#419 Kelly Johnson: Skunk Works

May 16, 2026 · 50 min · YouTube

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EP · Founders · #419 Kelly Johnson: Skunk Works49:39

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Transcript

asr · 9,821 words · docs

0:00So, a few weeks ago, I made this episode called How SpaceX Works.

0:03And while I was reading about the way SpaceX operates, I came across this very interesting sentence.

0:07I want to read this to you.

0:08It says, Many of these ideas are not even new.

0:11Lockheed's Skunk Works ran similar approaches 60 years ago.

0:15Founder Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules reads like a SpaceX operations manual.

0:23So that made me want to read Kelly Johnson's autobiography, which is called More Than My Share of It All.

0:27He wrote it when he was 75 years old.

0:30And the first thing I want to tell you about in the book, I actually want to jump towards the end of the book.

0:34It's one of the last chapters.

0:35The chapter is called It's No Secret, and it breaks down how he built and how he ran Skunkworks.

0:42But before I jump into the book, there's this list of 20 ideas.

0:45I want to give you an overview of basically how he ran this operation.

0:47I think telling you these lists of 20 ideas up front will make it easy to remember and understand everything that comes after.

0:52So number one, a breakthrough program is an organization before it's a design.

0:57So this is one of maybe the greatest designer of aircrafts of all time.

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