "The Lear Jet" published in the 1960s contained several, perhaps audacious, but very accurate epithets that paint a picture of how Lear's employees saw their passionate and vibrant boss: angry, brilliant, unpredictable, kind, dynamic, noble, intense, inventive, happy, funny, friendly, crazy, knowledgeable, absurd, restless, and brilliant (Rask, 1985).

Early Life

William Lear was born on May 14, 1902, in Hannibal, Missouri. His mother, Gertrude, was a strong-willed German woman who played a significant role in shaping his ambitious and passionate nature. She was both loving and cruel, often changing her attitude towards him. She believed he was capable of extraordinary achievements but would also berate and physically abuse him. Despite these challenges, Lear found solace in books and technical tinkering. At the age of twelve, he built a radio receiver and mastered Morse code. He immersed himself in books about electricity and technical innovations, finding heroes in fictional characters and developing a vivid imagination. These childhood experiences fueled his passion for invention and creation.

Business and Personal Survival

Lear founded Lear Jet Corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1939 to produce his miniature autopilot. By the 1940s, his autopilots dominated the market, with sales exceeding 100 million dollars during the war years. Lear accumulated a substantial fortune and acquired a property called "Le Ranch" in Switzerland, where he spent a significant amount of his time. During one of his trips to Switzerland, Lear came across an abandoned Swiss fighter jet, which became the inspiration for his Learjet project.

When Lear decided to build the Learjet, he was already the chairman of a successful company. The board of directors at Lear Inc. tolerated his impulsive nature and desire to pursue various projects without waiting for approval. However, they categorically refused to support Lear's plan to enter the business jet market, even if the aircraft could compete with products from major manufacturers. This position was also upheld by aviation engineers who believed that producing an aircraft was highly risky and unlikely to succeed. To establish the aircraft's production, massive investments beyond the capabilities of Lear Inc. were required. However, Lear was not easily dissuaded from realizing his dream. He gave the board of directors an ultimatum - either they would approve the project, or he would sell the company and finance it himself. They agreed to the latter option, and in 1962, Lear sold the company for 14.3 million dollars and entered into a long-term consulting contract. He then invested the majority of the funds received from Lear Inc. into his new company, Lear Jet, founded in Wichita, Kansas. Lear had unwavering confidence that the aircraft would fly, even though it was a significant risk. He passionately believed in the project and wagered his entire fortune on its success. At the age of sixty, Lear was still willing to risk everything, relying solely on his intuition. He had an unwavering system of beliefs.

Creativity and Financial Security

Lear modified the model of a Swiss fighter jet, the P-16, and created the Learjet. The aircraft he designed surpassed any commercially produced aircraft by many standards. It could fly at an altitude of 50,000 feet, reaching speeds of up to 500 miles per hour. Within 18 minutes of takeoff, it could climb to an altitude of 41,000 feet. The initial price of this lightweight and high-speed aircraft (fully equipped) was $649,000. After successful flight tests in November 1964, receiving approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, Lear secured contracts to deliver fifty-two aircraft within six months. This success allowed Lear Jet to quickly dominate the market, capturing 80 percent of the global market share. Starting from scratch, Lear Jet became the leading supplier in just twenty-four months. This remarkable feat would not have been possible without Lear's passionate drive and inventiveness. Aerospace engineers claimed that the Learjet would never fly, and experts in the aerospace industry dismissed the idea as absurd. Bankers declined to finance the project and predicted its failure. Skeptical experts, who thought they knew "too much," viewed Lear with bias. He recounted, "All the bankers went to my competitors and asked, 'Can he build a jet?' And they'd say, 'Well, he doesn't even know anything about aviation. He's not a certificated aeronautical engineer. He doesn't have more than ten million dollars... Surely, he can't do it'" (Rask, 1985).

When asked why industrial leaders lacked the foresight he possessed during the debates over the Learjet, Lear responded candidly, forgetting caution. He was an outgoing, extroverted rebel who had an opinion on everything. No topic was off-limits when discussing his triumphs and failures. He characterized the establishment as a gathering of liars with limited vision, solely concerned with self-preservation. One of his memorable critical statements remained in the memory of Turner and Jones, who also cynically viewed all specialists and market researchers:

"They ask the wrong questions. The point is to recognize the market before there's even a hint of it. If someone had told you in 1925 that sometime by 1965 we'd make nine million automobiles, some statistician would have figured out that they'd fill up all the roads in the U.S. and lined up bumper to bumper, would stretch 11 times the distance from one side of the country to the other. Who wants a forecast like that? I make my own forecasts" (Rask, 1985).

