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. [Read more…] about Two Different Aviation Companies; Two Entirely Different CEOs
I remember riding our crew bus with a bunch of other pilots, and flight attendants in the spring of 1991 not long after our employer Midway Airlines had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The old red and white school bus ran the flight crews from the parking lot on Midway Airport’s north side parking lot along 55th Street to the terminal so we could connect with our aircraft. Since pilots have all the solutions to every problem on Earth (just ask one) a bunch of us were complaining about the current state of the airline and our future. Being a big mouth — yes, even then — I wondered why Dave Hinson, our CEO was still running the place. “If Hinson was in charge when we entered bankruptcy, why should we expect he’ll be able to get us out?” After a few nods, the back of the bus was quiet for a few minutes before we moved on to complaining about the crew meals.