However, the top-heavy problem is not physical, as in the angle of attack on the 737 MAX or door panels falling form the skies. Its top-heavy problem is with its executives. They have ethical tin ears.
The most recent issue is the company recording executives’ personal company jet travel as business expenses. That personal travel is income to the executives and not a travel expense for Boeing.
Boeing has corrected the “accounting error” in an SEC filing. That disclosure came after the Wall Street Journal raised questions about the executives’ use of Boeing’s private jet fleet. Andrew Rangel and Mark Maremont, “Boeing Eases Office Return for Senior Executives,” Wall Street Journal, September 12, 2023, p. A1. Andrew Rangel and Mark Maremont, “Boeing Didn’t Disclose All Executive Jet Perks,” Wall Street Journal, April 12, 2024, p. A4.
In fairness to Boeing, one can understand the confusion. The executives live all over the country and then commute when they have to come into the office. In one case, Boeing actually set up an office near CFO Brian West’s home in Connecticut so that he did not have to commute to an office so far away. Arlington, Virginia is not that far — is even in the same time zone!
Boeing has office in Arlington, Virginia (that resulted when the company HQs were changed from Chicago to the DC area). Meanwhile, outgoing CEO Calhoun has homes in New Hampshire and South Carolina. But he zigzagged from Arlington, VA to Hilton Head, SC to Monterey, CA and then back to New Hampshire. Mr. Calhoun noted in 2023 that Boeing headquarters is wherever he and Brian West are.
Is it any wonder the accounting on personal vs. business flights got jumbled? The Barometer’s question is, “When do these guys actually work?” And all of this was going on as Boeing was ordering employees back to the office. And it is a little difficult for those assembling airplanes to work from home. Perhaps the missing bolts from the ejected door panel can be found while at a machinist’s home who tried the work-from-home approach.
The executives at Boeing have tin ears on ethics and perception. Jetting around the country and living away from plants and headquarters means an absence of leadership. You can’t build a culture via Zoom.
And a culture of integrity cannot exist when the executives are abusing the company’s private jet use. Boeing needs to start at the top for its clean-up. For replacements consider someone who will leave near the factories so that there is hands-on leadership shaping a culture of safety, quality, and ethics. Oddly enough, you can’t do that from an airplane.