Heaven knows journalists, me included, have spent an enormous amount of time pillorying Boeing and its CEOs over the past decade. It’s tough not to when this giant American corporation continuously offers so much ammunition.
But I’m also old enough to remember a different Boeing, the Seattle company that also created some of the greatest aircraft known to man, like one of the most successful jet airliners in 1957, the 707. In 1969, Boeing took on a huge gamble and won when they launched the first jumbo, the Boeing 747, just a few years after the first flight of the 737. Before the airliners, in 1955, there was the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The rock-solid B-52 is still an active part of the US Air Force arsenal nearly seven decades later. Before that, the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress made a decisive difference in the Allies’ battle against Hitler over the skies above Europe during WWII.
Kelly Ortberg is Boeing’s current CEO, and for once, they seem to have hired a guy with his head screwed on straight. In the few short months he’s been at the helm, the company successfully weathered its first strike in a decade. The union pushed, and Ortberg bent a little. He also took up residence in the Seattle area, not in DC, near Boeing’s headquarters. He seems to have a management strategy and style Boeing employees can finally relate to and perhaps even respect.
From the WSJ a few weeks back, Ortberg tossed some much-needed cold water in Boeing’s face during a widely viewed meeting. “We spend more time arguing amongst ourselves than thinking about how we’re going to beat Airbus,” Ortberg said. “Everybody is tired of the drumbeat of what’s wrong with Boeing. I’m tired of it and haven’t been here long. Boeing has faced many highs and lows,” he said. “We’re at a low here, folks. Today, we have an opportunity to come racing out of where we are and improve.”
But the topper was, “Don’t sit at the water cooler and bitch about people,” Ortberg said. “Let’s focus on the task at hand.”
Ortberg sounds like the kind of leader this once-grand company and its employees may be able to count on to have their backs over the next few years.
Then There’s Spirit
Contrast Ortberg with Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie, the guy at the helm of what once was the leader of the airline business’s ultra-low-cost (ULCC) side. As a former Midway Airlines pilot who watched that airline and its employees suffer through Chapter 11 and later Chapter 7, Christie offers something for every airline employee to hate.
Just days before his troubled airline slipped into Chapter 11, Christie received a $3.8 M retention bonus to stick around and help the company he led into bankruptcy emerge from bankruptcy. Keeping the current staff in place might have worked when United, Delta and American flew through bankruptcy, but this is an entirely different story. Christie was at the helm when the airline’s potential merger with Jet Blue failed, shortly after he bailed out of the merger with Frontier Airlines. Both of those savvy decisions also earned him a big bonus. “Please, Ted, don’t leave us now,” the Spirit Board seems to be saying. “We really need you.”
For what exactly, I’m trying to figure out.
Oh BTW, did I mention Spirit’s nearly worthless stock was delisted from the NY Stock Exchange?
I’ll grant you Spirit is in a tough spot as the clock continues clicking down and the airline’s checkbook is nearly empty. I’ll betcha Spirit employees facing a bleak holiday season could probably have used a little piece of that $3.8M Ed, as well as the other couple of million the Board spent on the rest of the Spirit leadership team.
Seriously, assuming Ted Christie is the guy to keep Spirit above water right now is pure lunacy. Hey Kelly … do you have room for a part-time gig?
Rob Mark
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Nice article Rob. I am hopeful Boeing can prosper. It is fundamentally a great company.
Having had the privilege of leading a couple of companies now (much smaller than Boeing and Spirit) but generally successful and leaders in their field, I am reminded of two statements that some of my old bosses imprinted in my head:
1) “CEOs get way too much credit and also, often, too much blame.” – I think it also works for Presidents, but they deserve it as often they claim the credit for things they had nothing to do with, and therefore, they richly earn the blame when things they cannot control go haywire.
2) “When good management meets a bad business, it’s usually the business that retains its reputation” – I have had experience with this, I led a “mediocre” business, and our effort was not rewarded with great results, and now I lead an excellent business (nothing to do with me – I just have not screwed it up yet!). Frankly, it is amazing to see great results from small changes because of the great people we have. I wonder how much of this is true at Spirit vs. Boeing – are they a mediocre business model (as opposed to, e.g., Southwest) vs. a “great” business looking for leadership to enable the latent talent?
PS: As you point out, one significant move is that it is more than merely symbolic that Ortberg lives near most of his employees. It’s practical, but symbolism also matters.
Anyway, this is what I was thinking for what it’s worth.
And yet, that’s what got Boeing into trouble in the first place,.. trying to outdo Airbus with the rushed-to-market Max..
“We spend more time arguing amongst ourselves than thinking about how we’re going to beat Airbus,” Ortberg said.
Gee. As a former pilot for Midway Airlines, which you say went through chapters 12 and 7 bankruptcy, he surely knows what to do, right? Just run the Chapter 11 bankruptcy checklist????
Looking at his bio in the Congressional Record, I don’t see anything about him being a pilot. But he does seem to have a lot of relevant experience to lead them through bankruptcy.
Any chance Spirit went under due to a flawed business model? The market didn’t like what they were offering any more?
—————
Christie is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Spirit Airlines, the largest Ultra Low Cost
Carrier in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean. Christie joined Spirit in April 2012 as
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In January 2017, Mr. Christie was promoted to
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He was named President one year later. In his
various roles, Christie has overseen responsibility for the finance and commercial functions of the
business, as well as operations, IT and human resources.
Prior to joining Spirit, Christie served as CFO of Pinnacle Airlines Corp, an airline holding company with
subsidiaries flying as Delta Connection, United Express and US Airways Express. Christie began his airline
career at Frontier Airlines in 2002. He was appointed Vice President of Finance in 2007 and promoted to
Senior Vice President and CFO in 2008. During his tenure at Frontier he helped the carrier to restructure and to achieve a competitive cost structure.
Christie has also held the position of Vice President of Finance at a Denver asset-based finance institution and also worked as an Economist for the Arizona taxing authority.
Christie earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Arizona.
Sure there’s a chance the business model is flawed Dave. But if Christie’s as smart as you seem to portray him, shouldn’t he be able to fix the problem? My point was that sometimes the person that takes a company into Chapter 11 is too close to the problem to be able to see a solution. As far as the market not wanting what Spirit offers, I’d say maybe. It’s usually more than one issue that sends a company down the rabbit hole though. One huge problem Spirit and a few other carriers are facing is that they have quite a few airplanes sitting on the ground, unusable, due to some long-term faults with the A320 neo’s Pratt & Whitney engines.