Personal History

William Lear's personal life was deeply affected by his complex relationship with his mother. She would alternate between treating him like a prince and a troublemaker. She would claim that he was fantastic and capable of anything one moment, only to turn into a cruel tyrant in the next, calling him the devil. To escape this, Lear buried himself in books and technical projects. In the sixth grade, his mother brutally beat him with a broom for being seen on a bicycle with a girl and then took away his bicycle as punishment for socializing with girls. She constantly insulted him both verbally and physically.

Due to her marital problems, she convinced him that marriage was a prison and that girls were promiscuous and immoral. She frequently changed her attitude towards him and claimed that he must have wonderful moments after she beat him. She unknowingly created one of America's most irrepressible womanizers, a man who would dedicate his life to debauchery, envied by Errol Flynn. Lear's personality was formed in such conditions that a hyperactive libido was instilled in him from an early age, which could only be satisfied by an uncontrolled drive for creation. His passion for inventing and creating was clearly a result of the suppression of his psychosexual energy during his early years.

Business and Personal Survival

Lear built the Learjet in the same manner that he lived his life. He rejected customs, outdated traditions, and methodologies. The Learjet exceeded all certification parameters set by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) because Lear incorporated everything that had been the subject of government-funded and FAA research and development, and more. According to Stanley Green, an engineer and lawyer for the FAA, "It just blew everybody's imagination. Literally everybody in the FAA was making up new rules to make it safer and better."

Lear always worked in the realm of the unknown, which made him lonely and vulnerable. His charisma and charm saved him. Lear presented criteria for the Learjet that shattered all traditional dogmas of the time. Traditionalists ostracized him, but Lear always found a compelling argument to prove his point. Critics claimed that he would lose the market because the aircraft did not meet the requirements and was rejected by experts.

These experts argued that the speed of the Learjet was excessive and beyond the capabilities of small corporate buyers. Lear's response was sharp and expressive: "Executives use the DC-8, which goes 500 miles an hour. Why shouldn't they use an aircraft with equivalent speed?" Experts believed that there should be a cabin where people could move freely, but Lear countered, "You can't stand up in a Cadillac." Experts said that heating and cooling systems were unnecessary ballast, to which Lear replied, "It's funny how an important executive arriving at the airport in a $5,000 air-conditioned car would transfer to a $500,000 aircraft that, before taking off, was as comfortable as a sauna." Experts argued that a bathroom was needed, but Lear responded, "Restrooms are an acknowledgment that you spend too much time en route to your destination" (Rask, 1985). Lear always had a sharp response to criticism and was not delicate in expressing his feelings.

Creativity and Financial Security

In late 1966, Lear faced several serious financial problems due to his restless and inventive mind. This led him to sell Lear Jet Corporation to Gates Rubber Company in April 1967. In 1966 alone, Lear lost $12 million primarily because he couldn't control his passion for inventions and innovations and failed to focus on the production of the highly sought-after Learjet. He became engrossed in developing three new aircraft while still not completing the production cycle of the immensely popular Learjet.

Lear viewed this race - invent, invent, invent - as a way to prove his worth. His genius became his curse. He created the world's most popular commercial jet aircraft but was unable to see its production through to completion as he embarked on a completely new venture. He either did not want or could not deal with the more down-to-earth aspects of implementation and commercialization. He simply surrendered to his desire to invent. His mind needed to fill the void of love he never received, and he left the business realm to others more attuned to circumstances.

Gates Rubber Company paid $11.89 per share for Lear Jet, earning Lear $21 million plus an additional $3.5 million in debt obligations. Once again, like a phoenix, he rose from the ashes and reinvented himself. Lear sold Lear Jet Corporation under the belief that he could no longer control his passion for inventing and needed financial stability. He would go on to create other successful ventures, including the development of the LearFan aircraft. Lear's creativity and his willingness to take risks defined his life and left an indelible mark on the aviation industry.