“It’s an Empty Executive Suite” - An insider explains what has gone disastrously wrong with Boeing.

City Journal ^ | 3 Apr, 2024 | Christopher F. Rufo

[MtnClimber]

Alex, I will take “What happens when you go woke” for $1000, please.

[no-to-illegals]

Many erroneous AP licenses floating ……

[PeterPrinciple]

There should be some honor in understanding that we inherited something beautiful and good and worth loving.

---

MAGA

[RoosterRedux]

The problem is that our "elites" think that, because they have wealth, they understand how things work.

They don't.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is also applicable to rich, stupid people.

[Psalm 73]

"...it is a company that is....not under people who love airplanes."

Non-aircraft people do not understand this - you either have aviation in your blood or you do not.

If you do not, but pretend that you do, you are a poser and a destroyer of aviation culture.

[MtnClimber]

Those who consider themselves to be “elites” seem to be suffering from mass formation psychosis that causes them to buy into DEI and ESG to be part of the group. And it becomes GROUPTHINK.

[ClearCase_guy]

Boeing is just a symptom of a much bigger problem: the failure of our elites.

This is spot on,

It's a big problem, with many aspects. I trace a lot of it to MBAs. Companies began to be run by people who did not understand the business. They knew spreadsheets. They knew financing. They could squeeze profit by putting little numbers in little boxes. For awhile, they seemed OK. Shareholders liked it, but the core business competence began to decrease.

If the people at the top really knew their business, they would have been in a position to say that the Woke stuff was bad for business. But that ship had already sailed. The people at the top are just about the perception. If you check certain boxes, you look good, and that is enough.

Sports Illustrated was famous for their annual swimsuit edition. Then they put a transgender on the cover. Didn't go well. The people in charge actually didn't see that coming.

Bud Light is another good example. If the people running the beer company understood the business of beer -- and specifically the demographics of the Bud Light consumer base -- they would not have chosen a transgender as the face of Bud Light. But they did. Because they didn't understand their business.

Once upon a time, a worker would start at the bottom and work their way up. They knew the business inside and out because they had worked the business at many levels. True, you wouldn't find many CEOs who really started in the mail room. But a lot of Managers had started at the ground level.

I think that has largely disappeared. These days, you start at the bottom, and you will stay at the bottom. There are just fewer "careers" now. Just jobs. Just dead-end jobs. And middle management was seen as wasteful and got hollowed out. There is no where for people to move up to. And the people at the top start at the top (They got that Harvard degree, and they know people). They run the beer company until they transition over to the airplane company and then they transition to the computer company. They don't understand any of it.

[chief lee runamok]

Many years ago while doing a demolition project on a boeing site, it
was amusing seeing the techs at their computer playing solitaire.

[spankalib]

I am a yuuge fan of Christopher Rufo - this is great.

[Yo-Yo]

I posted a similar comment on TwiX a couple of days ago when someone posted this article there:

Boeing started losing their way when they moved their Headquarters from Seattle to Chicago.

Now that they've moved their Headquarters from Chicago to Alexandria, VA (near DC) it's going to get even worse.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If you do not, but pretend that you do, you are a poser and a destroyer of aviation culture.

You can add 'destroyer of innocent lives' to that.

[vpintheak]

Moved HQ to Arlington. Death Nell of any decent company. They’ve become 100% part of the problem in the USA.

[RoosterRedux]

Excellent point.

[cpdiii]

The problem is that our "elites" think that, because they have wealth, they understand how things work. They don't. The Dunning-Kruger effect is also applicable to rich, stupid people.

Good Post. Yes, aviation is in our blood. When an airliner goes down, it is personal to us.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

In the 1970s and ‘80s I watched the American machine tool industry crumble around me, as the fine old legacy companies came under the control of MBAs who knew nothing about the business except how to extract value for short-term shareholder profit. No engineering, no strategic planning, nothing. The Japanese came in selling machines inferior to what we could build, but with superior computer tech, and they stole the most profitable market segment, the job shops.

/rant

[1Old Pro]

I watched the American machine tool industry crumble around me, as the fine old legacy companies came under the control of MBAs who knew nothing about the business except how to extract value for short-term shareholder profit.

There are old GE tool machines that although they weigh a ton, would still work today.

[Ex-Con777]

>Moved HQ to Arlington. Death Nell of any decent company.<

The death knell is when they moved to Chicago to be in the hometowm of The One. I know another once great company that did the same.

EC

[HIDEK6]

Knell.

[Mouton]

Check out the dark comedy movie of long ago: Other People’s money.