> There are of course commonalities across businesses, and commonalities across managers for necessary skill, but each business is, in some core, fundamental wa

> There are of course commonalities across businesses, and commonalities across managers for necessary skill, but each business is, in some core, fundamental way, different from others. Good management of a company doesn't following a paint-by-numbers rule book, it requires deep understanding of the particulars of that business, the market & industry it operates in. This is actually part of the problem with Boeing. They keep all the functions across the aircraft separate, or at least at arms length. So for instance if you want to talk about fuel systems, there is a 737 SME, a 747 SME, a 787 SME, a 767 SME, and a legacy SME. Cross the pond and want to talk fuel systems at Airbus? There is one SME group that manages all of the fuel systems across the commercial aircraft with leads for each program. What Boeing created was a system that requires internal competition for resources and promotions and spread knowledge too thin without the sharing of the commonalities across the fleet.