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For what it's worth, in "Flying Blind", the book written about the first round of 737 max issues, the author has a pretty negative outlook on Calhoun as being m

For what it's worth, in "Flying Blind", the book written about the first round of 737 max issues, the author has a pretty negative outlook on Calhoun as being mostly aligned with Muilenburg. > Robison, however, finds little reason for optimism. While Boeing has now accepted responsibility for one of the crashes as part of a settlement, no one at the company besides Forkner has been charged with a crime. Muilenburg was ousted as C.E.O., but still collected a $60 million golden parachute. After being grounded for more than a year, the 737 Max is back in service. And today, Boeing is led by Dave Calhoun, another Jack Welch protégé who was on the Boeing board for years, and was intimately involved in the company’s botched response to the crashes. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/books/review/peter-robison-flying-blind-boeing-737.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/books/review/peter-robiso... https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646497/flying-blind-by-peter-robison/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646497/flying-blind...

eduction 3y ago
Ya, Calhoun has been there four years already, so he's had plenty of time. Also, he decided to continue outsourcing to Spirit despite Spirit's known issues. Everything in your post indicates he's not inclined to make fundamental alterations to the post Stonecipher strategy which fits with all this.
- OhMeadhbh 3y ago
  Calhoun's been at Boeing as a Director since 2009. Dude's definitely seen some things.
- datavirtue 3y ago
  Spirit is technically not Boeing. It's Boeing.
nimish 3y ago
> Jack Welch protégé At this point pre-emptively firing any Jack Welch associated executive would probably be a good idea
- Simon_ORourke 3y ago
  Why stop there - the man was such poison, that such top-down layoff should include any private chefs, baristas or garbage guys that dealt with him.
  - fl7305 3y ago
    That's a bit too much. Wouldn't it be better to each year rank all the executives by their proximity to Jack Welch, and then fire the worst 10%?
    - mysterydip 3y ago
      Will there be a Six Degrees to Jack Welch site?
    - efitz 3y ago
      I see what you did there.
  - r00fus 3y ago
    Clearly you're going for some snark, but some form of purge would be a good signal that the company isn't putting up with bullshit ideology.
    - ok_dad 3y ago
      Who’s going to purge them? They’re the idiot execs in charge everywhere now! Jack Welch was a good name in business management circles, and still is to this day, even though his theories and work have not withstood the test of time to regular folks like us.
- datavirtue 3y ago
  He's an order barker. He won't move the needle one point on that culture. All GE people understand is hierarchy.
tomp 3y ago
Can ELI5 why do investors (owners of the company) accept CEO's pay packages that involve golden parachutes? It doesn't make sense to me (I mean, it might in case of offensive takeovers, but who's gonna take over Boeing?!)
- sonicanatidae 3y ago
  The small shareholders don't have enough shares to make an impact and the large shareholders view it as a cost of doing business. Remember, they aren't investing in moral outcomes, just profits. With the DoD funding Boeing in perpetuity, there is zero incentive or consequences, so it's still a "good" investment...for now.
- rossdavidh 3y ago
  I think it's because when they get the contractually guaranteed "golden parachute", the board thinks this CEO is gonna work out great so why argue, and since it's not at all uncommon it doesn't seem like a red flag at all; it's the norm. By the time it actually happens, they have a contract that says it will happen, which is rarely overturned.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  Because both the CEO and the board recognize that he might need to be the designated scapegoat in a future failure.
  - fullspectrumdev 3y ago
    Yep, same deal with CISO’s, but in their case it’s even more obvious.
- bluecheese452 3y ago
  Small time investors have zero say. Large investors are in the same social class as the ceo and scratch each others backs.
- krisoft 3y ago
  > why do investors (owners of the company) accept CEO's pay packages that involve golden parachutes My understanding is that this is seen as a cost of acquiring the right expertise. “Pay peanuts, get monkeys” kinda thing. They want the best of the best, and according to their perception these people can do a number of things with their time. Why would they work on this thing instead of their own thing, or a number of other people’s things? By choosing to work with you they close other doors in their life, so you need to both sweeten the deal and make the risk of things not working out between you reasonably low. Not so low that the expert is not incentivised to work hard for you, but low enough that you can convince someone to risk it getting in business with you. In short they agree to it because if they don’t they can’t get the right caliber of person through the door.
bitcharmer 3y ago
> Muilenburg was ousted as C.E.O., but still collected a $60 million golden parachute That's why I hate the MBA types and the whole executive caste with a passion
- rurban 3y ago
  You are misguided. He was the only engineer at the top of Boeing for decades. Before and after were the MBA types.

