Ars OpenForum

Last week Ortberg said in a speech to investors and employees:

Our leaders, from me on down, need to be closely integrated with our business and the people who are doing the design and production of our products. We need to be on the factory floors, in the back shops and in our engineering labs. We need to know what’s going on, not only with our products, but with our people.

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If Ortberg is just now realizing that this very basic concept is necessary for a business to succeed then I see no hope for Boeing finding its way under the current leadership. Even though he is an engineer, he has been infected with the greed, shortsightedness and hubris of his MBA predecessors. He is treading water hoping for change while doing nothing meaningful.

The only fix is a new board and new execs who really do understand and care about building the best planes possible. But that ain't gonna happen. Boeing will continue to flounder because the gov won't let it fail. Airbus will eat their lunch. And possibly China in the future.