eduction 3y ago

Ya, Calhoun has been there four years already, so he's had plenty of time. Also, he decided to continue outsourcing to Spirit despite Spirit's known issues. Everything in your post indicates he's not inclined to make fundamental alterations to the post Stonecipher strategy which fits with all this.

OhMeadhbh 3y ago
Calhoun's been at Boeing as a Director since 2009. Dude's definitely seen some things.
datavirtue 3y ago
Spirit is technically not Boeing. It's Boeing.

nimish 3y ago

> Jack Welch protégé At this point pre-emptively firing any Jack Welch associated executive would probably be a good idea

Simon_ORourke 3y ago
Why stop there - the man was such poison, that such top-down layoff should include any private chefs, baristas or garbage guys that dealt with him.
- fl7305 3y ago
  That's a bit too much. Wouldn't it be better to each year rank all the executives by their proximity to Jack Welch, and then fire the worst 10%?
  - mysterydip 3y ago
    Will there be a Six Degrees to Jack Welch site?
  - efitz 3y ago
    I see what you did there.
- r00fus 3y ago
  Clearly you're going for some snark, but some form of purge would be a good signal that the company isn't putting up with bullshit ideology.
  - ok_dad 3y ago
    Who’s going to purge them? They’re the idiot execs in charge everywhere now! Jack Welch was a good name in business management circles, and still is to this day, even though his theories and work have not withstood the test of time to regular folks like us.
datavirtue 3y ago
He's an order barker. He won't move the needle one point on that culture. All GE people understand is hierarchy.

tomp 3y ago

Can ELI5 why do investors (owners of the company) accept CEO's pay packages that involve golden parachutes? It doesn't make sense to me (I mean, it might in case of offensive takeovers, but who's gonna take over Boeing?!)

sonicanatidae 3y ago
The small shareholders don't have enough shares to make an impact and the large shareholders view it as a cost of doing business. Remember, they aren't investing in moral outcomes, just profits. With the DoD funding Boeing in perpetuity, there is zero incentive or consequences, so it's still a "good" investment...for now.
rossdavidh 3y ago
I think it's because when they get the contractually guaranteed "golden parachute", the board thinks this CEO is gonna work out great so why argue, and since it's not at all uncommon it doesn't seem like a red flag at all; it's the norm. By the time it actually happens, they have a contract that says it will happen, which is rarely overturned.
_ea1k 3y ago
Because both the CEO and the board recognize that he might need to be the designated scapegoat in a future failure.
- fullspectrumdev 3y ago
  Yep, same deal with CISO’s, but in their case it’s even more obvious.
bluecheese452 3y ago
Small time investors have zero say. Large investors are in the same social class as the ceo and scratch each others backs.
krisoft 3y ago
> why do investors (owners of the company) accept CEO's pay packages that involve golden parachutes My understanding is that this is seen as a cost of acquiring the right expertise. “Pay peanuts, get monkeys” kinda thing. They want the best of the best, and according to their perception these people can do a number of things with their time. Why would they work on this thing instead of their own thing, or a number of other people’s things? By choosing to work with you they close other doors in their life, so you need to both sweeten the deal and make the risk of things not working out between you reasonably low. Not so low that the expert is not incentivised to work hard for you, but low enough that you can convince someone to risk it getting in business with you. In short they agree to it because if they don’t they can’t get the right caliber of person through the door.

bitcharmer 3y ago

> Muilenburg was ousted as C.E.O., but still collected a $60 million golden parachute That's why I hate the MBA types and the whole executive caste with a passion

rurban 3y ago
You are misguided. He was the only engineer at the top of Boeing for decades. Before and after were the MBA types.